Moving Day

Today is moving day at our house and oh what a day it will be.  I have moved across states a few times but never with a family in tow.  I'm not looking forward to the act of moving but I am very anxious to see my family and celebrate a late Christmas with them. 

Wish us luck!

More Christmas Gifts

Since I was up until 2 am Christmas Eve morning trying to finish some of Grant's Christmas gifts I didn't have a chance to post them before the big day.  Didn't I say last year I wouldn't procrastinate at Christmas? Oh well.
I'm very proud of myself this year, with everything I made for my little man I didn't buy any new fabric.  With us about to move I didn't figure I needed any extra fabric to pack.

On the eve of Christmas Eve I finished his doll.

I used my Bit of Whimsy pattern to make his doll.  I was very suprised my husband did not object to the doll since most men consider it "girly".  I must say he came out really cute!

I kicked myself over and over again after making the fleece hat.

Derrick wasn't crazy about the poof on top, but I think it's just too cute!

I used this tutorial over at Made By Rae, it was so super easy and only took about 10 minutes to finish.  I have had it on my to-do list for a good month and could have finished it a dozen or more times.

I made Grant's Christmas ornament this year too.  However it did not turn out the way I wanted at all.  I have seen dozens of cute ornaments all over the internet made from these little wood blocks.  Of course when I was thinking of what I wanted Grant's to look like I had lots of ideas.  At 2 am Christmas Eve morning I was exhausted and was trying to finish it quick and this is what it turned out like.

Needless to say I plan on painting over the writing and making it look a better but I just didn't have the energy.

PJ's for Christmas

If you have read my blog I have made lots of PJ pants using the tutorial over at Handmade Mommy,  I really can't say enough times how much I love this tutorial and it has probably been the one I have used the most.  I tell every sewer or wannabe sewer about this tutorial because it is easy and quick, and for beginner sewers it's a great first project to build their confidence.
When I was little every Christmas Eve we got to open one present, that present was always new pj's to wear Christmas morning.  I loved this tradition and wanted to start the same one with my son.  After finding the tutorial at Handmade Mommy I knew it would be so easy to whip these up every year.  Last year I made Grant these pj's:

He was so cute in them so this year I was even more excited to find the perfect fabric and make him some more.  Here's what I came up with this year:

I found the green checked flannel at Joann's after Thanksgiving sale for $1.69/yd.  I had planned on buying a fabric that screamed Christmas but of course they didn't have any on sale for super cheap, then I saw this fabric and thought, "that could work".  I'm so happy I bought it because it was perfect.  I could not find a solid red long sleeve shirt anywhere, and yes I think I looked everywhere.  So what is a crafter to do? Make one of course!  I have a pile of clothes to repurpose and in that pile are a few red Ohio State Buckeye shirts that no longer fit.  I took 2 of those (hence the 2 different shades of red on the front and arms of the shirt) and cut the pieces for the shirt, then just sewed it all together.  I still have yet to master the repurposing of shirts.  The neck on this one once again is not just right and I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong, but that is for another day.

I decided to keep the theme of appliquing a "G" on the front of his Christmas pj's every year.  Since I chose to make a red shirt instead of matching the green I just used a scap piece of fabric from the pants to make the "G", used Heat N Bond to adhere it, and used a blanket stitch around the edges.

After finishing his Christmas pj's and being so satisfied with them I whipped up another pair using the Curious George fabric I had bought and intended to use for his 1st birthday before changing the theme to Toy Story.

Are they cute or what?

I adore this fabric and I have to say, my little man looks pretty darn cute in them too.  This will be a tradition every year at our house, new pj's to wear Christmas morning and new pj's under the tree.





Another Doll

I made this doll with intentions of giving her as a Christmas gift to my 7 month old niece, however after finishing it, I was not at all pleased with the turn out.  I didn't have the blue thread I wanted for the dolls eyes so I had to use one that was brighter than I had intended.  I also wasn't crazy about the light green fabric I chose for her dress mixed with her dark brown hair.  In an attempt to like her better I made her a little Christmas nightgown.

However this didn't satisfy me either.  Needless to say I have put this doll aside and have cut all the pieces for another.  Lucky for me we aren't celebrating Christmas with my family until we get to Ohio at the end of this week, so I have a few extra days to finish her.

