Speckled Owl Studio

Book Page Paper Rose Wreath

2012-02-06T18:52:00.001-08:00

This was a last minute Christmas present for my parents. I am shocked that I actually finished it in time! It took much more time than I thought it would. I originally saw this on Pinterest, and just knew that it would go perfectly in my parent's lovely home!

I couldn't find a cheap foam circle wreath form, so I went to the Goodwill. I found a REALLY ugly (I mean... seriously) floral wreath on a square foam form, and bought it for a buck. The cashier just looked at it and said, "um... beautiful wreath... great choice...". When I told her I was ripping all the flowers off and just using the form, she was extremely relieved!

When I got home, I removed the hideousness from the form, and then hot glued book pages all over the whole square, front and back, to hide the color.

I found some old, unwanted books at my library's book sale for 50 cents apiece. I ended up using three books. I used two pages for each rose. I inked the edges of a few of the finished roses, just to add a little variation. The really strange thing was that I ended up using exactly all of the roses that I was able to make from the three books, and there wasn't a single empty spot on the wreath! Do you think that was just a coincidence, or did I subconsciously space all the roses to perfectly work with the number I had? Funny.

It took a LONG time to finish, many many hours, but it was definitely worth it!! I LOVE how it turned out! I think it would look beautiful hung with a wide ribbon and bow, or even with a black and white wedding photo inside, like a frame!

I used this tutorial for making the wreath:
DIY Faux Curled Rosewood Wreath

Here is another great little tutorial for paper roses:
HOW TO- make paper flowers

One thing I would add is a little time-saver I figured out! Do everything in stages. Rip out all the pages first. Then cut all the circles out. Next, cut all the spirals.

Then, as you make each rose, stick a pin through the top of the rose down through the little circle piece that makes the bottom of the rose. Then do the same thing in a different spot. This will hold the rose in place so it doesn't unravel.

You can make all your roses this way (or in batches, if you run out of pins), and then take out the pins as you hot glue the bottom of each rose together. It saves a ton of time!

This was an easy and affordable gift to make, with stunning results! I can't wait to make one for myself!!

Newborn hooded towel set

2012-01-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick project I made a couple months ago. I've been trying to make more baby things instead of buying. It takes more time, obviously, but it saves money, and I can make it look however I want! I had some infant towel sets saved from when Kade was a baby, but they were made with very thin material, and don't seem like they would be very warm or snuggly!

For this towel, I used a super soft white bathrobe of mine. The zipper had broken, and I never wore it very often anyway. For the front of the hood, and the back of the towel, I used some black and white hounds-tooth cotton fabric that I found at the thrift store (3 yards for $2!). For the binding, I used a lime green ikea sheet from my son's toddler bed, which we don't have any more. I also made a matching washcloth and two mits.

Kade picked out the black ribbon with the skeletons on it to use as tags.

Here it is in use. It is too small to use for very long, but it's super cute, and doesn't Cole look warm and snuggly all wrapped up in it? :)

Snow days!

2012-01-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

We're in the midst of the big snowstorm of 2012 here in the northwest! So far we have about 12 inches, and it's still coming down.

On Sunday, Kade went sledding and made this GIANT 7 foot tall snowman with his aunt and daddy. But, I've been trying to think of fun ways Kade can enjoy the snow by himself. We don't have any neighbor kids, and I can't take a newborn baby outside in this weather to play with him myself, so Kade is really lonely!

We didn't have any carrots or small rocks for his face, so we used a rotten banana and bottle caps!

Here are some of the things I've suggested to him to have fun by himself:

~Fill a spray bottle with colored water and spray designs onto the snow
~Pack bowls with snow and make bricks to build
~Write or draw in the snow by making huge letters or shapes with his tracks
~Use a ruler and measure different areas to see where the snow is the deepest

Do you have any more ideas? I'd love to hear them! :)

The best Christmas present ever!

2012-01-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

I went into labor on Christmas day,
and had my baby the next day!!
I am over-the-moon happy.
He is so precious :)

Baby Cole

December 26th, 2011
7 pounds 4 ounces
19.25" long

Baby gifts!

2011-12-21T12:43:00.001-08:00

My littlest niece is turning One in a few weeks, and I was having a hard time trying to decide just what I would make her! For Christmas, I made her a Bella Bunny:

(The first ever Bella Bunny was for her big sister!)

I have been making so many things for Christmas, not to mention having non stop contractions for days (weeks, really) and getting ready for this baby to arrive any day, plus Kade's birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I have more family members and friends with birthdays within the next couple weeks as well. My brain is a little fried! Running on empty! But then I saw this really cute project in one of Addi's mom's Pinterest boards, and I thought it would be the perfect gift! Thank goodness for all these ideas and tutorials all over the internet, they save me from having to think of stuff for myself all the time!

It's called a Modular Star, and I think babies/toddlers would *love* it because it's very easy to grab on to, soft, and colorful! The hardest part was choosing the fabrics. I ended up using 30 different prints, and cut 2 triangles (I used a cardboard template and my rotary cutter) from each print. This project is perfect for all those little scraps!!! Here are all 60 of my triangles, ready for the next step:

I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's done! I may have to make one for my baby too, although that can wait a little while. And there are still a few Christmas projects that I'm rushing to finish in time. I think it will be pretty quick to come together though, I'm so excited!

Last five Sock Monkey Ornaments!

2011-12-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

I am all out of this fabric now, and it's out of print. I'm hoping to find more somewhere, but until then, these are the last five sock monkey ornaments! These ornaments are perfectly puffy, bright and cheery, and are great for little kids too! They are in the shop. There's still time to order before Christmas! :)

Let the countdown begin!

2011-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

It's December 1st, the beginning of a month we have been waiting for, for a long time! Kade told me last night that this December was going to be the best ever.

He woke up this morning and remembered to say "Bunny Bunny" first thing. I don't know what the story behind that is, but Kade said his teacher told him doing that will give him good luck for the whole month. This is the first month where he actually remembered to say it at the right time, so he is convinced it will work.

Kade's 8th birthday is tomorrow. It's also popcorn day and crazy hair day at school, which makes it even more fun! Jeremy and I will bring birthday treats to school in the afternoon. Kade gets to choose where we'll have dinner, and he's very excited for presents and cake, and a family birthday party on Sunday!

His wish of becoming a big brother will also come true this month. As long as baby isn't too overdue, he'll be born within the next few weeks!

Kade also loves it when we get out the Advent Calendar on December 1st! I made this one last year:

Each little matchbox compartment holds a small chocolate. I'm also doing something new this year to go along with the Advent Calendar. I got a bunch of Christmas books from around the house, the thrift store, and the used book store, and wrapped them all individually, labeling them from 1-24. Kade will get to unwrap the book that corresponds with the number (the date) on the Advent Calendar, and we'll read the book before bed. I love Christmas books!

One last good thing (well definitely not the last, but the last one I'll mention right now!) about December is that Kade got through the entire month of November without getting a fever! That may not seem like such a big deal, but for Kade and his medical issues, it's huge!! It's been months...and months... since he's gone so long without getting a fever. He is so happy and proud of himself for staying healthy. I hope we can keep it going throughout the rest of the year!

Getting ready for baby!

2011-11-22T10:44:00.001-08:00

I still have almost 6 weeks to go before I'm 40 weeks, but I just have this feeling baby might decide to arrive a little sooner. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but that feeling sure helps me get motivated to finish up getting ready!

Here is my 32 week baby belly. Pregnancy might beat me up, make me tired, make my hips hurt so bad that at times I can't walk, and keep me up at night, but I wouldn't change it for the world! This is what I've been praying for, for years and years, and I'd go through anything for this baby! I LOVE being pregnant, feeling my little baby roll around, kick me, get the hiccups, and stretch. I love how my huge baby belly looks (that will probably change after I have him, lets just be honest! lol), I love how my son and my husband give my belly love and hugs and talk to baby. But I can't wait until this is over, and I'm holding my baby in my arms! :)

This little felt garland is one of the things I made in the past few days. It was pretty simple, *here* are some easy instructions if you'd like to make one too. After making this, I am especially glad that we chose a name with only four letters! I used some invisible thread to hang this, so it appears to be floating. I also cut out some little felt stars that match the mobile that I made.

The star mobile is inspired by *this* pin. My mom and dad had some branches in their yard from a storm, and we found the perfect one for this project! I used the free die-cut machine at Ben Franklin to cut a bunch of stars from glittery card stock. Invisible thread is sandwiched in between the stars, glued together with tacky glue.

Here it is from what will be baby's view :)

And here is baby's little space, all ready for him! Until we move into our new house next spring, he has to share our room. I bought the hanging organizer from Amazon for $14, and it holds burp rags, socks, onesies, jammies, lotions, diapers, wipes, and all that good stuff. The rest of baby's clothes, blankets, toys, etc. are in a dresser in Kade's room.

The funny green stuffed animal with the blue mohawk on the shelf is from Build A Bear Workshop. Kade made it for baby, and there is a sound recording in his paw of Kade saying, "I love you baby brother!" It's adorable :)

The baby owl print is from Pseudooctopus. I found the breathable bumper at the thrift store, brand new for $3. My mom made the beautiful rag quilt hanging on the cradle. My sister and brother-in-law gave us the travel bed that we're using as a changing station. The little stars sleeper hanging below the shelf will be what baby wears home from the hospital.

Isn't there a song or something that says, "nobody puts baby in the corner"? I don't know what it's from. WE put baby in a corner, and a mighty cute one at that! It will be fun to decorate a whole bedroom for baby in a few months, but until then, I'm happy with this! Now I just need to pack some bags, and we'll be all ready for baby to come! Now that this is checked off my list, I better get to work on the other dozens of projects!

New item in the shop!

2011-11-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

(No pictures of the maternity tops I made yet, sorry! Soon!)

Lately, I have been rather obsessed with all things miniature. Maybe it's all the tiny newborn size clothes I've been washing, folding, and putting away... especially the socks!! Everything is cute when it's teeny tiny, don't you agree?

A few years ago, I made my sister a miniature owl with a tiny clear pocket on the back for a photo. It has a ribbon from the top and hangs from her rear view mirror in her car. I've been wanting to make more for a while, but I didn't want them to be more versatile, so I finally decided to add strong magnets in the back instead! Now they can stick onto anything metal!

All the pieces cut out and ready to be sewn:

14 mini owls! I like how they're all looking in different directions. Kade thinks it looks like they're wearing glasses. Spectacled Owls, how adorable!

This is how big they are. A mere 2 inches wide by about 2.5 inches high! And the magnets are inside them, so they can't fall off and become a hazard for little kiddos. They are super strong, too!

All packaged and ready to go spread some owl love around the world! :)
Check them out *here*!

Sweater refashion - clothes for boys

2011-11-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

I should be cleaning my house, but the baby in my tummy is telling me that I should eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches, drink berry smoothies, and blog, instead. Well, maybe not the blogging, but I am definitely craving the food! And why not blog while I'm eating? I love multitasking!

I have had this big old sweater in my cut-up-and-make-something bin for a long time. I was thinking pillow cover? Stuffed animal? Hat? Not until I saw *this post* at Made did the obvious finally hit me- just make a smaller sweater! So that's just what I did. I followed Dana's great instructions, and in about an hour, Kade had a brand new sweater!

The before:
This sweater was a size XL, and in great condition. Kade thought it was just fun to wear it around like this, making faces and pretending he has really short arms.

The after:
It fits! I used a long sleeved shirt as the pattern, cutting just a bit larger since I wanted a somewhat baggy, comfy fit. Kade loves it, but he thinks it's itchy. I'll just have him wear a t-shirt underneath.

As always, Kade must turn a simple request for one shot into a full photo shoot! There ended up being about 30 poses before I finally told him that I thought I might have enough pictures to choose from. I couldn't help but make this little collage with some of the best.

I have really been enjoying trying to make more of our clothes lately. I haven't made Kade anything else yet besides some freezer paper stenciled shirts, and enlarging some neck holes on some favorite shirts (he has a big head!), but I have some things planned! Yesterday I made 5 maternity shirts for myself out of some t-shirts, skirts, and other fabric that I had in my stash. I'll share those soon!

This Halloween cake will make you..... queasy?

2011-10-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Every year, Kade's school has a cake decorating contest. The finished cakes are awarded as prizes for the Cake Walk activity at the Fall Festival.

This year, Kade is definitely into gross things, so he thought this idea for a cake would be utterly disgusting... in other words, perfect!

Mr. Kade and his cake, Sick Pumpkin.

Gramma is a genius with cakes, so she helped Kade with this project. This is the second year in a row, and it's one of Kade's favorite traditions! She came over with all the goodies and they got to work.

(This is one of his go-to faces to make for pictures...)

Cake Details:
Pumpkin- Chocolate cake covered with handmade fondant. Kade designed the face and helped attach it.
Barf- (Some emails between my mom and me were really funny - "Oh, we should mix in some coconut and marshmallows to give the barf some chunkiness and texture!" - if anybody was spying on my emails, they should be a little grossed out and confused by now!) Vanilla cake tinted green. My mom used a knife to shape the cake into a wavy, bumpy design. The frosting does have coconut, marshmallows, and even little chunks of chocolate in it. Kade then added gummy worms, jelly beans, chocolate eyeballs, candy corn, and some other bits of candy around the top and sides.
Extras- The crow on top of the pumpkin is saying, "That's what happens when you eat too much Trick Or Treat Candy..." and the two spiders are saying, "Eww!" and "Gross!". The tree is a group of branches spray painted black with a little sparkle added. I cut out little black bats and hung them from strings. Little decorative fall leaves were glued here and there, with a few glued on to the cake board as well. We made a tiny ghost to live in the tree, and a spider on a web.

