Playing Around with Blog Design

Ok, this is totally addicting! But how could it not be, since it is soooo much fun?! I made this banner (just for fun), for a friend's blog. She doesn't have to use it if she doesn't like it, but it's hers if she wants it. ;-)

My husband helped me out with the special effects this morning. I did the layout out, so I am learning a few things. Hopefully, I can play around with the special effects in the days to come.

So here it is!

A Girly Tee Pee

I did a lot of sewing for Christmas presents this year. This is one of the items that I made for my girls. A tee pee. Princess style. ;-)

It was very easy to make; one of the easiest things I have made this far I believe. Just straight seams and hemming. Oh, there were two button holes also. Cutting it out was more work than sewing it. :)

There were other parts to making this that didn't require sewing. I had to buy PVC pipe and then paint it. Which was quite a task, because I painted it on a windy day. Yikes! But all and all it was a very fun and easy project.

Last night, the girls camped out in their room with it. Sweetie is being little miss actress here. She isn't really asleep. ;-)

Then, it took them about an hour for them to get settled in. Bean wasn't being very nice to Sweetie. She kept pushing her out of the tent with her feet. :(

Well, that is my show and tell today. To see what others are showing and telling visit Kelli's by clicking on the button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful day. :)

Tea Cup and Tutus

There are two things I would like to show you today. The first item is this tea cup. In antique people or collectors opinions, this tea cup isn't worth much. However, it means a lot to me.

Growing up, my Dad traveled frequently due to business. One day, when he was on an especially long business trip, the door bell rang. Mom opened the door and there was a flower delivery man with a huge bouquet of bright beautiful flowers for my mom. On the card it said something to the effect of my dad missed my mom

I was admiring mom's flowers, when to both of our surprise the flower man said he had another bouquet in the truck and he would be back in a moment.

When he came back, he was carrying this tea cup with daises and pink carnations arranged inside of it. I felt so special after receiving those flowers! I can't remember what the card said, but just the fact that my dad also thought of me besides my mom made me feel so warm inside.

I can't remember how old I was when I got those flowers. Not very old. I am thinking around 12 or 13.

My Dad is such a sweet, caring, and compassionate guy. He sure helped me to know what kind of qualities I should look for in a husband. Thankfully, my husband takes great care of me too. :)

Still, my Dad is there for me. He sometimes even babysits my kids. :) On his own, without any help. He amazes me even. Three times now he has put on Tiny Boy's diaper, backwards. Perfectly. ;-)

The next thing I would like to show you is part of my Tackle It Tuesday Post. Remember when I said I was going to try and make two tutus that night? Well, I got one done instead of both. I just finished the other one tonight.
I made these for my girls for Christmas. Bean is starting to be interested in Ballerinas so I thought it would be fun to make these. Sweetie also will like it. They were very easy to make. All I did was tie tulle around a piece of elastic that fits around their waists.

Sweetie's is on the left, and Bean's is on the right. Thanks for looking! To read and look at what other's are showing and telling about today, click on the Show and Tell Button at the Top of my Post. Have a good day! :)

Am I Crazy?

I have so much to do today it isn't even funny. The main thing that I MUST tackle today is getting all of this fabric cut out into the desired projects that I am trying to complete before Christmas.


I know I am crazy, but I seem to sew better when I am under pressure for some reason. I got four projects cut out already, but I need to finish cutting out two more. Last night I was cutting out a project and cut two of the pattern pieces on the wrong fold, so now I have to run back to the store and find some fabric at a decent price that will work. It was ALOT of fabric too! I was so upset. But I decided to give this problem to the Lord. I am not going to stress out on my mistake and make everyone miserable around me because what *I* did wrong. I am just going to have to go with the flow.

Tonight when the kiddos are in bed, then I am going to try and get done two tutus that I am making my girls for Christmas. This *should* be an easy project. All I am doing is tying tulle onto a piece of ribbon.

I will post pictures of all the cut out projects and the tutus. Hopefully tonight.

For more Tackle it Tuesday Projects visit Five Minutes For Mom, by clicking on the the button above my post.

Turkey Cookies and Relish Turkeys

I got a little long winded yesterday, so I am going try and make this short and sweet today. ;)

On an online message board that I am part of, someone posted these turkey cookies. Maybe some of you have seen them before because they are Pillsbury's idea. Just take a look for yourself. :)

I am going to try and make these with the girls once I can get out to the store and buy the needed ingredients. And another idea that I thought was sooooo cute, and also a bit more healthy are "Relish Turkey's. One draw back is that it does take a lot of time to make.