Christmas Morning

I can not believe Christmas is over.  December 26th is always a sad day thinking the season is over for another 365 days. 

Anyway,  I always love looking at the tree Christmas morning with all the gifts placed underneath.  My brother and I used to wake up before dawn and sit staring at the tree and all the gifts before everyone else woke up and before the first gift had been opened.  There was something magical about that time.  Now as I'm older and Santa no longer visits me but visits my son, there is a new magic to Christmas morning.

I knew Grant wouldn't be running out of his room before daylight to see what Santa had brought him, or even be overly excited about the gifts under the tree when he finally did decide to toddle out to the living room.  I even figured he wouldn't touch a single gift under the tree since we had been telling him for the last month not to touch the gifts.  It's for this reason we decided to only wrap a few gifts.

The bean bags, hat, and pj pants I wrapped with ribbon so they were a little more festive.

After the fact I'm glad we decided not to wrap most of his gifts because he went straight for the tree after he realized there were new toys under it.

I had questioned the toys I made Grant, wondering if he would actually play with any of them, since they are so simple and make no music or noise.  I can say this much, the bean bags and cloth blocks have been all over our house.  He has thrown them, kicked them, played catch and hide and seek with them, and I am so glad I made them for him.  Sometimes it's the simplest toys they enjoy the most.

Another Wipes Case

When my cousin's friend saw the wipes case I made her as a baby shower gift, she decided she had to have one too.

Every time I make one of these I am reminded how easy they are and wonder why I always procrastinate and wait til the last minute to finish them.  I think these are my favorite baby gifts.   Most of the moms I know aren't part of blog land and have never seen them before.  I often get the comment, "oh my gosh how in the world did you make something like this?" and comments about how cute they are, both of which make a crafter smile.

Sausage Bean Soup

I just got my first subscription to Taste of Home magazine.  I lucked out and used a coupon code to get it for all of $3.99 for a whole year, SCORE!  I haven't had a magazine subscription since I was a teenager getting TEEN magazine, so I'm super excited.

I love trying new recipes but hate buying 50 different ingredients for one dinner.  It completely defeats the purpose of trying to eat at home and keep money in my wallet.  So I saw this recipe in their November issue

I thought it would be perfect to try to use up some of my stockpile ingredients and since it is getting a bit colder here, I try to make some kind of soup at least once a week now.  I didn't have all the ingredients, so I started improvising.  The recipe doesn't call for meat but I bought this sausage at our local grocery store for $1.00 a package and decided it would be tasty thrown in.

I also didn't have the lentils it said put in, what are lentils anyway?  So I grabbed the kidney beans out of the pantry and put them in instead.

Sausage Bean Soup

1lb smoked sausage (or any other meat you have on hand)

4C water

1 (6oz) tomato paste

3 sliced carrots (1can of carrots)

2 celery stalks chopped

1 med onion sliced

1 cup kidney beans (you can use whatever beans you have on hand or even canned ones)

couple shakes of garlic powder (or 1 clove minced)

1T brown sugar

1T vinegar

1T parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Make sure if you are using dry beans you have soaked and cooked them until soft (don't do what I did and throw them in thinking they will soften quickly, you will be wrong).  Put all your ingredients in a pot and let cook until the celery and carrots are tender, and your finished.  The smoked sausage I used is already cooked, it just needs heating through.  If you use any kind of raw meat cook or brown in before adding it to your soup.

This would be great in your crockpot too.  If using your crockpot you wouldn't need to cook your beans before hand, you could just soak them overnight and throw everything and cook all day.

I do so love soup on a cold winter night!

2 Jingle Balls for 2 Little Guys

My cousin had her twins a week ago and has decided to host a Christmas dinner this past weekend.  Yes, I know what you're thinking, Crazy Woman!  I wanted to do something for the boys, but really what do you get for 1 week olds?  Jingle Balls, that's what!

Before Grant was born I made him a jingle ball and he still has it a year later and loves throwing it all over and shaking it to hear the little jingle it makes.  I used the free pattern from Grand Revival (the link is on the right side bar).  You can make three different sizes, I made the medium sized ball.

