Oooooooklahoma!!

Look at these super cute shirts I made! 

I love them!

(I think I see a family photo needing to happen very soon!)

Baby Shower Craftiness

What do you give the crafty girl that has everything?  Normally I would crochet a blanket, but she is a knitter.  Diapers just seem so impersonal.  I really wanted to make something crafty, but that would require getting over myself...

A friend had an idea to make some burp cloths and I ran with it.

I also thought it was necessary to make the new baby a "T" bag since his sister has an "E" bag.

I love how they all turned out!

(And I think the crafty new mama did too!)

Busy Bag Exchange

A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in a Busy Bag Exchange. Do you even know what that is? Well, they are huge on Pinterest. (If you don't know what Pinterest is, you might need to come out from under the rock you've been hiding under. (:) I was thrilled to get to participate in something like this! I knew Luke would love all of the little activities that he would end up with.

The girl that set up the exchange (our super crafty, creative head of MOPS) made it very easy! She chose a bunch of activities, posted the links on her blog, had those of us who were interested choose which one we would like to do and then told us how many we needed to make. You can read all about it here.

I chose Popsicle Color Matching.

These cute little popsicles couldn't have been any easier to make and I think they turned out super cute!

These are all of the fun busy bags that Luke ended up with. I know he is going to love using them. I love when kids can play and learn at the same time!

Luke took an instant liking to this counting game. So cool!

I am hoping to participate in another busy bag exchange and have even more fun, learning activities for my busy little learner!

Snowman Crafty's!

Aren't these little snow-girlies adorable!
(They certainly don't look like snowmen!)

My mom sent me the idea and I knew I would be making them! They were the perfect little gift for my MOPS group! So easy, so fun and SO CUTE!! Pretty sure I'll be making a lot more!!

Halloween ~ 2011

As a kid, my mom always made our Halloween costumes. Now, I don't believe there is any other way for my kids! I am not opposed to store-bought costumes! I just enjoy making my kids costumes!

Having said that, last year after Halloween I bought Luke a Yoda costume for this year. He loves Yoda and I couldn't pass up the bargain. (How do you resist 75% off?) As we were thinking about what each of the kids were going to dress up as this year, I tried the Yoda costume on Luke. Everything was looking great until I tried to stuff his head into the Yoda hat. The child does not have a small head! So...now I didn't have a clue what he could be! As I was searching my obsession for Halloween costumes ideas I came across a cute idea for a box of popcorn. It looked super cute and fairly easy to accomplish.

I think it turned out great! Is this not the cutest box of popcorn you have ever seen?!

On to Abby...She didn't have a clue what she wanted to be for Halloween. She finally decided that she would just be the clown that she was a few years ago. I was fine with that since it was something that I had made and was pretty proud of. I loved the fact that she would get more wear out of it. Well, while searching for costume ideas I came across something very fun and colorful that I thought Abby would love. I was right. She fell in love and immediately decided against the clown costume.

Abby's hot air balloon costume turned out SO great! She loved it. I loved it. It. was. a. hit!! As Abby was trick or treating, I can't tell you how many people asked to take Abby's picture! It was crazy! As she was walking around people kept telling her how awesome her costume was! (Yes, I was a proud mama! Thankfully the Lord has forgiven me!)

Ben wasn't so sure whether he would go trick or treating this year. He thought he might be getting too old! I assured him that he wasn't too old, but that if he was going to go, he had to wear a costume. (I hate it when kids try to get candy without dressing up!) He decided to go as a hiker/backpacker. I liked it! (Sadly I didn't get a picture of Ben by himself.)

There they are. My hiker/backpacker, my box of popcorn and my hot air balloon. :)

Trick or Treat!

Abby and her ninja, friend, Anna.



Silly boy!



Checking out their loot!


I think the kids all had a fun night! Ben went trick or treating with some friends. Abby's friend, Anna called and asked us to all come over there so we could all go together. Luke has been sick all week and I was concerned that he wasn't even going to be able to go trick or treating, but he made it to about 8-10 houses before he was ready to be finished. I'm glad he made it!

We are already thinking about next year's costumes! :)

Feeling Kinda Crafty

Yes, I've been feeling kind of crafty lately. My house is a blank slate and Pinterest (yes, again) is quite the inspiration. One day I made a list of things that I wanted to make and then Abby and I made a trip to Lowe's and Hobby Lobby to get all of the supplies.

This cute frame is something I made at MOPS. (I already had it pinned on Pinterest!) I love it! I write notes, menus, grocery lists...super useful! And super cute!

I found this idea in a book and was excited when I found the letters half off at Hobby Lobby! Score! Super easy and cute!

I fell in love with these little guys when I saw them on Pinterest! Fun and easy! Luke really likes them!

Yet another Pinterest idea.

And another.

I am thrilled with how this grouping turned out! I love it!!

This is just fun to me! It makes me happy!

I am happy about the crafty things I have been able to make lately. I am looking forward to finding more to work on. The next crafty episode could potentially include a little taste of Christmas.

Kitchen Fun Continued...

When Jon was in South America last month I got motivated to do a little bit of kitchen decorating and craftiness. I have become a bit excited with how things look and have been working on giving the room a finished look. Thanks to pinterest (again) I came up with the idea for this fun collage.


I am really happy with how it turned out! I was able to print the pictures from my own computer and have them up on the wall in no time! Hooray for progress! If I can only get the rest of my house to look cute...

Kitchen Fun

I am so addicted to Pinterest! I can spend way too much time on there before I realize how much time has passed! I found some really cute ideas for my kitchen and figured it would be something great to work on while Jon was in South America.

Here is what I found and had to do.

Ready to go!

The process was a bit tedious.

Measuring and drawing lines.

Taping.

And painting.

I even pretended I knew what I was doing. I know Nate Berkus does this, so I felt pretty cool. :)

Of course, in all of the fun of doing a project there had to be some issues. When I went to hang my "E", I discovered that the hole that had been drilled in the back had been put in the wrong place. If I had hung the "E" where the hole was, it would have been upside down and backwards. :( Also, while I was in the process of making the curtains, my sewing machine broke. What the heck?! SO frustrating!! I was really bummed to think that the project that I wanted to get done before Jon got home, might not be. :(

Thankfully I have a friend that was more than willing to let me borrow her sewing machine! Score!! My curtains would get finished after all! The "E"...not so fortunate.

Yay! One curtain hung! I LOVE IT!

I had this muffin tin up before, but it was black. I LOVE this re-do!

I am pretty proud of this too! I took a picture of each of these bottles of pop and made a collage. I love how it turned out!

And the second curtain is up! This is what it looks like during the day when Ben and Abby are at school.

This is how it looks everyday after school. :)

I still want to get an area rug, paint the chairs and some other fun things, but I am happy with how things are looking so far!

Abby's Room

My baby girl is growing up! Right around her birthday, Abby decided that she would like to re-do her room. It was cute, but it was definitely ready for some updating. She wanted to go with a zebra theme with hot pink. Cute! I was really excited to get started!

The first thing we started with was this lamp. Easy peasy! We took a simple white lamp shade and covered with a zebra printed bandana. Then hot glued some feathery boa. I love how it turned out!

This is a board that Abby had and I just recovered it.

While Mom was here she offered to make some pillows for Abby's room. LOVE!!

I love the cute necklace holder that Abby picked out! So girly :)

This is the half of the room that is done. I am loving how it is turning out! I have made some things on the shelves and Abby has made some things. The room is still a work in progress, but we are having fun doing it. I have more ideas running through my head, which I can't wait to get to, but with everything that is going on around here, those things are going to have to wait. I will make sure to post more pictures once we make more progress.