Kade and his Gramma had a great time, and he was so proud of his icky-looking (but delicious!! We had some of the leftover cake and icing, and it was so yummy!) creation! Hopefully whoever won this cake at the Cake Walk wasn't too afraid to eat it... haha ;)

It's been a copycat kind of weekend!

2011-06-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Kade has a fever again (I hope he'll be well enough to go to at least one of his last 3 days of school!), so I've had some down time these past few days. I'm sure lots of you have heard of Pinterest already. I've recently become somewhat addicted to it, and decided to make use of some of the ideas I've saved!

This first one is something I've seen all over the web,
but here is the Pin:
Crayon Monogram

And here is my version:

I found these really great shadowbox frames at Ben Franklin for only $5. I decided to add some little froggies, because Kade said his teacher loves them. I hope she likes it! She really is one very special teacher, and Kade will miss being in her class!

The second one is a series of week-by-week pregnancy photos:
Belly Pics

When I was pregnant with Kade, 8 years ago, I didn't do anything like this, and wish I had! I do have a few pregnancy photos from then, but I just love how you can really see the change happening in this series, using the same background and outfit each week. Here is my take on it, using Kade's little chalkboard to keep track of the weeks:

If only I were as cute as the other girl! Also, my picture shocked me- I think I look way bigger than 12 weeks already! Oh well, no matter how I look, I'm just SO happy that I have this little baby growing in me, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! :)

The internet can be a great source of inspiration! What have you been inspired by lately?

Custom Star Wars Laptop Bag

2011-06-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

My sister just got a new laptop, and requested a special custom bag to tote it around in! She, like many others in my family, loves Star Wars, and wanted her new laptop bag to reflect that. On the front flap is the Rebel symbol in red:

And on the inside of the flap when you lift it up is a while Imperial symbol:

I got to try out my sewing machines applique feature, which I hadn't used much yet. It was surprisingly easy! I used HeatnBond on the back of my fabric, traced the image (which I printed and cut out), cut it out again, removed the backing, and ironed it onto the black canvas. The stitching didn't take very long, but there were a lot of corners to turn on the white symbol! I really like how it turned out, and how professional the appliques look! It's the HeatnBond, I love that stuff!

The flap closes with two small velcro tabs. The bag is padded with batting, and lined with black fleece. The strap is adjustable. There is a quilted pocket on the inside for all the cords.

Next up on the bag list- a purse that looks like an owl, for my niece! I am in the middle of designing it now, trying to figure out the best and cutest way to make it. I may want one for myself, too! :)

Finally finished, only 3 years late!

2011-04-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, Kade asked me for a sock lion for his birthday. That was his favorite animal at the time, and his favorite color was yellow. I bought some cute yellow socks, cut and sewed them up, and set them in my bin full of projects I needed to finish. And there they stayed, getting covered up with more and more unfinished projects.

Kade asked me about his sock lion the other day, and I immediately felt so guilty! I've made close to a hundred sock creatures in the last three years, plus countless other stuffed animals and other things. But I forgot about his little sock lion. I can't believe Kade didn't forget about it too, since it's been so long!

In a way, I'm glad I made this lion now instead of three years ago. I don't think it would have turned out looking anything like a lion back then, when I was just getting the hang of sock monkeys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It took hours to hand tie each hair of his mane to his head, but it was worth it!

Now, three years later, Kade's favorite animals are turtles. His favorite color is "all the colors but pink!". But I think he will still love his finished sock lion that I will give him as part of his Easter basket. Better late than never, right?

Still to do in my huge pile of halfway done projects-
~King size jean quilt
~Three sock monkeys
~Owl purse
~Two fabric first name puzzles
~A few pairs of baby booties
~A summer shirt for me
~A wallet for Jer

....plus more! Am I the only one who has this problem? It's a personal goal of mine to start finishing all the things I've started, to make way for new things. I *love* getting something done and checking it off my mental list. I'm not going to procrastinate any more. This yellow lion is the first of many, and I'm so excited to move on to the next!!

***Just thought I would add the link to the tutorial I used, years ago, to learn how to make sock monkeys! They are easy, and with just the basic sock monkey form you can also make lions like mine, cats, dogs, bunnies, monsters, and lots of other things! There are also lots of other sock creature tutorials out there if you just search for them. I highly recommend it, they are so fun to make!***

Raja the Literacy Cat

2011-04-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

Kade had a very captive little audience for his daily reading yesterday! Raja the cat just climbed up and made himself comfy.

Reading to the cat was the most fun he's had reading in a long time! Kade will read if I tell him to, but never choses to read for fun. Long books intimidate him, although he is a pretty good reader (at or slightly above his age level for this time of the school year). This book took him about 25 minutes to read, and he never once asked me if he could take a break.

I've heard of therapy dogs that are taken into school for children to read to. It helps to improve their literacy skills.

After seeing this, I believe animals really can be great reading companions! Kade was definitely more excited about reading to a cat than he ever has been about reading to me! I'm putting that on my mental list of good reasons to get our own cat when we move next year!

(note- Raja is not an actual trained therapy animal. He's just our friend's sweet pet. Well, sweet unless he's trying to steal cheese, in which case he's downright obnoxious! But we love him!)

A Herd of Snugglesauruses

2011-04-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

I recently made some new dinos for the shop! They are similar to an item I used to make, but these are even better... they have an improved design, stand up by themselves, and have two rows of adorable ruffles down their back! Just the right size for babies, and super cute too! There are seven different fabrics I used for the ruffles, here is a sampling:

And here is the whole herd lined up for a group photo:

Fun stuff :)

Star Wars Theme 30th Birthday Cupcakes

2011-04-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Jer turned the big three-oh last month, and to celebrate, I threw him a Star Wars themed bash. While he and a bunch of our friends were out racing go-karts at Traxx, I was at home, helping to prepare this tasty spread, made by my mom!

I got him a new barbecue (that my dad and friend Raelene were racing to put together in 2 hours before Jer got back!) so I planned for burgers, steaks, and hot dogs. I made a huge yummy pasta salad, and had lots of chips and dips choices. My mom made Carbonite Jello, complete with Han Solo, three different kinds of cupcakes, and a Death Star watermelon! Here are some close-ups of her amazing work:

"Cheesecake baked in almond-flavored cupcakes with cherry filling, topped with edible stars from a Galaxy Far, Far Away":

"I am your reeses filled chocolate cupcake with chocolate butter cream frosting topped with edible Vader and Light Sabers":

"Pumpkin Pie filled cupcake with chai butter cream frosting topped with a white chocolate Yoda I am, yesssss, hmmmmm":

And by pumpkin pie filled, she means exactly that- there is a real, homemade mini pumpkin pie inside each cupcake!! YUM!!

I can't decide which one was my favorite... they were all super delicious, and so creative!

This watermelon was carved with stamp carving tools, to look like the Death Star. We had a lot of fun the next day destroying that Death Star and eating it!! :)

I am so thankful for my mom and her help in making Jer's birthday very memorable! Everybody was in awe of the cupcakes, and luckily there were enough to try one of each!

If you'd like to check out some of my mom's other Star Wars cakes that she has made for Jer, here are some links for you!

~Death Star Cake
~Light Saber Cake

Easter Mini Sock Monkeys are in the shop!

2011-03-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

I finished these cute little sock monkeys today, and they're ready to go! They are disguised as bunnies, for Easter. Now that I've discovered how easy it is to make those tiny bunny ears, I'm going to have to make some for a few of Kade's stuffed animals too! Here are a couple pictures:

New Mini Sock Monkeys...

2011-03-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

Look what I started today!

These teeny little guys and gals will be perfect for an Easter basket, or just to celebrate Spring! There will be six, and I'm planning to have them done and listed on Etsy this week. If you'd like to reserve one, please let me know!

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend! :)

Pretty Spring Purse

2011-03-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I made a new purse for my sister-in-law. I think she might be the only girl in the family I hadn't sewn anything for yet, so I figured it was about time! I used the free Buttercup Bag tutorial from Made By Rae. I also added some changes- I enlarged it, added a top zipper, piping, and some pockets on the inside.

Do you find it hard to pick out fabrics for someone? I do! Especially for something like a purse, because I want to to be their style, something they'd pick out themselves! Here is what I finally picked out. I think it's really soft and pretty, perfect for a spring purse! I love the symmetrical design. I chose out a pale blue thick stripe for the piping and lining. I bought 1/3 yard of each fabric, and used ALL of it for the purse! Lucky guess!

These are bad pocket pictures, I should have taken them before I sewed everything together! I love pockets. I always have so much in my purse that it's near impossible to find my wallet and phone quickly, unless they are in their pocket.

I feel more secure with a zipper on my bags. This style of bag doesn't sit up really well, so it's nice to know that when I toss it in the car or on the table, nothing will fall out. The little ribbon on the zipper pull makes it easy to open and close.

The finished bag! There is heavy interfacing on the top, to keep it sturdy, and just medium interfacing on the bottom. I've made three of these bags now, I think it's a great pattern!

Now I just need to make one for myself one of these days!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

We love this holiday at our house! This year, my son has been very excited about Leprechauns. They've been talking a lot about them at school. Their class leprechaun, Lucky, has been leaving little shamrock footprints around the classroom, and creating lots of messes while the students aren't there. At Grandma's house, some milk was left out in a little pitcher, in case the leprechauns were thirsty. In the morning, the milk, poured into Kade's glass, magically turned green! He was convinced that if he drank it, he would be magical just like one of them. Last night, they caused more havoc in Kade's room, knocking down his giant robot.

Kade had a class assignment to create a Leprechaun trap. Here is what we came up with! The three of us made it together, but Kade did a large part of the work, and made all the decisions.

We painted a piece of cardboard green, painted a gold road, and stapled shamrock wire garland around the pathway. The straw ladder leads up to the top of a painted and decorated laundry soap container.

Doesn't it look enticing up there? We wanted to lure the leprechaun to the top of the ladder to see the pot of gold. We put lots of signs around, because as we all know, they never follow the rules!

The cauldron holds a ton of gold
(little rocks that were rolled around in gold paint).

It sits at the back, so the leprechaun has to step onto the disguised trap to get to it, and he'll fall into our little playouse.

Inside, Kade made a very comfy pillow to land on so the leprechaun won't get hurt. The floor is covered in plush blue fleece carpet. The cardboard table holds a little bowl (the dome top of one of those quarter machine ninjas) filled with Lucky Charms cereal. A "TV" on the wall is on for his enjoyment. There is even a cute window, complete with curtains. But how come he can't see outside?

Peek-a-boo! There's Kade, lifting the secret flap on the outside to peer into this tiny playhouse and see if he has caught anything!

We hope we have made this little trap so inviting, the leprechaun won't even want to leave! I am excited to pick up Kade from school in half an hour and see what happened. But if we don't catch any this year, we can always try again next year!

Treasured

2011-03-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

Wanna see some beautiful, creative collections of lovely goodies? Here are some treasuries for you, all with one thing in common- one of my handmade items is featured in each one!

Toddler tea:

Nature Nurtured: An Earth-Hugging Baby Shower:

la tendresse de bleu:

Sock Monkey Valentines Day:

Sugar and spice (and everything nice):

There is an Elephant in the room:

a m e t h y s t spring:

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

A To-Do list

2011-03-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

On my Custom Orders to-do list this week:

*Mini green camouflage sock monkey
*Mini blue camouflage sock monkey
(with a military patch on his tummy!)
*TWO spider-man sock monkeys
(these will take at least a month to complete)
*Chocolate brown Ellie Elephant with orange and cream polka dots
*Giant Ellie Elephant with patches made from
sweet little baby clothes (fantastic idea!!)

I better get working! But before I do that... Kade doesn't have school today, so we're going to have some fun. Right now he's watching morning cartoons, but soon we're going to play some board games (Connect 4 is up first), go to lunch and a little shopping, and make a Leprechaun trap! Great day.... I'll leave you with some photos of custom orders that I've completed recently!

Valentine sock monkeys for Mia and Ben:

An argyle sock monkey for Lucas:

A super tiny (6 inches tall!) sock monkey,
made out of fluffy newborn socks:

Redecorating the Kitchen

2011-03-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should say "decorating" instead of "redecorating", as before, it wasn't really decorated at all!

A while ago, I found the cutest vintage canisters at the Goodwill. They are from the 70s. It's pieces of two different sets mixed together, they both have cute brown and orange mushrooms on them. I immediately fell in love with them! I have kind of been hiding them, because I didn't have a good spot where they would look pretty. This is what my pantry used to look like:

(This picture from Kade's 6th birthday is the only one I could find with our little bamboo-blinds covered bookshelf pantry in it!)

I decided it was time to make things a bit cuter, so I reorganized the pantry, displaying my vintage mushroom canisters on the top shelf.

I bought some fabric that I found on an amazing sale, and whipped up some cutrains. I used a tension rod to hang them under the first shelf. The cutrains can be opened in the middle, pushed to the sides, and quickly held back with some little white cup hooks.

