Does Big Bird wear headbands?

I am really loving the look of fun, fuzzy feathers.  Today we are making a feather headband!

Supplies:

Hot glue gun

5-6 feathers depending on length

plastic headband

1.  Gather supplies. :)

2.  Decided how far over you want the feathers to go.  Apply a bead of hot glue to the headband and set you first feather in place.

3.  Continue glueing on the rest of you feathers.  I spaced my feathers about an inch apart.

4.  Wait for the glue to set and try it on someone's head.

Tess was less than thrilled, but she will want to wear it later.

Please ignore that this picture is blurry.  I couldn't take a picture of myself very well.  

Let's just say this the best shot I got.

This is what it looks like on an adult with dark hair.  

I think it's really fun and playful.

Have a great weekend.  Talk to ya after the holiday.

Freshly Shaven

Davis has been working on his book making skills.  He is the illustrator and then tells me what to write for the story.  D lists me as the author on the cover of the books.  I think this is a twist on being a ghost writer.

Davis and I (mostly me) decided to sharpen all the colored pencils for coloring the pictures in the book.  It is strangely therapeutic for me to do something simple and monotonous.

As shavings started piling up I thought they looked so cool.  I did have the thought to hold on to them and store them in a glass jar for some fun decor.  I think told myself this was silly and to just clean up the mess.  It wasn't until a few days later I came across a link on Craft Gossip for a project using pencil shavings.  Kala Nirmitee shares lots of fun kid and paper crafting ideas.  

Check out her post on using pencil shavings in a picture.

I WILL be keeping my pencil shavings next go around!

Sewing and Snow

You might be sick of all my snow pictures, but not as sick of it as I am.  This is 5-24-10 at 10 AM.

It took me half an hour to get up my drive way after we dropped D off this morning.  

I will never buy a house with a steep driveway again!

I did get some sewing in this weekend.  My family and I are putting together a quilt.  I needed to make two quilt blocks for it.  I am not very skilled in sewing very straight lines and making sure little pieces

match up perfectly.  I decided to take a different route with my blocks this go around.  My first block was going to be a sun, but I wimped out and opted for something a little more abstract.  My second block turned out a little more playful, but I love it.  I just cut a few circles in different sizes and stitched them on to the block.  I love the colors and am happy with how they turned out.

I also finally sewed some straps on to a dress that I started two months ago.  

I saw the sweet shirred summer dress on Prudent Baby and knew I had to make one.  I started with the body of the watermelon glue gun dress from this post.  I cut off the cuff and straps.  Then shirred around the top a few times.  

I used some dill blossom fabric from SEI to make the straps.

This is going to be the perfect cover up for the swimming pool!

I'm a big kid!

Don't you love when your kids are so excited that they have accomplished something new?

Davis got this puzzle at school last week.  It was someone's birthday treat.

He didn't have a lot of interest in it because of all the princesses on it.

Tess thought this puzzle was awesome because of all the princesses on it.

                            Tess and I have set it out several times this weekend to put together.  She gets distracted very easily and I end up cleaning and putting it away.

Today Tess asked if we could really put it together.  Tess sat there eating her lunch of cottage cheese and yogurt waiting for me to put it together for her.  I have never been a puzzle person, but this day was going to be different.  

MOM, look what I did!  I put together a 150+ puzzle all by myself.  This is the biggest puzzle I have ever done and I kind of enjoyed it.  I think I will try a few more 6 year old puzzles before I do anything harder.  I'm going to work on building my confidence.  

Do you like to put together puzzles?

Spring?

9:00 AM Saturday, May 22, 2010

12:45 PM Saturday, May 22, 2010 

The Grill Is On

The grill has been moved from the garage back to it's proper home in the backyard.

I thought the inaugural meal should be burgers.

We invited friends over for sliders (mini burgers) and sweet potato fries.

I think sliders are my new favorite way to eat a burger for several reasons:

1.  They are a great size for the little kids.

2.  You can top each burger with something different.

3.  You can eat more than one and no one will think your a pig.

I like to use rolls for my slider buns.  Target marketed their rolls as mini hamburger buns.  Just what I was looking for!

BURGERS:

I  don't do anything fancy.  Just salt and pepper in the meat.  Shape your patties about three inches wide Make an indent, in the middle of the patty, with your thumb pushing about half way through.

Toast your buns and spread some onion butter on each side.  Soooo good.  Top the way your like it.

