The Heart in it all

Today I was making my family a normal lunch.  Which for us consists of Madeline having Ramen Noodles (her favorite), Kent a hot dog, slice of cheese and chips, and Macey a turkey and cheese sandwich with chips.  Yes, its interesting how we all eat different stuff around here, but hey they were all happy, and I was happy to have happy kids.  And silence reined supreme... for a while little while. During this epically quiet moment, as I constructed myself a sandwich stuffed with tomato, pickle, cheese, and turkey I begin to reminisce.  The reason I love ham/turkey/chicken and cheese sandwiches with all the fixings so much, is that every time I fix or eat a sandwich piled high I picture my Nanna so clearly it almost knocks the breath out of me. 
I have so many fond memories of spending time with her in the kitchen as we made sandwiches so large I couldn't imagine anyone ever being able to fit the entire thing in their mouth.  I loved to sit across from my PaPaw and watch him do just that.  Enjoying every bite until it was nothing but crumbs left on a plate.  He would wash it all down with a drink of Nanna's sweet Texas tea, wipe his hands on the cloth napkin, rise, and kiss my Nanna in thanks as he walked back out the door to work on whatever he had been working on before she called him in to lunch. 
Now, if you sat to eat at my Nanna's table you had a place mat and cloth napkin, because that was how she was raised.  These weren't fancy by any means (those were saved for guests and special meals of course).  The homemade napkins were simple square pieces of fabric hemmed all along the edges, and the same with the place mats which were rectangles hemmed up.  Multiples of  about five different coordinating colors were all kept in the same drawer.  You can take a guess as to whose job it was to set these out at each meal, a ritual I loved to do.  These were things she made herself.  You see, what we call our hobby and crafting she called a way of life.  I loved to hear her stories of the Great Depression and the memories she had of the Second World War.  Believe it or not they rationed CHOCOLATE! (I couldnt even fathom that as a child and as an adult its still hard to believe.)  Because of her experiences as a little girl she sewed.  Not for fun, but because she was taught if it got a hole in it you put a patch in it, and if a button fell off you sewed another in its place.  I learned to sew on buttons from her, and I would help her replace missing buttons on my PaPaw's shirts. 
She created homemade various holiday decorations before it became popular/fashionable to do so.  She loved it.  She wasn't even spectacular at it, but everything she made, was made out of love.  She would measure me to make me dresses, pajamas, and who knows what else.  She made dolls for me from patterns, and I loved them.  She was the typical country sewing Nanna, and was so much fun just to be with. 
So today, my first day back from my family vacation, as I felt my hands itching to blog, and trying to decide what craft to share.  I thought instead I would share my memories of one of the most important women in my life.  I miss her so much, but her love of working with her heart has lived on through me and through my equally crafty (more talented if you ask me) cousin Kayla.  Thank You Nanna!

It just flew Out the window

So the party?  Well, we didn't have the party.  Macey got sick, and I wasn't sure what was wrong with her.  I was afraid that the strepp throat she had about three weeks ago had relapsed.  Turns out it was a minor virus and after thinking back I realized we had actually all had it, but it was so minor we just didn't realize what it was! So after having a weekend of whiny "I don't feeeeeeellllll good" kids, and not feeling so great myself, we are mostly back to normal.  It hit Macey harder and for longer, but now she is a happy lil monkey bouncing around like she was just storing up all that energy while she was sick. 
Its not very crafty, but I did get something accomplished that I have been wanting to work on for a while. I got my backyard cleaned up from all the NUMEROUS toys and water bottles that were scattered all over it (now I know where all my bottled water has been dissapearing to out of my fridge!).  I bought some plants for my flower beds (I took the easy way out by putting them in pretty pots and setting those in the groomed beds). Also, I broke down and bought a patio furniture set.  I have been wanting one for a while, and my sun room is now graced by a love seat, two chairs, and coffee table set!  Its not the top of the line, in fact its the bottom of the line at walmart, but when you have as many kiddos as I do constantly going through there you don't want too big of an investment.
Well, I will be posting soon the items I have been working on the last little bit. Also I am going to attempt my FIRST tutorial!  I have had some questions about the T-Shirt dresses.  Since the easiest way to explain it is to actually SHOW you what I am doing step by step, I am going to try it.  PRAY! this could be wonderful good, or a complete disaster!


I have to share this: I follow an AWESOME Blog called "Crap I've Made".  She comes up with some of the coolest ideas, and I cant wait to try this week's.  If you like involving your kiddos in crafting with you then you might want to give this one a go.  There are so many possibilities for it.  Many ways you can put your own spin on it. Here's the link if you would like to try it out. 

Click here for the "Crap I've Made" silhouette-canvas tutorial

My kids are going to LOVE doing this with me!

They are getting older, I'm getting older too, and the landslide will bring me down

Today my baby girl (the *gasp* Middle Child) will be turning 5.  I just cant believe it! It has made me nostalgic for a sweeter more baby-ish time, but also thrilled that diapers (for the most part as we are still potty training my Lil' Man), baby food, nursing, middle of the night feedings, and other such baby oriented times have been grown out of.  I look on those times with fond memories, but not so much with a desire to return, or repeat for that matter. 
Wow it has been 5 whole years, a half decade.  The time has flown!! She starts Kindergarten this year, and before I know it will be graduating High school, then college. Well I will savor every moment that I can, of all three's lives, and hope we do a good job preparing them for the world we are raising them to one day face alone.  I know as long as we keep God the center of that process, chances are they will turn out to be pretty Ok.  That in itself is a great comfort and source of peace.
Well thank you for allowing me to get totally off the crafting subject.  I know I pontificated and daydreamed away, but I just cant help it.
I am working on a few projects, but most have taken a backseat to the preparations for the Birthday Party.  Who knows though, I may get a little crafty for the event.  I will have to get back with you on that one though pretty soon ... sooner or later...whenever I get a chance.

