Procrastination

I've got a list of things to do.  I need to fuse some plastic.  Three or four blog posts need to be done.  I need to unload the dishwasher, do several loads of laundry and truth be told, my vacuum cleaner probably thinks I forgot how to use it.  So what's a girl to do?

Make superhero capes.  (Duh.)

And so instead of spending my morning being productive, I whipped up some very special capes from old t-shirts, put them on two willing kids and went outside to play and have a picnic lunch in the backyard.  Time very, very well wasted.  I'll catch up later.

An Open Letter to Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie II

Dear Chicken Pot Pie,

We got off on the wrong foot.  I know it's no surprise to you that we haven't had the best relationship.  When I was four and you were served in my school cafeteria, I scoffed.  I thought you smelled funny.  And let's face it, when I poked you, out seeped a oddly colored goo with vegetables in it.  So I put you on the floor and tried to pretend you didn't exist.  No one was fooled and my time spent with a mop cleaning you up didn't do much for our friendship.  

I've not given you another chance.  Twenty-seven years later, I've come to realize that you should never judge a food by your preschool cafeteria.  Oh, Chicken Pot Pie, I was wrong.  I got up the nerve to try you again- to make you myself- and you know what?  I love you!  You are so tasty, with your creamy goodness and bits of pie crust.  Your veggie and chicken filled insides are heavenly!

So I officially apologize, Chicken Pot Pie.  It wasn't you.  It was me.  Can we start over?  Let's do dinner again real soon, okay?

Warmest regards,

Mandy

Citrus Oil Lamps!

I was going to try to come up with a groan-worthy pun for the title of this one.  "Orange You Glad" something or other...and then I gave up. You're welcome.

I was browsing Pinterest this last week, because it's a perfectly acceptable pastime, and came across a tutorial for making an oil lamp from any citrus fruit.  Oh sure, I have actual candles at my house, but they are far less intriguing.  So I entertained the kids while I made an orange lamp.  It works!  It's fun!   It pushes unloading the dishwasher back at least 10 minutes!  Want to try it?  Here's what you do:

1. Occupy children with snacks

2. Cut your orange (or clementine, lemon, lime, grapefruit, etc.) in half.  Carefully scrape out the delicious insides, leaving a center "wick" of white fleshy stuff.  This is a very scientific process.

3.  Fill the bowl with olive oil (or canola, vegetable, etc.) and light the wick.  Here's the only part that takes real patience.  Depending on your fruit, the wick may take a little while to light.  Don't fret.  It will.  And then...

4.  Admire!  You can hollow out the other half of your fruit and cut a vent hole to make a little glowing ball of coolness.  We did this with a clementine:

Sweet Mallory!

The family got together to celebrate my niece's baptism recently.  I really wanted to come up with a more religious-themed gift for her.  (Her mom is really good in that department.)  My creativity was leaving a lot to be desired, but I kept coming back to a little lion baby toy that I found on Pinterest a while back.

I made Mallory a little toy for the occasion.  We're glad we got to come and be a part of her special day!

Happy Baby!

One of the nicest people in the world is having a baby girl soon!  I had the chance to go to a baby shower for my friend Katrina and made a few things for her little one.  She's known me for a long time and helped me with several (crazy) crafty adventures, so it's was a little challenging to give her something that she hadn't seen from me before.  Not that this baby won't be getting her fair share of fused plastic bibs...

I made another white knit hat, in a teensy tiny size with some felt flower clips.  I know, I've made those for everyone.  I can't stop just yet!  Then I took a plain white onesie and dolled it up a bit with some scrap orange knit ruffles, flower fabric and buttons.  This is why girls are easier to makes things for.  A ruffle and a few buttons make you go, "Awwwwww!"

My printer is unhappy with me, so I used colored pencils, markers and the original shower invitation for my tags.  I had fun doing that- using the invitation for my card.   I think I'll try that again sometime.

Happy baby, Katrina!  I can't wait to meet her!

Christmas 2011 Round Up

I always get behind on the blog during and after Christmastime.  I never want to take the chance that someone I've made something for might be one of the three people that read this thing.  Spoilers!

Now that it's mid-January, I can do a quick run-down!

I made fabric bows for our gifts this year.  Thanks to MADE for a great idea!

This year I gave myself a bit of a break.  As much as I'd like to have made almost everything that we gave as gifts, it just isn't possible to to with little kids if I intend to also get any sleep.  So I did what I could without crossing over into CrankyMommyChristmasMonster Land and you know what?  It turned out to be just fine.

