Merry Belated Christmas!

I hope your Christmas was as awesome as mine turned out to be. There were plagues running rampant through my relatives house so we had to change plans very last minute, which just about killed me. I thought I was going to lose it when I didn’t know where we were going and it was the 23rd. Then 2 of my kiddos started throwing up the 24th. By Christmas all the kids were down and out with the flu.
As sick as everyone was I barely noticed. We had fun, Santa still brings toys to kids who are out of town and sick, and I had a ton of helping hands to make it that much easier for me. Not how I planned it to go but considering all that was going on it couldn’t have gone any better. I love it when things just work out anyway! Sorry to everyone that got sick or will. Not the gift I meant to leave!
I did manage to have a little fun before we left. Ashlyn and I made these for her school party earlier in the week-

North Pole cupcakes found here.

I eeked out a little sewing time to make a gift for my little sister. She’s a chocoholic cupcake baking maniac. She told me she liked purple and lime green, which I don’t have a ton of but found a cute stripe that worked. I cut the cupcake out with my super fantastic cutter and sewed it on. Fast, cute, and easy.

Denim apron tutorial found here.

Then I heard that my sister wasn’t going to do Christmas jammies for her kids- blasphemy!- and I’m a freak and wanted them to have a pair to open like everyone else so I spent 2 hours whipping these up the day before we left. I know, not the warm fuzzy winter jammies I would have liked to make them but my mom reminded me they wear shorts and flip flops in the snow so I wasn’t worried. Time wise these were the fastest to make. I’m making a bunch more for my girls for summer!

Tutorial can be found here.

So by now my house was a total disaster so I thought, what the heck- why not really have some fun so I made all my sisters kids some pillowcases to go with their jammies.

The pictures are cruddy, trying to pack and wait for the right lighting conditions don’t really go together but they really did turn out just as I hoped. They definitely look better in person though.

And then… yes, I had more projects, but this is the sad ending to my super long post. The projects I wanted to love the most, the ones I devoted the most time to, the two I was sure were going to be a hit and my sister in law and mom were going to love- didn’t turn out! I spent weeks spray painting and sanding but they just got uglier and uglier until I ran out of time and had to cop out with a gift certificate and a promise to get it done before next year.  It’s the thought that counts though right? Not to mention I’m going to have an entire year to gussy them up. I didn’t even start 3 projects. So much for a project free Christmas ;o).
The flu has left the building and so will all the old toys, outgrown clothes, the tree, and anything else I can get my hands on today. It felt great to sew stuff again so now all I want to do is clean clean clean to have room to make more sewing messes! Spring dresses are calling my name.
Have a great Wednesday!

Present.

I don’t know about you guys but I am loving the end of this year. I’ve been cozied up in our little house, rearranging things and getting ready for the holidays. I love happy endings and I am 100% optimistic that this year is going to end just like that.

I’m making it my goal not to stress out and freak out about much. I still do no matter how hard I try but I’ve cut the freak show to a minimum. I’ve finished my Christmas shopping except a few small things and have a little list of things I need to (because I want to) make and the rest of the time I get to enjoy my family. I decided early on this fall that I wanted to be there this year. I wanted to be a part of our family, not the crazy sleep deprived woman slaving away in the kitchen with threads hanging all over her freaking out that she forgot to buy marshmallows for the hot chocolate on Christmas Eve and all is lost.

Not this year. I’ve made nothing crafty so far and I have gone to bed before 10:30 most nights but I feel good about it. We have marshmallows and my kids have a mom. A mostly well rested one. It’s taking all I have not to cut into Christmas dress fabric and make 4 dresses right now though. Do you ever feel guilty for not making a homemade-ish Christmas? Then guilty if you do for staying up until the wee hours and not being much of a human for the holiday? I know there are those wonder women out there that can do both and are really awesome but that’s not where I’m at.  I feel really guilty… must. stay. strong! I just have to keep telling myself it’s better for me to be present than to make all the presents this year.

