SIX

that's how old my third noisemaker is today.

here's a few fun facts about you right now:

• you are STILL always happy. (we don't get, it but we love it).
• you may be small for your age but you are the loudest kid we own.
• every night at 11:07 (give or take a few minutes) you wander around the house till dad or i direct you to the bathroom.
• YOU LOVE CEREAL. doesn't matter what kind, you want it, and you'll take it at any moment.
  
• you just recently have taken a liking to your little sister.
• you ROCK at reading and counting.
• you're brothers are your best friends.
• you're favorite video game is "little big planet"
• you are really good on the skate board.
• no matter how many times we put you back in your bed at night, the first thing dad sees in the morning is you, in our bed.
• no one in the family can clean the your bedroom as good as you do. it's a talent i tell you. it makes me proud.

little dude you are so awesome. and we love having you in our family. you make life fun and make people happy because you are so happy.
i hope your day is great.

happy birthday!
we love you.

my tutorials at sew mama sew

later today and tomorrow you will be able to see my tutorials over at sew mama sew.
when i was asked if i could come up with something for weddings i said "SURE!" and then i wanted to throw up because...um helloooo it's SEW MAMA SEW.
all breathing exercises, and hot glue gun blisters aside, i have these two tutorials to show, and i walked away pleased with them.
so make sure to go check them out here and here. let me know what you think. you'll be surprised what i used to make them! ;)


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tutorial: spray painted slipcovers...boy edition

it's my turn to be a part of celebrate the boy month! i'm excited to show a little of what i've been working on for that.
this year i decided to finally start tackling my boys' room. i knew i didn't want too much in their room for decoration, i believe a boy's room should be a little more on the plain side, but i wanted their room to represent them. and if there's anything that represents my boys, it's clone troopers.
but because i'm their mother and i like comical things i also bought this poster to go in their room as well. and because my husband has the same sense of humor i do, i constantly have to hear him say "that poster would sure look great in my office." i think i may get him one for father's day, or i may just have to come up with some other art for that wall and finally quiet him down by giving it to him. a woman can only take so much you know?
lets get on with the tutorial:

things you will need:
one pillow (mine is standard 16 by 16 inches)
one square cut to 16 by 16 inches (yes the same size as your pillow, i was told a long time ago that home interior decorators always make their pillow shams the same size if not a little smaller...reason is because then your pillow will fully fill the sham)
two rectangles cut to 16 by 10 inches (for the back)
freezer paper
**since i'm getting questions about where to find freezer paper i found these links:
i used Reynolds Freezer Paper
but then i found these as well:
Freezer Paper Sheets
Quilter's Freezer Paper Sheets
i like the roll because a) it's cheaper and b) i can make it as long as i want.
hope this helps!
scissors
spray paint (i used krylon gray and Caribbean blue)
first to create my "light saber fight" pillow (that's what i call it) i cut long pieces of freezer paper. some straight and some a little skiwhompis.
i then placed them on my muslin and with shiny side down and ironed them on.
i got my spray paint and did a first layer of paint. let it dry and repeated the process.
once your paint has had a little bit of time to dry go ahead and peel the freezer paper off.
now to make my circle pillow shown, i used a cup for the smaller circles and a bowl for the bigger circle.
then i free handed around each circle.
and i cut out my circles.
and once you've ironed on the circles. repeat the spray painting instructions.
*note for the circle pillow i just made it into a pillow and not a slip cover. so to make this pillow just cut out two of the same size rectangles and when finished spray painting, sew right sides together leaving an opening big enough to turn right side out, stuff and hand sew closed.
now to make your back of the slip cover. cut two pieces of muslin at 10 1/2 by 16 inches.


fold over about 1/4 inch in (on the 16 inch side). you can iron it down but i just "creased" it with my fingers.
and then fold over again
sew down your double fold.
now you are going to with right sides together place your first back piece on top of your front spray painted piece. (make sure the sewn edges are facing to the inside of your pillow)
next place the other back piece over lapping the first.
pin it down all layers
sew all four sides using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
cut off corners. turn inside out

and place them in their room.
i'm just at the tip of the iceberg with their room. but i feel like i'm moving the right direction.


come back tomorrow, we're changing gears and talking WEDDINGS!
yes with tutorials involved!


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tutorial: ScrapBuster Banner

okay so the other day i made these quilts. and i had a lot of scraps left over. i came up with this scrap buster banner.
and if you end up making this quilt, using my tutorial you will have enough to make this banner as well. i think that would make such a great gift for a baby shower. or to keep for yourself.
as a matter of fact you could make a few of these banners. and a couple of quilts just from one layer cake. um how wrong can you go with that? NOT VERY!
lets get started shall we?

what you will need:

• coordinating scraps
• one package of binding (can be found at walmart in the craft section, or you can make your own.)
  
