Happy Birthday to my oldest!

My daughter turned 8 today.  Sadly, she has the flu so all of the wonderful things I had planned today have kind of fallen by the wayside.

8 balloons for each of her eight years attached to seven little gifts and a card letting her know of one coming surprise:  Check!

Cute cookie cake for after her softball game: Check!

Up early to make her breakfast - cake batter pancakes:  Check!

Plans for pizza and gatorade:  Check!

All of the above, put on hold for a few days while her tummy rebounds:  Check!

I'll try to put out some pictures later but right now I'm taking care of her.

Cutesy Satchel - The Cupcake

I LOVE these bags.  Fun to make, kids are invested, and the options are endless.  My kiddos have given up their regular backpacks in lieu of their totes (Maddox the Panda and Autumn has the Cupcake).  We are busily working away at more variations and different upgrades that the kids have come up with.  They are so excited about these.  But, for now, I have The Cupcake to add:

Available for purchase here: Etsy Store - Cutesy Totes

Acrylic Painting

The kids left to go with their dad.  These days are always difficult for me so I made a plan.  I pulled out my brand spanking new acrylics and some canvasses that have just been begging for me to work them into something.  I am out of practice - as in not painted in over a year - and consequently started small.  But, I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I am considering adding a quote to the bottom right square though.  Anyhow, this is my first painting in a LONG time.

Girls' jeans to cute skirt

My daughter grew out of these jeans with her last growth spurt and they had holes in the knee but were otherwise in good shape so I opted to alter it a bit into a skirt.  This too is available in my Etsy shop and I hope to have more as she continues to grow.  It was pretty easy to do actually.

I cut off the pants to the desired length (well above the knee holes) and trimmed out the inseam.  It took a bit of trimming and tucking to make the pants lay right as a skirt but this was not overly complicated.  I should have taken pictures (*face palm*) of the whole process but it went so quickly I didn't even think about it.  Next, I took some cotton scraps I had (did not use more than a 1/4 of a yard) and cut it into strips a few inches wide.  I finished the lower edge of each strip and then machine-basted the top edge for gathering.  The strips had to be cut down so they could be layered in a pyramid shape and stitched into the skirt (front and back).  Lastly, I trimmed the bottom edge of the final ruffle and stitched it on the skirt.

Front of the skirt

Back of the skirt

Ruffle t-shirt skirt

I keep seeing these skirts everywhere and I've done a similar one before but now I think I have the whole system perfected.  I will be incorporating these into my Etsy store since I like them so much and I can see the "school color" version being a HUGE help for parents like me.  My kiddo loves sports but they do not make a lot of cute NCAA/NFL/NBA (these are the only sports we really follow, don't judge!  LOL!)  clothing for girls.  It is sad really.  But, now that I have worked out these handy little skirts, I can make her one for every team we follow.  This particular one says O-H-I-O since it is made primarily from old OSU t-shirts that no longer fit my kiddos.  It turned out even cuter than I anticipated to be honest.

If you are interested in purchasing this particular OSU ruffle skirt it is available in my Etsy store.  I can also do made to order via that posting.

Cutesy tote - the Panda

My son has two favorite animals - the giant panda and moose.  I will be making a moose in the future but I had the materials to make a panda today so here you have it.  Though the others to this point are available for purchase, this one went to my son for his library books.  I can custom make one if requested though.

This is primarily cotton but there is some felt (the bamboo, nose, and inner eyes).  I hand stitched the panda and bamboo.

The inner pocket is actually a dual pocket.

Cutesy satchel - the penguin

I said there would be more to come....well...there are..... A LOT more.  My kids and I brainstormed more than two dozen ideas for tote bags/satchels.  They have some fantastic ideas though sometimes I think they think more of my skill than they should.

The penguin features are hand-stitched but I machine-sewed the rest.  It is all cotton and approximately 12" wide by 18" high.  This version is reversible too!

Cutesy satchel - the Owl - first of many!

I've seen something like this on Pinterest - Owl Bag - so I decided to mess around with some of my ideas and create my own.  This is my first one, also an owl, but I have a cupcake in the works and layouts for a hippie-style bag, a penguin, and a butterfly for starters.  I'm so excited for this addition to my repertoire!

I guess I'm making one of these in purple this weekend for my daughter....she is loathe to sell this one....

More felt bookmarks!

These are so fun to make...some flowers and a tea cup...

Toilet Paper Roll Creatures!!

We had SO much fun making these.  I am working on some pieces of art - yes, art from toilet paper rolls - and the kiddos decided we needed to make some creatures too.  We have been collecting these paper towel and toilet paper rolls for WEEKS and now we finally have something to show for it.  Here is the first round of creatures we concocted:

Clockwise from top left: B.O.B. (from Monsters vs. Aliens), a butterfly, another butterfly, a bee, an owl, and two moose.

We have more in the works including some Lord of the Rings characters.  The kids have really enjoyed making these and I haven't even busted out the googly eyes, pipe cleaners, felt, fabric, or paint yet!

As for my art pieces, I am still deciding on colors but once they are done, I will show them as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

Picture courtesy of http://www.lilesnet.com/mother/mothers_day_2012/

One day where Moms everywhere get to sleep in and have breakfast made by their families and in general relax. 

Unless you are a single Mom like me.  We wake up and make our own breakfast, handle the household, and play referee.  But that's okay.  I miss sleeping until ten, waking to an awesome breakfast and knowing there would be time to take a long, hot, undisturbed bath if I wished.  But, as I so often tell my kids, sometimes things do not work out as we hoped or planned.   This is one of those times and we will make the best of it.

My wonderful kids let me sleep in - until 8am!  They vowed to "try very hard to be extra special good."  I laughed, they are always good.  I have only refereed to small arguments this morning and I did so while trying not to smile at them.  I was able to convince them to have my favorite breakfast - french toast - after promising to make it "cake batter flavored."  Kids will eat anything cake batter flavored, right?  All I had to do was add a little butter, vanilla, and almond extracts to the eggs and milk then drop some sprinkles over the top of the finished pieces.  Voila!  Happy kids who devoured the french toast - so fast in fact that I couldn't get a picture!  I STRONGLY suggest some cake batter french toast if you haven't tried it already.  Here is my recipe:

2 eggs

8 slices of whole wheat bread

1/4-1/2 cup milk

1 tsp butter flavored extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

sprinkles/butter/apple butter/syrup to taste

I know this isn't much and I am sorry I do not have pictures, but as I said, the french toast was gone before I could do anything.  They loved it!  We are off to spend the rest of the day together, hopefully finishing some of our projects so we can post them.....

Cupcake bookmarks!!

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster - I lost a family member, spent a brief amount of time with my immediate family who I do not get to see often, and dealt with a few road blocks.  So, my long term projects are taking even longer but I am starting to see some progress and to that end, I have the first of many new items starting with felt cupcake bookmarks!  The kids actually helped with these and they have SO many ideas for more - mad hatter hats, cheshire cats, monsters, Harry Potter characters, Lord of the Rings characters and so on.  My challenge now is to see how many I can bring to life.

These were pretty easy to make.  I made a pattern, the kids cut them out and used some fabric modge podge to put them together.  Once the kids were in bed, I added the embellishments.  We made a lot in a short time and they are SO cute!

Recognize this book?  I kind of know the author...

First style is a corner mark that slides over the pages.

Second style slides in the book.

Both styles are double thickness.  One slides over the corner and the other is a standard bookmark but so much cuter.  I have a bunch of these!