Tu-Tu Wreath

I know I have mentioned that I have recently become addicted to Pinterest.  It is so much fun, and so inspiring. I saw the cutest tutu wreath on there one day and was dying to make one.  Unfortunately my girls have sort of both grown out of that type of decor and it certainly didn't fit in anywhere else in my house.  One day while I was searching for supplies to make some hair bows for Athena's dance class I noticed some tulle in the exact colors of her dance studio's logo and I was struck with a brilliant idea.  I mean what better place for a tutu wreath than a dance studio right!?  so while I was inspired by one on pinterest, there weren't really any tutorials so I just went for it, it really isn't that difficult, if you want to make one and don't have any idea where to start just email me and I'll walk you through it.

I also found these fun bracelets on Pinterest.  This site here has some really great tutorials and even sells all the supplies at a good price.  I had most of the stuff I used around the house already though.  These were just my first practice ones, I've since made a few more for the girls for Valentine's but didn't have a picture of those.

And if that weren't enough craft for one post here is a pic of the hair clips I came up with for Athena's most recent dance costume.  They were quite possibly the most fun I've ever had making a hair clip :)

Spelling Bee

The first day back to school after winter break Athena won her class spelling bee and went on to the school spelling bee.  There were about two kids from each class from 5th to 8th grade.  Athena was the last 5th grader to go out and 6th place over all.  Not too bad considering she didn't even know there was going to be a spelling bee. :)  We are very proud of her!

Potter Purse

So here it is, finally finished and blogged about.  I have been working on this craft for almost a year.  Finding the time and the materials (most specifically a book I was willing to cut up) proved slightly difficult.  I actually finished it right after Christmas but I am not entirely in love with the results so I guess I put off posting pictures of it.  I decided to try out some fabric glue gun sticks, but didn't realize they dry a sort of yellow color. I'm hoping to find a sharpie to match the lining and color over the glue someday.  I could never get the clasp just right and it is very difficult to close.  But I love the idea and the colors of the handle and fabric lining.  I already have in my possession a copy of Half Blood Prince ($2 at Goodwill) to make another one.  So I guess I can try out some other methods.  I looked at so many tutorials to even mention them here, just google book purse and what comes up I probably read, but in the end I just sort of went for it and did my own thing based on everything that stayed in my head after reading.  Now I am trying to come up with ideas to use all the pages from the book.

Second Christmas

I did it!  I'm posting the last of our Christmas pictures before January ends.  There aren't a whole lot of them.  It was a quiet, relaxing day, spent mostly in our pj's.  The girls built Lego's, we all played video games, and Shawn and I both bought each other a Kindle so we spent some time reading.  It was also just nice to be home after the long trip to Utah.

And here as an added bonus, a shot of my first craft of 2012!  I made this backpack gift bag for our nephew.  I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while.  It turned out just as I envisioned and I already have some plans to use the pattern again.

And now I am almost caught up in my blogging.  I have another big craft to blog about and a few things to show that I made from Pinterest.  Are you on Pinterest?  Follow me if you are, it's a lot of fun!  I might be blogging a lot in the next few days since my MOHS procedure is tomorrow morning and I might be housebound for a few days after that.  Have a happy day :)

So Behind

I am so behind in blogging now that soon it will be Athena's birthday and you will be seeing Christmas pictures!  I would really love to get to a point where I can fit in blogging on a daily basis or at least weekly, but for now life gets in the way.  So for now enjoy some shots from our trip to Utah, I didn't take nearly enough.  And please don't take it personally if I didn't take any the day we visited you, it isn't that I didn't want any pictures of you it's just that it slipped my mind the camera was even in my purse!  I swear I need to start wearing it around my neck again so I remember to take pictures.  And how did I miss getting a picture of Hailey in her Nana sweater?!!  Anyway here are a few shots I did manage to get.

Athena in the tree at my mom's house.

This is my adorable little great nephew (is that what you call the son of your niece?  it sounds so strange) Parker with his cat Moo.

Athena at the aquarium.

Andrew, Will and Athena with some penguin friends.

Athena and Andrew "driving" a boat.

On a frog.

Athena on the moon at the Planetarium.

Parker snuggling with Hailey.

The girls playing the organ.

My great niece Freya.  She is such a doll.

Christmas day at Nana & Papa's.

I think Eric is saying what everyone feels Christmas morning ;)

Athena in her new sweater from Nana, it's so cute!

Be sure to keep checking in as I have a few finished crafts to post soon and some news about a spelling bee!  Also check out our flickr because I did actually take a few more pictures that I will post there.  You can see that Athena had a closed eyes theme going on this year.

Some Hand Made Gifts

I made a few fun things this year as Christmas gifts.  The girls got the usual new pj's.  I also made a few pairs for a few special people but seem to have lost the picture I took of them or I never actually took a picture just thought about it.  I love making pj's, they are such an easy and quick thing for me now and always seem to be loved by the recipient.  I also love how I accidentally got a great picture of Bubbles :)

I think my favorite thing I made this holiday season was this little outfit for Shawn's sister who is expecting.  It's been a while since there was a baby girl on the way and I have had this tu-tu idea in my head for a long time.  And it just so happens that baby's daddy is in a band so I got to do some more freezer paper stenciling too and put the band's logo on the onesie.

I had an idea last summer for a great teacher gift this year.  My tote bags with matching notebook and pencil cases.  The thing is Athena has three teachers this year!  It was fun though.  Athena picked out the fabrics for each one to make them unique to each teacher.  They seemed to like them and I think I may use this idea for any birthday parties Athena is invited to that we have no ideas for.  They are another item I can whip up pretty fast now that I have made so many of them.

Also in the missing photo category, I made a bunch of gift card holders using a form of this tutorial.  Although I made a few changes to make them my own.  Another thing I think I am going to just make a few of with scraps to have around in case the need for a gift comes up.

So that's about it for things I made for Christmas.  Next time I blog I will have the few pictures I actually took while we were in Utah to post.  Hope you all are enjoying the New Year.

New Year Again?

How can it be a new year again already?  I have so much to blog about that I don't know where to start.  I think I have to go back to December and our fun little trip to Castle's and Coaster's for Shawn's work holiday party.

Here's Athena flying along the zip-line

 Here's Athena again in a go-cart.

 Hailey ready to race in her cart.

 Kayla, Drew and Hailey on the rocket type thing.

 Athena and Kayla on the bumper boats.

 Shawn and the girls on the log ride.

We had a nice time with perfect weather.  Athena and Hailey both got to bring a friend along.  It was a nice little break from all the sewing and planning getting ready for Christmas and our trip to Utah.  Watch for a post on that soon.  Right now I am having a hard time putting down my book.  I'm on the second of the Hunger Games trilogy and just want to read, read, read!