Handmade Gift #2 ABC Blocks

Months ago I found pre-cut wooden blocks at Goodwill, and of course I snatched them right up. $3.99 minus 30% off special, plus an additional 10% off as a student discount = a great deal.

After a coat of primer, some acrylic paint, and some sharpie permanent markers, this is what we have.

We already celebrated Christmas at my house, and I'm pleased to say that he likes them! That is, he likes to knock them over after I stack them.

Send a Thank you Message

I recieved an email from my aunt, and though I'm not a big fan of passing along forwards, this is legitimate and for such a good cause.

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL



If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

I sent mine. Hop on over to http://www.letssaythanks.com/ and send yours too!

Week in review

Hello everyone. Between babysitting full time this past week, and everyone here being a bit sick, I haven't had time to work on Christmas presents much. I did do plenty of crafty things with the kids, but did I remember to take pictures? Nooooo. Silly me. Today the girls picked out pretty buttons and I made them into button bracelets for them. They turned out so cute, I think I'll make one for myself!

Family Tree

I've been keeping busy working on Christmas presents the past couple days. We plan on giving home made gifts to most people on our lists. One thing I've been working on is a family tree painting that was inspired by this post from Make The Best of Things. Isn't she so talented?

Here is my interpretation:

 

The colors are a bit off on both, but you get the idea. The reds are more like the one on the right, but the tree color is dark like that on the left. My original idea was to make this into a family tree, but I'm not sure if I will like the finished product if I do that. I'm going to sleep on it, and go from there.

On the ball!

I'm so proud of myself! I'm so on the ball this year for Christmas cards! I just designed and ordered my 50 *FREE* shutterfly cards, and I think they're tre cute. Now if only Shutterfly would make my Christmas gifts for me for free too... hmm maybe next year. :)

Winter Woods Sky Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

10 Things I've Learned Raising a Boy

1. Cardboard does not digest well. If it is red and says "Crayons" going in, it's going to be red and say "Crayons" coming out.

2. Reading material inside the poop isn't as fun as it sounds.

3. Crayons don't digest well either. Who knew?

4. If he can catch a moving ladybug then I'm pretty sure he has earned the right to eat it!

5. Eating food off the floor isn't as gross as it used to be. Just don't do it in front of company, ok?

6. The "Death Roll" isn't limited to alligators and crocodiles, it also applies to diaper changes.

7. Naked makes everything ok again.

8. Nothing brings Mommy and Daddy to their knees faster than the Two-Fingered-Nose-Hook-Bloodbath move. Except maybe purple nurples.

9. It doesn't go without saying that we don't eat poop. Say it. Often. We. Don't. Eat. Poop!

10. Sleeping Daddies are meant to be woken up. Smacking their head while squealing is the ideal method.

 and most important, little boy grins and loves make everything right in the world.

It's a Shutterfly Christmas!

It's that time of year again...time to start thinking about Christmas cards!  I have mixed feelings about Holiday cards. I love getting them, I love picking them out, but I hate addressing them and putting them in the mail, so they are always late. This year is going to be the year that I get them all out well before Christmas, and Shutterfly is going to help me! Have you checked out Shutterfly's Christmas cards? There are so many beautiful options! Not only do they make selecting and building personalized cards easy and fun, but they give you the option of shipping the cards to you, or they will stamp and mail them out for you!! WHAT?!

Why didn't I know about this last year?? That completely eliminates my procrastination issue! Sweet!

 Now to pick THE card. I can't help but love their simple, elegant styles like the Laced with Love card.





Isn't it beautiful? I love the color and the lace pattern, and I love the elegance of the design.

I also really like the Swirls Of Blue Holiday 5x7 folded card design.


Again, I love the color scheme, and I like that the swirl pattern is fun and the polka dot frame adds elegance to the design. The added bonus is that there is room inside for a customized message!

My favorite though, is the Winter Woods Sky Christmas 5x7 folded card

Hmm another blue one, are you seeing a pattern here? Why do I love this one so much? This is a card that I would love to post on my fridge and look at every day, and that's important to me. It's not just a card, it's a mini piece of art, don't you think? It has the blue that I love, it incorporates nature (which is so much a part of who I am), and I think the brown not only really compliments the blue, but I think it gives it a little touch of masculinity, so it's not too girly for my guys. I also like that there is a greeting on the front along with the picture. Something else I really love about this folded card design is that you can customize the inside with your choice of 16 different layouts. Nice!


If Christmas isn't your thing then how about sending out Thanksgiving cards?



What better way to show how thankful you are for your family and friends than to send Thanksgiving cards? Plus, your card stands out since it will probably be the first holiday card anyone receives. :) You can't go wrong!  Speaking of being thankful, shutterfly also has a selection of Thank You Cards. Check them out!

In case you need one more reason to go to Shutterfly...

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly at http://bit.ly/sfly2010 !!

