Mushroom Villagers

“I’m bored” has been an often used phrase around here. I’m busy, Chris is busy and the kids are going nuts. I found this “Super Foam-erator” idea from this post and was amazed how fast and easy it was!

The kids loved it and the best part was that all of my kids could do this easily. Ms O loved making the long worms and Eddie was the champion blower.

Directions can be found here, but really all you need is a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off, a rubber band, some terry cloth, and some sort of bubbly soap poured into a lid. It’s stuff everyone has around the house already- love it!

Simply cut off the bottom half of the plastic bottle and attach a small piece of terry cloth with the rubber band. (The thiner the cloth the better since the kids have to blow through it.) Get the cloth wet, dip it into the soap and blow. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and results in alot of fun. I do have to warn you to remind the kids to breathe in through their nose and out their mouth. My boys keep sucking the bubbles up into their mouths through the bottle because they were breathing out and in with through their mouths. Funny, but not really…

Anyhoo, try it out today. It’s hot, the pool’s up and there’s plenty of sewing to be done. Keep them busy and happy!

I won just about the best give-away ever: Mr Monkeysuit’s mini prize!

As you can see, the prize wasn’t “mini” in any way. Her package came smellin’ luscious and yummy before I opened it. It was filled with all sorts of goodies for face, hair, skin and house most of which aren’t in the photo because they’re gone already. She made a beautiful cosmetic roll and I think it’s even made out of linen.  (Man, she’s generous. I’ve never given away linen.) She also included cute postcards and everything had awesome labels which I wanted to buy immediately.

After trying all her homemade beauty and bath products, I had to have more so I bought this book which she recommended. It’s full of how-to information as well as storing and packaging. Now I need to whip up some of my own batches because I’m just about out of all my free samples. Thank you Josie!

BTW- Check out her newest tutorial on matchbook notepads. How cute are those?!

Okay. Try not to laugh, but these are my people:

I bought these wooden unfinished people with eggs back in March from here. (BTW- I could do some major damage in that store. I’d love to get a ton of these too.) I was all excited when I got these and wanted to try my hand at a new craft- painting. I can’t draw, paint or sculpt, but I wanted to try. How in the heck do people make such fine lines neatly?! I’ve always held artists in high regard because they can look at something and replicate it. It blows my mind.

Anyway. I primed all the eggs and people because the kids will be playing with these for years to come and I didn’t want the paint peeling or chipping off. I painted everything with some non-fancy acrylic paint, but man there were many, many coats involved with alot of drying time in between.

Everything was painted a while ago, but I still need to get the right amount of finish on them. Again, it takes alot! I used the spray-on lacquer, but ran out quickly. My dad just informed me that in order to get that high-gloss, glass-like look you have to spray, sand lightly and spray again. You have to repeat these steps over and over again until you get the finish you like.

Needless to say, I stopped after I used up the can and never sanded between coats. They’ve been sitting in a box for months, but since the weather’s finally turning around here, I think I’ll get ‘er done.

If you want to see some much better ones, check out these and this lady’s who inspired me to try this in the first place.

So I started this lovely dress a month ago. After this success, I thought I could conquer Simplicity 9784 with ease. NOT. In reality, it had nothing to do with the pattern. It was entirely me.
I was trying too many new things: piping inserted on the collar, working with corduroy, adjusting the size since the pattern only went up to 18 mos and I was going for a 2T. Also, I’ve said this before, but I can’t read. After ripping out the same step at least 5 times, I asked Chris what he thought the step was instructing. Duh! I was missing a whole pattern piece and didn’t realize it.
Anyway, I finally finished the dress today and it’s a little short, but it works.

I found this material at Mill End here in Beaverton and had to have it. I love polka dots!

The collar was a little tough to sew because I was trying to sew two pieces of thick corduroy with piping inserted along a curve. Curves alone throw me off and adding the other two issues really took some patience. I love the look of piping though and will be trying this again.

(Sorry to insist, but you gotta see what my little princess wears under such a dress.)

Also, after reading this article, I *really* want to try pleats. Something straight, cotton, tank, square-neck with nice crisp pleats is on my must do list.
But first, I still have to finish Fini’s April b-day presents- yikes. Sorry Fini!

I hit 35 last week and didn’t have my sewing machine (in the shop for it’s yearly check-up) so what’s a girl to do?  Why not start a new hobby?

This is my newest baby- a La Patrie Etude classical guitar. I researched guitars for days before deciding on a classical, nylon-string guitar versus an acoustic, steel-string guitar. I found this beauty with a hard case on CL and snapped it up.

Since I have no musical background whatsoever, I decided to teach myself the basics before taking lessons. So far I have down notes E, F and G and my left index finger is SORE. (I’m glad I didn’t go with a steel string guitar!) I’m using these books to get me started and can pretty much follow it easily. I’m having a blast, but with 2 time consuming hobbies and 3 kids, you can bet my house is a disaster and the laundry pile has turned into a mountain.

I played my first song (all on one string) for Chris last night. It was wonderful sitting on our deck, a gin & tonic within reach, tiki torches lit, strumming my guitar.  Having music in one’s life is more important than a clean house in my book.

Things that are making me happy lately:

New Marriage

New shoes

(These are Naot Gardenia Shoes in Toffee)

New Sunglasses

New Morels

New Baby Geese

New bike trails we have yet to explore!

