a little halloween sewing

So I made Inez's witch skirt for Halloween this year.

She wanted to be a nice witch, which is why the skirt was black and pink and there were mulitple pointy layers of pink and black tulle. It was cute and pretty easy to make, but I am still very proud of myself. I am especially proud of the fact that I had it done a few weeks before Halloween! I think I just may be on the ball this holiday season. It's only November 1st and I'm already starting the girls Christmas outfits, and our cards. I want to actually enjoy the holidays this year instead of feeling stressed about everything! I'm excited for the outcome.

halloween "stamp camp"

Just click on an image to enlarge.
All cards are 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
Card #1 $1.50

#2 $2.00 (Heat embossed images)

#3 $1.50

#4 $1.50

#5 $1.50

#6 $1.50

#7 $1.50

#8 $1.50

#9 $1.50

#10 $1.50

Tags are 2" x 2"
Tag #1 $.50

#2 $.50

#3 $.50

#4 $.50

#5 $.50 (a little preview)

#6 $.75

#7 $.75

glitter pumpkins

So these are my glitter pumpkins from last year, but I am excited to make them again this year. 

The only problem is that I can't remember exactly how I made them—what worked and what needed to be tweaked, etc. But I got the idea from good ol' Martha and she's such a great source that it shouldn't be very hard to replicate.  I think that my colors are too harsh and bright compared to the ones that she used, but I had a limited selection of the fine glitter.  This year I am getting the glitter from "Martha" herself, so they should turn out much better.  

i wish...

i knew how to knit because THIS SWEATER is so cool.

But then, who doesn't like a little retro Wonder Woman now and then?

corduroy

is a hard word to spell for some reason. Maybe it's because I had a cherry coke at the movies last night which has made me extra tired today. I saw Hairspray with Erin and Kelly and it was surprisingly good! I have been singing "good morning Baltimore" all day and Inez keeps telling me that she doesn't like that song.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about cord-ur-oy. I don't know what it is about 100 degree weather that made me buy this material. But I couldn't resist. I just keep picturing the girls in matching a-line skirts.

i am ashamed

What?! I really haven't posted here since April 20th?! Well, that is just a shame. Not to mention a waste of a perfectly beautiful blog design from my darling hubby.

But what can I say? I have been doing absolutely. no. crafting. of. any. sort. all. summer. But things are changing and I have repented. I will become crafty at the earliest possible moment (in about two weeks once Mom & Dad go back to China and I can leave my sewing stuff around without feeling like I am in their way) and I will have something to blog about here once again.

The fall, which is quickly approaching, always gets me into the sewing mood.

easter outfits

Here are a few pictures of the girls in their Easter outifts. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for actually making these skirts (wiping away tears)! I just had their pictures taken by Brooke, and I absolutely LOVE them.

here i go again

so with my newfound confidence, i got more material to make more skirts for the girls. it's the same swiss dot, but light pink. and i saw this bold & bright ric rac and thought they would look good on this pink. i can't decide which colors to use, because i think they all go well, but i don't want a rainbow of ric rac on the skirts. here are the colors of ric rac, and the pink material. what do you think?

one down...

one to go.

un disastre

well, it's taken me three months to post this picture. i am finally ready to be publically humiliated and ridiculed (be kind). however, one may note that i am posting it on my blog and not the family blog that has much more traffic.

my little girl was turning three. i didn't want to do an expensive theme party for her. in fact the theme turned out to be just pink. pink ballons, pink plates, pink cups, pink napkins, pink tablecloth, pink, pink, pink (it looked like the room had been hosed down with pepto-bismol). well, what would go better with a pink party than a pink barbie birthday cake? we had seen them through the glass at the Target bakery and i honestly thought it wouldn't be that hard. i could not have been more wrong.

luckily this was a really small family party. you see, the people who saw this attrocity in real life were all close family...hubby, birthday girl, three month old baby girl, both sets of grandparents and my little bro & his wifey. these are the same people who tell you that you look good in a picture when you look terrible and fat. they had plastic-y smiles on their faces. it was a DISASTER.

