Onesie for Baby Chung

My very first attempt at making a onesie.. totally not bad!  But then I went to Walmart the other day and saw plain onesies for $3. hahah.  Should have just bought one.  Lily is a former Michigan girl so I made the onesie in the appropriate colors..

Took the picture before putting in the snaps at the bottom.

I made this mini stencil that I was going to applique onto the onesie, but I ran out of time..

If this baby is anything like his father, this will describe him perfectly. :)

Jesus was a carpenter...

After I started getting into sewing, I became obsessed by DIY projects, shows and websites.  There were so many creations just waiting to be made... baby clothes, blankets, slip covers, curtains.... I couldn't believe how many things you could make just by learning how to sew a straight stitch!

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could learn how to work with wood?  You could make your own bookcases, furniture, even toys for the kids.  I watch all those shows on HGTV and see how they build things for pennies and dream about one day being a carpenter.. (a really cool feminine one, not butch).  But of course, I'm scared to death of power tools!  :)  So whenever there is a project that requires them, I ask my big strong hubby to do them.  Sadly he has many projects of his own and he gets annoyed by my nagging him to do project after project.

SO... on Saturday I decided it would be my first attempt at building something... a raised garden bed (MY garden bed.. not my dad's garden in my yard) :)  I went to Menards and bought my wood.  I had no idea where to go and was walking around trying to look distraught so some merciful man would come and help me.  An older gentlemen came to my rescue and directed me where to go.  I bought the wood and used my "artful" ways to get them to cut them to the appropriate lengths... power saw will have to come after power drill. :)  Being careful not to get splinters, I loaded it into my car and drove home.  I'm such a girl..

I started to put my boxes together but couldn't get the screws to go in!  After many attempts and many holes drilled, I called upon my big strong hubby to help me.  He just shook his head and told me I was doing it wrong and helped me put together the first box. BOO me.

 Here is the box Hubby put together in 5 minutes after I worked on it for an hour.

Here are the many nails I "stripped" while attempting to learn how to use a power drill.

After hubby showed me how to do it the right way, the second box was so much better!  I am proud to say I did it all by myself too!!!

Many would ask.. where were the kids?? Here.. checking the mail.

Reaching for more..

... and riding Auggie's bike with her mismatched shoes.

I think I understand why Jesus was a carpenter.  It's so rewarding to see what your two hands can create!  Granted, all I put together were 4 little wood boards, but I MADE something. :)  One day I will learn how to use a saw and put up some crown molding in our house.. but one step at a time.  I can proudly say that I can now use a hammer and nails and I know how to use a power drill to drill holes and put in screws.  But that's about it.  Thanks for reading.  Hope you're entertained a little.

Barrettes

I love little hair accessories.. but they can be sooo expensive for something so little?  You know?  I hate to spend money on things that you can easily make at home.

Yesterday the kids were napping and I decided to pull out my college "craft" box (you know.. the ones you had all your fabrics and felts that you used to make album covers and small group notes with? CFCers remember that?).  I forgot how much JUNK I had in that box but also found a bunch of felt, and embroidery threads!

Here was my 15 minute project of the day!

My materials... 

I cut two pieces of felt that surrounded the barrette with a little sewing allowance.  (The left one has a slit for the clip part)

Slip the clip through the slit.

Thread the thread through the bottom of the top piece of felt, through the whole in the flower, through the bead and then back down.

Stitch around!

The backside.

On my crazy model. :)

She's watching tv here..

Close up with her crazy hair.

What's awesome about this project was that it cost me nothing! I had all the materials in the house and I did it while Auggie was taking a nap is so little time.  :)  People always ask me where I have time to do these projects, but I find the quickest projects so that I can do it during nap time and feel like I've accomplished something.  I can't do what other people do and sew for hours and hours without feeling like it's pointless.  I need a quick fix. haha

The bead actually came from a necklace that I bought Elizabeth. She decided to cut it that morning and there were like 30 beads all over the kitchen floor.  So instead of getting mad, I tried to make the best of it and thought of what I could make with the bead. (Though it's only one bead). :)  This was also the same day I found her cutting her hair on the kitchen floor.. oh the joys of motherhood.

