Reasons why my husband should never go on long business trips.

My husband has been on a business trip for the past 5 days. This means that I got a taste of single parenthood for 5 days. And I am not a fan.

For the past 5 days, I had to manage working full time, caring for the needs of 2 small children, and somehow still taking care of myself. Let's just say it's a good thing I froze some meals beforehand because otherwise I would be eating bowls of Cocoa Puffs for dinner every night. Hats off to you single moms and military wives out there, I already thought you were awesome for doing it on your own, but now you're all officially superhumans in my book.

So, how did these past 5 days go?

• On the second night my husband was gone, my daughter ate 1-3 rhinestones. I'm not sure exactly how many she ate. All I know is that there were at least 3 sticky spots left on one of her toys where rhinestones should be.
• My dinner Wednesday night was 1/2 of a roasted acorn squash. Because there's NO way I'm going to attempt to make an actual meal while I have a 2-year-old clinging to my leg repeating, "hold me? hold me? hold me?"
• I finally shaved my legs on Wednesday because they were really beginning to itch.
• My daughter ate a green crayon. Yeah, we're at THAT stage where my kid eats stuff. Note to her future teachers: hide the glue.
• Oh, she also managed to color on the TV screen some before eating said green crayon. (Don't worry honey, I used the screen cleaning spray and told Haley that her college fund could easily be converted into our Medeterranian Cruise Fund if she touched any of the technology again.)
• Tuesday night both Connor and Haley thought it would be fun to alternate who was awake every hour from 1:30am-5:30am. I think I had 6 cups of coffee the next morning.
• One night, I took both kids to the local fabric store to pick up materials for a project. Haley managed to stay pretty well-behaved. Connor on the other hand cried every time a stranger even looked at him. At least we know he won't be accepting candy from strange people anytime soon. On the other hand, this might also be a sign that he'll be living at home until he's 35.

Patrick came home last night, and I have never been so glad to see him. I'm sure my kids probably feel the same.

I Love Shoes Shirt {a Silhouette project}

My daughter is obsessed with shoes. I'm pretty sure she has more than I do, and for a 2-year-old, that's saying a lot. One of her favorite words is "shopping," and if we make our way to the shoe section, you can be sure she'll find the most glittery, pink pair of shoes she can find.

I think we have a future shoe addict on our hands and with the way she has her daddy tied around her little finger, this could mean major trouble for our budget.

When I won my amazing Silhouette from Grosgrain back in May, I couldn't wait to try it out. This baby has made my life SO much easier, I don't know how I ever lived without it! For my first Silhouette project, I decided it was time to take my daughter's shoe obsession public. I got my inspiration from a friend of mine who bought her daughter an adorable shirt from Target that said "I {heart} shoes" on it with flats embellished with a flower. I decided to do something similar to that.

This shirt is a relatively quick project and requires very little sewing.

Supplies:

• T-shirt
• Silhouette smooth iron on transfer material
• 2 colors of fabric scraps
• 2 small buttons
• Needle and thread
• Sewable interfacing
• Sewing machine and thread
• Silhouette
• Iron

Step 1: Create your image and wording in Silhouette Studio and cut out.

I used Silhouette Studio to create and flip my "i love" wording in BLANK FONT so it's backwards (when you iron it on, it'll read correctly.) Next, I modified the "Shoes with Flowers" design that I purchased from the online Silhouette store by removing the flowers on the shoes and creating a more rounded toe area  since I wanted to create my own embellishment later.

Following Silhouette's instructions, cut out your image and wording, then remove any negative space you don't want ironed on your shirt. Use tweezers to remove those little extra bits that are hard to get.

Step 2: Iron on your image.

Position your image and wording with the shiny side up on top of your shirt.

Follow the heat transfer instructions to attach your image to your shirt.

Step 3: Create your flower embellishments.

To create your flower embellishments, you can either cut out some circles by hand, or let your Silhouette do it for you (which is what I did.) You'll need 2 colors of fabric scraps big enough to cut out 2 1-inch circles from.

