8 Months Already!

Here are a few of B's latest:
...he gives high fives and kisses upon request.
...has the beginning of a wave going on.
...makes the same "aghhhhhhhh" noise when he gets excited about seeing his little trucks or some toy he thinks is fun.
...is starting to make some forward motion but still not crawling.
...likes to sleep in bed with mommy and daddy.
...is very ticklish.
...loves exploring the dog.
...can spin himself all over the floor.
...likes Veggie Tales.
...loves his Christmas music book.
...loves all types of cell phones and computers.
...always has a big smile and little gasp when he goes outside and the cold air first hits him.
...is constantly using his little index finger to "explore" everything including people's mouths.
...loves the camera (the kid can't stop smiling when he sees a camera!).

Christmas 2009 Part II

Final Christmas Projects Revealed!

I told you felt food can be addicting! After making these green eggs and ham ,I just had to make some more of this cute play food. I used this tutorial from Skip to my Lou and didn't really stray too far from her idea. But you could have tons of variations to the lunch sack theme.



One of the final gifts I made this year was the first bag that I ever made. I used this book (which I highly recommend to anyone - beginner or expert sewer) for the pattern and instructions. It took me a little while because I kept reading the directions over and over again because I would get interrupted and I didn't want to mess it up since I was only using one yard of fabric with little room for error. I think that it turned out pretty good. I chose a black heavy weight cotton for the outside and a black/white/lime flowery print for the inside. It also had a magnetic closure at the top. This wasn't a hard project, just a time-consuming one for a beginner like myself. Also, I thought the bag would turn out a little larger than it did. That was a little disappointing. But overall, I really liked it and see myself making more in the future.

Getting Closer! I Can Feel The Pressure!

My nephew loves Sponge Bob, so when I saw this fabric remnant in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart, I thought of him. I had bookmarked this tutorial a while back, wondering if it was really as easy as they said it was in the tutorial. Well folks, it was! It was probably the easiest project I completed all year. I had a couple of pillows/forms that someone had given me, so I just altered the dimensions to suit my pillow form and voila! It turned out great! I see some pretty cool pillows in B's room in the future...and maybe even some more interesting ones on our couch as well!




I also made this game called 5 Stones from a tutorial found here. The rules are a little more challenging but I thought it would be nice to have a harder game for the older kids and adults. I had never heard of the game before but it sounds kind of like jacks. Its a great project to use up your scraps. I actually used part of a green linen napkin that I picked up the same day that I bought my buttons for this project.



My final project for today was another tag-along prop kind of thing (yep, that is its official name) that goes with a book. Since my soon to be niece already has the book and loves it (so my lil bro says) I decided to make her "green eggs and ham"...well the ham is more like a ham steak. I'm just getting into making felt food (which is very addicting I might add) and the 3D food is a bit harder. But the ham steak didn't turn out too bad, right?

Puffs Are A-Okay!

So, remember our little encounter with the lethal rice krispy kernel? Well, it was one-month ago today that we tried anything remotely resembling a solid food. Today, I worked up my nerve to give it a go again. We went with a puff this time. In my opinion, after I tried one of them, I didn't think that they dissolved that fast. But, my mom made a good point when she said that B was basically a slobber machine (not her words exactly) and he had a lot more moisture going on in there so it would dissolve faster for him. Well, he successfully maneuvered (the majority of the time) the puffs from his high-chair tray to his mouth with only a few going into Mickey's mouth. (That is where this house dog thing is going to come in handy.) He did have a little issue with the release. Sometimes he wouldn't let go of them once it got to his mouth, while other times they were just moist enough, that they would stick to his hands and not stay in his mouth. Its a work in progress, but we are just a little bit closer to big boy food!

Mmmmmmm....Pie

I've made this pie, twice now...just in case it was a fluke. It is darn-tootin' good pie. If I were you I'd make it, but only for a party because you may just eat the whole thing yourself if you were left at home alone with it. ...I'm not implying that happened or anything, cause it didn't...yet.

Christmas 2009 Part 1

One More Checked Off The List...

This I-spy bag was a quick project that I checked off my list tonight...finally. I had slowly been collecting supplies for it since I first saw this tutorial on Make It and Love It. She has got tons of great tutorials along the left hand side of her blog. This little gem is going to be part of a Christmas gift that I am putting together for some younger kids. It wasn't hard to make at all, if you have all of the supplies. I went with the poly beads because I didn't want it to be ruined if it got wet like it would with rice or beans. For the vinyl, I just used part of a onsie package that I had saved for this purpose. You would just need to use some sort of plastic that is strong but not too tough for your sewing machine. I put all kinds of little beads and shapes inside also. Hopefully this will entertain them for a little while in the car.

From The Ashes...A New Project Has Risen!