Before sewing the stuffing opening closed just throw in a few little jingle bells you can get at Walmart, Joann's, or Hobby Lobby.  With Grant's I bought the small bells and it took about 3 or 4 before the jingle was loud enough to suit me, so you may want to buy the larger ones.

I used scraps of fabric for these I already had in my stash along with stuffing I had, so the cost was nothing, and they are super cute when your little one is playing with them. 

Bean Bags-A Stocking Stuffer

About a month ago I googled "gifts for 1 year olds", just to see if I could get any new ideas for Grant for Christmas.  He really doesn't need any toys and, as I've witnessed with his birthday, many of the toys he receives he merely throws them around rather than playing with them.  Of course him being 1 I guess he really doesn't know how to play with them.  Either way I refused to go all out, spend a fortune, and watch as he tossed aside the nice new toy to play with the wrapping paper or box it came in.

One thing I did find while doing my google search were bean bags.  I'll be honest when I saw this gift idea I thought "what in the world would little kids do with a set of bean bags?"  However as I have watched my son he throws everything, EVERYTHING.  Drives me crazy some days, and other days I sit back and laugh.  So bean bags will be perfect for him.   Something small enough he can carry around and light enough he can chuck it across the room without breaking anything.

First I cut 10 squares (I did have a picture of this and it somehow got erased so you will just have to imagine it), 5 out of an old pair of my husband's jeans and 5 from white and black checkered fabric I had in my stash.  The size you cut them to will depend on how large you want your bean bags to be.  I cut mine 4inches x 4inches. 

I decided to applique the letters of Grant's name onto his bags.  First I printed bold block letters onto computer paper at the size I needed them to fit nicely on the bags.  The red fabric I used for the letters is actually broadcloth so you can see through it, which made tracing the letters onto the fabric easy.  I used  After tracing each of the letters onto the fabric I cut them out and put Heat and Bond on the backs.

I ironed them onto each of the jean pieces.

Then used my sewing machine to applique around each of the letters.

Pin the squares right sides together making sure to mark where your opening will be.

Stitch around leaving an opening approximately 1.5inches wide for turning.  Clip your corners making sure not to cut into the seems.

Turn the bean bags right side out.

Grab a bag of beans or rice.  I used pinto beans, oh  how I hate pinto beans, and fill your bags.

stitch the opening closed.  I double stitched mine just to make extra sure the seems wouldn't pop open and the beans become a choking hazard.

Now your finished.  5 little bean bags for my little man.

Veggie Beef Soup

This is going to seem like the recipe that would never end, but I promise you it is so good.  Let me give a little back story before I get to the recipe.

First of all we are moving again, yes you read that right.  If you have read my blog you know we moved in May of this year and in August of this year, and now we will be moving at the end of this month.  The difference is, this move is across states.  We are moving 8 hours north into yankee country.  Just thinking about all the packing I need to be doing makes me want to take a nap.

I have acquired a bit of a stockpile from my couponing efforts.  Had I known earlier we would be moving I would have cut back on stocking up and focused more on eating what we already have.  Never the less over the last week I have been taking inventory of what we have in our freezers and pantry and have tried to come up with recipes to maximize my usage of these ingredients. 

I thought veggie soup was the perfect way to get rid of some of the canned vegetables we have, since it seems we can't eat them fast enough as just a side dish on their own.  Hence the many many ingredients in this recipe.  Now one thing I have learned over the years of trying recipes, is if you don't have some of the ingredients either leave them out or substitute it for something you do have.  Most of the time it won't ruin the recipe, just might give it a little different flavor, look, taste, etc.

Veggie Beef Soup

(I didn't technically use ground beef, I used ground deer meat, but you could use any kind of ground meat you have in your fridge or freezer)

1lb ground beef

2 carrots sliced (or 1 can carrots)

2 celery stalks chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

2 potatoes chopped

1 can corn

1 can peas

1 can tomato soup (could use tomato sauce or paste)

2 t beef boullion granules

2 cans diced tomatoes

1/2 soup can water

1T sugar

1 large (28oz) can tomato juice

1 onion chopped

1/2 t parsley

salt and pepper to taste

brown meat in a skillet with 1/2 the chopped onion, salt and pepper, until cooked through, drain.  Add all ingredients to a large pot and heat on med - med/high until potatoes and carrots are tender.

