Ties

Tyler has been BEGGING me to make him a tie. We went to Walmart to pick out some fabric and he picked a soft yoggy bear fabric.  Not ideal for a tie but that's okay.  I could work with it right?  On Saturday his daddy took him to the movies to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie so mommy got ot work on his tie while Kayla was taking her nap.  It was all done by hand which meant it took for ever!  He wanted a REAL tie.  I got one picture of him with it on

As you can see it BARELY fits in.  I told him I would make him a new one.  SOMEDAY! haha  I guess mommy misjudged how HUGE my boy is.

My friend bought some stuff from me on etsy. While she was at it she asked me to make her son some ties.  This is what I came up with and I LOVE the ties I am sending her.

I should have taken a picture of the back side.  The polka dot one is so pimp!  It has a black underneath and I LOVE it.  The stripe one has a brown underneath and I love it too!  I hope she likes them and that they looks adorable on her son.  She is a photographer and she told me she'd send me some pictures! SWEET!

And now, we are off to Utah.  I am hoping tonight to be able to post my first GREEN post!  It will be a challenge since we are going to be visiting family but I didn't want to have to wait until April 3rd when we get back to do my first post. I have a challenge for y'all I am hoping at least ONE person will decide to try.  So until tomorrow check out this cute picture of my girl.

The reason I love this picture?  Well, those pants she is wearing are a size 3 to 6 months!  haha  I saved them because they never fit her good when she was that age and because her tummy is so small I knew they would still fit her.  I pulled them out yesterday and sure enough THEY FIT!  And I think they look totally cute on her.  By the way she turned two back at the end of January!  Oh and the shirt is a 18 month.....  I love having a tiny girl.

Yikes

I have had an interesting week or so.  The time changed two weeks ago screwed me!  You would think with the way it time changed my kids would be sleeping in later but alas, they decided to turn things upside down and do the opposite.  Tyler keeps waking up at like 6 and coming in my room to get me up.  He also has crawled into bed with us several times which means no sleep for me.  Kayla has also been having allergies which means a runny nose during the day and the second she lays down at night it means a cough!  SO ANNOYING!  No cough at all during the day.  Not even a little.  But at night it keeps both her and I up.  Once a twice a worried mommy running into her room for fear of throw up.  It's been fun...

I have bought a few new things that I am dying to try out and haven't had time!  It's killing me too.  I also order some things on etsy I am excited about.  One thing I ordered was some shoe clips.  What are shoe clips you might ask...WELL, I LOVE the idea of shoe clips.  It takes a plain pair of shoes and makes them cute.  Basically they are like a clip on ear ring but for shoes.  I am going to make me a pair and then make some for my shop.  I also might try making some necklaces.  We shall see.  I have lots of projects on my "to do list".  I hope I can get around to doing at least HALF of them in the next two weeks or so.  This weekend we are off to Utah.  I have a consultation in St. George with an eye doctor.  We decided last year that with this years tax return I was going to get Lasik.  I am SO excited.  My contacts have been driving me crazy the last two years but especially the last 6 months or so.  In fact, just the last couple of weeks I have wanted to scratch my eyes out.  So I am thankful for enough of a tax return that we are able to do that plus a couple of other things too.

Did anyone else get a good tax return?  What are you doing with yours?  I am hoping for some time later to post one or two projects.  Not sure if it will happen though so stay tuned...

Funny Photo

Do you ever go through old pictures and find something you LOVE!?  I do that all the time.  Sometimes I find a picture that I can't believe I missed and other times I don't find anything.  My sister Kim was going through some pictures from October and found a funny one she sent me.  I was taking pictures of the Salt Lake City Utah's Temple.  I was crouched down because I was getting the reflection of the Temple in the water of the fountain.  My niece Bradlie was trying to play in the water.  He mommy was holding her pants so she didn't fall in.

Check out the picture my sister got

HAHAHAHA  I love it!  That's my Bro in the back ground.

