Reindeer Hay

There is a lady I work with that gives out Reindeer Hay to all the staff members with kids. This is the first year I qualify! It's a really sweet idea. Santa gets milk and cookies, so the reindeer get special hay.

I always wondered what was in the brown paper bag and I finally got to dissect it. The contents include a handful of dried grass, a little bit of rice crispies, and red glitter. Magical!

Feel free to copy and pass to the young kids you know. We really had fun with it. Jake is a little young, but next year he will love it!

Check This Out

What a fun idea! You can find links to all kinds of crafty projects here...

A "Second Try" Project!

This is a fun post, blog world. I'm going to have a new little person to sew for!!!

Homemade Christmas- boutique towel *first try*

This is a great gift! A warm, snuggly towel for a toddler. The baby hooded towels are great, but man- they don't last long enough! My child (who is taller than average) was done with those in a few months.

This towel has flannel monkeys on the outside with yellow terry cloth inside. I used the leftover terrycloth to make a few matching wash clothes. (gotta love that serger!) I found the neatest Curious George "bath book" and toy to go with it.

This towel is not perfect. By ANY stretch of the imagination. I learned a lot about measuring correctly....the first time. Though it was not as simple as I thought it would be, I'm still pleased with it. I think it was appropriate for any beginner/intermediate level sewer. Thank you Crap I've Made! Your tutorial rocks!

Tuxedo Boy

I've been meaning to freezer paper stencil this for awhile. I think it turned out pretty cool. Gotta love the tuxcedo shirt- it says, "I wanted to dress up for the event, but I'm still casual."

Gummies

Wow. It's been awhile since I posted, but there are some very good reasons for that. Well get to that another day....

For now, check out these gummies! I was so excited to try Not So Idle Hands's gummy making post. I thought this looked simple and original and I was RIGHT! What a simple thing to do! There are only a couple ingredients: gelatin and Jello. And as long as you have a glass measuring cup, pot, and candy molds, you are set!

Now, they don't taste quite like real fruit snacks- more like gummy jello. Still good. And did Jake love them- you betcha!

These would be great for birthday favors or treats. I plan on making these for Christmas. Adults will get the adult Christmas treats, and kids will get the gummy candies in four different flavors! : )

Bibs, Bibs, and more Bibs! *second try*

After I made the matching bee bibs I noticed that Jake was desperately low on bibs himself. This is a problem I know how to solve now! After a great holiday weekend, I pieced together some scraps to make a few bibs for Jake and try out applique.

I've wanted to try out appliqueing things for awhile, but tonight I actually sat down to do it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! And thanks to Grandma's sewing machine, I have a great zigzag to edge around it. I'm very pleased.

That's terry cloth on the back to use as a washcloth for the messy little guy. Originally I was going to give one of these away as a gift, but now I'm thinking..... naaaaaaaaaa!

Handmade Halloween

When I was little, my Grandmother made all of my Halloween costumes. I'm not talking a simple outfit here, Grandma Jessen would help me with whatever my heart desired. One of my absolute favorite was a monarch butterfly- she didn't know how she was going to do it, but it turned out incredible. My brother and I NEVER had store bought costumes, and we knew how cool that was. I'm so excited to give that to my kids. Starting with this one....

A while ago I posted Jake's Halloween costume, but I thought you'd want to see the full finished effect. Luckily, we had perfect weather, but because his whole costume was fleece, we were prepared. The other two beautiful babies are Lilah and Zoa.

Lilah is Princess Leia and Zoa is an Ewok. Yeah, we're dorks, but we're ok with that. My husband decided to be Luke Skywalker (notice the one black glove) and Lilah's dad, Watts, was Darth Vader. I know that someday we will be an embarrassment to our children, but maybe when they have kids they will understand.

I decided to be a ballerina. Every little girl knows why. Thanks Treasures for Tots for the simple tutorial. I'm sure no one ever intended a person to use that much tulle on one skirt.....

Washcloth Bibs *first try*

My good friend Blair is pregnant with identical twin girls. (insert joyous squeal) I was craving a REAL craft project so I pulled out my fabric bin and just started thinking. I love this. I really do. I get so many ideas of what I can do with all this fabric, but it's hard to focus and just pick ONE project. My list of projects gets longer and longer....