This makes quite a bit of soup. We ate it for about 4 days but it was a perfect cold winter's night meal, and BONUS Grant actually got some veggies in his little belly.  What is it with kids not wanting to eat their veggies anyway??

A Little Doll For a Little Girl

My son's daycare class had their Christmas party on monday.  Each of the kids picked a  name for a $5 gift exchange, and Grant (ok so it was me) picked a little 18 month old little girl name Ava.

Before I picked a name I immediately thought I wanted a girl so I could make her a doll. 1 reason being so I can make something for a girl for a change, the other being because I knew it would be an easy, inexpensive, and quick project. 

I usually don't do holiday themed dolls but as I was going through my fabric stash I came across this fabric I used last year for Grant's stocking and thought it would be perfect for a little dress on Ava's doll.  I'm so excited with how she turned out and I know Ava will love her.

To make this doll I used  the Bit of Whimsy Beth pattern.  If you have read my blog I have made a few of these dolls and absolutely love them.  The directions are super simple to follow and the results are always fabulous!

To see the other dolls I have made using Bit of Whimsy click here.

Personalized Ornaments

My cousin finally had her twin boys, Jacob and Jeremiah.  We went to see them last night and they are so very tiny!  My son was 9lbs 9oz when he was born with fat rolls on his arms and legs when he came out, so I am not used to little 5lb and 6lb babies.

Long before she had them I knew I wanted to figure out a gift to take to the hospital.  Since she already had plenty of clothes for them I nixed that idea.  Then I thought of the burp cloths I usually make for everyone but she already had plenty of those too.  Then it came to me, Christmas ornaments.  I didn't want to do a Baby's 1st Christmas ornament, since I think that is something special the parents should pick out. 

I bought matte finish ornaments at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off a few weeks back, and a silver permanent marker I forgot to put in this picture.

I was so nervous writing on these, afraid I would mess them up completely.  My only comfort was knowing I bought a package of 6 so if worst came to worst I had 2 extra ornaments to use.  I looked at some fonts on my computer thinking I would try to mock those until I tried to do that on regular paper and it looked sooo very bad.  I ended up just free handing the names.

I think it's important to give the mom and dad gifts too since their lives will be forever changed by these 2 little men.  I debated on whether or not to put the boys' middle names on their's and in the end I'm so glad I did (by the way the "B" under Jacob is not a mistake, that's his middle name "B." after his grandfather).  On the back of the boys' ornaments are their length and weight.  It is so easy for a mother to forget or mistake her little ones' weight after years and years so I thought it was important to have this information on there.  On the back of the Mommy and Daddy ornaments are the boys' birthdate.

I had also orignally intended to put silver ribbon on the top in a pretty little bow.  I bought the ribbon and tried multiple times to get the pretty little bow I was trying for and it never happened.  All I ended up with was a tacky looking crinkled mess.

Either way I am excited with how they turned out, simple and classic..

A Christmas Gift-Gift Baskets

Deciding on what to get people this year and staying within our budget was very difficult.  Especially since our budget was a lot smaller than previous years.  If you have read my blog before you know I am a couponer.  I love couponing and can't hardly bring myself to buy something without one (even though I still do).  This being said, I decided to use my couponing to my advantage for Christmas this year and do gift baskets for a few of the people on our Christmas gift list.  Two of those people being my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. 

Whenevery I do gifts, especially homemade gifts, I think "is it something I would want or use?"  I hate giving gifts people end up throwing in the closet, regifting, or just throwing out.  It is a waste of money for me and a waste for them as well.

So I did bathroom gift baskets for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  They tend to be more difficult for me to think of gifts for, only because everything I think of they either already have or probably wouldn't want or use.  In comes the bathroom baskets.  I have a small stockpile of bathroom items already so I actually didn't spend any money out of pocket on these gifts, at least not recently.  They were all bought over the summer at rock bottom prices, I love that!!