Well just thought I'd share the funny photo.  I have LOTS of things I could be posting but I think my week is going to be busy.  We are leaving Thursday to drive to Utah to visit for the weekend and we are excited.  In fact, Kayla today kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Grandma-pa, Papa, Nana!"  haha  She is so funny.

Kindergarten

My boy starts kindergarten next year.  I can't WAIT!  haha  I know most mommies are sad and cry and I am sure as I take him to school for the first time and leave him there I will feel sad.  I also will be happy because he NEEDS to be with other kids SO bad.  Kayla also needs a mommy that can give her more attention.  When Tyler was little we would go to the play ground almost daily.  Poor Kayla gets to go monthly and the reason for that is because when I take them, Kayla goes one way and Tyler goes the other.  If I am not giving TYler attention he yells for me "MOM PLAY WITH ME!"  It's horrible.  We end up not having fun even at the play ground.  He just doesn't understand that she needs more attention so she doesn't hurt herself. She is one of those kids who would just walk off of a ladder if no one was watching her.

Any ways.  On Saint Patricks Day Tyler had an appointment at his soon to be school.  They tested him.  he answered everything correctly.  It was kinda funny because Kayla answered half of the questions correctly too!  Honestly, I bet my kid could go straight to first grade and be at the same level as everyone.  The problem is SOCIALLY he would be WAY behind.  They gave us a packet of things to work on.  Cody and I were reading the packet last night and laughing.  One of the things it said was that our kid needs to recognize the letters out of order and not just during the alphabet.  Um, Tyler knew that before he was 2!  haha  Oh well.

We also notice a spelling error.  This was written and typed up by the kindergarten teachers at the school.  Can you see the error.

Do you see it?  SO glad our kid will be learning from someone who knows how to check their spelling and proof read!  haha

THANKS!

Thank you SO much for everyone who left me feed back on my last post.  Sometimes I write on here and swear no one is reading stuff!  haha  It was nice to know someone read my post yesterday.  It is funny because I thought the purple one was the cutest too but I was just second guessing myself.  Since everyone agreed with the purple, that is what I did!  I listed the purse already and here is the listing for it.

HERE

On a side note, I had another GOOD day with the kids today.  We even went shopping and I didn't have any problems.  In fact, while at Walmart Kayla was throwing a fit and I was being calm and not giving in and some older lady told me what a good mom I was!  HA!  I kinda laughed and said thank you and she told me how patient I was being.  I wanted to say, "You should have heard how impatient I was on Tuesday!"  Glad everything went better though.

NOW we are off to Costco to buy some GREEN PANS!  I am SO EXCITED!  We have needed new pans SO bad and last week Costco had  a green pan set.  Usually you have to buy them individually.  We got our tax return and this was one of the things we wanted to buy.  Crossing my finger Costco still has them.  We are also eating dinner there.  MMMMMMM Costco pizza brings back childhood memories of one of my favorite places.  Carlsbad Beach near San Diego.  TEAR

Tomorrow I have another project to start.  Tyler picked out some material he wants me to make him a tie with.  I had two days to get it done so he can wear it to church.  Let's see if it's possible.

Here is the finished purse

Which One?

I am a very indecisive person.  Especially when it comes to my etsy shop and I don't have a specific person in mind when making something.  Today I sewed a purse ( which I happen to LOVE ).  I want to post it for sale on my etsy tomorrow BUT I can't decided which button to add to it.  What do y'all think?  Here is the purse

See where the button goes on the top?  What color should I put on it?

Choice One ( purple )

Choice two ( orange )

Choice 3 ( grey blue )

Choice 4 ( pink )

Choice 5 ( blue )

I am not liking the orange because it kinda blends in but what do you guys think?  I think I like number one but it isn't for me so what do you think looks best?

