Our Cozy Nest

Best Sugar Cookes Ever

2012-02-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from my sister n' law a few years ago. It is seriously makes the best sugar cookies I've ever had. I mean with a lb of butter of course it has to be good. By the way I always use margarine and it works just fine.

Enjoy!!!

A week of Valentines - continued!

2012-02-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

For some of the ladies I visit every month I decided to make some Valentine Hot Pads. I was going for something that looked Valentine-ish, but could still be used throughout the year. These were so much fun to make. I think this might be the new gift for friends Birthdays.

I decided to use the aqua's, reds and pink from the Ruby line by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I'm really loving these colors lately. My daughters room is in desperate need of a makeover so I might need to talk her into these fabrics. I used cross hatch quilting for the first time and definitely will be using it again. It's a lot of fun. I think I will deliver these with a pretty plate of heart valentine cookies. I'll post my recipe for that tomorrow, they are super good!

I am thinking however that I need to get a walking foot. Do you have one? Would you recommend getting one? Are they worth the money - since they are not cheap?

Here are a few little tips for making these hot pads.

- I used 2" x 9" strips of fabric so I could make four hot pads and have a little room for a nice straight edge.
- Use two layers of thin batting.
-When quilting I only quilted the top pieced layer and one layer of batting. The other layer of batting and fabric for the back I added when I stitched on the binding.
-The idea for the tags came from Nana Company's blog (of course). I'm almost a little embarrassed I copy her so much.
- Used a 1/4" seam allowance.

Hope some of your can use this for a little Valentine gift!

A week of Valentines

2012-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

I meant to get this posted much earlier today, but it's been one of those days. You know the kind, tons of errands, laundry, grocery shopping, piano lessons. Plus it's early out schedule this week for the kids in school. So just to add to this already hectic week I've decided to have a week of Valentine ideas. I have a lot of half finished projects so I figured this would force me to get them done.

Here is the plan - I will have some valentine projects of my own this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then on Friday (If I can figure it out), I will have a post where you can link us up to your valentine posts. Weither it's something you sewed up or cooked - whatever, just something to celebrate Valentines.

Here is my first project. I sorta cheated on this one because it's not my idea. There is a tutorial for this pillow over at Diary of a Quilter. If you haven't already checked out Amy's blog you should. Not only is she amazingly talented but super sweet. I changed mine up a little bit by adding the binding. This valentine fabric is by Cosmo Cricket for Moda.

Downton Abbey is killing me. I'm ready to just go and buy the 2nd season. Watching it every Sunday for an hour is just not enough. The suspense is killing me, I NEED to know what is going to happen. Have I told you how much I love the clothes on this show. Sometimes I really think I was born in the wrong era. Although the thought of wearing a corset isn't all the appealing. I just love the dresses and hats though.

I hope your are all having a great week. Be thinking of some Valentine ideas. I would love to have you link us up to them on Friday!

2012-01-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

My valentine hexagon pillow is coming along. Hopefully I will have it finished with some pictures by Monday. I sold some fabric on etsy and ebay and it seemed only right to use that money to buy some more fabric. Please tell me you understand.

I found this sweet fabric over at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics on Etsy. Wow, I could get in trouble spending too much time over there. She has such a fun selection of selection of Fabrics

I do have a plan for this fabric, I had to justify buying it somehow. I have a lot of neighbors and friends expecting babies. When I saw these bibs I thought they would be perfect.

Of course they are from over at Nana Company. I fall in love with everything she makes.

I have a couple of other Valentine Projects I'm working on so come back on Monday, hopefully I'll have them finished. I'm so excited, tomorrow I get to hang out with my friend Cami. Me and Cami met when our husbands were in college up at Utah State. We lived in the same apartments. She's one of those kindred spirits. Were going to try and hit every fabric store in Northern Utah :)!

Hexagon Love!

2012-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

If someone would have told me in High School Geometry that I would have loved Hexagons this much I wouldn't have believed it. I know...... most people take it in Junior High, but Math was never a strong subject for me. I find myself wanting all my sewing projects to somehow involve hexagons.

It's probably pure laziness that I love them this much. I mean there just isn't anything better then putting on a good movie and hand sewing some hexagons. Right now I'm working on a Valentine project. I loved making my Christmas Pillow so this this will be something similar to that, sorta.

Last night we had the prettiest snow storm that I just had to take pictures. This is a picture of the outside of our house.

I love it when it looks almost blue outside when it's snowing. We live in a neighborhood with a lot of pretty, big, old trees and I love how they look in the snow. I wish I could say I took these while a warm pot of soup was on the stove, but I took them from our car on the way to get Taco Time, it was one of those days.

baby it's cold outside!

2012-01-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty cold here in Utah. But honestly, I can't complain. My twin sister lives in Calgary Canada and she would put me in my place if I did. It has been a little colder than usual though. I saw a tutorial for these cute little hand warmers over at Bee in my Bonnet (such a cute and fun blog). I made one for my my oldest daughter and son and the neighbor boy they walk to school with. They were a hit! My son comes home from school wanting them warmed up too. I love how the tutorial has you line them with flannel, it makes them a lot softer. I'm thinking this would be the perfect Christmas gift for friends next year.

I have been busy sewing other stuff too, but I can show you yet. It's my newest Moda project out of this fabric by Fig Tree that I just love. It's called California Girl - I love it! These are only a few of the cute prints and this picture does not do them justice.

Now for my critique of Downton Abbey. Never mind - I still don't like Thomas. Why does Matthews fiance have to be so nice and likable? She's messing everything up And there is my in depth critique, Sunday evening seems like a month ago, I guess I don't remember much.

Not a normal post!

2012-01-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever visited a blog or followed it for so long that you felt like you almost knew that person? Well, that is how I have been with the blog EBing a Mommy. I think I found this blog soon after she started it and have been following it ever since. It's about a two year old with a horrible skin disease called Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa.

I have fallen in love with this sweet little boy and his mom. After such a horrible struggle with this disease, he is finally at peace. Saturday he returned home to Heaven. I cannot stop thinking about his sweet mom. I can't even imagine what she must be going through right now. I'm sure she is so happy he is finally free from pain, but the loss must be unbearable.

Her blog taught me so much. It made me hug my kids tighter and try and be kinder. Sometimes parenting can be so hard, it's easy to become frustrated and loose our patience. This sweet mom just longed for the little things that parents like me take for granted. She would have done anything to see Tripp run or talk or be able to eat or see. My heart just hurts so much for her right now.

I feel like I'm just babbling on, not sure what I'm trying to say. If you get the chance go and visit her blog. Say a little prayer that she will be comforted and at peace. I'm posting a poem she wrote to her sweet son, it's a tear jerker, but so beautiful.

I'll need a Pinky-swear

As he lies in my lap

And together we sway

I rock him to sleep

And meanwhile I pray:

"Dear God, I know you can see us

And you're watching from above

Filled with sadness for him, as we are,

And equally in love.

I've never once asked You "why?"

Nor questioned if You were near.

But I do have one request tonight,

I pray that you will hear.

When it's time for You to call him home,

And my hope turns into despair,

I will need more than a promise from You,

I'll need a pinky-swear...

That you will hold him close to Your chest,

And say "I love you" all day long.

That you will rock him 'til your knees get sore,

And sing his favorite songs.

Tell me that You'll keep him safe,

So I will not be distressed.

Tell me that he'll will get his wings

And tell me he'll be blessed.

Let me know he made it safely,

Without a single blister or bleed,

Let me know that you will do MY job,

To fulfill his every need.

I have to know that you will love him,

Just as much, or more, than I do.

And when he finally speaks a word,

That You'll record it so I can hear, too.

My buddy is going to need Your help,

With so much yet to learn.

Like using a spoon, writing his name,

And having to wait his turn.

God, please be patient when he tries,

For he's such a sweet and loving boy.

Please give him every thing he wants,

But make sure he shares his toys.

These are things I'll miss out on,

Like no Mommy should have to do.

So don't let one milestone go unnoticed,

Please, I'm begging You.

He likes Elmo's ducks, The Three little Pigs,

Shoo Fly and Counting to Four.

Big Green Tractor, Rise and Shine.

And when they stop, he'll tell you "more."

He holds certain toys in certain hands,

And says yes with a big smile.

Please spend some extra special time,

And talk with him awhile.

It breaks my heart to have to think

That he won't graduate from school.

Or go to prom, or have kids of his own,

Or even break a single rule.

Tell him for me- please don't forget,

That I wanted him to stay.

That I tried and tried to ease his pain,

But it was only YOU who knew the way.

I know you have a choir of angels,

Who play music while they fly.

And if they need a drummer boy-

Well, my Tripp, he's their guy!

You've probably seen it for yourself,

That he's one brave kid, indeed.

But he'll be scared if You have to leave,

So stay with him, I plead.

If he has to go to Heaven first,

I'll make one promise back to You-

I'll miss him every second he's gone,

And spend the rest of my life trying to get there, too.

I hope that's not too much to ask,

And I trust You'll do your best.

To fill my spot, just temporary,

And answer my requests.

Thank in advance, Dear God.

Because I know You're a busy man.

I trust in You and in Your Will

And know You have a plan."

Words just simply can't express

To my only son who just turned two-

How very much my heart will ache

If that rocking chair is without you.

So dear sweet angel baby of mine,

If we ever have to say goodbye...

I'll rock you in my heart forever,

Until we meet again in the sky.

Journal Cover for a sweet friend!

2012-01-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

It seems like I've been seeing these covered notebooks or journals everywhere on blogs lately. So how could I pass up the opportunity to get a few new fat quarters and give it a try. Plus it was my friends Birthday so I thought it would make the perfect gift.

I'm trying pay a little more attention to detail lately in my sewing. I think that's one of the things I love about the blog Nana Company (I know, I'm obsessed), she does a lot of cute little extra things in her sewing that adds so much. Anyways.............that's what I was going for in this little strip on the back, detail. I found this lace at Walmart of all places and thought it would work great.

I don't know why it took me forever to figure out how to add these pockets for the book to slide into. I don't know why I'm admitting it either. Once I figure it out it was, I felt pretty stupid.

I'm not wild about the braided jute I used for the garland, but it worked. I think small white ric rack would have looked better.

I definitely will be making more of these. I'm thinking they would make the perfect gift for Teacher Appreciation!

A Valentine re-post

2012-01-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

I hope nobody will mind me re-posting this. I've had a couple of e-mails about it so I thought maybe it would be worth re posting. If you end up making one of these garlands, I'd love to see pics.

