{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Fastest, cheapest dog or toddler toy ever!

It took me longer to make the tutorial for this than it took to make the actual toy! So gather some supplies & entertain someone smaller than you!
I originally made this tutorial not too long after Easter, but I was having problems with photos & Blogger, so I put it off. So maybe you don't have any easter basket celophane sitting around. You can buy this stuff, too, if need be. Other things that work: the rinsed out and dried bags from cereal boxes and chips. Go see what you can find.

(I apparently am still having difficulties with Blogger and photos. But since I'm not winning any blogging awards anyway, I guess done is better than perfect, and I present to you my humble work.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Heavy Artillery

I had a rough week. My 38th birthday, my 20 year high school reunion, and PMS all within 4 days of each other. It's been very emotional and otherworldly. I had this feeling of not being stable in time. I spent yesterday in a fog - I thought I might just be hungover. And I was, but not in the alcoholic sense.

My adorable husband bought me a Cannon Rebel T3 for my birthday. It was an extravagence, and on my wish list for years. I didn't use it for 24 hours because I couldn't quite believe it was mine. I let the girls have turns on it yesterday (shhh! don't tell Hubby!), because I like to see their perspective on things. I got a lot of pictures of the carpet, or me with undone hair and a double chin, but I got some beauties too. Like this one:

This one punched me in the stomach. This is me: going through life popping bubbles with a hammer. Doing the job, totally enthusiastically, but it's just too much. I work SO HARD at everything: raising my children, budgeting, volunteering at the school, teaching, organizing my little life. I end up exhausted and wondering why the heck things aren't working perfectly since I work so hard at it. Well, my friends, my choice of tool is the problem. Twin A here could've used a chopstick, or heck, her finger, to do the same job. She would have popped the same amount of bubbles, but with less exertion and less danger.

I get it. I'm putting down the hammer. I'm going to try to not work so hard. I'm figuring out when my fingers will work just as well. Here's to another day of handing the kids the camera. (Shhh! Don't tell Hubby.)

{this moment}

Practicing with my birthday present: a Cannon Rebel T3! Squeeeeee!

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Story Telling Blocks

aka. one long time wished for project completed - in 15 minutes!

I've wanted some of these story telling blocks for a long time now. There are some beautiful ones out there. But as you know by now, I'm cheap. Plus, I wanted to "do it myself." (gee, where do my kids get it from?) One evening a couple weeks ago, I was purusing OnePrettyThing while the kiddos were eating dinner & found Teach Besides Me's tutorial for making these things. What was best was that she listed all the phrases she used, so I didn't have to use any brain power trying to think of clever words. One of the things that has stopped me from making these in the past has been buying the blocks. I either forget when I'm at the craft store, or they are way more expensive than I thought they would be, so I planned to come back with a coupon. Looking at Karyn's blocks, they seemed to be smallish...just the size of the cubes inside the blocks that my kids happened to have spread all over the floor that very minute! So I grabbed nine and a sharpie. While my girlies were munching, I scribbled away. They were so interested, they couldn't wait for me to be done and take a picture. Since the blocks' creation, they've been played with by my children and several others we've had over. I'd say they're a hit AND something crossed off my "someday" list! Crafting win!

(P/S - I realize the photo is upside down. I have been having such difficulty with this shifting of photographs with Blogger lately. (Fine on my computer, upside-down or sideways on the blog...) It has been hampering my bloging actually. SO in the interest of having an imperfect post up vs. not ever getting any post up, no matter how perfect, I'm leaving this upside-down-yet-understandable photo up. Thank you for your understanding!)

Who got a makeover?

That's right, I did! The twins brought out their stash of nail polish, face powder, and lipstick and did their mom up last night. We were trying to keep cool, enjoying the evening temperatures outside when they pounced on me. I had on four layers of lip stick/gloss by the time they were done, the most prominent layer being bright, bright pink. (Sorry, no photo of that.) The best part, while my nails were drying, they took turns giving me a massage! Now THAT made my day! It was the most fun, least fighting, and most positive interaction I've had with them in many a day.

Happy Summer to You!