Much better! I'm trying to think of some other little projects I can do around the kitchen to make it cuter. Maybe some cafe window curtains for the big mirror above the sink? Some matching mushroom decor (Jer already found me a lovely mushroom cutting board) like a wall clock, trivets, or salt and pepper shakers? Although, my little kissing frogs shakers from my sister look quite at home amongst the mushrooms, don't they? :)

The Venus Flytrap

2011-03-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Kade had a school assignment to choose a plant and make a project about it. He chose the Venus Flytrap, of course, because "Mom, it eats MEAT!!"

I love them too, in fact, I used to have one! But it died. I tried to catch some small bugs, but failed, so I fed it little pieces of meat, as a gardener at the nursery I bought it from told me to. However, it seemed to just spit the meat out. Doing research with Kade, I found out why- when a bug gets trapped inside, it wiggles to try and free itself. There are small sensor hairs inside the "mouth", and when the bug wiggles, that tells the plant that it has caught a live animal, not a piece of dirt or something. If what the plant catches does not wiggle, the plant opens and lets whatever it is fall out.

Kade chose to create a diorama of a Venus Flytrap habitat. Did you know they only grow in the wild in North and South Carolina? Pretty amazing! We also found out some other cool facts. Each leaf can only eat three times! After that, it turns black and dies, and new leafs grow. Also, it takes ten days to eat a fly! It also eats ants, spiders, other small bugs, and even tiny frogs!!

I have hundreds of bottlecaps that I use for making magnets. We decided they make the perfect little venus flytraps! Kade painted them green, and I helped him make tiny white hairs that we glued around the edges. I cut out red felt circles and Kade glued them to the inside. I hot glued green craft foam onto pipe cleaners to make the stems.

We had some plastic flies leftover from some Halloween project, so we used some of those in the diorama too! Kade even had the idea to tie invisible thread around one and hang it from the top, so it looks like the fly is hovering over the flowers.

It was a really fun project, although I have to say it was difficult for me to step back and let Kade do most of the work! haha. He wants to get a real Venus Flytrap, now that he has learned so much about them and finds them so interesting. Maybe we'll try again, I'll let you know how it goes, if we do!

Mini Monkeys

2011-02-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

February is always a big month for mini sock monkeys. They make the perfect Valentine gift- I've sold them as presents to children, girlfriends, husbands, and more! I am on the hunt right now for more cute baby socks suitable for next year. I haven't found anything perfect yet, but I'll keep looking!

Here are the Mini Monkeys of this past Valentines Day:

Kade was kind enough to lend his cute hands for the photo shoot. They are the perfect size to cuddle these minis, and it helps to give an idea of how small they really are- about 6" tall on average!

Worms for Lunch!!

2010-04-02T17:30:00.001-07:00

This is what I made Kade for lunch yesterday (April Fools Day...)

Worms! Yummy and nutritious!!!

Kade almost threw up when I showed him the worms frying up in the sauce pan.

"Oh, wait... is this a trick? Are you playing an April Fools joke on me?"

"Kade, why would I do that? This is your lunch. Worms are good for you."

"Eww, no they're not!"

"Of course they are! Cows, fish, and chicken are good for us! So are worms!"

"I am NOT going to eat that. No way."

After that he started looking at me really funny. Kind of disgusted and appalled. He shook his head and went to sit on the couch and told me he wasn't hungry any more.

I don't blame him! Those worms were especially unappetizing. Especially after I added the ketchup! ;c)

It took me quite a while to convince him that I was, after all, playing an April Fools joke on him. For a bit, he thought that me telling him it was a joke, WAS the joke, and that those were actual worms I was trying to trick him into eating. I'm not that mean!

It wasn't until I showed him how I made them that he believed me. Then he thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and he happily ate his bloody worm sandwich, even asked for seconds on the worms!

(If you'd like to make some worms for someone special - and gullible - in your own life, here's how: slice up a few cheese-dogs, or plain hot-dogs, into about 6 thin slices. Fry in a tiny bit of oil, or boil. They'll curl up and look nice and wormy! Have fun!)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Kade's school held an Easter program last night. It was fantastic!! So adorable and sweet... I will admit, I cried a few times! They did the Tale of the Three Trees. I'm so glad I was able to record the songs with my camera. Here is one of them. Kade has a solo at the end!

Kade found us all in the crowd, and I could see his face light up when he saw us. He is usually a pretty shy little guy, but you never would have guessed that last night! He didn't seem to be nervous of being in front of all the people (unless yawning is a nervous tick? He yawned about 100 times... don't know what that was about! lol). He enjoyed it actually! He's always telling me that when he grows up, he wants to be a famous rock star. He didn't even want to leave the stage when it was over. He just sat down and hung out until I came down to get him!

Here are a few of the family members that came to see Kade. I didn't get a picture with us, or Kade's other grandparents, unfortunately.

I did get a photo with Kade's teacher, Miss Janice! He loves her to death! She was the director, and she did an amazing job! From what I could tell, the whole thing went smoothly, which is pretty impressive!

What special memories! :)

I'll post some better photos of Kade's costume later. My mom offered to help me make it, since I hurt my back. It was lots of fun!

Happy Easter!

"The Death Star is fully armed and operational!"

2010-03-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos I promised of the amazing cake my mom made for Jer's birthday!
Remember the light saber cake from last year? This one kept with the Star Wars theme.... the Death Star!

That whole cake is edible! My mom made the fondant herself, and it was so yummy. The Death Star (how do you bake a round-like-a-basketball cake, anyways?!) was chocolate with peanut butter filling. The sky/galaxy cake underneath was the opposite. It was delicious, but boy, it sure was hard to cut into that beautiful cake. I made sure to take lots of pictures before I got out the knife!

Here are my handsome boys (and a gnome).

The candles all aflame.

Making a wish. ("I wish I was a real Jedi" I'm sure!)

Thanks for the perfect cake, Mom! :)

Changing subjects, I put my back out on Sunday! I don't even have a great story to go along with the injury. It happened while I was sleeping. Figures! I haven't been able to work this whole week, and I've been in so much pain I'm limited to laying on the couch all day. The only time I get up is to get Kade to and from school. Luckily my guys have been taking great care of me this week, and I think without Jer's constant checking to make sure I'm resting, I'd have damaged my back even further.

I guess my diagnosis is "Back Spasms". I've been going to physical therapy and the chiropractor, but my pain hasn't really decreased much at all. Hopefully my back starts to heal soon, because I am so sick of being banned to the couch! I keep thinking of all the things I should be doing (custom orders to finish, housework, etc), feeling guilty that Jer has been working all day and then has to come home and work more (although that's what I usually do every day!), and I just feel useless, bored, and frustrated. You'd think it would be kind of like a vacation! I guess if I wasn't in constant pain, it would be enjoyable for a while. But I'm the kind of person who likes to be something useful!

OK, I'm done complaining, but seriously... my back better get well soon or I'm going to go crazy! I wish I could bring my computer over to the couch, I'd blog-surf all day... now that sounds like fun! :)

Boys can craft, too!!!

2010-03-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation with another mom the other day, about teaching our kids how to sew, embroider, and just be crafty in general. This other mom was a bit afraid that teaching these things to her young son would somehow make him less boyish. It's mostly the sewing, I think, that had her scared. She wondered what other kids would think of him if they knew he sewed, and if they would make fun of him for it. I started talking to her about a project Kade just started on, and she thought it was actually really cute!

Personally, I think that if a guy can sew, that's awesome!! Kudos to him. It definitely doesn't make a guy (or a little boy) more girly. I mean, it's the same deal with girls that can build things like bunk beds and kitchen tables. Why should one type of art be looked upon as something only guys do, or only girls do?

I'd like to let Kade express himself however he wants to, whether it be shooting hoops, scoring goals, painting, singing, anything... whatever makes him happy! Right now, he REALLY wants to take swimming lessons. He's so proud that he knows how to hold his breath under water, and wants to learn more. He's also interested in martial arts, and we might put him in some classes at some point. We read an article in Family Fun magazine about building tiny tree houses, and he is so looking forward to doing that as a project this summer.

Another thing he is excited about doing right now is sewing! And boy, there is probably not a more boyish project than this. He decided himself that he wanted to make a Batman plush. He drew the design all by himself.

I enlarged the pattern a bit. Then he cut it out and pinned it to the felt.

I was super impressed by the pinning- what perfect placement! One in each limb, and look at the eyeballs...

After cutting out the felt (I helped around the corners), we'll do another one, pin them together, and he'll hand sew around the outside with embroidery thread. Then he can stuff it and sew the opening closed. Final touches will be adding the belt, eyes, and mouth. We haven't gotten that far yet, but I'll post pictures when it's done.

I think it's adorable, and I'm happy he's learning something that I love to do. It's great for exercising his fine motor skills, and his creativity. It's going to be such a sweet keepsake to look back on some day in the future. Even if he grows out of his sewing interests, it sure is fun for now!

*Oh, as soon as I upload all the new pictures from my camera, I have to show you the amazing Star Wars cake my mom made for Jer this year!! Check back for photos... =c)

Kade and the Sock Monkey Factory

2010-02-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have been super busy the past couple weeks in my one-person sock monkey factory. It is a happy, magical place, mostly, except when something (i.e. tripping over remote controlled R2D2) unexpected happens and arms, tails, ears, and bodies go flying everywhere. Luckily no important body parts (are there any unimportant ones??) were lost, and all the sock monkeys were able to be put together without any missing pieces. Here are a few of them:

Those were all custom orders! I am almost done with two more, that I haven't taken photos of yet- one for my nephew's baby shower this weekend, and one to (finally!) put in the shop. Besides that, there are quite a few more in the beginning stages, waiting to be stuffed and sewn!

Sock monkeys take a lot of work to make, at least the way I make them (I am very focused on little details, and somewhat of a perfectionist...). It's been a little non-stop over here for a while, and I began to realize that when Kade started giving me advice the other day...

Kade- "Lets buy that wooden mailbox toy with all the letters, the same one that my teacher has!"

Me- "Sorry honey, we don't have any extra money in the budget right now for toys."

Kade- "Hmm. Well, maybe you just need to make more sock monkeys then, huh!"

then yesterday:

Me- "Holy cow, that fifteen minute doctor appointment cost five hundred and seventy five dollars!!!"

Kade- "Just make some more sock monkeys, mom! Sheesh! Learn your lesson yet?"

Apparently, sock monkeys are the answer to all my problems. Who knew?! We have been talking to Kade a lot recently about how mommy and daddy have to work so that we can have a place to live, have a car, have food to eat, etc. and it suddenly clicked with Kade that you need money to buy things. Now he isn't quite as upset that daddy can't get home until close to bedtime, because he understands that daddy is working so hard every day for our benefit.

Kade is trying to think of ways to earn money himself, so he can buy that toy he wants. Yesterday when I was using hand sanitizer + magic eraser (hey, it works!) to get rid of dry erase marker stains on the whiteboard, Kade said, "hey... I bet Grandma doesn't know that trick. I bet I can sell it to her!" and then he wiggled his eyebrows and tapped his fingertips together with a very sly giggle. He wants to sell cleaning tips! So funny.

He also made me a video. It's one of his favorite things to do lately. You can tell by watching this that our house really has been a sock monkey factory, at least in his eyes. (Oh, and I don't know why the video looks so strange... I think he was using the Eiffel Tower background effect, which doesn't work too well unless you are in front of a plain wall or sheet or something.)

Anyways, here is a prime example of Kade sweetness:

Now, it's back to the factory for me! I can't wait! :)

Love for Haiti

2010-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

Since the earthquake that devastated Haiti, so many people have been looking for ways to help in some way. Whether it be a donation to the Red Cross, gathering supplies and necessities to send down to Haiti, or fervent prayers, the people of the world are reaching out. I wanted to let you know of two other ways that you can make a difference:

Craft Hope for Haiti

All items have been generously donated by the crafting community. In just one week, over $20,000 have been raised and over 1000 items sold!! That is astounding. Right now, you can visit Craft Hope and buy something, and all proceeds will benefit Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. If you are a crafter, you can also donate an item to Craft Hope. They are taking a short break from accepting donations, due to the overwhelming amount of items they have sold, but check back in a couple weeks and they may be taking donations again. But, there are still many items left to purchase! You can also visit the Craft Hope Blog.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Haiti By Hand

Haiti By Hand is a shop showcasing handcrafted pieces created by a group of artisans in Despinos and Croix de Bouquet, Haiti. HOWEVER, in light of the earthquakes on January 12, 2010, this site will host a wide community of artisans who have donated their work to be sold with all sales going directly to Haiti By Hand. If you are an artist or crafter and would like to donate items to be featured, they have an email address listed.

Also, if you visit this post on the blog for Haiti By Hand, you can learn how you can make Bella and Beau bunnies for the children of Haiti! This is copied from that post:

"When I was visiting the hospitals and orphanages in Port-au-Prince I ached to have something soft and sweet and cuddly to give the children and babies. Something just kept tapping at my heart that these little ones needed something to hug and love.

So I am putting a call out to all my fellow seamstresses. Let's start our machines humming and make some cuddly bunnies for the children of Haiti. The patterns will be available for purchase in the Haiti by Hand etsy shop by Friday. If you do make these bunnies please email us for our shipping address. I will personally make sure they are delivered directly into the hands of these precious children. (Please note that the bunnies are baby-safe, so no buttons or other items that could harm a little one. And the softer the fabrics the better. Oh! and make sure you make boy bunnies too.)"