Supplies Needed

Free printables (page 1, page 2) Click to download
You may have to join this site to use it, but it's easy and free
let me know if you have problems, I can always e-mail it to you
sheet each of 12x12 red and brown cardstock
Old book you don't care about ruining
Stapler
Hot Glue Gun
3-4 Yards of red or brown ribbon (at least 1" wide)
Brown ink pad (optional)
Adhesive

STEP 1

Cut out all your hearts
Use the ugly gray heart as your template for the cardstock hearts
You will need 4 red and three brown
Ink the edges of red hearts
Glue printed hearts onto cardstock with adhesive

STEP 2

Get ready or a lot of folding

Cut your book pages so they are 3 inches wide
Start folding, I made my folds about 1/4"
Each round medallion will take 4 pages
Staple them together at the ends

STEP 3

Staple them together in a circle

STEP 4

Hold center together and glue with hot glue gun
Ink the edges and top of folds

STEP 5

Using a dvd as a template cut out 7 white circles
Cut to slits at the top and thread ribbon through
Using your glue gun, glue medallion onto white circle

LAST STEP

Do this for all 7 medallions
Glue hearts on medallions
Once this is done, tack eacy medallion togethor with glue

Now you should have a beautiful valentine garland.
The hardest part of this is definitely the folding.
Let me know if you end up making one, I'd love to see it.
If you have a chance, I'd love it if you shared the link
to this on your blog.

HAPPY VALENTINES!

My Finished Pillow!

2012-01-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

It is finished!!! Just in time for.......................well, to be packed away with the Christmas Decorations. Oh well, it will make me more excited to get out the Christmas Decorations next Christmas. I love how it turned out though.

I'm actually sorta sad it's all done. I REALLY enjoyed making this. So much, that I think I will need to make a pillow for Valentines that is similar. I gotta be honest. I've been going through my stash for Easter Fabrics too.

I decided to bind it in the brown polka dot fabric that I bought on a whim and so glad I did. This is one I may buy more of just to keep in my stash.

For the back I just used some fabric I already had. Most of this fabric is from a collection of Moda's, but it was a few years back. Someday I will get out of my comfort zone of these dark fabrics for Christmas - maybe.

So did any of you watch Downton Abbey last night? I was surprised - I think I'm softening a little towards Thomas. I wanted to reach through the television and strangle Mr. Bates "wife". Ok, and maybe I'm slow but the man Edith kissed was married right - seriously Edith, have you no conscience? There is something fishy about with Mathew's fiance, if he doesn't Marry Mary I'm just going to - I don't know, boycott the BBC or something.

Have you been watching?

2012-01-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited for this to start up again tomorrow night I can hardly stand it. It's called Downton Abbey and I think I may be a little obsessed with it. It took way too long for season 2 to start.

Crafty post coming on Monday - I just had to tell someone how excited I am for this mini series on PBS to start up again. I seriously might make a poster out of this picture and hand in my living room.

I know, Christmas is over!

2012-01-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

But seriously, when you see something this cute, how could I not make it. I discovered the blog Nana Company a few weeks ago. It's DANGEROUS - she is so talented, I find myself wanting to make every darn thing I see on her blog. I saw this pillow she made for one of her children and fell in love.

I LOVE the colors that she used, but I wanted to make something that would fit in with all my other holiday decorations, so I decided to stick with some fabric that I already had. I have a table runner and table topper out of this fabric so it worked great, but still I love the vintage Christmas fabrics that she used.

I'm REALLY loving these projects with a little more hand work. Maybe it's because I'd rather sit in front of the TV then the sewing machine. My stitching isn't great. I was too lazy to go and buy one of those disappearing markers so I just eyed it, except for the lettering - I'm not that brave.

Now for the fun part. I'm working on sewing on the binding and getting her all plump and pretty! It's a good thing too because today she posted another project I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to make.

A new project for a new year!

2012-01-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

And it just might take a year to finish this one but I hope not. I have always wanted to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt and when I saw this fabric from Fig Tree I knew it would be perfect.

Ok, so I'm not actually making an entire quilt. I thought I'd start out with a table topper. Honestly though, I have loved every minute of working on this. I love that I can take it with me anywhere to work on. At first I thought it would take forever, but once I got the hang of it, it started going along pretty fast.

It was perfect to take on me and my husband's little trip to Las Vegas. I do have to admit, I did get a few strange looks while working on it at the Las Vegas airport. Geez, don't people sew or quilt in Vegas? At least I came hope with all my money, AND some pretty flowers.

I have to admit, I'm not completely sure I'm doing in right. I've seen some blogs where the thread is on the other side of the hexagons so I'm starting to wonder. This method seems to be working good for me though so I think I'll stick with it.

I hope you all had a fantastic New Year. Can't wait to see some of your projects for 2012!

2011-12-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, can you believe that Christmas was almost a week ago. It doesn't seem fair that one days takes weeks of planning and is over in like 10 hours, then there is the opening presents part - like 30 minutes. We do make our kids take turns opening gifts so it takes a little longer.

I know Christmas is over, but check it out - I did something crafty. My daughter decided (like two days before Christmas) that she wanted to make some gifts for her friends. Soooooooooo, we came up with this idea. Have I ever told you how much I love Heat and Bond. That stuff is awesome. We used heat and bond to "glue" the fabric to a blank notebook and then the bond the fabric letter to the felt, and the felt to the notebook, does that make any sense at all?

The finished product turned out pretty cute and she was excited to give it to her friends so I'd say it was a success! I have to admit, I need to get better and letting my daughter help me. She got frustrated at my taking it over and went on to something else. She is making her first quilt right now, and I'm trying oh so hard just to let her do it by herself.

I used my pattern from over here to make this bag for my kids piano teacher. She also likes to be called their 3rd Grandma. She is super good to my kids and our family and I wanted to do something special for her. She loves fabric as much as I do so I thought she would like this bag. It turned out pretty good.

The fabric is Butterscotch and Roses from Fig Tree. Ever since I found this blog - I've loved the combination of green, brown, red and blue. I Free Motioned Quilted it. Someday I'm going to get good at that if it kills me. I did buy some super cool gloves though that makes it TONS easier. If your thinking about getting them, it's totally worth it.

So all in all, I would say Christmas was good. I gained my five pounds eating way more than I should and now I'll make my New Years Resolution to loose it plus some. We will see if I can actually do it this year - yeah right!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

I've been a horrible blogger lately, but I did want to make sure and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Here are a few pictures of our home this Holiday Season. I have done some crafty things that I will show you in another post.

It's been a little crazy, as I'm sure it is for everyone this time of year. A couple weeks ago my husband has some training in Las Vegas for his job, so I got to get away with him for a few days. I'm not crazy about Vegas but it was so nice to get away.

We've had hand foot and mouth disease at our house. Lucky us! It could be worse. At least it's just some blisters on the hands and feet and a little in the mouth. My kids have actually handled it pretty well, their just bored from being at home all the time.

My favorite decorations of all!

Have a Merry Christmas! Love,
Nicole

Happy 13th Anniversary to my Best Friend Ever!

2011-12-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

Our 2nd Date (I don't have a picture of the first.) I think we were trying to wink!

2 1/2 years later, getting home from a 2 year LDS mission!

Engagement Picture

Our Wedding Day, December 18th, 1998

Our first home. Good thing we were in love huh!

First trip to Disneyland, with our daughter and one on the way!

College Graduation!

Our Family! Crazy what can happen in just 13 years!

I saw this on Nie Nie's blog and loved it...........

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

Louis De Bernieres

Funny!!!

2011-12-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

Stole this from another blog, it was too funny, I had to share!

Real post coming very soon, I promise!

We have a Winner!!!

2011-11-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

And the Winner is ................................

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-11-29 17:20:35 UTC

Who is............Jan from the Blog Neecy needs to Sew - go on over and congratulate her!

Giveaway!!!

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've been busy baking up a little something over at the Moda Bake Shop so go on over and take a look. You all know I'm so in love with this fabric Ruby. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one since I just visited the Fat Quarter Shop and they are sold out their Layer Cakes in Ruby.

So to thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog I decided to give away a layer cake of yes.................. my all time favorite fabric - Ruby. And, I'm not gonna lie, the thought of parting with it isn't easy.

So if your interested in winning some of this fabric here's what your gonna need to do........................

Become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment letting me know that you are or already were. Be sure and leave me an e-mail address so I have a way of letting you know if you win. This giveaway will go until Tuesday morning at 9:00.

For the LOVE of Fabric..................

2011-11-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

I think it may be fair to say that I've been a little out of control lately when it comes to fabric. Ya know how some people love shoes, and some people clothes, my downfall has been fabric. Pretty fabric just makes me so darn happy. I get all giddy waiting for the UPS man to come.

I've wanted some of this fabric forever. I always wait to long and then I can't find it anywhere. This is Bliss by Bonnie and Camille, probably my favorite fabric designer. Isn't it pretty.......I really want more from the collection and when I saw these 5 fat quarters for 10 dollars I jumped on it.

I don't remember who this fabric is by. My daughter picked it out. If I wasn't lazy I go look and see, but I'm feeling lazy today. My 10 year old daughter has been really struggling lately with anxiety. Lucky girl, why do they have to inherit all the crappy stuff from their parents. I've been at a loss for what to do for her. Doctors don't seem to want to diagnose it. It's not like I want to get her on medicine (unless of course she needs it), but I want to know what I can do to help her. She has stomach aches almost daily. Sorry I don't mean to tell all our problems, but maybe it some of you have been through this you can offer me some advice? Long story short, the week her anxiety was really bad I told her if she would go to school every day I would buy her some fabric and we could make her a quilt.

This fabric is for my newest Moda project. It's butterscotch and roses by Fig Tree and I LOVE it.

My project is going to be out of these fabric's. I can't wait to show it to you. It's going to be one of those long term projects, but hopefully I will get in done in a few months.

I've had this fabric for a while. I bought it because I really want to make a pin wheel quilt

out of it.

Just like this one from V and Co.

Guess what............Thanksgiving is at my house this year. Crazy - well to me it's crazy. It seems like such a grown up thing to have Thanksgiving at your house. I guess it's official I'm a grown - up. I guess I should be by now, seeing that I'm married with four kids and all. I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Guest blogging!

2011-11-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

Hey, I'm guest blogging over at A little Bit Biased today about my sewing space. Which is really sorta pathetic but I made it seem as glamorous as possible. Come over and say hi. Amber has a super cute blog that I know you will love, especially you quilters.

