Zig Zag Quilt

I'm feeling anxious for this little bundle to be here.  I was looking through my blankets and I have NOTHING that is boyish at all...just lots of pinks mostly.  The one yellow blanket I have has elephants that are pink...not going to work if this kid is a boy.  So I made my first blanket.  I wanted it neutral so it will work no matter the gender.  :)  Black and white it was. 

Front:

Back:

It's hard to tell but it just follows the lines from the front...obviously!

I used the tutorial found here for a doll blanket and just made it bigger.  There are things that I would different now that I've finished it but I'm fairly pleased with my first attempt at a blanket.  Not to mention the fact that I did it while watching my two kids and my sister's two kids.  (I did it during nap time I promise...well mostly during nap time!)

Matchy Shirts - Year 2

Last year my mom and I made shirts for everyone in the family so we could all match for my sister's state tournament.  (Go here for the tutorial and upclose pictures.)  We had to make a few more this year because kids (and me) have grown a lot.  (Some more than others...not going to mention any names though)

It's pretty neat to see that many people in the same shirt, cheering like crazy.  We all get a little out of hand but its for a good reason, right?

Good Luck Presents!

For the past 3 years I've wanted to make some cute (simple and cheap) presents for my sister and her basketball team.  Since this is her last year I decided that I didn't have much time to procrastinate and I had better get it done! 

I wasn't able to go to her District Basketball games because I was in Texas at a wedding. (More coming on that.)  But for Regionals I made fortune cookies.  (Recipe found here!) I put little motivational thoughts in each one...

And put them in little take out boxes.  After 15 minutes of trying to make my own template for the boxes, the grand idea came to mind that I bet I could find one online.  And I did.  I found one here...so much easier and faster than coming up with my own and they fit the cookies perfectly.

So after they won their Regional games, I had to come up with something for State. 

I found gum balls at the dollar store and decided to make some necklaces.

After poking holes in these darn gumballs for 30 minutes, my dad got home from work and I had him get out is drill.  :)  So much faster.  I wish I would have taken a picture of him drilling holes with the help of Macey sneaking a few every so often.

I put the gumballs on a strand of ribbon and attached a label..."Every girl needs a new necklace for the big dance!"  (The championship game is often referred to as the Big Dance.)

I thought they turned out really cute.  This would work out cute for just about any holiday...Valentine's, Anniversaries, Birthday parties...Pretty cute and cheap.

So in the end I'm going to say that I'm part of the reason why my little sister's team is now the 2011 2A State Championship Team.  Yep, they won.  First time in the school's history for the girls.  It was both mine and my big sister's dream to bring home the gold ball but I guess we'll settle for having the baby sister having that dream come true.  (Both of my brothers were part of Championship teams...so you can see that we are a little obsessed.)

So now on to real life and getting back to some what of a routine.  Our little bundle of joy (who is beating me up from the inside) should be here in less that 6 weeks.  We are super excited to meet this precious angel.  :)

Go Big Green!

This post is a little old but we've had a busy couple of weeks.  I can hardly believe it's the middle of March. 

My little sister is a Senior in High School this year.  The last three weekends she has been playing in basketball tournaments in hopes of making it out as the Best Team in the State!  My family has always been big basketball fans so its a pretty big deal to us.  :)  We get a little crazy.

The little kids love going to the games and playing/beating on eachother.  So I decided they needed something to help out with that situation and of course to cheer on Auntie.  So with the help of my sister Andy, we made some tomahawks.

We just painted some paint sticks and glued some felt and feathers on and that was that.  As with any toy...they liked them the first 5 minutes and then they were on the ground.  Of course I still had to pack them around because they were good luck.  :)  Macey had fun with them and every time she sees them she starts cheering...."Auntie Go!"  It's pretty cute.