Here is the cost breakdown using coupons:

Sister-in-Law's basket- Herbal Essence shampoo and conditioner $1.50 each

Skintimate Shave Gel $0.85

Loafa (is that how you spell that, o well) $0.50

Dial Body Wash $1.00

Degree Deodorant $0.50

Total Cost $5.85 before taxes

Brother-in-Law's basket- Nivea Shave Gel $0.50

Gillette body wash $0.50

Schick Hydro 3 razor $0.99

Dove Deodorant $0.50

Dove bar soap was free

Total Cost $2.49 before taxes

Now is that a deal or what?  I'm so excited to have saved us money and I think they will actually appreciate the baskets. 

Now I just need to figure out how the heck I'm gonna wrap them, hmmm....



Christmas Parade

We went the the Christmas parade and I don't think Grant really knew what to think.  He puckered up when the school bands came through, and cried when we took him to pet one of the horses.

Either way I think he enjoyed it, I at least enjoyed seeing his reaction.

I had planned on making homemade vegetable soup last night but of course my food wasn't thawed out and it was already 5:30 pm.  With nothing else planned I dug through my freezer and fridge for anything I could quickly defrost or saute.  Here is what I came up with:

(why is it that everything I cook never looks all that great in pictures but tastes so good when I eat it?)

You will need:

1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed and cooked (mine were already cooked and frozen from a previous meal)

1 yellow pepper, sliced or chopped

1 red pepper, sliced or chopped

1 green pepper, sliced or chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese

1/2c milk (more or less depending on how thin you want your sauce to be)

1tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp Oregano

1 box pasta (I used rigatoni but you can use whatever you have on hand)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles until done.

While noodles are boiling,  melt the cream cheesein a saucepan and then add the milk, stirring until combined.  Add garlic, italian seasoning, oregano, salt and pepper

Saute your vegetables in a small pan with your chicken.  If your chicken was not previously cooked your could cook it now, with your vegetables.

When noodles are finished and your sauce is as thin or thick as you like, add your sauce to your noodles, then mix in your meat and veggies.

Put some garlic bread on the side and your all set.

Soft Blocks-A Christmas Gift

We are trying to keep things simple for Little Man this Christmas since lets face it, he is only 1 and is more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper than what's inside them.

I have wanted to make him some cloth blocks for awhile now but like everything else on my to-do list, I have procrastinated.

I bought this book last year:

For those of you who haven't heard of Craft Hope you should check it out.  The link is on my side bar.

Inside it are loads of craft ideas and patterns.  All of them with charity organizations you can send your creations to.  One of those "creations" are the cloth blocks.  Once again I merely looked at the picture and read the first couple sentences of how to make them, then just started cutting and sewing.

Here is the end result:

6 cute little cloth blocks.  Originally I was going to make them all with the same fabrics, then I thought, naah, why do that when I can switch it up a bit? 

I am super excited with how they turned out, simple, cute, and they won't hurt when Grant chucks them at me from across the room, haha.

Reusable Baggies

Keeping with the idea of only filling Grant's stocking with things he needs or will be reused many times,  I decided to make him some reusable baggies.  I have seen these all over blog land for years and they have been on my never ending to-do list for just as long.  I didn't read a tutorial before making them, which is probably why I messed the first one up, oh well, story of my life, haha.

You will need the fabric of your choice, velcro, and I used a table cloth I found on clearence at the end of summer for $1.50 but I have also seen people use shower curtain liners or the waterproof fabric you can buy.  You could also use a zipper instead of velcro, I find velcro to be cheaper and easier for me to work with.

 

I made a pattern using a store bought baggie and newspaper.  I just traced the baggie onto the newspaper and cut it out.  I placed this on the fold of my fabric and cut my fabric to the correct size.

I love things to be personalized so I knew if I was going to make something so practical as part of a Christmas gift I needed to jazz it up a bit.  I used a water soluble quilting pen and traced Grant's name onto the fabric.  I made the stencil using my cricut and some cardstock (I do so love my Cricut!).  Then I just hand embroidered it.

I wanted Grant's name to be towards the bottom of the baggie, which is why I embroidered it more towards the middle of the fabric.  Where you want the person's name to end up will determine where you should trace it.

Here are 2 before I started sewing them.

Pin the outter fabric to your table cloth and cut out what will be your liner.

You are going to place 1 side of your velcro on the top end and the other on the bottom end (I call it the fluffy and rough side of the velcro).Both fluffy and rough parts should be placed on the right side of the table cloth since this is the side that will be the inside of your bag. 