Pinterst - they wont invite me!

2011-11-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

I know, sad isn't it! Here it is the newest craze and I can't get an invitation. I've tried, like three times, but it's just not happening. Sooooooooooooo, if I were apart of that super cool group here is what I would pin.

(wow, you guys are all so sweet. I didn't realize you could be invited by a friend. I now am a proud member of the pinterest group. Thanks for the invites!)

I love this Christmas tree skirt. Maybe not with that much lace, but I REALLY like it.

from U Create

This makes me miss my fireplace in our old house. Not that it was even close to this pretty, but still it was something easy to decorate.

From Better Homes and Gardens

I love these garlands. They are so natural looking.

From Better Homes and Gardens

I especially love these long ties.

From Better Homes and Gardens

Loving the little Christmas trees wrapped in burlap and a pretty bow. That I can probobly do!

From Better Homes and Gardens

These are so sweet and simple, I just love them.

From Pinterest - the people who won't invite me!

Halloween!!!

2011-11-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

First I have to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to induldge me and my silly requests. I had so much fun learning more about each of you. I'm still trying to get back to each of you.

My two year old wasn't too excited about taking pictures if you can't tell!

I think I've already told you what a neat area we are lucky enough to live in. It has quite a few Historical homes (with some pretty cool stories). It was a lot of fun to go trick or treating to some of these homes. Someday, I hope I'll get to go inside and see some of these. Our church women's group is organizing some home tours this Christmas, I'd love it if some of these homes were in it.

I LOVE this house. The owners have done so much work to it. They've been adding the front porch these last couple of weeks.

Isn't their front porch gorgeous.

I had to show off this cute little crocheted spiders web that my daughters piano teacher made for me. I think it's my most favorite Halloween decoration ever.

She is so sweet, when she saw that I put it on my lamp, she hurry and made another one for the other lamp! I'm one lucky girl!

I just finished a project for Moda Bake Shop that I think turned out pretty darn cute. Of course I couldn't go wrong when I had this gorgeous fabric to work with. I can't wait to get it written up and posted.

Thank you all so much again for your comments. I just loved getting to know some of the readers a little better. One reader even e-mailed me the nicest letter about how she admired my family and how we live our life. I can't even tell you how much that meant. I never even imagined there would be someone out there reading my blog because she was interested in how we lived our religion. Especially when so often I feel like I fall short in so many areas.

Who reads this blog anyways???

2011-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Today while I was trying to think up a blog post I got thinking, I don't really LOVE blogging like I used to a couple years ago before I had baby #4 and we decided to move and build a house, and piano lessons, and soccer and preschool and activity days and primary song leader and flute choir and homework (you get the point) life just got crazy.

So I got thinking? Why don't I enjoy blogging like I used to. I think I've figured it out. I don't really know who reads this blog. I mean, of course there is my mom and some family and friends and a few of you who stuck it out though my lazy blogging period - thank you. But for me the fun part about blogging is making friends. And for the most part I have no idea who reads this blog.

Are you still with me or have I bored you to tears? I thought maybe I'd tell you a few quirky things about me and maybe you could leave me a comment telling me something quirky or interesting about you.

Here is goes............

I HATE doing my hair. Most days it doesn't get done until the afternoon. Most people would probably recognize me better with a towel on my head then with my hair done.

I'm a member of a very elite group called the BBC. Totally KIDDING about he elite part. BBC stands for something - I just can't remember what. A group of women that live by me get together once a month and we watch BBC movies. It just started last month and now I really want to find every episode of Lark Rise to Candleford. Here is a picture of all the fun goodies a few of the girls made last month.

I studied music in college, but I really wanted to go to culinary school. One my my favorite things on Saturdays is to watch cooking shows - I told you I was weird.

Ok, now it's your turn. I would really love it if you would leave me a comment telling me a little bit about yourself. Mom, and friends who stuck it out - you better leave a comment too :)

My baby isn't a baby anymore!

2011-10-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know when it happened, but sometime along

the way, this little guy decided to go and grow up!
I wish he would have talked to me first. I would
have asked him to slow it down just a little bit.

I sure love this little guy!

You keep me on my toes. Lately your favorite

thing to do is relocate everything in the house.

I think you think that is your job!

You love going to the park. The problem is, nothing

scares you. You think you are one of the big kids

and you can climb on everything.

You love to take baths in the tub. The minute you hear

the water running you come running with that cute

little waddle of yours.

You LOVE to play with trains. And sometimes when

I need a little quiet time, you love watching Tangled.

And at the end of the day when I'm tired, you let me

snuggle you. You always want to snuggle with me over

your dad (don't tell him, but secretly I love it).

You let me give you kisses on those sweet, soft chubby

cheeks of yours.

I love you more than you'll ever know!!!

Super Simple Fall Projects!

2011-10-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

I never know when I make my daughter a shirt for an upcoming holiday if it's going to be the time she acts like she is way to old to wear something that mom made. But, luckily for me she still seems to like the stuff I make her. I give it another year before she's had enough. I thought I'd do a quick tutorial for this stuff. At church we are having a service auction so I decided to make an apron and hot pad out of some of my left over Gobble Gobble fabric from Moda.

Here are the templates for the pumpkin. You should be able to just click on it and then print it out. You don't need to cut them out just trace them. If you have any problems let me know and I can always e-mail it to you.

You will need 4 scraps of fabric. One for pumpkin outside, another coordinating piece for inside of pumpkin. One for the stem and one for the leaf.

Start out by tracing pattern onto the textured side of Wonder Under or Heat and Bond. I made two of each since I was doing a shirt and apron. Cut around patterns and iron onto your choice of fabric.

Cut out all pieces.

Layer the pieces on apron or shirt and then iron. First layer on outer pumpkin piece, then the inside piece, stem and then leaf. Now using your favorite sewing machine stitch around each piece. On the apron you could also stitch around pumpkin by hand since the fabric is stiffer.

For the apron I just used a tea towel from the local craft store. The usually are around $3.00.

I folded the apron in half lengthwise and placed pattern on the edge and then cut.

Here is how it should look opened up.

I didn't take pictures on how to finish the edges........sorry! I'll do my best to explain it.

You will first need a 1/4 yard of fabric, cut into 4 - 2" x 45" pieces. First sew 3 of the strips together end to end (this will be used for the neck, sides and tie). I pretty much made my own bias tape out of the 2" strips. You do this by ironing the pieces in half length wise opening it back up. and then ironing the outer edges into the middle crease you just made. Then iron the entire piece in half. If you need pictures click on my tote bag tutorial, I used the same process for the handles of the bag.

Now that you've made your bias tape first sew the single 2" strip onto the top of apron. Do this by opening the bias tape and with half on the front of apron and half on the back, sew on using about a 3/8" seam allowance. Cut off the excess from the edges (yes there is a lot of excess). Now fold your long bias tape in half, where the fold is will be the the top of the apron that goes around your neck. Decide how big you want the neck to be and the, pin the rest where you want it start on apron. Do the same thing as you did on the top, open bias tape and sew on with half of the front and half on the back. Sew bias tape on the side of the apron that you cut, then sew the rest of the tape closed until you are about two inches from the end. Finish of the end by folding the bottom up about a half inch then fold bias tape back up and sew to the end. If you don't want to do this you could always just tie a knot. Ok, last step I promise. Now just sew up the bias tape at the top where it goes around the neck. And YOUR DONE!!!

This hot pad is way easy I promise. Here is what you will need. Two pieces of Warm and Natural that are 8 1/2 inches square. 5 - 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" pieces of coordinating fabric. Four will be used for the top of the hot pad and one on the back. Decide what pieces you want to use on the front and then iron them in half.

Layer pieces together with the Warm and Natural on the bottom and then the piece of fabric you choose for the bottom next.

Now pick two of your folded piece and place them on top of the fabric your using for the back. Make sure the folds are in the center.

The other two pieces your pretty much weave in like a basket with half the fabric on top and half on the bottom, still making sure the fold is on the inside.

Now pin in the middle of all four pieces. Sew around the entire outside of hotpad using a 1/4" seam allowance. Trim edges and then turn by opening up the four fabrics in the middle and turning them onto the back.

Iron hot pad so it looks nice and pretty and ta da your done!

Hopefully this all made sense. It your have questions or I've totally confused you, please feel free to ask any questions. If you don't have a blog just leave me your e-mail address!

We gotta lot of Grape Juice!

2011-10-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

This isn't the most exciting post ever, but this has been my life for the past few days. I actually really enjoy putting up grape juice. It's way easier than other caning. My parents have tons of grape vines, but they don't like grape juice so they let me have them every year.

Usually the whole family goes to pick, but we've had some sick kids these past few days so I took my two oldest boys. Can you tell from the picture that they were a ton of help? :) The minute I took any sharp tools away from them they became uninterested.

I'm pretty sure we set the record this year for # of jars of juice at 92 jars. I sorta make fun of the Christmas letters than say how much caning they did that year. Well, I guess I'm eating my words because this is definitely making it into the Christmas letter.

Just in Time...................

2011-10-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

I finished my nephews baby quilt just in time for his

big photo shoot.

I decided to be daring and do some stippling
on this quilt. (Past experiences have been a
little scary). It turned out pretty good.
The silky fabric I used on the back is pretty

forgiving.

My sister's friend does amazing photo's. She took
pictures of my little guy when he was a newborn also.
I loved them.Here is her website if your looking for
a good photographer.She has 6 kiddos of her own,
so she's good with kids.

So sweet!

I think I need one!

Baby Quilt for my Nephew!

2011-10-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this quilt for my new little (ok, not so little) nephew. I really liked how this one turned out that I made for my neighbor, but wanted make this one just a little different. I love embellishing quilts with some of the fun stitches on my (fine, my sister n' law's machine).

I'm going to add this little piece to the bottom of the quilt. It would be done but I ran out of thread. That always seems to happen. I'll have like two more inches and I run out of thread, drives me crazy. Now I have to try and talk my husband into going to the cute fun and darling store to get me some thread.

I've been trying to do a little Fall decorating, but honestly, I'm just not feeling it. I LOVE the fall but I think I'm getting sick of my decorations. (Table Topper tutorial here if you interested.)

Remember this little dresser / hutch that I refinished a couple of years ago? I doesn't fit anywhere in this house. It makes me so sad, It was my favorite piece of furniture, I loved decorating it for the holidays. Now it's just sitting in the basement getting dusty.