 

This helps. My little buddy had his first birthday last month. Jake went from this tiny perfect 7 pound lump to this chubby frosting eating one man demolition crew, still perfect. I don’t want to miss a minute of it.

He’s grown so much. They do that. I hate that part. He’s so fun and such a boy.

A little about Jake at 1 year old- He loves balls and cars. He gives the best around the neck squeezes and open mouth kisses (on the cheek) and makes me melt. He growls and has the Musgrove baby scream. He has the cutest laugh and pudgiest hands. He won’t eat breakfast foods or bread but loves casseroles. He loves to see what’s inside things and takes things apart, usually our remotes and the computer speakers. His biggest obsession right now is our Christmas tree. Taking the ornaments off (don’t worry, they’re plastic on the bottom half), shaking it, crawling under it and up inside it, and basically making me thankful to have a reason to set one up in the first place :). Our tree is really pretty from about 3 feet from the bottom and up.

Here’s to a stress free mom filled holiday season!  I’ll let you know if I make it or fall off the wagon.

Out with bananas and in with the fat man.

A little Halloween recap, since I conveniently (for me) skipped over all of October :). My boys. Santa is going to give them a stick for Christmas. A girl fighting off stick because they are too darn cute.

My little Guppy. She corrected everyone that called her a goldfish. She was a fantail goldfish.

I was gluing and cutting up until the hour before she needed it for school and forgot how small she is. She’s petite and I cut the tail too long so she had to hold it up during her school parade. The tail was trimmed before trick or treating so it worked out alright in the end. 

I’m pretty proud of this one.  I used one of my hooded sweatshirts as a guide and sewed a base to glue 375 cupcake liners to. It took me 2 days from start to finish so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was planning on covering the arms but she wouldn’t have been able to bend them. The tail actually did fan out as she walked, that’s all I hoped for.

I really didn’t want to mess with fake fur this time so I compromised with Mary and she went from Santa to being her favorite cartoon super hero Word Girl. I made this one first so it’s not as fancy as I would have liked it to be. I had a week to do 3 costumes so I rushed through Mary’s first and found myself with more time than I thought I needed for the others.  Next year I’ll make hers last so she can get the fancy one.

Kaci was our little mermaid. I’ve always loved Heather Bailey’s mermaid costume so it was easy to figure out how to make it when Kaci told me what she wanted to be. She picked the colors and I went to town.  I made hers last so any time I had left over got spent embellishing and playing around with this. There’s glitter glue everywhere! I was going to make her a fancy belt to cover up the waist and a cape because it was flipping freezing but didn’t quite make time for that. Glitter is warm enough right??

A new record for me- 3 costumes in 7 days!  I went to bed before 1 a.m. every night. I wish I would have started earlier so they would have turned out like I really wanted them to but so is the life of a procrastinator.

Kennedy went as Rapunzel with a plastic frying pan. I don’t have a picture of her alone for some reason? I always manage to forget one of them. At least it’s not the same kid every year or they would start getting a complex. I have a group shot of her so maybe I’ll crop her out for her scrapbook.

So now that Halloween is over all I’ve been thinking about is Christmas stuff. I’m getting excited to make some stuff this year. Woo hoo for gift giving and making stuff!

Have a fantastic November!  Just kidding, I’ll come back before December. I have some stuff to show off.

Thought process

Halloween is coming up. How do I know? Creepy movie trailers are on tv in full force. One of the munchkins ate the remote so I have to turn my head, plug my ears, and sing “la la la, lee lee lee, I can’t hear you” and leave my new neighbors another reason why they should have chosen the next house on their list. My body guard works out of town 18 days a month in 9 day stretches. I haven’t slept in 8 days. One more to go… sigh… yawn.

To distract myself for the last few months I thought I would sew stuff.  So I bought fabric, then I stashed it because I couldn’t bring myself to stay up late to sew with it. Then I was so rudely reminded that I have 3 costumes to make and time is running out. Jeremy wants to be a banana holding a monkey (Jake). Store bought- thank you very much last years clearance. Kennedy wants to wear a dress up Rapunzel dress we already have.  Bless you my child.  Mary wants to be Santa. Seriously. Kaci wants to be a Mermaid Cowgirl. She’s grounded for a month and 1 day.

