Leah's apron

Hello my friends!

 

This post is definitely long overdue. If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen this project already. But I am sharing it here on the blog, finally. On the home front, Leah has been a huge helper to me in the kitchen, from baking to mixing spices, you name it. So she needed a new apron. The one she was previously wearing was a bit too small. So I purchased a pattern, Simplicity 2555. I gave her a few fabric selections that I saw at my local sewing studio and let her pick. She helped me cut out a lot of the pieces and probably sewed about half of the entire apron, including the pockets. This was her first time ever sitting at my machine and I am so proud of her.

 

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to share with you my next sewing project. It's complete and nicely wrapped for it's recipient. Since it is a Christmas present, I cannot share it until after the holidays. Have a great week!



 

 



Happy Birthday Jancy!

Hello my dear blog friends.

  

Today I am sharing a fun birthday card. I created my card by inking up Teeny Star Background using this technique that I shared on the DeNami Design blog back in February 2014. I just had to use this sentiment from CAS-ual Fridays WTF stamp set because my sweet friend Jancy turned 40 recently!

  

 

Her sweet husband, Adrian, planned a surprise party for her and pulled it off. It was so fun to see the look of surprise on her face. We had such a great time visiting her and her family. Since they are only an hour away, we definitely have to visit more often. The last time I saw her was 18 years ago!

 

Speaking of more often, I do hope to post more on my blog. Many of my sweet followers have been with me from the beginning. As many of you know, last summer I developed some heart problems which have almost completely resolved with medication and exercise. My cardiologist told me that it would help my symptoms, so I was eager to start. Since exercising, I have really developed a passion for fitness and eating healthy. I guess that's what happened when I stared 40 in the face. I realized that I better start taking better care of me and my family.

 

I have still been crafting, albeit a lot less than before. Whether, I am going in to work early or late, I am up at 4:30am to work or for working out. So that means little time is left in the evenings to craft since I value my sleep. I have been scrapbooking and working on Joshua's school album. I have completed 5 pages, so I will have to share them on the blog soon.

 

If you follow me on Instagram too, you might know that I have also embraced the minimalist lifestyle. Despite working full time, it has allowed me to have a cleaner house without the work, more time to spend with the kids and family, more time to exercise, time to craft and more time to spend doing the things that are important to me.

 

So for now, I am learning how to balance it all. Hugs to you all!

 



Greetings from Batgirl and Spiderman

Hello friends! I am back today to share some pictures from our trick-or-treating festivities. The kids had a great time and so did we as we watched them run from house to house. We live in a very small gated community with only 88 houses. With zero lot lines, that means we can cover a lot of houses in a small amount of time. Since we live on the first street, that also meant the kids could dump their loot back at home before proceeding to the remaining streets. lol.

 

Before the sun set I took a few pictures of Leah and Josh in the front yard. Yes, it is just a few feet between the sidewalk and porch. If you have ever tried photographing little ones that are eager to hit the streets for trick-or-treating, then you know how hard it is to capture them not moving. I managed to get a few.

 

Joshua's costume was store bought. One of these days I will make him his costume. Sigh. I don't think he minded a bit though. When I brought it home from the store he was so excited.

 

 

I mentioned that I made Leah's costume. Again, it was nothing fancy. I found a template for the mask and adjusted it a bit to fit Leah's head. I used the same technique when I made the masks for the kids birthday party this summer. To make her skirt, I used this tutorial. I bought 4 yards of tulle and cut the length that I needed. I pieced together 8 yards and trimmed off the rest that I didn't need.

 

Originally I was just going to tie a simple yellow ribbon around her waist but then I came up with an idea to actually make her utility belt. I simply cut the ribbon to fit her waist, heat sealed the ends and added some Velcro for the closure. Then I trimmed pieces that were about 2 1/2 inches and slipped stitched the ends together to form 4 small loops. I pressed them flat and slipped them onto the ribbon.

 

For the buckle, I cut my oval and used the same technique for the mask. I used the small bat template that came with the mask and topstitched that on. Then I simply added Velcro again to attach it to the belt.

 

And yes, my girl is sporting flip flops. I ran out of time to figure out the footwear for her costume. Maybe next year I won't wait until the last minute. lol.

