Diaper Bouquet

Okay so I couldn't come up with a cute and catchy name for this post. I usually try for a play on words, but I am so not feeling it tonight. So it is what it is...
N-E-waaaay Today I attended a baby shower for a sweet cousin of mine who is having her second son very soon.  At her last shower, about 2 years ago, I gave her a too cute diaper cake. So this time I decided to do something a little different, and give her one of those super cute Diaper Bouquets I have seen popping up all over the place in blog land. I think diapers are one of the best gifts to get at a baby shower (voice of experience here!!) so I ALWAYS try to give them. But its so boring to just give a box of diapers and a card.  I like to put a little creativity , and a little bit of myself into my gifts!

Here's the result.  My version of the Diaper Bouquet!

Now don't crucify me for the lackluster photo quality here since I forgot my camera and this was created on the fly...Sorry!

Basically I took the diapers and rolled them up, taped the edge down, and stuck them on skewers. I did about 10 like this then I put a soft package of wipes on its end and taped the skewers to it.  Next I gently set the wipes inside the gift sack on its end with the diaper flowers sticking out of the top of the sack.  Then I did about 10 or so more diaper flowers and attached them to skewers, sticking them in the sack until it was pretty full. Next I rolled the baby wash cloths up to stick on the skewers, and added them. Then I taped the baby spoons and pacifiers to skewers and added them along with the bottle brush (You cant see the brush in this photo but it is visible in the next one taken from the other side).  Next I cut tissue paper into squares and taped them to the end of skewers to give the pops of color. Finally I tucked the extra diapers around the edge of the top of the sack to make sure all the skewers were completely hidden (kinda like you would tissue paper in a traditional gift bag.  It turned out so stinking cute and it only took me about 45 minutes to do, start to finish!! 

I think I would've fixed a few things and froo frooed (yes, that's a thing) it up a little more if I would've had some extra time, but well I didn't. Anyway here is a full shot of the whole thing.

Cuteness Huh? 

And this is actually after it had been manhandled a bit, and I remembered that I hadn't got a picture of it yet!  Oh well!

Have you tried making one of these yet? They are pretty easy, and once I watched a few YouTube how-to videos I got the hang of it pretty quick. Also, did I mention I made this whole thing while sitting in my car at a Sonic drive in???? I actually got away from the house without the kiddos for a little while (The hubs was on kid patrol), and it was the perfect time to let my creative juices flow if not the perfect place. I would love to hear about your fun baby shower gift ideas and if you have tried something like this!!

Well I hope you have a great day, and God Bless!!

Kindle Freebies!!!

Hey everyone, normally I write about a craft I have done or an activity I have completed...you know just SOMETHING.  Well not today.  I have had my blog administrator page up for about 4 days just itching to write something, but between funerals, Church, Music Department responsibilities, kids, husband, and work it has been super crazy around here.  So this is just a quick update on something interesting I found...FREE KINDLE BOOKS!!  who doesn't love the FREE stuff????  So here ya go!  I came across these awesome freebies and just had to share. I hope you enjoy!

The first book is one I have seriously needed since I have been going through closets and under beds trying to get rid of all the clutter my family of five has accumulated in the last two years since moving into this house.  Its crazy!!!  I want bare closets again like when we first moved in!! So I am going to give this a thorough read and see what wisdom I can glean to help me in this quest!!

The Ultimate Guide To Decluttering and Organizing Your Home 

So you know what happens when you start going through closets and decluttering??  You make a MESS! and since your focusing on reorganizing the deep cleaning doesn't seem to get done as much as you would like.  So my next read is this one to deep clean after I have decluttered!

The Easy Way To Clean

Next is a book that I found fun and interesting.  Even though we don't celebrate Halloween I LOVE and anything about costumes since I have some VERY imaginative children who love to play dress up.  As well as a drama department in our church who is always needing costumes for the next production. So I was excited to find this free costume book that even has instructables!!

Easy Halloween Costumes

Then by the same authors is this free Halloween Food book.  Umm, FREE RECIPES??  LOOOOVE,  and I can use them for things other than Halloween.  so... SCORE!

Halloween Food

I hope you enjoy these freebies as much as I plan to. Please feel free to share in the comments any freebies you come across.  I love a good bargain!!

I hope you have a great day!  And God Bless!!!

I'M BaaaaaaacCK!!!