Ashlyn wants to be a goldfish. I was going to do that last year for Kennedy so that’s just fine with me.  I went hunting for my orange fabric and found this in a fabric pile-

Which reminded me that I have some orange satin scraps left over-

Which reminded me that the most adorable boy in the entire universe loves satin things and is constantly on the hunt for something to rub and love on-

Which got me thinking about those scraps and some orange flannel I had saved to make Jeremy pajamas a million years ago. They turned into this-

Because I got off track. I forgot I needed the satin for a goldfish. And I can sew a lovey blanket complete with nuffies (Kennedy’s name for the corners) during nap time.  I can’t sew a goldfish during nap time and I can’t sew at night when my arms are all wrapped up under the covers and my mind is racing about self defense techniques.

Maybe I’ll use the rest of the police fabric to make myself a snuggie to sew with.  Boogieman proof because of it’s blanket qualities and with the cop print it will trigger 2nd thoughts in anyone else non-monster related right? And I can still use my arms ;o).

Have a great Thursday!

The 4 B’s

A cute Birthday girl who turned 7.  I love this girl.

And Baby boys with big Chiclet chompers and crackers. Who knew a tiny crunching sound could be so adorable. He’ll be 9 months old Monday, sniff.

Some Bathing Beauties and the Beast.

 

And Surprise Boxes from dad. I was going to go into the cowboy store with him but he said he was going to be quick and I should wait in the car.  Just picking up chicken food he said. I wasn’t aware chickens ate rabbit.

The cutest ball of chicken food I’ve ever seen! *insert disclaimer that says we do not feed our chickens bunnies*

Last week in a nutshell. And you thought I was going to say something about the only 4 good reasons to call 911- blood, bones, bonfires or bad guys. My husband is gone for 9 days at a time for work these days so I’ve really grilled the kids about that so we’re prepared.  I’m a freak like that.

Now if they would stop tattling through text messages on the emergency phone to my cell that would be fantastic. I’ll have to come up with the 4 B’s of text tattling. Something like “If I get one more dad gum text message telling me your sister is breathing on you I’ll ground you for a billion years, buy you only broccoli for dinner, and put you to bed at 5.” I love these little criminals.

Have a great Thurfriday.

Leggies

Way back in November I found a bunch of plain stretchy knit leggings and long sleeve shirts on clearance for a dollar. I can’t make them for that so I snatched up a pair and a bunch of shirts to embellish.  Then I had Jake and forgot about them.

When I found them again I saw that they were a size 24 months.  Kennedy wears a 3t now. I do that a lot, hoard stuff with the intentions of making it into something great and then forget about it until they don’t fit anyone anymore. No big deal, I cut off 2 inches from the bottom and hemmed them up.  They were still missing something so I added some scrap knit strips to the bottom for a cute ruffly pair of capris.  It took me 10 minutes and they are my favorite pants.  I love it when that happens!

I didn’t pin them or anything, just pulled the pants tight as I sewed the straight strips on from the bottom up and when I let go they were ruffled. Awesome.

I think this is pretty awesome too.

I asked Kaci to brush her hair and this is what she came out of the bathroom looking like.  She decked Kennedy out but she didn’t want to keep the look.  I don’t know why not ;o).

Have a fantastic Thursday all!

Cutifying babies one pair at a time.

Funny how things work sometimes. Let me preface this by saying I’ve caught a nasty bug and I’m only 25% lucid so things seem really annoying or really funny to me today.

I was going to start this post by telling you how funny it was that I’m pretty sure one of the original intended baby bootie recipients from a couple years ago commented on my giveaway and is having another girl so I am giving a pair to her (which were hers anyway) and the 2 extra I’m drawing random names for and then this happened-

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9	6

She’s commenter #9 anyway.  The universe really wants her to have the pink toe pair I made her. Cracked me up. Could be the homeopathic cold meds talking though.

