Teacher for a day!

I have been teaching sewing lessons to two bright, beautiful, talented girls for several months now. I love being able to pass on my love for sewing with these girls and showing them that sewing can be fun and useful! Recently, I was invited to be a guest speaker at a sewing class for junior high students. I had a blast, and hope they did, too! They are learning the basics of sewing, and learning about repurposing. One of the projects they were getting ready to do when I was there was a t-shirt tote. The snack bags, "eco"uture bags, t-shirt dresses, jean blankets, and other projects I have made were a good fit for what they were studying. Plus they got to see that something you love can be turned into a business, too! Here are a few pics of the fun morning I spent with them (they have all signed media release forms and I have their teacher's permission to post these here).

Car seat covers

Multi-use blanket--can be taken off the carseat and used as a receiving blanket. Generously sized to lay on the floor, throw over as a nursing cover, use in a stroller, etc. Flip up the bottom or flip down the top to peek at baby. This one has a warm, plushy fabric interior for a winter baby

This one is two layers of cotton for a summer baby.

This particular cover is made with licensed fabric on the inside, as I am giving it as a gift to go with this football onesie!

Happy May Day!

Does anyone else feel the time flying so quickly by? Where did April go? For us, March and April included (kind of working somewhat backwards here): Birthdays for the two kiddos Easter with my parents and siblings, including birthday celebrations for the two aforementioned kiddos Birthday celebration for mother-in-law Kindergarten Open House....gasp! Can Little Man really be old enough for kindergarten??? Lots of time and discussion about kindergarten and schools and applications, enrollment forms, etc. etc. etc. Ripping up grass and planting a garden Enclosing said garden in chicken wire fence so the naughty bunnies won't nibble my plants! Tearing out bushes in front of the house Painting the house A quick RAINY spring break trip that included the awesome Strategic Air and Space Museum and the Omaha Children's Museum. I would definitely recommend both of these! And of course the wonderful hospitality of my brother and sis-in-law. Tea party celebrating my grandma's 85th birthday party, complete with trying on (and stories of) hats she has worn throughout the years. A beautiful party for a beautiful woman! And of course the everyday that is my life of running after kiddos, playing lots of baseball and soccer, grocery shopping, etc. LOVED April, love this life...but certainly neglected this blog! So here goes. To start with, some pictures of St. Patrick's Day and the kids homemade shirts. (We can't have a holiday without a special shirt!)

"Sham ROCK" featuring a guitar with a shamrock shaped body! Little Man's is a baseball style shirt that I made from cutting apart two other shirts. Found this great tutorial at a new favorite site Make It and Love It. Embroidered letters in some awesome rocker font I digitized. Baby girl's was a too-large shirt that I sized down, ruffled the sleeve and bottom hems and appliqued the shamrock guitar embroidery. The coordinating skirt was also made from an old t-shirt. And look at that handsome man in uniform. That is my dear hubby in his Honor Guard suit. Love my man in uniform! Lots of rainy days during spring break

One of my favorite photos in the last few weeks! A few projects, including this boxy backpack (3-in-1 backpack, shoulder bag and stroller bag) combo of bag, diaper clutch and changing pad. Love the color combo!

Window seat and matching pillows, all with self-piping

Pizza birthday cake...what else would a 5-year old boy request? Crust is chocolate chip cookie. Sauce is melted white chocolate combined with a few chocolate chips and red food coloring. The authentic burnt areas are because I attempted to broil the pizza in an effort to melt the shaved almond bark "cheese". Sugar fruit slices for the tomatoes and green peppers, and tootsie rolls heated, flattened and poked through the middle with a straw for the olives!

Custom birthday shirts. Another baseball style with appliqued 5 (love this style of shirt!--and so easy)

Appliqued ribbon cupcake with two candles!

Have several more projects sitting around, plus I have started up sewing lessons again with my two favorite students, so will try to post more soon!

Couch pillows

The lighting isn't great on these pillows, but think rich cappuccino brown and lovely blue with a high sheen, combined with a beautiful flower ruffle on the front! Matches the custom piano bench seat!

Princess party costume jewelry

Wow! I forgot about this project. While looking for another project in my pictures, I came across these and realized that I never posted them. They are too fun to post, even if it is closer to her next birthday than her last! These were made for a fabulous little girl who is best friends with G and whose mom is my bestie, too--convenient, huh?!

These are all embroidered, and the jewelry sets consist of a necklace, bracelet and ring with elastic to make them easy to put on and easy to keep on! Metallic thread, too!

Boppy cover

More custom nursery/baby items!

This one is another boppy cover. Love the ribbon pull on the zipper!

Dragon cake

Another cake for the cake walk.

I obviously am on a Dr. Seuss kick right now. So when I asked Little Man what kind of cake he wanted for the cake walk, and he responded "dragon", I was a little disappointed.

And I made a Cat in the Hat cake.

Then I felt guilty. So with the leftover 9" round cake I had from the cupcakes I made, I decided to make a quick dragon.

First, I cut off the "sides" (I know, a circle doesn't have sides, but didn't know the right term!) off of 3 sides. I left the front round for the nose/mouth area.

Then I cut the tips off the two cut off sides and place them on the nose for the dragon nostrils.

Added 2 cupcakes for the eyes.



Frosted the whole thing green, minus the whites of the eyes. I typically like the Wilton Buttercream Icing, but was in a hurry and used storebought. Then made the eyes white.

After I made the eyes white, I lined the eyelids and the top and inner edges of the nostrils with a bead of icing to make it stand out more. Added a few spikes at the top of the head for fun.

I love being able to utilize candy or whatever I have on hand for decorating. For this cake, I used Tootsie Roll midgees and put them, unwrapped, in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, then rolled them and smooshed them to make the pupil of the eyes.

Grab some cherry orange wildfire fruit roll ups, cut into flame shapes, and place under the mouth. Kind of ripple for 3-D effect. I actually used two layers of fruit roll ups here. *Sidenote: I don't like that all of the fruit roll ups have tatoos or a design on them! Just make it plain!*
Ta-Da!

Not sure if this is what Little Man had in mind, but he was really excited when he saw it! Though he chose a different cake when he won the cake walk...hmmmm. Oh well, mommy guilt was gone!

Enjoy!