Green olives stuffed with pimento

celery

carrots

Jumbo sized black olives

colored tooth picks

I don't have any pictures to show, and I can't find any on the Internet, so please bare with my directions.

1. Shave/slice the carrots into little feather shapes, and beak shapes.

2. Cut the celery in about two inch wide pieces

3. Slit the black olive towards one of the ends horizontally

4. Pull the pimento out of the green olive slightly, this will be the turkey's little wattle! :)

Now that everything is sort of assembled:

Stick the tooth pick into the middle of the celery piece. The celery acts as the "base" of the turkey, so you want this resting on a flat surface. Put the black olive through the tooth pick all the way down to the celery. Sick the beak shaped carrot into one end of the green olive where you half way pulled the pimento out.

Stick the green olive on top of the tooth pick on the end where you didn't make a slit. This is the head. Now take three of the shaved feather shaped carrots and stick into the turkey's back where you sliced it on one end.

Now you have a "relish" turkey! If I made these (I did once at a church meeting for ladies) for my Thanksgiving dinner, I would make a relish tray as usual, then make enough of these to place all around the tray on the edges or circumference.

OK, I sort of found a picture that *might* work to give you a visual:

Just imagine the melon being the black olive, the head the green olive and the carrot shavings shaped like feathers as the the feathers. If you want to make that turkey pictured that's OK too. ;)

However, when you make a bunch of those little turkeys and place them around the relish tray it looks so adorable! It gives something for your children to do also.
Although, I would try to pre-assemble the beaks and feathers for them. The pimento wattle can be a little tricky too, so you'll have to work with that.

Look at me, I am getting to long winded again! For more Thanksgiving related topics be sure to visit Kelli's. Just click on the "Give Thanks" button at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful day!

Custom Boutiqe Clothing! Size 4 One of A Kind

Note: This is a Sticky Post, which will stay here until the contest is over. Please scroll down a little to read any newer posts that I might be posting until the contest is over. Thanks! Also to check out other great give aways please click on the Fall, Y'all button, or click here. Shannon, at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting this great giveaway!

Ok, I had to join in this great give away. I have seen it on other blogs, and was wondering what it was all about. Then I went to the link and found out that people are giving away some really nice stuff!

So I decided to jump in a join everyone giving away all these wonderful goodies.

So what am I giving away? Well, I sew, so I decided to give away an outfit that I made to sell on ebay, but never got around to putting it up there.

This outfit is made in size four. It fits my petite five year old. It is a five piece set, is carefully handcrafted.

Please forgive my Sweetie for the funny poses; she was complaining about the sun shining in her eyes. LOL

In the first picture is Sweetie Pictured with a pheasant dress with contrasting fabrics. There is a coordinating detachable sash that is tied with green satin ribbon in the back.

Sweetie is wearing a pair of jeans with hart pockets on the front. The bottoms are ruffled with both fabrics in the pheasant dress.

Take the Jeans off, and you have a sweet dress. This set also comes with a matching ribbon T-shirt for playing.

To top of all the goodies I made a bow using the ribbons in the ribbon T-shirt. This was one of my first attempts making bows, so it isn't that professional, but I still think it is pretty cute!

This is sewn in a smoke free home. This outfit was only worn once for professional pictures I had done last year for fall. It is one of a kind. That means there is not another like it. It is size 4. The seams are professionally surged too.

To win this item, just post a comment! Then on Sunday night I will draw a name randomly, to see who wins. This contest is open to only those who live in the USA. I really can't afford to ship internationally. Also, please be sure to leave me a way to contact you so if you win I can let you know! Thanks. Have Fun! :)

For more great giveaways, click on the Fall Ya'll Button.

Sewing Machine

For today's show and tell, I would like to show my sewing machine. There is such a sweet story behind it. :)

My mother had me take sewing lessons when I was in school, and I loved to sew. After my mom saw that this was something that I would probably do the rest of my life she bought me my first sewing machine, which was a Brother.

At 12 years old this was probably a wise purchase to see how I would treat the machine and all. I went to town with that puppy, and made all sorts of little things with it. Some clothing too.

After about two years, it broke, and at that time Wal-mart took back anything, and would replace it for a new one. So we did. Then a couple of years later the same thing happened, and we got it replaced again.

I didn't sew as much after that, because I was then in college, and didn't have the time. So I brought my latest brother sewing machine into my marriage with me. I still didn't sew much.