And I'm left trying to decorate the top of our piano. The table runner I made doesn't fit on the piano. Oh well!

So there is my attempt at decorating for Fall. I have to remind myself, I took me 5 years for figure out how to decorate our old house, it will take at least that long here!

House Decorated for Halloween - check!

2011-09-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's not my house that's decorated for Halloween, but my Mom's house sure looks cute. I've always loved being at my parents house for holidays. My mom has always done such a good job at decorating and making everything feel so fun and festive.

Here is her beautiful fireplace mantle. If you haven't seen what it looked like before, it's worth checking out, it's quite the makeover.

Can you find anything wrong with this picture?

My mom can spell, but I guess Walmart can't :)

If your from Utah you've probably heard of the Wood

Connection. They always have the cutest wood crafts.

These cute cats I actually think my brother n' law cut out and

my sister painted.

Now for the cutest picture of all. Meet my new

little nephew. Ok, so he wasn't that little. He was

9lbs 9ozs. Isn't he cute. My sister's doctor was out

of town and the midwife told my sister that she

had to do a little research about delivering such a

big baby.

Mom and baby are both doing great!!!

I think I'm in Fabric Heaven

2011-09-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

My mom is a very talented seamstress. She made every dress that I ever wore to a school dance. She made my twin sister's wedding dress. I've always liked sewing (sort of). I've worked in a few fabric stores, but never really cared that much about fabric.

Note: This isn't my stash, I just wish it was!

Isn't this the prettiest stash of fabric you've ever seen?

But the last couple years................... I get so excited over pretty fabric. I get jealous when I see other people's pretty stashes of fabric. Really...............it's ridiculous. I may or may not have even dream t about fabric a few times. Well, this fabric definitely got the better of me and my little fabric addiction. And lucky for me, it came in the mail last week.

Meet.............Ruby, by Boni and Camille for Moda. Isn't it pretty!!! I have big plans for this pretty fabric although it kind of breaks my heart to think about cutting it up.

I've also been working on a project out of this fabric. This is a line that Basic Grey did for Moda, I really like it too. It took me like a year to get up the nerve to cut into this one.

I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with my free hand quilting. Don't look too close, there are still plenty of mistakes, but.............I'm getting there!

I've also discovered a fun photo editing site called Picnik.. It's worth checking out if your into photography at all. And for the most part it's free, unless you want to get real fancy with your photo's. There are a ton of options that are free.

Fall Projects

2011-09-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a little crazy around here. First off we have raspberry jam galore. Every year we seem to make more than the year before, this year we definitely hit the jack pot. I ended up doing 8 batches of raspberry jam. Of course I had to freeze like 5 ziploc bags of raspberries for jello salads, I mean I am from Utah. I told my husband it may be time to invest in a deep freeze.

Here is my attempt at Salsa, it is a ton of work. Not sure I'll being doing salsa again anytime soon, I guess it will depend of whether or not my family LOVES it or not.

Here is a project I'm trying to get done for Moda. I'm super excited about it. I think I may be getting a little better at free hand quilting. It still stresses me out, but I'm going to keep at it if it kills me. I did find some quilting gloves on line that helped a ton. It was so much easier to move the fabric around.

I really need to get going on this one. My little sister is due any day now and I'm going to make her a quilt out of this fabric. Poor thing, a week ago the doctor says her baby boy is already over 9 lbs. Were pretty sure there are going to be football scouts hanging out around her hospital room when he is born.

My husband also let me order some fabric that I have been drooling over. My poor neighbors probably think I am spying on them waiting for the UPS man to come. I can't wait to show it too you, I have a project in mind for it that I can't wait to get started on. PLEASE hurry UPS man!!!

The Winner and a Super Cute Halloween Craft

2011-09-21T08:57:00.001-07:00

The Winner is..........................Ashlee (comment #37). Congrats Ashlee!!!

Ashlee also happens to have a super fun cooking blog, called the Culinary Queen. I am dying to make these Key Lime cupcakes.

I had to show you these cute pillows I found on my friends blog Chapman Place. Aren't the darling. I really want to make them. She has a tutorial on how to make them and she also has them for sale in her Etsy shop for $24, a great deal I think.

Thanks Again to everyone who entered. It made my day to see 500 followers. Sort of silly I know, but for some reason I get a kick out of things like that.

A Fall Giveaway

2011-09-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

note: Well, it turns out my tutorial for Glace Forever Quilt was too similar to an already published pattern so it has been pulled. I understand, there are so many quilt patterns out there, it is bound to happen. I just don't want anyone to think I would ever copy a quilt. I would never do that. I know (to a small degree) how much work goes into designing a pattern.

First off, be sure and go visit the Moda Bake Shop today! It took me two years but I finally finished a tutorial over there. Thanks to everyone who is over here visiting from the bake shop, hope you will like my little giveaway. Be sure and come visit again, I have some big projects in the works!

Included in the giveaway are 4 fat quarters of this pretty fall fabric by Sandy Gervais, for Moda. Also I made these two flowers. One is a barrette and one is a pin you can attach to a jacket or bag or whatever works for you.

To Enter -

For one entry, become a follower on my blog.

For another entry - Become a follower and tell me what you'd make with this fabric.

For Five entries - Do everything above and post about this little giveaway on you blog.

Make sure you leave me some way to notify you if you are the winner!

I will pick the winner by random generator first thing Wednesday morning. Thanks Again for everyone who entered!

Our New Cozy Nest

2011-09-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Most of you already know that we sold this little house of ours about a year ago. We just out grew it. Six people in 1400 sq feet was a little cramped. It's weird but there are days that I really miss it. There were just so many good memories there.

I was on a walk one day and saw a house being built about 4 blocks north of where we lived. I checked into it and found out there was a new subdivision going in. To me it seemed perfect - our kids could go to the same school and it wouldn't be too much of a change (I don't handle change well - at all). The park that I love is literally in our back yard (which is good because we hardly have a back yard). To make a long story short, our home sold 3 weeks after we put up a sign and we started the building process.

So, here is our new (a little bigger) home. This is the dining room.

Now we can fit our dining room table, leaf and all.

Here is our kitchen! I love it, it's not

too big or too small, for us it's perfect.

Then entrance way. I love the wood work,

but wow is it a pain to keep clean with 4 kids. The

banister was supposed to be the same color as our

kitchen cabinets, it's not..

I'm still trying to get them to fix it.

The living room.

Here is my absolute favorite thing about our house.
I love having this pantry. Sometimes after I go grocery
shopping and get it nice and organized,
I just stand and look at it. (weird I know).
It's just nice to know that one area in my house
is organized.

So there is my house. I will take pictures of the front when the front yard is in (hopefully in a couple weeks.) The backyard will have to wait for next year and another tax return :) I haven't decorated much, especially in the bedrooms, once I do I will post some pictures. The basement is unfinished so your not missing much there. Once it's finished there will be 2 or three bedrooms and a nice big family room. Oh and there is a cold storage room, I'm excited about that.

Now for some really exciting news...........at least to me. I'm posting a tutorial for this quilt over at Moda this Saturday. I'll also be doing a little giveaway so celebrate the Moda post that took me two years to write so be sure to come visit!

A furniture Refurbishment!

2011-09-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

So when we sold our other home and moved into a tiny little apartment while we built, we had to sell our piano. There was no way it would fit in our apartment, and with Utah weather we knew we couldn't store it in a storage shed. Well about the time we moved into our home we found a piano on KSL but it was missing the piano bench.

My daughters piano teacher found this one at the DI for 15 dollars. I guess it was an old sewing bench. I loved it, I love how it's a little smaller than a normal bench.

This isn't the best picture. But here it is after a lot of sanding and staining and varnishing, and my first attempt at reupholstering. I don't even know if I could call it reupholstering, it was so easy.

And here it is in it's new home. It was a lot of fun, and to go buy a new piano bench would have been close to $100.00. My cost, bench - $15, stain and varnish - already had, fabric from hobby lobby with coupon - around $10. Total cost - $25. Too bad when we tell our husbands how much we just saved them, we don't get the difference back to buy fabric or something.

I promise to post pictures this week of my house, well parts of it anyways. Hopefully you wont be disappointed with my lack of decorating. Too bad, everything has to cost money.

An Alfresco Dinner

2011-09-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Last week on our door was an invitation for an Alfresco Dinner at a neighbors house. I was super excited. One because she is a caterer so I knew the fool would be super good (and it was). And their house is one of those houses that I've been admiring forever and really wanted to see more of it.

Isn't it the cutest house. I will go by in the daytime one of these days and get a better picture for you.

I knew she would have it decorated so cute, and she did. I love the bunting (I hear it's no longer a pennant garland it's bunting).

For dinner she served the most delicious homemade breads and everyone who came brought a salad. I wish the guests would have brought there recipes too, because there were some really good ones. For dessert she served the best fruit cobbler I've ever had, and all this time I thought mine was good.

Here is the cute deck that is just off the side of their house. They just had a daughter get married and her husband told me this is where the band played.

For dinner they just laid out a bunch of blankets, it was so cute.

I love their pretty garden, it almost makes me want one.

At the end of the party I saw people inside their home, so of course I went right in. Her Father was the artist for the LDS church magazines for 30 years so her home is filled with beautiful art.

Their dining room, so cozy!

Her kitchen was very Art Deco (I hope that is the right term). She had beautiful cabinets made out of gum wood.

So as you can see I was in heaven. I took as many pictures as I could with 4 kids. Remember a while back when I talked about all the beautiful houses in my neighborhood. Well I am super lucky because now I live even closer to these beautiful historic homes. And I go to church with a lot of the home owners every Sunday. Sooooo..........you can bet I will do my best to get inside of them and snatch a bunch of pictures.

I almost forgot, I'm so excited about this. I FINALLY finished a post for Moda. It's my favorite quilt ever. I made this quilt over two years ago, and have just put off writing up a tutorial for it.

First Day of School and Other Things!

2011-08-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of school for my two oldest. While I have to admit it's definitely easier to get things done around here, it's also a little quieter than I'm used too. Today I was even a little bored without them. They on the other hand are loving school. Both really like their teachers and I think it's going to be a good year.

I'm not sure when she grew up so quickly. I swear I was just dropping her off at Kindergarten the other day. Not sure where where that pretty face came from either.

Hmmm........I think he was more concerned about getting to class on time than an embarrassing picture from mom.

By the way these cute first day of school signs came from HERE and they were free. It's a super cute blog if you haven't already discovered it.

