Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Bean Bags

When I graduated college, a few months away from setting up my very own Kindergarten classroom, I had never used a sewing machine. Nope. Not once. There were many things on my wishlist, but being a recent graduate and first year teacher, money was tight. My cousin graciously sewed up some bean bags for my classroom. After I stopped teaching to stay home with the kiddos, those bean bags came home with me and my own kids played with them. They have held up pretty well in the last ten years -- whoa. wait. it's been that long already??? Anyways, they've held up until recently when I started finding popcorn seeds all around the playroom. Time for Mama to sew some new bean bags! I am obviously not the first person to post about bean bags, but here is what I came up with and you can go here to see what I plan to do with them:)

Besides your general sewing supplies you will need:

*charm squares
*freezer paper
*paint (fabric or craft)
*paint brush
*beans (or other filler in case you run out, ahem)

I used a charm pack of Half Moon Modern and separated it into two piles. I tried to use the squares with more white backgrounds (on the right) for the fronts in order to make the paint easier to see. I chose this fabric line because it has a lot of primary colors in it so it will be easy to add to our bean bag collection later.


I plan on using the bean bags as educational tools and well as a play thing for the kids, so I wanted to add letters and numbers to one side of the bag. I used my trusty ole Silhouette to do the hard part for me. I placed my freezer paper, waxy side down, onto the cutting mat that came with my Silhouette machine and cut out numbers 1-5 and the letters of my kids' names. If you don't have a cutting machine, you can of course trace and cut out letters by hand. Here is what it will look like.


I cut out each number and letter, making sure to leave enough room on all sides so paint won't get on my fabric later on. I placed each number/letter on a charm square and ironed the freezer paper down. It took me a long time to use freezer paper for some reason. It is SO easy to use and gets great results!


Ready to paint! The girl wanted glitter, but it didn't really show up. Once I told her the blue paint was called "Wild Blueberry", she forgot all about the glitter. Yes! We are a family that can be easily swayed by food!


Cover the stencils in two thin coats, waiting an hour between coats.


Let dry completely. Peel off the freezer paper and do a little happy dance! You've got a pretty little charm square to turn into a bean bag! No matter how many times I use freezer paper, I get really excited when a project turns out so nicely!


Sew the front and back together, right sides together, using a generous 1/4 inch seam allowance and leaving about a two inch opening for turning.


Turn right side out and poke corners out. I don't even bother clipping my corners because you are going to fill the bags with beans anyways.

Complete side note: I know I am the last person to get on the red and aqua train, but better late than never, right??!! Now to only convince Ben that these colors do indeed go in our house...


Once I fill the bags with the dry beans (sorry, no photo of this, as I had two small helpers...), I sew the opening shut. I like to topstitch twice across the top for extra security.


Let the kiddos spell their names! Let Abigail show off her number recognition skills!


I know they will never be stacked like this, but they sure do look pretty, hey?




Blog Hopping and Hopping Kids

It's my turn in the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop! I think we all agree that Beth over at Plum and June has been doing a fabulous job organizing this blog hop, from the guest posts to weekly challenges and *everything* in between. Thank you, Beth, and welcome all you hoppers!


So, here's a bit about me! My name is Suzanne and I am a 32 year old teacher-turned-stay-at-home Mama from Wisconsin. I've been married to my college sweetie, Ben, for almost 8 years (our anniversary is next week and I'm actually making him something!!!). We met on our college track team and after a l-o-n-g break, I've started running again and I've recently started training for a half-marathon. Eek! We have two little ones who insist on getting bigger day by day. Charles is 6 and Abigail is 3, lovingly referred to as the boy and the girl:)


I bought myself a sewing machine for Christmas 2010 without ever using one in my life! When my son started school it seemed like I was constantly having to make costumes for one thing or another and I decided it was time to learn how to sew. I have always loved to craft, but we just didn't have a sewing machine in the house growing up. So with the help of my mother-in-law, I figured out how to use my machine and I haven't looked back! Above is a mosaic of all my quilts I have made:)

A bit more about me:

-How long have you been quilting: About two years

      -Favorite quilting tip: Take your time! I have always been the type of person who wants to finish a project ASAP! Quilting (and sewing in general) has taught me to slow down and enjoy the process.

       - Favorite blogging tip: Um. Yeah. I'm still figuring out how I want this blog to work, so I'm probably not the best person to ask! I guess it would be just let your blog be a reflection of you, no one else.


