Sunday, April 28, 2013

Up to....Things

I'm up to...things.


Morgan and I have been brainstorming some projects for the backyard!


I've warned her, this is NOT going to be finished in 1 day.


I feel just like Mr. Tyzic: The Head Crusher!!!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

My Hero....Diaperbutt!

My Hero this week is Morgan.
She had a surgery to remove her adenoids and insert ear tubes. She is very brave and healing up perfectly.

I just had to stitch this up JUST FOR HER!


Now, you may recognize this from the movie "Wreck It Ralph". 
Will got the movie from the Easter Bunny and we've watched it more times than I can count.
Vanellope Von Schweetz, an adorable sassy little character in the movie, is Morgan and my new obsession.


I'm not sure if the following is necessarily a "SPOILER", or just a plot point.....
You've been warned!
Mr. Ralph is a bad guy who just wants to be perceived as good in the video game world. 
He wants a "good guy" medal and Ms. Von Schweetz decides to make one for him, out of delicious sweet stuff.


I did a new thing for me with this by adding a strip of grosgrain ribbon for hanging. 


The words are done with DMC White, all 6 strands, and stitched with a chain stitch.


Here's the back. I've been digging the ric-rac for finishing! 
If you go up a few images toward the beginning, you can see I glued some thinner ric-rac to the side of the hoop for added schweet-ness!

 This Hoop is a whopping 12 incher.
I typically stick around the 6-8 inch size. I wanted this hoopla to be big and bold and I think with the inclusion of felt hearts. 
Also, because My Morgan is so very BIG and BOLD!


Here's a little afterthought:


There's been talk of Vanellope joining the ranks of the Disney Princesses.


She's one princess I can get behind!


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Thriftin fun

This weekend I got to do some Thrifting at the Thrift and came home with these lovelies.

A cute little print and....
Well, I'm not sure what it is, but it was cute and maybe someone out there in the interwebs can help me figure it out. 


Both items were a whopping 50 CENTS!


I couldn't pass up this little guy. 
It's now hanging in my bedroom.

Now for my mystery item.
This is how I found it.
I could see the folksy print was on the wrong side of the fabric and I was really intrigued!


So I started investigating (manhandling) it in the shop and found some snaps.
Never to let a snap go unsnapped...I snapped!



A pretty honeycomb was starting to develop.



Now, I'm not sure what this thing could be used for.
I actually found a second one with not nearly as cute motifs, so this wasn't just an experiment in construction.
(tee hee)


Perhaps it needed a bowl for support?
I found it didn't sit too well on its own...

So, I got to get out of the house for a morning and found some little things that brightened my day just as much as the much needed sunshine!


I've gotta say, I am loving my whole dollar expenditure!
And if anyone could help me figure out what my MYSTERY item is, 
you would have my undying gratitude and perhaps a prize!

(yay! a prize!)

Monday, April 22, 2013

10th Kingdom Sketch

Recently I've found myself with a yearning to lean my artsy craftsy side to drawing. 

This I included in the 10th Kingdom Swap: It's a pencil sketch of Virginia and Wolf.
I tacked it onto pretty card stock paper for my partner's card.


I like the way Virginia's knees turned out.
Sexy Knees!




That Virginia was such a hipster.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Morgan Lego Maze of Madness!

It's was Spring Break and Miss Morgan was out of school.
To say I needed to find fun things for them to do and not have the kids plopped in front of a screen is quite an understatement. I NEED to be better about this!
Thank glob for Pinterest (again).
Morgan and I got to create a marble maze from Legos and I think it really caught her imagination...

Check out her spokesmodel skills!
(Sometimes I really miss Star Search, ya know? )



Forgive me for abruptly ending her fantastic presentation of the Marble Maze...Morgan was about ready to invite the internet to our house by giving out our phone number!
SHEESH!

Monday, April 15, 2013

10th Kingdom "Virginia" Mitts!

The 10th Kingdom.
miniseries (wiki link) that aired on television in in the year 2000 and haunts me to this very day.
So much so, I watch the DVD I found at The Thrift once a year and was just involved in a craftster swap themed around it.

These are Fingerless Mitts I made for my partner inspired by Virginia's Long Amazing Jacket!


The pattern is "Optimistic Mitts" by Devon Joesting on Ravelry (rav link).
Fun pattern and the possibilities are endless! 
I choose the pattern because of the slight military look to mimic the style of Jacket.

Here's the inspiration!
Navy/Royal Blue with an amazing pop of Hot Pink lining and piping!