 

Handmade Halloween

The final costume

Cost: $ 6.97

hat fabric -free, left over from culinary school

buttons- on hand

red fabric- 99 cents (with 85% remaining for future project)

sweater for pants- 3.99 (with the entire torso left for another project)

onesie-1.99 (easy to remove buttons and use later)

Wrist Pin Cushion

I've been using the original packaging to store my pins in, but it isn't very convenient and Mr. Grabby Hands was dying to get ahold of it, so I whipped this up.

It was really simple to make. I just used a plastic kid's plate as a template, cut out the circle, gathered it, stuffed it with cotton batting and fabric scraps, then sewed it closed. I made a quick tube for the wrist part, fed elastic through, attached it, and voila! Quick and easy.

Total cost: zero

I found the pink bandana I used as fabric in my misc. art crap bin, I had elastic on hand from my diaper customizing, and I used fabric scraps and batting I had leftover from my fabric block project.

15 Minute Upcycled Longies

My 15 minute Longie pants tute:

Step 1: Find a 100% wool sweater at the G-Dub

Step 2: Mutter and grumble about how all the sweaters are acrylic now-a-days. Ask your child "Doesn't anyone use real wool anymore?" as he stares blankly at you.

Step 3: Cut off the arms of the sweater at the shoulder seam, leaving the wrist cuffs intact. Keep the torso of the sweater for another project.

Step 4: Use a good-fitting pair of pants to determine the length and rise, then trim the crotch to shape, leaving a seam allowance. The arms don't appear to be wide enough in this pic, but the sweatpants don't stretch, and the wool pants will.


Step 5: Turn one sleeve inside out and slide the right-side-out sleeve inside the inside-out sleeve, lining up the crotch. Turning only the one outer sleeve inside out will ensure that you have right sides facing each other. Pin along the semi-circle/crotch.

Step 6: Sew along the semi-circle, then pull the leg out.

Step 7: Measure out elastic for the waist

Step 8: Fold down waist leaving a tube for elastic. Sew 1/2 way around the waist, run out of thread on your bobbin, rethread, and get distracted by House MD on tv.

Step 9: Focus! Almost done! Sew the rest of the way around the waist band leaving a small opening to thread the elastic

Step 10: Thread elastic through, sew the ends together, and finish off the seam.

Step 11: Turn right-side-out and marvel at how handy you have become!

Optional Step: Sew patches on the knees for your crawler. I didn't get there yet.
For cloth diaper longies: Lanolize these, air dry, and they will double as a cloth diaper cover and pants. Yay multi-purpose!

Action shots:

See the nice built-in cuffs? Lovely.

Linked up @

Mini Chef Hat

The Wee One is going to be a little chef for Halloween, so naturally he needs a little chef hat.

I made a pattern out of newspaper, and as you can see the first version wasn't quite right. The band was too wide and the poof too small.

Ah, that's more like it.

The final product.

 

Everything I used to make this project I already had on hand, so it was free.

The fabric came from one of the many white aprons my husband has around the house and never uses.

Nursery Decor

Living in an apartment kind of limits what we can do with decor around here, especially in the nursery. This is what I came up with for now.

I was going through some boxes and found all the cards I saved from our baby showers. They are all so cute, and I thought many of them would make cute wall art for his nursery, but I didn't want to frame them. I thought a clothes line would be fun. I like that they add some color to his white room, and being so far away from most of our family, they remind me how many people care about us. :) On the opposite wall I put another row.

Below the second clothes line of cards are mirrors. They are right across from his crib, and he loves them.

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Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Since our homemade laundry detergent was such a success, I figured I'd give homemade dishwasher detergent a shot. It didn't hurt that the store-bought, expensive brand was doing a crappy job cleaning in our new dishwasher.

The recipe I found in blog land was
1/2 c. Borax
1/2 c. Washing Soda
1/4 c. citric acid

I read that in a pinch you can substitute non-sugar lemon drink mix for the citric acid, so I tried it. Naturally, at the store I was in a hurry, so I grabbed the first lemon drink mix I came across, which happens to have sugar in it. Woops!

I gave it a shot anyway, doubling the amount of lemon drink mix to compensate for the smaller amount of citric acid in the mix, and the Borax and washing soda I already had on hand for my laundry detergent.

I used:

1/2 c. Borax

1/2 c. Washing Soda

1/2 c. lemonade drink mix

Did it work? You better believe it! My glasses and dishes actually came out sparkling! Usually they are cloudy and several dishes need to be re-washed by hand. Not this time! I'm very pleased with the results.

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The big One!



My first time holding him.



I year ago my son was born at 7:11pm weighing 4 lb .8oz and 17 1/4". He was 9 weeks early and spent 35 days in the NICU fighting to live. He is such a sweet, handsome little boy, and he brings joy to all who know him. My husband and I have truly been blessed to have this sweet little baby boy in our lives.



1 Day old.

 But look at him now. He's our clever little go-go-go man, always on the move, always with a smile on his chubby-cheeked face.

Now who could resist that smile? Happy Birthday Wee One!
We love you.