i just stepped away for a minute...

I went to the bathroom this morning and came out to find this:
She was so pleased and doing such a good job of picking up those teeny-tiny Nerds with her chubby little fingers that I let her eat them and grabbed the camera to take some pictures.

And in case you are wondering, her big sister gave her those Nerds, she did not open the box and put them in that bowl herself :)

water colors

I can't remember the last time I sat down and painted a picture. Last night, while the kids were at AWANA I decided to pull out some of the water colors the kids got for Christmas (I used the cake kind just because it was easier than getting out the tubes and my pallet) and my planner for inspiration. I really love Geninne's style, and since it's been so long since I painted anything I decided to start by copying one of her pieces featured in the planner.

I took these pictures last night, so the colors are a bit washed out because of the flash. I also couldn't get the intense colors that Geninne gets using the cakes, but all in all I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering I have not painted in years!
I enjoyed painting so much last night that I decided to spend some of my birthday money on some new paint supplies and I can't wait to spend some more time painting!

this one is for you, grammy

bedtime

packages

Tomorrow is my 35th birthday and my mom sent me the best birthday gift this week!
The earrings I had seen last time we were up in MD and loved, but had to pass them up as I was saving my Christmas money for a new pair of these. My mom remembered and went back and got them for me for my birthday! I love them and have been wearing them every day since they arrived :)

The doll she found at a fun little Swedish shop near their house and knew right away that I would love it, she was right! You can find more of them here.

Look at her little leaf coat, isn't she the sweetest!
Thanks, Mom! I love my presents :)

they sure do love their papa!

keepin' it real and a tutorial

I had hoped to get this tutorial up earlier, but my weekend was a bit crazy between dinner with friends, last minute baby shower sewing (which meant last minute fabric shopping), church, baby shower, and valentine making and I just did not have time to get it up!

I will apologize in advance for the poorly lit photos, but I was doing this after dark Sunday night!

You might recognize these baskets from my felt flower tutorial. When I made those a couple of year ago for Easter I used this tutorial. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for Tallulah's class valentines I got the idea to make a miniature version of the basket (half the size of the Easter ones) and, I thought, maybe, someone out their might be interested in a tutorial, so here goes.
Okay, so two pieces of craft felt will make 3 mini baskets. Here you can see, I cut 3 9x6 pieces and 6 9x1 pieces. If you just want one basket you need 1 9x6 pieces and 2 9x1 pieces.
Stack two 9x1 pieces and stitch all the way around using a 1/4" seem allowance.

Then use your pinking shears and trim the the edges all the way around (you don't have to do this, I just think it makes it look a little bit fancier) then set aside.

Fold you 9x6 piece in half and sew the sides with a 1/4" seem allowance.

Make a square, about 1.25" as a pattern for your squared corners, like this

Cut the two folded/stitched corners using your pattern. It should look like this now.

Grab those pinking sheers again and trim the top edge and the sides like this.

Open up those squares you cut and fold and stitch like this, 1/4" seem.

Use the pinking sheers on those edges and this is what you've got so far.

Next fold over the top edge and sew on the handle.

Since these were for Valentines Day I cut our hearts and hot glued them to the baskets but you could easily embellish them with other things. They would be great for party favors in this size or the larger one. They sew up really fast and are fun to make. If you make some of your own, please post pictures in my flickr group!

And for all of you who wonder how I do it all, this is what my living room looked like when I went to bed last night. Yes, that is (or at least it was before it was thrown all over the floor) clean laundry, and yes, I did have so much laundry to fold that I ran out of laundry baskets and started using cardboard boxes. Just keepin' it real.
I am happy to report that as of this afternoon all that laundry is folded and put away.

Did I really just post that picture for the whole world to see? Yikes!

snow(sew) day

We woke up yesterday to two inches of snow and co-op canceled, so I declared it an official snow(sew) day.

Addie went down for a nap as the other kids were headed out to play and I decided dig out the old snow gear and head out to take some pictures. I know you love those guard gold pants and matching jester hat- I'm pretty sure I have not had either of these on since college. Too bad I just gave away my guard gold ski coat and you don't get to see the full garish ensemble.
I came back in to clean up from our late night valentine making (we had to finish up our valentines for co-op, which of course ended up being canceled because of the snow, but you know if we had not stayed up til 10pm making them it would not have been canceled and we would have been unprepared) and the kids stayed out for a bit before coming in for hot cocoa. Sorry about that crazy run on sentence!

Here is what I made while the kids worked out their valentines Wednesday night. I was inspired by this and this.
Addie decided she wanted to help my sew when she got up from her nap.
We made this cover for an old milk crate. I used this tutorial, but altered it a bit to make the patterned fabric cover the whole exterior of the crate.
I am going to use it as a library basket. Here you can see the old crate underneath.

And her it is, in action, in it's new home by the front door.

I also re-sewed some napkins I made over a year ago that I pre-washed the fabric for one side of the napkins and not the other, so they half-shrank when I washed them. My mom helped my rip out all the seams last year, when she was here after Addie was born, and they have been sitting in my "to sew" pile ever since!

Regan read something in school recently about snow ice cream and wanted to try making some.

It was a big hit with all the kids.

I also started playing around with some ideas for valentines for Tallulah's preschool class. This is what I've got so far. I think I will make a basket for each kid and embellish them with hearts and fill them with some valentine treats. I will try and post pictures of the finished product before the party on Monday.

big sister

Regan really is the best big(est) sister. This morning, after helping Tallulah pick out an outfit to match her new tights and doing Lu's hair I walked into the living room to find this:
Regan, teaching Tallulah how to read and write.
This was a little spelling test and Tallulah got 100%!
I love to see the compassion and patience that Regan has developed for her siblings, especially her little sisters. She takes good care of them and I am so grateful for that!

girls weekend

This weekend my mom and sisters and I had a small getaway to Williamsburg. It was fabulous! Such a fun weekend, and we are already planning next years trip (only next time it will be two nights instead of 1). Between the 4 sisters (me, my two sisters and my s-i-l) we have 17 kids, so getting away, even for one night, can be challenging, but so very worth all the effort!

We stayed in this cute little cottage half a block from Market Square.

That's me, early Sunday morning with bedhead and no makeup, sleeping in the top bunk.
This is the "master bedroom", and yes, that bed is as comfortable as it looks :)

This fabulous cafe was just around the corner and we ate lunch on Saturday and Breakfast on Sunday here.

That had some pretty funny signs hanging in the cafe.

There was lots of eating...

and shopping...

and more eating...

sister bonding...

and more shopping. (I had to snap this picture when my mom and my sister came out of the dressing room at Talbot's wearing the same pants and shirt with out even realizing it, lol!

It was such a wonderful weekend. So nice to get away and see my sisters and mom. It was over too soon!

I came home happy and refreshed and was greeted at the car with hugs and squeals from all the children who quickly ushered me into the kitchen to see this:
(made from scratch by the kids)
Thanks, girls, for a wonderful weekend!