So it's been WAAAYYY too long since I last posted, I know.
I guess that's just the way summer is, hey!?
It seems to fly by no matter what you do to stop it.  I am having a real hard time seeing all these 'fall decor' ideas and crafts on various websites and blogs!  NOT ready for that yet! I suppose part of the reason for that is the short season of summer we had this year in the great Pacific Northwest.  :(

So I tried to take advantage of the nice days, though I think I made it in our pool about 4 times all summer.  How sad is that?!

I DID get a few little projects done here and there, but didn't get pictures of them all.  We had a baby explosion in the area, so I've done a few little things for some of the local babies that have been born recently. 
Here's a little skirt/onsie outfit I made for a friend's baby, Shiloh Eunice.

Poor Rystin is still my little model, no matter what gender is needed.
Sorry, little man!
The greenish fabric on this outfit that I used for the skirt and flowers is actually a re-purposed sweater.  I love re-purposing things into something new!

Now that all these babies are around, I may have different models if need be.  I just sewed something fun tonight, but it's a Christmas gift, so I probably won't be able to show it for awhile!  I have lots of projects on my mind for this winter, though, and the sewing bug is coming back with the cooler weather.  I guess I CAN find some positive in it! :) 
So hopefully I'll be here a little more often, with some new projects, ideas, and if I really get ambitious, some new products!

Thanks for keeping up!

I realized I never really shared with you the way we made our announcement when we were expecting Baby #2 (Rystin).

I simply painted a onsie for Skyler to wear when my family came to visit.  I also sent a few pictures to people of him wearing it.  I added a few little buttons and such (most of which are hiding behind his arm!), and on the back put the month and year I was due.

It has been such an awesome experience to have two little boys!
They love each other SO much!
My  heart grows so much more each time that I...
...hear them giggling their little hearts out at each other!
...when the first thing they both like to do when they get up in the morning is see each other!
...when they give each other hugs!
...when Skyler tries to take such good care of his baby brother!
:)
Even now that they are old enough to interact and play, they take each others toys, accidentally hurt each other, and so it.  Boy stuff.
SO SWEET!
I had been fairly sure I was having a girl (both pregnancies!), but my boys are the treasure of my heart and I would do anything for them!

I love you, my sons!!

That is my recently organized pantry. 
It's nothing overly fancy, and could do with a few more changes, but from what it started with, I'm pretty thrilled with the way it turned out!

Unfortunately, it was another one of those projects where I didn't think to take pictures until I was halfway into it.
Well, I'll start at the beginning. 
We are currently renting an older home from someone we know through our church.  We've been here for over two years, and we're happy with the place overall.  The decorator/creative/organized side of me has loads of ideas for this house, but the practical/cheap/lazy side of me says, why bother!? 

I finally called our landlord and asked if painting was ok (I had hoped to repaint my boys' purple bedroom at some point....more details there later).  She said yes, so I immediately whipped out the paintbrush and went at it. (Ha!!)  Slight stretch there.  It was probably a couple of months and I started spring cleaning my kitchen.  The pantry was in some major need of TLC, so I emptied the whole thing onto the counters, stove, table, and any other available surface, (see above) and started scrubbing. 

I started brainstorming as I scrubbed (yes, that IS dangerous), and recalled a couple of neat pantries I've recently seen in blog-land such as the ones from Delightful Order and House of Smiths (not to mention all those on Pinterest!).  So I went and checked out the touch up paint cupboard and discovered this pretty shade of blue that was leftover from one of the bedrooms!  THEN I whipped out the paint brushes! :)

My sweet, smiley little boy had a wonderful time watching me work. 
My wild, fun-loving little man thankfully spent most of the day outside!

Here is the completed paint job.  It isn't really a 'walk in' pantry, but more like a 'step in'.  There is room to take about one step into it, then there are shelves on three sides.  The white shelves needed painted badly too, so that also got done.  So bright and clean looking!! 
Too bad I don't have a before shot :(

After adding a few decorative touches... it seemed to be coming together well.  I painted the 'Thank You, Lord' as a reminder of where the blessings of food (and everything else) come from, and to thank Him for them each day.  The white canisters I got for $3 at a garage sale- SCORE!!
The wire baskets are from Ikea, but I got them for I think $4 each at another garage sale.  And lastly, the tall, glass jar was a couple bucks, also at a garage sale. I love the look of glass jars to organize pantry items, so I have been on the lookout for them lately.

