Im a dino your a dino

So I have been on a summer sewing kick, well let me rephrase that when my ding dongs start playing nicely I have been sneeking away to sew some projects that have been sitting in the works for awhile. I made some kids in our lives stuffed dinos, and recently had someone asked if I could make them... girly! Yeah Pink dinos! So I dug in my stash and banged a bunch out, added a few to my Etsy store and gifted a bunch to friends.
Yeasterday we also discovered these new spray parks poping up all over the place. Been fun, but not as fun as the slip and slide we bought for nanas house!

Or the berry picking we spent the weekend doing
Or the fact that one of my chilren just because a super hero
or my daughter becoming a ballerina

Easy Pillow Dolls

We have a family birthday coming up... well 3 very important birthdays! My triplet niece and nephews first birthday on the sixth and boy have they come along way. Miss Brooklyn kept asking to make Isabella dolls for her birthday so I had to do some thinking on that one. I dont know how to embroider and there is no way I would let my insane (yet wonderfully amazing) 4 year old try it with a needle then I remember these dolls I had when I was little. I always assumed they were called pillow dolls because they were stuffed dolls, I searched the Internet for days and came up with nothing, nothing at all of what I had, then I ran to etsy searching endless pages of dolls, and found Stache dolls. Perhaps it was because mine were so old I didnt get them when they smelled, or perhaps they were just pillow stuffed dolls. So I jumped back online and saved some princess baby pictures (via Brooklyn's request) and this is how we made these! (Its so simple I'm sure she will be making her own set this weekend.)


Your supplies:
Muslin
sewing machine (or hand sewing) stuff
Freezer paper
an iron
and a printer.


First find pictures you like online (although it might be really cute to make family members dolls)

Next cut muslin and freezer paper to printer paper size. (note freezer paper is not wax paper, look for freezer paper next to the aluminum foil)

Iron your muslin onto the shiny side of the freezer paper. Pop it in your ink jet printer


Print onto the muslin.(please note this will not work in a laser jet printer)


Peal off the freezer paper. Iron right on top of your print, I dont know if the heat makes some kind of heat seal but if you dont do this it will bleed in the wash.


Next cut out your doll leaving seam and puffiness allowance and trace it again making a backing. (Next time I think im going to do a cotton color to match the print)


Pint right sides together and stitch around.


Turn right side out and add stuff with fluff. (Oh pooh bear is out in the theater, how cute would pooh bear be?!)


Sew bottom closed and there you have it pillow dolls! Perfect for kids of all ages.

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I bragged about my coolness on:

The party favors!

For our recent Dr.Seuss party I decided to make One Fish two Fish Red fish Blue Fish fishing games. I had lots of left over baby food snack cans which I covered with wrapping paper I used through out the party to coordinate. I sewed each set ! white fish, 2 green fish, 1 red fish, and 1 blue fish out of felt. That was 65 fish to sew, very repetitive work. The fishing poles were dowels with stings and a magnet. They turned out way better then I had hoped for!



Cost break down:
Felt 1/2 yard of each color $4.99 (I have enough to make about 15 more games)
Magnets $3.50 (Regular $6.99 but 50% off coupon)
Dowels Left overs from something else

It was a very awesome alternative to candy and junk toys that normally come out of a pinata.

A party story.... :(

Although my husband doesn't understand my crazy need to make every party amazing Im lucky enough to have a great group of die-hard party attenders that love what I do. On Sunday we threw the very much antici[pated Dr.Seuss 1st birthday party for Danger. It was a great party, the sun was out (it was suppose to rain) it was warm but not to hot, the swing set was done, all the bark dust was laid, the kids were in great moods, the birthday boy was all smiles! That was all at noon when the party started... let me tell you a little about what happened the morning before. So some times I get a little to ambitious, I figured I had all the details planned to a T so a huge amazing first birthday cake needed to be made... a 130am trip to walmart 20mins from my house to get more Crisco and sugar for frosting was the first sign that I bit off more then I could chew, fast forward to me at 345 finally crawling into bed still dressed covered in frosting with a wonderful 4 "story" cake on my table, another fast forward to me waking up at 7, totally on my own time line ready to go, finishing up last min food getting the tables ready to take outside, jump now to 8:02... I blame what happened next one a flea, one small very itchy flea.. and a dog, a very itchy dog. Shelby was rolling all over the floor trying to itch her back and soon she found that the floor wasnt going to get it done, she had a great idea a table leg! Yes the same leg to the table my cake was sitting on, my very all cakes set to the back cake... I heard it happen while I was pealing egg shells... I froze. I knew what happened with out turning around. At 8:02, day of the party with a no room for error schedule, the cake was on the floor. The top two layers on the floor. The first two bowing from the weigh change, first thought totally break down, second thought I don't have time for that... cry later. I scooped what I could into a garbage can, the rest poor flea bitten dog ate. I re positioned the bottom two layed, and threw some cup cakes in the oven to save face. At which point im an hour behind. Then a bag of supplies turns up missing, no table cloths, no party twirlers, no streamers, no balloons. No freakin decorations to be found. I ordered husband to go get table cloths. I rustled though my every growing supply box found red and white streamers. No balloons poo. My cousin shows up, a little late, to mad dash set up what we can. No games made it out except the bubble wrap on the deck for "hop on Pops" The food landed on the table as the first people were showing up. My kids were dressed, my cupcakes frosted and that was that.... despite the crazy hectic morning, it was a good party with good friends and a very happy birthday for Carson William Patrick Parks. So I have decided this, although I have note books full of party plans down to the last details, I need to remember that its about why we are celebrating. No more cakes for me, cup cakes are just fine, besides only 4 cupcakes got eatin' because I make way to much food and snacks and the kids were stuffed full!