I started getting into the spirit of the Season by putting together some Chrismon kits for our church. Chrismons (literally "Christ monograms") are my favorite part of Christmas decorations at church.  I've always loved them.  So when our pastor came to me with the idea to add to our collection, I agreed without hesitation.  I put together kits with instructions and supplies for church members (and my family members!) to take and complete, then I added a back and stuffing.  I think they were beautiful on the tree!

Let's see...I had a few requests that I was happy to make.  The always wonderful Kelli commissioned a Black Apple doll and tote bag for one of their friends, plus an apron for Landry, who is apparently a budding cook.  The world would be a better place if her mommy shares her chocolate chip cookie secrets, this much I'm sure about.

Rory wanted to make something for her preschool class, so I used my Mimi's fabric ornaments as inspiration for these felt Santa ornaments.  Her teacher, Ms. Karen, is an A&M fan, so we made a special one just for her.

I'm sure there will be a time when seeing a mustache graphic won't make me giggle, but I hope it isn't anytime soon.  I got the idea for these mugs from Pinterest (Hours and hours of my time have been spent browsing Pinterest.  If you haven't checked it out, beware.  Of the awesomeness.)  They went to Claire and Shannon & Josh.  Although while "helping" Shannon open her gift, Jack managed to break one of their mugs, so I owe them another...

I knitted some plain white hats for my newest nieces, Addison and Mallory and added some felt flower clips.  The clips can be used on the hat or by themselves.  I discovered a new felt flower technique and had to stop myself after making something like 8 clips.  

See how the hat above is stuffed, for picture purposes?  I used this t-shirt scarf that I made Heather.  I forgot that's where I put it and didn't actually give it to her until today.  January 9th.  Yikes.  

I happened upon this tutorial for these cute little dressform pincushions.  The instructional video is a bit on the cute overload side, but how adorable are these?  I still want to make myself one.  

Yep, more felt flowers.   I couldn't help myself!

I made Mallory a little bunny softie with a bell inside using the pattern I made last Easter for my kiddos.

My sister-in-law Jayne is a bath junkie.  I knew when I found a recipe for Oatmeal Cookie Bath Soak (and I can't find that recipe right now...) that she'd be all over it.  I made some little bath infusion bags to go with it and a salt scrub bag as well.  

My aunt Di and I got together and made some very special gifts for my Uncle Dan's kids and family.  We took a bunch of his military and marathon t-shirts and made slipcover pillows.  Making them was simple- figuring out which pillow to give which person was the hardest part!  I was very pleased with how they all came out.  Di and I got good laugh out of the one that ultimately became hers. The shirt said "Birds of Prey" with several jets on it.  Cool shirt.  When I cut it to make the pillow, my measurements were a bit off and it ended up saying "irds of Prey" on the front.  It turns out that it was our favorite.  We could just hear Dan laughing at it, too.  He would have given us his signature, "you guys are huge dorks" look. 

With the smaller leftover scraps, I made my mom and Di  t-shirt scarves.

Christmas 2011 was a good one.  Everyone should be as blessed as I am with amazing family and friends to share the Holidays.

Happy Birthday, Sophia!

Rory's adorable friend Sophia turned four in November.  It's been fun to see the girls grow up.  This couldn't have been that long ago...

Rory wanted me to make some purple princess stuff for her, so she helped me pick out all the fabrics for her dress-up princess skirt, wand and flower hair clip.  A girl can never have too many dress-up clothes, right?

Happy Baby!

Oops.  Is it January already?

Back in mid-November, I got to go to Casey's super fun baby shower.  Casey is one of those people that fully appreciates handcrafted stuff.  "Those people" are even more fun to make things for.  Especially when they have babies.

Back in November, I made her baby boy a few things: a tie onesie, a mustache burpcloth, some fused plastic bibs, a spy owl (because owls are special to his mommy) and a bin to put them all in.

This was the first time I'd made a fabric bin, although I've seen a million tutorials for them and always intended to try.  I read through a few and then just sort of winged it.  The insides are supported by cereal box cardboard, so they are sturdy-ish.  I'd like to make a few more of those for the little collections of things at my house.  Blocks, plastic superheros, socks...