       - Favorite fabric: Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler. It's what started my love affair with fabric! 



       - Favorite quilting tool: Seam ripper, ahem.


       - Favorite music to listen to while quilting: Chris Isaak, Counting Crows, Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Indigo Girls, Otis Redding...I should probably stop there otherwise you will get a complete list of my Pandora stations:)

       - Favorite TV show while hand stitching: Eek! I'm actually in Rachel's Handstitched Camp and I'm loving it. Therefore I've actually had time to craft this summer, otherwise me and the kiddos are outside! My husband and I have recently discovered the Big Bang Theory (don't know why it took us so long!) or we are usually watching some Milwaukee Brewers baseball on TV. Ripping out seems has proven very therapeutic in this lackluster season:)

       - Binding - by hand or by machine? I'm going to make myself hand bind my next quilt...



These above are my current WIPs. I try not to have too many quilts going at once. I currently have three: My Cloudy Skies Rainbow Picnic quilt, my London Baby! quilt (fan of Friends, anyone?), and my Dogwood Medallion quilt for my Handstitched class. My Rainbow quilt actually will go along with the tutorial I have prepared for you today. You can find the tutorial here. Huh, you say? What do picnic quilts and bean bags have in common? When the quilt is finished, I hope you'll pop back in to see! I'll keep you posted!


For now, here is what I plan to use the bean bags for:


*Number recognition for Abigail
*Sorting objects by number
*Teach Abigail how to spell her name:)
*Bean bag toss in the play room when it's too hot to be outside!
*Adding and subtracting practice (using a complete set up to 20)

You could also make this for toddlers to practice stacking. You could make them and give as gifts, too. Such a versatile little project, no??!!



While I was finishing up sewing the bags shut, the boy and the girl stole their 'C' and 'A' bean bags and went outside to play hopscotch. Clever little cookies:)

In case you missed it, here were the two stops earlier in the week.

    Jennifer from Sewlandia
    Nicole from Mama Love Quilts

And now be sure to hop over to Mina from Kindaquilty. I snuck a peak earlier in the week and I can't wait to see what she has to share! Thanks again for stopping by!


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Dogwood Medallion

I should have been cleaning last night. Really, I should have. Ben's been out of town all week, and even though we spend most of our time outside, the play area and laundry room in the basement are a disaster! I put the kids to bed and went down stairs with the best of intentions to clean up a bit. But you have to walk through my sewing space to get to the laundry...Yep. Cleaning never happened. This little lovely got finished instead! 


The dogwood medallion will be the centerpiece of the quilt I'm making as part of the Handstitched Camp taught by Rachel. The medallion features reverse applique using a blind stitch. I have to say my stitches started to look pretty good towards the end! Next week we will begin new lessons, one of which will be how to embroider the white border of the medallion. There was an option to use HST as part of the white border, but I chose to wait and try my hand at the embroidery. I can use the practice! 


These are the other fabrics that I will use in the quilt. The course fabric requirements call for a few more solids, but I think I am happy with my stack for now for a few reasons. First of all, my budget! I tried to pull as many fabrics as I could from my stash. I was pretty successful at that, only buying a few more prints from the DS Quilts Collection that I thought would look nice. Secondly, I am making this quilt for our master bedroom. Right now, our room is mainly browns and blues. I wanted to add a bit more color into the room, but I know that Ben wouldn't want anything too funky. I wanted to pull more solid colors from that floral/bird print on the bottom right. I held off knowing that I would probably get the "Huh?" look from Ben! We will soon be adding a border of solids around the medallion and I am thinking about using the tan circles as solids when that time comes. We'll see how they all play together...

Okay. Now I really should go clean;)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Hello?


Do you hear those crickets, too? It's been awful quiet here on the blogfront and if I'm being honest, my sewing machine has been quite quiet, too. It's almost like it's summer vacation or something;) I knew that I'd get less sewing done once summer rolled around, but I never realized just how little time I would get in my little sewing room. It's a good thing I have Rachel's Handstitched Camp to keep me busy while I am away from my machine! 


It's Week 2 of the camp, which means that we have time to work on the projects that we learned in Week 1.  This week we learned the running stitch, blind stitch, and the blanket stitch. I started and finished this little beauty yesterday while the kids were playing outside. It's a needle book to keep organized when I want to craft at home or on the go! It was the first time I ever did reverse applique and I must say that I have a lot of projects dreamed up using this technique. I make a lot of zippered pouches and covered notepads as gifts and I can definitely see trying a bit of reverse applique on those to make them a bit more special. 


