Michael Jr's Birthday Shirt

The 23rd is Jr's 4th Birthday, and we're celebrating with family and friends this Friday, the 19th. Michael is so into 'number' shirts that I thought I would make him a #4 shirt for him to wear to his birthday party...

I made two shirts, not knowing which one I'd like better, but both the boys want a shirt anyway, so which ever Michael Jr. doesn't want to wear tomorrow, Connor will gladly wear.  As they both covet 'number' shirts and 'fire fighter' shirts!

Making Christmas This Year

This year we didn't put up our tree until the week of Christmas, and then took it down last night, next year I want to put it up closer to Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed having Christmas this year. It was rather special, as I tried making most of my gifts in the kitchen or on the sewing machine.

We misplaced our box of ornaments and lights, so I decided we didn't need to buy any, we could bake them! I used a salt dough (I think it's the same as home made play dough) and let the kids help me roll it out and cut out ornaments with cookie cutters. I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of the kids when we did them. Here's a few of the ornaments:

My Grandma Carolyn sent me these flowers:

Which was perfect as my centerpiece for Christmas Eve when Mike's brother and sister's family came over for dinner. I baked a ham (for the first time) and it turned out great! Here's a pic of the boys (and Connor had already gotten into the cookies - as evidence is on his face!)

I also made several batches of Cinnamon Rolls, of which some were successful and some were not, I need to make these more often, and not just during the holidays!

These were some of the crayon/coloring bags I made for my nieces.

This sewing project was my favorite - canvas tote bag. I made about a dozen of them and really had fun picking out the ribbon for the handles.

I also enjoyed making these mixes to hand out: Corn Bread, Swope Bread and Salt Dough.

Michael Jr. helped me with the ginger cookies, he had a lot of fun and called the dough, when he rolled it, 'dinosaur poop.'

Here's the stockings I made for Jr. & Connor - next year I'll make stockings for the twins.

Here's my first crayon/coloring bag that I attempted - which I adore, and sent to my dear sister, Jasmine!

This is a garbage sack for the car (or truck) that you put on the back of the chair and hangs off of the headrest.

Well, I sure had fun this Christmas, but will start A LOT sooner than I did this year to get some of those cooking and sewing projects done so I can get more sleep next year!

I will post pictures of the boys opening their gifts on another post.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Connor's new pants (I made them!)

I am so excited! I sewed my first pair of pants! Connor has a problem fitting his pants because he's got cloth diaper bulk and it's hard to pull up and pull down his other pants (it wouldn't be a problem if he were wearing disposables).

Anyway, I am just so thrilled that I completed such a sewing project. Of course, I had a few bumps, I was so excited about sewing that I wasn't careful when I kept being interrupted and wasn't paying attention to the knee pads I sewed on - so the 2nd knee I put on I forgot to sew the 2nd circle around and sewed the pant legs together, so I had to rip the stitches out TWICE! First because I wasn't paying attention, and 2nd because I sewed them back up without sewing around the circle!!!

If you're interested in making a pair for yourself or your kiddo, here's a link where I got my inspiration:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/08/repurposing-boys-lounge-pants.html

A Homemade Christmas (Crafty Blogs To See!!!!)

It's been a while since my last post, and I've been rather busy! I've been preparing for the Christmas Holiday trying to use my craftyness this year. I have decided to make all gifts either in the kitchen or with my sewing machine! So you are all put on notice! LOL.

I have recieved a lot of inspiration from the following websites that I highly recommend checking out:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/ - you will miss out if you don't check it out!!!!

and

http://www.skiptomylou.org/ - another absolute must!!!!

and

http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/ - more great ideas!!!!!

I will eventually post pictures of my craftyness, but not till the season is over - since they're all gifts to be given, I don't want you to see them here yet!