So, I have not blogged in a long time, and by long time it feels like FOR-ev-ER!!!  I have missed this world so so SO much! I wouldn't even allow myself to read other blogs anymore because I missed it so much, and knew I just didn't have the time to participate right now.  I have continued to sew and create interesting things, and every time I did I thought "wow I need to take a picture of this and blog about it!".  My heart would jump with joy a little at the thought, and then I got completely stressed thinking about all the things I had ALREADY done, taken pictures of and NOT blogged about yet.  Ummmm, I have a LOT.  So in order to take the stress out, and put the joy back into this I'm starting fresh.  I will blog about anything and everything I want, when I want.  I was so worried about staying in my "niche" of sewing, crafts, and cooking, and staying on a posting schedule that I stopped enjoying it all. It became work to keep up with multiple posts a week.  I really felt I started to abandon my family a little in order to stay current on what was going on in "blog-land" and in the crafty department.  Making sure that if I posted something on here as my own idea it truly was an original idea, and not "inspired by others".  Now I have a new frame of mind... I'm going to blog what I do, and if I did find inspiration in something then hey I'll share my source.  But if I just came up with it I'm going to tell you that, and if you see it somewhere else, and they did it first OK.  The Bible tells us there is nothing new under the sun anyway so there!  lol

So, with all that said, this is going to be a catch up on my life post.  I am going to be brutally honest and tell you that this summer has been rough on me.  Please keep in mind that I get at least 20 hours a week at my part time (from home) job, am the full time Music Minister and Assistant Pastors wife at our church, and have three GORGEOUS children who light up my life as well as a husband who is a blessing, the love of my life, and perfect for me in every way, but is still a man who enjoys having a clean house, nice smelling laundry, and meals frequently put on the table.

Now for the hectic part of all this...while maintaining all those jobs, Ministries, and duties my summer went something like this.  I spent two weeks in Montgomery at Church Camp with my beautiful family, two weeks working in our fireworks stand full time (with the beginnings of a sinus/ear infection making my life miserable too I might add).

After fireworks we had a very FULL two weeks kicked off by my daughters luau themed joint birthday party the first week (there will be an entire post later on this one), then VBS and several family adventures the second (the ear infection had lessened but was lingering).  After that an extended weekend trip to Chattanooga Tennessee that was so much fun and the kids had a blast!

Well Kent had a mishap going down a slide that resulted in a black eye (only my son could accomplish something like that I do believe!).

Then back for a Momma-Daughter day with my Mom for her Birthday.  Which was exquisitely fun and full of relaxation.

Finally a week spent in bed fighting a phantom illness that knocked me on my tail.  I say phantom because I'm really not sure what I had.  All I know is that I could NOT keep my eyes open.  I am one of those people who sleep their way through sickness and the sleepier I am the sicker I am.  I spent three days sleeping.  I actually tried fighting the sleep the first day (not wanting to admit I was sick of course...who has time to be sick??? not me!!). I couldn't sit, stand, or lie down without my eyes closing and falling instantly asleep though.  I actually asked my husband if he had slipped me some kind of pill!!!  Yah right why would he want a wife who sleeps instead of cleaning and taking care of the kiddos in the summer break to boot!?!?!  He was a trooper though and stepped in to take care of it all and arranged for the kiddos to have some fun time with all their favorite relatives while I convalesced.  Now the sickness didn't have any other symptoms other than weakness dizziness and you guessed it, tiredness.  Finally after three days I started to feel somewhat normal, but it was truly another week before I felt completely like myself again.  Kent evidently caught whatever it was too, but being a kid with tons of energy he only slept most of the days away, not all of them like his Momma, and whined the rest of the time.  Then to wind up the summer in early August I went to a Music Conference with some of my music team to enrich my ministry, and allow me to be a better leader for my Church and Music Department. We had a wonderfully blessed time.

Now I am caught up to last week when my babies started school on a Thursday, and this is their first full week of school (I will be sharing a cute first day idea and their pics in my next post, so be on the lookout).  Finally, today I have been hit again with the same ear & sinus infection that has come and gone all summer long making me very uncomfortable.  I have spent ALL morning laying on the couch with my half my head throbbing, (and of course) sleeping.  After my antibiotics and steroid pack took affect (yes I finally got some) I was thinking about how much I miss blogging, and how even a few of my friends have mentioned that they have missed my creative posts and summarized family updates.  Taking into account my baby girls are back at school and our routines are starting to normalize, I have come to the decision that I can take this time back for myself again.  So, watch out Blog-land HERE I COME!!  I am going to be sharing over the next little while some of the activities, and craftiness that this summer has brought as well as projects I am working on currently.  I hope my followers are still out there and want to rejoin me on my journey of documenting all my insanity and crafty craziness and whatever else I decide to spill cause I'm going to just be relaxed and go with the flow from here on out.