Even one of the neighborhood dad's wanted in on the fun! (Sorry Jason, I couldn't resist)

Some other good news is my twin sister is here with her family visiting us from Canada. She used to live just up the road until she turned on us and moved to another country :) It's so fun having them here. I'm loving spending time with her sweet kids who have grown up so much. We both have 4 year olds who are pretty spunky (that might be putting it mildly). We took bets on how long it would take them to get into a fight (is that bad?). It only took about 24 hours. They love each other though, they will both cry when it's time to say goodbye (so will I).

My husband also started a new job a couple of months ago. He now works in the middle of nowhere (I'm not kidding). The commute is about 1hr 45 min. Luckily he has found a van pool to ride in. He leaves around 5 in the morning and gets home a little after 7. It's good to have him in a STABLE job that he enjoys but hard having him get home so late every night.

So there ya have it.............what we've been up to. My friends keep saying I need to post pictures of my house. I guess I'm waiting until it's more decorated, but lets face it - that could be a while. I will try and get some pictures posted.

By the way, I'm not sure if many people read this anymore - seeing that I took like a year long brake. Leave me a comment, let me know if your still around!!!

Two post in one week - I'm on a roll!

2011-08-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

First off - yes I'm feeling fine. I guess I'm just in a sewing mood lately and my house is paying the price. My neighbor just had a baby, so what a perfect excuse to make another quilt. Can you tell I really like this strip quilt. I just love this fabric by Moda, it's so sweet and perfect for a new baby.

I used some ric rac (of course) and used a few of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine to add a little more to it at the seams. Sometimes I sure miss my old fence, it was perfect for taking pictures.

I had some of this satin fabric that is flannel on the other side. I was a little nervous about using it but it worked well and washed up even better. And yes I was a sweaty mess yesterday because I got brave and decided to quilt this one also. This stitch went a little better than the stippling but still needs A LOT of practice.

It's all wrapped up and ready to go. Maybe I'll even get to hold a sweet new baby boy!

I Know, it's a Miracle!

2011-08-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

I know, it's taken a really looooong time, but I've

finally did something crafty. Remember this little

guy that I blogged about in my last post, well I read

about a fundraiser that they are doing for him and

really wanted to contribute something.

I've had this fabric forever. I bought it to make a

scripture bag for a girl that babysits for me. Well, I

waited too long and now I think this fabric is a little too

juvenile for her. But it worked perfectly for this quilt.

I love how people put a little strip from the

front onto the back so of course I copied it. You

can't see it very well, but there is some rows with

ric rac also (I love ric rac).

Have you ever really wanted to be good

at something, but no matter what you

just were not. Well, that is how I feel when

it comes to stippling. I took a class on free hand

quilting on the sewing machine, but I just can seem

to get stippling down. It probably doesn't help

that I'm a nervous wreck the whole entire time.

I got it off in the mail yesterday so hopefully

it will raise a little money for this sweet little boy.

Reading their story has made me want to better

mother. It's hard to complain about your kids being

little stinkers when this mother would do anything

just to see her baby be healthy enough to play.

I'm not gonna lie though. I am looking forward

to school starting next week. I know I will be sad

when next Monday comes, but my kids are so

excited and I'm ready to have more of a schedule

again.

By the way this quilt was super simple.

I had 8 or 9 coordinating pieces of fabric and

I just cut a bunch of different size strips I'd say

between 2 and 4 1/2 inches wide. The finished quilt

is about 40 x 40 and the strip on the back is

about 4 inches wide. It was so fun to

make I even bought some more fabric so make

another one.

Oh and if any of you quilters out there have

some advice for stippling I would gladly take it.

2011-07-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged for a long time, but I just can't get this little guy off my mind. This is Tripp

and I've been following his story for a little over a year now. He is struggling a lot and could use lots of prayers. Click here to visit his blog and read his story.

It's feeling springy around here!

2011-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well not really. In fact mother nature can't decide what kind of weather we should have here in Utah. One day I take my kids to the park to play and the next day there is a full winter snow storm........weird. Welcome to Utah.

Anyways, I'm trying to make my house feel a little more like spring. I saw this cute basket over here and really wanted to copy it. I looked all over the internet trying to find a basket like this but struck out. But then, I was at our little home town craft store and saw the perfect basket.

It had handles on both sides so I just cut the one of the front and it worked perfectly. I couldn't find any flowers I liked so I took a wreath apart and used the greenery from it.

I think it turned out pretty cute and it added some color that my house desperately needed.

Happy Spring!

Pottery Barn inspired Spring Pennant Garland

2011-04-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a little tutorial I did for a Spring Garland. Now all I need is a good place at my house to hang it up. Right now it's hanging up at my mom's house since she has that beautiful fireplace mantle to hang it up on.

My inspiration were these gorgeous Easter dishes from Pottery Barn. I just love the colors, and the burlap table runner underneath the dishes.

So here is what you are going to need..................
- 3/4 yard of burlap (you can get this at any crafty store with fabric by the yard).
- 1/4 yard of 6 coordinating pieces of fabric
- thread
- sewing maching (don't get scared, were only doing straight stitches here).
- iron, and ironing board
- 1/3 yard Heavy Heat and Bond
- 4 yards of 1 inch wide cream or white ribbon.

You need to cut you burlap into pennant triangles. The easiest way to do this if you don't have a self healing mat and cutter is take a normal sheet of paper and fold in half lengthwise. Cut off the bottom 1 3/4 inches. Take a pencil and draw a line from the top outside edge of the paper to the bottom fold. Not cut along the line and unfold. Now you have your template. Use it to cut out 12 triangles. Sew two triangles together along the outside edges using about 1/4 inch seam allowance. Now you should have 6 double think triangles.

Now you are going to make the bias tape. If you've never done this, don't freak out, it's super easy. From each of your 6 pieces of fabric cut a strip of fabric that is 1 3/4 inches by 22 inches. Iron the strip of fabric in half lengthwise and unfold. Now iron the two outside edges into the middle.

Now your just going to sew your bias tape onto the two long edges of your triangle or pennant. Starting at the top right corner start folding the fabric along the edges of your pennant and sew into place using 1/4 to 3/8 inch seam allowance. Keep sewing until your get to about the bottom 1/4 inch.

This picture is cruddy but hopefully it will help you get the idea of what to do since it's hard to explain. Fold the bias tape back down at the point of the pennant. Open the bias tape and fold over the sides to make a nice corner.

This is sorta trial and error. Just work with it until you like how it looks, and really it doesn't need to look perfect.

Now for the fun part. Here are your letters. You should be able to click on the image below and print it out onto some heavy duty paper. You can either cut these letters out and use them as templates or do what I did and just trace them.

Place your Heat and Bond (adhesive side down) onto the letters and start tracing.

Cut around your traced letters and iron them onto the wrong side of your pieces of fabric. Cut the letter out and peel off the paper backing. Now iron onto your pennant.

Iron your ribbon in half lengthwise and staring about 1 yard in, fold the ribbon around the top edge of your pennant and sew on. As you reach the end of one pennant just add the next one until the ribbon is sewn onto all of them.

Now your going to make the little flowers that go along the top. Using this flower as your template your are going to need to cut about 8 flowers from each piece of fabric. This flower may be a little big. You might need to shrink if down a little bit. It should be about 1 3/4 inches square.

The easiest way to do this is to layer 4-5 pieces of fabric, trace the flower on top and cut them all out at once.

Now the fun part. Start placing them on the top edge over the ribbon and sewing them down. I found it looked a lot better if I didn't put them in a straight line but staggered them a little. Just sew straight down the middle of the ribbon.

Once your done you should end up with one super cute Spring Pennant Garland. If you decide to make one you'll have to post pictures on your blog and let me know so I can come and see it. Hope this makes things around your home feel a little more like Spring.

Pottery Barn inspired Spring Pennant Garland

2011-04-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Gosh that seems like a long drawn out title.........sorry. Anyways, I'm guest posting over at Liberate Creativity so come on over and say Hi. I am doing a tutorial for this cute little Spring Garland.

Crazy Week with some peace and inspiration!

2011-04-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week! Sunday this little guy started

with a cold (well actually more like Friday). But, by

Sunday he was feeling pretty crummy. I sent the family to

church and tried to get in a little cuddle time with him.

He just wasn't breathing good and breathing treatments
were not helping. I took him to the doctor where

he had two more breathing treatments but finally she

decided it would be best to send him to the hospital.

By the time we got to the hospital me and him were both

pretty cranky, but him especially. Most of the poor nurses

knew to keep their distance from him. Anyhow, after a

night of monitoring and breathing treatments

they let us go home.

Thankfully we have a nebulizer machine at

home from last month when he had RSV and

he is doing much, much better.

My 7 year old came home from the library with this

book. Let me tell you, I've heard more knock knock

jokes than well.......anyone should have to hear in a

lifetime. He is such a silly guy.

My 9 year old had a report due on Juab County. I

remember in college taking my last final thinking...........

finally I'm done. No more dates looming over me or tests

to stress about. Boy was I wrong, really it's just beginning.

I think her float turned out pretty good. I, (I mean she)

better get an A. Hey, I got some pretty good tips from

watching CakeBoss, I'll remind my husband of that next

time he teases me.

This guy has a new found love for money. My parents

bought each of my kids a piggy bank for Christmas. I

kept them packed away while we were in our apartment

and got them out just recently. If he finds any spare

change lying around he swipes it. We've had some

nice talks about stealing and not taking other people's

money.

On the upside, we can get him to do just about anything

for money. He doesn't care if it's a penny or quarter,

as long as it's money. Oh wait, he doesn't care for

the paper stuff. Probably because it doesn't go in

the candy machines.

This weekend is General Conference. I love

General Conference. It helps me to re-evaluate

and keep things in the right perspective.

Lately I've been feeling insecure about a lot of things.
And honestly, they are things that in the eternal
perspective don't matter even a little bit. It's been
so nice to relax with my family this weekend in our
comfortable home and enjoy listening to our Prophet
and Apostle's.

Easter Carrots Tutorial

2011-03-24T20:07:00.001-07:00

Recognize this post??? I thought I would repost
it since Easter is just around the corner!

I've been wanting an Easter / Spring decoration for my front door forever so I came up with (copied from a neighbor) this cute Carrot decoration for my door. The little girl that I watch everyday came over today and said that it was weird to hang carrots on the door. I told her that is how we get the Easter bunny to come to our house, she didn't think it was so weird after that. This picture makes me want to paint my door black!

