Our Week with Hearts & Seedlings

Busy week this week!

Brianna and I got out for a little bit of shopping for Winter Dance.

We had a fun time together, and came home with dress and accessories for under $60 bucks!

One day after naps, I grabbed Hannah and the camera and went outside to take some pictures.

My camera died after about 20 shots, but I still got several that I was happy with.  She's so photogenic!

Jack is in a "don't take pictures of me" phase right now, but I thought it was cute that he was carrying Katie around piggy back.

We planted lavender seeds in coir pots this week as part of our botany study.

After two days, Katie told me, "Mom, this looks like not growing."  She is not impressed with our pots of dirt with seeds in them.

This week's letters from Katie's alphabet coloring book.

It was spirit week at the high school.  This was Camo Day.

We did a Valentine project from our new Holiday Arts and Crafts DVD from Home Art Studio.

It involved sharpening crayons onto wax paper.  (Grating would work, too.)

We needed to peel the crayons before sharpening.  Hannah is using an Olfa Touch Knife to slice the paper.  Sometimes I really have to force myself to let her do things on her own, because 9 times out of 10, she totally can.  And I told myself there's only so much damage she could do with a 1/2" blade, right?

After getting a nice collection of shavings, we folded the wax paper in half and ironed it.

Again with the "letting the kids do stuff that makes me nervous."  And yes, we got crayon wax all over my lovely iron.  I ironed some paper towels to get it off.  Hopefully, all the residue is gone now.

The melted crayons ran together and made a beautiful wax sandwich.  We then drew hearts on it with black sharpies and cut the hearts out.  We hole punched the hearts and used white yarn to hang them from a dowel.  (The DVD calls for red ribbon, but I felt that red would detract from the pretty colors of the hearts.  I like it better with white.)

The finished project.

It even looks pretty through the blinds!

Wheelie, our school mascot, likes to sleep in the sunbeam.

See what I mean about Jack and pictures?

Paul and I went on a "blind date" this week.  His and hers appointments at the eye doctor.  My first eye exam since 1989.  I'll be getting glasses in a couple of weeks.

The boys caught me watching Sherlock and trying out my new Mod Melts from the monster box of stuff I won recently.  Eli just had to give it a shot.

There's still "flash" to be removed from the edges, but you get the idea.  I was trying out the letter mold, making the letters of the kids' names.  (We have a lot of Es and As!)  There's a bit of a learning curve to it, so I'm hoping I get better at producing letters without bubbles or gaps.  They'll be fun little bits to stick on projects to personalize them, I guess.


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Valentine and Other Sewing

I've been spending less time online and more time in the sewing room lately.

This is the crazy shape of the pattern piece for the twirly skirt I made for Hannah.

And here's the completed skirt.  This would be a great project for a stack of coordinating fat quarters, because you can't cut the fabric folded; all the pieces need to go the same direction.

This is the skirt I made for Katie.  I bought 2 yards of each print, and after both skirts, I still have roughly 25" of each left over.

Hannah and Katie modeling the skirts with new pink tops from Kohl's.  Hannah's is a little big, I may have to pop it open and cinch up the waist elastic a bit.

This quilt moved from our old house as blocks 4 years ago.  I came across it recently and turned it into one piece, but had to wait until just this week to pick up some binding for it.  (The binding is actually blue, it looks darker in the photos.)  I used gold minkee for the back.

I don't really know what to do with it.  The only person I know with a new baby already has plenty of blankets.  I may donate it to Project Linus.

Model shot of Luke wearing the cowboy pants I showed a while back.  This was taken at Sunday School.

Spring flowers and bunnies.  Do these go together?  I have no confidence in print matching.  I used to be adventurous in putting things together, but way back when Annaliese wore a little girl's size 8, I made her a dress from 2 prints, and someone commented that it looked "clownish."  Ever since, I've been second guessing myself.  I may make a different top to go with these pants and just put white leggings under the dress.

My next couple of projects are crafty things, rather than sewing, but I'm excited to share those with you, too.


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DIY Faux Lacquer Tray

I've been working on my sewing room lately, and I've come across many things that I just don't need.  It feels good to get rid of them and open up space for things that I love.  Sometimes, however, I discover something that can be re-purposed into one of those things that I love.  

Such was the case with this little wooden tray.

Originally, it held wooden lacing beads that I bought for Katie a while back, but those live in the "Beads & Lacing" bucket in the school room now.  If you don't have an empty tray laying around, you can find unfinished wood trays on Amazon or Etsy, or in your local craft stores.

I decided to find a fabric and some coordinating paint and give it a makeover.

This was the print I ended up going with.  I considered kitties with pink paint, or a couple of other prints.  That's the fun thing about this project:  so many possibilities!  You could coordinate it with any room decor.

I used black acrylic paint to paint the whole tray.  I used 2-3 coats to get it nice and even.

Remember my amazing Mod Podge win?  I got out the fabric podge and painted the back of my fabric.

When it was dry, this made the fabric super easy to handle and trim.  After I was happy with the paint on the tray, I Mod Podge-ed the whole thing a couple of times.  It got nice and shiny, giving it a lacquer like appearance.  You could also use Mod Podge Matte, for a non-shiny look, if you're creating a more subtle project.

Finally, I put a layer of Mod Podge on the inside of the tray, and carefully laid down the trimmed fabric, smoothing out any bubbles.  After it was dry, I added a couple of layers of Mod Podge over the top of the fabric, to give it a protective coating and glossy shine.

So now I've got this finished tray.  What do I do with it?  Well, some people could use it to display perfumes.

Or it could be used to keep hair bows or gumball necklaces in.  Or you could fill it with essential oils.  I haven't really decided what I'm going to do with mine yet, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.  What would you use it for?


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From The Sewing Room

It's so nice to be inspired to sew again!  Having the room cleaned up a bit really helps.

Panda raglan made from super soft rib knit (originally from fabric.com, years ago).  I used a vintage pattern, KS 345 in size 4.

And the model shot.  Sadly, this was the best of like 30 pictures I took of him.

These crinkle knit, rose print peasant dresses are for Hannah and Katie.  I was thinking maybe Valentine's Day, but since they're short sleeved, they'll probably have to wait until later in the spring to wear them.  I've since come up with a couple of alternate ideas for Valentine wear, but haven't started anything yet.

An exciting new development in the sewing room is MORE LIGHT!

Paul brought this home for me.  It's been so nice to be able to see in there in the evenings.

Luke modeling the panda pants that I recently showed.

Here's Luke modeling the fish pants that I showed last week.  The flannel inside makes these cozy and fuzzy.  I found the waffle raglan at Kohl's, so the whole outfit is nice and toasty.

I've got a cool project going in the sewing room using the Mod Podge I won recently.  I hope to be able to share that with you next week.


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