Make It Monday

There is an adorable faux chenille blanket at Made.

A Conversation Heart Banner at Punkin Pattern using felt sheets.

A skirt at Paisley and Me that I am dying to make.

And Star Wars puppets at kiki creates that I want to make for Drake's b-day party on Saturday.

Chicken Enchiladas

I made chicken enchiladas for lunch last Sunday. I made prepared them Saturday night, so that Sunday morning, all I had to do was throw it in the oven and set the time bake. My kids love these. Well, except the chicken for Chloe. She is not a meat eater, but she loves the cheese and olives!

This recipe comes from my mom, not sure where she got it from. Enjoy!

Heart Topiary

I finally got around to making this:

Primary Tile

For our kids that are turning 8 and being baptized, we thought that we would give them a tile that has the 2011 Primary theme on it :

Wordless Wednesday

This is my favorite picture:)

Organization

I have decided that I would like to organize the way I post on here. I would like to have a specific theme for a specific day.

• Sunday:  a recipe
• Monday: things that I have seen around blogland that I want to make "One Day"
• Wednesday: Wordless Wednesday. Usually a funny picture, something that the kids have done. May be a recent picture, may not be.
• Friday: a tutorial (or place to find the tutorial) of something that I made made that week.

This way I am guaranteed to have at least 4 posts a week. Sometimes more. And sometimes there will be less. I am hoping to be on top of it and have posts scheduled so I don't have to rush. We will see how it works out.

Ironing boards and curtains

The cover for my ironing board was getting really gross:

This is even after I washed it. Burn marks everywhere.

So I decided to make a new one. The material that I wanted to use, I just barely did not have enough, so by default, it is this material:

I laid out the gross cover onto the new material and just followed all the way around and cut it out. I was too lazy to sew a casing for new elastic, so I just sewed some on in a x on the wider part of the ironing board and 2 smaller pieces of elastic in the middle and the small end. It is not a perfect fit by any means, but it works and looks SO much better!

I also redid the curtains in the kids' room. It was one of those reed-like roll-up blind thingy's. It worked, but at night, if there is a light on, you can see right into the room. I did not like that! I hung a piece of material up, that I bought to hide our water heater. It was just up there with safety pins and tucked into the blind. I wanted more light in there, so I changed the curtains. I wanted something that would let the light in, but that you can't see right through. All of my white material was too small, so I used a multi-colored stripe and dot fabric for the first layer:

To help keep the cold air out and the heat in, I just hung up 2 pieces of fleece that my mom gave to me, (thanks mom!) that I have not decided what to do with yet. I used bigger hooks and an extra pole that came with our double rod in the dining room. I screwed the hooks into the top of the window frame and shoved the pole onto the hooks. The fabric hides everything, so I don't care what it looks like:

A shower rod is holding the striped layer up. I figured that since you can't see it, it doesn't matter what I use. The kids don't care, anyway. A shower rod is better because if the curtains happen to get pulled on and fall down, the shower rod is not going to bend like a tension rod will. The dot fabric is at the top.

And here they are closed. Until we can find a good priced Toy Story curtain, this will work and lets in so much more light than the previous curtains. (Sorry no before picture)

Chloe's New Words!

Chloe now says banana and cheese. She can also say Drake's name now, instead of a particular sound. She likes the minions on Despicable Me. Maybe because she can understand them?

Drake loves to write his name and can recognize it well. They are up to the letter M in preschool. Drake can't wait until he can walk to school everyday and have recess.

Reward System

We have been having a hard time getting our 5 year old son to do things and do them right the first time. I understand that he is 5, but he stills needs to learn to pick up his toys/dirty clothes/messes without me asking/yelling about it all the time. I am also tired of reminding him to do something that I asked him to do yesterday. Well, I think I have found the solution, at least for now.

A few weeks ago, my son got Monopoly out and was playing with the $. He was asking me how much a toy was, and then he would give me the $ and I would give him the toy. This went on the whole day. It gave me an idea on the lack of listening the first time in our home. All I needed to buy, for now, was the play money.

We found some play money at Zurchers (discount party store). Not knowing how much I would need, we bought 2 packs ($1 a piece), which is more than enough for now. This is how it works: each morning, our son gets $20 in $1 bills put into an envelope. If he misbehaves, doesn't want to do something that I ask him to do, whines excessively, etc., I take away some money. If he is extra obnoxious that day and has run out of money before bed time, we start taking money away from the next day. It has been a month, and I have not had to do that, yet;)

Whatever amount of money is left at bedtime, we switch out for larger bills and put those in a separate envelope. Once he reaches $500, we are going to Zurchers and he has $5 to spend however he wants. I figure that even if he gets all $20 everyday, it will still take him about a month to do this. It has been a month since we started and he is just over half way there.