Sorry, my dear Two Readers

I have written two, 2!, posts recently, and Blogger tries to load the pictures sideways, & I am not skilled in the ways of html to fix them. On top of that, the lazy days of summer that I was blissfully daydreaming of in very busy May? They haven't transpired. The two weeks of summer vacation so far have been whirlwind. "We are out of bread ALREADY?" A mom doesn't get summer vacation. She still has to do everything she usually has to do, just with EVERY child underfoot inbetween every impromptu playdate, beach gathering, and graduation party. Here's hoping your summer contains more lazing than mine thus far.

Happy Summering!

Sorry I've been absent. We had a big week here. First week of summer vacation, our dog's first birthday, and the first camping trip of the summer. (impromptu, too - awesome!) Here is Charley's first birthday cake, made lovingly by his "sisters". Yes, we lit a candle and sang to him. He just wondered when the heck they were going to put that delicious smelling pile of ground beef, potatoes, carrots and apples down where he could reach it!

Then we were able to acquire some camping in one of our national parks. I'll bet you can guess which one. We've been here before with the girls, but always in September, so they've never seen the waterfalls. It was a great trip, despite one child having an accident in their sleeping bag the first night, the super cold nights, and going to bed one night, leaving Charley tied to the picnic table - he almost was a bear snack! (Don't worry - he was only out there for about five minutes before I realized.) We had a minimal about of fighting - for our family.

Hope your first days of summer vacation are going great!

Summer Calendar

Today is the first day of summer break for us! Yea! I forgot to turn off my alarm, so guess who was up at 6:50am anyway? That's right, me. Actually I was up anyway, due to a very loud bird who has moved into the backyard. He announces from a very early time that he is up and doing all the bird things he needs to do.

My kids have a hard time with transitions. We need to explain what is happening when and give them lots of time to process. They are not good with surprises. Even though summer is more laid back, there are still days we need to be places on time (doctor's appointments, play dates, etc.). The calendar also lets them know if they even need to get dressed on a particular day!

I made my calendar in MS Publisher. It is three pages. The first page is just about the day: Monday, June 6th. The second page is titled "What We Are Doing". I thought of the activities that we will commonly be doing, like Pajama Day, Water Day, Field Trip, and listed these, with space to put the particulars, like which park we're going to. There is also an "other" field, of course. The last page is titled, "What You Can Do To Help". I'm really trying to encourage cooperation. Sometimes it takes so long to get out of the house, I'm exhausted by the time the fun activity has begun. So the "help" page lists some common getting ready activities, like "pack for a road trip: DS, drawing, DVDs", or "pack bathing suit, towel, and sunscreen". Then these pages are slid into Avery page protectors (I love these things - they work perfect for white board markers!) and taped onto the wall with painter's tape. I know the painter's tape is not beautiful, but we rent and it comes off easily without leaving residue.

Keep in mind that my kids are readers already. If you have pre-readers, choose some clip art to describe the activities. I'm really happy to share what I've made, but I encourage you to make your own, so you can add all your family's favorite activities. If you'd like me to email you what I have, leave a comment!

Happy Vacationing!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Ever wonder why I don't post everyday?

This is why. Six family members. Today I unloaded the dishwasher twice and loaded it twice. And there were still dishes to do by hand.

Another UFO finished!

One night, at least two years ago, I awoke from a dream in the middle of the night and started working on this quilt. I had the quilt top cut out before anyone else was up, and it was assembled instead of breakfast that day. I even had the back ready: a donated flannel sheet, low-water immersion dyed in a beautiful turquoise. Somewhere in those two years, I even bought the batting. I have had, in my home, all the pieces to finish this for my lovely daughter all this time. I think I have a fear of finishing things, because it sat in this condition for a long, long time. So during KCWC, instead of sewing clothing, (I did some) I worked on this quilt. It was important enough to me to cheat. :) So during KCWC, I did finish (see pics of progress here and here - I quilted the top to the bottom, all machine quilting. I did not obey any quilting rules, so if you are a quilter, please avert your eyes. BUT, due to my short comings, I couldn't manage to finish the binding (even though I made the binding out of leftovers from the backing and it was sitting waiting), and I was coming up on the deadline for another project, so I had to put the quilt down again. But yesterday - yesterday was THE day. I machine sewing the binding on, also, so again, real quilters, avert your eyes. The binding is not as perfect as I'd hoped, but done is better than perfect, especially when you are considering the extended production life of this project. Thanks for listening to me blather about my sewing woes; here is the Dream Quilt:

I don't know why blogger rotated that last picture. I didn't edit it that way. Sorry for the acrobatics required to read the text. The stippling is my favorite and least favorite part of the quilt. I love the look of stippling, but I am inexperienced in using my embroidery machine for quilting. I should have done a lot more measuring. But I have some experience now and know what to do differently next time. I'm sure it will be used and loved regardless.