I really recommend trying to find this miniseries. I think I feel confident saying if you like the television show  "Once Upon a Time", you will like this. Clever, cute, and John Larroquette.
I repeat....
JOHN LARROQUETTE!!!

PS:
Night Court rules. (tee hee)


Saturday, April 13, 2013

Will's Fabulous Bedroom Makeover!

Well it's time.
Time to finally get rid of the convertible crib and turn my baby boy's room into a 4 year old big boy room.
4 years he's slept in that crib in one form or another and the poor kid's literally grown out of.
Rolled out of it.
Oh yes, then there was the time he, well the only way I can describe it is he sneezed himself out of it.

Morgan too.
She was the first tenant of the convertible crib.
We moved her to the Big Girl Trundle Day Bed when Sir William was well on his way.

Here are the Stinkers in their crib-lovin glory!
This was when she first learned to roll over and EVEN THEN couldn't pass up admiring herself in a mirror!


The Lady Morgan (so classy with the hair and aaaalmost doing the tripod with her fingers) gazing upon 
wee Sir William whilst his royal nap.
(Yes that is a batman shirt, and yes it did pass down to Will, and NO I'm never getting rid of it!)


For a while now, I've been thinking about what bed to get for the Willster.
His room isn't that big and I thought the Ikea KURA Reversible bed was awesome. I have a few friends who have it for their kids and they all LOVE IT!
Lee, alas, did not.

I tried some The Thrift and didn't really come up with anything that screamed "I NEED TO GO HOME WITH YOU AND MAKE A LITTLE BOY HAPPY!!!".

Then Lee came up with the genius whydidn'twethinkofthissooner idea.

Remember towards the beginning of this post I spoke of a trundle day bed in which we moved Morgan?
There's that stinkin' mattress underneath just sitting there on its own frame.
Just sitting there!

So we moved it into Will's room and the kids were lovin' it!


Really lovin' it!


Look at the air under Will. I swear he has air in his bones!



Had to stop to do a photoshoot.


Back to the crazy!

Quite the undertaking and I'll give room updates as they happen.


Oh, and if I didn't mention it...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Angry Bird "Fan"

The quotation marks around the word "fan" in the title of this post is for the double meaning!
My kids have become huge fans of Angry Birds! HA!




Will's 4th Birthday is coming up soon and Morgan wanted to help decorate.


She has really embraced the joys of paper plates.


Even my yarn snips from knitted/crochet projects don't get thrown away around here.
They ALWAYS come in handy!


As for the actual game play...the kids haven't tried to make this an actual Angry Bird game.
That is to say, they haven't started throwing things at the fan to knock down the pigs.
Thank goodness for small favors!!!

Kid's Eye View

Here's how low they were hanging. For the party and the sake of my sanity of always hitting my head on them, we just flipped the yarn around the fan blade to raise them up.
Hopefully, I won't need to turn on the fan before then.

I swear we don't have a single electronic bird game of any shape or form in the house, and yet they're addicted. The birds are a force far beyond anything I can squelch.

Not that I would necessarily want to. Being that they can't drone zone over it Will and Morgan have had to get creative.

If you'll recall there was angry birds bowling a few months ago.

Hooray for Morgan and Paper Plates!!!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Sherlock Bookmark!


This picture isn't the best, I'll be the first to admit it.
But...
What the bookmark represents is the brag.

Quote that's hard to read:
Come if convenient.
If inconvenient, come all the same
-SH

It represents the first time I've ever sewn a project COMPLETELY WITH PAPER!!!

It's so liberating, I can't stand it. The open fields of possibilities... 
Leaping from tree to tree as I float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia!
The Giant Redwood, the Larch, the Fir, the mighty Scots Pine....

(getting carried away here...)










Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Most Clever I'll EVER Be!

You know those cardboard Ikea Magazine Holders that seem like once you buy them they multiply?
(I never knew I bought THAT many!)

Well, on Pinterest...
I saw where they were good for storing tall narrow boxes like Aluminum Foil, Wax Paper, Zippy Bags, and the like.



But we have this little roll of sandwich baggies running around loose.
I use these in lunches and picking up dog poop in the backyard and the roll NEVER stays 
nice and neat.


Until one day, it dawned on me that the hole in the front could act as a feed for the baggies!



I really don't think I can top this "EUREKA" moment...


I'm not sure, but there may have been a victory lap.
I think the next step is to make them pretty somehow, now where did those Sharpies go?