My little crafting helper...

Mo is in PreK which is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. So we still have a lot of time together (with Henry too!). This past week he helped me on a little Christmas craft!! We made a star to go on our house this Christmas. It's not as big as the star we had on our house growing up, but it's still awesome!

He helped me nail it together:

Then spray paint it brown:

Then a light cream coat on to of that to make it more rustic:

All wrapped in lights!

Now it's up on the house with the rest of our lights!!

More cub scouts...

This past Friday was pack meeting. Bud continues to LOVE cub scouts, which is great. This pack meeting was "Night at the Museum" themed with an emphasis on Amelia Earhart. They made paper airplanes and got their award flown to them in paper airplanes. For refreshments we had sugar cookies that they painted. The kids had a great time.




In other family goings on- this is how you'll find N8 and the kids before bed most nights!

They love Mario Kart!

I've been doing a little more crafting. Most recently I made these:

I've been posting them over on my craft blog: ldscraftproject.com come check it out!

Sunday afternoons are back!

I missed having Sunday afternoons! Now that we're back to having 9am church we have all this time. Sometimes that's not a good thing-crazy out of control children! But yesterday Emma and I worked on and finished a Valentine's day craft! It was nice. I hadn't crafted for a while. Now I'm back in the mood and ready for more!
Here's what we made:

So it means I finally posted back on my craft blog: ldscraftproject.com! I hope that more post will be coming shortly!

Craft: Homemade Storage Cubbies

I ventured out to a few garage sales on Friday and picked up a few tray jigsaw puzzles. Our kids love to do puzzles, but storing them is kind of a pain! I recently came upon a simple no/low cost solution to our problem~Homemade storage cubbies!!

I first came upon the the idea at Smart Bottom Enterprises and then it took me to Family Fun. I had all of the supplies, the kids were watching African Screams and Henry was snoozing in his swing.

I started with:
~3 medium size priority shipping boxes
~12x12 coordinating scrapbook paper
~black duct tape

First I cut the flaps off one end of the boxes. Then cut the paper down so it would slide into the box. The paper isn't quite long enough, but unless you're peering with a flashlight down inside the cubby, you can't see the back.

Next stack the boxes on top of each other and carefully duct tape the front edge of two boxes, plus the paper, together. It might be easier to tape the boxes together first and then tape the paper in, but I was pretty low on duct tape and was trying to conserve!

Next cut paper to fit down the insides (I had 3 boxes, so 6 sides) and carefully duct tape.

Then I cut paper to fit the 2 outsides and the top and tapes again.

That was it!

It literally took me about 15 minutes. These would be great for school papers, mail slots or with slightly bigger boxes- scrapbook paper.

The numbers....

On Sunday N8 & I spent
hours at the hospital. I had steady contractions 2-3 minutes apart the majority of that time, but no baby yet.

It got me thinking about the numbers.

We havedays until my wonderful sister comes to stay with us to help out when the new man makes his arrival.

We havedays until baby boy is here (unless it happens sooner! But I'm being induced on the 9th, so no later than that!).

And we havedays until school starts!!

With everything creeping up quickly, I've been trying to get the random things done around the house while trying to stay somewhat cool. I've been able to finish a few more unfinished projects.

I started a car mat as part of the monthly craft group I go to. It was a good project to work on while watching Food Network & HGTV!

I also had file folder games from our group. I now have 6 colored and 3 totally completed. I decided to do them slightly differently and cut my file folders in 1/2. I did them on the front and back. This way I could laminate them at home with my own laminater and not spend the $$ to do it somewhere else.

I've also been eying different nursing covers and found on I wanted to try and make. This one is from Scraps N' Strings. I'm happy with how it turned out. The only challenge will be remembering to bring it with my places. The other 3 kids never would put up with being covered up. We'll see if this one will!

There was also one last blanket I wanted to make. I had found this fabric while I was in Phoenix. I love the colors and am happy with how it turned out.

Now I'm trying to stay up on things around the house, not let the kids drive each other crazy and stay cool!

It's hard to tell, but this picture was taken during the one random monsoon"ish" storm we've had. It is actually raining on N8 and the kids!

Using up my scraps...

With all of my sewing project I always end up with scraps. My sister passed on a link to a tutorial that i thought would be a great use for some of my scraps. Over at Make It and Love It there is a tutorial for a diaper & wipes case/cover. I gave it a shot, and here are my results.

Here is the first diaper case I made (I followed the given size and decided it was HUGE for a newborn. Mo's big diapers have tons of room).


So, I decided to make another smaller version that fits a newborn size diaper (and a size 1) just right. I also matched the wipes case to this cover:

Instead of Velcro I opted for snaps.

While I was checking out other links on this site I came across a Toddler Bag handle and gave it a try too. I didn't use any fusible web, I just tucked a piece of felt in the handle end. Hopefully this will help Mo stay with me when I can't hold his hand.


Lastly, I had a few strips of coordinating fabric and decided to put together another simple blanket for the little guy. While in Phoenix I had picked up the coordinating backing fabric.


I still have tons of scraps. I could make a few dozen more toddler bag handles and diapers and wipes covers but I'll probably stop where I'm at!

Summer projects...

Summer is in full swing and I've been trying to get some things done here before the real heat sets in!!

First, my mom is redoing some of the pictures that are up in her house and is now going to have a "grandkid" wall. So we needed to take a nice recent picture of the kids. On Sunday morning we headed out front to take our shots.



We also started swimming lessons. Bud and Emma are both in the same class and have been doing a good job. I think they've both improved a lot and I hope that more swimming throughout the rest of the summer will progress them even further. Mo gets to play in the wading pool during their lessons and is enjoying some water time.





I've also been working on a few projects myself. For sewing, I finished a blanket for the new little man and used a piece of the extra fabric to make a small "changing pad". I sewed a piece of shower curtain (they have them at the dollartree!) in the middle to make it "leak proof"!!

I've also been trying out more "applique". I found some terry cloth at Walmart and thought I'd give bibs a try. I'm very happy with how these turned out:


My latest project is on that I've been wanting to get done for a while. I apologize for those that were interested in doing it with me. I decided to start it and just couldn't stop! I'm very happy with how or "tree hands" turned out and the kids had a lot of fun helping get them put together. I decided to add their names in vinyl and a quote above to tie it all together.



(Them empty frame will get filled in August when our little guy joins the family)
Here's where you can find the original idea and instructions: At Second Street
I used flat canvas that came in a pack of 3 from Joanns (don't forget our 40% coupon). I painted them tan. I used 3 different green fabrics for the leaves and a brown one for the hands. It all got modge podged down and sat overnight to dry. I purchased frames at Walmart and took the glass out.

Yesterday I found another neat project that I think I might have to try. Have you every done any quilling? I haven't, but this looks so neat!! What an awesome gift it would make!
Check it out here: Craftasical

Sewing projects for the new little man...

So I'm feeling like I'm in the home stretch of pregnancy (about 10 weeks to go) and am finally getting to some of the sewing projects that I planned to do. I've made many carseat covers, but I still hadn't made one for myself. A few weeks ago I went down to Lancaster and picked out some fun fabric and this week I finally got around to making it. I made one minor change from the previous covers I have made-snaps!!

My first efforts resulted in a minor snafu! I put my two tabs on opposite of each other!

But with quick use of my seam ripper the problem was remedied!

Here's the final product:

I also made matching/coordinating burp clothes, binky clips & a onesie tie!


I'm really happy with how they all turned out and now will move onto some other projects I have in mind!!

One last image to share. Our two kitties Pichi & Paccha are funny. N8 snapped this picture the other night of the two of them snuggled up with each other!!