Brown Corduroy Peasant Dress MiniBoden copycat

I love Boden and miniBoden. Thanks to my cousin Alison for turning me on to them! When I saw this post at Pink Picket Fence I knew I had to try it myself.

I think it came out pretty cute. I feel like pairing it with tights makes the outfit for sure. I went to Joann's to get a pattern that was similar on sale and they were sold out. I was trying to find another one when I realized Katie was wearing a similar dress in denim. I whipped out the freezer paper and drafted a pattern using the other dress as a guide. It came together pretty quickly. I added pockets after this fashion shoot. They are very wonky so I need to rip them out. I am debating if I am going to put them back on or not. Can't wait for it to cool down so she can wear this! I want to make some in some bold prints too. I think I am going to try and make some leggings out of her old tights too. So fun and rewarding to make!

Felt Food

I have been meaning to make some felt food forever. Finally got around to it, and it is addicting. Not as addicting as Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream (my all-time favorite) but up there. Like shirred dress addicting. Quick - Easy - Rewarding. I made an apron and pot-holder to go with one set...no picture. I also made 2 capes for little boy birthdays...again, no picture. Maybe I can get some...probably not:)

I found a sweatshirt pattern that I am dying to make here.

I have a bunch of catch up crafting to do to. I am debating about just combing this blog with the other blog. At least maybe one of them will be regulary updated!

Summer Craftin'

A t-shirt dress refashion. I used elastic thread to cinch the top and added flowers from extra strips from the t-shirt I used.

Freezer Jelly. I have been wanting to try this forever and am so glad I did. This was so easy, Katie got to help and it is yum-eee! I had just been to Sunflower Market and had tons of blueberrie and raspberries. I just put them in old baby food jars. I don't plan on freezing them so I wasn't worried about the glass.

Katie helping mash with a ziploc baggie. This worked so well and really cut down on the mess. I just cut the tip off the baggie to pour into the jars.

We started out mashing with a potato masher. It didn't work that well. The masher was too big for the bowl.

Towels I made for a friend. Whale, Duck, and Puppy.

More towels. Whale, Duck, G for Grey and Bear.

Watermelon Ice! I learned to make this while on a trip to Virginia from my Aunt. I do not pronounce it "ant." :) I used about 3/4 of a watermelon. Blend it in the blender. Stir in 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Put it in the freezer and stir every 20-30 minutes until all frozen. The stirring makes it slushy and not a giant ice-cube. So good in this hot summer weather!

My first visit to Anthro! I had to buy something, so I got this mug. I could have bought the whole dish set. I love poppies!

We started a new family tradition. Every night we fill out a "card." It is a large index card. I write the year and the days highlights. Silly things Katie said. Milestones for Levi. Accomplishments or the mundane. We then file in date order. Next year, we will add 2011 and be able to look back on the year before. It has been really fun to do these past few months. I have already looked back and some of the things I had written I never would have remembered!

Our cool treasure box:)

I found a scrumptious bread machine recipe. I haven't had much luck with the bread machine but this recipe makes great bread. Easy and delish!

2 dresses and some bibs

I have been one crafty gal this week. This is more due to the fact that I had a baby shower deadline approaching than a motivational surge . . . but still! Animal print bibs. I used ribbon and leftover terry that I had on hand. They are not true toddler size but should be just right when baby Meg starts solids:)

I heart elastic thread. It rocks my world. I feel like you get wow-factor with very little effort at all.

Katie is not what I would call "model-material." Especially right before a nap when she wants Mommy to back off with the camera. Don't you love the socks she picked out! I have been meaning to try a shirt-dress refashion forever. Finally here it is. I just improvised as we went and had to add elastic to the front and a box-pleat to the back so it would fit. Not perfect but I am excited to try this again. I tried to make a shirt for me . . . hahahaha. It is going in the scraps bag. I don't know what I was thinking using a knit shirt for a pattern I wanted to use linen fabric for!

Here she is perfectly modeling the box-pleat . . .trying to escape into her crib:)

As a little motivation to get some more projects done . . . I am also working on pj pants for my sis, fabric coasters, a t-shirt shirred dress for Kate, and a bunch of mending! I have so many half-done projects it is embarrassing! No more shopping for me until I finish some of them!

Bubble Fun!

We ran out of the store-bought bubble mix and I decided to see if I could make my own. I didn't have the Joy dishwashing soap, so just used what I had on hand and it worked fine. I also used corn-syrup instead of glycerin. We made these bubble blowers that produced huge bubbles! Go here to make your own and find a recipe for the bubbles. The high-tech bubble blower was definitely worth it. Katie was even able to blow bubble.

All it takes for do-it yourself bubbles!

Bunny Cakes

You'd think all I do is cook over here judging from the past few posts. . . I made these cakes for Easter and loved how they came out. I cooked the cakes in three oven-safe bowls. The recipe I used was a doctored cake mix recipe and came out soooo delicious. I mixed in peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips and varied the cooking times since I was using smaller bowls. I think the cake without the frosting was plenty sweet enough, but the white bunnies were sure cute to look at. I made the ears out of scrapbook paper I glued to toothpicks.

Budget Art

I love signs with sayings or verses on them. As my house budget right now is pretty much non-existent I decided to try and make them using only my printer. They aren't perfect but I am pretty happy with how they turned out.



I got the fonts here. This site is so cool. Hundreds and hundreds of FREE fonts! For the bible verse I used the Jane Austen font and added a clip-art from Word to the background. I need to reprint it a tad smaller so it isn't running out of the mat. Sometime I'll get around to it . . . The mat was a lot smaller than what I wanted so I used a rotary cutter to trim it to the right size. Thanks to my sister for that great idea. I was tearing it to shreds trying to use my dull exacto knife. The first saying is by my desk to try and motivate me to stop reading craft blogs and clean my house:) I used the Inked God font for that one.