I made this:

a new dress for Mylie. I got the idea for it from this website. I got the pattern on sale for $.99 at JoAnns and the fabrics on sale for $2.00 a yard at Craft Warehouse. I also found 5 yards of the elastic I needed for less than $1.00 at Walmart. I already had the ribbon - a lime green polka dot. This dress in Mylie's size, used just less than a yard total of fabric - so it was cheap to make! Though it did take a lot of time. I have plans to make at least 2 more sometime soon-ish. A pink one with Zebra patterned accents and one with birds and red polka dots. Fun!

Apron for Mylie

Ignore the ugliness of these pics and focus on the cute apron that I made for Mylie. I modified a pattern that I found online. It is a little big, so we just have been folding it up in the middle where it ties - it should fit her for a long time! It is double sided using leftover fabric from the skirt I made for her last summer.

Nikki & Steven's Christmas Gift

Bob and I made this sign for Nikki and Steven for Christmas. Steven is in the National Guard, so we thought it would be a great thing to hang in their home.
I purchased the vinyl and had Dad cut a board for me (he also rounded the edges). Then I painted the board with a 50 cent mis-matched paint sample that I picked up at Lowes. Bob helped me add the faux technique glaze (in Smoke) to the board to warm it up a bit. Then Bob (with Dad's help) nailed the star to the board and then rubbed on the vinyl. We just love how it turned out and hope that Nikki and Steven enjoy it!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

I made 4 quarts, 6 pints and 37 1/2 - 1/2 pints of strawberry freezer jam this week! We should be well stocked for the coming year! I did 2 batches of jam at my mom's house on Wednesday with my mom and Michaela. On Tuesday, I did 6 more batches and even had to send Bob to the store to get more jars because I had run out. I bought all the strawberries in May and June when they were on sale, I cut the leaves off and then froze them in baggies until I was ready to use them. I ended up with a LOT!

Pretty cupcake stands!

I got the idea from this blog to make these cute cupcake plates using glass plates and candlesticks. What a fun way to recycle something old and turn it into something new and so useful! I visited the DI and Savers (the DI was a LOT cheaper!) and found some fun pieces and made 11 of these:
They were very easy to make - just match up a cute plate with a cute candlestick, lightly rub the places that will attach with some fine sandpaper, apply some E6000 glue and let dry in a well ventilated area.

We used all of them on the table scape at Mylie's party and then let each (adult) guest take one home.

I made a skirt!

for Mylie! A girl in my ward (Kellie Luke) taught an Enrichment group class last Tuesday night on making these cute ruffled skirts for little girls. They were VERY easy and great for beginner sewing. Perfect for me because although my mom taught me to sew a long time ago, my sewing skill is still a BEGINNER :(

You should be able to click on the photos to make them bigger.

Countdown Activities (days 1-7)

Our project for December 1st was to make a button wreath. I found the idea here. We used buttons and ribbons from my scrapbooking stash and Daddy provided the wire from his toolbox.

On December 2nd, we created this little cut-out Christmas village. A free project that was printed in the most recent issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. All we had to do was tear out the page, cut out the cut-out strips and glue together.

Braden found a place for it to rest in the tree. If you look in the background you'll see our Fisher Price Nativity Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus that have also found residence in our tree.

The December 3rd activity was making felt strawberries. Very easy project, just very time consuming. I still haven't added the 'seeds' to the outside. Luckily 5 year old boys and almost 5 month old girls don't notice that sort of thing.

December 4th brought the idea of felt bread slices. This one piece took me the entire day to create and it's horrible looking up close. No more of these until I come up with a new pattern.

December 6th was an activity day - Papa's Birthday party and getting his gift ready.

December 7th's project was making a pillowcase. Braden chose a peppermint candy fabric and is now begging me to applique a tree onto it.

Update

Our Princess will be 11 weeks old in just a few hours! Look at this little cutie: She's becoming very vocal in her awake hours. Lots of 'gooo's and 'coooo's. So fun! She really had a lot to say today while she sat on Daddy's lap and watched Daddy and Big Brother play a game on the computer. Pretty exciting stuff! It's so funny how you forget ALL the things that go along with having a newborn - like how The Princess's pooping habbits are now a topic of daily conversation around her. HeHeHE - gotta love it!

And - I've been canning chunky applesauce today. I got a whole 7 jars today and hope to get about that many tomorrow. It's amazing how long it takes when you have a nursing newborn and a five year old doing homeschool. The end result is pretty great looking though and the feeling of actually accomplishing something today is overwhelming.

In other news, Bob and I just re-launched a scrapbooking website that we now have ownership of. Feel free to visit anytime at www.justinspireme.com and say hi!
My work has started it's winter busy season and I'm back to typing lots and lots of sports schedules in the evenings for them. And Bob will be out of town this weekend attending an Athletic Association Conference in Ohio.
Braden just signed up to be on a Bowling Team with some other kids from IDVA and it should start in the next week or 2.