And Melissa is #6.  Such a cute baby you have, she’s a doll. She’s going to look so cute in the black pair.

So I guess I need another name for the teeny meeny ones.  How about-

 

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

 

That means you William, Megan and Avery. Congrats and I hope you have a very healthy and happy baby!

Shoot me an email with your addresses and I’ll get those out when I don’t look and feel like death. Who gets sick in the summer anyway?

Here’s what I’ve been up to until Fridays bug kicked my rear and took my name.

Jakey boy turned 8 months and learned how to crawl and climb.  The tongue helps him balance. It doesn’t hurt to have a big brother at the ready to catch babies who are too big for their little britches either.

And I’ve dubbed this quilt the “Summer’s End” quilt because if it doesn’t get finished by the summers end I quit. I’m getting so tired of looking at it.  I started it here and like every other project I started this year I can’t seem to finish it. Maybe it’ll be my next giveaway in 2 years, an unfinished quilt top!  This is one of the annoying things today.  Don’t try to quilt when you have a head cold.

Have a great week, I know 3 of you are having a better one already.

Winner and more to give!

First things first since I’m way late.  Let me clarify that since my 16 year old sister asked me if I was having another baby the other day and she skims my posts.  I’m late announcing the winner and thanks for letting me know I should work on the baby weight Britt. 

Thanks for the comments, jokes, and cute stories.  I love Doritos, but only the nacho cheese flavor ;o).  Cheetos are better.

This bundle belongs to-

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

31

Timestamp: 2011-07-13 00:23:14 UTC

That means you theamazingjohnsons! My husband thanks you for volunteering to take my junk. I’m sure he wishes I would have picked everyone.

While digging through my stash I also found these three lonely pairs of booties that I thought I gave away years ago. They were pairs I made back when I had an Etsy shop and they didn’t sell. I’m trying to get rid of things I won’t use and I don’t know anyone having babies right now soooo-  does anyone want them?

This pair is a size S- which I think is up to 3 monthsish.  

 

This pair is also a size S- up to 3 months.

 

This pair is a size XS- Newborn.  XS fit Kennedy up to about 4 weeks old. Ish.

It really stinks to have cute shoes but nothing to wear them with so I’ll include a piece of matching fabric so you can embellish a onesie or something to match. You’re on your own in that department. They could stand a steaming to get back into shape.  Maybe that’s what I need, a good steaming!

If more than 3 people want them I’ll just pick 3 people randomly. Please don’t make me keep them!

*Sorry I had to repost.  I’m so stinking tired of Livewriter screwing up my posts and stretching them out.  I saved the comments from the first post so they’re there if you were worried about.

I give.

How I’m feeling right now.

I give up.

I had a longish witty post done and ready to publish about weddings and Utah drivers with a little sewing share thrown in for good measure.  It’s now 1:30 a.m. and It’s gone. I hit 3 wrong buttons. I’m smart like that.

Crap.

So therefore I will give.

How about a giveaway? That always cheers me up. I’ve been a pro at collecting supplies and not so much the using of them so leave a comment on this post and I’ll raid my every growing fabric stash and rehome some of it.

It’ll be random but great and I have no idea what I’ll put in it yet but isn’t the surprise half the fun? Sure it is!  You know you want a package.

Leave one comment about anything nice or funny you’d like to share.  I’ll leave the comments open until the 8th and let Jake choose out of a hat for our winner.  I don’t hunt down giveaway winners well so make sure to check at the end of the giveaway if you don’t leave your email address.  No extra hoops to jump through, just fabric love from me to you. I’ll even autograph a note for you ;).

 

Have a Happy and Safe Fourth and good luck!

