Jack's Christmas stocking

I forgot to post about Jack's Christmas stocking last year.  poor guy has just slipped through the cracks ;)  but I did make it in time for his first Christmas.
I decided I didn't like the fabric I chose after I finished it, but I'm used to it now.  I think it makes the colored felt pop a little more.

  

he of course got a Jackalope, I put a xylophone on it to remember one of the first Christmas gifts we gave him, and his snowman is a cowboy.

I was on the fence about putting "Jackers" on it, but since that silly name has followed him beyond the family (and it'll probably stick until he's old enough to tell us to stop calling him that) I went ahead and did it.  he might not even notice.  I didn't notice mine said Candi until I was in highschool!

I loved seeing all our matching stockings out growing up, and hearing the jingle bells when they moved - such a simple but fond memory of Christmas as a kid.  it's something that I'm glad I carried over to our family :)  I'm already gathering ideas for the stocking I will be making next year!

little fingerprints

we made fingerprint gifts for Nana's birthday.  the boys just love painting, so I didn't need to twist their arms or bribe them to help me make these.  they do have their limit on how long they'll let me paint their fingers and press them onto things before they try to take over, though!

we painted a cute ceramic mug I found at Target with Martha Stewart opaque glass paint and then baked it in the oven.  I bought extra mugs just in case, and I'm glad I did!  I thought a grey mug with mostly white prints and some color here and there would be cute, but for some reason the white did not work well at all :\  so I went with just the color paints on the white mug and they worked great.

while we had momentum going we did a picture frame with regular acrylic paints.  I'm hoping to get a good picture of the boys at my sister-in-law's wedding this weekend to put in the frame!

I was going to have the boys make a card, but decided to decorate a plain white bag that doubles as a birthday card instead.  this was a two day project...

but I really love the balloons :)

painted tote

the boys helped me paint a canvas tote to give to Nana for Mother's Day.  they loved making it, and it was fun to do with them.  Leo was so cute while we were making the flowers, too.  after each fingerprint he'd say "it's so pretty!"

we did fingerprint flowers and footprint butterflies on one side, and I wrote their names and ages underneath their heels.  I used two paint colors together on each fingerprint to give the flowers more interest, which is easiest to see on the orange/red one in this pic, but it really made the bluebonnets pop.

I wanted to duplicate the same scene on the other side, but the boys ran out of steam so we just did some handprints on the two front pockets surrounded by a few flowers, and I doodled the rest to fill in some.  I really want to make myself one, so maybe I can get around to that before they get too big!

foot frints stool

Leo and Jack helped paint a step stool for my mom for Mother's Day.  they really liked painting, and it wasn't as messy as I thought it might be.

it rained the day I needed to get this done, so I spread out a disposable table cloth left over from a party onto the kitchen floor.  I let Leo do most of the painting because he had more patience for it than Jack did.  they held the brush and I helped dip it into the paint so I could control the amount they were putting on.

we did each color as a layer, so Leo started with a green base coat, switched to a smaller brush and did blue, then Jack did a little purple, and Leo finished it off with some gold.  I did their foot frints (this is how Leo says it right now) and edges in black.

they both loved the foot painting part and they were very cooperative, which I was not expecting, so I think I'll try some other painting projects with them this summer.

Mother's Day 2014

we went to Matt's mom's house this Mother's Day for a cookout.

the boys ate too many Cheetos, pulled out every toy their Grandma has, and played in the sandbox until they were thoroughly gritty.

 

 

 

 

Leo played badminton for the first time, and he did pretty well!

 

 

the boys weren't too agreeable to sit long enough to take pictures, but I think these that I happened to catch at just the right moment are my favorites - they remind me of pictures I have with my dad and Grandpa Gene.

 It was a great Mother's Day :)

friendship bracelets 2014

the weather had been going back and forth from cold to hot so I wasn't thinking about bracelets for the boys until a friend of mine sent me a picture of all these bracelets she's been making.  I felt so behind!  it took me two weeks to finish all 6 of mine (why did I decide they need 3 each??) but I got it done.

I was looking for some interesting new pattern ideas and I really liked this rainbow zig zag... then I realized I did that one already year before last in yellow and black!  with gradient colors it gives it a different look so I did it again, anyway.

Scarlet King Snake colors/pattern (red on black, friend to Jack) is a must now so I did some framed chevrons to represent snakes - I think these are my favorite.

I did each of their names in gradient colors with some accent triangles for a tribal sorta feel.

when I gave Leo his first bracelet he wore it for a little bit and then asked me to take it off :(  I was pretty bummed, but he came around and asked for it again later.  every time I had a new one to put on them they both held out their arms and patiently waited for me to tie them on, then went back to playing.  I would love to still be making friendship bracelets for them years down the road, but I know one day it'll come to an end when they decide they're too cool for mom's dorky crafts, so I'm glad they are willing to wear them for now!

Jack's 1st birthday

such a cute lil buckaroo, if I do say so!  (thanks mom for sharing your pictures!)

 

 

 

leading up to Jack's birthday felt a little hectic.  not only because it wasn't long after the holidays, but we had new flooring started in the kitchen and entry way the week before that wasn't all buttoned up until a couple days prior to the party so my house was a wreck, then Jack got sick. I didn't know if I was gonna pull it off - it was touch and go there for a little bit.

I put a picture of Jack at each month on a digital frame, and I find myself just sitting in front of it watching the slide show to see how much he's grown in a year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the idea I could make a cactus cake with marshmallow fondant, but I ran out of steam and just went with a Wild West Toob on top of yellow cupcakes with Almond Joy frosting.  maybe next birthday I'll try something like that.  I think it still came out cute.

 

Jack seemed a little unsure of the cupcake until he got a taste of the frosting, then he dug in!

     

and he wasn't as interested in opening gifts as he was in eating the paper, so once that was taken from him he wandered off to play with other things.

 

  

one of the things I'm really glad I found was this cute little chair.  it's a rocker, but I kept the rockers off so Jack could climb on it.  he really likes it and he's just so darn cute in it!

I didn't work too hard on favors this time (sorry Jack!)  I just got jar mugs and filled them with gold nuggets and jerky.  I did embellish them a bit, and I made Leo his own little cup lined with matching paper.  his had candy rocks and toys in it - couldn't tell he was that impressed with it.  oh well!

now off to get ideas for the next birthday party - the planning just never ends!