Lord Help Me!

Ok, so I am so far behind that Its just crazy!!!  We are just going to call this the MOTHER of all catch up posts!!! Hopefully I will get EVERYTHING caught up on this one.  Are you prepared for a TON of pictures????

I have stayed pretty much true to my pledge by creating something new each week I just haven't been as faithful as I would like in posting it.  So without much further ado here are the pictures :)

This picture includes my three first projects from the first three weeks of June that I have been promising to post on here.  The dress made from a T-shirt purchased at Walmart and fabric from Hobby Lobby, the headband made with twisted fabric rosettes, and the Hobo flower detail on the chest of the dress (I wear this all the time too, and am SO glad I made it removable!).

So that pretty much covered June with those three projects and the Fathers day Pictures that I posted earlier.  Now to show you how SUPER creative I have become in July!!  I am building momentum, and not always doing just one craft a week.  This is so addicting!!!

First Here is the picture of the project I mentioned in my last post.  My Fourth of July Wreath.

I picked the bare grapevine wreath up at my local Walmart for about $3.50, the ribbon on sale there for $.50 a spool, and went to town.  It didn't look complete, but I did like it.  Then while in my local Dollar General I saw these two cute little plaques were on sale for half off.  I knew as soon as I saw them they were the perfect finishing touch.  Now I don't just like it, I LOVE it! 

Next I needed festive outfits for my three monkeys for the fourth of July. So I got creative and the following was the result.

This First Shirt was a "Wonder Under Experiment", and my very first time to use the product.  I am addicted now. It turned out so cute!  I drew a bunch of stars onto the Wonder Under, followed the instructions for attaching them to the fabric, cut out the stars, followed the rest of the instructions for attaching them to the shirt, and Viola we have a star studded shirt for my little man.  The tricky part of this is that these stars were made out of RIBBON!  I had to overlap pieces of ribbon to form a solid piece of "fabric" to cut the stars out of.  This meant afterwards going back and hot gluing a couple of loose edges, but it worked beautifully and he perfectly matched the girls embellishments.  On the largest star I did sew on the outside edges, but on the others I did not.  I can tell already that after a few washes I might not have quite as many stars, but hey the shirt served its purpose.  He was very festive for the big 4th party.

Next are Shirts for the girls:  I made three ribbon ruffle rosettes, and hot glued them to right chest and shoulder area.  The girls LOVED it.  This was my very first time making these type rosettes, I went a little crazy with them after this, making hair accessories and corsages.  They are just so stinking cute, and easy to make! They are also wearing VERY well. They are very secure after laundering, and seem like they are going to go the distance.

Then I made a shirt festive for myself: (Sorry for the HORRIBLE picture, but you get the idea)

I picked this shirt up at my local Walmart for $4, and added a simple ribbon ruffle to the neck.  Now you may be asking why go to the trouble to do something so simple.  Well I like to add a little flair to what I wear, and also because: hey, I got it at WALMART where a LOT of people shop!! the design looked a lot like fireworks.  So I figured there would probably be more than just myself wearing the shirt at the shindig, and I wanted mine to be unique.  I know, its crazy, but hey I had the time.  It was fun, and I still like it.  The ruffle is pulling away a little after laundering.  So I will have to tack it back on in one place before wearing it again, but otherwise it has held up nicely and I do plan to wear it again.

So this should catch me up for all of June and the first three weeks of July and then some! 

I did do another project that I neglected to take a picture of.  It was a Mini baby wreath made of feather boas that I hot glued to, of all things, a paper plate!! It was so cute when it was done, but I completely forgot to take a picture before giving it to the Mother at the hospital.  She adored it, and if I can get her to snap a picture of it for me I will add it at a later time.

Should you have any questions or comments please leave them or e-mail me, and I will be happy to share with you my process in making any of these items.

Have a great day, and I will be adding my project for this week in a little while as it is almost completed.  This time I actually thought to take pictures as I was creating so that there could be some step by step instructions.  I am learning and figuring this all out albeit slowly.

Busy, Busy, Busy

For those who don't know me, my family owns and operates a fireworks stand.  Yes, immediately following a month away, we come home to eat, sleep, live and breathe fireworks.  Crazy to even THINK I might be able to craft during this time, right?!?!  well I did!!  I am staying true to my pledge to myself and crafting away.  This past week my craft was a fourth of July wreath I totally rocked was pretty happy with!  I am going to be posting the pictures soon so you all can see it.  The only sad part is that its about to come down, but that gives me the opportunity to get crafty on my front door once again!  I can't wait I already have ideas about it all!  This weeks craft is repurposing a hand-me-down shirt for my daughter.  I cant wait to tell you all about it when its finished!

7-25-11 I am updating this post to add a picture of the finished wreath.  I went into detail about it in the post titled "Lord help me".  As for the shirt I finished it laundered it and my girls promptly lost it.  I cant find that sucker anywhere to get a picture of it! oh well at least I do have a picture of the wreath.