Melissa's 30th Birthday

Ok, I have both kids asleep. I'm going to hurry and make a post before one, or both wake up.

My great friend Melissa turned 30 this November. Luckily, I'm younger than her, but still panicking a little because 3-0 is coming up for me next year. I'll deal with that later....

I wanted to make her a cake because I haven't made one in awhile and there was something I wanted to try. I know that her favorite color is blue and her favorite flavor is pumpkin. Ok, a blue cream cheese frosted pumpkin cake. Not the most popular flavor, but hey- it's her birthday!!

I liked how it looked. I had trouble frosting it and ended up with waaaay too much cream cheese on it. Next time, I'll make sure my cake has more time in the fridge first.

Isn't she cute??

Holiday Wrapping Paper

I am lucky enough to be home with Jake and Max 4 days a week. Because of my goofy schedule, I am actually home with them for 6 days in a row. It works out well because by the time the 6th day rolls around, I'm ready to send them to "school." : )

We need something to keep us busy during the day so someone (who will remain anonymous (JAKE!)) stays out of trouble. This week we made Christmas wrapping paper for our friends' gifts.

I saw the idea on some random website, but instead of using white paper (I have none) we used grocery bags. And instead of hanging the pictures on the fridge, we used it to wrap gifts. The idea was to use pine branches as paint brushes. So I ran out in my pajama pants and slippers and clipped two little branches off our poor little tree.

This was fun, cheap, and kept him entertained for oh, about 15 minutes. That meant enough wrapping paper for 3 gifts (only finished 2 for the picture). But that's perfect for what we need. I love that he's proud of the wrapped gifts under the tree. He points to them and tells everyone he MADE it!! That's my boy!

Peek A Boo Bags

This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination. I have seen a ton of tutorials for these bags and never really thought I wanted to make them. But while in Seattle, I bought one for Jake. They are actually really neat little bags! There is a list of items, and you sift the bag from side to side looking for the object. You can play little games like find three objects that start with A, or race to find things first. Since it is a quiet toy, it is great for car rides and church. Heck, I've even sat and played with it!

So of course I had to copy it. I made 5 bags total to give as gifts. The necessary components were pretty easy to come by. Sturdy fabric (I used corduroy- some use fleece so you don't have to worry about fraying), vinyl (a shower curtain liner), charms, white pellets, and matching thread.

The bags themselves were easy to cut and sew. I double stitched the edges so the contents won't end up in a little throat! The pellets were in the doll section of the craft store- I'm not really sure what they use them for. The charms were harder to find for a reasonable price. I ended up using little erasers from Nobbies. They came in a huge bag which worked out well for all of my little bags.

I stitched in strings to tie the instruction card to. For that, I took a picture of all of the objects in the back, shrunk it down, and printed instructions on the back. Office Depot did a fine job of laminating them for me. I'm pretty pleased with how the cards came out. I can't believe they only took me one try!!

I'm very happy with the bags and I think they will make great gifts. I guess we'll see...

Oh, and this is what happens when you leave a camera laying next to your project. A two year old finds it!

Happy Halloween 2010

The theme this year? Wizard of Oz!

It all started when Suzanne found a lion costume for Zoa. Well, I remembered that I had a Dorothy costume given to me, that I loaned to Lilah. Emelia, all of a week old, was Toto. This left my boys to be Scarecrow (Max) and Tin Man (Jake).

The scarecrow costume is what I started first. I had this great idea to make the shirt from scratch. Yeah. That didn't go well. I was a little upset. I sewed a collar in, elastic, a zipper into not one but TWO shirts. I gave up and bought a used green sweatshirt at a consignment sale. Sizing is not my strong point. The hat went similarly. The one in the picture (a little too big still) is my third attempt. I'm really proud of the headpiece. Not only did it fit well, but it kept is fat little cheeks nice and warm!

Jake's outfit is the second attempt. (I'm not Jenny Two Tries for nothing) I found some metallic fabric and thick interfacing to make body piece. The pants were simple and quick (thankfully). I had a grey sweatshirt for underneath already and I spray painted a funnel for his head. Mom supplied the hatchet which we trimmed down and spray painted as well.

The "coat" stayed together with hot glue and velcro. I had these grand intentions of sewing every piece together, but I'm glad I decided not to. I would have been very very frustrated. I'm happy with how he looked, but at times he was so uncomfortable. The thing didn't really bend well and certain embellishments started to fall off. Next time I design a costume, I'll have to take his activity level into consideration.

They were so dang cute! Max only made it to a house or two before he needed another meal, but Jake went up and down the whole block! I think he had a great time. His favorite part was ringing everyone's doorbell!

All Time Favorite Project

We have a very cheap table. There is no sugar coating it- it was a Rod Kush Special. It took several hours to assemble from about the size of a shoe box. BUT, it is an awesome sized table and it works for what we need it to. Besides, we knew we would have kids and they would destroy all of our belongings.

Well, the cushions are cream colored and Jake is now a toddler. A bad combination. I did plastic covers, I did towels, I tried lots of stain removers, but these cushions are showing their wear. Not to mention, we have lots of friends with children and it doesn't seem like that trend will slow down anytime soon. Stains are bound to happen.

My solution? Recover the chairs with cream colored vinyl. Heck yeah. I know that your legs might stick to it in the summer, but man oh man- it is so easy to clean!!

Can you tell the difference? Neither can the people who visit. Until they go to clean it of course...

Every day that my son spills something on those chairs I exclaim, "Best project ever!"

Gone So Long

I know- I have not posted in quite some time. What bothers me the most about this is that there are two people I know that regularly check back to see if I have posted- I'm so so sorry!!!

In my defense I had a baby, finished another semester of school, and went back to work. Adjusting to life with two kids is much more of a challenge than I anticipated. I'm lucky they happen to be such great kids. Life has again found some sort of routine and Mike and I are settling into life as a family of four.

I didn't stop all of my projects- so there are some that I will share with you hopefully over the next week. Enjoy!

Max's Place

Here are a final few shots of the nursery all ready for Max. I have two months, but I nest early I guess. Not to mention, there are several other projects that need to get done before his arrival. Hope you like it.

That last one is the Max doll from the movie Where the Wild Things Are. Jake calls him "Baby Max." I'm so excited!