A Little Christmas Cheer

Just wanted to post a picture of the wreath I made. I haven't been able to do much crafting since my hands are swollen to an enormous size and the two middle fingers on my right hand are continuously numb. But I did manage to get this done. They built a new Dollar Tree out by us so I stopped in to see what good stuff they had. I already had the ribbon but I got the form and the bells there. I kind of just winged it since I didn't really know what I was doing, but I do like it and it makes our front door more Christmas-y.

Bootie Happy

It seems like booties are all I have been making lately. I did manage to get a pair for my little one made before she is born so I'm happy about that. I still have a couple more pairs to make for friends and family along with a huge list of other things to make before the baby comes. We'll see if I get to the list. For now, here are some pics of the latest booties.

For these I used THIS PATTERN which is super easy and very cute. I like the brown and pink.

For these I came up with a pattern similar to the pattern I made when Iris was born. I changed it quite a bit and am pretty pleased with the results.

So until I get working on that list, I will just keep making booties. They are so easy to work on while watching TV at night and I can usually have a pair done in an hour or two. Although, during this pregnancy my right hand and arm have been giving me trouble and it's been kinda hard to do stuff. Takes a little longer. So some stuff on my list might have to wait till I have the baby and I can do things a little easier.

I am linked to:

Blue Cricket Design

Night Owl Crafting

The Princess and The Frog

For Halloween this year we decided to do The Princess and the Frog. Such a natural thing for the both of them. Donevan hops around like a frog all day long and Iris already thinks she is a princess so it was just another princess dress for her. Her dress was a little harder to make than I anticipated, but it turned out so cute. And I love how the frog turned out too. Getting pictures of them was the hardest part of the whole process!

They got to wear them to the Ward Chili Cook-off and Costume party and went Trick-or-Treating around the church and then again at Story Time at the library and got more treats around the library. So much fun!

Happy Halloween!!

I am linked to :

Blue Cricket Design

Night Owl Crafting

A Few Random Things

For those of you that have not given up on me posting anything, this is for you.

I have so many friends and family members that are having babies this year, that my usual gift of baby booties has reached an incredible number. I love making them so I am glad to have the opportunity to make so many. I tried out a couple new patterns on a few of them. I used THIS pattern for these booties. I liked how they turned out, but it's probably a pattern I won't use again too much.

These I made from a pattern I designed earlier this year for my niece. I misplaced the pattern for a couple months and came across it and decided to see if I could make sense of what I wrote down. I didn't do too bad, but there are still a lot of changes I need to make before it is understandable to anyone else.

What do you do when one child has a pumpkin shirt and the other child really wants to wear a pumpkin shirt too and you don't have another pumpkin shirt? If you're like me, you go to the closet of craft supplies, find something orange, and get creative. The first orange thing that I saw was a zipper. I've seen a lot of things made out of zippers lately so I figured it would work. I think it's perfect, especially for a girl who likes sparkly things and pumpkins. Not too bad for having 20 minutes to make it before we had to leave.

I made another Pod Swaddler for a baby shower gift. I need to make a couple of these for myself before #3 comes. I wish I had some when Donevan was a baby because he loved to be wrapped up tight. I liked the old fabric that I found in my mom's stash and thought I was pretty neutral and could be used for a boy or girl.

I wrapped up Iris' doll to give you an idea of what it looks like all done up.

And I just wanted to throw these little guys in. We wanted to get in Halloween spirit. I discovered I really like bananas frozen. Iris mostly just picks off the white chocolate, but they are such yummy treats! And really easy.

Let me know what you think!

I am linked to:

I Heart Naptime

Under the Table And Dreaming

Skip to My Lou

Sew Can Do

Keeping It Simple

More Booties

I finally got on the ball and got a few things done that I've wanted to for a while now. Two of my friends just recently had baby boys so I thought I better get these made while they are still babies. I now have a baby a month being born to friends and family for the next few months. I better get going on more...

These were fun. I made a pair similar to these when she had her first boy. I made up my own pattern, but in the last three years, it got lost somewhere. So I tried it again. I like these better I think. I am still tweaking the pattern a little, but if anyone is interested in trying it out just to see if it's even understandable by anyone beside myself I could email it to you.

These I made from THIS PATTERN. I thought they looked so cozy. It was a very easy pattern and I had them done in no time. Perfect for keeping those little piggies warm.