Some things I've Learned

This is completely random but that's me. :)

List of things I've learned this week:

1. If you wake up at 6:30 in the morning you can actually get a lot done without little helpers constantly on your lap or fighting or climbing into the fridge to get a piece of cheese.
2. The mom really does set the tone of the home.  If' I'm crabby and yelling at the girls all day, we are bound to have a day where Dad comes home from work to find all girls (including mom) crying. 
   *This does work for an occasional unexpected Family Date Night though.  :)  Not to be abused.
3. I don't like sewing plastic all that much but freezer paper helps tremendously with the stickage between the sewing foot and the plastic. 
4. It's probably a good idea to sew on the velcro before you assemble an changing pad.  It's not too fun to hand stich velcro.  (Pictures coming of the changing pad and diaper bag I made this week.)
5. Sewing with knit is kind of fun but make sure you sew in the right place because if you rip a seam out, you will see little hole marks.  (At least I did on my knit I used.  Pictures coming of the cute little hats I made for the girls.)
6. I REALLY wish I knew if I was having a boy or a girl.  I can hardly wait 11 more weeks.  Anyone a psychic out there?
7. Oh and I really don't know how to spell (I had to use spell check for simple words because it just wasn't coming to me) and my grammar and language skills has become pathetic since I'm a stay at home mom...but I've learned a lot more Mother Goose rhymes.

Mounds of Free Printables

If you're like me, you sometimes procrastinate getting things done or maybe you just don't have much time.  Here are some fast and easy printables/ideas for Valentine's Day!  Enjoy!

Skip To My Lou has these cute downloads for lollipop butterflies and lollipop flowers.  So cute!  Go here!

The download for this i phone cover can be found here. (provided by Living Locurto)

 Or there's these cute I Pods found here at Crap I've Made.

These would take a little more effort but are so cute!  Find them here at 24-7-365

How cute would these bags be with some yummy heart shaped brownies.  (Anything with chocolate is hit with me.)  Go here for the download by Twig & Thistle.

Or if they have this template too.  Just go here.

Green Apple Paperie has lots of downloads like these cute tags.  Go here to check them all out.

Go here for the download to these super hero cards made by Crazy For Design.

You can find the download for these cute cards here at mmm crafts.

Here's a printable that is a little less girlie!  Go here to download it from Jeanne Winters.

Love Juice

I couldn't help but share this great idea.

 

Go here for more details!

Notebook Examples

Sisters' Stuff has posted samples of what is included in their organziational notebook that I posted about last week.  Go here to see them.  Good ideas!

Roller Coaster Ride

So by now you're probably noticing that my life is a lot like a roller coaster ride.  Our move has been post poned until the end of May.  This will allow me to have my little bundle of joy here which I'm really excited about.  I really like my doctor and trust him.  They'll hold Kevin's job until then which I'm extremely thankful for.

So now I get to unpack!  (I'll be so good at this moving business.)  And then I get to try to get out the syrup that my sweet little angel dumped all over the carpet while I was trying to be productive.  My next project should be something to keep the fridge shut.

Stay tuned for the next turn on the roller coaster ride.  :)

Planner Perfect

Jenny from Planner Perfect is giving some great tips on Tatertots and Jello today.  You HAVE to go read it here.  What great ideas! 

One of the tips that she suggests is getting up before your children every day.  I seriously have to work on this.  I love to sleep in and one of my girls wakes me up every morning.  Kevin goes to work every morning and I don't get up with him and I feel bad all day long...doesn't keep me from sleeping in though.  I will get better at this.  Should be easy with a new baby...I won't be sleep deprived at all, right?  :)

Move and Organizational Notebook

Just when I think that I have a good plan and have finally found time to have some "me" time...things change.  It looks like I have a little over a week to pack up and move my family 12 hours from here.  Kevin got a job earlier than we thought and we feel really good about this move so I'm excited.  So once again, my posting and projects are going to be random and less frequent.  We take the good with the bad I guess right?

I found this great idea on Sisters' Stuff.  Go here to check it out.

They've made this great notebook that contains everything they need to keep themselves organized.

What a great idea!

Organization Tips!