I hope you enjoy going along for the ride as much as I enjoy taking it!

Have a great day and God Bless!!!!

Its a Giddy Day

I am feeling very giddy today.  I'm not completely sure why...hmmm  Mood swing?  Quiet house with the windows open while listening to the kids run and play on this gorgeous spring day?  clean house from the fruits of my days labor?? this wonderful Route 44 Strawberry Lemonade from Sonic's happy hour? The thrill of knowing a 4 day beach Vaca is only 5 days away?

YES!!!!  It must be all of that!!!!  I am just in a giddy happy mood and I thought I would share it with you all.  I feel like sunbeams are dancing in my heart!  I turned on my work computer to try to maybe accomplish something there and turned it right back off.  I cant work when I am this pumped up and ready to tackle the world.  Inspiration is hitting too but really the kind that say I am inspired to go outside and play with my kids on this gorgeous day.  So I think that's what I'm going to do.

Have a great day and I hope some giddiness finds itself into your heart.

Have a great day and God Bless

Easter was DE-licious!!! and a Jewel of a pin

Okay, as an update for the world: I am back on the eating healthy so I can become a healthier sized me bandwagon.  Actually, both my husband and I have jumped on together.  Which is making the journey so much more fun!  After a week of dieting I have lost 4 pounds and seven inches!!!  Goooooo Me!!! Either this week or the next I will be joining a local gym to work out with my cousin. who is already a member, and I just know the pounds are going to start melting away.  Anyway, I have been keeping a VERY close eye on my calorie intake this week with great success, and decided that since today is a holiday it would be what I call a "guilt free day".  I am allowed to eat whatever I want, in a very small portion, and I don't count any calories.  So I didn't go crazy, but I did enjoy some calorie rich foods that normally I would decline when on the weight loss track.  So, for me, while Easter was a lovely Spiritual day spent in worship, busy with the Drama our church put on, and a fun day spent with family it was also absolutely delicious!  I hope you had a wonderful day Celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Now on the crafty side I was VERY busy this week!!  I made a dress for myself for Easter as well as two bolero style jackets to go over my daughters Easter sun dresses (I'm not a big fan of the sleeveless look, even on my little girls).  I used this pattern

I don't know about you , but once those patterns come out of the envelope there is NO getting them back in.  So they get folded and neatly stored inside a large gallon sized zip-lock baggie with the pattern picture facing out of one side so I can see exactly whats inside.  This is actually very handy as it makes it somewhat child and pet proof as well as easier to access.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to sew as well as cutie patootie on the girls!

(Please forgive these HORRIBLE pictures!!)

Now my girls favorite part, and what I am DYING to tell you about, was the simple closure jewel that I used.  Now, if you are like me (a crafty item buying fanatic), you probably have little buttons, jewels, beads, whatever laying around all over your craft area and stuffed in your craft stash bins.  Well in the wee hours of the morning when I decided the jackets needed a little more oomph, and really wasn't looking forward to sewing two teeny hook and eye closures that probably weren't going to stay put with my two rowdy girls this jewel of an idea (ha ha) was born.  Now its not that biggie of a deal, but since it saved my creative hide, was a HUGE hit with the girls, and garnered MANY a compliment I thought I'd pass it along.  Its a jewel with a safety pin hot glued to the back...yah ... complicated right? 

Anyway I am sad to say that the jewel on the 5yr old's jacket only made it through half the day, and by the time the drama rolled around it had been pulled fallen off.  So when I got home I pulled out a little stronger adhesive, and snapped a few pics with my (vastly inferior to my real pride and joy which, at the moment, is inaccessible) camera in order to share my genius with you....for what its worth any way, which isn't much!

So there you have it.  My creative AHA moment of the week.  I would show you a picture of my dress, but I am no longer wearing it, and, trust me when I say, it just doesn't look that great off the body!

I cant wait to make SOOOO many more of these to match every Sunday Sundress that I plan for them to wear this little jacket with.  Oh and they loved the lightweight jacket as well and since it was a breeze to make (I took a few shortcuts, so I'm talking literally an hour from cutout to completion on each jacket!!) I will be churning out a few more of these PRONTO!

Next project while the sewing machine is out (and all my stuff is littering the area) two dresses for the girls, two skirts for the girls, several maxi skirts for myself and perhaps a convertible skirt/dress for me too.  Oh this is going to be a fun crafty week all gearing up for spring break the next week.  I cant wait!!!

I hope you enjoyed this, and I promise next time I will use my good camera.

Have a great day and God Bless!