Baby Booties Masterpiece

I love these shoes so much I can't even stand it. Think they would look cute on a necklace? Who knew making a little pair of baby shoes would be so darn fun?! I want a pair of these in my size - I wonder if I can make that happen???....prob'ly not.

A huge thanks to Heather Bailey for the UH-DORABLE pattern on her blog - and to my friends at the DMC Floss company for making the most beautiful thread. Seriously - it's all in the thread, girls. I used two different strands (see photo at bottom) - the green for the vine and the pink for the flowers....and I got this!!!! {aaak!}

Okay, so now all I can say is that these shoes better fit my child because...OH MY GOSH...I'll have a seizure.

Seriously folks - I stitched these shoes in an hour (and I just mean the hand-stitching, not the whole pinning and sewing thing) If you refer to my handy stitch guide, you could whip out a pair in no time for yourself. Just get some white felt, the shoe pattern, some floss and a needle and go at it, honey. (I got my felt at Jo-Ann's on the bolt.) The stitching is really, really, really easy. Play with it and see for yourself.


Of course, I couldn't just make the shoes - I had to have a onesie to go with them. A girl's gotta match, right?



If you do make a pair, I'm going to give one teensy pointer - (referring to the photo with the pins in the shoe) make sure you line up the top toes and the heel, secure, and then go around the edges. If you get puckering, don't worry, try to smooth them out the best you can without unpinning the toes and heel.

Up next: white on white. I'M DYING!!!

Let's Have Some Fun...

Okay, so we might as well have a little fun, right?! On the sidebar of this blog is a poll list with little girl names that I sort of like. I don't like a whole lot of girl names, which makes this hard for me, but I DO have one favorite. Not that I will base my choice on what anybody thinks, but I'm curious...which one is YOUR fave?!

**I'm LOVING all of this great feedback!!!**

Nesting

...."recently my wife has gotten a little lazy......or as she likes to call it, 'pregnant'..."

Jokes.com
Jim Gaffigan - Pregnant
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Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

LOVE that guy. And it's so true about the lazy part - I don't even comb my hair anymore because it takes so much effort! So my projects lately have been 'lazy' projects where I can sit on the couch and pretty much do nothing. But SERIOUSLY...I have not slowed down until now, so I think I'm entitled to chill for the next little while.

In my lazy, lounging state, I stitched up the softest, coziest little hats! {little scream} and despite what the

photographs might depict, these are so tiny! I made them 'newborn nugget' size and I'm dying from the cuteness. AND...I'm almost done with that cute blanket - excited to get that finished.

IF I can get motivated, today's nesting project is going to be some little booties from Heather Bailey's pattern. I want a HUNDRED of these things!!! I'm excited because I know EXACTLY what I want to do...now if only I could get some motivation ... wish me luck...

Hello Out There!

Hi to everyone out there! I hope you all had a FABULOUS Christmas holiday!!! I'm sure you have been as busy as I have been... {WHEW!} The Christmas whirlwind is over and I'm proud to say that my focus was on my family and kids, enjoying the special moments with them, rather than the usual hustle and bustle I seem to get overwhelmed with. I wanted my kids to get out of their crazy mindset of what they wanted for Christmas, so I had them play "Santa's Helper" for a few other children we know whose parents needed a little Christmas help - and they did great! What a good thing it is for kids to focus on someone else instead of themselves!

ANYWAY...check out this gorgeous cardinal I found perched in a bush outside my back door! Isn't he stunning?! Red is my fave color - so I love when I see splashes of red in the gray of winter.

...So now on to preparing for the new year - lots of excitement to come! { I have this phobia of psycho stalkers who cut babies out of women...so I'm reluctant to talk about my "condition" - but it's going along well! } I'll keep you posted on when the big moment happens, but I've got a little while longer yet, so now I get to focus my attention on making adorable baby stuff!!!

'kay, well have a HAPPY New Year!

Cute Chocolate Cups

Who says you can't have berries in the winter?! They're so gorgeous!

I found these cute Wilton chocolate molds at Jo-Ann's and they are FUN!!! We had a party for a friend today and I couldn't resist sharing my beautiful little chocolate cups & berries!!! They're super easy to use and work up fast, and I love how they look filled with yummy stuff. {{Ahh!}} ...PLUS, you get to eat the dishes, so cleanup is easy...

My Baby is DONE!!!

{AAAKKK!!!} It's done, girls! Can you believe it?! I can't even see from the tears!!! {...give me a minute to compose myself...} I really feel like I've given birth to something here - all of the creation process, time, and patience has resulted in a 3-month ordeal!!! {if only real childbirth were this easy.}

I think I'm going to stitch some snowflakes on the tree, and maybe something cute on the star - but I'm in no hurry! It's up and hanging and I can always add the details whenever I want!