Here is the 'after' shot.
Top shelf: Fancy glass serving dishes that don't often get used
2nd Shelf: Canisters with things such as corn meal, pancake mix, and such;  Tupperware containers for chips, crackers, and snacks; and the tall jar with noodles.
3rd Shelf:  Cans and condiments
4th Shelf: Cereals, oats/oatmeal, syrup, etc
5th Shelf: Paper products, drink mixes, pitchers,
Floor: Potato bin, chips, napkins

The white baskets on the left side I got from Walmart for a couple bucks each on the Easter clearance shelves.  One holds candy/goodies, another holds Jell-o mix, and the last holds partially used bags of noodles.  Otherwise you can see the assortment of things stored here.

The right side is mostly for appliances such as the griddle, extra coffee pot, waffle iron, and so on.  The drawer holds individual serving sized containers for my husbands lunches and for leftovers.

I had a lot of fun doing this, and other than getting a bit crowded after a shopping trip, it has stayed in a somewhat organized order since then.  The original cleaning project blew up into a bigger job, but it was worth it!  My husband probably still laughs at me that the PANTRY was the first 'room' in the house I painted, after finding out it was ok! :)

Thanks for stopping in! Let me know about the storage and organizing ideas you use in your kitchen!

I also linked up at this party (thanks DaNita!):

A friend of mine had a sweet baby girl, Katri Laurel.
I wanted to try my hand at a baby girl dress, as I haven't had much practice at is so far! :)
I was far from perfect (I hope her mommy didn't mind!), but it turned out alright for just winging it based on a dress I have in my "someday stash"!

A button gathers up the top layer, to expose the matching purple fabric underneath.  I actually upcycled a skirt that I bought from a garage sale, so I had perfect coordinating fabric for the layers, and may even have enough leftover to make another baby skirt!

The flower detail.  Sorry. Not great pic quality!

I had my little man be my model! Poor boy! I made sure not to include his face, so he can't hate me too bad later on! :) Good thing I had him to try this dress on or the poor girl wouldn't have been able to get it on, or hardly!  A few adjustments were needed.  But oh so fun! Watch out world, the day I have a little girl of my own! ;)

A blank sheet of paper and a pencil.
Oh the possibilities!
Am I strange, or does anyone else feel the inspiration when buying a new notebook, or turning to a fresh sheet of paper, just waiting to be filled.
Unfortunately, the only thing I seem to write lately is the grocery list! :)
Ever since I was young, I've loved to write, draw, and doodle while taking notes in class!  School supply shopping was almost as exciting as Christmas! Ok, I better stop or you'll start to think I'm REALLY odd!
Anyways... I have a brother who loves to draw.
He turned 11 last month and I wanted to give him some of that motivating freshness that I love.  ;)
So when I ran across the idea of homemade sketchpads, I had to try it.

It was simple really.
All you need is some thin cardboard or think card-stock paper.
I used the pages from one of last years' calendars.
Covering those in fun patterned paper, I created the front and back covers.

I taped them together with clear mailing tape, leaving it lay open.
I then cut regular printer paper to size, and used a stapler to fasten them to the tape and into the cover pages.

So simple.
So versatile.
Kids would love these for doodle books for car rides, church (if that sort of thing is allowed), or to create their own story books.
The rest of us could use them for grocery lists, handy purse/by the phone notebooks, and so on.
My brother, Damen, got a whole stack of them just waiting to be filled.
Happy 11th Birthday Damen!

(of course, I couldn't resist keeping a few for myself!)
:)

I had to try them :)

Skyler turned two in April and I decided to do cake pops for his cake this year.  They are SO yummy and quite easy once you get going.