I still have a couple things that I want to get on here, but haven't taken pictures of so I will have to get on that. It just makes me feel better about getting SOMEthing on here.

I am linked to:

Somewhat Simple

Tea Rose Home

Super Slacker

So...where do I start. I have been really bad about blogging lately. The weather has been so nice and I am outside so much with the kids. We have done a TON of work to our backyard this year and we have our own little park back there. The kids love it.

And then we went on vacation and I have a beautiful garden that I just want to spend all my time in. Anyways...I haven't posted for a long time.

And technically I am really not posting too much now. At least picture-wise. I haven't taken any pictures of the stuff I've made. But I do have some other stuff in the works so I will remember to take pictures of those.

I was in charge of our ward's Christmas Craft Night at church last night. I am so glad it's over, but am so looking forward to next year's. We did 6 different crafts and had a quilt set up for anyone to work on. Again...super slacker didn't take a single picture of all the wonderful ladies crafting the night away. I remembered to TAKE my camera, I just didn't use it. You would think as a professional photographer that things like that would come a little easier to me. I was just so caught up in all the good times everyone was having and all the amazing things they were making. I didn't have time to make any of the crafts myself after helping everyone, but I plan too and will then take photos.

While getting all the crafts ready for the big night, I borrowed a friend's Cricut (thank you Cami) and fell in love. I really want one now. She also has Sure Cuts Alot 2 which basically makes it so you don't have to have all those cartridges. Awesome!! I had so much fun. Looks like I need to start selling some of my crafts or something to earn some money for one of those.

Well, like I said, this post is nothing exciting, but I just wanted to get something different on here. Amazing things to come. I promise!

I want one!

I would really like to win something like this. So many things you can do and you don't have to buy cartridges! So go check out this blog and try to win one, or don't, then I have a better chance of winning!

Thrifty Decor Chick

One More Pair

I made another pair of cute booties for a friend who just had a baby girl. Lots of babies being born. I was going to use the pattern that I made myself but I can't find where I wrote it down, so I'll have to sit down and make another pair, writing it down as I go. I got this pattern from HERE and it was pretty easy. I'll probably be using it again. I was pleased with how they looked. Very sweet.

A Few Random Things

I have a couple random items to post on here. Nothing too special...just stuff.

Some Scrabble Tile Pendants I made at craft group.

Some very delicious Carmel Delight Squares (yes like the Girl Scout Cookie). I was so excited to find this recipe and couldn't wait for an opportunity to make them. The chance finally came in the form of a church activity to which I was asked to bring 2 dozen goodies. I thought these qualified as goodies. So so good!

And here is a pic of some pretzels we made from some extra bread dough. Some with salt and others with cinnamon sugar. Also very yummy! 

So there ya go. Not too much, but just stuff I've been wanting to get on.

A Princess Cake

For Iris's 3rd birthday, she wanted pink and princesses so I decided to do a princess cake and some cupcakes with princessy stuff on them. So for the cupcakes I made strawberry cupcakes (pink) with cream cheese frosting. For the toppers I melted white chocolate and piped them into shapes like crowns hearts and stars. Then put sprinkles all over them. Pretty simple, but yummy too. Iris sure liked them.

For the cake I kept trying to figure out how I was going to bake it without buying one of those special princess cake pans. Then I woke up one morning with this idea in my head. Why not just use Rice Krispie Treats? Then I could shape it however I want and frost it just like a cake. Brilliant! And then I kept going back and forth with if I wanted to use fondant or not. All the cakes that I saw online used fondant and looked really good, so I decided to go for it. Of course I didn't want to use regular fondant because, well let's face it, it's disgusting and completely inedible. So I made the decision to try out the marshmallow fondant I've been hearing so much about. Looked up a couple different recipes which actually all turned out to be the same. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I didn't follow the directions exactly as it said to add the coloring after it's all made. I added it to the melted marshmallows before I mixed it into the powdered sugar. I didn't want pink hands and I didn't have any gloves to use. It worked great that way. The color was perfect.

I used a little of the cream cheese frosting to make the front triangle shapes and to pipe to words and around the edge. The dots are Cupcake Gems Pearls. I just squished them into the fondant. I cut some hearts out of the rolled fondant and used those to put the candle in, since there isn't really a place for candles on the cake.

