howdy-er-happy halloween!

here's my happy little cow.

ok, well, she's a cow. not so much happy in this picture.

you should've seen her later at our ward's trunk or treat, walking everywhere with a pixie stick hanging out of her mouth. she was in heaven!

sadly, i did not make any part of our costumes, but the cow costume was a dollar, so how could i say no to that?! rory and i borrowed the rest of our costumes (except for his shirt, $1.50 at Salvation Army), so our costumes cost us a grand total of $2.50 this year! (we were all about the cheap, if you can't tell)

i thought we were a pretty cute cowboy/cowgirl/cow family!

what were YOU for halloween?

this is what we did last year.

soft color book

ok, i just figuratively arm-wrestled blogger into posting these pictures. for some reason it loaded the first three pics fine, and then wouldn't let me do the other two. grrr. i won though. nya nya nah blogger.

i think this is my new favorite project, i seriously love looking at it! i used this tutorial. loving all the scrappy tutorials coming out of sew mama sew for their contest! i'm just sad i didn't find out about it until too late. :( oh well.


here's my cover...made with some linen and appliqued letters. love!

red and orange pages..

yellow and green pages...



blue and purple pages...yep, i know i need more purple fabric, apparently. that's all i had!

sadie trying to get her hands on the book-no way, missy. this one goes in the christmas presents pile. :D

oh, and happy halloween! pictures of our costumes later! no, i didn't make them, but they're still cute!

toddler sweatshirt tutorial

well, if last week was clothing for sadie week, this week is tutorial week. hehe

have an old sweatshirt lying around? or maybe one that's way too big?! I did...and figured it would get more use if i refashioned it for the sadester. hence, this tutorial was born!

A few times throughout i will refer you to my mandarin shirt tutorial, and at the end i just got plain lazy and stopped taking pictures, so bear with me. it will all make sense. i hope.
Click below for more!

chilly? sew a sweatshirt.

i made this sweatshirt today for sadie out of an old sweatshirt, hairbands, and some mismatched buttons. i think it's pretty darn cute though.

she seems to like it, or maybe it's the leaves...

or her little baby pumpkins. yeah, she loves those things. usually she is smiling! hehe

the sweatshirt before the makeover...from my old job in utah. i wore it maybe twice. it's HUGE.

it was quite the project, but actually quicker than i initially thought. well, gotta go start dinner...

p.s. tutorial is being written!

silhouette tutorial

sadie's silhouette needed some updating (last time i made her one was when she was tiny! and bald.) you've seen these all over, right? well, here's the way i like to do them. simple and easy and quick.

Click below for more details!


you'll need:
a piece of thin white paper
pencil
black paper
frame

first, take a picture of the person's profile. (or your pet-even a favorite piece of furniture would look cool) then, print it out to the size you want.

trace the outline on the white paper (holding it up to a window works great) around the head and shoulders, make sure to get little hairs, etc. this makes it look awesome.
staple your tracing to the black paper.

then, carefully cut around your trace, catching all the little hairs and details.
tada, cute silhouette(s)!
then pop it into your frame of choice. soo cute, huh?
this is sadie's old one. aww my little conehead.
for reals! thank goodness her head looks normal now.

***If you have used any of my tutorials, I'd love if you'd add a quick pic to my flicker group! Thanks!***

pumpkin patch

we headed to the pumpkin patch on rory's lunch break today. we wanted to avoid the crowds, so we skipped going on saturday. let me tell you, mondays are GOOD days for the pumpkin patch. there were like, 4 other kids there.

anyways...we realized we didn't have any cash when we got there, but didn't really want to pay $10 a pumpkin anyways, when a produce stand down the road was selling them for $1. hah! we'll show you, pumpkin patch!

we're not above using it for pictures, though. obviously.

sadie does not quite know what to think of this giant green man. you know what? i don't either. he's kind of scary.

rory handed her this flower, warning me that the smiles from the flower wouldn't last forever. they didn't, but at least i got this shot. then she started ripping the petals off of that and any flower within 2 feet.

it was blazing hot. it does not feel like the END of october. what gives? balancing precariously on a pumpkin. thanks dad!
our one family shot. sadie looks absolutely thrilled to be there.
i hope you can someday forgive me for this picture, sadie. i just couldn't help myself. (snicker. hehe)

mandarin collared shirt tutorial

warning: lots of pictures ahead.

may cause uncontrollable need to sew.

alright! ready to make a shirt?! honestly, it's not that hard. you can do it! rah rah!
 

Click below for more!

outtakes.

just so's you don't think sadie is this perfect child who always poses and smiles... here are some outtakes from this week's photo shoots!

either she was just about to sneeze or wanted to show off her diaper to the neighbors. your guess is as good as mine!

wondering if she'll get a cracker out of this.


uh, sadie, camera's over here. (not that she really cares)


i also wanted to say THANK YOU! for all the wonderful comments this week on sadie's new clothes!

