A New Springtime

Time to Slow Down and Be a Bit Creative

 This time of year is always so inspiring,  the holidays are right around the corner and I feel like being creative and crafty. Since Thanksgiving is only two days away, we usually take a different approach to school. We put the everyday subjects on hold and do some random learning.

 I had picked up this boxed set of videos a couple of weeks ago at Goodwill for $3 and I thought it would be a nice way to spend the day. Two of the girls are learning about early American and state history right know so it will be a good addition to their studies. The movies were better than I expected, the scenery and wildlife were beautiful and the narration was done well, also.
Even Lil' malcolm was  enjoying the feature presentation.
While the kids were watching, I was sitting there with them hemming a couple of pairs of pants I had gotten at the GW the same time I found the tapes.

•  I get so excited when I get to sew especially when I have all of this gorgeous thread, a present I got for my birthday from my mother. I used to only have a few colors or would just use natural for everything but it's alot of fun to be able to coordinate a project with the right color. It comes out much better in the end.
  This is another little crafty project the girls and I have been working on, the inspiration comes from That Artist Woman, blog. I love Advent and Advent Calendars so when I saw this one, I decided to give it a try. There are 24 stars that go around Mary and a baby Jesus to put in her arms on Christmas day.
  These will be gifts for my God-children to help them focus on the Holy season. It is a qiuick project that can be made with what you may already have at home.
• regular print or watercolor paper
• watercolor paints
• the template from " That Artist Woman" ( we changed the face, leaving it plain)
• purple and royal blue cardstock
• a glue stick
• a white out pen ( for the numbers) you could use white paint
• ribbon
• star stickers ( I wanted mine bigger to cover the #'s so I added cardstock)  they can glue the stars  to the calendar each day or just use the stickers

I hope everyone is enjoying some creative fun and learning before Thanksgiving.

 

Monthly May Recap

School:                                                            

DH got me this new copy machine for school, it has made my job so much easier. At a moments notice  I can just press print and presto I have the papers I need.

WW II studies continued with, "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry, this was a 3 CD set from our local library. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of afternoons. I also found...

this movie at GW, it was a good way to wrap up our studies. I am so ready to be done with the study of the wars and I know why I have avoided them in the past. My older boys did a lot of reading on their own about the subject. They were into learning about the tanks and the weapons. I am glad we used: "V is for Victory", "Sadako, and the Thousand Paper Cranes", and "Number the Stars". These books gave us sense of what it was like to be living at that time and gave us a relationship with the characters who experienced these events, it wasn't just a bunch of facts in the latter two books mentioned. I am satisfied with the results of this unit.

Family Events:

May 13th B-Day!

May 13th, My flowers from Mother's Day!

May 18th another B-day! Pink Lemonade Cake and Frosting!!

Family Fun:

Brother to Brother!

Brother and Sister!

Mom's Sewing Projects:

Shorts for Baby

Library Bag for Big Sister

It's been busy so far and one more birthday to go on May 24!

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit of That

Last week we had a vacation from homeschool...

the mornings were awesome just sitting  around watching the kiddos instead of giving out orders and hustling to get them going for the day. I sat back and observed Elle drinking her hot chocolate and the others doing their own thing.

I was sitting on the couch with the laptop when I noticed this lil' guy who had made his way under the cardtable  trying to check out his new domain.

When this cute face looks at me, all I can do is smile back, laugh, ooh and ahh! He melts my heart and gives me so much love and joy.

Last vacation, I ended up making these skirts for the girls, they were quite easy. All I did was cut strips with a rotary cutter, sewed them together, bound the top and bottom and put the elastic in the waist. Thegirls were thrilled with them. Hannah decided to wear hers and she dressed up little sister to match. She is always thinking of ways to be creative and helpful.

Another sewing project was this simple skirt. I had picked up this beautiful piece of fabric from a tag sale quite awhile ago and never got aroundto using it. The fabric is just so bright and colorful, to pretty not to use.

It was going to be a library bag but there wasn't enough fabric.

