October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

What a great Halloween! I conned Jesse into carving pumpkins with me last night. We made yet another trip to a different farm to pick out pumpkins for both Jesse and Jude. Luckily when you live in Iowa "the farm" is only 10 minutes in one direction or another, so it's easy to fit three different farms into one season.

We got to carving those pumpkins as soon as we got home. Jesse went for a new design this year by carving the outline of a leaf based on the Molson Canadian logo - I have no idea where these ideas come from so don't ask; I'm just grateful that he joins me! I, on the other hand, went for the scaredy cat and the angry jack o lantern.

Here's our doorstep all ready for the big night! Those pumpkins greeted about 350 trick-o-treaters tonight. I've never seen such an array of fairies, princesses, ninjas and spidermen.

Our friends Ang and Craig came over to join in the festivities. Jude helped give out candy, and I loved every minute of it!

Of course my very favorite part, though, is dressing up this little guy. Oh what fun I have. This year we went with Woody from Toy Story. I was so giddy about dressing him up that I started and finished his Halloween costume at least a month ago. I've been looking forward to it ever since!

The leather boots were in a hand-me-down collection we received awhile ago and the hat came with Pete the Horse. So, the outfit was destined from the beginning.

To complete the outfit I purchased a dress shirt from a thrift store and dyed it yellow. Then, I sewed the little vest out of a cow print and made a tiny bandana that could tie underneath his collar. Lastly, I rounded it out with a badge and a pair of jeans.

Just look at that tiny little cowboy! Makes my heart melt.

And, just in case you are starting to think it's all "puppy dogs and ice cream" around here . . . this is how our photo shoot ended. I think he was upset about me trying to get him to wear his hat . . . but, honestly, it's hard to say. Who knows. Really.

October 24, 2011

Snail Mail

Last week I was sending some quick notes off to my Mom and sister. Sending a white sterile envelope didn't seem right when it was going off to people I love so much. So, I added a little twist.
Envelopes made from Google Maps! Isn't that fantastic? I got the idea from Pinterest. Are all of you also wasting your evening hours on Pinterest too? It's crazy.

Anyway, I looked up directions from my house to theirs in Google Maps. Then, I zoomed out on the large map and took a screenshot. I pasted it into a Word document and cropped/resized the picture until it was 5 1/4" wide and about 10 1/2" tall. I centered the picture and printed it.

Then, I grabbed this envelope template, printed it, cut it out and laid it over my Google map. Trace, cut, paste and done. Totally easy and adorable.

Speaking of snail mail, I received this lovely gift in the mail from one of my favorite people this week! She knows me so well. In fact, I had just put this book on my "want" list after seeing these pants.

(Did I lose you at that last blog for a little while? I found it recently and I'm so glad I did. She's quite inspirational and her son's name is Jude! How fun is that?)

Anyway, I'm giddy every time I open this book and I can't wait to get the projects started.

October 21, 2011

Feather Your Nest

A lovely friend of mine hosts an event called "Feather Your Nest". This is the second time she and her friends have done this. They clear out one of their houses and turn it into a shabby chic boutique filled with handmade goods from the people they know.

I never thought I would sell any of my things because I'm on of those who sews and creates for my own thrills rather than to make any sort of profit. Plus, it's really hard to make a profit on an item that took you 3 hours to make, but is only worth about $15.

But, after Kristin asked me I thought I would jump in. Why not? So, I made up some labels, tags, etc. and went to work. I made fabric flower rings in apple green, teal, gray, coral and steel blue.

I made three pairs of cloth shoes in sizes 9 months, 6 months and newborn.
I made three bibs (my own pattern) - one bike pattern and two silverware bibs. Look familiar?
For the first time, I made three pillows from this inspiration.
I also made three little tutus. Those were fun to make again. Unfortunately my pictures weren't great, so I'm not including them in here.

I sent the stuff off this week. If they sell I'll be donating my profit to our church's campaign - A Better Story. Donating the profit makes the long hours/small pay off worth it in the end. We'll see if it sells!

October 14, 2011

Enjoying Fall

We're having incredible Fall weather around here. Last weekend we did our best to soak it up. And, what's a better way to do that than visiting Iowa farms? Nothing. So, we did two in one weekend.

On Saturday we did the pumpkin farm. We had three older children staying with us and this was the perfect destination for entertainment. They had it all - bounce houses, haunted cornfield, hay ride, pumpkins being shot out of a canon, farm animals and of course - a pumpkin patch. We had a great time. In fact, it was so hot and lovely I actually wished I had worn shorts! That never happens in Iowa in October!
The next day we visited a friend's family farm. They were in the middle of harvest and we got to ride in the combine. I'll admit - I totally enjoyed it more than Jude did!
If you look really close Jesse and Jude are in the combine together. Can you see them?
We even took a little drive in an effort to appreciate the Fall foliage. Got a picture of my boys together. Sure do love that combo.
And at the end of all this there is a crafty project to show off. That doesn't surprise you, right?

When the kids and I returned from the pumpkin farm we painted our pumpkins with acrylic paints. I saw this idea of the bats on a white pumpkin in a magazine article my mother-in-law gave to me. Now I can't remember the magazine. Anyway, it was fun to pull out the paints and paintbrushes and create on the fly with the kids.

Won't be long until we're carving pumpkins now. Halloween is on its way!

October 7, 2011

Two Little Boys

My older sister's boy, Tommy, just turned one. And, lucky for all of us, she just had another little boy, Matthew David, three days ago. I can barely hold in my excitement! I just wish I could hold that little bundle in my arms.

I sewed up a few little things to send their way this week.

In the package was:
Two new bibs. I found the bike print at Pacific Fabrics while we were in Seattle. It makes me think of David since I think he's been biking a lot recently. Plus, I bought it while we were visiting them so it only makes sense.

On the second one I freezer painted utensils on the front. I don't know. Just seemed like the thing to do.

And, secondly, I included my version of the Big Brother, Little Brother shirts.

For Tommy I painted a bike on the front of a long sleeve shirt from Target.

And, the baby got a tricycle on his. Awww.

I'm pretty proud of myself for that little combo. I'm totally patting myself on the back right now. So cute, right?

October 4, 2011

Paint Chip Skirt

My little niece, Jane, just turned two, so, as usual, I whipped up a little gift and sent it late. I'm afraid I'll never get a birthday gift to those kids on time.

I had this skirt in my project list for a couple of years now and finally had a chance to sew it up.

I just love the simple style and color palette - totally up my alley. I used the simple skirt pattern from MADE and changed the measurements a bit to fit a 2T.


Originally it was only the three pink colors, but as I was putting it together it started looking REALLY short and knew my brother (Jane's dad) wouldn't let her wear it. Apparently he's fairly opinionated that her skirts must touch her knees. (I guess I can see where he's coming from.) So, for him I added the white to the top and like how it turned out.

By the way, did you notice my labels? I just printed my little logo onto printable fabric and cut it up into tags. They probably won't last through many washes, but it's a cheap thrill.

I hope you had a fabulous birthday, Jane! We love you very much, little one!