Summer Crafting Fun

If your kids are crafters and you haven't already checked out:

Do it...NOW;) 

The kids and I are working our way through the age appropriate ones on this list.  We began our trek when we got home from Utah so we haven't made it very far yet. The craft we did today was such a hit that I had to blog about it.

Marshmallow Shooters! 

 All four of us (Isaacs friend, Brett, was over) were practically on the floor laughing

 at the stuff that was going on around here.  

The craft was pretty easy to do.  We bought the PVC pipe and connectors this morning, came home and I cut them with a handsaw in under 30 minutes (I won't tell you about all the mosquitos that I slapped while sawing...ewww  And did you know that hand sawing requires some core muscles...I don't have any!!  Theres' a baby squenched in the middle of them.)  The kids helped me sand the ends, we soaked them in soapy water for a bit, let them dry and then assembled them.  The kids were able to put them together almost entirely on their own.  After this, we busted out the mini-mallows and began firing.  

Georgie came up with the grand idea of shooting multiple marshmallows at the same time.   A machine gun if you will!!

As you can see from this pictures background there are no marshmallows scattered about my floor as one might expect.  The kids were quite diligent about eating up after themselves...ha!  And now I have three half eaten grilled cheeses strewn about my lunch table.  Marshmallows for lunch anyone!!

flowers, flowers, everywhere

flowers, flowers, everywhere

I did my first craft show last weekend and sold a whopping $100.00 worth!!  (I hope you're catching my sarcasm:)  The traffic wasn't very high, I put it quite a bit of time and even money toward the whole project and didn't quite make it all back but, still, I'd say the experience was worth it.  I shared a booth with a talented jewelry making friend named Nichole and we both felt the stress of looming rejection or failure, but we had fun!  Some friends asked me to post pictures with some tutorial links for the things that I made.

These fabric flowers were probably the most successful and unique things that I made.  Adults, teenagers and kids liked these because they are sort of casual/organic looking.  The edges frey as they are worn, which I love.  I had a box full of vintage buttons that my Gran had saved over the years that really came in handy.  I would recommend buying a lot on ebay for any sewing projects that you do.  Its hard to see the feathery, flouncyness from these pictures but they do have an almost whispy, petal look to them from the way they are folded.  I've been in the habit lately of holding on to any remnants of fabric that I get...be it old clothes, stained clothes, sheer curtains from when we moved in...whatever.  If there's any morsel of cuteness to a stained clothing item, I save it and repurpose it.  These clothes came in really handy for these flowers!  I'll bet you could find the stuff in your house to make a flower or two right now...for free!  Let me know if you do.

I used a lot of feathers on the silk flowers.  Thee cutest ones, bright pink and peacock feathers, sold out so I don't have any pictures.  Here is where I found them and for a pretty bang up deal too!

Last and probably least, I wanted to post how the vintage Belle dress turned out.  About my dilemma over keeping it a dress for dress up or making it into an adorable skirt for Sundays, my friend, Alyson suggested doing both.  She suggested making it into a two piece play dress who's bottom half could also be used for Sundays, weddings, Christmas etc.  I thought that was a genius idea and proceeded to hack into the work of some amazing mother from the 1940's.  Let's hope that she wasn't glaring knives at me from her cloud in heaven:)  Perhaps she's forgiven me now that she can see the finished product.  The bottom half was no big deal...rip out the seams and add an elastic waist...nothing to get excited about!  But the top was another story.  The results you see here were PURELY good luck and chance.  I had no real game plan...I just went about in my hairbrained way of cutting, patching, gathering and sewing until it came out looking as much like Belle's gown as I could possibly get it to.  I think Georgie 'll like it!  I'm glad that family and friends can only see pictures because if you saw the real deal you might notice what a shoddy job I did!  It's best, for me, that you remain in ignorance!

Easter Sunday...

...minus any really good pictures!

I hate to even make this post without pictures of the kids in their Easter Dress but I happen to have the time tonight.  Ya never know when that's going to come around again, right?!  Sunday was quite a busy day for us so I didn't get around to getting pictures of the kids.  I also wasn't very happy with the weather that day...rain, rain, thunder, overcast, cold.  Whoever heard of such an Easter?  But the bunny came anyway:

And the Easter Egg Hunt...well

You see, exhibit A above.  Georgie came in after 2 seconds with no eggs.  She's not much for rain.  (No this is not her easter dress but it is her fifth outfit of the day)

Rain didn't stop some of the big kids from hunting.

Joey got a picture of my Easter Table Setting;)  It made me feel good that he appreciates my hard work:)  We had three families over for dinner and there were some delicious contributions!  Thanks friends!  

Oh ya, the centerpiece tucked into Gigi's new Easter Basket that I found at the local antique store that I LOVE!  I think it's too cute to hunt eggs with, don't you?  Shouldn't I just keep it for home decor?  I will be adding to this post in a few Sundays...when the kids re wear their Easter gear on a beautiful spring day and I get some perfect shots!

Snowflake Tortillas

We enjoyed these so much that I thought I'd share.

Start with a large tortilla (if you can get your hands on the uncooked ones please do....tastes like a funnel cake;), fold in half.

Continue folding just like you would a paper snowflake.

Cut.

You should end up with something like this

but not exactly like this because no two snowflakes are exactly alike ya know:

Melt a heaping T of butter in a frying pan and fry it up.

Sprinkle with Powdered sugar:

DEVOUR:

Make war paint with residual sugar...

honest comments only please!

So, I've been making jewelry somewhat obsessively lately, mostly because I've been itching at the bit to craft and partially because beads are about the only craft worthy thing that I have in the house and don't have to go out for (or withdraw any money from our depleting Christmas bank account).  I made this today and I'm not quite sure what I think about it.  Well, okay, I'll be honest, I like it.  But I've liked a lot of things that I've made for the first couple of weeks and then when I put my emotions aside from all the sweat and time that went into it I realize it's ugly as sin.  And since this kind of makes a statement, before I send this to someone as a gift or make 10 more or wear it myself, outside of the house, I wanted to ask some friends:  Is this wearable?

Be honest...you won't hurt my feelings!

Thank you!

...too short

Our visit with our California Family was TOO SHORT!  And we enjoyed every minute!  

I think Georgie enjoyed it the very most of all because she LOVES Reesie bug!  Here they are working their way toward a little kiss:

Our new nephew/cousin Will, Aunt Mary and "Bad Tall"...McCall!

Chels and I

Mom wearing the new apron I made for her:

We miss you California Petteys!

And so it begins!

The Christmas season is truly here and the parties have already begun!  Here are a few shots of what we've been up to already this December.

Here are the kids singing at the Ward Christmas Party.  I could hardly hide my enjoyment at watching my two children holding on tightly to each other as they sang.  It was too much for words.  Isaac was so proud to have Georgie next to him.  He invited her to come up and sing with him and put his arm tightly around her neck.  He kept peering down at her while they sang, giving her his cute little toothy grin and she hugged him back and constantly patted his tummy. 

A cute idea for school treats:

Isaac really enjoyed making and eating these!

Here we are with some friends at Joey's Medical Group Christmas Party.  

We had a really great time.