It's gorgeous, perfect, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I almost feel like it needs a name and social security number. AND...how am I going to put this away when Christmas is over?! Guess it has to hang in my bedroom because you just don't treat a living, breathing, beautiful thing like that.

I love you, Santa and Baby Jesus!

And here are some pics of my beautiful Peppermint Tree! Another thing that occupied so much of my time at the beginning of the month - but it has to be done right! You don't MESS with the tree...

This precious little box with the slit in the top is our "mailbox" where the kids can put notes in there for each other! It's become one of our traditions and I love it because it makes them think and look for good things to write about their siblings! {ingenious, I know...}

I LOVE Christmas time!!!

Exhausted

This picture pretty much sums up how I feel! For those of you wondering what on earth has happened to my advent calendar post, it hasn't happened yet...I'm STILL finishing it. OY! I'm still in love with it even though it's now December 4th and my time limit came and went. Because I want to do it right and not slop it together, I'm going to {hopefully} finish it this weekend for good.

We had...Thanksgiving weekend = BUSY, my anniversary {gaspity gasp!} which included a fun-filled, quick trip to Chicago - LOVED IT - we got back on Tuesday night, and this entire week has been full of Christmas decorating {fun!}, shopping, and taking care of kids. My projects have to take a back-seat when it comes to the family, so that's the deal.

How about all of YOU?! Are you enjoying the Holidays and getting things decorated?!

Some things I'm thankful for:

My rich heritage
My relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ
My amazing husband
Really, really good kids
A strong mother who taught me everything I know
Great friends who uplift & inspire me
A warm home, good food, and appliances that work
Life lessons

...and much more but I've got to get back to cooking our dinner!!!

Advent Calendar - Final Phase!

STILL WORKING!!! {This is exactly why I started this advent calendar way back at the beginning of October.} I'm so close that I can taste it, though - so this is good! Kadie is getting close to finishing hers, too, I can't wait to show it to you!!!

Steps I accomplished in last few weeks:

* Iron on fusible webbing to the backs of each felt square. This gives the felt stability and protects the thread. I cut mine just a shade smaller than my 3 1/2 x 4" squares, pressed them on to the BACKS, and it couldn't have been easier.

* Measure & pin squares where I want them

* Hand stitch squares in place. Yep, one by one, and it did take forever, but wouldn't you agree that it looks MUCH nicer than running a sewing machine over it? After all of my hard work, I was NOT about to use a sewing machine. I've seen both methods and I just didn't like the look of machine stitching on the squares.

This goes to prove that slow, steady, and patience wins overall!

NOW...my next phase this week will include:

* Pick a cute font on computer, print out numbers 0-9. Holding the paper and fabric up to the window, trace numbers onto fabric.

* Hand stitch numbers in black - should not take much time - maybe a couple of hours. {And let's be honest here, I'd LOVE a good excuse to sit around today, watch a good movie, and stitch away.}

* Layer top, some sturdy felt batting, and the bottom together with right sides together. I'll probably use a spray adhesive to help make everything stay sturdy and stuck.

* Sew all the way around; turn right-sides-out; top stitch all the way around the entire tree. When I sew, I'm going to start at the bottom, leaving about 6 - 8 inches for an opening right in the center. IN that opening, after I've turned the tree right-side-out, I'm going to insert my brown tree stump and sew it into that space.

* Attach felt star on top

* Cut out & stitch white felt snowflakes in random places on tree - through all three layers. This will help secure my layers, as well as add more detail.

* Attach hanging hooks on the back

THEN I'LL BE DONE!!! All of this has to happen before this week is over!!! Let's see if I can make it!!!

Blanket / Pillow Snugglie

This is the post I put together for Stephanie over at Somewhat Simple yesterday for our Blog Swap. That was pretty fun!

This project is a *yummy* fleece blanket/pillow that seriously takes 30 minutes start-to-finish. {I'm not kidding} You could give these as gifts, or make a few for the house to warm you up during the Holiday season!

You can use this cozy blanket as a pillow, or you can unfold it and wrap up in it, and tuck your cold toes into the pocket while you curl up with a good book. This one here is nice and long - just perfect for a grown-up, but my kids love theirs that I made them - I just made them shorter for kid-sized legs!

So let's get started...

(just click on each picture below) Again, you might need to minimize your screen a little in order to keep the pictures in a straight line - they'll probably be easier to follow that way.

I forgot to take a "big picture" of the pillow pocket stitched onto the blanket {oopsie} and some people have been confused by this. So pin the pillow pocket in the center of the blanket, lining up the bottom, just like in the picture...

Then SEW the pillow pocket onto the blanket, starting at the right-hand corner, leaving ONE INCH AROUND THE SIDES for fringe, ending in the left-hand corner. And that's it.

Following the last step there, trim all of the fringe on the pillow pocket, and then all around the blanket.
















To fold into a pillow, lay the blanket flat, pocket-side-down, fold the length in thirds, then fold down in thirds, wrapping the pocket around.