Elizabeth turned 4!

Elizabeth had her very first "friend" birthday party.  Long past are the days when her birthday was used to invite MY friends over and their kids. :)  Sad... Elizabeth made her guest list and decided to have a princess tea party.  What was really sad was that a lot of my close friends only have BOYS!!!! Where are the girls??? :)  So she invited her cousins, a few friends from church and a handful of preschool friends.  They were so cute!

The theme was princesses and they used real china, from my mom, and had their first tea party. :)

Cinderella came to the door..

Here I am trying to make her cake.. My first attempt at decorating.. it's supposed to be a castle. :)

Hot Dog crescents and pb&j rolls.. some of her favorite foods.

The decor..

With the teacups!

The goody bags were mesh bags that I folded into little skirts.. filled with jewelry, nailpolish, candy, etc.

Another food area... some food for the moms... biscotti's, camembert cheese, etc.

The cake is almost done here.. Can you tell it's supposed to be a castle?

The first craft of the day.. making your own wands

Elizabeth and Naomi.. Elizabeth's dress is a bit scandalous.

First game.. Find Cinderella's lost shoe!  Prize was ring pops because after Cinderella's shoe is found, they get married! :)

Tea party time!  Here is Nutella/Banana Rounds and Chocolate wafers. :)

My dainty princess

Cutie Reaggie

Eden's a big girl!

Lydia's thinking about what she wants to eat, but Audrey's digging in!

Elizabeth eating an oreo ball with her dainty fingers

Some food.. lemon cookies, fruit/creme in chocolate cups, strawberry piroettes, hotdog crescents, pbj rolls, oreo balls and more!!

Look at how precious Audrey is! What a young lady!

Second craft.. making candy necklaces... as if they weren't sugared enough. We had another game but didn't take pictures.. it was to put together princess puzzles pieces that they had to find around the house.  The prize was princess crowns!

Cake time! Ava's enjoying her ringpop. :)

Look at these cuties!

Some of Elizabeth's cousin's and school friends. :)

Oh ee-ah.. so cute!  Auggie's staring in the background.

The kids were so good!  After the party I just crashed. hahah. I love throwing little parties like this for my baby girl, but it definitely wears me down.  Good thing birthdays only come once a year. Auggie's just going to get hotdogs in the backyard. hahah  Happy Birthday baby girl!  Mommy loves you!

My "Dad's" Garden

If you know my parents, you know that they are EXPERT gardeners.  I, on the other hand, have a tendency to kill every plant in my home.  That's generally why I like to stick to non-living hobbies like sewing. :)  But this year I wanted to attempt my first garden since we just bought a new home.

I asked my parents to come over and "help" me start a garden.  From my previous post you know that there were a lot of plants that were around the house already.  So yesterday, my dad came over and transplanted a chunk of them to another area so I could have my first vegetable garden.

I told him that I wanted a square foot garden (raised bed) but he kept arguing with me.  He said, "Why waste good soil and spend money on raised bed?  Just go buy vegetables at store instead of waste money!  This year appa (dad) do for you! Next year you try your way!"  So, I ended up with a row garden instead of a raised bed garden.  How could I argue with him?  He's a 65 year old man who's had 40 some years of experience in gardening. :)  But what he DOESN'T know is that I'm going to do my own raised bed on the side and see which veggies grow better and had less work. :)

Here it is!

My row garden... boo

He left half of the garden as a flower bed since they were already planted there.  My mom laid bricks in between to keep them separate.  I know, I'm spoiled... my parents did everything and brought us lunch. :)

This was the only thing I did.. label my garden.

I have 3 rows of spinach, 1 swiss chard, 3 lettuce, 2 rapini, 2 carrots and 1 broccoli. 

As for the flowers that used to be there, they were transported to the side of my yard with lovely brick in front of them.  Elizabeth moved the bricks... gotta put them to work early on!

So far so good.. even though I haven't done anything yet. :)  I'll write more when I make MY garden. :)  Does anyone read this blog? haha