Girls Night

I have been wanting to start having monthly girls nights. I eventually want to have a group of ladies to craft with and just be girly with. The first night was double duty. Girls night, while also helping out my friend Cathy who is starting out her Mary Kay biz. I wanted desserts and lots of them, so I knew I was not going to want to wear tight cute pants. I wanted the coziest clothes I could think of, so I decided on a Pajama party!

Only Problem with that is, I did not have any cute Pj's. I typically just wear an old t shirt or maybe some sweat pants. But that isn't fun, so I had to have some new ones. Christmas is coming, money is tight, and I have a ton of fabric, sooo that results in making some pants.

Actually made them into Capri's. I think they are pretty cute. I really like the soft satin ribbon bow. The picture on the other hand....

I sort of looked over this tute before I started, but I kind of just went with it.

Source: danamadeit.com via Melissa on Pinterest

They aren't perfect, one leg needs to be fixed, but good enough!

Perfect for my fun evening with the girls.
We had, Peanut butter cookie sandwiches. So good! Recipe here...

Source: eatcakefordinner.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Oreo Truffles, Cheesecake stuffed Strawberries, Some Popcorn

And just a good time with Pjs, make up, and friends. One thing I forgot to mention... Because a lot of my girl friends husbands are deployed or out of town, we had kids come also. There ended up being 11 kids, 10 of them boys! It was a crazy mad house. Still fun though! (Next time, no kids!)

A few more gifts

I am not editing these photos or anything, just wanted to quickly share something. This week shall offically be called craft week, so I am going to have some great things to share once again. Poor blog, so neglected. 

Months ago now, I made a few gifts for some friends and their new babies. 

 My friend  Jennifer had a sweet baby girl, and her Big brother is just elated.

 Now they can matching shirts, and plus big brother feels included.

 Next up was another friend with another little girl. I Loved this quilt top. And I loved the idea of it quilted.
And then I started quilting! I feel like I ruined it. I did not pin enough, and I thought I was using differnet batting.

 Oh well, it is still okay, just very homemade looking, not professional at all.

 At least I can learn from it in the future.

Sorry, that was a bit boring huh? I promise, something good soon, I miss this little part of the web.  Hope you and you family have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Little Men Ties

I love to make things for my sweet boys, and I love it even more when they match! 

 Bryson was dedicated at church on Sunday. So I made the boys matching ties, from this pattern. It was really quick and pretty easy.  

 Aren't they absolutely precious!?! 

 Such a wonderful day. Those boys are going to do some awesome things for God's kingdom. They have already done some pretty amazing things in our lives! I am so thankful for them. 

More Handmade Gifts

You know you are up too late when, you are still awake and your baby wakes up for one of his nightly feedings. I will be having coffee tomorrow, but at least the floor is mopped. Oh and pictures are not edited at all, it is way too late for that! 

I say this often, but I love receiving and giving handmade gifts. I love it when something you work hard on, can make someone else happy. 

Recently I just laugh when people say something like:

 "cute, where did you get this?" 

I say, "I made it." 

"You made it?!?" 

Then I smile, while thinking how is it so unbelievable that I made that? 

Anyway, my friends are slowly starting to realize my awesomeness. :)

The birthday parties have started. We haven't had too many until now, but with preschool, is sure to come many parties.

This gift seems great for a three year old, and it is super inexpensive.  

 A crayon roll, coloring books, and a little backpack. 

 I think it is pretty cute. I would wear it! I used the noodlehead pattern. She makes some great patterns if you need something. Love how clear and easy to follow her tutes are. 

 Our little friend loved it also. 

 Another gift was for a new baby boy. 

 A ribbon blankie, but this one had bells in one corner.

 Soft flannel, super soft minky, different textures ribbons, crunch inside, little bells. Awesome sensory blanky. Bryson loves his, but he may need one with bells.

 There is also a longer snap ribbon for a toy or paci. Combine that with a store bought swaddler blanket, (love those things), and it makes a great gift.

The ribbon blanky is making its way back to the etsy shop very soon.
I have to ask your opinions. Long ribbon for toy or paci, or without. We don;t really use paci's so Bryson is great without needed that extra ribbon, but maybe other babies would like it. Hmmm maybe both?

Fall Tree Pillow with TP roll Leaves

My usage of toilet paper rolls in crafting is becoming a little obssesive, but at least it is free! Our recent craft was made by both Brady and I, and I love it! I am not really ready for fall, even though it is probably my favorite time of year. This pillow helped me out, and I think I am now ready to get out some fall decorations, and I am looking forward to all of our fun fall traditions.

 For our pillow we used some canvas type fabric, it is pretty tough stuff. Not really comfy, but resilent, and worked great with the paints we used.

 To start I painted Brady's arm and hand brown and we stamped the fabric so that it looked like the base of our tree.

This is when Brady got side tracked, it happens easily, so he decided to paint some fabric of his own. He made a nice pillow, with jingle bells in it, out of the fabric. 

 Meanwhile, I used sections of a toilet paper roll to stamp leaves all around my tree. I did one color at a time, and used green, red, teal, and yellow. 

I let each color dry before starting a new one.  

You can speed up this process with a blow dryer. (Brady paints in his underwear. This stuff stains, and I have enough laundry with my precious, explosive pooping baby.) 

 My favorite part is the heart with the Y, for our last name, and the year on the tree. I did this with a toothpick.

Once all is dry, I added some ribbon along the top and bottom that my Mom got me from Russia, isn't it pretty? 

I sewed it all together, with an invisable zipper at the bottom, so that it can fit on our current couch pillows.

And there it is, all done. A fall pillow, and it can be used year after year, and since it is just a cover, it will not take up too much storage space.
Anyone else gearing up for fall?

Linking up to:
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
http://brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

The non-diaper bag

First off, if you are here via a link party, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you stay a little while and have a look around!

Before Brady was born I received an amazing coach diaper bag from my mother and sis in laws. I loved/love it, and have gotten so much use out of it. Recently I had started to want a little change. Something a little different. I love that bag, but since I also use it as a purse, I wanted a little something new after all this time. Something that could function as a diaper bag, but looks a little more like a purse.

I decided to use some fabric that I had been saving for something special. I love this fabric. It was my first try at really making my own pattern. I typically go off of something I saw online, or a pattern I got somewhere. I think it turned out pretty well. I would change it slightly, like the way the pleats turned out, but not too much.

 The lining inside has a large zipper pocket on one side.

 And two large pockets on the other side. With my label of course.

 Making it work, I used a fabric covered button and loop for a closure, but next time I would do a magnetic closure.

 It has a long over the body (or stroller) strap, and two shorter shoulder straps.

 So I really like it, and the price is pretty amazing.

 Best part, it still fits all of this nonsense in there, with room to grow!

 I have gotten one compliment on it, and I will admit, it feels good when you know you made it all! So what do you think? Old lady-ish, or kinda cute?

Linking up to:
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/