We were able to get out this weekend and accomplish some major yard work- at least for us.

Livvie took a 4-hour nap so I was able to spend just about the entire day outside. We started off the day getting a load of dirt from our favorite dumping ground- Grimm’s. We took our hoop-D trailer and filled her up as much as she could hold. The kids love watching the huge loaders, trucks and mountains of dirt get moved around.

We headed home and got to work planting strawberries, peas (again, since our earlier planting hasn’t been doing well), begonias, impatients, and geraniums. We also cleaned out our front bed which I have wanted to re-plant since we moved into our house. I LOVE it! It’s empty, clean and ready for something new.

I wanted to show this picture because it shows Chris’ favorite yard tool- our plant mover. During high school, he worked at a small nursery which used old lawnmower bases to move around their inventory. After moving into our house, Chris immediately went to the recycling center and picked up an old, heavy lawnmower. He removed all parts except the metal base which is basically a large, flat surface. We have used this thing for many, many plant moves and I’ve come to rely on it as well.  You don’t have to move the plant high into a wheelbarrow or anything like that.  You simply scoot the plant carefully onto the base and wheel it where you need it to go.  It’s strong, stable and low to the ground.  We’ve just about moved every rhododendron, tree and shrub using this little contraption.

I’m getting anxious for summer and want to plant the garden and flower seeds, but it’s still chilly and the ground is very wet.  I can’t wait for some r & r next week with just my kids and after that, summer will be just around the corner.  I love May!  Vacation, Mother’s Day and my 35th birthday- it’s a good month isn’t it?

My blog is one! Wow. I totally missed my blog anniversary which was March 13th. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I remember the night I discovered the world of blogs. What an eye-opener this new world has been for me. I have loved every minute of it and know that I will be a part of this for a while yet.

I look back at some of my sewing I was doing then and am sometimes embarrassed. I remember when I bought my first new sewing machine. I remember when all my fabric, batting, notions and patterns actually fit inside my cabinet. I remember when I posted everything I made…

Today, things are different. I’m drooling over a new sewing machine. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to buy one of those beauties, but a girl can dream right? (Really, the Bernina Aurora QE is THE one!) My Janome is great, but it’s a basic machine and has limits- like sewing through layers of fabric. I’m also seriously looking for a serger which I thought I’d never really need. I have so many projects going that I can’t keep my sewing table clean for one day. I’ve tried some embriodery, picked up knitting again and have written tutorials that other’s have actually used. I’ve met many talented people and continue to be inspired daily.

The best is having Chris plan out- on graph paper!- my own sewing/craft room which will eventually be in our unfinished basement. This means I’m sticking around this sewing world for awhile and am getting a wonderful permanent space to do it all in.

So thank you for taking the time to comment, read or just browse. It’s been a great year!

This is the fort I (Chris) built the kids over President’s Day Weekend. It took two-four hour days of shoveling and packing the 12 inch deep snow. It has an j-shaped entrance tunnel, three rooms that were 3 feet by 8 feet each, a turret with crenelations and merlons. (I had to look that up) I eventually added two small stoarge areas and an air hole. The roof varies from 30 to 40 inches in height.

Augie and I spent a 24° F night in the fort. It worked out pretty well, we stayed dry and warm. He slept soundly the entire night. I of course worried about cave-ins, coyotes, and having to help someone with a subzero pee break, so I tossed and turned a bit.

The next day, some kids and their parents were walking by as I was doing some interior touch-up work. Augie invited them in. Before I knew it- we had 10 kids, myself, and two visiting parents all inside. We were comfortable but a little cramped. Thats when I decided to add the turret and the third bedroom, you really never know when you may have unexpected company and need the extra space.

I saw this on Crafty Mama’s blog and thought it would be fun to do so here goes:

Four jobs I have had in my life:
- Berry, onion and bean picker- paid for clothes and stuff during my teens
- Forklift driver for Smuckers Cannery- no, you really don’t want to know what’s in your jam.
- CNA- worked in a nursing home after college- hmm, what does that say about a college education?
- Human Resources Generalist- I hired and fired, not fun

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:
- Princess Bride - who hasn’t seen this at least ten times?
- Gross Point Blank - love that movie!
- Superbad - I’ve actually only seen this once, but I haven’t laughed so hard in a long, long time. I’m going to watch it again, soon.
- Star Wars - against my will every time

Four places I’ve lived:
- Fiji
- Saudi Arabia
- Montana
- Oregon

Four TV shows I watch:
- The Office - one both Chris and I can watch together- a rarity!
- ER - started watching this show while a premed in college and recently started watching again
- Law & Order - Augie could sing the tune before he was four- not good mothering I think
- Girls Next Door - Gross, but I can’t help it!

Four places I have been:
- Egypt
- Rome
- London
- Israel

Four favorite foods:
- Coffee
- Bread and butter
- Rice
- Dungeness Crab

Four places I’d rather be right now:
- Sleeping
- Sewing
- The Ranch
- On a beach

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:
- My week off in May with just my kids, I do this every year
- Summer Vacation
- BIL’s Wedding
- Turning 35!

Four places I love to shop:
- Craigslist
- Lands End
- Stitchin Post
- REI

That’s it- a little of me. Want to write one too? Tag, you’re next!