Here's the inside of the needle book. I have yet to add the optional scissor pocket because, well, I don't have little scissors! All I own are large pairs so I am now on the hunt for a pair of small embroidery scissors that can fit in my oh-so-portable needle book. Yes, I know I could just go to JoAnns and pick up a pair right away, but I'm looking for something cute! 


And here is a sneak peak at the second project of the camp that I have started. It will be the center medallion for a quilt that will (hopefully) be completed at the end of the camp, which runs all summer long. I whipped these first blind stitches up while the kids played on this awesome tree house at the zoo earlier in the week. I promise my stitches have gotten better since then! Please excuse the photo, too, as I took it on my ipod while the kiddos played. I look forward to keeping you updated on my handstitching progress!

And in case you are worried that my sewing machine will be getting too dusty, I will finish piecing a quilt top today for a tutorial that will be posted over at Plum and June next week during the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop! 

Linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

May 2012


May was filled with many celebrations. We celebrated Abigail's third birthday, Mother's Day (Yes, the girl is crying in a Mother's Day picture up there. Just keeping things real!), and Memorial Day. We welcomed a new cousin and helped Auntie Jen move the final things into her new house. We finally made it to Miller Park and under Auntie Jen's influence took those awesome pictures of the kids standing on giant concrete baseballs. It's easy to see why the kids love her, right?!?! But the only thing I can focus on as I sit and look at our month in pictures is that boy up there. He is officially done with Kindergarten. I cannot wrap my brain around the fact that he is old enough to be in first grade now! All I can do is shake my head, sigh, and go snuggle with him. Life is moving too fast.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Slowly but surely



A little girl in this house turned three on Tuesday! We celebrated at home with presents and cake, but we will have a birthday party with some other family members on Saturday. With Ben being gone for work again, I have slowly but surely been getting ready for the requested "Princess and Dragon" birthday party. These little beauties will be the gift bags for the Princess and her little dragon cousins!


I used Jeni's pattern over at In Color Order. I met Jeni through my local modern quilt guild and honestly, you will not find a nicer girl! She is uber-talented and full of great ideas. If you haven't seen her blog yet, go now! I have made the drawstring bag before using the free tutorial on her blog. It is so easy and quick. The first one I made I picked fabric, cut my fabric, and finished sewing the bag together in the hour my daughter "napped". Awesome! She sells a pattern with eight different sizes that I ended up buying because I wanted a different size than the free tutorial size. I was going to try and make up my own measurements, but I figured the cost of the pattern was definitely worth the amount of time (and frustration!) I would save. I ended up making six, two for the princesses and four for the dragons that will be in attendance. My son has already told me that he is going to use his to carry his nerf darts around the back yard. I think that means he likes it! I can't wait to fill them up with goodies for the party. But for now I need to get going on the shopping list so there will be food for the little princesses and dragons to eat!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Small Projects and WIPs

I have finished a few of the projects on my small projects sew along list. The sew along is being hosted by Amanda over at crazy mom quilts. I'm also going to be participating in the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop hosted by Beth over at Plum and June. I am really looking forward to "meeting" some wonderful new bloggers! One of the things we are encouraged to do while it is our turn in the hop is create a mosaic. Since my beloved Picnik is no longer an option, I decided to give Big Huge Labs a try at the recommendation of Beth. Hooray! It was easy and quick! I think I *just* may survive without Picnik;)


That wonky star above is my May block for the Stash Bee. This was my first time using Kona Coal (I know, I know, what took me so long to fall for gray...) and I have lots of projects planned using gray as a background now! The little wristlet pouch and lanyards were made for the teachers at my son's school. The lanyards are for the two lone men on staff. I should have taken a better picture, but there are washers attached to each item with the teacher's name on them. A friend showed me how to make the personalized charms that are so popular using her metal stamp set. It was so easy! I am glad she showed me how to do it because we were able to give each lovely teacher something personalized on a very slim budget.