I am sharing my quilt and glorying in all its imperfections in the hope that you might be inspired to try something you've previously considered too hard and press on with the the mantra, "done is better than perfect." and then love it!

P/S - linking to Fireflies and Jellybeans, b/c I just ran across the opportunity. :) http://seanandsabrinastwinsandwich.blogspot.com/2011/05/kcwc-friday-saturday-and-sunday.html

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Decisions, decisions

What do you call it when you have baby brain, but no baby? Had-Too-Many-Babies-Brain? I WROTE a {this moment} post. Picked out a picture. Had my cursor hovering over the Publish button, when I suddenly realized, "It's not Friday." It's Wednesday. I think trying to decide what we are doing with our holiday weekend has made the week speed up on me. :)

We have an opportunity for a spontaneous camping trip (well, 3 day warning spontaneous), which is so tempting. Or we can just continue with our plans to "staycation", which is also tempting.

How about you? Have big plans this weekend? A get-a-way? Home improvement? Gardening? Lazy-ing? Shopping? Do tell.

Some completed UFOs

It feels so good to complete something. I started one of these diapers for a friend of mine probably two years ago. Her daughter is now trained, of course, but these cut and embellished diaper pieces were sitting in my craft area. The same friend wanted to gift someone some diapers and the said someone luckily is having a girl baby. I was able to finish these off and send them to where they will be used daily instead of sitting on a shelf in a closet of mine. I swear I feel fifty pounds lighter. I have long wondered if my huge pile of unfinished projects has been keeping me from any crafting at all. Thinking I can't start something new, even though the started and not completed thing is of no use anymore (diaper for a potty-trained child, say). I think this might be the season to finish that UFO pile. The hard part will be not trying anything new until I do finish. Must. stay. off. the. internet. before. it's. too. late...

(Once again, my apologies for the phone camera pictures. I still have not fixed nor replaced my broken camera.)

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Go to SouleMama to join in.

KCWC day after

Yes, yes. Technically, it is the last day of the week long "sew for an hour a day" challenge. I sewed for many, many hours yesterday, so I'm calling it even. I woke up eager to finish the quilt, but decided that I didn't like how my chosen binding washed up, so I'm out of binding. If I can get my kiddos out of their pajamas, I'll head to the fabric store for some satin blanket binding to finish. It's cliche to use this stuff, but the girl it is for loves satin-y things, so I think it's best for this project.

On our date night last night, my husband said some really nice things about my sewing. Between listening to his compliments and the high I have from finishing a long time waiting project, I think my family won't be eating at the dining table for awhile. I might just move in.

I do not remember how I found elise marley's Kids' Clothing Week Challenge. I think I followed a link from One Pretty Thing, but I can't be sure. However I did, I am incredibly grateful. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to get out of my non-sewing rut. Apparently I'm "glowing" now. I'll take it. At 37, I need all the glow I can get.

KCWC Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

(blurry pic courtesy of my phone)
This is going to be a quickie post, because I am late getting ready for a date with my hubby. I'm not done, but I made such amazing progress on this project and really did catch up with my sewing hours! I'm so proud of myself and I'm sure I will finish this tomorrow, even though I've fulfilled my "hours" for the challenge. I actually would rather stay home and finish than go out, but I think that would hurt my hubby's feelings. (grin)

Yes, I cheated, in that a quilt isn't exactly children's clothing, or even an accessory, but I suppose it is clothing for her bed. That counts, right? I'm glad I cheated, because this has been hanging around for two years (at least) waiting to be finished. I feel so much lighter because of all the unfinished sewing I've attended to, thanks to this contest. Thanks SO much, Elise!

KCWC Thursday

I got NO sewing, cutting, pattern ironing or otherwise crafty related time in on Thursay. Sad, sad girl over here. That makes me one hour, fifty minutes down, according to my count. I know it's not the point of it, but I am going to add on time to my Saturday hour, becaue we have nothing else going on to keep me from it!