Small accomplishments can sometimes be the best. It felt good to finally do something other than school . I enjoyed doing a bit of this and a bit of that, nothing really planned out but getting satisfaction from watching the kids and slipping in a project or two.

Vintage Pillowcase Aprons and Cupcake kit

 I have been wanting to make the girls aprons for awhile now but have never got around to doing it. I finally had a window of opportunity yesterday so I bucked down, got out the sewing machine and began. I started with this:

 
 A vintage pillowcase from GW that was $0.50. It is such a happy print and lends itself perfectly to becoming a little girl's fun apron for baking goodies.

 
  I cut off the cuff that was around the opening and added a small strip of fabric to mak the pockets a bit bigger. Next, I sewed three lines to make four pockets on the bottom.

 
 Each side had to be tuned in and sewn and then the ribbon was added for the tie backs and the neck. I added a piece of ribbon across the top to finish them off.

 
 To make the cupcake kit I found these cute mixing bowls at the dollar store, filled them with:

• paper cupcake cups $.079
• white frosting $0.99
• yellow cake mix $0.99
• colorful sprinkles( free from mom)
• the apron $0.50 for two (plus some elbow grease)
• set of 3 rubber spatulas $1.00
• wooden spoon 3 for $1.00
• mixing bowl $1.00

These two kits for were made for about a total of $15.00, these would make a great girly birthday present, too.

 Everything was placed in the bowl and wrapped with this snowflake cellophane (2 for $1.00). I hope the girls like them and ask to make more treats.

 

 Here is one of my lil' cupcakes. I think I better try to make her an apron, too. She will probably want to get in on the baking action. Well,off to the sewing machine I go.

 

Charming Pot Holders

 

 I have had these raggedy old pot holders for almost three years now. I guess I just never think of getting new ones. Practical things aren't my favorite thing to shop for although I am getting better.

 
 There was a wonderful idea on a blog to cover them instead of throwing them away. Works for me and I thought this material with vintage seed packets on it would make some adorable summer and spring pot holders. A lot better than the current leaves and pumpkins.

 

They ended up coming out quite cute and the stitching around the center helped to give them a quilted feel and will also keep the batting in place when washing them.

 

Also refurbished was this blue and white oven mitt. I used a seam ripper to take the old one apart. Sewing right over the old fabric made it quite easy, the only hard part was getting the thumb out when turning it out to the right side.

The other ones are hanging up in the kitchen on some pegs for now. The kitchen is in need of a new paint job and some other things but for now the refurbished pot holders will give it some needed charm.

 See more interesting projects at Between Naps on the Porch: Metamorphosis Monday and At Skip to My Lou: Made By You Monday

 

 

Simple Sewing

I hit the first tag sale of the season today. I only got one thing but it was worth the stop. I picked up this Klutz Simple Sewing book for Hannah girl.

I have seen these in the store and they sell for $19.95. I got it for a mere $2,  I was so excited!

The book contains everything needed to complete each project, except a dish towel for the apron.

 

Above is the table of contents, I just love the simple pictures.

The instructions are well illustrated and straight forward so the kiddos can easily follow the steps from start to finish.
 

 

The back of the book even has strips of felt. 

Hannah girl decided she wanted to get started right away and began to make a small drawstring bag. You can't buy much for $2 these days, oh wait a minute I just did!
  

Sweet Easter Baskets Filled with Tweets, Treats and Totes

 I feel so blessed to be able to use the gifts that God has given me to bless my family. Today, I was looking at some blogs and I came across a cute tote bag. I was inspired to make a couple for the girl's Easter baskets. I had that wonderful spring  floral that I was going to use for a pillowcase top but I ended up using it for the this project:

These are so easy to make you don't even need a pattern. The blue checked was from some curtains that I had made out of sheets. The seed packet pocket is from a tablecloth that I got at a tag sale last year. I ended up making three bags.

 

This one is for Abba Do.

This one is for Hannah.