I can't wait to put this in my shop!  I think it is so cute and I am loving the bright colors.  Kinda springy right?!  I am loving how easy this pattern is too.  I was able to finish it in one day.  Well, I cut it out and ironed on the interfacing last week.  But all the sewing was done today.  All I need to do now so top stitch around the top ( which helps smooth out all the creases so don't worry about how bad the top looks right now ) and then add the button.  Then we are in business.  I plan on making more of these purses in other colors.  I absolutely love sewing!!!

On a side note I had such a ROUGH day yesterday.  I put the kids down for naps and cried.  It was awful.  I had planned something for dinner but it was kind of involved and I thought of calling Cody and asking him to get pizza on the way home.  Then I decided to suck it up and make dinner. SOOOOO glad I did because dinner was SO good and helped me feel better.  In fact, I think when I have another minute I will post the recipe.  I have posted it on our family blog before but not this one.  Then I told my husband I wanted to take a bath.  Did you know we have a big garden tub and have lived here for almost 3 months and everyone has used it but me!  So we put the kids to bed and I got in the bath while my husband did home work.  Then we cuddled and went to bed. It was SO nice.  Today I was determined to have a great day!  We got up early and hung out.  Then we got all dressed and went to the play ground. The kids had so much fun.  Then we went to the post office and walked to the market here.  I let the kids pick out a two dollar toy and that made THEIR day!  We got home and had lunch.  Then we hung out some more and mommy got my sewing stuff out.  Put the kids down for naps and sewed!!!  YEAH!  Then cooked dinner, cleaned living room and had a great evening. WOO HOO

I LOVE HAVING GOOD DAYS!  Don't forget to let me know which button looks best.  I am lost without you!!!!

Kids

I apologize if you read my photography blog because today I am reposting some pictures I just put on there.  I took some pictures of my kids today and I am loving their eyes!

My girl

And my boy!  He drove me crazy ALL day but it's hard to resist these eyes

I love you Tyler and Kayla!!!

Earth Day

HAHAHAHAHA  Here IW as thinking Earth Day was sometime in March and about a week and a half ago I looked it up on the internet only to find out it is in April.  Boy was my face red.  This is why there has been a SERIOUS lack of Green post for the last two weeks.  Earth Day is actually on April 22nd.  It should be easy for me to remember from now on since it is the day before my mom's birthday.  I am excited for April to come because I have been looking up recipes for all kinds of things for y'all.  I am excited to be sharing them.  I have not tested all of them.  With all of the things out there I do not have enough TIME or MONEY to test everything.  Anyone interested in tested out a formula I find and then doing a guest blog post?  Let me know.

In the mean time, I have been loving my deodorant still!  It's wonderful and my arm pits have been SO soft.  I ALWAYS have ingrown hairs in the area.  Gross I know, but every since I started the home made regimen I have only had maybe 3 the whole month.  Usually I have 3 in a week.  No wonder too since I have been trying to find new uses for my left over coconut oil.  I have discovered that it is a GREAT moisturizer.  If you bought some to make the home made deodorant and were wondering what to do with yours, start rubbing it on your face once or twice a week after you wash it.  It soaks in wonderfully and does NOT leave an oily mess on your face.  It also smells wonderfully yummy.  There are so many uses for coconut oil that I think I might post one for everyday in April.  I am sure there are that many uses for it.

Another thing I have in mind is for a give away the on Earth day!  I have some really cute green bags that will fit in any purse that I bought two sets of on sale for REALLY cheap from Avon.  I have been wanting to do a give away but wanted to wait until the appropriate occasion and I think Earth day is perfect!  I am also going to throw in some home made deodorant and some home made chap stick.  Maybe I'll have one or two more home made items to throw in by then as well.  So stay tuned and be on the look out come April first for some great tips, tricks and recipe for GOING GREEN!