The name tag in the bottom row has been finished for some time now. It is for our Madison Modern Quilt Guild, but I haven't been able to make the past few meetings. It looks like I should be able to make the May meeting so perhaps I should add a fabric flower or something in honor of it's first appearance at a meeting...hmm. Yep. I'll add that to the project list! The last two pics in the mosaic feature the backpack I made for my nephew. My niece finally made her appearance and since I already gave my sister her quilt, I thought I would take something special in for my nephew. I followed this tutorial from Anna and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It took me less than an hour and a half to finish it. Woo hoo! And I have enough fabric from the old khakis to make another one, too. Bonus! Next time, however, I will make sure that my directional prints are in fact going the correct way. Oops. I'm pretty sure Nathan didn't mind though and the Sesame Street music books he found inside more than made up for it:) I tried to get a picture of the backpack on Abigail before we went into Milwaukee to see my sister and her new bundle of joy, but she was more interested in showing me the picture she created for her new cousin!


Now for the WIPs! I am starting two quilts this week. Ambitious, yes, since I usually only have one quilt going at a time, but I am so excited about both of them that I can't help it! The fabrics above have been cut from my charms I received from the over the rainbow charm swap hosted by Bianca. I'm going to make a rainbow stacked coins quilt. I am going to start piecing these together tonight and also order more Kona coal for the border...


And these stacks. Sigh. These beautiful stacks were in my mailbox today. I was a bit worried when I was ordering these since it is sometimes hard to see color combinations on your computer screen. But I am very happy with the look of these!!! I have a very special project for these and I can't wait to share it in another post. This one is long enough!

**I'm also editing my small project list in this post**

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Small Projects Sew Along




I've decided to participate in Amanda Jean's small projects sew along. I feel very overwhelmed right now with house projects, Charlie's school year winding up, PTO responsibilities....I thrive on making lists so the idea of making a list of small things that I can accomplish this month was very appealing! I by no means think that I will get this all finished and I am pretty sure that I will add more things to this list and that's okay.  I've crossed off the first thing on my project list, too! I took pictures of my cousin's twins on their First Communion day. I bought inexpensive photo albums and made matching covers for them. They will be shipped tomorrow along with the photos of their big day. Hope they like them!

Here's to a crafty (and maybe organized???) May!



My project list:
1. Photo albums for the twins' First Communion
2. Gift bags for Abbie's birthday
3. Dress for Abbie's birthday
4. Scooter basket for Charles
5. Purse for Amy
6. Purse for me
7. Wallet for Abbie
8. Picnic blanket
9. Reading pillow for Charles
10. Bed pillow for Abbie
11. Lanyard for male teachers at Charlie's school
12. Backpack for Nathan (for when his little sister arrives!)
13. Covers for the kitchen mixer, sewing machine, and silhouette
14. Reusable snack bags


April 2012


April? Where did you go?

I sit here on May 2 looking at pictures of my babies from the past month. It is Mom's birthday, the eighth we have spent without her. Although I miss her dearly, looking at all of the pictures of my happy and healthy children, I know that they have the best angel looking out for them. Abigail requested we make cookies to celebrate her birthday today. Does she just want to lick the bowl? Probably! But did she melt my heart anyways? You bet! Charlie requested that he is home to help, so we will be doing that after school today. 

Now...back to April! We packed a lot of fun into it! We took advantage of awesome spring break weather. We took a tour of Miller Park and the kids loved it as much as we did! Easter activities included dying eggs, which Abigail has requested we do again several times in the past few weeks, egg hunt at church AND Grandma's farm, kite flying, and the normal run around the farm with all the cousins! That is definitely Charlie's favorite thing to do on the farm! I'm quite proud of the dress that I made Abigail for Easter. I'm even more proud that Charlie wore the matching tie I made him:) Hopefully he'll let me make him another next year...

As we head into May, our schedules seem to be filling up as the weather warms up again. We spend more time outside and really only turn on the TV to catch part of the Brewer's game. That can only mean one thing...summer is right around the corner!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Now we wait!

I finished up the last of my sewing for my niece. I've decided that with her arrival coming in about two weeks time, I should stop calling her Sassypants! She did earn the name however - four ultrasounds to determine that it was a girl??!! C'mon!


Along with her quilt, I also made a fitted sheet for her crib. It's the Snoopy fabric peeking out from under those adorable onesies (that I obviously bought!). My sister had a difficult time finding Snoopy accessories this time around so I bought some fabric at JoAnn's and used this tutorial. Super easy, but threading the elastic around the entire sheet took longer than all the sewing combined! Phew! Totally worth it though because I know my Snoopy-loving sis will love it. I also made some burp cloths to match the quilt. I had scraps left over from the quilt and basically just sewed a strip of the fabric down the center of the cloth diaper. As Charlie says, "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"


I wrapped everything up in the quilt. Once Charlie gets home from school, we'll head into Milwaukee to surprise Melissa with some good food, great company, and fabulous baby girl gifts.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Mail Time!

