Is it Christmas ALREADY?

Halloween has passed, and Turkey Day is quickly approaching. Yet, Christmas decorations are EVERYWHERE. And I wondered the other day what our "Seasonal Music" channel was playing- so I checked. And, YES!!! It was Christmas music!!! It seems that Christmas is approaching even more quickly than Thanksgiving!

I'm sorry for all of those of you who are die-hard "Christmas celebrations must not begin until after Thanksgiving" people. BUT, I for one am not one of those people. I am the kind of person who has a Christmas withdrawal around June and MUST pull out some music. I am the kind of person who watches those beloved Christmas movies on any cold and snuggly day. I am THAT kind of person who some of you despise. And, yes, I am proud to say it!

Needless to say, I am thrilled that our our stores are "Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas".

Also needless to say, I am full throttle finding DIY decorations. SOFT decorations are a must this year, with our little, SOON TO BE ONE YEAR OLD!!!! (I can't believe how fast time goes!) Yes, this will be the holiday season where she begins to learn that she cannot break, grab, or touch at all those shiny wonderful balls on the Christmas trees..... I can see the fun now.

Here are some decorations that I plan on using as my inspiration:

• yoyo garland
• felt advent calendar
• "merry christmas" hanging
• yarn wreath
• pompom wreath

Do you have any great soft decorations that I should add to my list? If so, I'd love to see!

Well, its bedtime.... tonight I'll be "dreaming of a White Christmas". Will you?

Falling Up The House

Our house is finally complete with its fall decorations. I had most of it up, but yesterday I completed the last two fall crafts. Being on a budget has forced me to be very creative with how I decorated. I only had ONE decoration from last year (a scare crow from the 99Cent store). This year my mom bought me a fabric pumpkin from Target dollar section. Other than that I spent a total of 2.50. I got a sign from the 99cent store that I made over and I got a leaf garland and a wreath from a garage sale, which I used as supplies for my crafting.

Overall, I am happy. Who knew you could do so much with what is just lying around your house? =)

felt fall wreath 

scrap material runner 

scrap material pumpkins 

modge podged cardboard

scare crow and material pumpkin with some leaves

part of the leaf garland

leaves dispursed on our batroom shelf

redone 99cent store sign and skull given to us

remade scrappy wreath

Happy Fall from our front door to yours! (that's the hubby in there)

Bubble skirt and some leggings to match

I've been looking at Target, and seeing all these super cute baby clothes. But I have this problem--- whenever I see something I like, I think "I can do that". Now, sometimes it is true, sometimes it is not. But, luckily this time, it is true! I've been seeing all these super cute bubble skirts for little girls, and I really wanted Jewel to have one.

I used some fun thin cord material from Joann's and repurposed an old green knit shirt of mine for the inner layer and the waist band. This is how it turned out. It took about a half hour? And I think its super cute.

I actually made it to match the leggings that I made her last night.

The hubby thinks they look bow-legged, but they look perfectly normal on, I promise!

And here are the two together:

You can't really tell this far away, but there is bright pink in  the fabric.

And here is my model, wearing her new outfit:

sorry its her backside, its the best picture I got of the outfit. haha.

Reusable Lunch Sack

When we went to go visit Robert's family a few weeks ago, one of the fun things I got to do was go hang out with a most beloved and craft-hearted cousin. We met up at one of our favorite stores- JOANN'S- and shopped around for a bit. Then we headed to her house for a quick hello to the kiddo and for her to give me some no longer desired (on her part) material. I LOVE getting hand-me-downs. Whether for Jewel, myself, my house or my crafting supply. So I took what she was going to give to goodwill, and started brainstorming of what to make with it. I have some great ideas for some of it, but others of it- I didn't even need ideas! I just needed to sew!

This was one such thing. She had already cut out the material to a reusable lunch sack and sandwhich wrapper! How nice of her to give me her "extra's". I'm sure that she would have actually made this, in no short time, but she thought that I would enjoy it. (HOW SWEET!) So the other night I was blog surfing, and I kept on seeing these bags. I suddenly had a VERY strong urge to just sew the bag together. And thus, I did. In all of like 5 minutes I had an awesome new reusable lunch sack!!!! Now, tell me, who doesn't want one of those? You do, I know you do... but I'm sorry this one is mine, you will have to get/make your own! =)

Here is my beautiful lunch sack:

Thank you dear cousin for the materials!

Repurposed jeans into (not so baby anymore) skirt

Recently I saw on someones blog (I forget where, otherwise I would give credit) how they repurposed some old jeans into a baby skirt. I thought it was such a good idea, I decided to try it as well! They had a great tutorial, so I thought- easy peasy!!!!

But since I actually couldn't find where I had seen it, I kind of had to go by the seat of my pants.....

And this is what I got:

Sorry it's so wrinkled

It was a bit different as the one that i saw, cuz i used the actual hem of the pant and sewed two legs together. But it turned out alright. 

