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!

crochet pacifier clip

a friend of ours had a baby girl recently and I wanted to make her something, so I searched to see what would be cute and quick to do.  I decided on a crochet pacifier clip like this one from BerryCuteBaby.

with doubled embroidery floss and a 3.25mm hook, I did a row of foundation double crochet until it looked about as long as I wanted, then did a row of double crochet down the other side and ended with a chain loop.  I fed the end through the end of a suspender clip and stitched it down real good, then stitched down a flower over that because to get it tight and secure on the clip it looked kinda... meh.  the flower made it cute and served its purpose to cover my sewing.

even if she ends up not liking pacifiers, this works good as a leash for teething toys.

Sunday dinner

everyone came over for Easter again this year since we couldn't go anywhere yet.  we did dinner this time instead of our usual lunch.  it makes getting ready for it a lot easier since we have the day to prep instead of just a couple of hours in the morning.  we were pretty tired by the end of the day, though!

I did pickled beet eggs again, made my first Tres Leches cake, and some bunny cars.  the food was awesome and I forgot to get a pic!  everyone brought something yummy and Matt made a roast on his new grill.

Leo had just been wearing shirts while in his cast, but I wanted him to look fully clothed in our Easter pics (not that most of them turned out at all!) so I altered some of my old shorts for him with some Velcro along the sides.  I at least got some pics of the boys together.

 

for only $5 I made a new spring wreath with stuff I had and a few new things from Dollar Tree.  I'm limited on my errand running now so since I didn't see any ribbon at the Dollar Tree I just made some from paper towel rolls that I painted brown.  since most of the weight is on one side I added a small clear Command hook at the bottom of the wreath so it hung correctly and not all skewed to one side.  keeps it from swinging on the wreath hook or banging against the door when it's opened and closed, too.

I did another contact paper cut out for the door.  I was afraid my design would be too difficult to put on, but it went on without too much fuss.  I'm really liking my Silhouette cutter more and more :)

I got a Butterfly in a Jar forever ago and sorta forgot about it.  Leo loves it so I have to sneak it away from him to put out on the porch.

fall decorating

 

for most of this year I haven't felt much like doing anything around the house, so I wasn't interested in any sort of decorating until Leo's birthday.  now that that's over I'm excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations :)

I loved the wreath Recaptured Charm did and tried to make one like it for myself.  it didn't come out how I thought it would, but it's still okay... as long as I don't look at hers for too long and see how much better the original inspiration is! ;)

I got my coffee filters from the Dollar Tree and they were white, but I was going to spray paint the wreath dark brown anyway so it didn't matter... or so I thought!  I think next time I'd dye them before I start so I don't have to worry about the white peeking through.

I found my ribbon, butterflies, berries and spriggy stuff from the Dollar Tree, too, and pine cones and feathers at Michael's.

I made a little table from two flower pots and a plate to fill up the corner of my porch by the door. I spray painted the pots with the leftovers from the wreath and bolted them together, then set a green Dollar Tree plate on top.  I'm gonna keep an eye out for good deals on more interesting looking pots from now on.  maybe make a bird bath or use them as plant stands.  for now I like it as my faux pumpkin holder, which I got at Michael's - 60% off :)  they're staying whole this year, but maybe next fall I'll do a flower arrangement in the bigger one.

lastly, I used shelf paper and cut out "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart" on my silhouette and put that on the door.  I like using the shelf liner because it's cheap, but it takes longer to apply than regular vinyl.  still looks good, though, and I think it's my favorite part :)

all my decorating was done outside besides my glass pumpkin that I fill with peanut butter cups and Twix - that stays close to me in the living room O:)

flowers in progress

after I learned to make the crochet flowers for the headbands I made to go with the baby slippers, I thought it'd be cool to make a bunch and connect them to make a throw blanket.
I don't have a plan yet on how to put them together... so maybe I'll come up with something by the time I have enough!

I've only been doing two layers so they work up pretty quick. I can whip up a few in the evenings while watching TV or out in the backyard while Leo runs around. I love watching my stash grow :)

lil jar pincushion

I saw a canning jar pincushion a while back and have been wanting to make one, but I don't have cute small mason jars.

so I used a pimento jar and poked holes in the lid to stitch the cushion to like a button.

similar to a baby food jar pincushion, just sewn on instead of only relying on the glue - and I like the little tufted part in the middle. the ring is a needle rest made from spandex and a ring blank with a bead cap I flattened out on the bottom.the pins are made from a #6 disposable plastic casserole lid I colored with pencils and cut out and melted onto regular straight pins via candle flame so I could shape them and to get that round look from over-heating the plastic without killing myself trying to do this in the oven.