A Loss

Last Saturday our family suffered a loss.  It has been tough.  We had a GREAT day!  We drove out to where I used to live and met up with friends we hadn't seen in forever.  The kids played together on the playground while the grown ups talked and laughed.  We were there for hours.  It was wonderful.  We also ate at 2 of our favorite places.  You can't beat great food.  As we were driving home from our most excellent Saturday, as we got closer to home we noticed there had been a storm.  There was flooding on the streets and you could tell that had been some strong wind.  It was drizzling on us a bit.  We got home and noticed the power had gone out.  A couple of hours later the power went out again.

The next day we woke up and I looked out in the back yard and saw something horrible!

Do you see it?  

We were missing something.

I looked to the left......nothing.

I looked all the way to the right.......nothing.

CRAP.

Cody got up a little while later and I said, "Go look outside"

He looked.  "Where is it?"

I said, "No clue"

Cody went outside and looked around.  He looked left....nothing.

He looked right.....nothing.

He looked UP!  BINGO

FOUND IT!  My kids are devastated.  They loved their trampoline.  Do you noticed how not only is it on the roof but that the frame was completely destroyed?!  YUP!  No fixing this puppy.  What was worse is that after Tyler cried for a minute he said, "Now I'll have to wait until I go to grandma and grandpa's  to jump on the trampoline."   My parents JUST moved and no longer have a back yard.  DOH!  We explained that to him and he cried for a second again.  Bummer.

So after some tears ( from both Tyler and Daddy )  Okay Daddy didn't really cry but he wanted to because he had the task of climbing on the roof and trying to get the dumb thing down.  Everything on it was ruined.  We loved you trampoline.  May you now rest in pieces...literately.

Butterfly Purse

Can I just tell you how happy it makes me when I ACTUALLY get some crafting done when I haven't had time?!  SOOOOOO happy.  My sister was here visiting so I wasn't crafting at all and then my house was a mess.  I got it almost cleaned and then decided it didn't matter any more because if I didn't sew SOMETHING I was going to go crazy.  Does anyone else ever feel that way?

Any ways.  I saw a purse at a boutique in Utah while I was there and thought it was really cute.  They wanted 18 dollars for it though and it didn't even have interfacing in it and the handles were made out of ribbon.  Hmmmmm.  I didn't think it was worth 18 dollars for those two reason but it was such a cute girly purse.  I quickly clicked a picture with my cell phone and knew I would have to try it.  I went ahead and didn't do interfacing either and made the handles out of the ribbon.  It's perfect for a little girl who is going to just put little toys and things in it.  Here is how it turned out

I love the fabric!  I got it as a fat quarter for 99 cent when I was in Utah.  I also got the inside fabric at the same price.  So basically it cost me maybe 5 bucks to make and didn't take that long.  It took maybe 2 hours and that was because I took pictures along the way so that come Monday I should have a tutorial up!  WOO HOO  I have been wanting to do a tutorial again.  So there you have it.  Monday or Tuesday I should have the tutorial up and just so you know it takes less then two fat quarters for the out side and inside and then scrap fabric to make the lady bug.  Fat quarters are on SALE at Joann's right now for 99 cents!  Go grab a couple and come back Monday so you can make your own.  I am hoping to have some different animals too.  I REALLY want to do an owl or a butterfly.  Here's hoping I have time!

Thankful Thursdays

I am SO thankful that my sister was able to adopt this cutie pie!

Seriously could he be any cuter?  I think not!

Recycled Flowers

I saw this project in a magazine cut out my sister had in her special folder she made.  She had all sorts of fun and cool ideas, projects and things she wants all cut out of magazines and neatly placed in a three ring binder.

Yeah...I'm not that organized but I am glad SHE is.  While I was in Utah she got it out and I flipped through it.

So here is my version of what I saw.  I took a penny saver ( whatever kind of paper you want.  Book pages, newspaper, ads...whatever )  And I LOVE that I used the penny saver because we just throw it right in the recycling bin pretty much every single week.  Makes me so happy to repurpose these!

Let's get started!

Ripped out some pages from whatever source you are going to use.  Take some water and some water color paints and paint the heck out of your pages.

I tried a couple of different things here.  Here I painted the paper.  I also tried coloring the water and the crinkling up the paper and sticking it in the water.  Both work.  You have to have the water REALLy dark with the color though.  I let that dry.  Do both sides because you will be seeing both sides of the paper when it is all said and done.

Next I took some of this fabulous stuff

And I added it to some water ( I didn't want it to stiffen the paper TOO much! ) and coated the paper AGAIN!  Let it dry and then crinkle the paper.

Next you can do TWO different things.  I tried both and I am not sure which one I like better.