I love it when projects turn out to be easier than expected and that's how this one was. It only took about an hour and a half and that is with me trying to take care of my crying baby too.

Supplies
* 2 orange tea towels ( or 1/2 yard of orange fabric that you like)
orange thread
* ribbon (what ever you have around the house, it wont be seen)
* small safety pin
* fake greenery (something that resembles carrot foliage)
* glue gun or craft glue
* fiber fill or stuffing (they are the same thing aren't they?)
* optional - brown wood stain and foam brush

Cut three carrots. They should be 6" wide at the top and 15 - 17" long. Mine are 15", but if I had to do it again I think I would make them a little bit longer. I would especially make them longer if you have a big front door, not the normal white generic one like I have.

Starting at the top, sew down the sides of each carrot using a 1/4" seam allowance. Then fold the top over 1/2" and stitch near the bottom (like picture below). Be sure and leave about a 1/2" opening to thread the ribbon through.

Turn the carrot right side out. It helps to clip the excess fabric at the bottom a little and use a pencil when turning it. Fill with fiber fill or batting or stuffing or whatever you want to call it.
Slide some ribbon onto your safety pin and feed it through the casing that you just made.

Group some fake greenery together so it resembles carrot stems and wrap some of the wire around it so it stays together. Now put lots of hot glue all around the end of it. Put it in the top center of the carrot and pull the ribbon tight and close and knot.

This is totally optional but I used some watered down wood stain to give my carrots a little more character. I didn't want them to look so new. It worked good, but my house smelled like wood stain for a while.

Group your three cute carrots together and tie some ric rac around. Use some fray check at the ends of the ric rac so it doesn't fray.

When your done you should have some cute carrots hanging on your door, and when your kids think you've lost your mind, you can tell them it's so the Easter Bunny will be sure to come.

My kind of March Madness!

2011-03-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Click on for a better view!

The long awaited Birthday Party!

2011-03-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

These boys have been very patient. Both of them
had birthday's in February, but with the move and
everything we just barely celebrated their
Birthday's last Saturday.
My oldest is trying to show off his super cape that
was the party favors for the kids. A tutorial is coming.
It was super cheap and easy to make and a big hit
for the kids.

I FINALLY finished my project that I started way back
in..............well, I don't even remember.

Sorry, the picture isn't the greatest. It's hard to get a good
picture facing a window.

It turned out pretty cute and it was fun to have
a new entrance way to hang it in.

Speaking of new entrance way, we are
pretty much all moved into our new home. We are
loving it. Change is always a little hard on me, even
though we only moved a couple blocks North, but so far
it's gone pretty smoothly. There are some way
neat historical homes in our neighborhood that
I'm hoping I can bug the owners for a tour, I'll
take lots of pictures.

Another Birthday for one silly boy!

2011-03-01T17:10:00.000-08:00

If you can't tell from the picture let me
fill you in. This is one silly boy and he
just turned 4. This guy likes to keep
us on our toes, and do his own thing.

You even decided to come into this world on
your own time. I had a routine doctors
visit and 35 weeks. The doctor informed me
that I was in labor and to far in to stop it.
Next thing I knew I was walking down
the hall to labor and delivery.

We called your Dad at work and told
him to hurry and get to the hospital. A few
hours later you were born. You had some
difficulty breathing so you spent about a
week in the NICU. While I was so thankful
it was only a week, it was one of the most
difficult weeks of my life. You were still
a good size baby though, 7 lbs 12oz's.

You are such a handsome little guy.
I love your big blue eyes and long
dark eye lashes. Your favorite
thing is to have your back scratched,
and it doesn't matter when or where.

You are constantly making us laugh. While
I'm already worried for Parent Teacher Conference's
someday, but I wouldn't trade you for the wold. You
keep me on my toes and help me to remember that
it's the little things in life that are important.

Happy Birthday! I'm so proud to be your Mom!

Amazing Fireplace - Before and After

2011-02-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be on post on my mom's awesome Valentine decorations but I sorta missed the boat on that one. So now...........it's a before and after post. My mom has been sick of this old fire place of hers forever. She has hinted to my dad for years that she wanted to redo it. Well, it just so happens that my little sister married a guy is who pretty terrific and working with wood and offered to give it a little makeover.

BEFORE

Are ya ready???????????

AFTER

Pretty amazing isn't it. You'd never even
know that it was the same fireplace.
And wow, check out that darling Valentine
Banner. I wonder which daughter loves her
the most and made it for her.

My little sister (who didn't make the garland),
happens to be pretty amazing at decorating and did
most of the Valentine decorating, pretty darn
cute isn't it!

There is a awesome place here in Utah called
the Wood Connection that you can buy darling
unfinished wood crafts at.....that's where these cute
hearts came from.

So if your sick of your old fireplace from the 70's, there is hope. It may take a few years of hinting, but eventually the man in your life will get sick of it and give in. Or like in my mom's case, she just made sure her daughter married someone who is very talented at working with wood.

In other news, I'll be taking a little break. We are moving tomorrow. We wont have the Internet again until Tuesday. We will miss squeezing 6 people into this little 2 bedroom apartment of ours. I'll miss the washer and dryer being in the kitchen and never knowing if I'll wake up to a cold or hot shower. Actually surprisingly is hasn't been too bad, but I am excited that our house is finished and we get to enjoy it and make more wonderful memories.

7 Years ago today...................

2011-02-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

The sweetest boy ever came into my

life. It was Sunday and your Dad was at a

church meeting. I kept trying to call him to

tell him to get home, we were having a baby, but

didn't get an awnser. When he finally got home

I was really hurting.

We arrived at the hospital and a few hours later

your were born. You had tons of dark hair.

You were my biggest baby 8 1bs 4 ozs. The

night you were born there was a huge snow

storm in Logan. But we were in our

own little piece of heaven with our new son,

safe and sound in our little hospital room.

I am so blessed to have you as my son. You

are kind and loving to everyone. I love to come

help in your class at school, it makes me feel so

good when you beg me to stay for lunch

with you. I can't believe that snowy night

in Logan was 7 years ago. I wish I could slow

time down a little. Thank you for making

me such a proud mom. I love you and

hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Valentine T-Shirts

2011-02-12T08:33:00.001-08:00

I feel bad that I didn't get this done sooner.
But honestly, if you decide to make it, it
works up super quick. I'm not even
going to do a tutorial because I've done a
million of these T-Shirts and your probably
sick of them.

I am learning some tricks that make this a
little easier. I found this new stuff called
Steam a Seam (Lite) and it's pretty much
wonderful. So much easier to work with
than whatever fusible web stuff I was using before.
It's sold by the yard in most fabric stores.

It seems like I get a lot of questions about what stitch I use.
I know this picture is horrible, but you can kinda
get the idea. It's stitch #22 on my machine.

If you could use a tutorial click on the
4th of July T-Shirt tutorial on the right
side bar of my blog. It will pretty much
tell you what to do.

I made these for my daughter and a couple
of her friends. They are all excited to
have matching shirts on Valentines day.
Oh, one other thing - I just bought plain
white t-shirts at Target and Walmart.
I think I like the Target ones a little better.
They are a little easier to sew on and only
$4.99.

Service Auction

2011-02-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

Last night our Relief Society (women's church group) had a service auction. It's one of my favorite activities. Whoever wants to can bring something they made, or a service they will provide and we auction it off. It is so much fun. One lady auctioned off free piano lessons. Another a free haircut. One cute one was a basket with pretty much everything needed for homemade chili and cornbread. There are tons of things to choose from.

First we we fill out a little sheet with random questions like, "Did you shave your legs this week?" and depending on our answer's we get so many points. We had a funny guy in our ward do the auctioning which added a lot to the fun.

Here are the things that I made for the auction. Both were super easy. I love this valentine fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. The heart is something I just hurry and made that you can just hang on a doorknob or something.

This little pillow I saw on this blog and thought was so cute. It really was easy to make and I just used my scraps which my husband of course appreciated!

It was such a fun night. I won some homemade bath salts that are peppermint scented. I really wanted some chocolates that my friend made, but my bid lost. She was nice enough to bring me my very own box today (ok, so I hinted, a lot). - Thanks Julie!

She is pretty much a genius!

2011-02-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

I was visiting my friends blog the other day and noticed

this picture of her coat closet that she had re-done.

Is this not the smartest thing you've ever seen. It's not

like kids can reach and hang their coats up on

hangers anyways.

As soon as we get into a real house this is the first

project on my list. No more excuses for throwing

down coats and backpacks as soon as they come

in the front door from school!

Cami...............your a genius!

CONSTRUCTION ZONE

2011-02-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

I decided to take the plunge and try to fix this blog of
mine all by myself. This might turn out to be a
big mistake, we will see. Try and be patient
with me for a few days while I get things looking
decent.

Thanks so much for everyone who gave me advice.
One sweet reader even offered me a free blog
makeover when she was finished with her blogging
class (so sweet). I hadn't honestly played with blogger
for a long time, and when I realized they had made
things much more reader friendly I decided to give it
a try. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a some
time to work on it.........wish me luck!!!

SICK OF MY BLOG!

2011-02-03T09:45:00.001-08:00

Ok people I need some help!

I'm so sick of my blog, I can't stand it
anymore. It's dark and dreary. The
middle section is too small. I'll
have a post looking good and then push
publish and it looks all messed up.

I want it to look bright and cheery
like these blogs.
SIMPLIFY

(a picture from her blog)

PLEASANT HOME I want big beautiful and bright pictures
like these girls.
(ok, so that might take a photography class)

I need advice, help, heck I'll take anything.
Do you know someone who charges a
reasonable amount for a blog makeover?
I'm good at trades too. I can sew them
a quilt or something.

Do you recommend type pad over blogger
I'm just sick of this messed up blog.
I think that's why I took a 6 month
break, it just got too frustrating!

HELP!

FREE Valentine Printable / Tutorial

2011-01-31T18:19:00.000-08:00

Here is my newest tutorial! I'm really excited with how
it turned out. Hopefully you guys will like it as well. My
husband even thought it was cool so hopefully that is a good sign.

PLEASE excuse any formatting errors, blogger is messed up!