here are a few of my theories as to why the cake failed:

i had NO idea what i was doing.
i tried to make it just hours before the party.
i ignored the instructions.
i thought i could wing it.
i didn't cook it long enough, thus resulting in a semi-raw center.
i frosted it while it was hot which made the frosting melt and run.
i had been watching too many cooking shows and not doing enough of the actual cooking that helps one become good at cooking=my total lack of grasp on reality.

the next day we ate the outside of it. my mom, saint of saints, complimented me at least twice that the outside was actually edible and really good.

but to this day, inez remembers that she had a pink party and a barbie cake (even though dave ran to the store right before the party to buy a replacement cake from the local supermarket bakery, which was entirely edible). i just hope she retains the three-year-old version of the party, where everything was just perfect and pink and she had her barbie cake.

an attempt at the possible

so i am feeling brave. here is some material that i bought to make easter skirts for the girls. and then i saw this really cute and fat ric rac that i thought would look good around the bottom. i am pretty confident about this. they are just skirts, with elastic waists, i can do this. nothing to fear. no sleeves, no collars, no buttons. i can do this.

i was raised right

so the other day i was washing nezzie's hair and she was kind of fighting it, so i started singing, "i'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair" and the whining stopped and she became totally intrigued. so we started talking about south pacific because i had shown her the musical number portions of it before and i reminded her that it's the same one with the song "Dites-moi", which she sings on occasion. as we were walking from the bathroom to my room she started singing "gonna wash that man, outta my hair", and then she wanted to watch it, so i turned it on as i got her dressed. after she's dried and dressed she sits on my lap as we watched mitzi gaynor sing on the beach. she had this big smile on her face and was swaying back and forth and it was just one of those perfect mommy moments.

which got me thinking, "i need to raise these girls right!" which to me means watching cary grant movies, doris day movies, all versions of pride and prejudice, and all jane austen movies for that matter, steel magnolias, sleepless in seattle, south pacific, oklahoma (i still crush over gordon macrae when they are singing "people will say we're in love" in the peach orchard), meet me in st. louis, state fair, singing in the rain, anne of green gables and avonlea, and many, many more. not only are these movies wholesome and uplifting, but i have so many memories of watching them with my mom & sisters, and we are often quoting them as well.

so as nezzie likes to say, "girl power!" while raising a fist into the air, this is my form of girl power. dave is more than welcome to join us, as my dad did on several occasions. and these men we will never wash outta our hair.

a few pictures

blogger is back for me, and i can upload pictures again. so here are a few pics of what i've been working on. (see post below)




so after nearly five years of marriage, i've finally done something with my wedding bouquet that has been falling apart in a plastic bag. at one point dave wanted to chuck it, and i nearly hit the roof! he is all about throwing stuff out that we don't use. and i am of that philosophy as well but i just don't practice it nearly as much as he does because he gave a jacket to d.i. one summer, and when the winter came around he was wondering where it had gone. anyway, with the flowers, i think i need to make the buds face upwards because they look like strawberries to me in this picture.

p.s. he really hates it when i tell that story.


and here are the quilt squares all set out. i have it the way i want it and i'm 99% sure i really like how it looks. but it's that same nagging feeling that keeps me from sewing it together, like when you buy paint and then are afraid to paint the walls. i know, it can be painted over if it doesn't look good. so i guess i can take this apart if i don't LOVE it. it's the butterfly patches that are throwing me off, i think. i love the polka dots, the paisley, the toile, the fairies, the swirlies...but i know that inez will love the butterflies, so that's what i need to remember and just GET! IT! DONE!

accompishments...

um, well, heh heh. okay, i actually got some of the things done that i wanted to. some of the decorations for the girls' rooms are painted, which actually turned out really cute, i think. i am really obsessed with polka dots right now and i really love these frames. i went to roberts and got more frames to make some for a friend who is preggers, and also some for Gwen's room. i got Nezzie's quilt laid out, but am needing to add more colors and/or patterns. it's a work in progress.