Then I had my little girl, and our church at that time, was having Cowboy Sunday, and I wanted to make her something. When I brought out my sewing machine, I noticed that it broke once again. :( Thankfully my Grandma let me borrow hers to finish my daughters outfit.

A couple of months later my husband mentioned that he had stopped by a sewing machine store that said they were going out of business, and that they had marked down their sewing machines really low. In a sort of joking manner, I started to sing, "All I want for Christmas is a sewing machine." We were on a very tight budget at that time, and I knew that it was next to impossible to buy one.

My husband stopped by the store, which happened to be a Husqvarna Viking dealership. They demonstrated the machine to my husband, and he was hooked. But they had sold out the machine that he wanted to buy me, but suggested where to go, to get another one.

He was doing this all behind my back. One day he came home with all these brochures of this machine, and really excited about it. Once he told me the prices of these machines, I knew in my mind that this would be something that I could never get.

One day he asked me to go to a dealership to just test drive one. So I did. I was totally clueless as to what was going on; I don't really know what I was thinking. I tested the Viking's lowest end model which was about $400 and it was such a dream to sew on. I told my husband that if he could afford the lowest end model it was 100x's better than my brother *ever* was.

Then he wanted me to test drive some of the higher models which were all in priced $1,000 and beyond. I knew that we could NEVER get a machine that much money. But sewing on it was so nice. I was shown all the features, which were all like a dream.

The machines NEVER had to be oiled, they were jam proof, they had perfectly balanced button holes, just amazing features.

So we left the store, me hoping secretly that my husband would get the lower end model for me for Christmas.

One night I was feeling especially discouraged with alot of things, and venting to my husband about it. And crying about the problem, which was basically discontentment with some of our circumstances.

The next morning I slept in, and when I walked into the kitchen there was a Husqvarna sewing machine box on the table, with a card, and some thread and material for me to "play around with it." When I opened it, and saw what model it was, I was absolutely shocked! I began to cry. I cried in repentance too, for being such a dummy for being so discontented with some of our circumstances.

Later on I found out that my husband used his overtime money to pay for the machine. He gave it to me for Christmas, but before Christmas because he thought that I could use it to make things for people for Christmas on. And boy did I!

So this show and tell is to brag on my sweet hubby. It never occurred to me that he would buy me this for me. And he likes it just as much as. He doesn't sew on it. But when I sew on it, he comes over and watches me sew, amazed at the beauty of the machinery. :)


For more show and tell, click on the show and tell box above.

Moses Basket

When Daddy and I had Sweetie, we were not too sure what our housing options were going to be at the time being. It is waaay too long of a story to get into.

Instead of choosing the regular bassinet, we choose to use a Moses Basket. It was one the best baby items that we purchased, because when Sweetie was born we took alot of trips, and it was so easy to keep it in the back of the car. When we made visits with people we always had a place for sweetie to sleep. When I moved from room to room, I always had a place to keep sweetie.

So when my sister-in-law was expecting their first baby, I thought that she may also enjoy having a Moses basket to carry her little guy in. But this time I decided it would be fun to make the lining to match her nursery decor.

I bought the basket at Wal-Mart.com, then used the lining that came with that basket to copy and make the lining for this basket. I think it turned out pretty cute, and it was lots of fun to make. :)

Click on the Show and Tell link above to read others neat Show and Tell stories.

My Last MOPS Meeting for the year

For the last year the children and I have been attending MOPS. (Mother's of Preschoolers) It is an organization to help get moms together who are in the same life stages. There is another group in my area that is like that, but secular. I like the fact that MOPS claims to be a Christian organization, so I am free to express my faith in Jesus Christ. Many women that attend MOPS may not be Christians, so this provides an opportunity for them to be exposed to the Gospel.

Each MOPS group has it's own flavor so to speak, and will often reflect the beliefs of the church that is hosting it. My church doesn't host MOPS, but a local Southern Baptist Church does. From the meetings I have been to, they once shared the gospel message around Easter time, which was very well done. The Lady who shared the Gospel emphasised the importance of knowing you were a sinner, and the only thing that would satisfy the justice of God was death. That death resulted in Hell, and Jesus came to the world as God in the flesh, took our sins upon him, and God's wrath was released upon Jesus for our sin. The blood of Jesus was offered to God on the mercy seat as testimony that all sins were paid for by His blood, and God accepted that payment and is satisfied. One could not get into heaven by the things that they have done, and only trusting in the finished work of Christ would make them acceptable before God.

I was very happy to see that there was such a clear gospel presentation at MOPS. It wasn't a water downed gospel at all.