 

 

 

 

 

Leah once again made a sign for our candy bowl to let folks know that we weren't home, but to help themselves. She also decorated our pumpkins from the patch and added a speech bubble to it that read, "Take your candy and get out". Not quite the friendliest note, so I am glad she made up another one with some manners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because Leah is almost 4 years older than Josh, he was always one step behind. Poor boy. He very kindly told our neighbors when they opened the door, "No peanuts please." Mostly everybody had some peanut/nut free candy for our little guy.

 

 

 

 

 

I love this banner that says trick. One neighbor did not have any candy even though the young boy opened the door. We reminded Leah to ask him for a trick. The poor little guy couldn't think of anything on the spot. It sure made us all chuckle. I am sure he didn't think that anyone would actually ask him for some tricks.

 

 

This next picture showcases our best dressed house in the neighborhood. This family goes all out every year. I didn't capture the whole house, but you can see the chains and spiders in the windows. They have ghosts and ghouls hanging on the porch, bloody hand prints on their columns, lots of tombstones, webs and skeletons. Yes, the word "DEAD" is written in "blood" on the sidewalk with some splatters. And of course scary music playing in the background. It really is the haunted house of the neighborhood.

 

 

And lastly, you can see the loot. Leah's pumpkin is hiding most of hers, but she actually collected more than Josh and you can see just how much he managed to get. Quite a few people gave them full sized candy bars and one gentleman gave them each $5!!!

 

 

I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween. Have a great weekend!

U Rock! Happy Birthday

Hello friends! I know that it has been a while since I have posted. But no fear. I have a card to share for the current CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge.

 

 

A friend of mine celebrated her 30th birthday this past weekend. Although I wanted to make her a card that actually had 30th on it, I opted to leave it out. Niki is a member of the rock band my husband plays in, ELEVATORS. She plays lead guitar and performs vocals. I really wanted to ink up PTI's Boy Basics: Rock On for her. And I inked up the back of one of my stamps from Altenew, Label Love to create the rainbow background. The sentiments are also from Label Love.

 

 

 

I have to say that she had a pretty rockin' birthday this past Saturday. She and the band had their EP release show and it was awesome. There was a great turnout and we all had a great time. Their EP Live to Find Out will be available tomorrow on iTunes if you would like to show your support.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Superhero birthday party

Hello friends! I hope you all had an awesome weekend. On Saturday we had a joint birthday party for Leah and Josh. He turned 3 on July 13th and Leah will turn 7 on August 21st. Lots of photos, so bear with me. These are all courtesy of my sweet twin sister, Eva. If you would like to see a few more pictures of the party, you can head over to her blog, Capturing Our Days. She does an amazing job capturing life in photos. I am so thankful for her awesome photography!

 

You may know that I have been having some medical problems. You can read more on that update here. These last 5 weeks, I did not have as much time as I would have liked to create for their party. However, I was still pleased with how everything turned out. I used my Silhouette Cameo for almost everything. I did manage to sneak in some stamps for the popcorn treat bags.

 

When you walked in the door, the first table on the left held the thank you popcorm bags, capes and masks and one of the games (that we did not end up playing). I do not have a close up of the popcorn bags, but I used PTI's Tag- its #2 and Altenew Faux Veneers. I simply drizzled some Wilton melted candies onto the popcorn with red, yellow and blue color. My dear hubby helped to stuff them into the little baggies. Thanks Andy!!!

 

 

I used a speech bubble cut file from the Silhouette store (Design ID #29232) for the sign and the two fonts that I used for the party were Badaboom BB and Crimefighter BB. The sign reads "Thanks for saving the day!"

 

 

A Superhero party would not be complete without capes and masks. To create the capes, I used the neckline from capes they had received at a superhero party they attended earlier in the year. To cut the felt, I used this tutorial that I found here. It was a great way to use up all of the felt with very little waste. I also downloaded a star image and cut a 6 inch circle. I stitched everything!!! I made 19 capes and masks, so my sewing machine definitely got a work out.

 

To create the masks, I used this tutorial found here. Instead of taping the template down, I pinned it. I didn't feel like printing my mask image multiple times, so I reused mine. I loved the fact that they were super sturdy since they were lined with pellon. The kids would take them on and off and they still looked great.