• fabric for the back of each flag. can be coordinating ( i had some left over) or it could be muslin.
  

first you are going to take your scraps and you can make the strips any size you want. because i had some left over from the tutorial of the quilts i made a few more strips at 1 1/2 inches. (with the length of a layer cake: 10 inches)
and i put 5 of them together.
sew them side by side like so.
cut it in half length wise.
*now if you are "quirky" and have to have it a square, you can cut it down to one. i just opted to keep mine at 5 by 5 1/2. it didn't bug me...but i know of people that that would drive them bonkers....so for those people, and you know who you are, for heaven sakes just cut off 1/2 inch to make it square.
cut your backing the same size as your front.
with wrong sides together.
fold it over in half. make sure your fold is away from you.
place your ruler at an angle like the picture above
if you have rotary pinking blade cut your edge with it. or you could use pinking shears
as well like i did in my other banner tutorial.
when you open it up, it should end up looking like this.
top stitch around your flag.
i did some with my scraps going sideways and the other scraps going up and down.
you can get creative and do all one color or do different combination's.
now you are going to sew your flags as a banner using binding follow the rest of the directions here.really you can't go wrong with this banner.
and it gives you the opportunity to use up some of your left over scraps, and not to mention to be able to make multiple banners for different baby showers.
your husband will be so proud of you and your thrifty saving ways.
i'm just saying.

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don't ask, don't tell decorating

i go to thrift stores.
nothing new there.
it's not because of the economy or because i'm trying to stick it to the man. and most definitely not because i'm trying to find some antique to sell on ebay. i don't like ebay it stresses me out.
not saying that anyone out there who shops at them is ...i'm just saying i don't.

i like to find treasures.
i like to find things cheap.
i like to create something different from the intended purpose of the original goal.

and because i frequent thrift stores i tend to find some pretty dirty, weird, or ugly things.
but sometimes....sometimes i find the PERFECT thing.
and all you can do is call your significant other with tears of joy, and blubber something along the lines "i can't believe it!!! oh my gosh i could just die happy!!!"
just me? okay well anyways.

sometimes i don't get that emotional about my find. and even though i'm excited about it. i don't feel the need to call the man of the house and gush.
basically sometimes i forget to tell him of some of my finds.

so then we have conversations that go a little like this:
husband: passing by one of my "displays" of decorations(like the one featured above). stopping abruptly turns to me and says "when did we get that?"
me: a few months ago. it's been there the whole time.
husband: where'd you get it?
me: thrift store.
husband: walking away grumbling and mumbling not loud enough for me to hear but i'm sure it goes a little like this "wow, my wife is so awesome. she finds wonderful things where others take their stuff to get rid of it. she saves me oodles and oodles of money by decorating this way. i am so happy to of found my treasure of a wife."

oh yeah and when he rolls his eyes at me i'm sure he's just looking up to the heavens and thanking his lucky stars for me and is trying to think when would be best time to ask if i need a back or foot rub.
yup pretty darn sure.

my justification is basically he needs to ask and then i'll tell him of my finds. but till then we'll keep having that on going scenario.

and speaking of the husband...
i found him doing this in our driveway
when he came in i asked what in the world he was doing riding my bike in a feet of snow...IN CIRCLES?
his explanation: AND I QUOTE "i was trying to create more surface area so that the ice would melt quicker."
me: uh i don't care what your explanation is...how am i going to explain that to the neighbors?
i'm sure people driving by are thinking "oh okay...that makes sense."

then i went to my bedroom and found katie and buck.
my family is weird.

have a great weekend.
next week is all about the tutorials.
i think there's 4 total i'm going to show you.

that's if i keep the crazies all in line.
we'll talk soon.
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impulse buy

you know, i kind of like the fact that i'm kind of thrifty.
or that i don't necessarily go out and drop money on something just because i like it or because it's in style.
heck i've been "buying" in my head leather couches for like years, have placed them in my living room with gorgeous pillows that i've made to put on them(in my head as well), and i've even put money aside for them.(not just in my head on that one)
but still no leather couches preside in my home.
because i stress about it.
and it's not just the big things. small things don't make it into my cart either. i have to sit and think about it.
so when camille wrote about these bowls...i found myself going on over there and BUYING them. just like that.
with a click and it was done! no questions asked no fretting or thinking about it. just point click and done! AH!
and guess what?
i love them.
they make me super happy.
and i use them every single day.
so i guess that impulse buy wasn't a bad one.


but then i went ahead and bought these little bowls that match and that have no purpose except for(beside being adorably cute beyond belief) being prep bowls for things that need to be measured and that can fit in a tiny bowl. and if i had a cooking show, it would be awesome to have these bowls...but seeing that i don't even necessarily care that much for cooking, there's a fat chance a cooking show will ever happen. so for now they are used to contain a little bit of BBQ sauce for each individual every time i microwave cook chicken nuggets, or contain ketchup every time we have corn dogs.
and i'm totally blaming camille not feeling guilty about it.
now if could just get over the couches...
camille you want to help me out with that one too?
ps: thanks for all of the love on the quilts. yeah i kind of like em too. ;)
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