Supplies Needed

Free printables (page 1, page2) click to download
You may have to join this site to use it, but it's easy and free
let me know if you have problems, I can always e-mail it to you
sheet each of 12x12 red and brown cardstock
Old book you don't care about ruining
Stapler
Hot Glue Gun
3-4 Yards of red or brown ribbon (at least 1" wide)
Brown ink pad (optional)
Adhesive

STEP 1

Cut out all your hearts
Use the ugly gray heart as your template for the cardstock hearts
You will need 4 red and three brown
Ink the edges of red hearts
Glue printed hearts onto cardstock with adhesive

STEP 2

Get ready or a lot of folding

Cut your book pages so they are 3 inches wide
Start folding, I made my folds about 1/4"
Each round medallion will take 4 pages
Staple them together at the ends

STEP 3

Staple them together in a circle

STEP 4

Hold center together and glue with hot glue gun
Ink the edges and top of folds

STEP 5

Using a dvd as a template cut out 7 white circles
Cut to slits at the top and thread ribbon through
Using your glue gun, glue medallion onto white circle

LAST STEP

Do this for all 7 medallions
Glue hearts on medallions
Once this is done, tack eacy medallion togethor with glue

Not my giveaway, but another good one.

2011-01-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

My little giveaway/printable/valentine tutorial is coming

it really is. I worked on it all weekend, and now

I just need to get it finished up today. Don't give up

on me, I promise it will be up by tommorow.

But here is another giveaway.

The person doing this giveaway is an old roommate from college days. I love her blog, she is a very talented writer, and I know you would enjoy it. So click here, and go find out the details of her giveaway.

Valentine Freebie Coming

2011-01-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard on Valentine Freebie for you all. So keep checking back, I'm hoping to get it done by Monday. In the meantime, here is a little sneak peek!

I'm just in love with vintage valentines lately!

This week........................

We all have a cold here at my house. My poor baby is miserable, but I love that he just wants to be cuddled.

Tuesday, my daughter came home from school with a bunch of walnuts.
She announced that she is starting a walnut collection, wonderful!

After failing miserably at my role of tooth fairy, I finally broke the news to my daughter
that the tooth fairy is really me and her dad.
She said, "I don't really care, as long as I get the money."

My facebook account got hacked into. Now everyone thinks I take diet pills
and I am recommending them to all of my friends.

Went and looked at our house. They messed up and put granite counter tops
in the kids bathroom. They called to see if it was ok if they just left it instead
of the laminate counter tops. I told them, I would be ok with that. :)
I love if when the mess-ups are in my favor.

Tonight I'm going out with some friends to celebrate birthdays. I'm so excited.
Being cooped up in a little 2 bedroom apartment definitely makes
me appreciate any opportunity to get out!

Hope all of you have had wonderful weeks!!!

My Week in a Nutshell!

2011-01-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

Monday - The boy's got haircuts

They were not happy, they wanted Aunt Shanna to cut it.

I told them soon we will be house poor, and that meant

me cutting their hair because I'm free.

Tuesday - Took the kids to McDonalds with Grandma. Maybe not the smartest idea since every other mom in town did the same thing.
Still enjoyed spending time with my mom though.

Wednesday - Sent the kids back to school.
While the baby was standing in the tub he peed.
He looked around trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.
It made me laugh.

Thurday - Went to Maddox for my Dad and Grandma's Birthday He said he's turning 45. I told him that meant he had me and my twin when he was 12. I love my Dad.
The food was so yummy.
Every time the waitor walked by, I thought he didn't smell very good.
After I realized it was my baby, now I feel bad.

Friday - Survived, went and looked at our home.
It looks like a baby house, next to all the others, but that's ok.

Today - Work on a project with this cute fabric It's been hanging on the doornob
in my bedroom forever and is driving my husband crazy.

Are you still there???

2011-01-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, you know you've taken way too long of a blogging break when you can't remember how to login to your Blog Account. I never meant for it to be this long, it's just, you feel like when you've been away for this long you need a great excuse or like a grand re-blogging post or something.

I do have some really great excuses, but I'll spare you! I guess I better catch you up a little though.

That cozy little nest of ours.........................well, we sold it. Crazy I know, I'm still a little sick about it, but we've prayed a lot and so far things are falling into place. It was on the market a total of three weeks. I just have to say that for all the real estate agents that called and rudely told me to call them back when I was serious about selling our home (we did for sale by owner). Needless to say it sold and now we are in a little two bedroom apartment. We decided to build a new home a few blocks away from where we were. It will have a basement which will give us the room we need for our growing family.

Speaking of growing family, look how big my kids are getting. And my sweet baby.........he's almost walking. Sometimes I really wish I could slow things down.

As far as crafty stuff goes, I need to get my act together. It's just in a little two bedroom apartment, there isn't a whole lot of room to sew. We are set to close on February 15th, so hopefully I'll have my sewing area back by then.

I hope I haven't all my blogging friends, if you are still there, send me a line, I really have missed you.

Since I last blogged.............................

2010-06-28T14:43:00.001-07:00

Wow I can't believe I'm saying this and I'm not going to say it too loud, but the house is clean the laundry is done, the two youngest are asleep and I actually have a little time to kill so I thought I'd do a little blog post.

Since I last blogged.............................................

* We've been to the doctor 13 times, emergency room once (we are all fine).

*Managed to get through the first 3 weeks of the kids being out of school.

*Planned a family reunion for 30 something people in the middle of no-where.

*Have done absolutely nothing crafty, wait I painted the front door (can you guess?) black! Ok, so my husband painted it but I hung a cute little wreath on it.

*Looked into buying a bigger house, but realized soon it still wasn't in the budget.

*Became a Great Aunt, wow that makes me feel old, speaking of old I also turned 33!

*Haven't lost one stinkin pound even though I go walking (fast, sorta) for an hour every day at 6:00 in the morning.

*Learned how to make home-made flour tortillas (maybe that's why I haven't lost anything).

*Had the opportunity to play my flute at the funeral of my cousins husband who died of a horrible disease called Stiff Person Syndrome, you can read their story here.

*Had a whole lot of solicitors come to my door and of course they all have to ring the door bell to wake up any kids that might be sleeping.

*Realized (not that I didn't before) what a wonderful husband I am and how lucky I am to have him and our 4 beautiful children.

*Bought a used car for my husband since out of his carpool of 5 he is the only one that hasn't been laid off.

*Counted my blessings!!!

*Got DISH - maybe that's the real reason I haven't blogged for like 2 months, I REALLY like TLC. My favorite show - 19 and counting, I don't care what anyone says, they are amazing.

*Moved the baby out of our room into his sister's room. For some reason, that is always tough on me.

*Didn't win one single prize at my husbands work party, my kids didn't realize that I was just as disappointed as they were.

*Missed hearing from all of you!

And there you have it, a little of what I've been up to the last two months.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

2010-05-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here is story of a Mom who truly inspires me to be a better mom, almost as much as my own mom does!!! I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you Ashley!!!

2010-04-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Ashely Furniture,

We can be friends again. I do recommend though that in the future you don't sell couches that cannot get water on them, especially if the family has 4 children (3 of which are crazy boys).
Thank you for picking up the couches that were slowly driving me insane and dropping off these lovely water tolerant green ones.

,
My husband and children would like me to thank you also. Add to that list my mom, my friends, my visiting teachers and anyone that would listen to me complain, they all thank you. These new green micro fiber one's are the bestest. I don't even have to worry about my three year old (or me) falling asleep and slobbering on it, it's truly wonderful. Thank you a million times.

Your Friend,
Nicole

PS Blogging Friends, crafty posts are coming, I promise!

Guest Post by Megity's Handmade

2010-04-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I'm Megan from Megity's Handmade. I'm super excited to do a little guest posting on Nicole's blog. Nicole's a sweetie, but you all should know that by now.

Last week, Nicole posted about how she transformed her kitchen from drab to fab on my blog. As great as it looks in the pictures, it's even better in person! Everytime I see them, it makes me want to paint my cabinets. This week, I get to post a little tutorial about how I made some ruffle bumsies for a slew of baby showers.

So, let's get started!

Ruffle Bumsies How To

If you aren't making your babies bums ruffly by now, here's how I made mine. Now you have no excuses to not ruffle that darling round baby rump.

Here's what you will need:

Onesies of your choice. I simply used a package of white onesies, but there are some colored $3 onesies at Wal-Mart. I found that out after I made mine.
Several different fat quarters to choose from.
Scissors and/or cutting mat and rotary cutter.
Sewing machine

And here's how I did mine:

1. First I begged my cute friend Jackie to let me come over and serge my strips of fabric. If you don't have a serger, don't worry about it because this can still be done! You can do one of two things. Either cut your strips of fabric with pinking shears to the size you want. When it's washed, it creates a little raggy edges that are really cute on that baby bum. Or, cut your fabric twice the width of the finished ruffle you want and simple place right sides together and sew down the long edge. Turn right side out and then continue on with step 3 of the tutorial. (Make sense? Feel free to ask questions. I won't bite!)

2. Using fat quarters is the simplest way for me. Since your fat quarter is already 18x24, the width is just right to make quick ruffles. Cut several 1.5" strips along the 24" length. Now serge these strips. (Or cut with your pinking shears or making your tubes of fabric.)

3. Next, turn your sewing machine's tension up and the length of your stitches as long as you can. Leaving a long tail of thread, sew down the center of your strip. The fabric will ruffle as it is sewn. Be sure to leave a long tail of thread at the end too. I always test on a piece of scrap fabric to make sure it is working right. I don't like unpicking if I don't have too. Now your strips will look something like this.

4. Work your strips to the width of your onesie. Now would be a good idea to mark your onesie with straight lines with a fabric marker. This will help you keep your lines straight as you pin on the ruffles. I was feeling adventurous and didn't mark these lines. It has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't want to go and find said marker. Nothing.

5. Starting with your center ruffle, pin onto the onesie. Folding the raw edge down, sew down the center of the ruffle. Darling already!

6. Add your next ruffle above the first. I tried to make them as close as possible since when the onesie is on that cute round baby, the ruffles spread out and you can see the white peeking out in between the ruffles. Lifting the edge of the ruffle that was sewn down, pin the next ruffle in and sew down the center.

7. Repeat for the third ruffle and then TA-DA! You just made a darling ruffle bumsie!

*There are so many variations on this. You can use all the same fabric or multiple fabrics. You can make your widths of your ruffles smaller or bigger. You can have more than three ruffles. I think that this would be cute with five 1" ruffles smashed close together with the pinked edges. This would make one fluffy and ruffley bum!

I felt that the front of the onesie need a little more so I twisted and sewed an extra strip of fabric into a little flower with a scrap of fabric for some free handed leaves. This fabric will fray a bit in the wash but I like that unstructured look, but if you want to minimize this, just finish your ends anyway you like.