 

 

 

This was the main dessert table. This is the main hallway from our front door that leads to the family room. The pictures on the ledge are always there. This year I decided to do something different and not create a birthday banner. Instead, I used another speech bubble from the Silhouette store (Design ID #50306). On Leah's picture it says, "Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua!" and on his picture is says "Happy 7th Birthday Leah!" I thought it was so cute so actually mimic the comic book print and have them wish each other a happy birthday.

 

On the picture ledge, I placed some comic books that Leah has received from Chi-fil-a, which was the inspiration for the costume she wore and the party theme. The center comic book image was a download. It was the first Spiderman comic cover. The figurines were also Happy Meal toys.

 

I can't seem to find where I downloaded the comic/lighting speech bubbles, but I used them everywhere. I used the Badaboom BB font and created a shadow with black for some depth. That was the most time consuming part of creating the decorations. I showed Leah how to used the glue pen and line them up offset to create the shadow. She helped me to create all of those cupcake toppers! That's right! Had I know her little fingers had the ability to do that, I would've enlisted her help from the very beginning.

 

 

I used my cut file (Design ID #37838) to make the cupcake liners. I have resized it a bit smaller to accommodate the baking cups I use. I used some Bazzil cardstock for the liners and the toppers. I made vanilla cupcakes using this recipe and the chocolate cupcakes using this recipe. Sweetapolita has some awesome recipes, so check her out! You can also spy some superhero inspired layered jello treats that I made.

 

 

This was also the second year that I enlisted Leah's help to make the marshmallow pops. We simply dip them in a little water and roll them around in sprinkles. She is such a great little helper!

 

 

One of the guests, my niece Havi, was quite impressed with those marshmallows. She kept her eyes on them the whole time she was there. I think it is a safe bet to say that she "ate" the most marshmallow pops. Head on over to my sister's blog to see what I am talking about.

 

 

 

The little white bowls were filled with sour candies we picked up at the Dollar Tree. So were the white bowls (which are out of focus) in the picture below. You can see them better in the first picture of the dessert table. And those ring pops...were a big hit!

 

 

 

I made a few pom poms to hang over the food table. Although I found a different tutorial than the one I have used previously, I stink at making them. I had big plans to make a bunch more, but stopped at three. Leanne's look awesome, mine...not so much. At this angle, they don't look terrible, but they never seem to turn out how I would like them to turn out.

 

 

And here is my sweet Leah. She requested to be Wonder Woman 2 years ago for Halloween. The costume still fit last year, so she wore it again. We tried it on at the start of the summer, and it still fit!! I made the headband, cuffs and skirt. I used PTI's Star Prints to die cut the stars. I have definitely gotten my penny's worth out of this costume for sure!

 

Here are all of the superheroes minus 2 of them.

 

 

 

 

 

We live in a small gated community with only 4 streets. So we gathered up the troops and headed out into the sauna street. We live near the end of the street and we were pretty thankful that no cars came through while we tried to photograph these adorable superheroes. Don't you love the action shot?

 

 

I love that you can see the superheroes enjoying their ring pops as we sand happy birthday to the guests of honor.

 



 

 

Some brotherly, sisterly love!

 

The final pictures are of some of the guests and their parents. I made a cape for the grown ups to wear as well. We had such a blast with everyone that attended 

 

Some of these parents are also in Andy's rock band, ELEVATORS. They will be releasing their latest album some time next month. If you want to read more about their band, you can visit Elevatorsrock.com .

 

Below are superheroes Matt, Nikki and Chloe.

 

Our superhero neignbors.

 

 

The birthday family.

 

 

Andy with his superhero mom.

 

Superheroes Ryan, Jenni, Landon and Audrey.

 

 

My sister's superhero family. My niece, Havi, is still holding her popcorn treat bag.

 

 

These last few pictures are of my twin sister and me. She is in the pink dress and I am wearing the Superman shirt that I made for just over $5. Thanks Hobby Lobby!

 

 

 

 

Of course I can't seem to remember what we were even laughing about. The last shot was a fun one. Nothing like jumping in skinny jeans and a dress and having long hair fly everywhere. Thanks hubby for putting up with us so we could get the perfect shot.

 

 

Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law who helped tremendously with the food, cleaning up and watching the kiddos. Thanks sister for capturing our days.