ORANGE FRIES:

Peel and slice your yams.  I like them pretty skinny.  On a cookie sheet toss the slices with some (not too much) olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Bake at 450* for ten minutes.  With a spatula, toss the fries around a bit.  Return them to the oven and bake for ten more minutes or until slightly crispy.  Add a little more salt and pepper to your taste.

Now throw a party with some sliders and have a great weekend.  

Face It

The first night I walked around the Beehive Bazaar, I was instantly drawn to Colt Bowden's art work.  I am always on the look out for something fun and unique to adorn the walls in my house.

Colt was a newbie to the Bazaar this year.  Each time I checked on my booth, I would peruse his work (our tables were really close to each other).  

When Mike came down to check things out I made him look at the art with me.  It was a clear decision right away.  The letter press faces were the perfect color for our house.  

We already had a frame just chilling under our bed.  As soon as we got home Mike framed, and hung it up.  I get a warm fuzzy feeling and a smile every time I walk by our new art work. ;)

Salt Lake Aquarium

Tess' preschool went on a field trip to the aquarium today.

Tess was so excited. She asked me everyday for the last week if it was the aquarium day.  It has been a little while since we were last there.  They now have a penguin exhibit.  Tess said watching the penguins swim was her favorite part of the day.  Did you know emperor penguins can be up to 48 inches tall?  That's pretty big! 

My favorite sea creatures have been the same since I was Tess' age.  The sea horse has always been so amazing to me.  I love that have a curly tail, soft fluttering fins, and a dragon like face.

They are not great swimmers, but float around so perfectly.

Did you know the male sea horse carries the babies until they are ready to be born?

Even sea horse babies (my niece calls them sea ponies) are adorable.  This baby was smaller than a dime.

I have a sea horse charm on my charm bracelet.  I think I need to wear it more.

Can you handle it?

Last Friday I shared my handled towel tutorial on SEI Lifestyle. 

For those that didn't see it, I'm sharing it here today.


Supplies:
1 towel washed
26-30 inches of grosgrain ribbon
iron on transfers from SEI Crafts
sewing machine


1.  The trick to making this towel is to fold it just the right way.

Follow the picture above and fold your towel into thirds length wise.

Now fold your skinny towel in half. Finally, fold the towel into thirds like the picture.

2.  Cut your ribbon to the length you want each handle. I made mine 13 inches each. Use a candle or lighter to melt the edges of the ribbon to prevent fraying. I pinned my ribbon three inches in from the edges. Make sure the ribbon isn't twisted. You should have one handle pinned to the finished edge of your towel, and the other pinned to the middle of the towel. Look at the picture on the far left. 
3.  Sew the ribbon to the edge of the towel. I used a box stitch (a square with an X through the middle). Repeat sewing the ribbon to the center of the towel.

Your towel should look like this when opened up. The ribbon is soft, and when you lay on the towel you won't feel it.

4.  I let my kids design their own monster and critter. This was probably the most time consuming part of the project. They were so excited about all the options. Once everything was picked out, the towel headed over to the ironing board.

5.  Fold your finished towel up properly and head to the pool or beach.

I think these would be really fun for a pool party.

I'm linking this up on

Head over to Skip to my Lou to see lots of other fabulous ideas.

Oh MY!

We went for a family bike ride after church today.  Mike took the big kids on another ride while I put Collin down for a nap.  With Collin napping and the others out of the house, I thought it would be a good time to check my Google Reader.  

I was shocked and excited to see one of my creations in the Prudent Project Round-Up on Prudent Baby.

I sewed this onesie dress for a guest post on SEI last week.  I used SEI Chic-a-dee fabric to make the Ten Minute Onesie Dress from Prudent Baby.  If you haven't visited Prudent Baby yet, now is a good time.  They have tons of tutorials, ideas, and fun tidbits to boot.

Mike and the kids came back from riding around the block and this is how they finished up their ride.

Mike took the kids down the hill several times.  It was like having our very own amusement park.  Don't worry, the kids are buckled in the trailer and Mike wasn't going very fast (He is riding my bike).  Also, we don't have a dog.  We aerated our lawn yesterday.

Sweet Treats

Our friends shared some Russian candies with us.

How cute are these chocolates?  Each candy was filled with some fruity cream and nuts.  

Tess slowly ate the cat.  She started with the ears and worked her way down.  

The candies were very tasty.

The other morning Tess asked me to make cupcakes before school.

Being the crazy mom that I am, I agreed.  We both really wanted to see our new cupcake liners in action.

Look how special those box mix cupcakes look with their pretty papers!

I picked these up at the Bazaar from Darly Bird.  These cupcake liners take a boring cupcake from drab to fab.  Visit Darly Bird to pick some up for yourself.