my daughter is sewing!!

I wish I would have thought about it while it was happening but my daughter asked to make her friend a gift for her birthday and said she wanted to sew it... so she came up with an idea and there we go. I forgot to take pictures of her actually sewing but here it is! A crayon roll purse out of pockets!






Awesome blogs I have linked to:

Conflicted

Im tired of life lately... something good needs to find its way in. The charter school we were able to get Justin into this year stinks... and although i have applied else where it seems we might be stick there for 2nt grade. :( I have been praying for a better option but so far we are 20ish, 30ish and 40ish on other schools list. Also what I thought would be a benefit of the school not getting out until July 22 (which educationally I think it great) I have found watching everyone else we know get out of school really stink to be stuck in school. If that were not hard pressing enough we lost our daughters preschool teacher, a woman who we both loved dearly, to a staffing change. They told us on Tuesday and she was gone by Thursday now my daughter will start summer session in a new classroom with new kids, which might be a blessing but now she is adamant she doesn't want to go... change is hard for that one. Poor me I have just been an emotional ball of tears the last few weeks. It REALLY DOES NOT HELP that I realized im at a way unhealthy weight right now (169 eeekkk) and have been on a self imposed diet (which just involves eating better and not so much all day long) and running on the treadmill at nap time and tring to get exercise when I can... I miss chocolate and soda and chips and donuts, yuumy cream or jelly filled donuts :( But most of all I miss starbucks, my 1200 calorie java chip that never did me wrong... stupid scale. And then there is my husband. I love the man dearly I really do but he has a crazy ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. He is pretty unsupportive unless he can see the insent gratification. Although my blog doesnt really show how involved with crafting I really am because I dont stick to it the way I want to (although 4 kids, a daycare, and photography business are great excesses) I have been thinking seriously about doing a few Christmas bazaars this years. I think What I make is good enough, however with 4 kids, a daycare and a photography business, it makes justifying my passion to do this a little more difficult for this man to understand. I guess im just conflicted about what I should do next. Granted I still have lots of time till the holiday season but I just wish for once things would just fall into place. Its hard to work so hard with out seeing a positive reward sometimes. .... maybe I deserve a tall java chip today... :(

Just a taste of the fun to come!

Im a party planner, I love parties, I would literally throw a party everyday if I knew my husband wouldnt leave me for it ;) So when I got pregnant with our fourth child, my little Danger, I was informed it was 'selfish' to throw a baby shower for my bump (IM just going to toss it out there I think it was just because my SIL was pregnant at the time with triplets and my MIL thought she should have the whole lime light... and the lemon light if I must stew) but anyways back to my story. I was shattered when she said this, and it may have been the hormones or it could have been that I had been planning in my head a super baby shower since we knew for sure this was going to be our last one... so I sat back, not even invited to help her throw my SIL a baby shower (by a woman who HATES parties) My BFF wanted to throw me a secret shower but never got around to it so I feel like Carson got jipped. Now im not being selfish or greedy, its not about gifts it about getting together with your friends one last time before you pop out another one and cant leave the house for 6 months ;) My other showers, the ones I planned were not about gifts, with my daughter we asked everyone to bring their favorite childhood book with a note in the cover for her, with my Coco we had a scrapbook party and it was a diapers only shower and it really caught me up on my lack of scrapping since the 3rd one. But my glory was going to be this last shower, this last celebrate a baby glory, was going to be a blanket shower where I was going to ask everyone to bring a blanket to donate to the local children's hosp. I was going to be have "sung as a bug" theme. (With hungry little caterpillar as my scape) so needless to say because I was told that a 4th baby shower was selfish, poor Carson has a blank spot in his baby book, empty pages where a baby shower was suppose to go... poor poor Carson... HOWEVER I am super mom, i figure fine he didnt get a baby shower he sure is going to get the biggest 1st birthday bash I can come up with so here is the invite, the first glimpse into the grandness that will be Carsons first birthday bash!