Ava's blanket

I finally got a picture of my niece showing off the blanket I crocheted for her. It was/is the first blanket that I have ever crocheted. I used blue, light green, yellow, and purple colored yarn. If I would have known that I was having a niece I would have made it all girly colors so she is having to settle for this blanket instead. By the look on her face I don't think she minds at all.

I'm Addicted...

to freezer paper stenciling! I made these cute onesies for baby gifts. Once you start you will want to stencil everything within sight. It is so easy and so much fun! I also made Benjamin and Ada each a monkey shirt. Ever since Ada got her Yo Gabba, Gabba! t-shirt, Benjamin has been looking for one. Well, we have been unable to find him a shirt so I made one for him . He loves it!

So now that I have your interest, how do you do it? Get some freezer paper (found in the same section as wax paper, aluminum foil, etc) and a pencil and draw (trace) your design on the papery side of the freezer paper. Do not draw on the waxy side. After you have your design drawn you need to cut it out with an exacto knife or something very sharp. Make sure and use your self healing mat (if you don't have one just cut your design out on top of phone books, magazines, etc.) so you don't ruin your table or counter top. Once you have your stencil ready to go (design cut out), set out your ironing board, warm your iron, and select your t-shirt or article of clothing that you will iron your design on. Iron your design (waxy side down) on your article of choice. Also, iron a piece of freezer paper on the inside of your clothing item so the item makes a sandwich. This prevents your paint for bleeding through. For best results use fabric paint and follow the fabric paint's recommendations, for example, you may have to iron over your design after it is painted to set it. When painting your design becareful not to get too much paint near the edge or it could leak through. After painting, allow your item to dry according to paint recommendations. Once dry, just peel off the freezer paper and you are good to go. What you will find is some super cute t-shirts, onesies, (the list could go on and on), etc.

Homemade Burpcloths...

By now all the baby gift recipients should have received their packages so I can share with you what have been up to. This is a picture of the burpcloths that I made. I tried to make it peanut-shaped (maybe not peanut-shaped, just not square/rectangular). I cut out two pieces of fabric (I used flannel) and one piece of batting. All the same size. I then sewed them together like a sandwich around the outside and down the middle. Next, I cut out the batting close to the line of stitching being careful not to snip through the stitching. Then, I clipped both pieces of flannel all the way around the burpcloth to make fringe. To get the frayed finish, wash the burpcloth 2-3 times and they dry it. I think the burpcloths turned out pretty cute!

Auntie Carrie Came to Visit...

Benjamin and Ada were excited to see Auntie Carrie but they kept asking about Uncle Matt and Bear. Ada would love to tease Carrie and call her Matt all weekend long. She will now say "Tarrie". These two sure had a good time with their auntie, especially after she gave them each a Hershey bar! I also had a good time. We took in some sales, did some shopping, visited, and just went leisurely about our day/weekend. I was excited to have an extra pair of hands to help me make Ada's tie blanket for daycare. I also decided to make a pillowcase for her pillow. Carrie sat beside me for moral support while I sewed and to see/learn what/how I made the pillowcase. I thought it turned out pretty cute, don't you? As you can tell from Ada's smile, she was pretty happy about her blanket and pillow and spending time with Auntie Carrie.

Girly Socks!!

When the kids and I went shopping the other weekend, Ada fell in love with this lady bug ribbon. Good timing! Not only was it on sale but I was planning on buying some ribbon for a project that I wanted to do. I wanted to make Ada some girly ribbon socks. So I took some regular plain jane bobbe socks (that Ada had) and sewed some ribbon to them. They turned out so cute! Ada loves them and enjoys showing them off. Benjamin enjoys telling people that I made the socks. Okay, I didn't make the socks, I just embellished them. They turned out pretty cute, don't you think? I plan on making her some more and sticking them in her Easter basket.

Ada's Scarf

As promised, here is Ada's scarf. I really love the colors in this scarf and it matched Ada's jacket wonderfully. It's too bad that the zipper broke and would have cost over $ 20 to get it fixed. We decided we could go with just the snaps and no zipper but then the jacket got a hole in it and so we decided to retire her jacket. It's had its use I am sure of it because I picked the jacket up at a rummage sale. Oh, well. We really are not out that much money. Unfortunately, this scarf no longer matches her new jacket but for the time being she will have to be a mismatched child!

As for the scarf, I added some fringe to it. Talk about time consuming cutting all that yarn into small pieces and then looping it through. I do think that the fringe adds a lot to the scarf though. This yarn/scarf was a lot more difficult for me to work with as it was very soft and delicate compared to the Red Heart yarn that I used for Benjamin's scarf. The more I crochet the more I like it and think that I am becoming addicted. I just need to learn how to read a pattern, etc. and I will be set! Don't you love my cooperative model above? She was the only one to sit still enough for me to put the scarf on and take a picture.

So Sweet...

Benjamin and Ada made the sweetest Valentine's cards for us at Dani's. We are so lucky to have her! She is so nice, caring, and creative--plus the kids love her and their friends. Anyhow, these cards are just so sweet that when I opened them I started to cry.

This is what I found inside mine:
"Mom, I've got some friends
Of each and every kind,
But a better friend than my mom
I'll never, ever find!"

