I Spy Quilt

This quilt has been a thorn in my side for about a year. I loved gathering fabrics for it. I loved piecing it together. I loved when the top was done. This was the first quilt I took to a shop to have it quilted. And they MESSED IT UP! I was heartbroken. So much time and money. I thought about ripping it all out and doing it over. I thought about trying to fix it. They did some hand quilting to try to fix the spots. I just didn't know what to do. I was so upset that I didn't care about finishing the quilt. So it sat in the bag, without binding, for a year. I finally decided to bind it, and then decide what to do about the quilting. The binding gave me a hard time, much harder than Susie's quilt from this summer. But I got it done.Emmett knew the blanket was for him, and when I finally pulled it out of the machine he said "It's done, mommy? My blanket?" He was so excited. We took it to his bed and he just started pointing out all the things he saw. I loved watching him get excited.

And then I took it to a friend, and we decided that because of all the fabrics you couldn't notice the mistakes easily. And then the boys played on it and loved it. I realized that I don't need to stress about the imperfections. It's been sitting in the closet when he could have been enjoying it. So I'm calling it done.

Costume - Wreck-it Ralph

This costume gave me the most grief - and it's all because I'm a perfectionist and I HAD to have brown overalls. I have never dyed anything before, so I made some mistakes. To get overalls in Cam's size, I found blue ones on ebay. I didn't know there was such a thing as color remover, so I just bought some dark brown dye and hoped for the best. It barely changed the color. So I did some research online and found out about the color remover. I did about three rounds of it. Keep in mind that I'm doing empty loads in between to rinse the washer, and I'm washing the pants in between to prep them for the next step. I dyed them with one bottle of brown and they were perfect. And then I had the chore of trying to rinse them out in the shower. My 2 1/2 year old thought it was hilarious that I was showering daddy's pants.

The rest of the costume was fairly simple. I happened to have a circle cutout from pickyourplum. I put a paper star on top of it and then spray painted gold. The different textures caused the star to stand out, so it looked great! For his shirts, I couldn't find orange plaid shirts anywhere, so I just bought an orange t-shirt, made a cut at the collar and sewed back the rough edges and added buttons. Then I tore up the sleeves a bit.

I didn't want him to, but he shaved off his goatee for authenticity. He looked pretty good, but when you pair him with Emmett it's perfect!

Costume - Fix-It Felix Jr.

The hardest part about E's Fix-It Felix Jr. costume was finding all the little parts.

For the hat, I ordered the plain blue hat from Amazon and made the logo from yellow vinyl. I just free handed the logo.

I found the shirt on walmart.com, and the name badge on etsy from this etsy store.


I found his work gloves and the hammer on Amazon, and then spray painted the hammer gold. It didn't stick to the plastic hammer well, and he walked around hammering things. So we kept reapplying the coats of paint after every Halloween event we went to!

Throw in some new jeans with a belt and his brown shoes, and we came pretty darn close to the real thing. It's the details that make a difference! The best was when we saw him with Camron's Wreck-it Ralph. Perfect!

Costume - Momma and Baby Kangaroos

I had a really hard time deciding what Susie and I should be for Halloween. The boys had their costumes, but there wasn't really anything from the movie for us to do. I browsed on Pinterest a lot, and saw a momma/baby kangaroo costume. I found a costume for Susie on ebay, added a pink bow so everyone would know she's a GIRL, and then pieced together my costume. My costume was the last one made, and I was tired and not thinking clearly. There was probably a better way to do it, but I sure couldn't think of one. It made it impossible to ride in the car because of the tail, and I couldn't get Susie in and out easily. But, it was cute, and Emmett loved that I had a tail that I could swing around and whack him with! I hate that I didn't get a better picture of the tail!

 

November - Gratitude Leaves

I wanted to do something to display the things we are thankful for, and I saw this one on Pinterest. I had tons of scrapbook paper in fall colors, and I had some brown, orange, yellow, and cream ribbon from a grab box from pickyourplum.com, so I didn't have to buy anything!

The best part has been that Emmett has been involved. When I was tracing and cutting leaves, he was matching them and sorting them (hello OCD child of mine!). Every night we decide what to put on our leaf. The first few nights I did it, drew the picture and then we practiced saying what they were. The last week, he has chosen what goes on there, and they're actually things we are grateful for (friends, grandparents, the dogs, the cat, etc.). He loves helping to hang up the leaf and we spend a lot of time looking at them all. I'm hoping I can save the bows and repeat this next year!

