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Saturday, December 19, 2009

chalk roll to match chalkboard placemats

I used the same oil cloth that I used on the backs of the chalkboard placemats here, but choose different fabric for the inside and the velcro tab to match. There are three going to the same house and I wanted each to be different. This is only one of the varieties that I made. I am really excited to see how they like these and the chalkboards.
I had found numerous instructions for making these and they were for crayons and had 16 slots. I thought that was way too much for chalk. And I was only finding boxes of chalk at stores with these 6 colors. So, I again, came up with what I wanted stemmed from someone elses cool idea.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Super Cool Chalkboard Placemats!

I found the tutorial for this project at Little Birdie Secrets blog. This was the easiest project I have done in awhile! I made these as a Christmas gift and I think they will be a big hit! I'm thinking of adding either a tie or velcro to secure it when rolled, which led me to think of making a chalk roll instead of a crayon roll to go along with it! I will let you know and add pics if I decide to do that!

Men's Boxer Shorts

I made these yesterday as a gift for Christmas! I really like the fabric a lot. It's 100% cotton. I used a Quik Sew pattern and am super pleased! I had made my own pattern, but it lacked good instructions! I spent most of my time confused, but with this I was done in about an hour. I had cut the it out of the fabric while I was cooking supper, so when I got to the sewing part it took very little time.
back view

10 grain bread

Yum! I found a recipe for this bread using Red Mill 10-grain hot cereal. In the picture with the recipe, it showed whole grains but the only 10-grain cereal by Red Mill was not whole grains, so I just went for it. I really did want it as pretty as the picture though. This is THE easiest bread! Everything is just mixed together and left in the bowl to double, then cover losely and put it in the fridge to use during the week!

The finished product!! It is as delicious as it is pretty! Zachary cannot resist homemade bread! This is becoming a household favorite pretty quick!!

Monday, December 14, 2009

tote bags

These are my favorite bags so far! I really enjoy bags and making bags, so I know there are many more to come! The first bag is from fabric I found at a thrift store. Its a heavy weight fabric. I immediately knew what I would make from it. I had originally thought of using some brown corduroy for the bottom of the bag, but I found this suede like fabric and liked it for the bottom alot. I ended up using the corduroy to make a really cute owl backpack for a 4 yr old. I will put a picture of that on my blog soon.
I call this the skinny bag. Also thrift store fabric with the suede bottom. I have both of them for sale on etsy.

bibs and burp cloths

The pictures do not do these justice! These are soo cute and soft! They have terry backing and I was making them for a boy, but I found some cute fabrics to work. I really liked the bandana print bib/cloth. Alexander kept saying all of these were not good for boys, but later thought that maybe for a baby it was ok. He IS 13 you know, so being a man is his main focus these days.
I was real pleased with how great they looked folded and tied. I was really pretty happy with the whole project. It was quick and fun. The recipient was completely floored! She really was happy! That was my goal!

mittens

I had a request for 16 pair of mittens. I had only made a few pair-ever and now I was faced with making 16 pair!! I went to all the thrift stores in my area-which is not many-and grabbed up all the pretty and cute 100% wool sweaters they had. I washed them all in hot water and dried them. Then I started cutting out and mix matching for some really pretty mittens! Above is the stack of cut out, ready to be sewn wool mittens. I found a web site on accident that sells mittens that are made from recycled sweaters and they charge $36. Are their mittens better? Are they lined or something? I thought that was outrageous, but then again I am pretty frugal about things.
Here are some of the mittens all lined up and ready to go. I really hate that this is the only horrible picture I have of these. They really are cute. I had to use my cell phone to photograph these.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Happy Halloween

oops! I loaded these backwards... oh well! So here are the pumpkins we carved at my sister Jacki's! We had loads of fun!
HAHA!! This is Zachary! He always does something funny!!

Alexander planning it all out!



Me and Cary hard at work. We looked pretty serious about our pumpkins!


He we are. Me, Cary, Zachary and Alexander. Alexander was talking on the phone to a girl...his grandma! She just happened to call while we were there so we passed the phone around to everyone, but he always talks a long time to her. Sometimes he calls just to chat! I think she likes it though!




Train ride

This is from the day Cary took me on the train for the first time. I didn't even care if we got off, I just wanted to ride! This is the inside of the train. We rode for awhile on the lower level, but as soon as I realized that there was a second level, we moved!
This is the old Dallas Courthouse. Pretty cool I thought. It really looks different from all the older west Tx courthouses that I am used to. I liked it alot. I took Brittany at night and this is really pretty!

I thought it was cool to see this up close. We always see it from the highway, but it's right near the station!

This is what the train looks like.




The Hurst/Bell station. I was a bit disappointed the first time because this is not very train station looking, but in Dallas, the station has a big building with lots of wooden benches like in movies, so I was satisfied. When I took Brittany at night, we were waiting for the train and a coyote came out of the woods, across the tracks, scanned the parking lot, then trotted across it and into the woods on the side of the lot. Interesting.


doing a little catching up

It's been a little crazy around here. We moved right before Thanksgiving and then I had some serious camera issues... so now hopefully I can try to catch up here and stay caught up! I am really hoping to do some tutorials in January. A couple friends of mine that are extremely beginner bakers and sewers have requested some tutorials with very basic and beginning baking and sewing. I am really looking forward to that alot!

This is the cake I made for myself. I forgot to take a picture before we cut into it!! It was very delicious! The pink was raspberry flavored!! This is from September on my birthday!! That day I was treated to a wonderful mexican dinner out with Cary, Ashley, Raven, Zachary and Alexander. They pitched in together and gave me a really awesome day spa gift card!! I haven't used it yet, but I haven't forgotten about it!! That is going to be a really great day!!