This is what Dave found inside his:
"Dad, you are my favorite man
And I sure want you to know,
I'll always respect and love you, Dad
No matter how big I grow."

Isn't that the sweetest thing? The hearts on the cover of the cards were made with their hand prints.

What I have been up to...

The need to create and do something crafty got the better of me the last couple of weeks (ever since that last cold snap) so I decided that I wanted to try crocheting. I bought a skein of yarn and a crochet hook and starting looking things up on-line to see what I needed to do. I figured out how to do a single crochet and apparently I do a decorative pattern. I only take one stitch versus doing the traditional single crochet by taking up both stitches. Benjamin was pretty excited about his scarf until Dave told him that boys don't wear scarves. So now he refuses to wear it outside. He will wear it inside, though, so I think he is forgetting what daddy told him. Thanks a lot daddy!

I want to learn how to make an afghan but I will have to wait and rely on my mother-in-law's help. I am not quite sure how you add additional colors when you want to change them up. I have my ideas but not quite sure if that is accurate. I had a good time making this scarf. I have decided that crocheting is very relaxing for me and that seeing a finished project is very motivating! I am working on a scarf for Ada too and I hope to have it done next week.

Tie Dyed Halloween Shirts

Benjamin and Ada are wearing their Halloween shirts that I made for them. I tie dyed white t-shirts orange and then I painted on the faces. Notice Ada's shirt had to have triangles while Benjamin's shirt had to have diamonds. I was just praying that he wouldn't ask for trapezoids as that seems to be his favorite shape lately!

Ceres Halloween Social

Shirley organized a Ceres Alumni Halloween social. She planned it with our kids in mind! She had all kinds of activities for them and plenty of food to eat! Benjamin loved painting his pumpkins. He painted one for himself and one for his sister. His pumpkin had boy colors while Ada's had girl colors on it. While he was painting Ada's pumpkin he asked if Quinn (his friend from daycare) will think it is pretty. I think I should be concerned.

Benjamin got to frost and decorate some Halloween cookies. He loves to frost and decorate with sprinkles so he was in Heaven! Ada enjoyed eating his creations! They went so fast that there was no time for pictures.

At another station was photo frame decorating. I decorating Ada's frame while Benjamin painted his own frame. He did a very good job of painting. I let him paint it himself (that way I can treasure the frame he made). I applied the stickers/decals but Benjamin directed me as to where he wanted them to go. I think the frames were a great idea and I think they turned out very cute!

There was a station with music and movies so the kids could rest. There was puzzles to put together and noodles to play with and make necklaces with.

Ada's favorite station (she did this station all day) was the snack station! There was very food imaginable to eat and it was all so good! She enjoyed meat, cheese, & crackers, fruit, veggies, cupcakes, brownies, chips, etc. The snack station was Ada's favorite station. There were even these cute disposable cups that you could make into sippy cups. Ada really liked those cups but she had a nasty habit of chewing on the lid till it broke and then she would get her milk or water all over the place.

Mommy enjoyed visiting with her Ceres sisters and getting a chance to catch up with them. It was also fun to see everyone children and to see how much they have grown! Thank you Shirley for organizing a really fun day! We enjoyed it!

Bridal shower crafts

For the bridal shower we asked each guest to provide one of their favorite recipes. We then took these recipes and made a cookbook. Everyone got to make an accordion cookbook. It was fun to see how every one's cookbook turned out and came together! There were some that caught on right away while a few others struggled but I think overall everyone had a great time doing their "arts and crafts" project. I also made a decorated cover for post-it notes that everyone received as shower favors.

This is the cover of the cookbook

This is an example of what one of the cookbooks looked like when finished (the insides)

Here is a post-it note favor

Overall, I think the bridal shower turned out very nice and that everyone had a great time--I know I did.

Our Goodies...

Benjamin and Ada made Dave and I the cutest Mother's Day and Father's Day presents. I just had to share them. I know, I know it took me a while to get the picture taken and posted so I apologize for that. I love this bag!! This gift was both cute and usable!

Boy do I wish it would snow!

Every year we have something we call "Summerfest" for our 4-H kids. At summerfest we make crafts and practice judging photography, family and consumer science topics, visual arts projects, etc. Anyhow, my contribution to summerfest were these cute snowmen! Can you tell I can't stand the heat and can't wait for winter?

Bathtime Buddies

Benjamin enjoys doing "projects" and when we looked in the Family Fun magazine he saw these and we just had to make them. They turned out pretty cute and they actually float! Our starfish floats horizontally instead of vertically but he is still pretty cute. I think we needed to use a bigger cork and apply it vertically instead of horizontally but we used what we had. Benjamin and Ada have gotten a lot of play time with these "animals". A great rainy or snowy day project. We did these when we got snowed in at the end of April.

Ada's Tabby Textured Blanket

While my sister Carrie was here with her sewing machine I decided to get crafty. Carrie and I made Ada a tabby textured blanket. We had a lot of fun picking out the fleece and ribbon. We even had fun putting it together and sewing it. We decided that if we were to make another one that we would stick to the "chubby" ribbon as the "skinny" ones were a pain to work with! Our blanket may not be perfect but it got Ada's stamp of approval.