I will definitely be making some bunnies to send! I'd love it if you could join in as well! Every little thing we can do to help in some way will make a difference. =c)

A first, and hopefully not a last!

2009-11-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

I did my first craft fair yesterday! It was very small- only about 6 vendors, and it was also the first one for the girl who organized the whole thing. She did great! It was a lot of fun putting up my display. I never see everything I have made all out at the same time, looking pretty. My house is so small, new items go right into storage until someone buys them. I have been sewing like crazy for the past few weeks, trying to build my stock up. I figured even if I didn't sell a lot at the craft fair (I ended up selling 5 items), I would be able to have a big update ready for my Etsy shop! (It's coming- I just have to take some pictures!)

Here is my little set-up (click on it for a bigger picture):

This is the my main table. I made that banner by printing out the letters onto scrapbooking paper, cutting out the triangle shape, mounting them on black card stock, punching holes in the corners, and stringing it on some fancy yarn. I used Target storage cubes as displays, which worked REALLY well! They are so versatile- I made some little corner cubes, a couple tall towers, and some shelves. They were perfect for hanging all my Owl Messengers on, too! I ended up having more stuff than I thought I did, so I expanded my space onto this other small table:

Also- laughing at myself is a little lonely, so I invite you to join in! Do you ever have one of those, "what was I thinking?!" moments? They seem to happen all too often to me, but this last one was especially bad.

I was getting ready for work last Friday morning. Not too tired, because it's my late-start morning- I don't have to be there until 8am. So, I can't blame this on sleepiness. I washed my face and then went into my bedroom to put some toner on my face. I picked up the bottle, poured some toner onto a cotton ball, and started applying it all over my face.

Then I noticed it started to sting. And it smelled horrible. Kind of like fingernail polish remover. I continued to apply this burning, horrible-smelling substance to my face, thinking, "that's weird," and that's when I realized - DUH - it WAS fingernail polish remover! When the knowledge of what I was doing hit me, I had this split-second image run through my head of all the skin on my face falling off- as if I had put straight acid all over my skin. I just kept thinking, "how? WHY?!" The bottles don't even look the same, not the same size, shape, or color, so I can't blame it on that either. You have to push down on the top of the toner bottle to get something to come out, not pour it. Completely different. I can think of no excuse. After I was sure that none of my skin was falling off, I couldn't stop laughing! Now I keep the fingernail polish remover in a different spot, away from the toner!!

God Bless America

2009-11-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

I had no idea Kade could do this until a couple days ago. He showed me after school, and I just had to tape it! I'm a proud mama! :)

Giveaway!!!

2009-10-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

How would you like a chance to win this cute set of four Halloween recycled bottle cap magnets??

Head on over to Serenity's Giveaways to enter!

Good luck!! =c)

PS- Last night, my husband called me outside to look at the moon. It was huge and full and beautiful. The sky looked like a painting, with the sky lit up by the light of the moon, behind that old tree and the shed. I tried to take a picture, which didn't work too well, but here is the best one:

Magical!

The One and Only TMNT Leonardo Sock Creature!

2009-09-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

In the past, I have created a Spider Man Sock Monkey, a Star Wars Sock Monkey, and many other unique sock creatures. Last month, I received a request for one that I was really excited to create. Remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? I used to watch that all the time at my friend Rae's house, when we were about 10 years old. The TMNT I made is Leonardo. He's the one with the blue bandanna, and the swords. I did some research, to make sure he was detailed exactly after the 80's/90's cartoon, and went to work. Here is the result:

The best part- the swords can either be attached (by an elastic band) to the hands, or slid into the belt on the back of the shell!!

I hope the recipient enjoys his custom Leonardo Sock Creature! I'm considering making another TMNT... it was really fun... we'll see!

Why I have been so busy!

2009-09-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the answer: Lots and Lots of custom orders! I currently caught up and just waiting for more. I'm sharing a few pictures with you today, but this isn't even all!

(This was a gift for a friend of mine. I don't know if it will fit her baby all at the same time, because I guessed on the sizes for everything, but I think it's cute! Love sock monkeys!)

Next, I'll be sharing pictures of the second ever Sock Chicken, a Sock Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and an adorable plush horsie!

Kindergarten, here we come!

2009-09-16T12:13:00.001-07:00

Kade started Kindergarten on Monday. I was prepared for lots of clinging, and some pleas of, "don't go yet!" or, "just one more hug and kiss!". We walked into the classroom and to my surprise, Kade just ran over to his spot on the rug and sat down, without a backwards glance! He waved over his shoulder, actually it looked more like he was shooing me away. So I left, without my hug and kiss, feeling a tiny bit dejected, but mostly relieved and proud. I got plenty of hugs and kisses when I picked him up 3.5 hours later, and was happy to hear that he couldn't wait to go back the next day. Now the first day of kindergarten is over, that day we'll both remember for the rest of our lives, that milestone that seemed so far away once. That day has passed, and now the bright future lies ahead.

Evergreen State Fair

2009-09-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the annual Evergreen State Fair. When we left the house in the morning, it was absolutely pouring down rain! So we donned rain coats and rain boots and brought the umbrellas. As soon as we got to the fair, the rain subsided, and didn't appear again until we got in the car to drive home that evening!

Here are a few (very few!) highlights:

Kade and one of his cousins got to go on rides together this year. They had a blast!!!

Best buddies :)

This was probably Kade's favorite part of the fair this year. We spent a lot of time looking at all these wood carved creatures. We got to watch a man create Kade's favorite animal, a turtle! Kade wanted his picture taken by every single carving that he thought was cool. I have about 25 pictures like these:

The tallest guy at the fair:

When Kade spotted this HippoCampus on the carousel, he was entranced. As soon as the gates opened, he made a beeline straight for it. He grinned so happily during the whole ride:

I was showing these photos to a friend of mine, and she liked the HippoCampus so much that she hand carved a stamp of it!! Here is is:

Isn't that amazing?! It looks JUST like the picture!

Anyways, I always feel like the Fair is a sign of the end of summer. Leaves have started to turn, it's getting dark earlier, Kade's starting Kindergarten on Monday. Summer went by too quickly! But, Fall is my favorite season, and I can't wait to see what it brings this year :)

Hand Carving stamps!

2009-09-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

I have been creating lots of hand carved stamps lately! They are for use in letterboxing. A friend and I hosted a letterboxing event a few weeks ago (I'll have to share some pictures soon!) and it kind of re-lit my fire for carving stamps. Here are some examples of what I've done recently!

This was an "event box"- a letterbox made especially for the event. I decoupaged the "Treasure Island" photo onto a large (12"x14") old book about cats. Then, I turned it into a Secret Hollow Book!

This is the inside of the book. I glued all the pages together, and used an exacto knife to carve out two openings to house the stamp and the logbook.

This is a closeup of the logbook I made. It's completely hand bound! I used a great tutorial, it only took about 45 minutes total, and was pretty easy!

Here is a closeup of what the stamped image looks like! Click on the photo if you want to see it larger. This stamp is about 4"x5".

Here are the three letterboxes I carved to be "one day only boxes" - available only for the day of the event.

This is what is inside my letterboxes: a nice logbook, for you to stamp your own signature stamp into, a fun little prize for the first finder to keep, and the stamp, in it's own little felt pouch.

This is my "signature stamp"- what I use to stamp into the logbooks found inside letterboxes.

I also carved a signature stamp for Jeremy (this one one especially challenging!):

This is a new stamp for a letterbox that has not been planted yet. I have always loved the Claddagh symbol!

This celtic knot-work shamrock will be a bonus stamp for the above letterbox. It's small, only about 1.5" across:

And lastly, my Seattle Mariners stamp:

There you have it! My favorite place to buy the carving material is currently out of stock or something. So, you could say I'm going through carving withdrawals! Jeremy even got into the spirit and carved some stamps himself. It's addicting! And, anyone can do it- really! You do not have to be artistic and know how to draw! You basically just have to be able to trace lines. With a little practice, you can carve anything! You can carve onto erasers using an exacto knife, you don't need to go out and buy anything special. Here are some tutorials, if you'd like to try it out:

~ Geninne's tutorial (start at the bottom)
~ The Monkey Basket tutorial (shows the transfer method I use)
~ Two Cheese Please tutorial (using erasers and chisel tools)
~ Atlas Quest tutorial (one more...for good measure!)

First trip to the ER...

2009-08-26T11:29:00.001-07:00

Well, it turns out my last post was posted too soon! That very same day, guess who's fever shot up again.

Guess who's headache was so bad that he cried out in pain at the sunshine.

And guess who's neck was so stiff that he couldn't move it AT ALL.

Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said... "bring him into the ER right now. We're going to have to do a spinal tap to test for meningitis."

So that's what this mommy did. I called some people, packed some bags, and put my hotter-than-hot, sicker-than-sick boy into the car and drove to the ER.

Guess who wasn't sick at all 2 hours later, when the doctor came into the room?

That's right, I said, "wasn't sick at all." No fever, no headache, no sore throat, no stiff neck.

"I promise," I told the doctor, "he was REALLY sick before we got here..." She said it's happened before.

I think God answered some prayers and healed this sick boy, because the doctor checked him over, kept him a little white for observation, and decided that no spinal tap would be needed! In fact, the only pain Kade had to go through was a tiny finger prick to test for mono- negative, of course!

Somebody's watchin' over this kid!

Fever

2009-08-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Kade has been sick since last Monday night. He was fine all day, then before bed I kissed him on the forehead and noticed he was pretty hot. He is prone to getting fevers, so I just brushed it off as, "he must have played too hard today." In the morning, he comes stumbling into the bedroom, delirious, crying, and burning up with a fever of 104 degrees!!!

My whole week has been a mess of obsessive temperature taking, medicine measuring, doctor calling, washcloth wetting, popsicle offering, drink forcing, and blanket refusing. Tuesday, Kade developed a sore throat. Wednesday, his fever shot up to 105.5. I got it to come down very quickly, and Kade did not have any of the "go to the ER" signs. But, he also developed a very bad headache and a stiff neck. He was not able to turn his head from side to side or up and down- he just lay on the couch looking very miserable and pale. He ate barely nothing the whole week.

I took him to the doctor on Thursday. At one point during out 45 minute wait, Kade slid off the chair onto the ground, clutching his neck. "This is the end!" he croaked out dramatically. "I'll see you in Heaven, mommy. I never thought I would die this way. I'll miss you!" Other moms were staring, and calling their children away from the apparently deathly ill boy on the floor. "It's OK," I said to them, "he says stuff like this all the time..." "NOOO, it's the end for me, the end, THE EEEENNND!!!" Kade insisted.

Luckily, the nurse came just then to call us in. After checking Kade over, the doctor was worried enough that he was asking about what was the nearest hospital to our house. I think he was worried that Kade had meningitis, by the questions he was asking.. Not too worried, I'm sure, or he would have sent us to the hospital right away! He thought the sore throat trumped the stiff neck and headache, so prescribed him antibiotics and sent us home. He even called on Friday morning to make sure Kade was still OK.

This morning (Saturday, I think.... I'm beginning to lose track of time..) Kade woke me up at 5am and his fever was up near 104 again. I gave him motrin and a drink and put him back to bed. At 9, he woke up again, fever free! He walked out of his room and proclaimed, "I feel so alive!" and asked for something to eat. His headache gone, his stiff neck nice and relaxed, a smile on his face. The only trace that remains is a bit of a sore throat. It's still only the middle of the day, so I am *hoping* that the fever does not come back. It seems like he has been sick forever. I haven't been out of the house (besides to the doctor) all week. I need to go grocery shopping SO bad! And I just need a little break! Just one little break, before next week starts and I have to get caught up with my life!

Picture Journey

2009-08-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

I had a very hard time narrowing down photos to share with you. I took over 300! Yes, I have a problem :) Here are a very few highlights from our recent vacation to the Washington State Peninsula:

A cool tree at our camp site:

Our "platform tent"- a great way to camp!

Murhut Falls in Brinnon, WA (one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on!):

Kade enjoying the view (and wishing he could climb down like the grownups):

A gorgeous sunny day:

Wish we could have stopped!

Ocean Shores State Park:

"Footprint in the Sand"

Smokestack near Aberdeen:

Mt. Walker View Point (even on a very foggy day it was amazing):

Kade at the top of the world:

Sweet memories

Keeping Cool

2009-07-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have been having a huge heat wave. Yesterday and today have been hotter weather than I've ever experienced!

I haven't had much energy to do much work. (I am so behind right now, I don't want to think about it! I haven't even organized some vacation photos to share yet... I'll get to that soon!) We ran a lot of errands these past couple days. My car has air conditioning, unlike my house, so it was a nice escape! While at home, though, we survived on otter pops, ice water, and this:

Refreshing!

Leaving on Vacation

2009-07-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, my sister took me to see Death Cab For Cutie!!

They are one of my favorite bands. This was their last concert on their whole tour, and it was awesome!
They are amazing live. This is the 3rd time I've been to one of their concerts. The first was many, many years ago, when they were playing at a little local event... they were pretty new, not very famous yet. But I loved them from the start. Here is the last clip of the last song they sang (before the encore):

It was a great night! We even just happened to sit with one of my best childhood friends, my next door neighbor when I was growing up! I hadn't seen her since we were kids, so that was fun! I'm so glad my sister and I got to have this night together, I'll always remember it!

*

We are leaving soon on our summer vacation... camping for the week! So, I've got lots of packing to do today. I've got a notice up in my shop letting everyone know that their orders will be shipped/custom orders started in one week when we return.

