Dolly's Eyeglasses!

Jessie bought these dolls for a friends daughter. Her friend just happens to be and "eye doctor" that has a young daughter who wears glasses. Little Mattie loves her eyeglasses and Jess thought one of the dolly's should be sporting a pair, just like Mattie.

Not sure where Jess bought these dolls, but she said they were supposed to be replicas of the ones that John Lennon gave his children. John Lennon, well maybe it was someone else. Not even sure he had a daughter. I will have to ask her more about that, guess I wasn't listening.

So of course I added a pair of glasses on one of the dolls. I didn't draw a pattern or anything, just started embroidering with red thread, (she loves red.) Jessie said they looked like red cat eye glasses.

If you know a little girl who wears glasses, be sure she has a doll who doesn't have 20/20 vision either!
She will love you for it!

Ouch! This hurts me to look at it!

Little Cuties!

Weathered Wood.

Finally got a picture of this old house that I drive pass every week. I was able snap these pics from my car. I love this blue color. Isn't it the most perfect weathered blue you've ever seen! Someone should do a photo shoot here...

The blue color doesn't show up too good, but it's a great color in person, or I should say "while flying by in my car!"

Sits close to a 2 lane highway, the blue catches my eye each week.

Love it. Someone needs to take some good photos of this place. 

Peanut Butter Pie oh MY!

We love peanut butter pie at our house. Well Tanner and I do anyway. Today I made 2 pies with help from little Jack. He loved it and can't wait til we can do it again.

Recipe is from Greg's cousin who always brought it the Wednesday night potluck.

Let's hear it for PBPIE!

Really excited about getting to help!

Think I'll just have a....

...taste.

Looks a little messy but tastes great!

So easy, and I only do easy!

Yard Sales and Lemonade

Over the weekend I helped Elisha and Jessie with a yard sale. I hardly ever go to one myself, or have them either. But Elisha is great with sales Jessie seems to be getting the hang of it too. They posted items on facebook and actually had people see it, text, and come by to pick up it up! Yard sales have sure changed it the last few years.

I just love Elisha and her family. She has two beautiful daughters and her husband is a cousin of Greg's. (But who isn't a cousin of Greg's!) Elisha works full time, forever busy, and also sells 31.

Here are a few pics I just had to post. Especially the lemonade stand. A relative picked it up at a yard sale a few years ago and all the kids use it. Katie sold 3 gallons of lemonade! She was a great little salesman girl and no one could turn her down! Don't forget to let your kids sell lemonade, at least once! So much fun!

Her aunt Lori said that maybe she scared everyone into buying lemonade with that "look!"

Is that not the cutest vintage lemonade stand...ever!

Katie loves Jack and is so good to him!

Jack's first yard sale purchase, and his first lawnmower. He loves it.

Elisha's mom will not have to cut the grass for several weeks!

Another yard sale purchase. His first "power wheels". Well it's pink but can't turn down
a 3 dollars set of wheels! Well, at least I took the Barbie stickers off :)

Sunday

You might want to read this today. Taken from the blog "a holy experience".

How to really Live

There are two parts... both worth your time.

"Places" in Canvas

I am not sure what you call these canvas prints. But I am going to just call it "Places" because that's basically what it is. I first saw one at Debbie's house and thought how nice it was. Not only did it look good, but was fun to look at her favorite places!

Several years ago I would stencil (and so would Debbie) anything that I could get my hands on! A shower curtain, borders on walls, a coffee table ...you name it, we stenciled it! All those wonderful stencils ended up in a yard sale or maybe just given to someone.  Debbie wasn't sure if she could find hers, so off to Hobby Lobby I went to find some of them ABC's!

Came home and thought how easy this would be...long story short...it was not. Couldn't get the letters straight. Even with help from a straight edge. Couldn't get the paint to not "bleed" under the stencil. Gave up after about 2 hours.

Another visit to Hobby Lobby and it was vinyl letters for me! Peel and stick, yes! 

I painted the canvas a pale greenish blue (by mixing leftover paint from years ago) Stuck the letters on the then painted over with a creamy white color. It was fun...once it was over!

I'm not good with tutorials, but here are some pics that should help! 

Stenciling the letters didn't work for me at all!

These are the two colors of old craft paint I mixed on a paper plate

Took awhile, but I finally got all the letters on. Lucky for me they were vinyl.
I had to reuse several of the letters! Seems like you just never get all the letters you need!
Be sure to take your 40% coupon!

Then I very gently starting painting over the letters with a brush. I just used a creamy color.
I was afraid the letters would peel off the canvas as I was painting. But none of them did!

I let the top half of the paint dry, it was hot so only took about 20 minutes.
Then I had to move a few of my letters down to the bottom of the canvas.

I thought if I stared at it, it would dry faster!

The letters that are white, are the ones I moved. They peeled off and re-stuck without a problem

Peeling the letters off with my fingers.