And Jewel OF COURSE needed a top to go with. So  I took an old collared t-shirt we got for free at a garage sale and spruced it up a bit. 

This is what we got out of that:

And here is the outfit together:

Looks good to me! And comfy too! 

Pistachios: Part 1

Recently we went to go visit some of the hubby's family. His grandmother has a huuuuuuge garden. Last time we left with a HUGE box of garden fresh tomatoes to make homemade sauce. Other times we have left with boxes full of squash and peppers, grapes, and my favorite- Pluots. This time we left with a BOX of pistachios. Yes, grammy and I went out a couple hours before our departure and "whacked" (yes, its a technical term which describes the action of putting down tarps under the tree and taking either an old broom stick or pipe and hitting the pistachio branches to make the nuts fall) one of the many trees. The goal? To hull, dry,  and season my own batch(es) of nuts.

Here is the box:

What did I do to accomplish this goal? Well, first I set out to find a dehydrator..... which I did NOT find. So, I looked up how to dry them in an oven and set to work. 

Before anything, I got out my handy-dandy hulling contraption sent home with us by grammy.  Its a wire screen and a wood block. I put a handful (or 3) of pistachios at a time on the screen and rub them around the screen with the block. 

This ideally gets the skins off the pistactios so you can separate the good from the bad, ie- the ones with cracks VS the ones without cracks.

After hulling all the pistachios, I ended up with two big bowls of  good pistachios.

I then, put them in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the oven for 10-12 hrs at 140 degrees, stiring  once every hours (or so). 

And WHA-LA!!! Pistachios hulled, dried, and  ready to eat!!!! 

THIS is what my hands looked like halfway through the second day of hulling ......

.... just imagine what they looked like after! 

The only thing left to do? Salt them and make them taste REAL good!!!! 

Thanks, Grammy, for the nuts!

Lemon Revisited

Here are some pics of just the top and leggings, that I didn't have yesterday. Enjoy!

front of top

back of top

  

leggings

They Call Me Mellow Yellow....

... 

Today was the day. The day that I decided to try making Jewel some leggings. I used some yellow stretchy material that I actually didn't have enough of, in case the leggings didn't fit or didn't turn out. BUT- alas! They turned out!!!!! They turned out SO CUTE!!!!! I had to change the "pattern"  (pattern= tracing of her other leggings that we got at Target), but it worked. Jewel's leggings have a cuff on the bottom and a grey band at the waist (I told you I didn't have enough). But the next pair will just be normal with all the same color. Can't wait til tomorrows nap time.

Oh and did I mention that I made her a shirt to match? Yes... it didn't turn out exactly as I planned. It was going to be a tank top dress, but I made the top WAY too small. Like, small enough that it wouldn't fit over her head!!!! So, I had to figure out a way to fix it and make it fit. Luckily for me, it turned out even cuter than I had intended! Not quite fall-ish... but I LOVE IT!!!!

Please excuse the pictures, which were taken by my phone, and  the mess of our house. Its kinda hard to get my little model to sit still.... maybe I should take some pics JUST of the clothes.

It's Fall, kind of.

Fall has come, supposedly. And with it has come, a few days of rain, followed by more heat. After having lived in So Cal for 5 years, I should be used to the lack of Fall. But, alas- I am not. I am somewhat saddened when I look outside and there are no orange trees and it is still 89 (yes, I just checked weather.com) degrees.

Even though the weather refuses to cooperate with my Fall wishes, I have decided that Jewel's wardrobe will! Over the past few months, I have been purchasing some different "Fall-esk" material. Of course, with intentions to make Jewel some fun little Fall outfits. Today I finally sat down and whipped up a little skirt for our little Jewel! It's a very simple gathered skirt with an elastic waistband. At first, it was greatly lacking in visual interest, so I sewed on some felt flowers. I think it's a good start to her fall clothing collection.... 

....Now to make a shirt that compliments.

Shoe Maker, Shoe Maker...

....Make me some shoes!


 Ever since Jewel started walking, soft baby walking shoes have been on my mind. But only one pair was in my budget. So, I have been daydreaming of and looking at tons of those ADORABLE baby boots. You know the kind, the ones that look like baby UGGS.

And yesterday, I made my daydreaming reality. I began my venture as a shoe maker. While I was out running errands, I stopped by Joannes and got some material. Some fuzzy wuzzy furry kind and some vinyl for the sole. After Jewel went to bed I traced out the sole of her shoes we bought her, and I began cutting. Boy was it fun!!!! That is, until I started messing up Right and Left.

First I cut the sole wrong, then I sewed the 3 Right footed boots. Which wouldn't have been so bad, had I intended to do so. But no, the last two were supposed to be Left footed. =) And when I finally managed a Left footed boot, I realized I sewed the sole on reverse side. UGH!!!! My seam ripper became my best friend last night, and I gained a new appreciation for patterns---- something which I was lacking in my venture.

After my long run of trial and errors, I finally got two pair of boots. And I must say, I am quite happy with the outcome. I think this may be the beginning of a long friendship with shoe making.

