Tuesday, May 31, 2011

One Apiece

In an effort to not allow Anna’s adorableness to monopolize all of my sewing and crafting energy, I tried very hard this month to do something for each of my children.  So, from oldest to youngest . . .crafts, yard, Memorial Day 057

For Djeryd’s P-52 Mustang (I’m sure that is the wrong name for the plane and he will have to correct me) I cut a stencil on freezer paper using my Silhouette machine and painted it on using regular old craft paint.  I used the instructions found in the book, The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule, although I’m sure there are a million tutorials out there for this.

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For Erik I took an plain old t-shirt and reverse-appliquéd an orange shark that I free-handed from the sharks on his jammie bottoms (the inspiration for the shirt!).  He was ecstatic!

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Little Miss Anna scored a whole dress.  (Oh, my gosh!  do you see all those Cheerios?  and that freakish streak of dirt on my carpet?  And I’m sure that was the cleanest piece of floor at the time of the photo.  Agh!)  I was testing out a pattern for some school dresses.  This one wound up with a gathered neck because I forgot that when I traced this pattern several months ago to make this dress, I removed the seam allowances from the neck and hem on my pattern (I was doing a bias binding on both, and therefore, did not need the seam allowance).  I even made note of this on the actual pattern pieces, but in my haste, failed to read my own notes.  Dah!  Oh, well, I think it turned out so very cute with that extra detail at the neck.

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My favorite part is that candy-stripe ruffle at the top.  It looks so yummy I could eat it.  I thought it would have been perfectly lovely with just the candy stripe trim, but Anna wanted more ruffles.  Which turned out lovely, too.

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Alyx was in dire need of a sun hat – not that the sun actually shines here for more than an hour a day, but you can get a sunburn through clouds – and we have plenty of those.

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This is a reversible sun hat from a pattern in Making Children’s Clothes by Emma Hardy.  

Now Anna wants one. 

I guess we need to start another round of goodies from mama.  ;>

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Modesty Is the Best Policy

Annaliese got her first Barbie doll for Christmas from her sweet Aunt Heather.  I was very excited and a little nervous about apparel for this little piece of plastic.  It is virtually impossible to find decent clothing for a Barbie doll these days.  The great part is that it allows Anna and I the opportunity to become clothing designers – Project Runway: here we come!  I had never sewn Barbie clothes before and had only heard that they were tricky and tedious.  My friend sent me a great little link that I perused this morning and then took it from there.  Anna did some of the sewing and between the two of us this took about an hour.  This is our first outfit:

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(Yes, I know this photo looks disturbingly like she has been recently strangled.  I will stage it better next time.)

I love that as we were discussing sleeve options (straps being the easiest), my smart little girl very firmly told me straps did not cover her shoulders well enough and she would need a sweater or something if we chose to do straps.  (I feel like we came up with a nice compromise.)   I was so proud of her for insisting on modesty – even in play.  And I can’t wait to show you what else the two of us dream up together.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Muchos Gracias

Thank you all so much for your comments last week.  I loved that everyone read each other’s comments and, hopefully, drew strength knowing we are not alone in our humanness.  I feel so honored to know such wonderful women and to be able to count you as dear friends.  I love you all.

Words to Live By

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I have wanted to put up this vinyl lettering since we moved into our home two years ago.  I finally purchased it and put it up last week.  I love it.  I love the reminders about how I want to live every moment of my life.  I hope my kids pick up some of it by osmosis.  ;>

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Is It Just Me?

Sometimes when I browse the blogosphere I come across these amazing blogs of women who seem to have it all together and all the confidence in the world.  They are so creative and fashionable and smart and they talk about how much they love to clean their houses.  I can’t seem to keep a clean house to save my life.  I can’t seem to get organized to save my life.  And no matter how much love, time and attention I pour into my children they still have bad days and I am still the bad guy. 

I know life is all about balance.  I think I’m failing my test.  I just can’t be all the things I want to be, and when I try to focus on the one or two things that are most important I get so frustrated that things aren’t perfect in those areas considering everything I am dumping into them.  How do people find the time to do anything besides cook and clean and cuddle?  Admittedly I have managed to sneak in two naps over the past two days, but I still feel so tired and stressed out and anxious . . . and quite frankly . . . that scares me.

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