The amount of velcro you will need depends on how wide your baggie is.  I didn't do much measuring (cuz I'm just like that), but if you are doing 1/4inch seem allowance you will need to place your velcro approximately 1/2 inch from either side and a 1/2inch from the top.  Pin your velcro down and stitch all the way around.  Make sure you backstitch a few times since this will get used and abused, haha.

Once both parts are sewn, it should look like this:

Pin your liner and outter fabric right sides together and stitch all the way around leaving a 2 inch opening for turning.  After stitching turn right side out.

Now I have 2 ways to show you how to do this.  Why did I do it 2 different ways on 2 different baggies you ask?  Because when you don't read a tutorial before starting a project, finish the project, and then realize you probably should have done it a different way, you end up changing  it the next time you sew one.

That being said, on my first baggie I did the following:

Once turning your baggie right side out, stick the velro ends together and pin around both left and right sides.

Stitch around three sides leaving the velcro top unstitched since this is how you will open the bag.

Your done! 

Now I'll show you how I did it the 2nd time around.  I liked the 1st way and there is nothing wrong with it, all comes down to preference.  As you can see in the above pic I didn't pay attention to what color of thread I used, thinking it didn't matter because no one would see it anyways.  Retard moment occured when I sewed around the 3 sides and realized, duh, you can see the unmatching thread.  Maybe I would have liked it better had the thread been a little less noticable in a white or orange. 

Anyways, still not switching out my thread (I rarely match my thread to my fabric since normally you can't see it), I decided to  make my 2nd baggie a bit different, here you go...

Starting back at the point where you had stitched both outter and liner fabric together leaving an opening and turned your baggie right side out.

Now fold your baggie in half with the liner side facing out, and pin the right and left sides.

Stitch around 3 sides making sure not to stitch your top velcro opening closed.

Clip the bottom 2 corners.

Turn right side out.

Here is the inside, ready for little treats.

We plan on filling Grant's with treats like Teddy Grahams, chocolate chip cookies, and other goodies before putting them in his stocking.  When I was little my mom always had all kinds of treats in our stockings and since Grant is still too young for loads of candy, I thought this was a perfect idea.

So now I have one little gift done, only a dozen or more to go haha.

Men's Shirt Repurposed Into Boy's Shirt

I have been looking at tutorials all over the web about repurposing and refashioning clothing for adults and kids.  I have to admit, it is much more fun for me to make things for my little one than for myself.  I guess it's the mom in me.

Anyway...

I nagged my husband to death before we moved to go through his clothing and give me anything he no longer wore.  So when we moved I toted a whole trash bag, busting at the seams mind you, with us.  That trash bag has, until recently, set up home in the back of my closet.  I pulled it out the other day with a desperate need to find some long sleeved shirts for Grant, without spending any money.

Have I said before that I love making something out of nothing,  and not spending a dime!  Let me say it again, I love it!!

After I got pregnant with Grant my husband gained some sympathy weight and grew out of quite a few of his Aeropostale t-shirts.  Everyone of them were still in great condition so I found this tutorial over at MADE, read through it once then tossed (not really tossed but you get the idea) my laptop aside and decided to just wing it.  After all, how hard could it be?

I did great up until the neck ribbing step came.  First I just cut and sewed, then realized I hadn't done it correctly, ripped it all  out, sewed again, realized my fabric had bunched up, ripped it out, sewed again, realized it had bunch again, ripped it out and sewed again!  Do you see where this is going.  Needless to say I ripped out the neck ribbing approximately 5 times before getting it "good enough", to satisfy me.

If the neck hadn't given me fits I would have finished this shirt in about 45 minutes! I love short projects as I get irritated and bored quickly.

So here is my little t-shirt made from my husband's Aeropostale shirt.  It is technically 1 size bigger than what my son actually wears right now. Upon searching through his clothes I found he was going to be in great need of 24 month shirts shortly and decided to start making them instead of the 18 month size he currently wears.

I still have a pile of shirts to cut into and repurpose and I'm so excited to do a tutorial, but I need to get this shirt thing just right before I try to explain to all of you how to do it.  You know and not mess the whole thing up, haha.