So here's where I pull out my Mother's Day sewing. I was keeping this picture in my back pocket for just such a day! Redondo skirts made two years ago. The waists did NOT work, so I tore them off, and the skirts sat in the UFO pile getting shorter and shorter. (Well, the kids got taller and taller, but you get the idea.) I dug through the hand me downs for coordinating shirts. A little pinning, stitching and voila! three new dresses! And they LOVED them! Twin B wore hers twice this week. Well, three times, because she put it on on Mother's Day, too. Yea! They don't always love things I buy / sew for them, so it's nice when I get it right.

KCWC Wednesday

So, I forgot to tell you yesterday when I was whining of the biggest challenge this week! This week was teddy bear sewing projects in my twins' classroom so I didn't even have MY machine - it was in the classroom all week. I have my daughter's Singer. It works, but only a straight stitch. I have a serger, but it's been in storage for over a year & probably not used for longer - I have no idea if it works! But despite this big challenge, I DID hem those pants into shorts & I spent the rest of the hour cutting out tank tops. I'm going to try out that serger! And I finally sewed the patch onto my husband's karate uniform. He's been patiently waiting for two months. Yea sewing challenge for making me do things I would otherwise put off!

KCWC Tuesday

Oh boy. This challenge is more of a challenge than I thought it would be! My children are going through a "needy" phase, including my teen, so that is taking up my night time sewing hours. My camera broke, so all my photos are from my cell. And for my health, I need to go to bed earlier, not later. My available-for-sewing hours are dwindling right before my very eyes! Last night, I got as far as finding some pants to hem into shorts & some fabric to cut, but I got to neither hemming nor cutting. I'm trying to add a half hour onto my hour tonight / today. In fact, right after I get off the computer, I'm sewing until lunchtime.

KCWC Monday

I did it! I remembered that yesterday marked the begining of the Kids' Clothes Week Challenge. I made time for it & I completed something! I can't believe the embroidery took me a whole hour (the panel was already sewn), but it's something that's been sitting in the UFO pile for...2 years? Maybe more.

I cheated a bit, as it's not technically clothing. It's part of a quilt I started and never finished. I thought, "It's for a child and it's sewing and it's a challenge to complete it. That's three out of four components." :) I blurred out my daughter's name, 'cause I'm scared like that, but you get the idea.

(and yes, I had to edit this post, because I renamed the challenge to Children's Clothing Sewing Challenge. I'm sure Elsie would appriciate that. I'm so awesome.)

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

You up for it? I'm going to try, although I am hesitant to believe that I really can sew for 7 days straight without some...life getting in the way.

I wasn't gonna post today

even though it's been awhile & I even have something to share. I've just got a gazillion things to do, so I was gonna skip it. But while eating my delayed breakfast, I read SouleMama's 10 good things list & I thought, "well, I can manage that." So here's my 10 good things:

-getting plants in the ground (that have been waiting a week)
-eating a delicious dinner someone else cooked
-& then being blessed with leftovers!
-eating CANDY for the first time since February SQUEE!!!
-the husband that went WAY overboard in supplying me with my first candy since February
-preschool (hey, I'm not gonna lie)
-babysitter day (ditto)
-seeing some amazing help and cooperation out of my 3 littles
-the inspiration I get from the creative women I come across on the internets
-a house, food, money to pay my bills and then some, my health, my children's health, my children, my husband (I can roll this into one, right?)

No Sew Emergency Belt

Twin B has the tinest hiney you ever did see. Everything falls off her hips. Even leggings. One morning, she had her sights on a particular pair of jeans, which mysteriously were missing the button elastic. Would my child accept a different pair of jeans on this already rushed morning? No, ma'am, she would not. This left a frazzled mama scrambling for a quick solution. I almost braided some yarn for her to tie around her waist, but remembered I had long strips of fabric ready for a certain project. Those would do it! The belt "buckle" was something picked up at SCRAP several years ago by same child. I luckily remembered seeing it in the dress-up drawers & prayed it still was where I saw it last. Add a rubber band & a quilting safety pin & we're good to go.

Who says motherhood makes your brain go to mush?

Happy Scrappy Bathmat

Oooh! I'm so happy! I've had the idea for this in my head for awhile. I started sewing it several weeks ago & it had to be put aside. I was itching to finish.

Isn't it cute? & I love looking at all the scraps, remembering what I originally sewed with the fabric. & it's comfy on my feet.