I made one just  like Hannah's  but just a bit bigger for myself and I added...

 
a big inside pocket and two smaller cell phone pockets on the other side.

I was going to put the totes in the girls Easter baskets like this...

 

but when I was playing around with the things, I realized that all of the items would fit perfectly inside of the bags. They can carry their totes to the park filled  with their bubbles, jump ropes, frisbees, and bird water whistles. I didn't even plan this; Divine Providence once again!

Here is how they look now. I am going to put candy around the outside,too.

 

I have 6 baskets to fill so I try to keep it simple. I picked up some cheepies at Wal- Mart.

I always save the paskets and grass. I especially like this paper grass, it's less of a mess.

• frisbees $1 ea.
• bubbles  $1 ea.
• jump ropes $1 ea.
•  bird water whistles $1.50 Big Lots

Under $4.50 not bad. Of course I still have to get the candy.

I just love these, aren't they tweet?

 

Join Backyard Eden for Make It Your's Day for more projects.
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Pillowcase Dress

Since basketball  has ended I been able to spend a bit more time doing some sewing. I picked up this pillow case last Saturday at GW for $0.50.

I just thought the print was so cute and I immediately thought of making a pillowcase dress for my lil' jellybean.

After school today, I got busy ironing, cutting and sewing. These are not difficult to make and they can even be made into tops for older girls. I have a floral one for Hannah I hope to work on later.

I cut about 1/4 off of the closed end of the pillowcase and then cut two curves for the arm area. Fold down and sew the tops on back and front to make a casing for your elastic. If you want to embellish across the front you can do so now. Use lace or ric rac or whatever you like. Insert your elastic and draw the front until you get a nice gathering. Sew your elastic in place.

 From the 1/4 piece that I cut I made the bias which are also the ties for the dress. Each piece was about 24 inches long and 3 inches wide. I ironed the long strips folding the sides into the middle to form the bias.

After that is complete take the bias and fold it in half to find the center. Match the center with the center of the armpit on the dress and put the raw part of the armpit into the bias. Pin in place under the arm area.

 Sew from the top of the bias to underneath of the arm area and to the other end. Do this on both sides and you are done.

 

These are great worn with a little t-shirt and leggings under it in spring or just as it is on a hot summer day. Total cost $2.50 the ric rac was $1.49. Gotta love it!!
 

For more creative posts visit Coastal Charm Nifty Thirty Tuesday.

Also featured on Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden

Red Pizzaz, Thrifty Curtains

I picked up this red checkered material during my thrifting on Saturday for $1.99. It was just enough  to make the curtains for my little home office area. 

I wanted to add a bit of pizazz so I picked out this red floral at JoAnne's which goes quite well with the border of the desk blotter.

 
I spent most of the day sewing, I was listening to some music and the hum of the sewing machine, ahhh!

 

The lil' room is starting to come together. Next, I want to get rid of the blue walls, it's just too many different colors. I'm not sure what to go with any suggestions? 

This post is a part of two Linky Parties for Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and Coastal Charm Nifty Thrifty Tuesday. Visit for more fun creative posts.

 

Think Outside of the Tablecloth

The other day, I bought a tablecloth for $4.99 at the Christmas Tree Shops. I thought I was going to use it on the table but when I got it home It was too small. It would be a waste of gas to bring it back and I just love the bright colors. Since I made the two skirts out of the thrifted sheet and the girls liked them so much, I was inspired to do the same with the tablecloth.

I think they will be great for late spring, early summer and for about $1.66 each who cares if they romp around outside in them. They wanted to wear them today but it is a bit overcast and chilly here.

Before changing back into their warmer clothes though, they had to do a bit of dancing. What could make a mother happier than to see her girls enjoying a bit of her handmades!!

 Isn't it amazing what we learn when we have a big family. God opens up our minds to endless possibilities on how to be better stewards and become more frugal with our cash flow.  I can't afford to shop at some of these expensive stores and spend a lot but I don't think I need to or want to. I think it is fun creating new things and thinking outside of the tablecloth.

 

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