My birthday is April 6th and to help with all the green things I wanted to do during that month here on the blog I told my husband I wanted a book for my birthday.  My sister bought the book loved it and then bought it for my other sister.  I was originally going to buy it for myself and put it off and never did it.   NOW I ordered it from Amazon and I can't wait to get it!  I know it is filled with awesome suggestions and recipes.  It is also a fun read and not super boring as I read some of my sisters when she first bought it.  The book is called GORGEOUSLY GREEN by Sophie Uliano  Check out here web site HERE .  I am going to be checking it out later.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!  I was so happy last week to FINALLY sell my first thing on etsy.com  TODAY, I sold my second thing.  WOO HOO  It happens to be one of my favorite hair clips I have made.  I am glad someone will get to enjoy it and it is not just sitting here at my house any more.  HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!  I know I am having a good one.  I get to do a photo shoot for some dear friends this weekend before my friend Jason gets shipped off to Iraq for a long time.  I'll share some pictures on Monday.  Until then, I am praying for no rain.

Recently

ON Sunday ( I know it's Thursday, I guess I'm just THAT slow this week! ) I was feature over at Not So Homemade  She was SO nice!  Go check it out over here.  ALSO she just reached 500 followers and is doing a week of give aways!  She dabbles in blog design and one of her give aways is for a blog make over!  WOO HOO  I TOTALLY need that!  So go check that out as well HERE


How is everyone's week going?  I tried to wash some towels yesterday and when I opened up the washer to put them in the dryer it smelled like mildew.  YUCK!   So now I have the task of cleaning the inside of my front loader.  Have I mentioned that I HATE cleaning pretty much anything.  I got online and read some great tips.  One thing I always MEAN to do but always forget is to leave the door opened after I wash clothes so it can dry out.  I also read you should leave the soap tray slightly ajar too!  Never thought of that one.  SO now I get to get on my hands and knees in the cold garage and scrub the inside of the rim and all the gross cracks and crevasses.  Can you tell I am SUPER excited about it.....

I'll let you know how it goes.  It needed to be done yesterday or the day before that or the year before that....

Strawberry Pie

I bought two packs of strawberries on Monday at the super market.  My friend Stacey was coming to visit and she went to school to be a baker!  She also works at a bakery so we decided to take those strawberries and make a pie!  We made the whole thing from scratch!  It was fabulous.  We made the pie crust, strawberry jelly filling or glaze, and the whip cream.  Let me tell you it was to die for and such a pain to have to wait for everyhting to "chill" in the fridge for several hours before we could enjoy it.  Here it is chilling in the fridge

And here it is after we made the whip cream and put some on top.

And here is the inside.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

yeah- I like a little pie with my whip cream :)

Kayla REALLy enjoyed liking the whip cream off of the mixer sticks  ( that always my favorite part too! )

Don't worry.  I gave her a bath right after this and cut her poor long, crooked bangs! 

Baby Girl Gift Set

Well, this is the baby girl gift set I just sent my friend from Jr. High.

Onesie and headband for baby

Here is the one for the big Sister ( kinda BIG so I hope it's okay!  haha )

And everything all together.  The beanie was the first thing I posted during repurposing week.  I made it out of a way too big shirt my MIL gave me.

I hope she gets it and enjoys it soon!  :)

Necklace Onesie

I know you guys have seen them.  The fake necklace onesies that are going around.  Who ever did that first was so smart!  I know I said I don't like being trendy but this one was too cute to pass up on.  As you saw in the last post, I bought a tank top with the fake necklace on it and turned it into a dress for my girl.  Well, I had a baby shower I missed a month ago and so I had made my friend some stuff for her baby.  One of the things I did was bought a plain onesie.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it and the baby is due soon.  I FINALLY decided to try the fake necklace.  I looked up a couple of tutorials but none I found had step by step instructions.  Most just gave advice.  SO I decided to try it and take pictures along the way.