to show my appreciation, i've put together a tutorial for the mandarin collared shirt, coming tomorrow! so look out for that. :D

have a great rest of your weekend. :D

p.s. the baby shower i threw for cassy was featured on the party perfect blog! :D

jumper

continuing clothing for sadie week....with this super cute, super easy little jumper. (do people still call them that? i did when i wore them. in sixth grade.)
anyways, i used this tutorial, so easy and quick! of course, the fabric i found in the remnant bin at joann's. most of my fabrics i find there. i had gotten it AGES ago, and tried to make a skirt for myself, which failed miserably. plus, i can't pull off these colors. so, it went into making this cute dress for the sadester!
it is hemmed now...just wasn't in this picture. i made the little flower with an adapted version of my poofy flower tutorial. it's no-sew(-ing machine)! see that tutorial for an update! anyways, best part about this dress is NO zippers or buttons! it just slips on. so i would use fabric with a bit of stretch. luckily this one fit her well, i didn't even measure the strap placement/length. eeshk! could have been bad, but i got lucky. i love these fall colors on sadie. it's fun having a redhead to dress, she can wear all these fun colors i can't!

button up mandarin collared shirt

i hereby dub this week: clothing for sadie week.

cause, i've got another dress to show tomorrow. i don't know why, but i'm obsessed this week with making her clothes!

anyways...ok, i'm kinda excited about this shirt. no, really excited! i made it from an idea in my head, and with no official "pattern"! (both big deals for me) it's nice to have something tangible, from my day dreams, work out.

anyways, this was made from an old curtain! from sadie's room. it was nice because the edges were already hemmed, so i just cut my pieces and used that for the bottom of the shirt and the sleeves. wha-la! no hemming after the fact. (hemming toddler sleeves are a PAIN! tiny arms.) it's also lined with an extra layer, which i don't think i did right, but who cares?

i. made. a button-down. shirt.

i was also able to practice button holes. those are fun. no really, not that bad. :) i sewed in some ribbon loops on the sides to hold a cute sash. i made the shirt purposely bland (all white), so that i could switch out the sash if i wanted to. i think i want to make this again in a cute print though. tell me if anyone would be interested in a tutorial! it took me about 1.5-2 hours, but mostly that was figuring stuff out.

anyways, cute no?

shirt from scratch

does anyone else feel slightly ill/majorly jealous when you look at the make it and love it blog? ashley makes me weep with craft angst.

as in, i want to do EVERYTHING she does.

to make myself feel better, every once in a while i do one of her insanely cute, easy projects, and kick myself for not being as cool as her.

like this shirt tutorial.

i finished it with time to spare during nap time yesterday. i picked up a ribbed knit stretch fabric remnant at joann's for $1.66. that, and an old tank top made this a CHEAP shirt and project. after putting it on, i saw that the neck was waay too wide, so i did a few pleats on the back to bring it in, so just trust me that she's not flashing anyone anymore.

also bear with me, i couldn't pick my favorite picture. because of course, after you make a shirt, you have to have a photo shoot! i gave sadie some goldfish crackers, and we were in business!

since i know you're sick of seeing my playroom wall, i took her to our front yard.

lots of leaves to play with, and dogs to listen to!

also, (some) flowers still standing!

a lady walking her dog past us commented that sadie is a good walker. and she really is. too good. i'm chasing after her most of the time. where did my little baby go? and where did this toddler come from?

poofy fabric flower tutorial

i thought of this last night before drifting off to bed, and just had to try one out this morning. i love the poofy petal shape on these flowers!



2 ways!

 

Click below for more details!


ok, you'll need:

5 circles of fabric (whatever size you like, mine were 3 1/2 inches in diameter)
needle & thread
sewing machine
iron

cut out your 5 circles, then cut those in half down the approximate middle.

place right sides together and sew around the curved part, with 1/4 inch seam. clip around the curves every 1/2 inch or so, turn right side out.

press with your iron to make the edges neat and crisp. you should have 5 "petals".

do a running stitch along the bottom of the petals with your needle and thread. make sure you try and place your stitches in the same place on the petals, as much as you can. continue with all 5 pieces, on one continuous piece of thread.

gather your petals together and sew around the back to secure.

add a button, pin back, and whala! you've made a cute little fabric flower for pins, adorning dresses, bags, whatnot.


now for the updated, no sewing machine version:

cut out 5 circles, whatever size you like. fold in half. sew a running stitch along the curved edge, like so:

gather into a petal...

and add the other petals and a button! super easy!



this tutorial was featured on Craft Gossip!

and Prudent Baby!


***If you have used any of my tutorials, I'd love if you'd add a quick pic to my flicker group! Thanks!***

blanket

i finally finished this crocheted blanket i've been working on for over 4 years.

and by working on, i mean i do a few rows twice a year.

and by finished, i mean gave up and made it into a shawl.

or very short blanket.

i'm just not a fast crochet-er. i do wish i knew how to make hats though.

though maybe i should call it good.

moving on up...

good bye, little silver car. i will not miss your broken transmission, missing drivers side sun visor, crappy paint job & peeling paint, cigarette burns in the seat (NOT from us!), crummy floors (ok, that one's my fault), window that wouldn't work awhile ago, auto locks that don't work half the time, lack of cruise control, small trunk, and being 10 years old.


i will, however, miss the memories of meeting rory the week after buying you and driving to dances with him in it, will miss the countless shopping trips we took in you with my sisters, the times you brought us home to visit from utah, and the three utah winters it survived. i will miss the only car i've ever had...one that's been with us since day one.

good bye little friend. thanks for lasting this long.


and hellooo new car! (insert whistle) hey good lookin'! ;D

do you like the sexy red paint job? i wasn't sure about it at first, wasn't sure i was red car material, but it's grown on me.

it's a 2008 chevy equinox. we got a sah-weet deal on it last night. of course, we just set out to "look" at some cars, but we all know how that usually ends. lol.

we love it! sadie kind of looks around and kicks her feet up at all the space! :)