the crafting bug

It seems that Regan has caught the crafting bug. Late yesterday afternoon she was digging through fabric and craft supplies looking for something to inspire her- she "had to" make some thing. Here is the end result.
I helped out with some of the more difficult stitching when she asked and suggested the pipe cleaner for the halo when she could not figure out how to make one out of felt, but other wise she did it all on her own. I love to see her working out her ideas and creating new things all the time!

And here is what I made while Regan sewed her angel- I am trying to work out ideas for Christmas gifts for teachers and such- but I am not sure I can pass my own fascination with mushrooms to others :) Plus, Regan says that mushrooms can't be Christmas tree ornaments- they are a spring thing, oh well!

just for fun

Inspired by Lori Marie's little owls I stitched up this little lady last night after the kids went to bed.

My other birds were happy to have a new friend join them on their branches :)
I am thinking I need to play around some more with the owl idea, as I am about to introduce owls to the girls room via my fabric boxes. Maybe a few softies or a mobile for the baby?

for baby

After all the sewing for other people I've been doing I finally got to do some sewing for my own baby this weekend! We have a serious lack of storage space for clothing in the girls room, so I decided to try my hand at Anna Maria's Fabric Boxes from Seams to Me. I adapted the size to fit the built in shelves in the girls room and cut out enough fabric and interfacing to make 4 baskets measuring 11" deep/wide and 8" high. Here is the first box...

I am fairly happy with how it turned out, it was not easy getting the interfacing in and I am not too thrilled with the fuse-ability of the interfacing- I wish it would stick a bit better, but all in all it turned out pretty cute and is already filled with the few clothing items we have for the baby.

Here is a peak at some of the other fabric I am using for the boxes.
I am hoping to get them finished up this week and then comes the harder task of clearing off the shelves to make room for the boxes!

lunch

Sometimes it feels like we eat the same thing every day for lunch. I am always looking for a way to change things up and this week I stumbled upon a new trick that made all 4 kids happy! See those rolls of Salami in the top right corner? It is a piece of string cheese cut in half with Salami rolled around it- simple- easy and everyone loved it!
I am also loving the single servings of hummus they sell at BJ's- Not everyone in the family likes hummus, so I can easily open one of these and not worry that the whole container will go bad before we can eat it all!

Oh, and lets not forget dessert- these are those pumpkin bars I posted about a week or so ago- there is a link to the recipe in my side bar. I made these yesterday (9x13 pan or 24 bars) and already, less than 24 hrs after cutting into them, there are only 4 left! Yikes! I did serve them at Bible study last night, but we won't talk about how many I have eaten compared to everyone else!
Well, I am almost finished sewing up the goods for my Nephew's School Bazaar- I'll be back tomorrow with pictures!

more hairkerchiefs

I've been seeing those hairkerchiefs popping up everywhere online (remember these ones I made a few weeks ago?) and I decided yesterday that I wanted to add my own twist to them, so I pulled out a pile of scraps and started sewing strips together. This is what I ended up with...
Okay, so really this is what I ended up with- I may have gone a bit overboard, but it was sew fun piecing them together! :)

last minute business cards

I am getting some of my handmade items together to send to my sister to sell at my Nephew's school Bazaar (the school that I attended for elementary school too) this month and realized I have been negligent about ordering tags and business cards. I keep saying I am going to do it, but have not followed through. Then I remembered the neat cards my friend had made using old playing cards and decided to put my own (sewn) spin on her idea. She does beautiful paper collage and book making using old books and found items- and her cards reflect that- mine are not nearly as beautiful as hers, but they will do the job!

happy monday!

I have to admit, have been dreading this Monday. Max and Lulu have no preschool, the house was a complete wreck after a week of non-stop sewing and one sleepless night this weekend and somehow we needed to accomplish a regular day of school, clean the house, and do 4 loads of laundry all on a cold rainy Monday with all 4 little ones trapped inside.

It is noon on that dreaded Monday and it has been full of God's mercy and even a few unexpected surprises! First- we got a great night's sleep (despite the fact that the boys were up at 4:45am!) You really appreciate a good nights sleep after a REALLY bad one! Then, even with the little ones around we flew through school and got all the laundry washed and folded! We were making good progress on getting the rest of the house clean when, surprise- the mail man came early and what did he bring but an unexpected package from grandma!

Of course cleaning has been put on hold for a bit, but every hard worker deserves a break, right? Here are the pictures of the loot from Grandma's package- the kids could not be more thrilled! Thanks Grandma!

A Tinkerbell bracelet for Lulu.

New cloths for Ruthie...
and Kit.

Star Wars figures for the boys!

And for me, a few moments of peace and quiet while the kids are lost in the wonder of something new :) Hope you are having a happy Monday too!