I also made this darling hedgehog onesie for the one and only little boy. Made By The Mama Monster designed it and I'm in love with it! Be sure to check out my blog later to find out how to make one for yourself!

2010-04-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm guest posting today over at Megity's Handmade, so come on over and say hello.

Easter Carrots Tutorial

2010-03-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Group your three cute carrots together and tie some ric rac around. Use some fray check at the ends of the ric rac so it doesn't fray.

When your done you should have some cute carrots hanging on your door, and when your kids think you've lost your mind, you can tell them it's so the Easter Bunny will be sure to come.

I really think I need this!!!

2010-03-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Some people just amaze me. Look at this cute craft that Heather Bailey has come up with.

It just reminds me of Easter when I was a little girl, so cute and vintage. You can buy 3 of these cute little decorations here for only $4.95. I think I need some. I think my kids teachers need one for Easter.

2010-03-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

And the winner is.......................

Jo Anne over at the Carter Clan.

Jo Anne picked Santorini. I'll hurry and get it in the mail. Congratulations JoAnne, you'll have to let me know what you end up making with it.

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-03-24 13:56:00 UTC

My 200th post, Moda Tutorial and a Giveaway!

2010-03-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I didn't say when this giveaway would end. I will pick a winner tomorrow night and post a winner on Wednesday morning! Thanks to everyone who has entered! (3/22/10)

It's hard to believe but this is my 200th post. And what better way to celebrate than a post over at Moda. I feel like besides meeting tons of great people, Moda has been one of the neatest things to come from my blog. Who could complain about getting darling fabric, and creating something fun out of it.

Soooo........come and visit me over at Moda today where I'm doing a tutorial for this fun Spring T-Shirt. But before that scroll on down and enter my giveaway! I have to admit, this one is tough one for me. Parting with fabric is never easy, but sometimes it just has to be done!

For my giveaway the winner gets to choose one of these Layer Cakes. Each Layer Cake has
40, 10"x10" squares.

Eva - by Basic Grey

Santorini by Lila Tueller

What do you have to do?

For one entry - Leave me a comment telling me which layer cake you would like to win!

For two entries - Leave me another comment letting me know you are a follower. (Because it makes me happy when I have a new follower, I hope that doesn't sound totally conceded , but lets face it a mom of 4 that doesn't get out much gets excited over silly things.)

For three entries - Leave me another comment telling me you blogged about this on your blog.

Ten Reasons I've been a slacker at Blogging!!!

2010-03-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

1. I've been busy holding this little guy! Ok, so he's not that little anymore, today at the doctor's he weighed in at 171bs. Did I mention that this was only his 4 month visit.

2. I've been busy fighting Ashely furniture to let me return this couch, that apparently can't get water on it. So yes, that means no three year old falling asleep and sweating, no 8 year old girls sitting on it with long wet hair after taking a bath, no using a wet cloth to spot clean and definitely no drooling! Apparently this couch is for looking at only. But, I am happy to say after 5 months of fighting it, we will be getting a new couch next Friday, one that hopefully water wont ruin.

3. Planning some tutorials over at this place.

Here is a sneak peek at one!

4. Having a Birthday party for this cute little 3 year old!

It was so fun, it tuckered this guy right out.

5. Spent a day shopping or I guess I should say browsing at this store.

6. Trying to think of creative ways to fit my growing family into this little 1400 sq ft cozy nest of ours. It's definitely getting cozy.

7. Even though I'm really bad at making comments, I have been visiting all of your blogs also.

8. Trying to find an Easter dress for my 8 year old daughter. I can't find any I like in the stores. Ok, there are a few I like but they are out of my price range. I think I may just try and make one. Here is a pattern for two that I sorta like. I found them over here.

9. Sent this cute niece and her sweet brother and parents (her mom is my twin) to Canada to live.

10. Homework, homework, homework! I thought when I graduated college it was over. Yea right, now my afternoons are spent helping kids with homework. It's ok, I'm not complaining, just an excuse as to why I've been a bad blogger.

Our Birthday Boy!

2010-02-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my sweet boy turned 6!

I swear this picture was taken just the other day, now you are so grown up.

You've always had a great head of hair. You get it from you dad (we call it a beaver pelt it's so thick.)

This was probably like your 3rd or 4th haircut, since your first was the day we brought you home from the hospital.

You pulled such a great Elvis face!

I can't believe your halfway through kindergarten, which you love, especially your teacher and especially when she wears her purple skirt!

You wanted a picture showing off your presents.

We let you pick your favorite meal and your chose, waffles with raspberry jam, cool-whip and orange Julius.

You are such a sweet boy. I absolutely adore you. You think about others before yourself. You have the sweetest smile. You truly appreciate things that people do for you. You've always had such a tender heart, which when you were 3 and 4 and constantly got your feelings hurt it drove me crazy, but now I love it. You radiate kindness. You have such a sweet disposition about you.

You do the funniest things. The other day I told you that you had a cute nose. The next thing I knew you were looking in the mirror admiring it. I told you that you needed to be more careful with your aim while going potty. Your told me it wasn't you that missed the toilet bowl, it was your shadow. I tried to be mad, but it was just to funny!

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. We love you so much!

Valentine's Cards for the Kids

2010-02-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

At the last minute today I decided to make my kids valentines cards (my husband just loves it when I do that). This one is for my eight year old daughter!

And this one is for my 5 year old son.

There are some really fun digital kits out there to work with. This one here is from Shappy Princess, one of my favorite sites. They have some really fun free kits as well.

These one's here are from Shabby Miss Jenn.

Oh, if only I had all the time in the world, just think of all the lovely things I could make!

Winner and Valentines T-Shirt Tutorial

2010-02-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Winner of the Valentine Hearts is comment #17, Jenny!!! Congratulations Jenny, I hope you'll be able to use them for at least a few days!

This isn't much of a tutorial. I pretty much just used the same technique on this shirt as I have on all the other applique shirts that I've made. So if you want better directions just click on my side bar on one of the shirt tutorials.

Here are the hearts that I used. I almost feel silly posting them, since I'm sure your all very capable of making a heart, but maybe this will save you some if you want to make a valentine shirt for one of your kiddos. Just click on the heart picture for the actual size. I used the bigger hearts for my daughter shirt which is a size 7/8. The smaller size hearts are for maybe a 5T or smaller. (Ok, so I just clicked on the hearts and they were huge, sorry, maybe you can play around with them and get them a size you would like.)

Just a couple hints, first I sewed the ric rac on with a regular straight stitch and then I zig zagged over it. Also I started and stopped the ric rac where the pink heart touches the blue, then you don't have to worry about raw edges.

In other news, my baby is growing way to fast, but oh, he is so sweet and cute. He has become a thumb sucker and I don't care what people say, I think it's wonderful. It's so cute, and he is such a happy baby.

My twin sister is moving to Canada tomorrow. Currently she lives maybe 2 minutes from me. I'm soooooo sad. I don't think twins should move away from their other half, it just isn't right. It's funny, in High School we weren't that close and then for college she went to Ricks College in Idaho and I went to Snow College in Utah, probably 12 hours away from each other, and I could have cared less. But the last 6 years we have lived always within 20 minutes of each other and I've loved it. Our kids play together and our families hang out a lot together. I will miss her so much!

Hanging Hearts Tutorial and a Giveaway

2010-02-04T14:11:00.001-08:00

Ok, I'm feelin kinda guilty for getting you all excited by showing the pictures of those cute boxes. They are way cute arn't they. Well hopefully you'll like this little tutorial, and I promise it's very easy. You could get a a bunch done in time for Valentines Day.

I wanted to make some hearts out of this cute fabric by Moda. It's called Astor Manor by 3 Sisters. I'm lazy though and didn't want to have to use and stuffing. I used a product called Fast 2 fuse Heavyweight interfacing. It's about the thickness of felt and fusible on both sides. It's sold by the yard at fabric stores.

FIRST
Make a heart the size you like out of some cardstock and then trace it onto the interfacing and cut out.

SECOND
Choose a piece a fabric that is at least 1/2" bigger than the widest part of the heart.
Now you'll need to iron the fabric onto the heart. Since the heart is fusible on both sides use a piece of parchment paper on the bottom so it doesn't stick to your ironing board. (I just used paper, but the directions say parchment paper.)

THIRD
Cut the fabric so that it is about 1/2" larger than the interfacing heart. I also cut a slit at the very top in the middle and I cut the bottom straight across.

FOURTH
Pressing as you go fold the fabric over onto the heart.

FIFTH
Make the other side the exact same way. Sandwich two ribbons in between the two hearts and press untill they adhere to the other. And last, sew around the heart using a 1/4" or smaller seam allowance.

Now hang them somewhere cute. You could even make a cute heart garland out of these. Maybe next year I'll do that.

I had some extra hearts left over so I thought I'd have a little giveaway. The giveaway will go until next Tuesday evening since Valentines is coming quick and I want to get them in the mail. So if your interested leave me a comment. If your REALLY interested and want two entries leave a comment letting me know your a follower because that makes me really happy. And for three entries blog about this little giveaway on your blog.

Have fun, and be sure to let me know if you make some of these Hanging Hearts for yourself. I'd love to see a picture!

Valentine Tutorial coming later today!

2010-02-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

This isn't it! It's way cute though. You can find this here on etsy! Mine's pretty good too, so come back later today!

Thank you, and I think I'm in LOVE!

2010-01-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

First off Thank you all So So much for your sweet comments the other day. I think I might print them all off and next time I have a rough day like that I'll read through them. It was so comforting to read that a lot of you have been through similar experiences, and most importantly you (and your kids) survived. Motherhood is definitely hard work, but definitely worth it.

Well, I actually finished a project. I bought the pattern for this hat off of etsy and I think I'm in love. It actually wasn't too hard to figure out and believe me I'm not the greatest crocheter. I don't even think I hold the hook right. The only hard part was I either crochet really tight or my baby has quite a large head, or maybe the pattern was a little off because my 3 1/2 month old is wearing a hat that according to the pattern is for a 12-24 month old.

The nice thing about crocheting is you can do it anywhere. Unlike sewing where I have to haul out the sewing machine and scissors and olfa board and cutter and fabric and thread, you get the picture. Someday I really need to invest in a sewing table, I'd probably get lots more done.

I'm gonna get if big trouble for this picture, but wouldn't the hat be cute for a little girl. Well, if your interested I'm going to be putting some hats on my etsy site (as soon as I find the time). You can request colors too if you'd like.

Have a great day, and thanks again for your sweet comments!