Here are some tips I've come accross.  Hope they help!:

1. To discourge clutter, make this rule: If you carry it in, you carry it out.  Items left out at the end of the night go into the "penalty box."  To retrieve them, you have to pay the penalty, such as doing a dreaded household chore. (Donna Smallin, author of A to Z Storage Solutions)
2. Give frequently accessed papers (take-out menus, sports schedules, phone directories) a dedicated spot, rather than in a pile on the counter or stuck to the fridge.  Three-hole-punch all that paper and store it in a pretty binder with labeled tabs.  (Aby Garvey, simplify101.com)
3. Tackle your junk drawer first.  Remove anything you don't use at least monthly, then sort what's left into the compartments of a drawer organizer that completely fills the drawer.  You won't have room to stash things that don't belong there.  (Better Homes and Garden)
4. Every time you arrive home, clear the car of anything that doesn't permanently belong in it.  Keep a tote or basket in the car for this purpose-nobody leaves the car empty-handed! (Better Homes and Garden)

Wall Calendar

Let's get organized, organized...I wanna get organized. Lets get into organized. Let me here your body talk... :) Oh dear! Do you know what song I'm talking about? "Let's get physical" by Olivia Newton John. It just popped into my head. Strange? Yes!  I'll blame it on the abundance of hormones in my body.  :)


One of the much needed aspects that my life is lacking is organization. At the start of this month, I went through my unpacked boxes that have been stashed since August and finally found places for everything. After a few trips to Goodwill, all...well most of my junk is gone. One thing that has been driving me crazy is our spare bedroom/office/sewing room/throw everything in and shut the door room. I can finally say that the closet doors shut and stuff doesn't fall out of them when you open them.

I'll have to admit that I'm a list girl.  I really like the feeling of checking things of lists.  (Sometimes I ad stuff that I've done to a current list just so I can check it off.)  I feel the same way about calendars.  I like having everything planned out even though I don't always do this.  I have a desk calendar for all of my family stuff and appointments but I wanted a calendar for my projects.

I took an old frame and covered  everything including the glass with fabric.  I cut it a little bigger than I needed and just folded over the back and taped it.  You could also add some batting behind the fabric.  I just didn't have any at the time.

I just printed a calendar off.  I'm waiting for them to go on sale and then I'll buy one but for now, my printed one will work.  I painted the outside a bit just so it wasn't just plain ol' wood.  Then I hooked some ribbon and hung it on the wall.  

Then I just wrote down my projects for the month and its finished.

It didn't take long at all, even with Joselyn helping me paint and Macey helping me on the computer.  :)

My Confessions - My Goals

For some reason I feel the need to confess a few things to you all.  So here it goes! 

I am a procrastinator, pack rat, unorganized and emotional!  Phew...I feel better!

Now that I have that off of my chest I feel like I can move forward with this new year and the great things that I want to accomplish.  Every year I try to make some goals that I would like to accomplish. By the end of the month, I'm not real sure where I've placed that long list. I've bound to not let that happen this year. (Wish me luck!)  Here are a few of my New Year's Resolutions.

1. Become a better seamstress
2. Figure out the whole couponing thing
3. Stay organized and not let the clutter run my life
4. Develop and stick to a budget
5. BE PATIENT in all things

These are just a few of the things that I want to work on this year.  (I won't bore you with all of the many things that I want to do better.)

I would like to start over with a clean slate with this blog and really try to make it great...with regular postings...helpful tutorials...clever ideas...

Let the fun begin!  I was going to wait until the first of February but I'm feeling anxious so why hold off any longer right?  Starting Monday, January 17th, this blog is going to ROCK!  :)

I'm alive! I promise!

As you can see by my lack of posts, I've been a bit of a slacker the last few months.  A lot has changed in my life and I haven't taken the time to post what's going on.  In August we moved but first Kevin and I went on a second honeymoon to Florida and the Carribean.  It was great to get away just the two of us but was hard to be away from the girls for 8 days!  We also are expecting our 3rd child due the end of April.  We're super excited and crossing our fingers for a boy.  We're just thrilled to have another baby though and feel extremely blessed.

I promise I have some great things planned for this year.  I've been working on some resolutions and will be posting about them in the weeks to come.  I hope to make a "come back" to the blogging world the first of February so be patient with me.  I wanted to have everything organized by the first of the year but I'm always running behind. :)

I hope everyone is doing great and excited for what this new year has to offer.