Baby Barefoot Sandals

I just noticed this draft in my list of posts.... oops! It's from August.

For Susie's blessing, I decided that she would wear barefoot sandals. I didn't want to buy shoes for just one occasion. They were easy to make! I didn't really use a tutorial, I just looked at a few different websites to find a sizing guide and then figured them out.

Halloween Crafts

On my day off, I really wanted to have fun with the kids. So we baked, crafted, and played all day. Here are the handprint crafts we did that day:

Homemade Laundry Soap

I saw this on Pinterest, and I thought it sounded crazy. But then I heard of more and more people doing it. So I read up on a lot of different blogs, and decided to give it a go. I was in Walmart, getting all the supplies and a woman was getting all the same supplies and I asked her if she was making her own laundry soap.  So I figured this was meant to be and I picked her brain. It was easy peasy, and I am LOVING the soap so far. I don't have to use much at all, and it's just the right amount of fresh scent.

Headbands Galore!

For all my talk about wanting another baby boy, I have loved sewing and crafting for a baby girl. It's so much easier! I ordered tons of fold-over elastic from pickyourplum.com, and some flowers from etsy, and I've been a headband fiend. I use fabri-tac to attach everything. Here are a few she has worn so far!

Tile Food Labels

I got this idea off Pinterest - using corner tiles to make food labels for a party table. I found the tiles at Lowe's, and used my cricut and vinyl from pickyourplum.com to cut out cute bugs and flowers for Susie's blessing brunch. I found bright dry erase markers to write on them. I love them, and I love that I can pull the vinyl off and make new ones for a new party!

Bulletin Board Frames

Last summer, I went to Goodwill looking for frames for some type of gallery wall in E's room. I walked in and found 4 frames that fit pretty well together. What are the chances in one trip?? They sat in his closet for a year, and now that we've moved the baby stuff out of his room he needed something on the wall. I decided to make little bulletin boards using cork (bought in a big roll). I painted the frames and put in the cork. Cam had to help me glue down the cork so it wouldn't roll back up (my fault for buying it a year ago). He also helped me hang them on the wall. I like them, except for the fact that the cork isn't very deep so the pins are hard to put on. As long as E doesn't mess with them, we're good!

Baby Blessing Brunch

We had a brunch after Susie's baby blessing on Sunday. It was challenging because I had to come up with food that I could just pull out and serve, since my guests would arrive at the same time as me! Thank goodness for Pinterest! We had breakfast casserole muffins, fruit, yogurt, granola, and a really yummy strawberry bundt cake. I was able to go to my school garden to cut some flowers for the decorations. The garden beds were overgrown from the summer, but the colors of the remaining flowers were perfect for my party! I've listed the links for the recipes at the end of this post.

Breakfast Casserole Muffins: Recipe (I used spicy sausage instead of regular, and I added some salt. I also found that you don't have to cook them as long as the tube of biscuits says)

Strawberry Bundt Cake: Recipe (I made the glaze using lemon juice, powdered sugar, and a little bit of lemon zest)

Four Generation Frame

This is one of my favorite projects for the summer. I realized that I had four generations of mother-daughter photos. I'm going to change out the photo of me and Susie as soon as we get some pictures at her blessing in a few weeks. Then all the babies will be wearing white dresses. I love old family photos, and I'm so excited to have these displayed. It's a great reminder of the wonderful mothers who are examples to me of the mother I want to be. I found the perfect quote and typed it up and printed it out:

"I will protect you until you are grown, and then I will let you fly free. But loving you, that is for always."

Flower Wall Hooks

This project made me so happy, because I was able to use up some things from my craft closet! I had all the materials for this project, except for the white hooks. The flowers I picked up a long time ago, and I used scraps of fabric and paint I already had.

First, I painted the flowers. Then I cut squares of fabric and ironed on some interfacing so that the fabric would be easier to cut. Then, I used the template, traced the flowers, and cut them out. I pulled the interfacing off and used a light coat of mod podge to glue the fabric inside the flowers. Then, with the help of my handy husband, we drilled some holes through the flowers and put them into the wall. (He would want me to add that he used sheet rock anchors on one hole for each hook.)

I love how they turned out, and I am so glad to finally have a place to hang her towel!