After looking at a few recipes and tips on various sites, I got started.  I learned quite a few things in the process:
-Dip the sticks in the melted chocolate/candy melts before sticking them into the cake ball.  This helps keep them secure while dipping them later.  My mom and I made some more cake pops for my brother's birthday a month later and this was a must!
-Don't add too much frosting to the cake, it will make them soft and hard to dip! Also learned this the 2nd time around!
-Don't add ANYTHING to the melts! I used almond bark and tried to add food coloring...does NOT work and ruins it completely!  If you want color, get candy melts instead.
-Keep the cake balls in the fridge and only pull a few out at a time.  Otherwise, they start to get too soft and fall apart.
-Test your base first and put all the holes in before you make the cake pops.  I tried pushing mine in as I went and ended up bumping them into each other and making a mess. Plus, the foam I was using was very tough and I couldn't make holes very well using just the sticks from the cake pops.
-Keep your melted dipping 'stuff' (almond bark, chocolate, candy melts) in a warm water bath, and stir often to keep soft.

I wrapped the foam in wrapping paper and then created a road to put cars on when the cake pops were all in.  Notice 'Cake Boss' in the background...for inspiration of course! :)

I ended up with plain white for the outside (because of the failed food coloring), so I dipped them in different sprinkles, or added M&Ms or Red Hots to the top. Nothing to professional, but it was a fun learning process and I would for sure do them again!  They are very addicting to eat, so beware!

Happy Birthday Skyler!  I thank God for the two great years we've had together, and look forward to many more! You light up my life with your smiles and giggles!

A few pictures of a blanket I made out of recycled clothes (yes...again!)

The back was a solid navy with a neat car embellishment added on for fun.  I struggled a bit on the binding of this blanket since it was the first time I've tried it with knits.

The front side is layered with grey, white, and red knits.  It's sewn on with very rough edges so it has an almost ruffly look (boy version of course!)

This blanket is huge so it is great for swaddling, car seats, for a playmat, and so on.  I've loved it, imperfections and all! :)

I've also JUST started a new thing (probably a new addiction to say the least!).  Check out www.pinterest.com. It will make keeping track of all the neat ideas you find and bookmarks SO much easier!!! SUCH a neat idea!

Thanks for stopping by!

I think this is one of my favorite hats for Rystin.
Unfortunately I must not have been thinking straight because I didn't get a picture of him wearing this one either and now he's grown out of it :(
I'm going to have to do better in the future!

I've had quite a few people asking about if I am going to sell hats on my site.  I'm not going to promise anything at this point, but I DO plan to give it a try eventually. Right now I'm enjoying practicing on my boys and my patient friends who don't mind a few minor imperfections.  I do not claim to be a professional sewer by any stretch, but I do like to have lots of practice at something before I sell it. 
This is both a good and bad thing, because there are SO many things I would like to do.  For example:
-sew more hats
-try new recipes
-exercise more
-come up with activities for my kids
-crochet another blanket
-sew clothes for myself
-and my boys
-get together with friends more
-repurpose furniture
-scrapbook
-sew things for my house
-repaint
and on and on it goes!  And when you have so many interests  in such different areas (and two little boys!!), it's hard to stick to one specific thing or make time to really just learn it.  And with my hats... I tend to change them up and do something a little different every time! One of these days I'll hit it hard and make a bunch to sell!  So keep your eye out!
I've definitely been a bit obsessive with this repurposing old clothes though!  I've been going through closets, buying things from garage sales, and even looking at clothes I buy thinking 'how can I use this once it has a hole or stain?!'  :)  It's so fun and much cheaper than buying lots of different fabric, plus you can make such unique things with all the different colors and fabrics.  So keep coming back to check out the things I've come up with (I have two more things to post soon)! 
Thanks for stopping!

Another hat for my little boy

This is more of a night-cap style hat, which my hubby thought was a bit silly :) But I thought it looked so cute on Rystin! :)

All these super cute professional pics are credited to my
dear photography friend: Phyllis R.
She needs a blog so I can link you up and show you her
other great work...don't you think!?

Thanks for stopping!

Here's another hat I made for Rystin. 
This one is from one of my old sweatshirts so it is thicker and warmer.  Unfortunately, I am good at making hats a bit small, so he wasn't able to wear it real long and I didn't get any pictures of him in it :(  Anyone need a newborn size hat with an "R" initial!? ;)
I'm going to have to do better at getting pics of my boys in the hats I make them so I can post them for you!
Thanks for stopping!