Also, I've been getting lots of traffic to my blog from people searching for a free sandwich wrap tutorial. As it turns out, people want a photo tutorial of the whole process, to make things easier for the new seamstress =c) I'm happy to do it, and I'll work on it when I return! I'll also show you how to make the little snack bags. Hopefully it will be just in time for getting ready for back-to-school!

I'm outta here! Have a great week!

Custom Orders Galore

2009-07-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the comments on my re-usable snack bags and the sandwich wrap tutorial! Lots of people mentioned that I should sell them in my shop. I just wanted to let you all know that there are dozens of great sellers on Etsy who already make these- just do a search, if you want to buy some. I probably won't list any for sale any time soon, but I always welcome custom orders :)

Speaking of custom orders, here are some that I've recently finished or am working on now:

A set of six custom bottle cap magnets.
Isn't this a beautiful family?! I love the little boy's smile, on the bottom left. So cute!

These twin Beau Bunnies are for brand new twin boys named Paul and Luke. They are in the NICU, doing well, and these bunnies are keeping them company!

Another order from the same person- the two Dinos are for the twin boys also. Plus, a bunny for a special gal named Rachel!

This batch of super cute Messenger Owls was completed a couple weeks ago! I had fun with all the color combinations! Just so you know, if you order 5 or more owls, you get a discount- you don't have to own a store or anything!

These horses are a new item I'm working on! They're the only two I've made so far, but I am hoping to make more for the shop soon. I am open to custom orders on them, though! The pattern is by FunkyFriendsFactory, the same place I got the Ellie Elephant pattern! These horses are so cute, I'm very excited... I've loved horses since I was a little girl! The soft furry mane and tail is especially endearing...

And finally, here are some elephants that I'm working on! I know, tons! The top two are actually completed as of today, and off in the mail tomorrow. The middle left one is a custom order, but the other three will be available in the shop.

I'm going to go watch a movie with Jer now. Kade is in bed, the house is quiet, my work is done.... it's a great evening!

My Little Fishie

2009-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Kade has been in swimming lessons for a long time. Almost a year, I think. While he loves them, he was always stuck in the first level, because he HATED going under water and jumping in. He got water in his eyes once and screamed so hard that the life guard came running over, sure that he had broken a leg or something.

Last week, Kade's cousin invited us to go swimming on a very hot day. I took the opportunity, while I was actually IN the water with Kade, to try and get him to go under water. I couldn't convince him though. I was about to get out of the water when, out of the blue, Kade dunked his head, all on his own! To his suprise, he discovered that he LOVED it! I couldn't get him to stop! The trick, for him, was wearing goggles and pinching his nose. The next day (4th of July) he was at another cousins house, and was in the pool for hours, happy as a clam! He was so cold and his lips were turning blue, but he didn't want to get out.

I now call him my little fishie. He has been in swimming lessons every day this past week, and has shown so much improvement! He jumps off the edge all by himself now. He does sitting dives. He back floats on his own. He goes under the water so much that he gets in trouble for it! Only a week ago, he was the boy clinging to the edge of the pool, afraid to let go, determined to keep his face dry. Just look at this picture and you can see how excited he is now:

He is most excited about getting closer to being able to swim with his cousins, all on his own. Every time during lessons when he does something he is proud of, he gives me his little version of "thumbs up":

(I've tried to teach him to use his thumb, but the finger just wants the job so bad, and besides, it's cute!) He has gone from, "I can't do it," to, "I did it!" It makes me so happy to see him gain that self confidence. Go, little fishie, go!

Reusable snack bags + free tutorial for a sandwich wrap

2009-07-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Last week, Kade went to day camp. I packed him a lunch every day, and realized by the end of the week that I had used at least 8 plastic ziplock bags! Next year he'll be taking lunch to school, and if I use that many baggies every week for a whole year.... wow. Lots of money wasted, lots of plastic bags in the garbage. So, I decided to make him some reusable snack bags.

(Chocolate milk is there so you can see how big they are)

I have made two sets so far (SpongeBob and outer space) and will probably make one more. They are the same basic size as the snack size and sandwich size ziplocks. They have tabs to make them easy to open, and velcro all the way across the opening.

The inside is made out of PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric)- it is soft and flexible, waterproof, washable, and safe*. I got mine at Kids in the Garden- she is very reasonably priced, and you can buy by the inch! You could also use oilcloth, or just regular cotton fabric.

After I made the snack bags, I decided to try and make a sandwich wrap. The boy I nanny uses them every day at school, and loves them! They hold everything in nicely, make a nice clean place mat for his food to sit on, and also work for crackers, apple slices, cookies, etc. So, I sat down and drew out a little tutorial for myself (I have to figure stuff out before I start sewing, or who knows what I'll end up with!), and here's what I came up with!

(Once again... chocolate milk was easier to show the size than making an actual sandwich!)

Cute, huh?! The great thing is that all three items (2 snack bags and 1 wrap) only cost me about $5, total! I love saving money! And I feel good about reducing (even if only by a little bit) the amount of trash we throw out.

Here is my little tutorial for the sandwich wrap. Now you can make some for your kids too! :) I don't know how to attach a PDF to my blog, so just click on the picture to make it bigger, and save it to your computer if you want to.

So there ya go! If enough people want me to, I'll also do a little tutorial sheet on the 2 sizes of snack baggies. I hope the tutorial makes sense, if you have any questions or if anything is confusing, just let me know :) Enjoy!

* There is a lot of conflicting information on the web about whether PUL is food safe or not. From all my research, I have decided that I am comfortable using it for my family. PUL is plastic, so if you don't like saran wrap, ziplock baggies, etc. coming in contact with your food, PUL might not be a good choice for you. PUL is also not to be heated up, of course. As with anything else, do your own research and come to your own conclusions about whether or not to use PUL.

Sneaky Little Ninja

2009-07-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was doing laundry one day and I found a tiny, 1" tall ninja at the bottom of the hamper. He's pretty brave for such a little guy. Very sneaky too. I hid him in Jer's shoe. When Jer found it, he stuck it on the computer desk peeking out from behind the speakers. Here are a few more places this Sneaky Little Ninja has been found lately:

Up on a high shelf full of vases and jars, hiding right inside a small glass bottle near the back:

Amidst the leaves of my Snake Plant:

Balancing on top of the frame holding our engagement photo:

I wonder where he'll turn up next...

Darth Monkius, Lord of the Sith

2009-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Jer wanted a Sith outfit for his sock monkey for his birthday (actually, for Christmas, and I never got it done, so birthday it is!) which was in March. I finished it in April, took pictures in May... you get the idea :) Luckily he didn't mind the present being late!

The monkey is one of the very first ones I ever made. Jer has had it for a couple years now. I gave it a little "face lift"- straightened out the eyes, re-sewed the mouth, fluffed up all the stuffing that had gotten lumpy, etc. I made the pattern for the tunic, cloak, and light saber. I guess you could say this is the prototype or test run of The Star Wars Sock Monkey! I plan to make another one (or more, if people like them) for the shop, now that I know what changes I want to make to the outfit.

Enough chatter, on with the pictures!

"The force is strong with this one..."

"I sense something, a presence I've not felt since......."

"No. Leave them to me. I will deal with them myself."

"Impressive. Most impressive."

"No! I am your father!"

Isn't he cute, in an ominous, dangerous sort of way?

**Yes, I do realize and in fact proudly proclaim, I am a nerd!

Buttercup Bags

2009-06-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just in case you haven't heard of The Buttercup Bag, ***here*** is the tutorial, from Made By Rae. And I also used ***this*** tutorial to make the bag a bit bigger, add a zipper, and cell phone pocket.

It seems like everyone is making these bags now, I have seen them on lots of blogs and even on Etsy! I love them... haven't made any for myself yet, but here are two that I made for gifts:

This one is for my mother-in-law. I haven't given it to her yet, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog. So I think it's safe to show now :)

I made this one for my mom's birthday. She got it last weekend. She likes it, woohoo!!

Now I just need to make one for myself!

Mr. Googlie Eye

2009-06-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

One of the boys I nanny (who is also one of Kade's best friends) had his 6th birthday recently. He is the kind of kid who has everything, so I wanted to give him something unique and special. I decided on a silly monster plushie. Kade designed the whole thing- he chose the colors, the shape of the body, how many eyes, what the mouth should look like, everything! Here is the result:

The boy named him Mr. Googlie Eye. He loves him very much, takes him everywhere, even sleeps with him! It gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to know that I was able to make something he loves!

There is a pocket on the back for notes or little treasures.

I'm thinking about making some monsters for the shop, what do you think?

It's so hot I can't think.

2009-06-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

I was trying to title this post and sat staring at the screen for who knows how long. So! Hot! Can't! Think! I am not a hot weather person. My favorite season is fall. I love sunshine and warm weather, yeah, but when the INSIDE of my house is 87 degrees (after cooling it down), that's too hot for me.

Anyways, this post isn't really about something, I just wanted to post some pictures of things I've been working on lately! I have at least 13 new projects to share, and I decided to spread them out over the next week or two. Here are the first couple things.

I made this zipper pouch for my niece's birthday. I LOVE this owl fabric! I have been hoarding it, and figured it was time to use some more. >>Here<< is the tutorial I used, in case you want to make one too!

These are some cards I made for Mother's Day and Graduation this year. I ironed some fusible web onto fabric and ribbon, cut it to size, and ironed it onto the card. (I pre-printed the message onto the card stock first) While the card was still hot I pressed it in a book to flatten it out. Then I sewed a border around the edges. I like using fabric for cards because of the texture it gives the card, and also it's a great use for those small scraps you don't know what to do with!

I'm going to go check on our homemade popsicles now, and get stuff ready so Jer can barbecue up some dinner when he gets home! I hope you all are staying somewhat cool today :)

I'm the proud mother of a graduate!

2009-06-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Please allow me to brag about my kid for a minute! :)

On my birthday, Kade graduated from preschool! His class had a cute little ceremony on the last day of school. I could tell by the look on Kade's face that he was so proud of himself!

I think that school isn't going to come easy for Kade. He really has to work hard to learn, and quite a few times during the last year he has gotten very frustrated with things like colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. He's very smart, but he learns things in his own time. He is determined, though, and each time he learns something new, I can tell that he is getting more and more sure of himself!

During his year at preschool, he accomplished so much! He learned how to write his own name without any help, he can recognize the numbers 0-10, he knows the sounds that about 15-20 letters make, he can color inside the lines, he can rhyme words, do some sign language, and has even shown improvement recognizing the colors red and green. (His optometrist said that Kade probably has red-green color blindness, so being able tell those colors apart is a very good sign!!!) I also learned that some of his strong points in school are going to be determination to follow the rules, and to finish his projects! I waited after school many days for Kade to finish something he was working on. Putting something aside to finish later is something we'll have to work on :)

We wanted to thank his two teachers in a very special way for all that they have done for Kade. We decided to make them a keepsake card/mini album, with pictures of Kade, and statements by him about the year.

For each card, I cut a piece of scrapbook paper down to 9x12 inches. Folded in half, that made the cover. Then I folded two pieces of colored paper and put them inside. I stapled the spine. Kade traced the words on the front, and drew the pictures himself. Then he signed his name.

Here are the inside pages (Kade decorated them all with stamps):

The last page is my favorite!
He finished these sentences:

I like Miss _____ because:
Miss _____ is good at:
Miss _____ taught me:

The answers were really cute! Then we (my mom helped) stamped his hand print and wrote, "A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, touches a Heart."

I think they turned out really cute, they were quick to put together, and his teachers are going to love them!

I'd love to hear if you have any other ideas for easy-to-make teachers gifts! If you are a teacher- what were some of the things you loved receiving from your students?

And the Winner of the Sock Monkey Baby Set Trio is.....

2009-06-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Man, it took a long time to write down all those entries. I should have used the random number generator! My hand has a cramp!

Mix, mix mix....

Oooh.... he must have picked a good one.... so excited, can barely stand it.......

*
*
*
Sonja!!!!!!!!!!
*
*
*

Congratulations Sonja, you won!! I'll be contacting you shortly!

Thanks again to everybody who entered! I'll be having more giveaways in the future, so you will get another chance! Stop by my blog any time, you're always welcome here :)

It's time for a GIVEAWAY!!!

2009-05-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

***Thank you to everybody who entered! The giveaway is now closed, and I'll be drawing a winner in the next day or two. Thanks for all your input on my Etsy shop, for all the new subscribers, and new followers!! I look forward to getting to know all of you! Check back on June 2nd to find out who won..... will it be you?***

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Last time I did a giveaway on my blog was in celebration of my one year Etsy-versary. It was so much fun that I just have to do it again! Not only have I just passed the 200th sale mark, but tomorrow is my birthday, and Sew, Mama, Sew! is having their annual May Giveaway Day! I think it's meant to be!

First of all, if you've found my blog through Sew, Mama, Sew!, welcome!!! Thanks so much for stopping bye. If you're here because you're one of my readers, I highly encourage you to click *here* for a list of hundreds of other blogs that are also doing a giveaway right now. Spend a little while blog hopping, it's lots of fun!
Now, on to the good part.