MOPS runs by semesters so last MOPS meeting was the last one for the Summer. Each MOPS meeting has a little theme, and the last one was "Tea and Testimony"

A few days before the meeting, my MOPS coordinator called and asked for me to share a testimony. I told her over the phone, that I would like to give a testimony, but I really couldn't think of anything worth testifying about. ( I know that probably sounds horrible!)

She asked me to think about it, and if I so decided not to do it, then she would understand, but she thought I would do a good job. When I immediately hung up the phone, a testimony came into my mind, so I believe that is what the Lord wanted me to speak about.

There were only a few things that I have gotten up in front of a group to speak, and I did a horrible job. One was in college, where we had to give an oral report, and another time was for my Sister In Law's bridal shower, which I stumbled my words all over the place.

The idea came to my head to write out my testimony word for word, and just read it out loud. I remembered that Johnathon Edwards the famous preacher, read his sermons. So if he could do that, than why not me?

That day, I got up there, and I did it. I couldn't believe it! The only reason I got up there was for the pure fact that I believe that God wanted me to share my testimony, otherwise I would of never gotten up there!

My testimony was along the lines of what I have been learning in my Firm Foundations Bible Study. It was the first lesson that I learned. If you want to know what it was, read it here.

As part of the Tea and Testimony theme every one's discussion group had to decorate their own tables. Our table came up with a citrus theme. Our group did not know what a big deal it was going to be, so our table wasn't as fancy as the other tables, but I think it turned out *very* pretty nonetheless.

One girl provided the china and silver. The China was her Great Grandmothers. Another girl provided a lace table cloth, and a bowl to put the lemons in. I provided a crystal container to put the limes in, I made napkins out of an old sheet, and napkin rings to match the lime and lemons with scrape materials that I had already at home. Each of us bought some lemon and limes, which we ended up having way to many in the end. But it turned out so pretty I thought. I like to call our table the frugal table because we just pulled together what we had. The other tables ended up buying a lot of things to decorate their tables. I must admit they were beautiful, and they gave me ideas for another time, but they each must of spent a small fortune on it. So I am kind of happy we were clueless. I only spent like $5.00 for my lemons and limes!

This was the Table we decorated

This was another Table. The theme was antique Baby things. Someone made these really neat plates that had Victorian baby pictures on them. It had old toys, and bibs, and shoes, etc. There were silver baby cups with pink roses tucked inside of them. This was my favorite table.

This table's theme was Pink flowers and brown I think. Again someone made these really neat plates. They took huge candle plates in the shape of a flower, and decoupaged a black and white photo of their children underneath it. You can't see it, but it was really neat!

This Table was a tropical theme. I thought that the hibiscus flowers they used were such a neat idea!

Painting Flower Pots

When we bought our flowers to plant in the flower bed, I came up with a grand idea to plant some herbs too. I love fresh herbs in cooking, but they are so expensive, that I decided to try and grow our own. The pots cost $0.75 and the seed packets were $1.00. So hopefully it was a good investment, because let's just say, I don't really have much of a green thumb.

After I bought the pots, I remembered painting flower pots as a little girl, and I thought it would be fun for the girls to do so too. I had some extra paints from projects I had done previously, so I set up the table and we painted away. The girls thought that this was so much fun.


Although, Sweetie, said that my pot was better than hers. :) I still beg to differ. I love the way Sweetie painted the rim on her pot, it almost looks like she did the colors in the order of the rainbow, and I don't think I laid the colors out that way on our little paper plate palate.


Sweetie also took a picture of me with *my* pot. I will post it, but please promise not to laugh. I did not do my hair or makeup yet, as I didn't see the need to. :) But I do think the picture came out great for an almost five year old taking it. And Sweetie was proud of my pot as much as I was with hers!

Bean, Hard At Work

Bean's Accomplishments

Sweetie Painting Hers

The End Result

Sweetie's Photography Abilities At Work!

Bean's Third Birthday

Bean and Tiny Boy share the same birthday month. Thankfully his is in the beginning and hers at the end of the month. It gives me time to plan and breath in between. We celebrated Bean's a week after her original birthday, so that actually put her into another month.

The theme we decided on were horses. Bean likes horses; although the real kind are a little intimidating to her. I had this brilliant idea of asking a neighbor if he would be willing to bring a miniature horse for the children to pet at Bean's party. But it rained that afternoon, and there were scheduling conflicts on top of that, so that didn't fit into the plan. Thankfully, Bean forgot about "that" part, and I didn't tell any of her friends the plans.