Iron some sewable interfacing to the back of your fabrics according to the interfacing instructions and remove the paper backing. If you're using a Silhouette, position your fabric scraps on the sticky carrier mat, interfacing side down, and use your Silhouette Studio to draw and cut out 4 1-inch circles: 2 from each fabric. If you're cutting by hand, trace and cut out 2 1-inch circles from each fabric.

Using pinking shears, cut around the edges of 2 of your circles to make decorative edges.

Step 4: Iron and sew on your embellishments.

I didn't take a picture of this step because it's pretty self-explanatory, but stack one of the circles you trimmed with your pinking shears on top of one of the other circles (as shown above) and place on top of one of your shoe images. Place a towel on top and iron on according to the interfacing instructions. Sew around the perimeter of your circles to secure to the shirt, and hand sew a button on top.


Repeat this process to embellish your second shoe (see below.)

Now Haley can wear her obsession proudly.

And we can be reminded of where all of our money is going.

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"I'm with the muggle" HP shirt tutorial

Have you seen the newest Harry Potter movie? I'm sure all of you probably have, most of my cash goes to my kids so movies are hard to come by these days unless they come from Redbox. I will unfortunately have to wait until the movie comes out on DVD to watch it (or maybe go the old fashioned route and read the book - I've read all but the last one!) I do, however, have a friend who is a giant Harry Potter fan and who has gone to every midnight showing of the Harry Potter series so far.

I think the midnight showings would be fun to go to just to people watch. You know the people who go that late/early are undying Harry Potter fans. For some reason, I imagine a theater full of costumed people yelling spells at each other from across the theater, popcorn flying everywhere. I kinda wish I had gone to the midnight showing just to people watch.

Being the last movie in the HP series, I just had to make my friend a Harry Potter shirt, so we decided to go the freezer paper route and whip one up. I wanted to do a play on the "I'm with stupid" shirt but with a Harry Potter theme, so I made a "I'm with the muggle" shirt.

Here's a quick refresher on how to make a shirt using freezer paper stenciling (which is one of the easiest ways to make a great looking shirt with minimal work - woo hoo!)

Supplies:

• T-shirt
• Fabric paint
• Freezer paper (found at the grocery store or Wal-Mart in the same aisle as the foil, baggies, etc.)
• Paint brush
• Iron
• X-Acto knife and mat

Step 1: Trace and cut out your letters.

First, go HERE to download the free Harry P. font. If you're using a craft cutter, type up your wording with an arrow underneath in the size you would like, then cut out your wording on the sticky carrier mat using freezer paper.

If you don't have a craft cutter, simply type up your wording (and add an arrow underneath) in a word document in the size you would like, then print out and place under your freezer paper. Trace the wording, then use an X-Acto knife to carefully cut out each letter on a cutting surface.

Make sure to remove the little paper bits you won't need, but hold onto the inside scraps in the e and letter g's (use tweezers if needed.) Using a hot iron on the "cotton" setting with no steam, Iron your freezer paper wording to the front of your shirt with the shiny side down.

 

Step 2: Apply your paint.

We had to represent for Gryffindor, so we mixed up some red and blue fabric paint to make maroon.

Before painting, make sure you insert some cardboard inside of your shirt so the paint won't leak through to the other side. Carefully paint your fabric paint onto your shirt, painting from the outside in so you don't jam paint outside of the stencil area.

Let dry for the amount of time stated on the bottle. You can heat set it with an iron if you want, I never do but better safe than sorry!

 Step 3: Peel off freezer paper and wear.

After you let your shirt dry for the allotted time, carefully peel off your freezer paper and wear! You can wash and wear as usual.

I totally screwed up and touched the wet paint and got a dot of fabric paint on my shirt....which is why I added a lightning bolt and the HP over the smudge. I kinda like it though.

PS, Rachel over at Maybe Matilda made a great Harry Potter-themed shirt too (check hers out HERE.) Nerds unite!

