Crafting, and birthday what-nots

I've been super busy lately with the usual house, kids, family stuff.  However, I've also been embroidering like a mad woman, trying to get birthday presents for certain special people done on time. I'll write more about them and post more pics when they are completed, but for now here are some sneak peaks.

and....

This last one is a toy that I'm making for my little one.  It's embroidered from a pattern out of a wonderful e-mail magazine I receive called Teapot.  If you are interested, go check it out here http://melissagoodsell.typepad.com/day_to_day/teapot.html.  It has all sorts of crafty goodness, and the ladies that write it also have amazing blogs that you should really check out!  Well, I'm off to stitch!

-Kelly

Homemade is AWESOME!

I have gotten so many wonderful, thoughtful gifts in my life, but nothing touches my heart more, than something handmade. Whether it's a hand drawn card, a quilt, a thoughtfully crosstitched picture, or macaroni jewelry, it's all a beautiful work of art. Something someone cared enough to put time and effort into, for me, or my family. All of it means so much, and today I thought I would share some pictures of some handmade gifts, that I think are fabulous!

A crosstitch that my mom made for my eldest daughter. I am absolutely in love with it! She made one in purple for my youngest, and has made some for my cousin's girls as well.  It's such a beautiful pattern.  I love the frame that it's in too, I think my dad does a great job framing all of my mom's pieces!

A doll blanket from my grandfather.  He's the one that taught me how to knit. He and my grandmother would do practice swatches to get used to a pattern before they made a whole blanket, and I got a new doll blanket.  Makes me smile and think of them both everytime I see my girls wrap it around one of their dolls.

These are my girls' first attempts at needlepoint on plastic canvas.  I think they are great, and I love that they came up with their own ideas, like adding the jewel stickers to them.

 Beautiful quilts that their Grandma Jan made for them. This one was before C was born.

This was for after she was born and we knew it was a girl! (we let it be a surprise with both)

This was for my youngest, after she was born. The picture doesn't do it justice...it's absolutely amazing, the attention to detail, the quilted horses!  Love it!

A baby blanket I got from my Aunt Bonnie at my baby shower. I've put away most of our baby blankets but not this one.  I couldn't, it's just so beautiful!

A doll that C's Grandma M made for her. So adorable, she plays with it almost everyday!  She made the cutest little red woolen outfit for it as well that'll I have to take a picture of next time she puts it on her.

The most coveted blanket in the house, also made by my wonderful mother-in-law!

And a pillow I've had for almost my whole life. My mother made it for me and it's been on my bed, everywhere I've ever lived.

Thanks to all the wonderful people out there who make homemade, and who appreciate homemade!

-Kelly

Felt flowers, and other projects

My husband bought me a copy of Mollie Makes a couple of weeks ago.  I was so happy we were able to get a copy here.  It's printed in the UK and is a lovely magazine!

All sorts of crafty goodness!  As you can see, it comes with a wonderful craft kit on the front, and I finally made mine last night.

Super cute!  I think I'm going to whip up a few more in different colors for some wonderful little girls I know...

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Been super busy, going through our stuff, organizing, etc. Took a break though for some much needed time with the family.

It was the 1st time that either of the girls had flown a kite, and they were super excited!

We all had a great time, and played a lil on the playground too!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

-Kelly

Camping Bed Tutorial

Have you ever went shopping for the right camping bed, and none of them were quite what you wanted?  You get one of the foam ones, and they're quite flat.  You get an air bed, and well, it's an air bed. Well, I wanted one that was as comfortable as my favorite pillow, and I didn't have a lot of money to spend, so I made my own, out of pillows. It's quite simple.

First, you have to get the amount of pillows you want.  I used 4, 2 ultra firms in the middle, and 2 firms on the ends.  ( I would suggest 8 if you wanna make a double) Then, you stitch them together on the seams. I did mine by hand with DMC floss for added strength, but if you pushed most of the loft to one side, you could probably do it on a machine as well.

Your seam will look like this. Sew them all on the same side, so that the stitches will be on the bottom part of your bed.

This is what it should look like when you've sewed all the seams.

I wanted to make a cute cover for it (I'm still going to and I'll post pics when I do) but I'm short on time, since I need it for tonight.  So, I took a twin fitted sheet, and put it over it.

Even though it is slightly big for it, the elastic keeps it on there nicely!  Then, just take some wide ribbon,(or make your own out of fabric) and cut a 42" piece (more or less depending on the thickness of the pillows you chose) Fold the ends over 1/2" and hem them so they don't fray. Then sew on a fastener, such as snaps, or velcro.  I chose velcro squares.  Now roll up your pillow bed, wrap the strap, fasten, and you're ready to go!

Not the prettiest thing in the world with the fitted sheet (once again, beautiful covers will be made SOON) but oh so comfy! C-babe gives it 2 hands up!

And, if you kept all the seams to the same side, it becomes a comfy seat as well.  You can use it just about anywhere. Happy camping!


-Kelly

Cleaning, and summer crafts.

Cleaning today, making a lot of progress (I think!)  Hoping to get some sewing in later, after all the scrubbing and organizing.  The kids and I made some 4th of July pinecones the other day:

and of course they want to keep them out for a while! So I told them we could keep them out until the end of the week.  By then, we most likely will have made a craft to take it's place. 

So far this summer we have made the festive pinecones, plastic bag parachutes for their Rapunzel's that they launched from upstairs at G&G's:

 "Slime" for the girls to play with. It's goopy, and messy, but oh so fun for the kiddos!

Stand-up fairy cards in the girls fave colors.

Jewelry with pony beads and crochet string

and some glow-in-the dark bead jewelry that they wore to fireworks.

Wonder what we're going to make tomorrow?

                                                                                                 

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th everyone!  What are you all up to today?  I'm really busy with the family.  Did some crafting with the kids this morning.  Going down to the playground in a bit, and having a picnic lunch.  Bringing the bouncer out later for the kids.  BBQ with my parents, and fireworks.  So, since I am short on time today,  I'm just going to post a few pics of some projects I have done:

 A pillow I made for my brother and sister-in-law's new place.

  A couple of felt bunnies for my children for Easter.

and the rag dolls I made for my daughter's birthdays.

Have a great holiday everyone!

Grad Party

Had a wonderful time today at Liz's party. It's always great seeing family that we don't see very often :) The girls had great fun playing with Marley and Josslyn!

Here's the family :)

I'd like to introduce you to my wonderful family!

Here's Jeromy. He's the best husband anyone could ask for!  A hard worker, a great father, and always supportive.  He even goes to JoAnn's to pick up supplies for me :)

And here are our two amazing daughters, Little One and Littlest One. Little One is very into crafts, dolls, and writing her own stories.  Littlest One likes crafting as well, and loves teaparties and exploring the backyard :)

Well, we've got a graduation party to go to (my cousin Liz's) Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

-Kelly

Wow, I'm finally writing a blog.  I don't really know what to write about as there is so much to say! So I guess I'll just keep it short for this first entry. I've decided to start blogging for a lot of reasons.  I'm hoping that my family and friends will read this.  I think it's a nice way to keep track of our life, like a memory book, to scroll back through and reread every now and again. I am also hoping to connect with other like minded individuals.  I'm really excited to be able to participate in a lot of the sew alongs that I have viewed on other craft blogs!  Well, that's all for now.  If I know you already, thanks for reading.  If I don't know you yet, nice to meet you, and thanks for reading :)

-Kelly