Boys rooms projects

Several weeks ago (maybe even close to a month ago!), I decided I would surprise Jackson with a few new pillows for his room. This was when I was in the throws of making pillowcases for ConKerr, so I decided to make one for Jackson as well. Especially since some of the fabric I used for them was fabric that I had scored at the thrift store for a little over a buck back in the fall. It was about 2 yards or more of baseball print. Jackson has been into baseball stuff ever since he played coach pitch last summer. So, when I saw the fabric, I knew I had to get it & save it for a special project for him. I had been thinking of re-doing his bedroom in a baseball theme since the colors would all pretty much remain the same. So, I got busy & made him a pillowcase out of the baseball print & then made a small sham out of a small remnant piece my mom had handed me down out of her stash. Here's how they turned out:

Here is a closer look at the smaller one (that is a removable sham)...

This was all done while Jackson was at school so he would be surprised when he came home. But Eli was of course with me all along while i was working on these. He was supposed to be napping! But things don't always work like we plan, right?

And so he wouldn't feel left out, I made him a removable sham too for his room. His room will not be redone right now, so I stuck with the car theme... (I tried to make it look like a "punch buggie" since that is all i hear these days from him when we are riding in the car...."

I just used up some old curtain fabric that seems to be multiplying in my stash. I didn't have the heart to give them to Goodwill when they wouldn't fit our windows (after buying them off craigslist!), so i just hung onto them forever! But this was the perfect project for it since the blue would match so well in Eli's room. So, i took some scrap cotton & cut out a car & topstitched around it to raw-edge applique it onto the top. This way it will fray a bit in the wash for a nice effect!

And i think, maybe....just maybe.... he loved it!

Jackson was also pretty excited to find his stash in his room that afternoon! We have a few more projects up our sleeve for Jackson's room soon, so I will keep you all updated. One of them is already waiting for my attention in the garage (thanks, Uncle Jeff!), so it will probably be the next on the list....

Loved Much??

Eli has really begun loving all over Zack lately. The poor dog has a lot to endure as you can see...

He may look miserable, but i can guarantee you that he is equally in love with Eli!

Sometimes you just need to lounge around together....

...and contemplate life a bit. Can't you tell it's rough? ha!

Baby Projects

I have been up to my nose in projects!

Surprised? Surely not!

I had a baby shower to go to this past weekend for a friend in Wilmington. It was just the excuse I needed to get behind the sewing machine! But before I got behind the machine, I scrapped an entire 8 x 8 album for a baby book. Then, I forgot to take a picture of it before I wrapped it all up & handed it off! Whoops! But it wasn't my best work, so I am okay with that! I tried to get the basics in there of what would need to be incorporated in a baby's first year- home from the hospital, first family pics, brothers page, visitors page, 1,3,6,9 & 12 mo old pages... you get the idea! The scrapbook was my main gift, but I also had fun sewing up these fun projects for Shannon & baby Landon... most of which were "upcycled!"

Here is a taggie toy I made (thanks to Rebecca for the awesome idea!). This was super easy & now that I know how to make one - I would never recommend buying one. They are incredibly overpriced, yet easy & inexpensive to put together yourself. This one was made from that "minky" fabric which is super soft! I love how this turned out...

I also made a couple of onesie shirts .. Another tie onesie like I did at Christmas time... (this time i did not dye the shirt- i happened to find it for $1.20 on clearance at Target!!)

And a pirate onesie. I had a lot of fun with this one. I used my "Paper Doll Dress Up" Cricut cartridge to cut out a pirate flag out of freezer paper. Then i ironed it down to some scrap gray knit fabric i had from all those tee shirt quilts! Then I used some black fabric paint to fill in the stenciled area. Once it dried, I sewed it onto a black scrap of knit with a large zigzag stitch. Then used some yellow thread to accent a little when i sewed the whole thing to a white onesie with a smaller zigzag stitch...

And I made a quick little wet bag to hold any messy clothes that need to be changed on the go. This was made with some scrap material that i had saved when i cut the elastic out of the boys' old crib sheets. I couldn't part with all that fabric, remember? Well, it came in handy! Because the outside is a cream fabric with green elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc & the inside is a coordinating fabric of soft green, cream, & blue check. Of course, there is a clear vinyl liner in there as well to keep the wet from seeping through! I wish i had one of these when mine were having blowouts in diapers & potty training accidents too!

The last project that i made was a simple pillow. I had a pillowform in my craft closet & I have been trying to find projects to use up some blue gingham material (again, from old pottery barn curtains that I couldn't part with because of the serious amount of fabric!) So, pillow it was going to be! To jazz it up, I freezer paper stenciled Landon's initials to the front with fabric paint. And if you are interested, I always use the basic pillow construction method that is in this tutorial- (kind of like a pillow sham). Then it is always available to remove & wash or change up whenever you get the urge!