The first day, he had $12 left. The next night, he only had $10 left.  HE has been doing really well and there have been several days where I have not had to take any money away. When I threaten to take $ away, he instantly changes his mind and stops whining or does what I ask. If he cleans his room without whining, he earns $100. He has only done this once, but I will take it! He always asks for our help because he says he is just a little kid and it is a big mess. We tell him that he made the mess, so he can be a big boy and clean up the mess. I have also noticed that I don't necessarily have to help pick up the toys. If we tell him to pick up all the monster trucks or all the action figures, he will do it and then ask what else he needs to pick up. He just needs a little direction.

I usually only have to ask once to get results. It really seems to be working for us. I am very happy about that, too. This system has been a little hard on me, though. It is much faster and easier if I pick up the mess. What takes him 15 minutes to do, I could have done in a few minutes. But it is time that he takes responsibility for his messes. Drake does not understand time-outs. Taking toys and/or privileges away does not work. Bribery does not work. So for now, this is what we will do. I am sure that we will have to change it up soon. We will see what the future brings:)

Here are the envelopes. Drake picked out the paper and I used the cricut to cut out the dollar signs and numbers. Until I can figure out something to put on it, the blank envelope holds the money that he gets for the day. I have a larger envelope to put the money in that he has earned. I haven't decorated that one yet, either. They are kept on the top of the microwave where he can't reach them without a chair so that he can't cheat and pad his envelopes. I want to get a shutter and hang that in the hallway to store them. I just haven't had the time to find one. I guess I can just pull one of the shutters off one of the back windows though:)

LOVE Blocks

So I have these blocks that my sister made for me that said HOME on them. They were a pretty orange color. Now, I love the color orange, it just doesn't go with anything in my home. So I decided to re-do them (hope you don't mind, sis). I was able to get the paper off and sanded the blocks. I painted them an oyster white and them used the cricut to cut the words out onto some heart paper. I haven't decided what to put on the back of them yet, that is for another day that is not today and probably not tomorrow either.

I still need to embellish the blocks and I have things picked out to do that, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Is this normal?

I bought 3 large bunches of bananas on Friday and they were gone on MONDAY! I went to Winco last night and bought 6 bunches hoping that we can go a whole week without buying more. The reason we (actually it is the kids and Lot that eat most if them, although I do eat a few) have gone through so many is that Chloe is in one of those food ruts and seems to only eat bananas. She does eat other foods, but she LOVES bananas.

I was watching something last week, can't remember what, and they were saying that high sodium intake does not necessarily cause high blood pressure. It is the lack of potassium in the diet. The potassium binds to the salt in the blood and does not cause a raise in blood pressure. So, because of this information, Lot is eating at least 2 bananas a day. He says that he has noticed that his blood pressure is not so high, especially when he medications have started to wear off. I am just glad that bananas are so cheap.

Christmas

I totally forgot to post some pictures of the things I made for Christmas, so here are a few of them. If you received a homemade gift from us, can you please send me a picture and I will post it on here? Thanks!

Drake's toy bins were overflowing with cars, so I made him this toy organizer for all of them. Even though I measured the cars, the pockets are still too big, which turned out fine. I just put 2 cars in the bigger pockets. I  found this at Pickup Some Creativity. I still need to cut several inches off one end of the dowel, but now Drake has a great place to put his cars. Although if he gets any more, or we find some hiding, I will have to make another one.

This is a cupcake matching game for Chloe. She is too little to understand it yet, but she likes to throw the cupcakes around (that is why the blue and yellow ones are not pictured; they are hiding) and bang the pan on the floor. I deleted the bookmark of this, so I don't know where I saw first saw it. The pan was from the dollar store and I put about 4 coats of paint in each slot and then used mod podge to seal it because I am all out of acrylic sealer.

Drake's Christmas tie. He picked out the fabric. I ran out of time to hand sew it, so I cheated and used heavy Heat N Bond on it. I am not sure how it would hold up in the wash, but it looks good and is more sturdy than the Spiderman one I made the right way for Drake last summer. I found this particular tie pattern at The Purl Bee.