The first thing you can do is CUT petals out of your paper.

OR

You can rip petals out of your paper.  I like the look of both so try out both and see which one floats your boat!

Next you want to take a smaller petal and glue it to the center.  In the picture you see regular glue BUT I ended up using the glue gun and it worked SOOOO much better because it dried instantly.  Just be aware that paper is THIN and you will probably burn yourself at least once.  I kept putting my finger under the paper and then pressing directly onto the glue gun. DUH!  haha  When I use ribbon or fabric it's usually thick enough to not burn.

I found this floral wire at the dollar store and thought it would work perfect!  They had many different colors and any color would have looked great.

Put some glue on the wire and then roll the paper around it.

It should look something like this.  Then just start glueing all of the petals on.  I try and go from one side to the other to fill in all of the spots.

Once you get it looking good, try bending the petals out a bit so it doesn't look flat.

At this point I wanted them to stay like they were and so I wanted to add a top coat.  I have this

I took my flowers out side and sprayed the heck out of them using both.  I found the results looked pretty much the same.  Neither of them looked shinny to me but I love how they brightened up the color and made it a deeper shade.

Then I had a little too much fun taking some pictures of them

So go make some flowers.  The nice thing about these is your kids could help you make them.  They take a while only because they need to dry in between coats but other then the glue ( if you use hot glue ) your kids could help.

linking up to some parties

Something OTHER Then Hair Clip

I swear I still do crafty things other then hair clips.  It doesn't seem like it but I swear I do.  Most of the time I do not end up finishing things which is why they don't get blogged about.  While I was in Utah I bought a baby shoe pattern and I finally got around to doing it.  The patter was way easy to follow and it didn't take too long to make these.  It was a change from things being a trial run the first time.  You have to remember I have been sewing for less then two years and everything I have learn has pretty much been from the internet.  Sometimes that means messing things up while I try to figure them out.  I am also stubborn so I often just try and make things without a pattern.  Sometimes I have great success, and sometimes I fall flat on my face.  The important thing is that I enjoy sewing and it makes me feel good to create things.

Anyways.  Here are the shoes

The hardest part of the pattern was after they were done and I was trying to figure out how to decorate them.  I finally settled on these flowers I bought a million years ago and never used.  I almost put a red flower on top which I LOVE with the black and white but I decided the these flowers because I figured it would make it easier to go with most out fits.  Hopefully they fit!

I have another project up my sleeve.  It isn't done yet s just to give you a sneak peak it involves water colors, recycling and modge podge.  You can't go wrong there right?!

Until then...I need to go finishing making my home made wheat bread for our grill cheese we are having for dinner!  MMMMMMMM  We LOVE making grill cheese on home made wheat bread around here.

Making

I have been making flowers.  I haven't really taken any pictures of them.  I don't want everyone who actually reads this to get sick of them.  Don't you hate that when someone blogs the same stuff every time.  I feel like that has been me lately so I have been debating on not blogging at all or blogging the same three crafts.  Hmmmmm

This weekend my in laws decided to come surprise us.  It was lots of fun.  My husband smoke us some ribs and brisket and I am telling you it was GOOOOOOD!  And I don't even really like meat.  I made some of the Brazilian Cheese Bread I blogged about.  SO good you guys!  If you have not tried the recipe yet I AM TELLING YOU DO IT!  You will NOT be let down.  My mother in law went home with the recipe and a bag of the tapioca flour so she could make some.  :)

They came to church with us too.  Church was really nice yesterday.  One of the lessons we had was about how our most important calling in this life was that of a spouse and a parent.  It hit home for me.  Who cares what we do in this life we were terrible at raising our kids and were terrible at being a spouse!?!  I mean, really.  With that in mind, I have had a pretty good day with my kids.  Things that normally would drive me crazy have not.  I haven't yelled.  I haven't ignored them so I could craft.  In fact earlier today I had some craft I wanted to try and it just so happened to work out that Kayla could do it too even though it wasn't a kid craft.  You'll see what I mean when I post it in a day or two.  We sat at the table and painted together while my son was playing a computer game with us.  It was nice.  I REALLY don't want to be a failure as a mom.  I want my kids to look back and cherish the times we spend together.  I am working to improve myself all of the time.  Today Tyler told me I was the best mom he ever had!  haha  It makes me laugh because of course I am the best he ever had because I am the only one he has ever had!  But hey...I'll take it!


Here's a quick picture of a clip I just recently made.  I love it

Maybe tomorrow I'll be back with something other then hair clips

Blue Eyes

Remember how I told y'all I had  a photo shoot this week with some cutie pies from church?  Check out their gorgeous blue eyes!

 Adorable right?  If you want to see the rest of the pictures click here