So, I tried my hardest to make the oven mitts work and look nice. They worked but I could not for the life of me get the binding to look nice. So I scrapped that idea...literally. I didn't want to waste all of that nice Christmas fabric that I had bought and cut up already so I went on a mission. A mission to find something cool and easy and fun and did I mention easy? And what luck! I found something on my first stop at Sew Mama Sew. She has a wonderful list every year called Handmade for the Holidays. Every day there is a new category with multiple similarly themed projects. I chose this cute little star ornament. I skipped the button because I didn't have any cool, vintagey ones laying around the house.

Projects In Process

No finished projects to report today. Instead, I leave you with some blog cruising...

Need a good laugh, then head on over to this blog for their daily photo.

Go here for a little ongoing crafty competition.

This amazing woman has overcome so much. Read her story here.

Christmas Mitts!

This project is still a work in progress. With the addition of another layer of Insulbright in The Idea Room's updated oven mitt tutorial, I realized that my binding could be a little wider. I missed the tape a couple of times so it looks a little messy. And that is why these will be my Christmas oven mitts and not wrapped and under a tree. So, until I can get wider binding this week...this project will have to be on pause.

Teaching Moment

We know that B is still too young to fully understand a lot of things but we also know that his mind is like a sponge right now. He is taking in so much information with all of his senses, sometimes it is hard to make sure that it is all positive.
Today, we got out a gift a couple of friends gave us for Christmas last year. This little Nativity is a great interactive tool to tell the story of Jesus' birth. It will be a tradition in our house to read it and open all of the boxes and set the Nativity up before Christmas.
This year, we had a little issue with B trying to eat the book and all of the pieces but I think that he thought that all parts of the scene were pretty cool.

Getting In Gear

So this week, I plan on cranking out handmade gifts like my life depended on it. I completed one and a half projects tonight. Well...kind of. One project was more of a test run and now I have to figure out what I need to do to make it better. I won't say who the gifts are for but I wanted to go ahead and post them in case anyone needed a couple of good project ideas for gifts.

I really liked these towels from Pottery Barn Kids so I went searching online for a way to make my own. This kid's hooded towel was made from Skip To My Lou's tutorial. It was very easy to make and add a little personality to. I've seen a few patterns/tutorials on these and like this kind of full bath towel shape the best. I think that it will last longer for growing kids.

As you can see, one of my models was more than willing to pose for the camera, but since he was unable to er...stand on his own. I went with the vacuum for the full length shot.



I made my own binding with fabric specifically purchased for this project and I'm very happy with how both towels turned out. Hopefully their new owner will like them too!



Check back tomorrow and I will hopefully have another project completed! :-)

Happy Anniversary! 5 Years!

One day at...


this girl...


met this boy...


They fell in love and exchanged these...


A couple of years later they adopted this little cutie...


Then a few more years went by and they came home with this little cutie...


Sweetie,
Thanks for balancing me out and sharing everything with me for the past 5 years. I can't wait to see what the next 50 have in store for us!

I love you!
P

Goodness Gracious!

It's December 10th already and I have to turn this...



into this! All before Christmas!

For The Men In Your Lives

Well, at least for the little guys...but who knows, maybe you know a big guy who would like one of these. I made the following for our friends, Ordell and Beth's youngest son's birthday. He turns the big '3' on Saturday. He is really into toy trains and cars so when I saw this car cozie tutorial, I thought of his upcoming b'day. Hopefully, he will like it and it will be a great traveling companion for the whole family. I made two of these this week, one according to My Little Gems pattern with a ribbon tie and one with a velcro closure. After I made the ribbon one, I thought about the many times the little one would be asking mommy or daddy to tie the roll closed for them and that just might start getting old for mommy and daddy. So voila! Velcro to the rescue! It was a pretty easy tutorial and I thought that it turned out pretty good. B may be getting one of these babies next year! Here is another tutorial with a little variation on Homemade by Jill.

Don't Judge...

...unless you have the entire story. This is what I was thinking today as I was walking around our small-town grocery store with B strapped into the cart. There, I felt many mothers' eyes fall upon my child. You see, my son managed to somehow get into the store with only one sock on. And yes it is quite chilly outside today. But no, he did not leave the house that way nor did he get into the car that way. But somewhere between the car and the area in the store where you pick-up a cart we were solo on the socks. He didn't seem to mind and I wasn't going back out to look for it since I was only there to get out of the house and to get a couple of things. I got a few comments from folks, pointing his bare digits out to me. I'm sure they were just trying to be helpful... Then I saw a more eyes being drawn to the sockless foot and even a couple disapproving shakes of the head. Am I that bad of a mother? No. They don't know that my 7 month old gets his kicks from pulling socks off and hiding them from his mother. For some reason I have been resistant to putting shoes on B. He can't walk, why does he need them? I guess my answer is, to hold the socks on.