Lot has a ton of concert ticket, play and game stubs. They were just in a ziploc bag in the closet, so I decided to take and frame them. There were a few duplicates, so I didn't use those. I found a large frame at DI and mod podged the ticket stubs onto the cardboard backing and framed it, after I painted the ugly fake oak frame black.

This is not the scarf I made, but it is the same pattern.The one that I made for my sister was a blue and black zebra print. These are so easy and fun to make. If you want to make one, go to Living With Punks.

Happy Birthday!

Yes, it has already been a year since my last birthday.  Anyway, I have already received a few gifts early. Right after Christmas, Lot bought me a nativity set. My first! (hopefully not last) It is hard to believe that I have made it this long without having one. I can't wait until I can put it up! Of course, I need to find (or make) a place to put it:) Lot also surprised me about 2 weeks ago with a new electric blanket. I LOVE that thing! We barely use the heater in out room anymore. We also recieved a Target gift card at Lot's company party, so I used that last weekend to buy a 3 barrel curling iron and a reversible pink/brown bubble vest. I wanted boots, but I am having a hard time finding any that I like.

On Friday, I received a Kohl's gift card (thanks Pam & Jaren:)). So I went early Saturday morning and found a red wool coat and a cute black button down shirt with a skinny blue snakeskin belt. The sleeves on the coat are about 2-3 inches to short, so when JoAnns finally opens their new store on March 11th, I will go and get some red wool and ruffle it and sew onto the sleeve ends. I couldn't pass up buying the coat when it was $20 instead of $72, and the only one left.

Today has been a lazy day. We went out for an early lunch with my dad and brother and then were going to go to a movie, but Chloe fell asleep after we went grocery shopping, so we went to Zurchers instead (she stayed asleep laying in the cart the whole time, and on the way home. Zurchers is a new party supply store that moved into the old Roberts building. I now know where to buy ALL of your party needs. They are very well priced and have TONS of things! Drake wants a Star Wars birthday party (he is turning 5 in 18 days!). We checked out their stuff and found everything that we would need. I will go back without him and get the stuff to surprise him on his birthday. I would highly recommend going to Zurchers if you need to plan any type of party, or if you need to kill and hour or two:) I think we were in there for about an hour. Drake was running from one thing to the next, they had so much stuff.

Tonight, my mom and sisters are coming over and we are going to have nachos and a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for dessert. Drake wants me to blow out 27 candles, so the cheesecake is going to be holey and hopefully it doesn't take too long to blow out that many candles and have candle wax on there as well. Maybe some pictures will be taken, maybe not. If there are any good ones, I will post them later.

Fat Lips

Chloe fell off her chair the other day and bit her lip. It bled a little, unless you ask Drake and he will say that there was a ton of blood. While she was sleeping, I snapped a couple of pictures of her really fat lip. It looked like she had a bad lip injection.

Here is a non-fat-lip picture for comparison.

Valentines Day Wreath

I have been trying to come up with an idea for a Valentines Day wreath and wanted it to be an original, I am the only one (for now) who has it. I came up with this wreath. The only thing that I had to buy were the purple sparkly balls and I found those at JoAnns in their Christmas clearance section for $3. I just winged it and did not have this in mind when I started, but I really like how it turned out. The finished picture does not do it justice. It was getting dark and it has been cloudy here. So here I go with my very first tutorial (sort of).

You will need:
 

A wreath form. I got this one at Dollar Tree a while ago. 

Fabric. This was a fat quarter that I found at Walmart, I think. Cut into about 4, 3 inch strips. You won't need all of it unless you have a bigger wreath form.

Hot glue, and lots of it. On a side note, when buying glue sticks, make sure that you get the right size. Apparently, there are not only large and small sizes, but also oval shaped glue sticks. I did not know this:( I just bought the first low temp glue that I saw. They are ovals and don't fit in the gun very well. I have to push them in. I am going to come up with some more projects that use a lot of glue so that I can get ride of this stuff and buy the right shape.

You will also need coordinating ribbon, scrapbook paper, distressing ink, and a cricut or silhouette or some other way to cut out your shapes. Add to the list some small stickers or die cuts.

I forgot to take step by step pictures, but I glued one strip of fabric down and then wound it around the form, continuing with the strips until the whole thing is covered. Then I just started randomly gluing the large balls on.

