Mini Blinds to Roman Blinds at Dad's

There are some gorgeous picture windows at my Dad's house (now owned by the 4 of us kids). 

They face the east so in the morning when the sun rises its extremely bright and it heats the house up for the rest of the day.  They needed some blinds but regular mini blinds just wouldn't be good enough.  Jake offered to buy the supplies to make some Roman blinds out of mini blinds. I did the work.   Real Roman blinds are expensive, especially for windows this size. 

Before

After

A New Dress...

I have seen a few of these online and I thought they were cute.  I didn't think they would be hard to make and I had a bunch of cotton interlock in one of my craft totes. So I found a tutorial on youtube and ....Voila!

Crafty, Crafty

"Knitting is a boon for those of us who are easily bored.  I take my knitting everywhere to take the edge off of moments that would otherwise drive me stark raving mad. " ~Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit's End:  Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Another Molly Bubble Romper for my niece Amelia Lynn.  Pattern can be found here.





 A tunic for Danica - Variation of the Molly Bubble Romper Pattern from above.










Owl Hat - Free Pattern found here.






Fall Wedding Flowers

Bride's Bouquet



Bridesmaid Bouquet





Groom's Boutonniere


Groomsmen Boutonnieres
 

Fathers' Boutonnieres in the top row and Grandfathers' in the bottom.


Miniature Groom and Ring Bearer Boutonnieres


Ushers' Boutonnieres


Mothers' Corsages


Grandmothers' Corsages


Miniature Bride Bouquet                                   

  

Wrist flowers for Flower Girls'

Just in time....

I finished knitting a Molly Bubble Romper for my new niece the day before she arrived.  I finished the rest of the set before going to the hospital to meet her.








Makenzy Jane
June 4, 2011
7lbs 11oz and 19 inches

Re-purposed Dress Shirts

I love being crafty and thrifty all at the same time!  Our local thrift store was having a 75% off sale on long sleeve (winter) shirts.  I kept the boys out from under the clothes racks enlisted the boys to help me find some girly colored button shirts to convert into summer dresses for Danica.  The were both very excited so see me put a shirt that they each picked out into the cart. Total - $2.68 for 4 shirts.

Let me say, I am, by no means a great seamstress.  I know enough to get me by and that is about it.  Hopefully these dress make it through the first washing, hehe.

I am also not a professional photographer so the lighting, angle, and focus of these pictures leaves much to be desired. You get the idea though.














These are the tutorials I used if you're interested in trying them yourself. Jumper Dress, Sundress, and the Shirt Dress

Pillowcase Dresses

Pillowcase dresses have been made for years.  Its a very easy sewing project even for beginners and, even better, really cheap.  Yesterday I stopped a thrift shop and bought 4 pillowcases for $1.39 each.  I also picked up some lacy edging there too...enough to go around the bottoms of two of the pillowcases that were plain.  The edging was only $0.85 total.  Hancock Fabrics was having a March Madness 50% off sale on  notions.  I bought matching thread and extra wide double biased tape for the arm holes. That's all you need.  Last night after I put the kids to bed I got busy sewing.  It took me about 3 hours to make all 4 pillowcase dress. Because the drawstring makes them very adjustable Danica will be able to wear them as dresses this summer and shirts next summer for sure, if not the next 2 summers.  This is how they turned out.

Christmas Numbers Two, Three, and Four

After my parents divorced their placement agreement for us kids was Mom's house on Christmas Eve and Dad's house on Christmas Day.  The schedule has stayed with us.  So Christmas Eve my step-dad makes all kinds of munchies.  Taco dip, ham roll ups, cocktail wieners and meatballs, ranch mushrooms, and mom makes Grandma's fudge.  This year in honor of having two pregos (Amber and Heather)  Warren also cooked us a meal.  Marinated steaks on the grill.  Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it!  Heavenly? ..maybe.  After impatiently waiting for everyone to show up, we open presents.  We do a name exchange between us adult siblings and spouses.  Heather orchestrated the name exchange this year since we forgot to pick names on Thanksgiving.  Mom and Warren always get us little useful odds and ends.  The kids open their presents first.







I used my new skills to make Jordyn and Kolton some funky hats.  They didn't take them off for the entire night.  I'm assuming they liked them.





Two days before Christmas Eve I got a phone call from Amber. She said wouldn't it be neat if I could make a hat that had a scarf attached that she could tuck into Anabel's coat so she couldn't pull the hat off. She said THAT would be a great present! Yes people...two days. Being the amazing aunt that I am...I had to make that happen. I finished as they were walking in the door. I improvised the hat from a pattern I had and then used this pattern for the scarf.



Jake will never roam alone again.



Amber brought her fetal doppler so Heather could hear Baby Sims's heartbeat.



Christmas morning Ronnie (Landon's dad) dropped Landon off and Landon opened his presents.



Then we all got dressed and packed up and drove up to Dad's for Christmas number 3. Christmas at dad's is always tense. Dad's girlfriend always manages to make things uncomfortable...that is a story for another time. We'll just say we opened presents and had "lunch" and left fairly quickly. Christmas is a happy time and I want my kids to remember it as such. Unfortunately I think we're going to have to consider skipping Christmas at Dad's in the future if she's still around. That's all I have to say about that.





Opening presents really wears a girl out.



After leaving Dad's we head home. Santa's helper (aka Grandma) came over Christmas Eve and brought presents out of their hiding places, took care of Santa's cookies and milk and fed the reindeer the carrot Landon insisted I leave out for them. When we got home the boys were sound asleep in the van so Ryan and I came in and turned on Christmas lights and started a fire to get the house warmed up.



Then we woke up the boys and brought them in. They were so excited to see all the presents! From Landon..and I quote "See Mom, I told you we were good!"







After presents, Ryan's mom and "adopted" dad Victor came over and enjoyed Christmas dinner with us. We put the kids to bed early after they left and spent some much needed quiet time snuggling on the couch.