Credit where credit is due.  I did an Etsy trade with LoudMouse for Jack's tie onesie when he was a newbie. I didn't come up with the idea, but I do love it.  I'd seen applique necktie onesie's before, but I really like using an actual tie.  Other than than being more, well, dimensional, it just cracks me up.  (Check out LoudMouse's shop for cool tea towels and other goodies.  She's clearly a Doctor Who fan, so she gets extra points from me.)



Welcome to the world, Hudson!  I can't wait to meet you!

The Season of Birthdays Continues!

A few hours before my niece's fourth birthday party, Rory and I were at a clinic in Frisco being diagnosed with strep throat.  We decided not to share, but were disappointed to have to miss the party.  We finally were able to meet up with her this week to give her a birthday gift.  I used the Naomi Dress/Tunic pattern from Brynnberlee again for Kinsley's dress and a Simplicity pattern to make a coordinating dress for her new American Girl doll (as modeled by my Samantha doll from the '90's.  I think she was glad to finally get out of those thick Victorian tights.)

There's a pretty good chance that we'll miss Heather's birthday party this weekend, too, so we delivered her gift early.  This family is really on a roll with our birthday parties, aren't we?  I changed to top of a Shannon Bag for Heather by hemming the top of the bag with the lining side showing and encasing the top ruffle seam.  Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me, but I think I like the variation.

We've been getting creative with gift wrap lately.  Sometimes it's just more fun to unwrap a gift (as opposed to a bag) but I don't always (ever) have wrapping paper that isn't Christmas patterned.  I do have a huge roll of butcher paper and random fabric scraps lying around...

Happy birthday, Mary!

Taken on the very picturesque dashboard of my car.

Still in love with T-shirts.

Andrew did some closet cleaning and added a few shirts to my pile of clothes to repurpose.  I made the kids some soft hanging-around-the-house pants from some old t-shirts.  I took a pair of pants that currently fit each kid, folded them in half and traced around the shape.  I sewed them up and put a faux drawstring tie on each one.  Super quick, super satisfying.   In all my "this is so fast!" excitement, I caught a bit of Rory's pants in the serger and made a teensy hole in the front.  Easy enough fix: I used a horned frog from another old t-shirt and covered the spot.  Looks like I intended it to be there, right?  Whew.

Rory was all about posing in her pants (which are a little short...I'll have to figure out a solution for that issue later.) With her juice.  No other way, Mom.  Sigh.  Jack wouldn't stay still enough to get a picture.  Go figure.  I'll probably make more of these for the kids as the weather gets a cooler.  Comfy pants = happiness.

A is for Arnold

A while ago, I made some baby name books for my friend Vanessa and was glad to accommodate her recent request for another.  Time consuming as they may be, these are really just too much fun to make.

The rhino has a horn, I promise.

Every time I make one, though, I tell myself that I'm going to make a pattern for the little pictures.  Except I never do.  Maybe I'll pretend that's part of the charm- the uniqueness of each one.  Yeah, that sounds better than the non-organized reality.

One for two.

Just before Halloween, I was a sports-related nervous wreck.  By that point, the Rangers had stopped and restarted my heart at least a dozen times.  TCU had a big game against BYU at Cowboys Stadium. We had tickets to see the Horned Frogs, and spent a fair amount of time squinting at the baseball game on TV in several of the boxes.  I had decided on making purple candy corns that morning to share.  And for good luck, let's not kid ourselves.  I was dressed in purple but decided that I needed to support the Rangers at the same time, so I whipped up a few little felt pins in the car on the way.

As it turns out, the candy corns worked.  To my surprise, they weren't awful.  I didn't think they tasted exactly like the packaged-for-fifty-years-and-still-taste-pretty-good store-bought ones, but not entirely gross, either.

It's beginning to look a lot like...Halloween.

The kids (okay, Rory) are all about decorating for Halloween this year.  I don't have a lot of Halloween decorations.  I tend to make things for Halloween that don't really last, like a few years ago when we made old school paper chains.

2009

So far, we've added a purple yard spider web, brilliantly thought up by Dana at Made.

Still needs spiders.

two embroidered pillows (designs from Urban Threads),

Rory calls this one "Elvis Bones" and then always adds, "Thank you very much."

and a garland with wax paper/melted crayon (remember doing that in 1989?  No?  Just me?) pumpkins and bats.

Yep, still positive that mustaches are funny/awesome.

We're getting there.  Hopefully I'll figure out something for the front porch before Halloween night.