Here it is with the medium and small balls glued on. I decided to make a banner for the wreath that says All You Need Is Love. I used the cricut and cut out 2 sizes of hearts and then glued the smaller hearts onto the slightly larger ones. I had some small stickers that look like typewriter words and placed those on with tweezers so that I could get them on straight. I then "distressed" the hearts with brown stamp ink. I just took the ink pad and ran it along the edges of the hearts until I liked it. Then took the hearts and glued them onto strips of ribbon with hot glue. I secured the ribbon on the wreath with little pins. You can use hot glue, but I prematurely unplugged my gun and I was to impatient to wait for it to heat back up. I cut long pieces of pink, purple, and white ribbon and used those as the hanger for the wreath.

 Here is the completed version:
(I love it!!!)

What has kept me busy the last 3 days...

I organized all of my fabric since it has finally outgrown the 18 gallon tub I used to keep it in. Once I finish Chloe's rag quilt, the pile on the top left will pretty much be gone.

I made my own Cami Secret in about 15 minutes with a scrap of fabric, about 2 1/2 inches of fabric and small pieces of velcro. No more tank tops for me! I found the super easy tutorial at Keeping it Simple. I don't have any lace, but I do have a remnant that has a scalloped edge that I think would be cute.

Ignore the wrinkles, please. It was comfortable enough (either that I was too lazy, take your pick) that I took a nap with this skirt on. It is a pair of jeans that I loved but they shrunk and were just a tad too short for my tastes. I have also been wanted a denim skirt and I just made one for free! The tutorial is at This Mabey Heaven. The panel in interchangeable, which is a good thing because in the original, the panel was made with the legs of the pants that were cut off. I wanted my skirt a little longer, so there was not enough material to make it work. So I looked through my newly organized fabric and found a pattern that I liked (and that there was enough of) and used that instead.

I made these last night after the kids went to bed. I am thinking that with the next pair, I will put a bead in the middle of the white bead to hide the string. I actually don't mind the string there. I used what I had, so the string is actually a stretchy cord that I used to make my watch a while back. Which worked in my favor because Chloe decided to pull at them at church and instead if pulling the earring out, it just stretched.

Freezer Paper Stencils

I have just discovered the wonders of freezer paper stencils. Drake had an extra plain long sleeve shirt laying around and I decided to jazz it up a bit. We are not finished with it, but here is a progress picture:

I found the idea to use your chosen state at Living with Punks.

*Update: Here is the completed shirt. Drake decided that while I was playing Just Dance on the Wii, that he would mix up some blue and white paint to make a new color. So it is a light blue now. He did a good job, too. The heart is fabric paint and is approximately where we live.

This is a picture of Drake (obviously) that I took because he wanted me to take a picture of him because I was trying to get a good picture of this:

I gave Chloe some strawberries with her dinner last night.

Drake took this picture a few days ago. Most of the pictures that he takes do not turn out so cute and in focus, so I had to share with everyone:)

Cinnamon Chip Bundt Cake

So I made this Cinnamon Chip Bundt Cake last night and it was so yummy! I don't have a good picture, so if you want to see a better picture than I have (and the original recipe), you will need to go to The Idea Room. I made a few changes, so here is the recipe with my changes:

 

Cinnamon Chip Bundt Cake 

 

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided 

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 container (6 oz.) Tillamook Vanilla Bean Yogurt 

3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Cinnamon Chips
Powdered sugar(optional)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan.

2. Combine 3 cups flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat yogurt, eggs and vanilla with fork or whisk in medium bowl until smooth.

3. Add butter and 1 cup yogurt mixture to flour mixture. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined; beat 1 minute on high speed. Add remaining yogurt mixture; beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stir together cinnamon chips and remaining 2 tablespoons flour until chips are coated; gently stir into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. 12 to 16 servings.

Notes: Most of the cinnamon chips settled at the bottom even though I tossed them with the flour. I think the batter was too moist, not exactly sure. I have cut the butter in half because I thought that the 2 1/2 sticks called for was way too much. I used 2 sticks and the top of the cake was greasy, so I have decreased it even more. I was talking to my mom and she also said to replace the butter with applesauce. I think I will try that next time, because there will be next time. This cake is addicting.

I am so making this!