This week has been a good week for mail! Today the mailman delivered this lovely goodness.


I participated in the Over the Rainbow Charm swap over at sweet diesel designs. A few weeks back I sent in my yellow charms and these 112 charms made their way back to me today. Bianca ran the swap beautifully and I can't wait to do another one. I fear I have caught the swapping bug! Now I need to think of a project for these beauties. I am thinking of making our family a picnic blanket out of them. I just think it could be fun to play I Spy with all this different fabrics while enjoying a family picnic. Plus, I rarely keep a quilt I make so I thought it's about time to keep one that our family will enjoy:)

The other bit of exciting mail found its way to me through my email inbox. Beth over at Plum and June awarded me the Liebster Award! I was so flattered. The Liebster is an award presented to bloggers with less than 200 followers. It's about spreading some love to the little guys in blogland:) The rules are quite simple:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog (Thanks Beth!).
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.



I've been finding lots of new blogs lately, thanks to linky parties and testing Holly's Colorblock Quilt. So, without further ado, here are my five choices:



Melissa at loblolly quilts
Erica at Happy Fabric

Be sure to check out these talented ladies! Thanks again, Beth!

And now that the girl is actually taking a nap (cue angels singing!), I think I have time for a bit of sewing:)

Friday, April 20, 2012

Pixie's Revisited

Our dear friends Jesse and Liz are bringing their baby girl Sophie home from Washington D.C. to be baptized this weekend. I am so excited to meet their sweet little one! Back in September I made Sophie this quilt and I was so glad that their family loved it. I wanted to make something special for Sophie for her special day tomorrow so of course I dug into my scraps for more pixies! 


I ended up making a prayer pillow after reading this post. Instead of adding a prayer right onto the pillow cover, I decided to add a small pocket to the back where the family can tuck prayers inside. It was the first time I embroidered anything so I am very pleased with the outcome! I am definitely going to try my hand at it again, too. Today after school, Charlie is going to write a short "God Bless Sophie" note to tuck inside the pocket. I can't wait to give it to Sophie...along with some smooches, of course.



Linking up to crazy mom quilts!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Quilt for Sassypants


With Melissa's baby girl coming in May, I knew a girly quilt was in my future! I had been pinning away quilts that I liked on Pinterest, but I kept coming back to this one by Holly of Bijou Lovely. I love it! The simplicity of it really shows off the fabulous fabric. As luck would have it, Holly happened to ask for pattern testers for the Colorblock quilt and I was so excited when I got to be one of the lucky testers! I got the pattern on Monday of Charlie's spring break. Tuesday was spent picking out fabric and cutting out the pieces.
 

Wednesday was dedicated to piecing the top and backing. I quilted AND binded it on Thursday. Before I went to bed that night, the quilt got washed and dried. Wowzas! I love that Benji was home for Charlie's spring break because now I have this wonderful quilt ready to go for my niece, whom is lovingly referred to as Sassypants. 


This quilt went so fast! I probably only spent a few hours a day on it. I am by no means a fast cutter/sewer/quilter! I would say that this is a great pattern for beginners. Holly made it so easy to understand and follow. She included great tips, too, to help out new sewers. But I also think that it is a great pattern for experienced quilters because it works really quickly AND it provides great big impact. 



Now I can't wait to give it to Little Miss Sassypants herself!

**Even though this was finished up last week, I didn't get a chance to blog about it until this week! Linking up with Amanda Jean over at crazy mom quilts.**

Saturday, April 7, 2012

March 2012


March gave us our first real snow storm of 2012. I am not sure the kids have ever had to wait until March to build a snowman! Ben ended up taking the day off of work since most of the snow was slated to come in the afternoon. He picked up Charlie from school, which gave them the perfect opportunity to have a snowball fight. After dinner, well I was still eating, the kids headed out to play in the perfect packing snow. We played outside for an hour and a half. Bedtimes were not on our radar, not when we had to wait until March for our first big snow!

March also brought big birthday celebrations. We celebrated Auntie Jen's birthday first. We made her a quilt that we backed with one of mom's old bed sheets. The kids were proud of the fact that they helped me quilt it. Truth be told, so was I! I made her some Irish cupcake bombs for the party. It was my second "Pinned it, did it" and I will be making them again. Obviously from Abigail's cupcake face up there, I made a kid friendly version that were equally as yummy.