We began the party by playing Horse, Horse, Pony, which is just like Duck, Duck, Goose. All the children liked the variation on that game. When it was Bean's turn to be the pony, she went around the circle of kids saying, "Horse, Horse, Horse, Horse, GOOSE!" She forgot the variation in the heat of the moment.

The next game, was a variation of "Hot Potato". We called it "Vice Horsey". In the world of horses, a vice is a naughty habit that a horse has. Our horse had the vice of biting, so we didn't want to keep him in our hands for very long. The music we used to play "Vice Horsey" was The William Tell Overture, which all the kids knew from The Lone Ranger. That added to their excitement.

For Prizes I bought blue ribbons at the party store and gave it to the blue ribbon winner.

I also made the kids Horsey head bands like the ones seen here. Sorry I can't show you the ones I made because the're other children in the picture, and I don't have permission from the parents to put it up here.

While Daddy made our menu of Hot Dogs and Chips, each child colored a picture of a horse. One of the little girls colored her's for Bean since she was the "birthday" girl. Isn't that sweet?

We then ate the hot dogs, chips and soda. After everyone had their fill, we did the "cake" which were Cupcakes, spread with green frosting, with a horse figurine placed on top. I piped on some pink and purple flowers on the "grass" per Bean's request. I then placed them all together on a cake plate, which made it look like a herd of running horses. It was pretty cool.

Bean sort of spit on everyone's cup cake though, as she tried to blow out her candles. She got two out, and asked the little boy sitting next to her to blow out the last one.

After cake, we all went to the living room where Bean opened gifts. From Grandma and Grandpa in another state she got beautiful dresses for church and a puzzle, From Nana and Papaw she got a bathing suit and a Leap pad Bingo Game. From another little Girl, she was given Candy Land, and from Nana's friend she received Poly Pocket Cinderella, much to her older sister's dismay.

Mommy and Daddy got her a live sized Baby Doll on her "real" Birthday, which has scared me a couple of times, because I was thinking it was Little Tiny Boy, laying there all stiff.lol!

At the end of the party we gave each little girl and boy, a bag of "goodies". The girls got play dough, a horse pencil, a little pony figurine, Smarties, and My Little Pony Gummy snacks. The boys got the same thing, but instead of the pony figurine they had another figurine like they had on their cupcake, and pencils with cars on them, and a bean bag sport ball.

We had a fun time!

Bean Opening her Leap Pad Game

Trying so hard to get into Cinderalla

Polly Pocket

Tiny Boy found something he can play with

The Doll we got Bean is to the left

The Table Setting, and a Close up of the Herd of Horses. A Far away View of the Table. Notice Bean getting all excited about "her" table in the mirror.

Little Tiny Boy's First Birthday

Looks like a closed case

For each of our children's birthday's we have carried on a tradition that was done on Daddy's mom's side of the family. The 1st Birthday is celebrated with a Train Cake.

My mother in law made Sweeties first cake when she came to help celebrate her birthday. For Bean's she sent me the pans so I could make the cake. So of course we carried on the tradition with Little Tiny Boy. I think it is absolutely perfect to celebrate the 1st Birthday with Trains.

We invited a family over from church that has six children total. All of the children from this family love Little Tiny Boy, and I thought that we should keep it simple and small. So we just served Cake, Ice Cream, and Coffee around 7:00pm.

Tiny Boy didn't know what to think of all the commotion! He just stared bewilderment at all the happenings going on, but his sisters were very much excited at the thought that Tiny Boy was now one. When the friends arrived, Sweetie and Bean were excitedly telling all the children that Tiny Boy was now one.

I had extra batter from the Train Cake, so I used that to make a few Cup Cakes, decorated with a smiley face. We used that as Tiny Boy's "dig in" cake, as the train cake was a bit much for him to handle.

This was his first taste of cake, so he wasn't too sure what to think, but once I put a lick of icing in his mouth he dug right in. He was making happy grunts the whole time he was eating. He basically finished up the WHOLE thing. Yummy!

We then proceeded to open gifts from everyone. Grandma and Grandpa from another state sent him some adorable outfits, and a puzzle. Nana and Papaw gave him some more outfits, and his first sippy cup. Nana's friend gave him some bright colored footed sleepers, and the family of friends gave him and every one's favorite; an activity cube with lots of bright colors.

I still can't believe he is already one!

P.S. I have a picture of the cake, but I can't post it, because it gives away Tiny boy's identity. Sorry! :(

Now Maybe this is why the girls were so

excited about Tiny Boy's First Birthday!

Yup!I think so!

"Now, Tiny Boy, you need Share!" :)