So I settled on bibs. I've never tried them, but they seem simple enough. Not to mention useful. The fabric I used are bees. Blair and Bryce (mom and dad to be) BOTH come from families where all of the children have "B" names. And their siblings are carrying on the tradition. Now, Blair and Bryce have not said if they are going to give these little girls "B" names, but I'm prepared.

Get it....."Bs".......I might fabric stencil on a letter B yet...we'll see.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween all! I'm too excited about this year to wait until I have time to put a quality post up- here are some pictures! Explanation to follow!

And yes, these costumes are homemade! : )

Family Pictures

Aren't we adorable??!

My friend Maria at MJWatts Photography really has an eye for photos. She does some wonderful newborn and family photos that I am proud to post. Not to mention our child was crazy and exceedingly difficult to photograph as the day went on. We are lucky we have ANY family shots let alone good ones! He just loved the squirrels......

These were shot at the Jesuit Gardens at Creighton University. I love that place- makes me feel like a student again (I know- I'm still a student, but you know what I mean). These are my two favorites....

Thank you Maria!

Toddler Hat and Scarf *second try*

I was happy and sad all at the same time today.

The Land's End jacket I ordered for Jake arrived. It's so cute! Goosedown, sweet little pockets, spice brown, and on sale for $19.99! (originally $60! and free shipping!) What I didn't expect was the RED lining. Not blue. Not blue like the scarf I had already made to match. *sigh* Time to run to the fabric store again....

Well, I needed a hat too. My husband thinks the one I made is a little girly. It's not. It's so cute, but you will have to take my word for it. Jake is asleep (I craft at night) and he is not really happy about wearing it in the house. Again, I will have to post another picture later.

The scarf was not quite long enough (I was running out of minky) so I improvised with the brown tails. I still need to figure out how to put a big red button on there to hold the scarf on his little neck. I'm going to ask a girl at work about how to make button holes...or maybe ask her to do it for me! : )

Happy crafting all! Back to homework....

Nap-time Gift!

This is a first birthday gift for a very special little lady. I know her mom frequents the blog-world, but maybe this one will escape her...

The owl is felt. I googled owls and found lots of different ones to pattern. I'm surprised how easy this was to do- I might have to make more creatures (monsters?!) for Jake.

The blanket is made from the prettiest cotton fabric I could find at Hancock Fabrics. The ladies that cut my fabric and checked me out kept saying how great it looked. The inside is crushed penne. I love how the deep purple looks, but man oh man do I hate sewing with this stuff! It is slippery, silky, and as Grandma Schwartzer would have said "gutty." It started as a much bigger blanket, but ended up a decent size. I love it though- so pretty!

The third item is a set of Old Navy birdie pajamas. Those pjs rock. Jake has quite a few pair- you can't have to many. There is something about a little toddler running around in their "jammies" that just warms my heart!

Going to be a great first birthday! Wahoo!

Toddler Scarf *first try*

Well, it snowed here in Nebraska. In October. EARLY October. *sigh* Looks like this year is going to be a long winter. So while I wait for the coat I ordered Jake online, I thought I'd make him a scarf for the cold winter days that are approaching.

This scarf is made of blue fleece and brown minky. THe minky is so soft I thought he would love it. Yeah, no. He'd rather play than let mom try on his new scarf. I'll have to post pictures when he is actually wearing it.

If you are confused, the second scarf is really my second try. The first one was complete while I had quite a bit of wine with my girlfriends. Wine and zig-zags don't mix people. So I started over...

Can't wait to show you more!

Homemade Christmas- crayon roll *second try*

You can get a LOT done in five hours. For instance, I was able to clean my house, catch up on emails, do some school work, finish Luke's gift, make Jackson's, and work on Jake's. Yep you heard me. I got all that done in five hours.

So I want to take this moment to thank my tired toddler. Thank you Jake. That miracle nap was super productive. We could do that once a week and I wouldn't mind at all.....

This crayon roll went super fast. Having one under my belt really helped it work a lot smoother. I ditched the close-together crayon spots because of the curling problem I had earlier. Best to leave well enough alone. I think it makes a cute little gift with the crayons, stickers, and coloring books. Hope he likes it!