So I was looking at some blogs today and I came across this blog that gives a tutorial on how to make your own cami secrets! No more tank tops, as she puts it. These are going to be so fast and easy to do, I even have the perfect fabric for it and tons of leftover elastic from our pj pants, no lace though. Anyway, here is the link to Crafts Keep Me Sane where I found it. (Mom, I think the girls would like these)

Superman Returns! (and other random things)

So for the last year, we have been trying to find a Superman monster truck for Drake. Every time we go into a store and are near the toys, we look. It has finally paid off! I found one! We were at Toys R Us (the giraffe store in our house) and were looking for a companion toy to go with something that we got for rake for his birthday. We always go up and down all the aisles, and I saw the truck! I would have paid more for it, too, but it was the regular price, which was a-okay with me! Lot left it on Drake's car seat, so when we go to pick him up from preschool, he will see it. The good thing about it for me is that I can use it for the next few days at least, to help him be good. While at the giraffe store, we also found some chairs for the kids. We have been trying to find a chair for Chloe, see a previous post about the chair wars, and finally found one for her! They did not have any girly ones, but there was a Mickey Mouse one, and she likes Mickey Mouse. We also picked a Handy Manny one up for Drake. Can't beat a good deal.

We have been having trouble starting our Jeep lately. Well, more trouble than usual, so we went to Checker to get a new battery. A person that works there comes in to Play N Trade and said that he can give Lot a good deal on a new battery with a 2 year replacement, no questions asked. So that is were Lot is at the moment. I sure hope it works out.

I have also been sewing Drake's Thomas blanket and am almost done with that. We bought a Thomas panel about 2 years ago and I am finally getting to it. Because I need a time-out from tying quilts, I just marked every 4 inches (which worked out perfectly) and am sewing somewhat straight lines to keep the batting in place. Next I will tackle the rag quilt, which won't be hard, but I am sure that my hand will fall off when I am done.

After that project, I think I will tackle new curtains for the living room and the kids' room. And then the quiet book. This is going to be a sewing year. I can't wait until it is warm and I can send the kids outside to play in the dirt and water, although preferably not at the same time;)

Oh, Lot had his Christmas work party last night. It was better than the last one, especially since we walked away with $100 in Best Buy gift cards! I think we are going to get a new blu-ray player, but Lot wants to do some homework to find the best one for the least amount of $. Our current one, which is not even a year old, has major problems with playing unless we update the firmware every week, and since we don't have a cable connection in the living room, we have to run a cable cord through the house. I am BAD with exposed cords. I will trip on them even if I lift my foot way over the cord. Cords and I don't get along. I think we also need to get a new 5 disc dvd player as well. Lot has taken ours apart, but it looks and feels clean, so we are not sure why it is temperamental and will only play movies in # 2 & 3. If the movie is brand new and no finger prints or scratches, we can sometimes get it to play in the other slots. It is only 5 years old, I think, but it has seen some use! Especially last year when I was pregnant and sick. Drake would pick 5 movies and put them in and I would sleep on the couch while he watched them.

Well, I think that is all my random mumblings for today.  Enjoy your new year! And for those in Idaho, try not to freeze! (Our windows have ice on them in the morning and the front door ices shut). Hopefully we can have an actual Spring this year? Yes? No? Maybe? Please?

So, I didn't die...

but I wanted to.

This denim blanket was going to be the death of me!

First, my scissors got dull cutting all the jeans, so I had to go buy a new pair because it takes 2-3 days minimum, for any store around here to sharpen scissors. Then the blocks did not match up after I sewed them all together. Next, because Joann's is moving to a bigger building on March 11th, they are not getting any new merchandise it. This is a problem because they do not have any solid color flannel, only nursery prints (I did not think that Lot would like a blanket with a baby animal print on the back). So I found a light brown moleskin that was on clearance. I got all 8 yards left on the bolt. It is soft, but very stretchy.

When I put the blanket together and got it on the quilting frame, the fabric stretched quite a bit and is not center with the top. Oh, and denim and the moleskin are very hard to get a needle and yarn through. I had to cut up one of my rubber discs that I use to open jars to pull the needle through. My forefinger and thumb sill hurt. It took 2 days to tie the quilt, but I got it done. I finished binding it today, slipping, sliding material and all, and got it on the bed. It is not as big as I was planning on, due to the inconsistency with which I cut, apparently. But it is DONE!!!. It doesn't really look to bad, either, as long as you don't look to closely at it. Here are a couple of pictures of the process.

As you can see, I had to move the table against the wall. This thing took up the whole room. I had finished 3 rows at this point.

Drake picked out a soft gray yarn to use.

Here is the church bag that I also finished today. I used Simplicity pattern #2396.

It is loaded and ready to go for 9am church tomorrow.