Finally took Greg's advice and used a straight pin to "grab" the letters.
Good idea Greg, but don't tell him I said so (i didn't listen to him til the very end!)

Finished! Only messed up the 77 (our anniversary)
And that was because I was tooooo impatient.

After all was said and done. It turned out nice. And I love all the places it stands for!



I may try and work on the 77...someday... and I think I may try and lightly sand the very edges of the letters .
Theres a little build up paint, but I think it would come right off. 

Mallie Mobile

I am getting inspiration for Mallie's mobile that will hang above her changing table. Jessie and I picked out these yarns from Hobby Lobby. I am going to add some blue, but it will be paper or maybe fabric. Even though I don't knit, I love the look of yarn, so bring on the pom poms. Every girls needs pom poms right?

Will keep you posted. In the meantime, I'm pinning ideas and starring at this everyday!
I think its going to be oh so...l o v e l y...

ignore the tips of my shoes. looks much better on instagram!

Party-Mania!

My friend Tennie can come up with the best ideas! First of all, yes her name is Tennie. And yes she is named after Tennessee. Pretty cool!

This is her latest creation for her grandson's 8th birthday. Those kids have the best parties ever!

Wrestling Ring! Yes it was a big "HIT"!

When she came up with the idea, she said everyone laughed at her! But it was the bestest party yet!
Here is how she did it:

1 Blue Tarp (Walmart)
4 Pool Noodles (Walmart)
4 Metal Fence Posts (Borrowed)
Elastic Rope, (that a friend just happened to have at work) But you could use any rope.

She laid the tarp out and measured for the fence posts and hammered them in ground. The noodles slipped over the posts. The she just tied the rope around and also tied the 4 corners of the tarp to the posts. At this point they had their wrestling ring and she just added some blow up boxing gloves for even more fun! The boys played for hours and her Grandson is begging for her to set it up at Nanna's!

What 8 year old wouldn't love this party! And to top it off they camped out and had a night of star gazing!

Sibling Names!

The other day I was looking up the name "Mallie" to see what the meaning was. The google search led me to Baby Center which let me search her name. While I couldn't find any info about the name, I did run across this interesting tidbit; take a look:

"Jack" was listed as a sibling name for Mallie? Couldn't believe it, so fun!

Add rosettes to a side-snap T-Shirt

Yes, I am more than a little obsessed with rosette's right now. Maybe it's because I learned how to make them. Whatever the reason, I think Jessie is hoping it continues!

I bought 1/2 yard of this rosette trim at Walmart. It has very thin netting underneath that holds it together, which you can't see at all. The t-shirt is white but I think the netting would be almost invisible on anything. Would make really cute handbands too, and you can find it in different widths!

This side-snap t-shirt is a hand me down from Jack. It turned out so cute, don't you think? And the best part: only took about 15 minutes to complete. Hey, if I can do it, so can you!!

Items needed:
side-snap t shirt
1/2 yard of trim
needle and thread

Started with a hand me down t-shirt

1/2 yard of any kind of trim

Just used a needle and thread to sew by hand, quick and easy!

1/2 yard is all you need if the trim is thick. I cut it off here so it would not be bulky underneath.
But if using rick rack or a flat trim, you might want to go to the very bottom of the hem.

Added a sticker to this pic. Just pretending I have a monogram machine :)

Placing a sticker on it could actually help you decide if to monogram, or where and what color.

Onesie Gown

I finally attempted a onesie gown for Miss Mallie, who is due to arrive in October. My downfall is not being patient and thinking I have to finish something the SAME day I start it. Not sure why, but when I sew, I always hurry it along.

Anyway....here is the outcome of my 1 hour onesie gown.  There is no true tutorial. Others are much better at that than me. It's very easy to find a great one on pinterest etc. I'd advise always looking at more than one tutorial when you are needing instructions. There are some great ideas out there and always a better way!

This is cute, but not sure I will make another one. It's not stretchy enough and to be honest just doesn't look comfortable for a baby. I go for comfort over fashion any day! Let me know what you think!

Hope you have a  good night!

I knew Jes would like this fabric for Mallie

Using a long stitch to make gathers, always use more than one row, 3 is best

Yes, I measured, but I should have made the skirt wider

Pull your gathering threads and use a straight pin to spread them out evenly
Just run the pin back and forth, works great

This is one of Jack's onesies, I didn't measure,  used my eye to cut

Pin the skirt to the top of the onesie

After I was finished sewing the skirt on, I just added trim to hide the seam

The little rosette I made from bias tape. I do like this little flower :)

Jack getting impatient with my sewing

Jack checking out my sewing skills

The Mallie gown.
This photo doesn't show the drawstring in the hem. But I ended up putting it in.

I used this bias tape for the rosette and the liquid stitch worked pretty good.
At least it saved my fingers from the glue gun!