Here is what you could win:

~One ribbon blankie, one pair of baby booties, and one pair of Sock Monkey socks~

I made these especially for you! First is a ribbon blankie, measuring about 8"x8":

There are 20 tags securely sewn in, with many different textures to keep baby busy! The top is Moda Sock Monkey print, and the back is ultra soft smooth red minky. Next is a coordinating set of
baby booties:

I have been wanting to try making some for the longest time, and this was the perfect opportunity! They are also made from the Moda Sock Monkey print, with thick soft red fleece on the inside. So cozy! I'm not sure about the size, but I'm guessing they would fit somewhere between 6-12 months old. The sole is about 4.5" long. Last but not least is one pair of original Rockford Red Heel
sock monkey socks:

These come with directions, so you can make your own sock monkey to go with the blankie and the booties. All you will need is a sewing machine, stuffing, and a needle and thread. It's a great project for beginners too!

There are a few ways to win.
Feel free to do one or all three.
Just make sure to leave a separate
comment for each way you enter.

(Please only do each thing one time,
for a maximum of three total entries).

1. Go to my Etsy shop, Treasures Under the Willow Tree, and find your favorite item. Come back here and leave me a comment, telling me why you like that item! You could also give me a suggestion for something else you'd like to see in my shop!

2. Subscribe to my feed!

3. Follow my blog! The link is in the righthand column, a little ways down the page.

*Please remember to leave your blog link or email address so I can contact you if you win!*

I will ship your prize anywhere! The contest will end at 10pm, Sunday, May 31st. I'll throw all the entries in a bag, shake it up really well, and let Kade draw one out. I'll notify the winner and post it here by Tuesday, June 2nd.

Good luck, and have fun!!!

************************************************************
In the mean time, here are some quick and easy tutorials
(not written by me) for each of the items I'm giving away! So, if you don't win, you can make your own :)

Ribbon Blankie:
Twiddler Tag Blankie Tutorial by Mama's Doodles
Baby Taggy Ribbon Blanket by Melissa Sews
Baby Booties:
Reversible Fabric Baby Shoes Tutorial by Bare Maked
Cloth Shoe Pattern by Stardustshoes
Sock Monkey:
How to Make a Sock Monkey at Supersockmonkey.com
Sock Monkey Tutorial by Web-Goddess

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Vacationing at Home

2009-05-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Jer and I have this week off from work! It turns out to be the perfect week for it, too... it's been such a beautiful one! Instead of going on a vacation, we opted to stay at home and spend the week doing fun things together and relaxing. Here is our little itinerary:

Saturday: Kade had swimming lessons in the morning. He put his head under the water for the first time, so we took him to McD's playland to celebrate! After playing and having lunch, we went to the pet store and got some supplies for Po, and also got a new hermit crab to accompany our other two. The rest of the afternoon was spent with our little pets, re-arranging their homes, etc.

Sunday: After church, we went letterboxing! We went to a few different parks, had a picnic lunch, played on some awesome playgrounds, and found three new letterboxes.

Later that evening we had a movie night. We set up Kade's little tent in the living room, made up the futon for me and Jer, and watched movies! We ate pizza and had popcorn and ice cream. Jer and I fell asleep by midnight, but Kade kept going past 2 am!! Then he woke up bright and chipper the next morning at 7! Kade really got a kick out of the "no bedtime tonight" rule, and took full advantage of it.

Monday: We took Kade to his grandparent's house for the day, and he got to have a sleepover with them. Jer and I went to see Star Trek, and then treated ourselves to dinner at the Olive Garden. It was really nice to actually go on a date, just the two of us!

Tuesday: Kade got out of school at 11:45, and since it was cloudy and drizzling, we went home. Jer and Kade played Mario Kart Wii (Kade's favorite game) all day, with the goal of unlocking all the tracks, vehicles, and characters. I worked on a custom order. It's not done yet, but here is a sneak peek:

(Yes, I know it's odd looking! It's a character from a 1957 childrens book. Do you know which one?)

Wednesday: Every year we like to take a nice day trip over the mountains to Leavenworth. It was pouring rain when we left in the morning, but we ended up chasing the sun and found it again in Leavenworth, where it was sunny and warm all day! We ate crepes at our favorite restaurant, wandered dozens of fun little specialty shops, walked down to the park and explored an island, and lots more. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Thursday: After Kade got out of school, we had a picnic and played for a few hours at Lake Tye Park. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent relaxing at home.

Friday (today): Kade is spending the day with one of his grandmas. I am going to help my sister redecorate her room, and Jer is going to hang out at home.

We have more planned for the weekend, but I'll share that after it happens! It is turning out to be a great week. It is so much less stressful than going on a big vacation somewhere and having to plan out plane tickets, hotels, packing, and spending tons of money! It's nice to just have a break. In July we have one more week of vacation that we're going to spend camping at Dosewallips State Park. Other than that, maybe a few camping trips here and there on the weekends.

Speaking of stuff that is coming up- it's almost my birthday! To celebrate, I'm going to host a giveaway on my blog!!!

It will start May 27th and will be open until the 31st. I'll be doing a special giveaway post on the starting day with more details, and you can also head over to May Giveaway Day on the 27th for your chance to win hundreds of other prizes from other bloggers! Go check it out!! :)

Classic Kade

2009-05-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Kade: "Mommy, you're so beautiful!!!"

Me: "aww, thanks, sweetie!"

Kade: "Um.. would it make you sad if I said that you're not beautiful?"

Me: "...maybe?...no?..."

Kade: "Well, I don't want to hurt your feelings, so yeah, you are beautiful. I just want you to be happy!"

Silly, honest, sweet guy! :0)

I love weekends!

2009-04-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Especially when they are sunny! Kade starts swim lessons today. This will be his first time going in the water without Jer or me. I am just hoping that he actually WILL go in the water!

Look what I found last night- it's my Green Dino on the front page of the gift guides! Woohoo, thanks Etsy! :)

Hey, check out -->this!<--
Tami from So Anyway... did a feature and a little interview on my shop! It turned out great, and she is so nice and has a really fun blog!

I also just introduced three new Bunnies and one Elephant into the shop, here are a few pictures!

I'm going to try to find something fun to do this afternoon... maybe hiking at Wallace Falls, or a picnic at the park? We've got to take advantage of this nice weather while it lasts!

Girly girly

2009-04-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a customer buy all three of the sock monkeys in my shop! They are all going to be for baby girls, so I made a few changes and additions to girly them up. For the striped monkey, I made a very soft plush minky scarf, and a sweet little bow is sewn securely on her head.

Maybe you remember this winter sock monkey:

She is now prettied up with a french beret and matching scarf, pink with green polkadots! Very fashionable!

This weekend I was putting together some baby shower gifts for a few friends of mine (OK... I know about 5 new babies and 4 pregnant women... almost all the girls I know are pregnant or have just had a baby!). I went shopping at Fred Meyers to find something to go along with my Green Dino toy. Oshkosh makes the *PERFECT* design... it looks so much like my dino you'd think I designed it after the shirt! Even the colors match!

So, I snatched a few up, and am very excited to give these away! :)

Hello and Goodbye

2009-04-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

...to this little elephant! I didn't even get a chance to post pictures here before it sold. So here is a picture... I'm going to make another one like it, plus a bunch more, if I have time!

Here's a custom order I finished up. This special all red Dino is for a vision impaired baby girl! The solid bright red color will help strengthen her tracking muscles in her eyes. This Dino even includes a jingle bell hidden inside!

A new sock creature is for sale in my shop now! I just love this turtle, he's got the sweetest smile :)

Kade and I went on a field trip with his class this morning, to the Imagine Children's Museum. It was so much fun! This was the first time we've been up to the rooftop exhibits, because usually it's raining whenever we go. This gigantic yellow slide was Kade's favorite part of the whole trip:

I had no idea when I chose an Albert Einstein shirt for Kade to wear this morning that we would actually be stopping by his house! What a coincidence!

I'm off now to work on some more custom orders, woohoo!! :)

How I do it: photos for my Etsy listings

2009-04-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have been asked before what kind of light box I use to take my pictures. I thought I'd share my "secret" with you all! I spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to figure out the best way to photograph my items. I do not have a really fancy camera, or photo editing program. I have to rely on lighting and backgrounds to make my photos look good from the start, so that I don't have to spend hours attempting editing them! (There are many free photo editing programs out there on the web that work quite well, but I find it saves me time to start out with a good picture and just use what my computer already is equipped with- cropping, brightness/contrast, saturation, sharpen, etc.- the bare basics.)

I have used many different backgrounds, from nature, to fabric, to poster board, and more. Some pictures did not turn out- the ones in my kitchen against my white walls were all washed out and the wrong color:

The ones outside were too bright or had shadows across the item. The ones on tissue paper were alright, but the paper was at times not big enough, and then I had messy lines that I had to erase digitally (because yes, the lines bugged me!):

I have finally found a method that works for me- I spent no money trying to make a light box that I'd have to store somewhere, and best of all, it's easy!

The key for me is bright indirect sunlight, for whatever background I use. This ensures that the photo is well lit but has no harsh shadows on the background, as well as no glare. I grab the roll of white paper from the art easel, unroll about 3 feet, set the roll on top of some chairs, and drape the paper onto the floor. Notice my very professional paperweights holding the corners down.

Then I get down in front of the paper and snap away! Here are some pictures from the above photo shoot.

The only thing I did to edit them was crop them into squares and add a little edge blur. The color of the white paper is a little off because the day was very cloudy and gray, but the color of the bunnies turned out perfect, so I chose not to change anything. This method also works well with nice smooth fabric (for my Dino's), poster board (for my elephants and owls), and probably a few other things.

For those of you with amazing cameras and PhotoShop, this info will most likely be useless to you. But to those of you who, like me, needs to use what they have and still hopefully get somewhat professional looking photos, I hope this info will give you some good ideas of your own! :)

The prodigal hamster (v.2)

2009-04-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

As most hamsters do sometimes, ours (Po) escaped last week. I was worried he had hurt himself on the fall from the cage down to the ground. I set up a trap (cheese and peanut butter on a cracker, set on some bedding material in a bucket, with a ramp outside the bucket) and put seeds on the floor. I set his cage on the floor too, with the door open.

The first night, he didn't come home. Kade was distraught. I tried to comfort him with stories of Po becoming a pirate and going adventuring, looking for treasure, wondering what was outside his little caged in world, feeling the need to explore. We went to work for the day. Upon arriving home in the afternoon, we checked the trap- cheese gone, cracker halfway gone, hamster.... gone. Sneaky guy!

I then looked at the cage and found a cute little black and white ball curled up top in his nest. He came home! We were so excited and just had to get him out to make sure he was OK. Luckily, it looks like he is in great shape! The only thing I'm worried about is what he did/where he was while he was gone... at least it was only 2 days and not 2 weeks! Here are some cute pictures:

This is blurry but so funny... Po crawled up Kade's shirt and started to lick his ear... silly!

Cleaning his face!

There is your fix of cuteness for the week! I hope you enjoyed it! :)

Elephants!

2009-03-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post to announce that the first of a new item is up in my shop!
I have begun making plush elephants, and believe me, they are probably the most cuddly toy ever! I bought the pattern to make gifts for a new baby and a birthday boy, and when I finished them I knew I *had* to make more! I got permission from the owner of the pattern, and soon I will have my own elephant parade going on at my house! Here are a few pics of the first two that I made:

Here is the first Elephant up for sale in my shop, available now!

I've got more in the works. The next one up will be made of dark gray fleece with bold red and white stripe accents. I also have ideas to make a light gray "Saggy Baggy Elephant"

(remember that book??) and a blue and orange checkered Heffalump

from Pooh's crazy psychedelic dream. I also just stocked up on lots of different colors of fleece, so I can make a wide range of colorful elephants. Yay! I even created some really fun tags to go along with each elephant. Each tag will match the elephant it belongs to, just for the sake of being cute :)

May the Force Be With You

2009-03-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

My mom should earn the title "Jedi Master" solely for this cake she made Jer for his birthday!!!

It started a few weeks ago when she called and told me she had an idea for a cake she could make him, if we were interested. "As long as it's not very big, because there are only going to be about seven of us," I told her. Well, five and a half feet long is a long stretch (hehe) from not very big!!! It was only 4 inches wide though, so it evens out, right? I couldn't say no, I KNEW Jer would absolutely go nuts about this cake, so I accepted the offer!

There are a few Star Wars ~~obsessed people~~ fans in my family, so my mom had help deciding what it should look like. She fashioned it after Darth Vader's lightsaber, which is Jer's favorite.

She brought it over on Saturday before our few guests arrived. We were AMAZED!!! Jer would have picked it up and wielded it, slashing invisible enemies, had I not told him, "Fall victim to the dark side of the force you must not. Cake for eating. Restrain yourself you must." She has made many many awesome cakes before, but this one, I have to say it, takes the cake! I mean, who do you know that can make a cake that measures 5.5 feet long?!

OK... you've been waiting long enough for the pictures, so here they are!

(I had to tilt my camera to get the whole cake in the picture!)

It was the star of the party. A cake to remember! Awe-inspiring, and DELICIOUS to boot!

Punk Sock Monkey

2009-03-03T18:47:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd share some pics of a custom order I recently finished! The sweatshirt and jacket were sent to me already completed by the buyer. I made the sock monkey and the hat. I loved doing the mohawk, he is such a cute punk monkey!

Tomorrow I'm going to post some pictures of the AMAAAAAZING Light Saber birthday cake that my mom made for Jeremy! It was 5 feet long!! You will not want to miss these pictures!

