Valentines Outfit

This year I participated in my mommy group's valentine's party. I actually don't know many of the women in the group, and honestly, I am pretty darn shy. So I go and talk to no one, or just the one or two I do know. So it was nice having an ice breaker. I made Aubrey's valentine getup and it gave me something to talk about with the other moms.

The outfit was pretty simple to make! I used a long sleeved onesie (Koala Baby), two pieces each of two ribbons, one is a black sheer with white dots and the other is a red ribbon with white hears. Then I cut a heart out of a zebra faux fur fabric I had leftover from halloween. I sewed the ribbons to the onesie and then the heart around the border. Simple!

For the tutu I cut 10 inch strips of tulle in red and black. I used this tutorial for the how to! Everyone at the party loved her outfit except Aubrey! Lol! Before we left she had taken the tutu off and refused to put it back on. I made the tutu while watching tv at night, because it is kind of mindless. Oh and my color combo was 2 reds and one black. I made the knots very tight so the skirt would be very full. I used 3 yards of red tulle and 2 yards of the black, so it really was alot of fabric.

Did you make anything for Valentine's day this year?

Turkey Pumpkin

Now is the best time to get pumpkins! The grocery stores still have plenty, and they are selling em super cheap! I got mine for 19 cents a pound, it totalled less than a dollar! Awesome!!

Wanting to make a craft for thanksgiving and try to capture a moment in time I decided to go ahead and do a handprint turkey. I used mine, Aubrey's and Daddys hand prints for the feathers. Just trace your hands on colored paper. We did 5 or 6 of each color of each hand. Then you tape them to the pumpkin. I used tape so the pumpkin won't mold from pricking it. I did smallest hands in front and biggest hands in back. Turned out totally sweet! Makes for a wonderful centerpiece and at the end of the season I can take the handprints and put them in the scrapbook. Then when Aubrey gets older I can say "here is how big you hand was when you were only tiny." Have fun with it and enjoy the holidays.

Gobble Gobble

Turkey Day Jumper

Thanksgiving is on its way! I am so looking forward to it this year. I was hoping I could host Thanksgiving feast at my house (since it is the first thanksgiving of many here), but my mother-in-law was pretty insistent on it being there. Oh well! There is always next year. I am making the turkey though, so if anyone knows a to die for recipe, let me know, I have never made a turkey before.

In celebration of the season and what thanksgiving means to me, I made Aubrey a corduroy jumper.  I then created an applique and used my sewing machine only. I was pretty impressed with myself. So much so, that I am contemplating a tutorial on how to do it. However, that would entail making another jumper since I didn't photograph anything while doing this one. Next time, I will make the turkey smaller and have several ruffles at the bottom. Here is the pattern I used. All I did differently, was make my own applique on the front. I also only did two ruffles because of how big the turkey is and I did a top stitch around the hem.

Apparently it is too warm a day though for the turtleneck and jumper. As soon as Aubrey came inside, she started peeling her clothes off saying "hot, hot, off, pees" Speaking of talking, Aubrey is saying alot these days. My favorite thing she says is "Hans thup!" which is Hands up but with the cutest little lisp ever!! She can also open and close doors now as well as climb anything and everything. My how they grow too fast.

Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa

I love fall. Really, I do! The weather becomes bearable, the leaves turn colors. It is acceptable to lay around in comfy sweaters with a hot mug of cocoa. However, awesome all of those things are, I have one thing I love BEST about fall: Pumpkins! I love me some pumpkin everything. You can make almost anything with pumpkins; soup, bread, pie, ravioli, and my favorite, Pumpkin Cocoa! Yum! Coffee-Mate has this liquid creamer that is Pumpkin Spice, absolutely amazing stuff. So I decided I would whip up some pumpkin spice hot cocoa just for you (and mostly me)! This is super creamy, definitely chocolaty and  pumpkin-y to boot!


Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar (I sometimes do part brown and part white)
1/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup Pumpkin Spice Creamer (I add 1/4 and slowly add more if I taste it needs more)

Bring your water to a simmer, it should be steamy but not rolling. Add your sugar, cocoa, and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat off the water and add your milk. Stir it constantly to make sure it doesn't scorch.Add your creamer and vanilla. Stir! Divide into 4 mugs, top with cool whip and dust with cinnamon. It is delicious.

Aubrey and E in their "Bug and Hisses" shirts made by BE Cute Boutique! These girls are seriously the sweetest girls ever! E loved holding Aubs hand, and Aubs kept saying E's name. And she says it with her tongue out, and that makes it hilarious!

I hope everyone is enjoying their fall! Eat lots of pumpkin and enjoy your family.

Andie

An explanation and Halloween Treats

I believe I owe my readers (all 11 of you) an explanation. I haven't posted in 2 months, I apologize. My life has been super hectic. I am a full-time student (15 hours this semester) and filling my free time with much gardening.

So onto something crafty, you hope? Well, nothing spectacular but I did make a couple Boo Bags for the neighbors. You can't really tell here, but in the bag on the left, those are Halloween (orange) oreos that I drew jack-o-lantern faces on with melted chocolate. And the bag on the right is "Worms in dirt" which is crushed oreos (no icing) and gummy worms. They were all too easy, but the boy next door is only 2 and he is simply precious. There is an orange car, and then a few boxes of stickers too.

