Homemade Christmas

What are your plans for the weekend? I need something mindless & easy and finished in a timely manner. Which got me thinking about the ornaments I bought.
There was 90% off Christmas ornaments at Target last month and I seriously filled three shopping carts with 1200+ ornaments ... for a little under $50. It should make between 12 - 15 wreaths. So excited about this gift! I got red/silver combo for some, red/gold for others, and a couple colored filled for some fun & funky family members who I think would really enjoy them.
And the best part ... this kind of tutorial is something I can do with the kids. :) Sorry to any who read this blog and are family (none do ... but just in case). You now know what your Christmas present is. Pretend like you are surprised anyways, okay?

Snowy Weekend

Our weekend was filled with lots & lots of snow! We finally got a chance to go sledding and the kids LOVED IT!!! Unfortunately it should be in the high 30's tomorrow, so the snow will melt away much sooner than the kids would like. But the non-icy roads would be a nice thing.I broke my sewing machine needle & with the snow & freezing cold temps, I never ventured to the local Wal-Mart to pick up a new one. The only real outing we've had in the last four days was on Saturday morning. I stopped at the local Goodwill & picked up the newest treasure to work on for Hunter's room! This little dresser. I picked up some clearance handles from Target for $5, and we're planning on filling in the design with wood putty & painting it dark blue. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am with this $22 little treasure! :) Now the remaining big question is what to do with the funky mirror???

My New & Practically Free Diaper Bag

Snow has been coming down off & on since Wednesday! FINALLY!!! :) Although, trying to open my frozen car door was fun last night ... we're going sleddin' tomorrow! Woo-hoo!!!
We're stuck indoors for the next few days, so I've been trying to figure out what project to finish. And then I remembered how much I really want to make this bag ... adjusted like she did for the diaper bag kind of idea. Since my diaper bag is practically in shreds. But ... the goal was to complete more projects without accumulating more stuff. So I picked up my old fabric from the curtains & throw pillows in the last house & have started cutting it out. I'd like to pick some lighter fabric, but this is what I have, & this is what I will use! Nothing is as good as practically free. Now to just figure out what a dart is ...

Birthday Cake & Another Almost Finished Project

So I mentioned yesterday about the cake. It was so yummy! I would definitely recommend it again and it used a lot of basic ingredients we already had around. Just make sure to have LOTS of milk ... it's very rich!

Last night the ward (church group) here in Cheyenne had their once a month get together for a charity group project they are doing. They have made it their goal to make 30 quilts for us to make & to donate to charity by the end of the year. So I volunteered to take home 20 pairs of jeans and cut, lots & lots of squares for jean rag quilts (enough for over 2 quilt tops). Yesterday I was supposed to take them back, so lots of time was spent cutting them up. All the loose jeans took up 2 overflowing boxes & the scraps filled up an entire garbage bag.I was feeling pretty good about it, until my husband said we should volunteer to cut up all the jeans they have (I've been told there's at least 4 or 5 boxes) ... so guess it was finished & now it's started again. LOL.

Happy Birthday Honey!

My sweetie pie husband's birthday is today! Ten years of celebrating birthdays together ... and he's still cute & fun & I absolutely adore him. I wanted to make his birthday really special, so I have spent the entire morning making multiple rounds of cakes for this cake. It called for a special homemade cake recipe, but I figured a pillsbury cake mix can't be that different. Right? Yeah, um ... when I finally finished the fourth layer & was starting to try and move them, they crumbled to bits! Which of course the kids didn't mind ... yummy cupcake pieces for all! Seriously, my kids think I'm the greatest Mom ever. Cake before lunch time today! LOL.

We're going to go with this yummy cake now instead. And since he's taking a half day for work (he worked 6 days last week), we're going to mail off the apron & book to his sister (a very delayed wedding gift ... hopefully she likes it). I made the apron using this tutorial and then the pocket (enlarged 125%) from here. The best part is that I was able to make myself an apron with the extra fabric ... love it! :)Sorry the photos are so lacking, it's very snowy/cloudy here today. Hopefully some snow is in the forecast today or tomorrow! We still haven't gotten to build a snowman yet!

Happy President's Day!

I love three day weekends. :) I hate having Hunter gone so much, and it's really nice getting an extra day with Ryan too! :) I'm about to go thrift store shopping (I want to find some chairs to re-cover ... our front room desperately needs more seating!), but I wanted to quickly post pictures of Savannah yesterday at church. I cut out the apron (and keep forgetting to take some pictures of them!) & was actually able to make TWO! And then I had enough left over fabric to make a cute skirt & headband for Savannah too. She was thrilled to have something homemade. I wanted to take a picture outside, but it is windy & way too cold to do that. So indoor/crappy lighting instead! Basic poofy/long skirt, complete with a fun pocket & 2.5" trim on the bottom to give it a better finished look. I used this headband tutorial from Heather Bailey. Totally fun, easy & she LOVED it! :) Pictures of the apron tomorrow, and I also have finished three projects now! YEAH!

