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!

After attending a wedding this weekend, I've had this song stuck in my head and wanted to share the neat lyrics with you.

Battle Hymn of Love
I will pledge my heart, to the love we share.
Through the good and bad times too.
I'll forsake my rest for your happiness:
'Til my death I will stand by you.

With God as my witness, this vow I will make;
To have and to hold you, no other to take.
For rich or for poor, under skies grey or blue,
'Til my death I will stand by you.

There are wars and there are rumours, of wars yet to come.
Temptations we'll have to walk through.
Though others may tremble, I will not run.
'Til my death I will stand by you.

I will put on the armour of faithfulness,
To fight for a heart that is true.
'Til the battle is won, I will not rest.
'Til my death I will stand by you.

With God as my witness, this vow I will make;
To have and to hold you, no other to take.
For rich or for poor, under skies grey or blue,
'Til my death I will stand by you.

'Til the battle is won, I will not run.
'Til my death I will stand by you.

Memories of my own wedding :)
Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted!
I've been digging through my packed to the brim house trying to weed out the things I can live without!  Ok... that would be lots more than what I actually decided I could spare!  We're having a garage sale at my house this Saturday so if you live in the area come check it all out! :)

Well we made it through! 
It's finally April! :)
The No Spending Spree can get kicked out the door...haha!
No, it would probably be smart to stick with it to some extent as time goes on.  I did learn a lot though, and although we saved a bit more than we typically do, I don' think it was quite the best way to go about it.  We don't have enough saved to do this...

photo credit
...but I had to laugh when I saw this pic! :)
As of my last post about this, we still hadn't spent anything extra beyond what was necessary (or so I thought!).
I found out later that my hubby had paid the typical few dollars for renting a gym to play basketball every week.  He went a couple times before we realized...HELLO...that's part of the spending! No wonder he said that it wasn't affecting him much! :)
I did end up breaking down and buying some diapers for the boys as well.  I did some cloth diapers on Rystin for awhile but my stash wasn't quite equipped enough to just start in and stick with it.  I need a few more of them to last more than a few days.  And I wasn't about to start trying them on Skyler, though maybe that would have motivated him to use the potty instead! I switched to cloth nursing pads since I ran out of my others! I also had to buy some vitamins and things because the cold bug hit both our boys and we were trying to make them better! That was pretty important and necessary in my mind!  Unfortunately, our yearly dental checkups ended up being during March too, which is always a bigger expense. We both bought a few things related to work, but nothing major. Right now I can't think of anything else until yesterday (yes...it was the last day of March) and went and finally went grocery shopping to fill my empty fridge and fruit bowl!  We had supper company and I decided I couldn't wait until April 1st to go!

So here are a few things I learned about this type of 'fast':
1. It's not the best way!
2. You miss out on sales for things you know you'll have to buy at some point either way
3. You end up spending MORE than normal when you go and restock at the end of your planned time
4. You make others feel like they have to have you stay for meals because they know you'd have to go all the way home to eat otherwise! ;)
5. You can't go to garage sales...ahh! :(
6.  A lot of it turns out to be just stubbornness and pride that keeps you going!
But some positives are:
1. You DO end up saving more
2. You create better spending habits (or lack thereof)
3. It is a good teacher of self-discipline

So like I said, I wouldn't say this was the best way overall, but I would recommend every family to do something like this occasionally.  I would say to change the rules a little to something more along the lines of not spending anything 'extra'.  Things like food (within reason), and regular needs should be okay.  That way, if you see sales on something you know you would normally need, you CAN go out and stock up!
I did enjoy my day stocking up again yesterday and hitting garage sales today, though!  Did I buy anything I didn't need you ask?!  Well... um... ok, maybe a little!  :)  Did you make any financial goals recently?  How is it going for you?
I always love your comments and input...share with me!