After making all these gifts, I couldn't just throw it into a bag! Especially since i had bought some really cute doggie bone fabric out of the remnant bin at JoAnns just to make something for this shower. (Meaning, the fabric was a little over a dollar & some change!) The problem was though that I had no plans of the actual project! So, I looked through my bookmarked ideas & decided to make a larger version of this fabric basket. I already had enough canvas scraps for the bottom & some coordinating brown polka dot as well... so a few hours later (only because I had dinner to make & a dog under my feet), I cranked this out to hold all the aforementioned projects! And it is the perfect size to hold a container of wipes & some extra diapers wherever Shannon will need them!

See? That dog bone/ paw print fabric was too cute to pass up!!
I hope Shannon truly likes homemade gifts because I had such fun making all these things! I am not sure I will ever go out & just buy a gift again. Sewing is too much fun!

Basketball

We signed Jackson up to play winter basketball through the YMCA this season & the season just flew by! Maybe because it was such a busy few months overall? I don't know, but the season came & went in a flash. Luckily, I asked Grandaddy to come & take some pictures of him on the court during the last game of the season. I had been trying to get some decent pictures but my camera kept blurring each shot, no matter what setting i used. So i gave up & called in reinforcements! A reinforcement with a much nicer camera (can i just admit that i covet his camera???)

Here are some pictures of our boy on the basketball court. And can i just say- he is ADORABLE out there. He could NOT look more like his daddy when he is out there because he walks, runs, moves just like him. It is crazy! This season, he tended to do best defensively, but only because he didn't get as much opportunity to play offensively. He has great aim at shooting/passing the ball when we play at home & at both Grandaddy's houses, but he was a little meek & didn't really want to get aggressive to get the ball. So the only real opportunities he had to shoot & pass were when the ball was passed to him. And lets face it- there were ten 7-year-olds out there on the team- it was more like an every man for himself scenario! But i will say that he was the best kid on the team at guarding & that is because he is quick on his feet like his Daddy! I think by next season, we will have our own goal at home & he will feel more confident to get in there & get that ball!

All the pillowcases!

As you already know, I had a goal to make 10 pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer Case for Smiles Program in the month of February. I am pleased to let you know that I met that goal & thanks to 3 others joining me in this effort, we were all able to collectively donate 45 pillowcases! It was very gratifying experience for me & I loved the freedom of picking out lots of fun fabrics for each case. I used some remnants that I already had in my bin to make 4 cases & then got to hit JoAnns for more! Fun! Here are 2 of the 4 I made with scraps- they were the first two I made. And by the end of pillowcase making, I had the dimensions & steps memorized! I was pumping them out like a machine! Ha!
Here is my favorite fabric combo that I put together for a boy. I absolutely LOVE this monster fabric! In fact, I still have 2/3 yd left of it that I think I will make Eli some pj shorts for this summer!
And here is my favorite combo for a girl. I splurged on this cat fabric because I loved it so much. It wasn't on sale, but I just had to get it!
Thanks so much to Rebecca, Mom, & Lisa Griffin for joining me in this effort! I hope you benefited as much from it as I did. Rebecca & I definitely want to do it again & the next time we are going to focus solely on older teenage kids. When we dropped off the pillowcases, the woman at the drop site was overly excited over the several ones that could be for older kids (we had a mixture of some camo, football, baseball, peace fabric, paisley, etc) because she said they have a harder time getting those in. So next time- older kids, for sure!

More valentine making...umm.. a whole month later!

I promised that I would post pictures of the valentines that we made for Jackson's friends at school & then I totally dropped the ball. I totally forgot! Sorry! They were so cute (& yummy!)

We took an idea from here that I had bookmarked around Christmas time. I knew these would be versatile enough to do for a variety of occasions. We melted some red candy "chocolate" & simply put a popsicle stick in a marshmallow & dipped it in! After we dipped it, we rolled it in candy sprinkles & voila! Randy did have to take a scrap piece of wood & drill some tiny holes in it for the sticks to sit upright to dry. The tutorial called for styrofoam, but those of you who really know me know that i absolutely can not handle the sound of styrofoam. It makes me shudder all over. (In fact, just thinking about it right now makes me shudder!)

But the pops turned out really cute! The pics just don't do them justice!

And I'd even venture to say that they tasted like a yummy treat too... I heard no complaints!

Jackson is SEVEN!

A few weeks ago, on the 3rd of February, Jackson turned 7. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that he has grown into a 7 year old already. I know I say that with each passing birthday, but seriously? Can't time just slow down a bit??

We had just a "small" family birthday celebration. Of course, small is a relative term when you are talking about this family- that included 6 grandparents, 1 great grandparent, 4 aunts & uncles, 8 cousins & of course the 4 of us! It was a cramped house for sure, but now you understand why sometimes we just have to keep it family. Where would we put anyone else?