We also made a pumpkin for our front porch!  I had a lot of fun doing it, and I got the idea to put flowers in it from our local nursery. I originally planned doing an M and leaves (which is on the back, ha!) but it was looking a little to crafty and not very crisp. Honestly, if you decide to make one, put a heavy rock in the bottom because it keeps blowing over and the flowers get squashed each time. Live and learn!

My dear sister is having another boy tomorrow! I am so excited to meet him! Christopher Quinton, but we'll call him Quinton since my step-mom and husband are both Chris'. After her first boy was 6 months, she gave everything to a friend in need, and now that she's due, the whole fam is trying to play catch up, again :) I have been making outfits and today I put this boppy slipcover together. While it turned out well, I learned alot! First off, whewn the directions say to get an 18 inch zipper, do it! ha! Mine is only 12 inch and it was like trying to stuff my size 10 booty into my pals size 6 jeans! Lol! Also, one side is 1 inch longer than the other, so take the time to measure before you start cutting. Finally don't close your 2 yr olds bedroom door hoping the fact that she can't open the door will hold her in. Actually, she now knows how to open the door. Note to self: Pick up tall baby gates.

Her is the back, I thought a soft flannel would be good for winter months to help keep him warm while he's nursing. Here is the tutorial I used. Does anyone else LOVE Grosgrain? I know I do! Only thing I would tweak is to give myself a little more seam allowance. She says top trace the pillow and add an inch, Next time I'll do 1/4 inch more because I didn't have alot of room for my seam allowance and it was super tight.

Finally here is my first zipper ever! I have been fond of buttons but now that I see how easy zippers can be, I'll start working them in! Like I said, don't skimp on zipper size. It was very difficult to get the pillow in because of the curvature. I am thinking next up I will be making some uber cute ones for the holidays. A big fat santa boppy cover maybe, or some reindeer???

Finally, I have decided to try out the CG method. It is a method of caring for curly hair.Here is my hair now, super frizzy, undefined, dull, and dry.

I am using Giovanni Smooth as Silk Conditioner and Direct Leave In. I hope to post every other week on the progress, but my calendar is often pretty crowded these days.

I am looking forward to the cool weather (stil in the mid 80s but Thursday is supposed to be soup weather finally). Hope to enjoy some pumpkin and other festive flavors!

Andie

Some Like It Hot

Ladies, It is hot! I mean really hot here... This week, the temps are supposed to float around 107-110. You can't go outside except to get in the car and dash into where ever it is you decided couldn't hold off any longer. Also, everything is dying. By everything I mean my garden :) Watermelons are heat loving plants, however, mine couldn't take the heat. My softball sized watermelon finally cracked from this weather.

So what is there to do when you are cooped up in a house? I know what you are thinking, get out! Go somewhere! Unfortunately, our belts are pretty tight right now. Chris just got transferred to a really far store which is costing us 4 times in gas of what we were before. Also, we are anticipating a really high electric bill. So what do we do all day?

Lots of coloring...

This was a fun idea! My pal, B, had a party for her now 2 year old, E, and they had a pool and filled it with balls. The kids LOVED it!

The most important thing I think we do, is lots of reading and doing puzzles. I try to limit the television because it worries me how Aubrey zombies out then the TV is on. We have been doing this animal puzzle for a week now. Aubrey can already put all the pieces in the right spot on her own! I don't even have to tell her what it is. She also "reads" a book to me. It is a Boydton book "Opposites" Very sweet book. Aubrey likes to do the sound effects I normally do when I'm reading it. Like one day and night I make a yawn and a snoring noise. Finally, Aubrey is trying to sing her ABC's. She tells me "Mommy C,D!" And then we sing. She mostly hums but at the very end she says "MEEEEE!" in a really high pitched squeal of a sing song voice. It's super cute. 

Her we are with her cousin, Sarina. Playdates are a life saver honestly. It entertains her while I can have some adult time too. I need more playdates!!

What do you do to keep your sanity when you are stuck inside with the little one(s)?? I need more ideas :)

Sleepless Session #2

Once again I found myself an alert insomniac. I laid down for bed at 10 and finally got up at 1 because I was still awake. My sewing machine was hollering my name. Aubrey had a birthday party to attend today, so I made her a new top to wear. (Not like she doesn't have loads of clothes already) So I based the dress off one she had that is now too small.

I love this top, Aubrey wore it a bunch because it was sleeveless and made of cool fabric to help beat the heat. I was sad when I realized it was too tight around the chest. So I made one! Yay!

My sewing skills were not up to par however at 2am this morning. So, I will have to fix some areas like the straps. For example, what was I thinking with the binding?? Duh... it should have been one piece, not three. I will do better, I promise! My favorite part about it was the flower. I made it with a sleeve I cut off a long sleeve shirt. Upcycling is AWESOME! I will leave you with some of my amateur photos of Aubrey in her dress. Lucky you!