Open Heart Surgery

2009-02-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

Performed by... ME!!! The patient came through just fine :) Here are a couple pics. I have to warn you though... if you're squeamish, look away!

Pre-Surgery:
Looks pretty good! But, the customer wanted the heart to say something different. I love to personalize things, and I can do so to pretty much any of my items for sale. So if you ever see anything in my shop but you wish it had a patch or said something else, don't hesitate to ask! Most of the time I even make little changes like these free of charge. If it takes longer than 20 minutes or so, I do charge a small fee of about $5.

(Hey- I just noticed in this picture that miss sock monkey here has a wild crazy pink string coming out of her ear! She should get something done about that.... not normal!)

Mid-Surgery:
The patient is comfortable and asleep and I begin the heart surgery. I have tiny little scissors especially for jobs like these! I go very gently and slowly... a mistake would be bad at this point!

Post-Surgery:
The heart is all sewn up! The stitches will never come out. Sock monkey now has a brand new pink heart for Leila. I hope she will be happy with it!

Introducing 6 new Bella Bunnies!

2009-02-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show you these new Bella Bunnies now available in the shop! Also, this great website called Northwest Mom Finds has done a really sweet review of my Cuddles Sock Monkey! Check it out :)

One word - Busy!!!

2009-02-22T17:01:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been a whirlwind! We had to take the car to get a tune-up, I went to a fun baby shower and saw good friends I hadn't seen in way too long, I went to the 1st birthday party of one of the kids I take care of, I am working on a big Bella Bunny update, several custom orders, some new products, shall I keep going? I like being busy, because relaxing makes me feel guilty for not doing anything! Here are the pictures of Valentines goodies I promised. I'm glad I'm at least getting them in during the month of February ;)

Here is the card I made for Jer. I just hand cut a heart, sewed it onto the natural card stock, and sewed that onto white card stock. Very quick and simple, but I like the result!

Here are some other cards I made for grandparents, etc. I found the swirly frame image in Google. I hand cut out hearts from red felt, sewed them to white paper, cut out and inked, and glued to the design. I like the bright red contrasting with the black, white, and neutral!

I decided to make gourmet chocolate dipped pretzels! I used both white and semi-sweet dark chocolate. I added chocolate sprinkles, red sprinkles, and coconut toppings. I sorted them into little plastic bags and tied with a ribbon and added a tag. Kade helped with this too, it's a great project for kids!
(I didn't take any pictures of this, but I wanted to mention because it's easy and cute- for Kade's preschool snack for Valentine's Day, we sliced watermelon and used heart and lips cookie cutters to make it fun. I also used the cookie cutters to cut out pink rice krispy treats- yumm!)

Kade chose out Spongebob valentines this year. I only took pictures because I was SO excited and proud that he chose to sit down and write his name on EVERY single one! By the time he was done, he could write his name by himself, without even looking at anything! He was so proud of his work too :)

I'm still here!

2009-02-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

It's been exactly one month since my last post... where has the time gone?
Today I'm going to share some pictures of some recent sock monkeys and other custom orders. It's been pretty busy around here, lots of sewing, lots of fun!

Here is a camera case someone custom ordered. I make these out of the extra sock ends from sock monkeys! I have a huge stack of them, and they are the perfect size for gadget cozies. I line them with matching soft thick fleece, put on a cute button, and there ya go! I made myself one for my camera, and love it!

This owl is just like my others, except over twice as big! I made it out of wool fleece so it is softer, and it makes a comfy pillow/cuddly soft toy/ pretty decoration. The woman I made it for is putting it up in her baby nursery!

This little guy is only 6 inches tall! Have you ever read the Twilight series? This monkey is supposed to represent Jasper Hales, that's why he has golden eyes and a "J.H." on his foot. This is a custom order, but my customer seems to have disappeared.... I hope they come back soon, this mini monkey is ready to go home!! :)

Here is a custom Bella Bunny for a little girl named Keira! I love that name, so pretty! This bunny will be her Easter present. It's one of my favorites so far, I really love that pink chenille fabric!

More miniature sock monkeys... TWINS! These ones are the smallest ever, at only 5 inches tall! So adorable I can barely stand it!! I heard that the two girls who received these for Valentine's Day loved them!

One more custom order, this sweet cupcake monkey was for a little girl's first birthday! I loved making the itty bitty cupcake!

Here are two monkeys that recently sold. A sleeping mini monkey (isn't Kade a great model for my pictures! He's such an enthusiastic helper!) and a Valentine's hearts sock monkey.

Lastly, here are three more sock monkeys that are available in my shop!

Tomorrow I'm going to post some pictures of things we made for Valentine's Day. See you then!

a few of my favorite things today

2009-01-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

I am sick. Achy body, runny nose, sore throat, dog tired, sick. So I have been lazy today. Kade is having a movie marathon, and I am sipping green tea, reading books, and browsing the internet. Sounds like fun, right? Not so much fun when you swallow and your throat totally sticks together, and you can't breath because your sinuses are also stuffed up! At least I don't have what Jer has dubbed, "death disease," where his uvula (dangly thing in the back of his throat) puffed up 10 times the size it's supposed to be. Are you grossed out yet?

So, I thought I'd share some fun things I have found. They help make being sick a little more bearable.

I LOVE this owl fabric! I think it will be my next fabric purchase. I am afraid that I won't want to cut into it, though! That is problem with really cute paper, cute fabric, cute ribbon... I want to save it for something "really special" and then end up not using it. I'm trying to break that cycle by not buying new craft supplies until I use what I have. But these owls might be the exception...

We (well, Kade technically) got a hamster from a friend for Christmas! He is a panda bear hamster named Po after this guy:

I haven't got a real picture of Po yet, because he is only awake at night and I don't want to blind him with the flash. But, he is really cute, and VERY clean (seriously, he cleans his cage every day!), and pretty funny too. I was looking up some info about what treats hamsters can have, and came upon this video. Kade loves watching it! Cute!

Speaking of broccoli, I'm going to make this broccoli cheese soup. So easy, and a great comfort food especially when you're not feeling well!

My SIL sent me a link to this awesome website! It's called Starfall.com. It is GREAT! Kade and I have already spent lots of time there already. We are mostly still working on the ABCs. I've been adding in some of the level two little stories, for instance Zac the Rat is great to read after learning all about the letter A. They also have lots of other fun activities, movies, etc. They even have some really inexpensive journals and books you can buy too.

Lastly, my new favorite song. I don't usually like country very much, but this song is a bit country or folk, and I can't stop listening to it!

Jer is gone for the weekend at a Mens Retreat with our church. So tonight, I am going to make some soup and have a movie marathon of my own! See you next week!

Mix Tapes - not just for the 80's and 90's!!

2009-01-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

I made some zipper pouches for my teenage nieces and nephew for Christmas. I saw this idea on Etsy, it's not my own. These were fun to make, I loved choosing colors and buttons that matched the kids' personalities! I used the zipper pouch tutorial at Heart of Mary. I had to change it a little bit, because I used a different material for the outside and the lining. The tutorial was so easy though, I think anybody could make one!

(click on the pictures if they are too small)

I think next I'll make Jer one. He likes the green one with the owl button best. I'll have to find some more many material for the lining though! I am so addicted to making zip pouches! Besides these, I also made some beautiful wristlet zip pouches for some other family members, but I forgot to take pics.

Speaking of pics, I got tagged by Riah over at My Life With Boys! Looks like fun, so here we go!

Here are the instructions:

1. Go to your documents file.
2. Go to the sixth file.
3. Go to the sixth picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag six friends to do the same.

Here is my picture:

This photo was taken in August 2006. Kade was about 3.5 years old. We went to Jetti Island with some friends for the day. Kade was SO grossed out by the seaweed floating around in the water! I was trying to get some cute pictures of him, and then some seaweed floated around his leg, and he gagged right as I took the photo. I thought it was so funny! (I'm such a mean mom! "Hold on Kade, I'll get the icky seaweed off you as soon as I stop laughing!") Kade went on to enjoy the rest of the day with only a few more seaweed entanglements/gagging. I later made this scrapbook layout:

"Seaweed is Gross"

The journaling title is "these are a few of my least favorite things" and it says...

1. Seaweed - whenever it touches you.
2. Bananas - ever since infanthood you shudder.
3. Things you think are garbage (even if not).
4. Moles and beauty marks on mommy.
5. A stray hair somewhere on your body.
6. Owies of any sort - "don't look, mommy!"
7. Grass or dirt on your hands and feet.
8. Creepy crawly "spider mans" and bugs.
9. Baby slobber - "eeeewww!!!!"
10. Stay tuned...

It's one of my favorite funny layouts, makes me smile every time! Silly boy :)

Thief in the Night

2009-01-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

I was up late Thursday night, catching up on some blog reading, Etsy surfing, and such. Everyone else was asleep and all the lights were off, just the glow of the monitor shining on me. Suddenly I heard a rustling, some footsteps, and a crash!

My first thought was that a wild animal had gotten into our trash (this has happened at least 3 times before). I didn't want to open the front door and be face to face with a hungry raccoon, so I just turned on the outdoor light and peered out the window. I could see nothing, but I could hear something moving around the side of the house.

I tiptoed into the bedroom and woke Jer. He too thought it was just an animal, and told me to check and see if the noise I heard was the trash can tipping over and everything spilling out. I gathered up the nerve to open the front door. Nothing! The trash can was sitting in it's spot, undisturbed by furry paws.

Upon finding nothing wrong and hearing no more strange noises, I went to bed. I awoke the next morning, the crashes and footsteps no longer on my mind. (Even the dream I had about a giant squid knocking over my Christmas tree and taking over my living room was quickly fading.)

I took Kade to the Post office and the grocery store, and spent the majority of the day doing chores and sewing. Kade and I went to our neighbor's house for a quick visit. She gave us some GIGANTIC Fugi apples to take home with us. I mentioned to Kade that the apples were almost as big as his head, and he wanted me to take some silly pictures of him with the moster apple.

After the silly photo session, we headed to Grandparent's house for a New Years celebration. We returned back home around midnight. As Jer pulled his car into the car port, he noticed something strange.

SOMETHING was missing.

OH!! Kade's Harley Davidson Power Wheels that he got for Christmas last year! Just gone.... That is when I realized that those noises I heard the night before were not raccoons at all. It was some thief STEALING a little boys favorite toy, just a few days after Christmas.

Very upset, we put a sad Kade to bed and started putting things away. Jeremy went outside again and spotted something across the yard next to the fence-

the Power Wheels!

We followed some large adult footprints across the snow to the bike and brought it back. We figured that
1. The thief saw the light turn on and heard the door open and got scared away. (Yay me, I can scare away burglars. Good thing I did not open the door face to face with HIM! I don't scream in panic situations, I freeze, sucking in a huge breath of air and just holding it in. Screaming comes later, perhaps when I run out of air and actually have to breath again!)
2. The thief did not realize how heavy it was, and possibly being alone, could not lift it over the fence in as much of a hurry as he would have liked to.

I was SO glad to find the bike. It is one of Kade's favorite things. Who steals kid's toys right after Christmas? Really?

We brought the bike inside and put any other "valuables" that were outside into the shed and pulled the car up close to the door. We now have padlocks, and will not ever leave anything outside again!

I also feel rather silly that I didn't notice that huge thing gone earlier, considering Kade and I were outside a few times that day. I realized later that I even caught a picture of the missing bike. Look at the fourth Kade + Apple photo and you will see it behind Kade in the background. Why didn't I see that before?! At least it turned out alright in the end! Considering our car was stolen from our driveway a couple years ago, and now this, I think we have had our share of Thiefs in the Night!

Health, Sanity, and Accidental Law Breaking

2009-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

It's a pretty good Friday!

I don't have to work, Kade let me sleep in until 9, my cold is going away, and it's the New Year. I usually don't do the whole resolutions thing. Only because I never stick to them, and it's depressing to think that I always fail my resolutions! But this year, I NEED to make changes in my life. For my health, and for my sanity. ("What sanity?", some of you may ask...)

So this year I have two ~~resolutions~~ decisions:

#1 (For my health)-
Get healthy. I have PCOS, along with every single symptom that comes along with it. I am supposed to exercise like CRAZY and go on a special diet (basically the same diet as diabetics are supposed to keep). When I found out a couple months ago, I was doing really well for a while, but then I kind of "fell off the wagon." Today I started again, because if I don't get control of this, I have a higher risk of diabetes, cancer, strokes, heart disease, and other scary stuff, on top of the problems that I ALREADY have because of this. I don't need any more problems!

#2 (For my sanity)-
Get organized. I have a very small house, and lots of stuff. Some of it I guess I could get rid of, but there is a LOT of stuff that I just can't get rid of - crafty supplies is one example. I don't have a craft room. I have my kitchen table, and a little spot behind my couch. I think what I lack most is storage. If I had some kind of system for everything, it would be much easier. What I need is someone who is very organized to come over to my house and help me! Heeeellllp! Need help!

It's only 10:30 am, but so far... doin' good :) Woohoo! Only about 8,740 more hours to go until next year. I can do it!

Oh, by the way - it is illegal to do fireworks on New Years Day. Kade didn't stay up on New Years Eve for the fireworks and he was REALLY sad he missed them, so we did two late afternoon on the 1st. Cops showed up, but decided against coming into our driveway (big piles of snow make it a tight squeeze) so they just used the loudspeaker. Oops.

See, Kade, mommy and daddy are willing to break the law (unknowingly!!) for your happiness.