The first thing I did was fold the onesie in half so you know where the center of it is.  Then I unfolded it and decided where I wanted to start the necklace from.  BEFORE I started painting I practice with various things around the house to get the right size of circles.  I tried a pencil eraser, a pen and a golf tee.  I ended up liking the pencil eraser and the golf tee for the different sizes.  Before I did any painting on the shirt I took a pencil I knew would wash off in the washer and marked where I wanted my necklace to be.

Here are my utensils

Here are my first couple of circles.

I didn't want my circles to connect on the big ones.  I thought it looked cuter with a space.  I would dab my eraser in the paint and then dab it on a paper towel softly to get a lot of the paint off.  Then I would go ahead and dab it on the onesie.

So here is the first row all done.  I decided to do two big necklaces and one small one so I did the big ones first!

Then I decided that I DID want my small circles to connect so I did that row by connecting all of the small circles.

Now all you have to do is figure out how you want to embellish it.  I REALLY wanted to do a detachable flower.  I decided to use a snap.  That way you can have lots of flowers for every out fit.

WELLLLLL that ended up not going over so well.  When I went to attach the snap to the onesie ( I don't have a snap press so I was using a hammer ) I hit the snap too  hard and put a hole in the onesie!  DOH!

BOOOOOOOO!  I also wanted to do it with the snap because I didn't think the faker flowers could be washed.  SOOO  I ended up making a flower with fabric.  Then I sewed it down and put fabric on the inside of the onesie too.  This covered up the hole nicely.

I think it turned out really cute!  I also made a matching hair bow for her and for her big sister.  I will post pictures later because those photos aren't on my lap top yet.   Are y'all sick of seeing this pink and white polka dot material yet?  Yeah, me too but I still have TONS of it.  It was a sheet set I bought at a thrift store for 4 bucks!  It was the fitted sheet, the flat sheet AND the pillow case.  I have yet to make Kayla a pillow case dress with it but since summer is around the corner I think one should be in the works.

I LOVE it!

Do you ever see something in the store and think, "I know EXACTLY what I want to do with that"? I found a tank top in the dollar section at Target for $2.50 ( you know how they always have some $2.50 stuff in there too ) I picked it up and knew instantly what I wanted to do with it. Here is the tank top.

Cute right?  I am liking the fake necklace shirts that are going around right now.  In fact, I have another one to post but I'll wait until tomorrow.  I wanted to turn this one into a dress for Kayla.  I just thought it would be so cute.  I am happy to report that the vision in my head turned out great in person too!  I have had this project half done for about two weeks now.  It has been KILLING me to not have it finished because I just thought it was so cute and needed to be done and worn.

So here is what I did to it.  I took one of Kayla's dresses and put it up to the tank top and decided where I wanted to cut it off at.  I also needed to figure out how long the arm holes needed to be. This tank top was intended for 8 to 10 year olds or something like that so she needed them to be shortened for her.  I cut off the top of the tank top.

You will notice that I also cut a triangle out of the center.  The reason I did that was so her neck had some room.  With how much I had to cut off of the top, there was no room for her neck.  I wasn't sure how much I liked the openness of the back though so I took some lace and pinned it in placed and sewed it down.

Once that was sewn down I took the tops of the shirt, pinned them and sewed them together to make it a shirt again.

After this was the hard part for me.  I was trying to figure out which fabric to use on the bottom as the ruffle.  I eventually went with an old knit grey shirt I bought when I was pregnant with Tyler.  Yeah it's that old and I never where it any more.  It was in my "discard" pile of clothes that I can repurpose.  I made two ruffles.  I long one and a short one.  The where almost twice and wide as the skirt.  So I pinned them in placed with ruffles.  Oh but before I did this, I zig zagged the bottom of the ruffles while stretching the fabric to make the bottom of the ruffle flair out more.  Want to see the finished project?  I thought you'd never ask...

I was hoping it was going to be as cute on HER as it was on the hanger.  And guess what?  IT WAS

Seriously in love with this!  I can't wait to put it on her when we are actually leaving the house.  :)