Wednesday, April 13, 2011

To Do List . . .

I have a giant TO DO list for my upcoming Fairy party that is now less than a month away.


Today I crossed off a coupe of things:

Art for invitation - Check
    (Nicole as a fairy)

Invitation Wording - Check
Crown Template - Check

There are still several things left to the list but I finally feel like I got something accomplished.

Hopefully in the next week I can get all the decorations printed out and in order.

I still need giant fairy wings and number 4's to put up everywhere, Plus food name tags.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Fun Photo - Monday

Since I am usually Crazy Busy at work on Mondays I think I will start to post one or more fun photos from the weekend.




J-Cool thought he needed to "read"
Pop's newspaper in the dark
on the way home Saturday night.
Can you tell he was CAUGHT!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Photo Time


This past weekend I had the privileged of doing something that I absolutely LOVE, an on location photo shoot with my two favorite boys.



Being a busy mom that works 40+ hours a week doesn't leave much time for photography, so I jump at the chance when one of my closest friends asks when I am free for a shoot. Since not allot of people ask and I don't advertise its a rare FUN occasion. I would love to be able to QUIT my day job and live on art but that's not reality in this economy.


I HOPE ya'll enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them.























Wednesday, March 23, 2011

STREAMERS of the pony tail variety

After watching a great tutorial
found
HERE I made my little
T-Ball diva some cute EASY
and FUN baseball themed
pony tail streamers attached
to a hair band she LOVED
them I can't wait to see
what the other kids on her
team think when we meet
Thursday for the
first practice.



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

T-Ball anyone???

My 3 year old will be starting t-ball. This coming up Thursday will be her first ever practice, which I am sure will be a blog worth adventure. So tonight I am going home to make her some Baseball Ponytail streamers. I found a GREAT Ponytail Streamers Tutorial that I am going to be using. Hopefully my plans will work out and I will have some pics to post SOON!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Cooking

Now I am not a big fan of cooking but a virtual friend of mine started a blog for kids meals.
I decided what the hay the recipe sounded good and EASY and CHEEP!!

I am all about good, simple, affordable meals.
So tonight for the weekend I gave it a try.

Pizza Wraps from Cuddlebug Test Kitchen. Only change is I uses Queso cheese instead of Mozzarella

Smells yummy right out of the oven!!


JACOB Loved it and ate EVERY bite!!!
His was served with ranch, my kid loved his dip!

We used Kroger Brand Pizza Sauce $1
Hormel Pepperoni $1
Tortillas $2.49 (for 20 so half of that)
and Cheese $2 on sale at Kroger
So we spent about $7 NO WAY FAST FOOD CAN BEAT THAT

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Adventures in Crafting . . The TIE T-Shirt

I absolutely LOVE all the applique shirts for little boys.

While searing the web for the perfect Easter outfit for my ultra casual cool 2 year old I came across T-Shirts with ties appliqued onto them.
My first thought was I CAN DO THAT!
This line of thinking often gets me into trouble. So I set out in search of all the crafting ingredients that I thought I would need.

Ingredients:
 - T-Shirt
 - Cute Fabric
   for said tie
 - Fusible webbing
   for the backing,
   I used wonder under
 - Matching Thread
 - Iron
 - Sewing machine


Begin by printing a pattern out or you can make your own drawn on paper.

 
Then cut out the patten, place it underneath your fusible backing and trace lines on paper side of backing
(smooth side).
  I spent most of the afternoon googoleing just the best way to do this applique and there were SEVERAL. So did a little experiment since I am ultimately making 2 shirts. With one I cut the tie out of the fusible material and with one I left fusible material around the outline of the tie. Then proceeded to the next step.


Next you need to fuse the wonder under to the fabric. This is done by laying the bumpy side of the material onto the wrong side of the fabric and ironing on hot for 5-8 seconds to get a good bond.


You can see in the photo that one is cut to shape and one has extra material. I recommend the extra material to be left and then the tie cut out of it. This way was much easier to handle and the edges did not fray.


Cut fabric and backing in the shape you traced. Also optional you can cut the tie at the neck to make a 2 pies tie I DID NOT DO THIS. I thought one pies was plenty for a first timer like me.


Now you are ready to Iron the tie to the t-shirt.
Remove the paper backing from the cut out. Place it where you want it on the t-shirt. I attempted to get mine a centered as possible but if its not perfect no one will notice. Follow the directions of the fusible fabric backing, mine said to iron on wool setting  for 10-15 seconds using a damp pressing cloth
(a damp piece of scrap fabric or bandanna will work fine) 


Lastly you are ready to sew on the applique. I used a ziz-zag stitch on my sewing machine. I am forever wondering what setting to use so at the end I am including a photo of my sewing machine settings for reference.
 

In order to avoid double stitching I used the stitching pattern in the photo to the left. I started at the narrow part, sewed across the tie and then UP -- left -- down -- down-- down -- up -- up -- that brought me to my starting point. On the backside of my t-shirt I used a little dab of fray check/fabric glue to make sure my stitching stayed in place. Or you could back stitch a couple stitches to ensure that the stitches are secure.


And TA-DA finished Tie t-shirt!!!
Ready for my special little boy.


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