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Sarcasm.

Because only bubble letters can truly relay sarcasm.

Guest posting at Nature's Heirloom!

Today, I'm posting over at Nature's Heirloom and sharing a easy, quick-sew project to celebrate the arrival of Nikki's little one!

Come on over and check it out!

Pallet advice needed!

A friend of mine recently got some new furniture. When the company delivered it, they left the pallet. My husband offered to take it off his hands and use it for firewood.

Firewood, people!! He wanted to use a perfectly good pallet for firewood. I mean, being the refashionista that I am, of course that awesome piece of perfectly good wood isn't going to get chopped up and used as firewood.

Psh, men. They're so...practical.

With my obsession with wanting to find and use an old door for a headboard over the past few weeks, my mind immediately went to that, but that idea was nixed right away when my hubby informed me that it'd be too small for our king-size bed. I was pretty bummed about that, and yes, I'm still obsessed with finding a door. Several of you told me that you have a few old doors in your possession - I'm so jealous! If you're ever in the Memphis area and happen to have a door with you, feel free to drop by. I'll gladly take it off your hands.

Even though I wouldn't be able to use the pallet as a headboard, I was able to find a lot of other inspirational uses thanks to my favorite addiction, Pinterest, which is always there to give me constant eye candy during break time, time I should be spending cleaning the house, and each night when I should be sleeping instead.

via Tonjeo

via Bella

via Ashley

 

via Shannyn

Sooo many beautiful uses for something that I used to just overlook. While shopping at Sam's Club this past weekend, I walked past several pallets with fruits and vegetables stacked on them, and all I could think about is what I could turn those pallets into. And then the good Lord saw the crazy thoughts going through my head and decided it might be a pretty good idea to send a pallet my way before I started dumpster diving in the Sam's Club back alley. 

Good call, good call.

So this is what I'm thinking of doing with my new pallet. I want to put these in my craft room when I give it a much needed face lift soon.

What do you think? I really love the idea and, as someone who has NEVER tried to make furniture of any kind before, this seems like a relatively safe first project. These shelves look pretty simple to make, but I know nothing about this furniture thing. I was thinking about possibly painting them white and maybe distressing them some, which is yet another process I know nothing about.

I need your help!! If I mess this project up, the fine people of Sam's Club are going to find me rummaging through their dumpsters for more pallets in the very near future.

Some bright baby bedding

My friend that I made The Hospital Survival Kit for was so sweet to ask me to make her baby bedding. I made Connor's bedding (the only time I ever attempted baby bedding) so she somehow decided from that that I was qualified enough to make bedding for her daughter :)

We made a trip to Hancock Fabrics and she picked out some very colorful fabric that I definitely couldn't have pulled off. She has a great eye for decorating and I love how it all turned out!

She has purchased a plain white bumper from IKEA a few months ago, so I covered it with this striped fabric on one side, and orange on the other. The stripes incorporate all of the colors in the room and really bring everything together.

The ties are navy blue, which I stitched together with orange thread to match the back fabric (you can't really see it well in the picture below, but it looks really cute close up!)

For the dust ruffle, she chose a lime green fabric (which matches the lime green in the striped bumper fabric.) I followed THIS tutorial on Sew 4 Home to make the ruffle, and it was SO easy. I actually used the same tute to make Connor's Steeler's baby bedding (which I still haven't gotten around to showing you!)

The pink fitted sheet was store-bought. I actually made a fitted crib sheet for Connor's room using THIS tutorial, but found that it's more trouble than it's worth. Crib sheets are relatively inexpensive and unless you need a specific color or pattern that can't be found elsewhere, I suggest you just buy a fitted sheet at the store.

I also made a duvet cover with matching fabric but I didn't take any pictures because by that time, I was so ready to be done with the project that I didn't want to see striped fabric ever again. Does that happen to anyone else?

But then, I got to see the adorable baby that I made all the bedding for and it was totally worth it.

It's easy to forget how small they are, isn't it?

Linking up!

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design