Valentine's Day Shirts

I wish I could say the valentine's day shirts were my own original thought, but they weren't. I found this etsy store & loved her designs! But, with four shirts needed, it was way beyond my budget. So I tried my best to come up with my own graphics to make it. I really liked her's better. Maybe it's because of the wonderful finished edges she had, and the way that the black made the colors pop!

Anyways, I found shirts for $1.50 on clearance at Target, and so that's what I used. And fabric from my own stash ... so $6 for four shirts was feasible. Colton loves his, and wouldn't take it off ... but also has become camera shy & ran away from me every time I tried to take a picture of him in it. LOL.

I had seen a similar design on a blog somewhere for Savannah's shirt, but I can't find it now. I used the target modern elephant as a template, and then a single heart. I wish I had used a different color thread so you could see all the little details I sewed into it ... but eh. It's done ... project one complete!

Now I've cut the fabric for the apron and plan on using this tutorial as a guide to finish it. I wanted to use the blue fabric as the bottom trim, but cut into it too much for a "7" for Hunter's birthday ... so I'm going to find some pocket tutorial and make them instead. :)

A promise is a promise

I dream of making this. Oh, I love it. My husband joked that I have an alphabet obsession, and then there is the alphabet framed thing I let Hunter the other day. Maybe I do. But, I think it's just because there are so many little ones here, I sing the ABC's all day long, why not hang them up on the wall. And it's cute too, admit it. You want one.
So on last Saturday we went & picked up the wood to make the shelves. I told him to pick up the wood for my newest alphabet. And he lovingly reminded me of the entire ROOM full of un-finished projects. And the valentine's day shirts that I was going to make the kids. And the apron that I INSISTED on making for his sister's wedding present (which was last month). And the two over-due blankets I've been promising friends. On top of the million of others he doesn't even know about.
So, I promised I would finish three projects before I would REQUIRE something new ... which he agreed would be the shelves.
Well ... the shirts are almost done! Next up ... that way past due apron.

The Boys Room

So when we moved, we put the 3 older kids into the largest room in the house, so they could hang out together. With the intention that Jax would move out of this crib next year & then it would be a boys only room. So we've been trying to come up with some kind of decorated room (with absolutely no budget mind you) for them. Nothing themed or matching. Something that would grow with a one year old, but not be too baby-ish for the 7 year old too. So I've been letting Hunter decide what he wants & likes. This is what he's picked. There is no decorating budget ... no money for this at all. So, we're going to very slowly work on it, and Hunter is actually excited about thrift store shopping for things he wants. And I figured I would slowly accumulate the fabric ... since I need enough to make three complete quilts (one for each boy).

I found these old chipboard alphabet letters in my scrapbook stash & Hunter loved putting them together (and we put them in an old frame I had around). He's so very proud of the fact he's going to make things for his new room.**Please don't notice the thrashed room behind him.**

Then this weekend, we picked up the wood to make these. It cost about $18 in wood (we're making two of the large 36" ones w/ the extra ledge included) and I can't wait to get the garage cleaned out this week & start working on it! :)

Too long of a break

So I don't think anyone reads this anymore. You would think I'd fallen off the face of the planet ... and we sort of did. We've moved, 871 miles away from Henderson, Nevada ... to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The complete, polar opposite of the heat filled Vegas life. It's snowing big, chunky, fat flakes on the ground ... and I've been told the snow lasts off & on thru May. LOL.
Why the move? Well, the bank my husband was working for in Vegas FAILED. I still have the hardest time wrapping my mind around that. He loved the job, loved the people he worked for an never thought he would leave. But there came a point when we could see what was coming, and you can't talk about those kind of things at the time.
The new bank that took over promised everyone would get to keep a job. But, we knew it would have to mean a demotion, pay cut and we would sink pretty quickly. We were lucky that the week before the merger was announced, a very nice company here offered him a job. And so here we are. It took nine months to find this job ... and he has a Master's degree even. But we feel blessed to have found work.
It's been tough for the kids. It's been a big adjustment too. But I've finally stopped crying over the windy/snowy days and we've found a groove. So, today ... it's snowing. And we're kind-of trapped indoors. So I'm going to go dig out my sewing stuff and hopefully finish something today. :)