Grandma’s Squinky

My mom and sister are fancy pants doll sculptors and sculpt collectable dolls for doll companies and other things. I’ve mentioned them before but not often because I’m just not into the doll thing.  I can appreciate what it takes to make one from scratch though and it’s amazing. In fact I tried to do it once (okay maybe 4 times) but that’s a talent I just don’t possess. I created a caveman baby head with a pelt that looks like the Trumps on top. I still have it as a sort of sculpting birth control.  One look from that thing and I don’t get the urge to sculpt anymore ;o).

I was visiting my mom a few months back and she showed me one of her latest projects. She handed me a fun necklace with a tin attached. I’ve always loved lockets and secret compartment things so I thought it was just one of those. I opened the tin and in it was a 1”micro baby-

 

It’s not just any teeny weeny baby either, it’s soft and squishy!  It’s made out of silicone that she molded herself.  I can not tell you how hard it is for me to resist holding it between my fingers and squinking it all day long.  Ashlyn calls them Grandma’s squinkies but this little bean is even softer than the toys.

 

After months of begging and pleading, which is rare for me to do for a doll, she gave it to me for my birthday when I went down last week.  I think I’m hooked. Now to beg my sister for one of hers and I’ll have a doll collection I can handle.

These little guys aren’t for sale right now but if you’re curious about my doll making family members you can find their newest stuff here under Wendy Dickison and Cindy Musgrove.

Frozen feat

 

My oldest daughter, the mug on your left, had a birthday Wednesday. My sweet anything goes girl who loves everything and everyone turned 9.

She also turned against me. 

I asked her what kind of cake she wanted.  She didn’t want one.

I asked her what kind of cupcakes she wanted. She didn’t know, but probably none.

I asked her what presents she would like for her birthday, she didn’t know but nothing I suggested and nothing they have available to purchase.

I asked her if she wanted a party, she replied with “I guess. If you want to”.

I stopped asking her and tried listening to what she was telling her friends about her birthday.  Nothing. Zip, zero, and a million I don’t knows.

I handed her a big stack of cutesy cake and cupcake books and told her to pick one. I thought for sure we would end up with a store bought cake plopped on the table and that would be the end of it because she didn’t want anything. To my surprise she came back with one she liked. She wanted pink pigs.  I was relieved because I can do pink pigs and cupcakes to boot so that would be easy.

Then she said the day before her birthday “But not cupcakes, ice cream”. You have got to be kidding me. Pig ice cream?

It’s a good thing she’s only known me for 9 years because girly there doesn’t know that I do very well under pressure. I used to ace tests in school without actually attending school. Especially after I’ve had a good sloppy cry, very little sleep, and my body is running on an constant sugar high.

No crying this time sister.  You want pig ice cream- you got it!

The little stinker! I’m not sure if they were approved or not because there’s no way in hades I’m asking her. Please let this be a phase.

A hunting we will go

On Saturday we packed up the crew and headed into the mountains searching for treasure.

We searched high.

We searched low.

Until Mary forged ahead and announced “It’s a Morel Miracle!”.  She found a nice big patch of these-

 

Wild mushrooms! They can be tricky to find so instead of training truffle finding pigs we have 5 kids to do our dirty work.  They’re lower to the ground so they can snuff them out better than we can.

 

They aren’t afraid of ticks like their chicken mom who wears a hat, long sleeved slick jacket so they can’t stick, tip toes around brush, and avoids all tree limbs like the plague.  Ticks are real my friends and they are out to get me.  And you, just so you know.

 

It also helps to have a bear to ward them off.

It must have worked because we came home without a single unwelcome guest. This time last year Cody and the kids brought home 20 something ticks in one trip.  I about had a heart attack. I banned them from the forest for 10 years.  No one listens to me. I still feel like I have bugs all over me.  The woods do that to me every time.

 

Good thing I have this little face to make me forget about all the things in the forest that are out to get me.  I’m such a weeny!

I think I’m always busy and rarely leave the Baxter cave anymore so I love it when we carve a little time out of our lives to just be the little family that I love so much.  Nothing better in the world. Even if I’m surrounded by blood sucking parasites and fungus.

Have a great Tuesday!