I barely even attempted to make a theme this year, trying to keep it really simple for my sanity (it's been a super busy month!) but i decided that a simple baseball cake & some baseball favors wouldn't be too difficult. So that is what we did! I did however, make a special surprise inside the cake: I started with bowls of batter... adding food coloring..

Then got this- pretty layers! So I layered them up & iced the cake like a baseball.
This was Jackson's first look at the cake. He had no idea that I was making him a baseball cake! But the best surprise was the inside! A rainbow cake!

It turned out so great! I was proud of myself because i can NOT ice a cake (which is why i always go with cupcakes!). Thankfully, my sister came over to offer moral support & to be there in case i needed any help!

For Jackson's birthday, we got a Wii! Sounds crazy, I know. We never do extravagant gifts like that but for Christmas he really wanted a Nintendo Dsi, which was going to be about $150. Yikes! To compound that, Eli really wanted one too & I just couldn't go there! So we asked Jackson if he could wait until his birthday & that if he wanted one, he could save his birthday money & pay for part of it with that & we would supply the rest of the cash. Then, we got to thinking that if he got a Wii instead, then the whole family could enjoy it instead of the boys fighting over the one Dsi. So we asked Jackson if he'd rather have a Wii instead. He decided finally that he would, so I got to checking Craigslist & found a steal! I got the Wii system plus 2 remotes, 2 nunchuks, a Wii balance board, with the Wii Fit game, plus Guitar Hero with 2 guitars & a microphone, and Wii Sports, Wii Play, & Wolverine games all for just $165. Seriously- steal of the century! And Jackson contributed some of his birthday money to that as well! So it ended up costing less than getting a Dsi anyway. Yay!

The entire day of the party, the Wii was played from about 10am until about 9pm. It was craziness, but we haven't played it non stop like that since. We just let the boys splurge on their media time since it was new & they were both very excited. Plus, Aunt Becca brought the girls over (& their games & remotes, etc) and they girls joined in. Then when the party started, everyone took turns playing. It was so much fun!

So Happy Birthday, Jackson! We love you so much & we can't imagine our lives without you. God blessed our family by giving us you! You are such a sweet boy & bring us so much joy & laughter!

And here's a few more pictures from the party!

One More Week!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to pop in & remind you that the end of February is here & I will be taking the pillowcases from the previous sewing project post (to benefit ConKerr Cancer) to the local drop site a week from this Monday. (March 7th) So that gives you all another week to get things done if you were interested in participating. If you don't know what I am referring to, scroll down & read the next post!

Thanks to those of you who have already pitched in! And to those who have contacted me and/or given me your pillowcases! This was so much fun & it felt great to have others on board with me! After talking to my sister and a friend from church about this, we think we will do another project like this very soon & maybe do it together & invite lots of people to come- even if they don't sew, they can cut fabric, iron, piece fabric together, etc. Or this could be a great way to get your feet wet sewing with some friends there to help, if you needed it!

And if you just checked in to see more family stuff, don't worry- more is on the way... LOTS of pictures to update you on the last several weeks. So stay tuned!

Sewing up some Love: For a Cause

So, it's February, right?

And February is all about showing some love, right?

Well, I have decided that I want to show some love this month to some children that are fighting cancer. What caused this? You are wondering, I know.

I linked back to an old post from MADE (one of my daily blog check in points!), initially because I wanted to make Jackson a pillowcase made from some baseball fabric he loves and Noodlehead (another daily blogstop) had linked me there after she posted about making some pillowcases this morning. I had the original post by MADE bookmarked from months ago, but I had never considered making pillowcases for this cause I guess because the post was from way back in 2008. Then, after reading the entire post again , I realized that there was a link to ConKerr Cancer in it & I clicked on it. I wondered if the organization was still taking donations of pillowcases and if they were, where the closest drop site was. I was expecting Duke or UNC hospitals to be the drop site but if you can believe it, there is a drop site in Clayton (amongst many other places in the RDU area). From my understanding, the pillowcases dropped at these local sites will benefit Duke and UNC hospitals! Yay!

So, my goal is to make 10 pillowcases by the end of February. I will use up some of my stash & help little ones fighting that beast called Cancer. I am only telling you all this because I wanted to give you all the opportunity to do the same! If you want to help this cause, I will collect all the pillowcases & make one large drop at the end of the month. So get to sewing & contact me if you want to join in! This would be a great beginner sewing project & a simple one for those of you who are seasoned pros! Even if you can't commit to 10 pillowcases, every little 1 helps bring cheer to some child!

Here is a link to ConKerr Cancer (click HERE) if you want to check them out & read about how they have helped over 300,000 children so far and how to find your local drop site if you would rather find a site near you.

And here is the link again to MADE's pillowcase tutorial, which uses the measurements from ConKerr's site, but gives all those lovely photos of each step along the way if you are a visual learner (like me!!) Click HERE.

Now, go dust off your sewing machine!