Ben's birthday was next. We wanted to go to a pizza place in Milton that we had never tried, as it has been named one of the best 50 pizzas in the USA. They were closed on his birthday, however, and we went to Olive Garden instead. We came home for mile high strawberry pie for dessert. The next week we planned on going to Georgio's with Mike and Rachel (who also celebrated a big birthday this month), but it turned out that only the boys got to go. Abigail and I spent that night in the doctor's office and learned that she had pneumonia. Poor girl. Cross your fingers, but it finally looks as though that awful cough has left our house! With all these birthdays this month, Abigail has been left waiting ever so patiently for her third birthday...

And if this winter hasn't been odd enough, having to wait until March for a real good snow, we hit 80 degrees last week! The kids spent a week in dresses and shorts and playing outside well after dinner. The heatwave has ended, but we still cannot complain with 50 and 60 degree days at the end of March. Charlie started his spring break in this kind of weather. Not a bad spring break in Wisconsin, since it is usually raining or snowing. Feeling quite blessed in this house, we couldn't ask for much more!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Hugs and Kisses

Today is Jen's 40th birthday and I finished her quilt a day early. Actually, I finished it four days early because we are taking it to her on Saturday. Three cheers for me!!!


I *love* the Heirloom fabric! I have wanted to use it since I first spotted it and knew that this would be the perfect project for it. This was actually the first time I used a pattern, not just a tutorial online. I bought this pattern, mainly because it is called Hugs and Kisses. Silly reason to pick a pattern, but it just seemed perfect for my sister! I used some scraps from the front, plus one of mom's sheets for the back. 


Definitely the most challenging quilt I have completed thus far. It was the first time I worked with piecing together non-square pieces. It resulted in finished blocks that were smaller than they should have been, but the quilt is still a good lap size. I also quilted *a lot* on this quilt. I quilted double lines along each diagonal on the quilt and quilted diamonds in the white portions. Lots of work, but totally worth it.


The best part of the quilt is that these two were my helpers. From the very beginning of this project, from ordering fabric to when I was taking the pictures, they knew that this was Auntie Jen's quilt. They even helped me quilt! They sat next to me and they even took turns "working that pedal", as they called it. It was a bit stressful with them in control of the speed, which led to more than a few wonky lines, but I am pretty sure Auntie Jen won't mind:)


**linking up to crazy mom quilts***

February 2012


What a month in our house! We successfully potty trained Abigail. I am actually quite surprised that I do not yet have a picture of her running around the house in just her undies. It has become her wardrobe of choice lately. She is quite proud of herself for being a big girl. It is probably just coincidence, but she just seems so much *bigger* lately. Her imagination is wild and her stories are even wilder. She is a ball of energy...well, she is many things, but I don't think I can include baby in that list any longer. My girl is growing up.

And Charles. He lost not one, but two teeth within five days of each other. The tooth fairy now knows our house well. We catch him staring at his reflection in the mirror quite often these days, even though it has been more than two weeks since he lost those baby teeth. Sweet little man.

We celebrated Valentines Day with a dinner at home. We made molten lava cakes for dessert as a treat. Charles made valentines for everyone, which proves my point of what a sweet little man we have here. The kids were more than thrilled with their dollar spot sunglasses they found in their treat bags. To top off a happy little month, we *finally* got some snow that lasted more than a day or two so we took the opportunity to go sledding at the farm. I cannot believe that it took until the end of February for the kids to sled at Grandma's house. Unheard of! Benji helped chop wood that day so it was just me and the kids on the hill, thus no pictures. There were giggles, smiles, and tired kids at the end of the day, so I think a good time was had by all:)


Monday, February 6, 2012

Pinned it, Did it!

Last month I finally gave into the time-sucking wonderful world of Pinterest. A friend of mine sent me an invite and I joined while imposing a rule that I could only pin things that I could realistically create. Well, here it is. The first thing that I actually did after pinning!


I saw these totes on V and Co and knew that they would make great gifts for the kiddos for Valentine's Day. The pinned version is way more filled in, but seeing as though I had a helper, I just wanted to get some of it done. I like the way they look, and so will the kids, which is what really matters. I may go back and add more color in, but, seeing as though I have a quilt to finish (well, to be honest, start) for my sister's birthday in a month AND I need to get crackin' on a class to renew my teaching license, this is most likely the finished product. 

And, because she loves the camera, here's my painting assistant, blueberry face and all.