Valentine shirts

Matching valentine shirts for Ellie and Michael!

Baby gifts

Sailboat onesie, lovey and burp cloth for a friend of mine who is due soon.

Dress makeover

I found this cute dress for Ellie at Goodwill last week.

When she tired it on it was a little low cut, so I added a triangle of fabric to make it a more appropriate for a 7 year old. I also added a heart applique since valentines day is coming up.

Valentine Envelopes

I'm sewing felt envelopes for all the valentines this year. I need to make at least 65 so I thought I better get started. I have almost all the envelopes sewn together then on to decorating!

Homemade Crackers

So I thought I'd try out making homemade crackers. I tried this recipe, and I they are actually pretty good. They taste very similar to the store bought fish crackers. Ellie says they need more salt, and they do have about 1/2 as much sodium as store bought. Which may be the only thing really healthier about them, I think next time I might try to add some veggies and see if they still taste as good. I followed the recipe exactly, just used a small heart and guitar cookie cutters instead of fish. I think the key is to make sure you get the dough thin enough and then bake them til they are crisp.

Wipe box makeover

Another pinterest inspired idea...

I took a couple of old baby wipe cases and covered them with fabric. Now they hold all our card games!

Measuring cup hooks

After seeing this on pinterest Pete and installed some cup hooks in our cabinet. I also put up a cork board to post notes, it also provides a little padding so the cup aren't banging around so much.

The final gift opening

December 31st we had our final (of 4 or 5) Christmas celebration at my grandmas. Here are the kids opening their gifts...

Twin Pajamas

For Ellie's friend Karstyn's birthday I made her and her doll matching pajamas. I had extra fabric so I also made a matching set for Ellie.

60s in January

It is in the sixties today! And we have plants sprouting :)

Christmas Pajamas

I made all the little kids on Pete's side of the family matching pajamas for Christmas this year.

All the kids

Ellie showing off her jammies

Michael in his jammies

Dollhouse

Ellie's big gift this year was a dollhouse. We built it from a kit purchased at Hobby Lobby. It wasn't too much work but took time as each piece would have to dry before you moved to the next step. The inside is decorated with scrapbook paper and rugs knitted by my cousin Katie (thanks Katie!). the furniture is also from Hobby Lobby.

A New Year

I haven't posted much at the end of year. We've been really busy with life. This year I'm going to try and at least get a new picture up everyday.
Here's the first ones...the kids in fake mustaches Michael got in his stocking

Car Seat Recover

Ellie's booster seat cover was ripping so I recovered it. I just traced the basic outline and sewed the new cover right on the old so I didn't have to buy new foam lining. It's defiantly not perfect but it looks pretty good!

What I've been up to

Here's what I've been up to the last few months...taking care of these sweet kids. Or punishing them when they are no so sweet:)

We also did some of this..

Jumping off the diving board for the first time

Loving the lily pads

Playing by the lake

Picnicing

Mining for gems

And now that these two are off at school, no she wasn't sad to go to school just to have her picture taken, maybe I'll get some projects checked off my list. I got a few things done last week. These scrapbook frames I've been intending to do for awhile.

 And a new, non traditional, Halloween bow.

Hopefully I'll be able to blog a little more now that school is back in session.

New Jamies and Curls

Both kids were in desperate need of some new pajamas so after making Michael his camouflage pj's I decided to make Ellie a nightgown. I used Simplicity #3987, the pattern was pretty easy even though I hate pattern instructions. When you learn to sew from tutorials that are very detailed and in plain English sometimes pattern instructions just don't make sense :)

The fabric is a blue satin with cheerleader teddy bears. I got it at Hancock Fabric on clearance $1 for 1 1/2 yards!

Ellie is a flower girl in my cousin's wedding on Saturday so we've been practicing her hair. Curling iron curls wouldn't hold so I tried soft rollers overnight. They work really well and she loves her curly hair, we've put the rollers in 3 of the last 4 nights!

Flip Flop Makeover

Ellie LOVES flip flops! She has a pair of ladybug flip flop I bought on clearance 2 years ago and she has been wearing them ever since, although they really only now fit her right. They are pretty worn out so I gave them a makeover to spruce them up a bit.

I wrapped ribbon around the strap and hot glued it, then hot glued a bow on the front. The bottoms are still the same old worn out ladybugs but you don't really see that when she wearing them.

Star Wars Shirts

I made a couple star wars shirts for Michael's friend and his little brother. I used store bought shirts and used felt for the appliques.

I also made Michael some new pajamas. The shorts are a camoflauge knit and I just traced a pair of pj short that already fit him well. The shirt is a stained white under shirt that I dyed brown.

Mini quilt

I'm calling this my experiment quilt. It's the first time I machine quilted anything and I thought I better start small. It will probably end up as a doll quilt for one of Ellie's hundreds of dolls and animals. Here's a picture of Ellie, Pete and Damian with half of those animals :)

I have some of the teal fabric left so maybe I'll make a doll pillow and sheet too.

I really liked the fabric combo so I made a diaper and wipe keeper, for when I have my nephew (even though we are trying to potty train). And a mug rug (which I had never heard of until two weeks ago, but it seems everyone in blog land is making them).

Another Circle Skirt!

Its been awhile since my last post...summer is hear and I'm lucky if I get time to sew. So the blog got pushed to the side.
Anyway, here is the outfit I made for my niece and her new doll.

I used Dana of MADE's circle skirt tutorial...again. I lined the skirt because the zebra material was so thin. Then I appliqued shirts for her and the doll. I also made a pillow and blanket for her doll.

I'm going to try and get a few more posts up this week of things I've been working on :)