I was really pleased with the results. There are a lot of mistakes, but not too bad for my first time. Now that I know how easy it is I will probably be using fondant a lot more. And it does taste really good. So it's not all just gonna get thrown away.

 Iris loved it and was so excited the whole time I was making it. She was just so excited for everything to do with her birthday and party. So much fun! Can't wait for the next opportunity to make another cake!

The Dress

This is an adorable photo of the beautiful little girl, Gabbie, that I made the blessing dress for. She is so cute!

 

Another Award

I receieved this award from Angela at Comfy Country Crafts - THANK YOU !  That makes me feel so special!!

Wednesday May 19, 2010

1. Accept and thank the person who sent it to you.

2. List 10 things about yourself.

3. List 5 additional things you don't like.

4. Pass the award on to 10 other bloggers.

Here are some things you might not know about me:

1.  I love pickles!
2.  I hate to cook, but LOVE to bake!
3.  I love volleyball but haven't played for a long time. Anyone wanna play??
4.  I have a huge sweet tooth.
5.  I LOVE to craft and am always looking for new crafts to try. I get that from my mom and grandma.
6.  I grew up with 3 sisters and a brother.
7.  I own a photography business with my husband.
8.  I taught myself to crochet by reading some books that my grandma had. I think I was 10 or 11.
9.  I have 1 cat, 2 dogs, 2 goats, 2 ducks, 2 roosters, and 13 chickens.
10.  I love my family more than anything.

5 things I don't like:

1. Mushrooms.
2. Tuna fish.
3. Arrogant people or people who think they are better than you.
4. Being cold.
5. When I try really hard to make something and it doesn't turn out the way I invision it.

Now here are the blogs I am giving this award to:

Lily & Thistle

Sadie's Kitchen Adventures

Chocolate on My Cranium

Penguin Stands Alone

Boo Beary Binks

Little Birdie Secrets

Someday Crafts

Keeping It Simple

Make It and Love It

This and That

Baby Shower Gifts

I went to a baby shower this morning. I usually like to make the gifts that I give. Booties are my favorite thing to give. So I made a pair of nice white booties. This is not a picture of the exact booties I gave but it is the same pattern. I could not find my camera before the shower so this is what you get. They did look like this though.

I also made a Pod Swaddler. No picture of that either. (What kind of blogger am I?) But I have to say it turned out really cute. You can go HERE to see what a Pod Swaddler is. Thanks to my cousin Hannah who designed it. I did change it a little this time however. I rounded out the bottom a little more instead of coming to a point like the original pattern that I have calls for. But I used a cute neutral color farm scene fabric since they don't know the gender. And the inside was white knit. The mom-to-be was excited saying that she loves to swaddle and can't wait to try it. 

I still have a bunch more pictures to get on here of other projects but this will have to do for now. I admire you people who find the time to post pictures and updates every day. Maybe someday, but until then...enjoy.

Without Further Ado...

I finally finished the blessing dress for Lexy. I love it. She picked such a cute pattern. It turned out perfect. I couldn't be more pleased. So here are the much anticipated photos of the finished product. Enjoy. Let me know what you think.

This is the back. I scored with some vintage buttons that I stole from my mom's stash. Finished it off beautifully.

I made a slip to go under it. Just a simple tricot slip with snaps at the top. The lace at the bottom went with the crochet. (Another snag from my mom. Thanks mom.)

This is the bow right in the front.

I decided as a little gift for my good friend I would make the bonnet and booties that came with the pattern. They were just so cute I couldn't resist.

The back of the bonnet. Lovely swirl pattern.

I put it on one of Iris' dolls that I figured to be around 2-3 months size to make sure it fit. So this is kind of what it looks like on a child. Until Lexy sends me some pics of it on her precious one, these will have to do. 

And the booties. Front view.

Front/side view.

Another front view.

Well let me know what you think. I am so glad Lexy asked me to make it. It was nice to be a part of that special day even though I couldn't be there for the actual blessing. I'm sure she was a beautiful baby and that it was special for all there.

Anyone that is looking for a special blessing dress, as long as I have 3 months to make it, I would love to make it for you. We can discuss price.

Thanks again Lex!

I am linked to:

Making the World Cuter

Keeping It Simple

Skip to my Lou

Somewhat Simple

Someday Crafts

Night Owl Crafting

Blue Cricket Design