There is a monster in my linen closet.

Today is my last day posting on SEI Lifestyle.

I am sharing a tutorial today.  

I would love to share tutorials on all the crafts I made this week.  

Leave a comment telling me what you would like for me to share first.  

I will tally up the votes and hope to have it ready next week!

Plant Me

If you haven't already checked SEI Lifestyle today, you need to.  I am sharing a fun, must have summer time accessory.  The fabric I used was so cute.  It's called Dill Blossom.  The print is a SEI design produced by Robert Kaufman.

Here is a very small sneak peak.  Go to SEI to see the full picture in all it's glory.

While we are on the subject of blossoms I needed to share some funny and sad news.  

Last year I posted about one of my favorite plants in my flower bed.

I have wanted to find out what it was so I could purchase more.

The family and I were hiking near our house last week and came across our favorite plant!  Yeah, now we could find out what it was.

After reading this sign I had to laugh.  I was harboring an invasive plant that wasn't supposed to be sold in my County.  It does spread easily, but we thought that was a nice thing.  We have since decided to dispose of the favorite plant.  It sounds like it might take us a while to get rid of it.  

Sweet Dreams

I recently decorated Davis and Tess' bedroom.  I'm sharing my inspiration for the room over at SEI today.

A while back I was talking to my friend about decorating kids rooms.  It would be nice to have a ton of money to do all sorts of fun things, but sometimes I would rather spend my money on fancy cheese.  Sorry Kids.  In two days, and for less than $50 I updated the kids bedroom.  

I had been planning on using a sheet to make some decorative curtains, but was to lazy to actually do it.  I came across this tutorial on Sew Much Ado.  I knew it was time to just do it!  I think these non-commital curtains turned out fabulous.

Sometimes just dejunking can make a room feel new.  I cleaned up the top of the bookcase and only left out a few toys for decoration.  The hermit crab tank was moved over a little and I thought it would be fun to add a plant to the room.  This tree is an elephant palm I picked up from Ikea.  So cool.

Rather than buying new bins for the bookshelf cubbies, I just rearranged them.  I kept the kids favorite books in their room and sent the rest to the playroom.

  

My fridge is not magnetic so we are always looking for places to display the kids art.  Mike hung up the orange magnet board and hanging rod in the kids room.  The art can easily be changed and it's a fun way for the kids to enjoy their pictures.  

The kids are enjoying the new room.  There are a few more fun things we did to the room, but you will have to go to SEI to see them!

8 years and counting

Happy Anniversary to the LOVE of my life.

I pray that Tess will find a husband as great as Mike, and I that my boys will treat their wives as good as my honey treats me.

Showers of Sorts

It's raining here today, but I don't mind.  I actually really enjoy the rain.  In Hawaii, it was exciting for me when it rained.  That's about all the weather change we ever had.  (Aside from the occasional hurricane)  When I was a little girl I would imagine I was an ant and someone was pouring water on me through a watering can.

The rain in Hawaii is warm.  The pavement gets steamy and the air extra muggy.  It wasn't until I lived in Washington that I felt cold rain.  It was kind of a shock for me.  Where I live now the rain often turns to snow in the spring.  That is quite a change from warm rain.

My post over at SEI Lifestyle is about showers.  Not rain showers, but baby showers!  Go check it out.

Here and There

I am so excited to be guest posting all week in S-E-I Lifestyle.  I have something different to share everyday.  SEI makes great stuff.  Head over to their shop to check out their goods.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.  

I want to thank all of those that helped, and supported me at The Beehive Bazaar. 

This was the first time I have really gone out on a limb.

I was very nervous about the whole situation, but I am happy to say all the work was worth the challenge.

It is hard for me to ask for help, but I have had to leave my comfort zone and more than abuse some of my friendships.  Thank you to everyone that watched and helped with my kids.  Thank you to those that helped me bounce ideas around and put together my booth.  

Thanks to my friend Sarah who ran beside me on this trip, and was so encouraging.

A huge thanks goes to my husband and kids.  They put up with so much and a lack of good meals.

Thank you to anyone that purchased something I made.  I really love making/crafting little trinkets and I want others to enjoy them too.  

I couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth yesterday, "If I were to do this again, I would..."

Thank you to the Beehive Bazaar for taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity.

I would love to be apart of it again.

For those of you who don't live in Utah, don't fret.  I will be sharing some tutorials over the next little while!

Have a great day ;)

I really need to teach Tess to kiss with her mouth closed.