Want to make one too? Here's what you need:
ugly old terrycloth bathmat

scrap fabric, cut into 3" widths*

sewing machine and thread**

* Obviously, you can cut the strips into whatever widths you'd like.
** Yes, you can do this with needle and thread, but it goes so much faster with machinery. :)

Sew scraps into lengths. I made this with piecing and without. I think long-term, the pieced lengths will be better, but if you need a quick fix craft project, you can skip this step.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I am a fast & lazy kind of sewer. At this point, you could serge the long edges of your strips, but I didn't. I like the frayed edges...and I'm lazy.

Then, due to my laziness, I did NOT measure / draw lines on my bath mat. NOR did I run a running stitch down the center of each length of scraps. I recommend both of these steps if you are a more meticulous sewer than I. I matched the edge of the fabric with the edge of the bathmat, centered my needle over the scrap & started sewing. I backstitched the beginning and ending of each line, but not when switching fabrics in the middle of a length. Instead of sewing the running stitch, I pushed the fabric lengths under the needle as I sewed, creating the gathering. I'm unsure if this actually saved time in the end, as I had to sew slower to do this.

When I was ready to start the next row / column, I laid the next strip alongside the first, but then pushed it nearer the first stitched line, so there would be density to the rows. Make sense? In math terms, my sewing lines should have been 3" apart, but I made them more like 2 1/2", so the strips would overlap when laying flat.

Finish across the mat. When you get a few rows in, roll up your mat & use a hair clip to keep it rolled.

Enjoy the new beautiful out of old ugly!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

spring break

We are on spring break this week. I had so much fun daydreaming about the things we would do this week. Instead of doing those fun things, I am playing SuperNanny to them. So today, they are going to the preschool where my best friend is guest teaching and I will take the oldest to the mall for bathing suit shopping. I'd rather be in the backyard, under this tree, finishing the embroidery on a long overdue quilt. Maybe this afternoon...

cake WRECK

You've seen this blog before, right?

Here's my submission:
My attempt at a "cupcakes falling off the cake" style. I thought I had it figured out: bamboo skewers & toothpicks. Even some strawberries to prop up some cupcakes. Totally cute & easy to decorate.

Good start, no? But the Teenager wanted whipped cream for frosting. No problemo. Except it was an 80 degree day. And I had the Twinnies helping assemble. I do not have air conditioning. You see where this is going.

This is where it ended up.

We ate it anyway, and it did get polite, "It's delicious!" But I'll definitely have to try again...in December.

(Please excuse the poor photos. My phone was the only handy camera.)

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

pretty trash bucket

I transformed a costco laundry detergent bucket into a pretty trash can for the twins' room. It was easy peasy!

Supplies: ugly bucket, mod podge or white glue, scrapbook paper (or wrapping paper, children's artwork, see what you can find), a scrap of sandpaper, foam brush.



Measure the top and bottom circumfrence of your bucket. My bucket was slightly tapered, being larger at the top than the bottom. It ended up not being a big deal because of the papers I had available to me. However, if you are planning vertical stripes or a pattern, you will need elongated rhumbus shaped pieces, not just straight strips, if you have a tapered bucket.

Roughen up the surface of the bucket with the sandpaper. This will give more ridges for the glue to adhese to.



Cut your papers, or tear for a decoupauged look. I found a few pages that my kids had made and then abandoned, so I used those. After all, this was for their room. :)

Protect your work surface, and then paint the bucket with a layer of mod poge or some slightly thinned white glue. Lay your papers, smoothing from one end to the other, to push any bubbles and wrinkles out. If you don't like what you've made, you can pull off the papers gently while the glue / podge is still wet and reposition.


When you've covered your bucket, go back over the scrapbook papers with a good coating of mod podge / glue. If you have a lot of cut / overlapping edges, this is a good time to press the edges down and add mod podge.



Let cure. After drying, trim the papers that are hanging off the edge of the bucket. If any edges have lifted, or if you'd like a shinier surface, add another layer of mod podge / glue and let dry again.

Then enjoy your beautification!



You can see ours has a lot of depth, because I was using already "made" artwork. That accounts for a lot of the wrinkles I ended up with - the paper was already stiff with glue. I was worried that the dimension would lift or be foder for little fingers to pull, but it's held up so far through the 6-7 months we've been using it like this. (Just one tiny tear.) It's a waste basket in a bedroom - it's not like it's getting wet or kicked around. Have fun with it!