one thing that has happened this last week is that Nezzie has made a major breakthrough with potty training and i could not be happier. she is so cute in her little undies, and would love to post a pic of her, but i don't want to post a picture of my daughter in her underwear on the internet. call me paranoid, but i'd just rather keep those for my own collection. my mom was right. when she decides to do it, she'll just do it. and she has. and she has made her mommy VERY happy. i guess the disneyland bribe worked.

p.s. for some odd reason, blogger is being LAME and not letting me post pictures on either blog. hmph. very frustrating. so there will be project pictures to come. i hate posts sans pics. booooring!

hawaii. i miss you.

it's been a LONG time since i was in the aloha state. 11 years to be exact. i am feeling very trunky for hawaii right now cause dave & i watched "50 first dates" last night on tv. there is so much yummy hawaii in it, and then you add a great soundtrack of some of the best 80's songs remade into reggae versions. candy for the ears.
anyway, here are a few things i miss about hawaii: the north shore and especially my fav spot, rocky point. watching the sunset from sunset. "bikini beach" located right across the street and down the stairs from our house. going to sleep and waking up to the sound of the ocean. byu hawaii campus. the pcc. the night show. our student ward, especially relief socity. the music they played during the intermission of the night show. being SO, SO, SO tan. matsumoto's YUMMY shaved ice in hale'iwa. amazing sunrises & sunset. watching "the living sea" imax movie at the pcc & sting's soundtrack to that movie that will ALWAYS & FOREVER remind me of that time in hawaii. sneaking onto the turtle bay resort to lay out when it was cloudy and/or rainy in laie. listening to 311 as we drove to the north shore or while laying out at bikini beach. COOL roomates. jumping off the point in laie. the aloha spirit. and much, much more. i miss hawaii. we need to vacation there and soon. that would be IDEAL.

current song on itunes: "funga sia" by ulise on repeat because it takes me back to that time in no time.

shame, shame

tonight instead of going to the gym, i suggested to dave that we stay home. he could freelance while i made cookies and
then we could work on our budget while watching a movie. he agreed without hesitation. then while waiting in the kitchen for the butter to soften, i broke out the puzzle that i got for my birthday. it has been sitting in its box for two weeks beckoning me every time i pass by. i love these puzzles because even though these don't require a lot of brainpower, they make me feel smart. they take me a long time, and i welcome any extra hands that will help to assemble it (besides my three year old's). i also had my music of choice playing on itunes– mr. robert nesta marley. during these cold winter months here in utah, i find much comfort and happiness when i listen to reggae. any reggae will usually do, but tonight i was particularly in the mood for some bob.

so tonight, instead of going to the gym and getting home late, we stayed and i got almost all the edges put together. i realize that this is not a huge accomplishment, but it was really nice to just stay home on a saturday night and relax. and for this girl, relaxing is a great accomplishment.

p.s. the cookies were dang good.
current song: bob marley "satisfy my soul"

inspired

so as of late i have been blogging a little too much. but in doing so, i have found some very cool blogs out there. i think they are all mormon girls, such as myself, in similar stages of their lives who seem very cool. they write well, take good pictures, are very creative and basically do a lot of the things that i want to do with in my life. i need to stop relying on the "i just had a baby" excuse because she(the baby) is already 5 months old. i need to snap out of it, stop thinking and start doing. so one of the things that i will do is start another blog for myself. this one will be my thoughts, dreams, aspirations, and accomplishments–no matter how small. my online journal, if you will.

these are two projects i know that i can get done this coming week: start on quilt for nezzie's toddler bed and paint the decorations for girls' rooms.

music listened to while blogging: ben folds rockin' the suburbs, that is until dave turned on season one of arrested development. i can never decide who my favorite character is. it's usually a tie between gob, buster & george michael ("maybe it was the singer/songwriter george michael").