You may call me Cobbler Brigitte!

DEAR SISTER

I would like to wish my sister a very merry 27th birthday, today!

I am so blessed to have a sister like you! You have always been there when I needed you- from being my moral support while getting a spanking (hiding juuuuuuuuust around the corner out of moms sight, but faithfully making faces so it wouldn't hurt as bad), to playing in the sandbox together, to playing barbies with me when you SURELY didn't want to, to sending me away to camp with more hidden notes than a girl knew what to do with, to having slumber parties in your room, to shopping trips and Jamba after school, to finding me at school when I was crying and just needed a hug, to talking boys, to giving me hand-me-downs (we both know I still love those!), to being pregnant at the same time.........I could go on and on.  But really, in all those memories, my favorite part is just that they are with my sister (aka-you). And when I look at where the Lord has taken you over the years, and how the Lord has chosen to grow you and conform you to His Son, I am very proud to say that you are my sister. I know that we don't live near each other right now, and who knows what the Lords plan is for that---- but I look forward to all the  "sister" memories with you that are yet to come....

I am thankful that I can truly say-

I LOVE YOU AND I'M GLAD YOU'RE MY SISTER!!!!!! ;)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Did you say 27?!?!?

7On Oct 1, my dear husband turned 27. He took the day off of work and decided he wanted to take his wife (me) and child (Jewel) to DISNEYLAND for some good ol' family fun time! Boy do I love him!!!! We had lots of fun. The day started a little rocky, as yes, it is real life. All of the plans I had for him for his birthday got shot when he informed me the night before what he wanted to do. Buuuuuut- Jewel and I DID manage to make him a birthday banner while he was at the gym in the morning (which still remains on the wall). And on the way to Disneyland he DID get to "open" some not quite wrapped presents. And at Disneyland he DID get a birthday pin, which prompted nearly EVERY SINGLE person in the park to say "Happy Birthday, Robert!!!!!". We also got some hazelnut coffee (free refills), a hidden mickey guide book, and also found out that Jewel CAN go on some rides! WOOO HOOOO! And because we found that out, we got to go on Roberts favorite ride- Pirates of the Caribbean! We stayed until Jewel's bedtime, and had a blast!! Good choice of birthday activities, husband! I hope you had as much fun as I did!!!

Here are some pictures of the day.

Repurposed for myself

So, I craft and repurpose--- A LOT. Call it a hobby, call it an obsession, call it what you will. But here are two little things that I made for myself this summer.

A shirt dress out of, none other than one of Roberts old dress shirts!

And a long maxi-type dress from an old shirt that was in the giveaway pile and some pink cotton material that my mom didn't want any longer.

I thought it still needed something, so I added some material under the V (helps with modesty) and some knot flowers.

Yes, there are more, but no- I don't have pictures of them yet. Such is my story. =)

Our big girl.

Jewel is growing up so fast! It really blows my mind! It seems like both forever ago and just yesterday that she was born and waking us up every few hours at night. Now she has just turned 10 months, eats more and more big people food, sleeps all night long and takes good solid naps (most of the time), and STARTED WALKING two and a half weeks ago!!!!! How crazy is that? Yes, our little girl decided to start walking at 9 1/2 months. One day she just up and threw my hands away from her and walked from the living room to our bedroom. Now, it is definitely her favorite mode of transportation around the house. She still crawls a bit if she wants to get to something really fast. But I have a feeling that the crawling will stop pretty quickly here, as she has been experimenting with fast walking/running.

Now, because I never made it over for my sister to teach me all things BLOG while I was visiting up north, I don't know how to post a video. BUUUUUT, I do know how to post a link. So, hopefully this works, and you can see Jewel walking. =) Her skill GREATLY surpasses this video now. But this was a video of the second time she walked. Enjoy!

Jewel Walking

Who doesn't want to have their cake an eat it too?

I have been crafting more and more as of late.... and I LOVE it! I love making them, I love giving them, I love receiving them! Crafts, that is! I think it all started with making peoples presents for Christmas last year. Now I've been making birthday gifts, baby shower gifts, wedding gifts. So wonderful..... I think- lets hope that those receiving the gifts think so as well. I have been taking pictures as I make things, with the grand idea of posting them. One of the more recent gifts I made was for our sweet friend Linnea, turning 1. I realize that the gift was a bit above her age right now (she can only play with parts of it) but the idea was that she can start with whatever she is allowed and then grow into the rest. It was quite fun making it, with some unexpected hick-up from lack of proper planning on my part. Next time it will go much smoother (or so I hope).

Here are some pics. Excuse the quality--- we were on our way out the house when I insisted my husband take some pics with the camera on his phone. He did great, but I never saw the pictures before we left.. =)

I modge podged over an old formula can (washed out, of course) to house the decorations for the cake.

All of the layers of cake can be taken apart into individual pieces. They are color coded with the "fill frosting" so that you can tell what pieces go together to make a layer. And then there are a bunch of ways to decorate.