I'll leave you with a treasury I made a few days ago. I love the color green, and all these plushies are so so cute :) I want the giraffe and the squid hat!!

A snuggly pair of creatures

2009-01-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

These two were a custom order. The socks were very hard to work with, but so worth it for the end result!

Happy New Year, I wish you a wonderful 2009!

Plethora of Terrariums

2008-12-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

One of the things I've been working on for the past few months is this group of moss terrariums. I started them in September. I even blogged about it here! After I made my own and loved it, I decided to make some for my moms, my grandmother, and sister-in-law. Kade and I collected all the moss together, he is now an expert at finding and pointing out good moss!

My sister and I made some clay goodies to add a bit of whimsy. I hadn't made anything with clay in years (since highschool?) and it was so much fun! I'm going to have to think of some more clay projects to use up the rest of the clay! Here is what we made:

And here are a couple of the finished terrariums:

The smaller ones were all made out of recycled jars- I think there is an Adams Peanut Butter, Hershey's Chocolate, and some kind of spice jar. The other jars are from Ben Franklin.

Next, I made some tags to go along, with directions on care. These really are so easy to care for, great for people lacking a green thumb! Just set in indirect light and water lightly twice a month. That's it!

Wrapping them up- I made custom sized boxes out of used USPS shipping boxes. I measured and cut with scissors, taped with packing tape to secure, and covered the box. I used vintage wall paper that had wrapped a present I received 2 years ago. (My brother-in-law always uses awesome recycled paper for wrapping gifts, like wall paper, maps, and blueprints!) I put tissue paper inside the boxes, added the terrarium with the tag around the neck of the jar, and wrapped the whole thing up in cellophane.

I couldn't wait to give these away!

Gift for a letter-writer

2008-12-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

Remember when you had pen-pals? (DID you have pen-pals? I hope so!!!) I had three or four that I can remember. Sadly, I am not in contact with any of them anymore. But they were great friends for the years that I knew them, and it was so exciting to look forward to their next letter!

My niece (who is 7 or 8) just moved down here from very far away, and I heard that she loved to write her friends and classmates from her old town. So I thought a personalized stationary set would be perfect for her! I found a great tutorial at Addicted to Stamping, and I had lots of pink paper already (I barely ever get to use my girlie scrapbooking supplies!). My niece loves the color pink, and has a black kitty named Belle whom she loves dearly, so that became my theme. On with the pictures!

The closed stationary box:
*I don't remember if the decorative band is on the tutorial or not. It is easy enough to make, and not necessary (box stays closed without it), this is just how I chose to embellish the box.

Take off the lid, and the box opens up! There are envelopes, stationary, address labels, an address book, pen, stickers (forgot to add the stickers before the picture) and a small envelope for stamps.

I made this stationary in The Print Shop 2. This is a set of 16.

I went one step further and had a friend of mine carve some stamps, so that my niece could decorate the envelopes and make more of her own stationary when what I made runs out. I put them in a simple kraft box from Ben Franklin, and added a decorative band that matches the stationary box.

Contents of the box: The three stamps, a black and pink stamp pad, and a pink cloth to wrap the stamps in.

I was so excited to see her open this present! She LOVED it, to say the least! One of my favorite things about Christmas is hand making gifts for people. I love trying to create something unique that they will really enjoy, and it is great to see that happy smile :)

Another Christmas Past...

2008-12-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas it was! We were able to visit all our family despite the crazy snow. We had lots of fun eating delicious food, building snowmen, exchanging presents, playing, and relaxing. Here are a random selection of photos (if I shared ALL the ones I liked, this post would be a mile long!)...

Kade on Christmas Eve morning.

The pretty Christmas Eve Dinner set up.

Jer bringing me coffee on Christmas morning (he must be a glutton for punishment, in the form of walking a mile in knee high snow....)

My cute little niece looking out the window at all the snow.

The 4 foot high pile of snow that Jer has created this past week, shoveling the driveway.

I hope you had a great Christmas too!!!
Now that it is over, I can share some of the things I made. In the next couple days I will do a post about the moss terrariums that I made, plus a few other fun things.

One more thing! Please look on my side bar, I have some new links near the top. Handmade toys and other handmade children items such as clothes, decorations, etc., are in danger of becoming illegal to sell, unless makers like me pay possibly thousands of dollars to have our products tested. This new law will put a lot of small business owners out of business, not to mention, it would be so horrible not to be able to buy unique, handmade items for the kids in my life. Hopefully this law will be amended in some way that will still keep childrens items safe, but allow makers of handmade toys and clothes to keep on creating and selling. Click on the links in my side bar for more information and to see how you can help!

Signing off...

2008-12-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

The "Storm of the Century" is headed my way. We're checking batteries and stocking up on food and gas. I'm turning off my computer in case the power goes out. Hopefully I'll be back soon :)

Keep warm and stay safe!

quick and easy snowflake craft

2008-12-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

There was a corner of my house that was just too empty, and I thought it needed something pretty. I found the *perfect* thing on a great crafty website called The Best of DIY. They always have links to fun, easy projects to do! They linked over to this snowflake tutorial on Cut Out + Keep, another AWESOME crafty website that I love to visit regularly. The tutorial was really easy, this only took me about 15 minutes to complete. All it took was 6 sheets of printer paper and some ribbon I already had. It turned out so pretty!

I used Tacky glue instead of tape or a glue stick. It turns out pretty big, it is about 1.5 feet wide. This would be also be REALLY cool if you used some pretty double sided scrapbooking paper!! If I did that, I would probably store this in a box throughout the year. This one, I'll toss after winter. Here is a picture kind of from the side, so you can see how intricate and complicated it looks - but it's really not :) Try it!

**Edited to add a couple links for cute free gift tags to print out! I'll add more if I find them.

-Christmas Gift Tags from PapaDesign

-Gift Tags from Inside A Black Apple

-Cute Gift Tags from Kitty Genius

-Christmas Gift Tags from Camilla Engman

-Tags for Kids to Write On from Patricia Zapata

-Tags for Handmade Gifts from Sew,Mama,Sew

And if that's not enough, here's another roundup of free gift tag printables!

One less thing to buy, and if you don't have time to make any yourself, these are all really nice and unique gift tags!

Dashing through the snow

2008-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

We are snowed in today! Couldn't leave if we wanted to. Maybe we should invest in a snow shovel some day... but then again, sometimes being snowed in is fun :)

I had one more Etsy order to mail out today. I really wanted to mail it today so it would get there in time for Christmas. Our neighbor needed to go to the post office too, and tried to drive there, but got stuck. He and Jer decided to walk! It is about a mile, which isn't bad except if you are struggling through 14 inches of thick snow the whole way there. They did not expect it to be so physically difficult! I'm glad I decided not to go, but so thankful that Jer was willing to do that!

Here are some of the best pics of the day:

Mmm... fresh cold snow!

Santa impersonation!

There is our little red house!

Icicles are so pretty!

Our back yard. I love the trees!

Kade and I having a snuggle.

He was pretending to be a volcano- I bury him up to his neck in snow, and then he bursts out of the pile- very fun, but COLD!

Snow up to his knees!

I hope you all had a safe and fun snow day too!

Sweetness

2008-12-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that the only thing Kade wants from Santa is a Star Wars toy. Because Star Wars is his daddy's favorite.

The other day, he also started a mental list for more presents.

For me!

There have been some of infomercials on TV lately, and Kade has really latched on to a couple of them. There are two ones that he talks about over and over, saying, "I'm telling Santa to get that for you! You NEED that!!" Every time he sees them, he yells, "come and see this NOW! You need that for Christmas!" Once I didn't make it in time and he started crying because, "it was so perfect for you, and you missed it!"

Here they are, the perfect gifts for me in the eyes of my 5 year old...

Get Snuggie:
Kade says, "You can move your ARMS in it! And you LOVE snuggling and being warm!!!"

The Nicer Dicer:
Kade says, "You can chop it up so fast! You can chop everything to pieces so easy!"

Little kids are so sweet :)

(No this is not a hint, lol)

Randomness

2008-12-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Much has been going on over here, as I'm sure is happening at your house as well!

First, THANK YOU to all my Etsy customers, who have made this December the best month for sales I've had so far... and the month isn't even halfway over! The deadline for shipping in time to arrive by Christmas is fast approaching, and I'm expecting it to slow down considerably after that. I am currently all sold out of Green Dinos, but I have a big stack I'm working on. If you would like to reserve one, let me know!

Today I had time to complete a custom order Sock Monkey, and I also listed a new Bella Bunny to the shop:

Last night, we had the privilege of attending the Christmas program at Kade's preschool. It was very sweet! There are always funny/cute things that happen at these... we had a boy run off the stage crying, another boy in the front row flipping his shirt over his head, kids yelling out things like, "YES! This is the one song I know!" or, "YES! This is the last song!!"

I wasn't expecting Kade to stand up there nicely the whole time, but he did! He was very serious, doing all the sign language and hand motions, and singing along heartily to the choruses that he knew the words to. I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to take a good picture, but here is the best (the blurring is intentional):

Well so far in this post I'm moving backwards through time, so I guess I'll go back even further. On Sunday, Kade got to see Santa (he said he wants a Star Wars toy... because it's his daddy's favorite). I've been wondering how much longer he'll believe in Santa. I don't know if I ever *really* believed. It wasn't a big deal at our house. We would get a present from Santa, but I think I always knew it was my parents. I don't push the subject too much with Kade. We go and see Santa every year and he gets one present from Santa. If he ever asks about it, I'll tell him the truth. It's a fun tradition, and I love making Christmas a magical time for Kade, but I don't want him to be let down when he finally learns the truth, or feel like I've lied to him. But for this year, he believes :)

After Santa, we went and got our Christmas tree. It was a rainy, icky day, and two of the places I called were already sold out of trees for the year! We ended up looking for a pre-cut tree at Freddies. After looking around at the 5-7 foot Douglas Firs for a while, Kade passed the 3 footers and was hooked. He ran over to this short, fat tree in the corner. "THIS TREE IS MY BUDDY!! GET THIS ONE! WE HAVE TO!! IT'S JUST MY SIZE!!" He yelled over and over, jumping up and down, giving the tree occasional wet needly hugs. "I actually kind of like it," Jeremy told me. It would sure save space in our little living room. And it was only $14! Plus, I have always wanted to get a Noble. It turned out to be the perfect tree for all of us!

We stuck the little guy in a cart, finished our shopping, and put the tree in the trunk for the ride home. I don't have a picture yet of the tree all decorated up, but it sure is cute :)

Getting ready for Christmas!

2008-12-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming... it's kind of making me all panicky!! Ack! Do you have your tree yet? We always wait until after Kade's birthday to decorate. We're hoping to get a tree on Sunday and bring out the big box of ornaments, stockings, snowflakes, and the nativity.

The main problem is WHERE to put the tree.... going to have to move some furniture and probably block one of the doors.... hmmm...

Look what is up for sale in my shop!

Hopefully he will be sold in time to arrive in his new home by Christmas!

I also have more Dino's ready. Only two are listed at the moment, but I have a stack that I'm working on that will be ready very soon! Some of the ribbon I used isn't being made anymore, so I decided it was time for me to update Dino and make him even better! He now has 7 ribbons instead of 6, and I altered the pattern a tiny bit. Here is his new look:

I'm going to go work on them right now.

Here is one of my favorite Christmas songs to listen to, enjoy :)

5 years ago

2008-12-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

5 years ago at this moment I was sitting in a chair in the NICU, holding my 8 hours old baby boy, stamping his footprints on his birth certificate, and listening with worry to his raspy, gasping breaths. I was wondering if I could really do this - be a mom.

I was debating in my head whether his middle name should be Elisha or Elijah. I was waiting for the ambulance to come and transport him to Childrens Hospital so they could stick a camera down his throat and see what was making that horrible, desperate noise. I was overcome with joy, adoration, and love over this adorable little baby, who was mine. Ours. Somehow, God trusted us enough to give us this precious gift. I was in awe about how tiny he was, and finding it hard to look into the future and see him holding his own bottle, crawling, walking, talking, going to school. I wanted to know if he would be artistic, or love sports, if he would be shy or outgoing, if he would like music, if he would be a daddy's boy or a mamma's boy.

I was also scared, because I knew he faced many hardships in his life to come- broken bones, broken hearts, fear, loneliness, grief, inadequacy, guilt. I wanted only happiness for him.

Today, 5 years later, I can't even believe how much has changed in this amount of time. It feels like a lifetime ago, and at the same time, it feels like it was just yesterday. Many of the questions I had then are now answered, but only to be replaced by hundreds of others, of course. I've done things as a mother that I could never do otherwise.

Kade has already had many hardships, including eye surgery in which he proved to be braver than me, many bumps and scrapes, and the harsh realization that everything that is alive will someday die. I have accepted that these things will happen and the only thing we can do is try and find the good in them. Because of his surgery, he can now see much better. All his bumps and scrapes have helped him learn that if he keeps trying, he can reach his goals. His realization of death has caused him to understand the need for a savior, and just 8 days before his 5th birthday, he asked Jesus into his heart.

Kade is so much more amazing than I ever even imagined, 5 years ago, holding the 6 pound newborn. Daily, he makes me laugh with his hilarious sense of humor, he challenges me with his stubbornness, he asks questions I don't know the answers to, and he showers me with hugs and kisses and sweet words.

I can't wait to see what the next 5 years brings. Happy birthday, Kade!