Crafting Critters

Keira and Dan have preschool time at home 

with Mom.

Today it was all about bugs and critters.

We made creepy crawly caterpillars out

of egg cartons.

Fantastic bugs, Keira and Dan!

Spring Is Here

It's not spring until my mantle says it's spring!

I finally got around to making the mantle

 "JUST PERFECT" for the new season.

  I spruced up a jar with some paint to make the

 perfect colored vase for the flowers. 

And used Sydney's beautiful present from Mother's Day

 with the Family Rules plaque.  

Then I traced and painted our own

 family "R" to balance it out!

And it's not spring until soccer season is over

and we can finally do our traditional

6 month carpet cleaning!

Don't laugh!

With 5 kids cleaning the carpets every

6 months is a serious MUST!!

Boy Baby Shower

Rachel loves to host parties.

This time it was a baby shower for a boy.

She couldn't pass up making the mantel

into a showcase!

Irish Day

Time to break out the

4 Leaf Clovers

and anything green!!

This year I added this easy rainbow picture

I made and some felt four leaf clovers.

These rolo's are oooohhhh so tempting!

How To Make A Dress "Fancy Nancy"

Last year, after Christmas,

I found 3 matching dresses 1/2 price

in all my girls sizes.  Rare?  Yes!

In "Rachel Style", I bought them

and hung them in my closet,

refusing to let the girls wear them

until this year.

But after staring at these dresses for  

a year I decided they just weren't 

fancy enough.

Too plain for my taste.

So I bought a few odds and ends

and came up with this....

BEFORE

AFTER

Cut gold tulle into strips,

sewed with red thread three lines down

each strip.

Then twisted and hot glued them into flowers.

And took apart some cheap poinsettia flowers

and hand stitched them to the dresses.

Best Kept Secret

By random chance Larry and I caught the evening news

before bed last night.

They were interviewing a couple who 

decided to pay for a company to come

and put up lights for them.

(something I wish we could afford)

So as they were showing clips of the process

of how they lights were put up,

we saw a worker us a hot glue gun on the back

of those large lights and push it onto the side

of the house.

Both of us did a double take and said

"did he just use HOT GLUE?"

I am not sure if they meant to show

a trade secret on the news,

but we were so happy for finally know

just how they get those lights up with

brick houses.

If you look closely you can see some hot glue

bulging out the back of this light.

All you do is put a glob of glue on

and hold it there for 5 seconds.

Then move on to the next light.

Finally lights up around our house,

without having to climb the two story ladder!!

Party Accessories

This winter season I am crafting up a storm.  And if you have seen my house during Christmas time, you would be asking WHY because I have a ton of decorations.  But this year it's not for me, it's for our church Christmas Party.
The women I work with at church in Primary were asked to put on the traditional dinner and program.  And you know me, I like to craft and tell people what to do, so it's a great fit for me!
This year we are sticking to everything red & white for the decorations.  I found a great blog on how to make this easy-peasy trees with poster board and scrap fabric sewed into ruffles.  It was really fun to make and I love the results.
And if you can keep a secret and promise not to tell anyone who goes to my ward at church...shshshshs...the red fabric is made from my pj bottoms!!  They became so thin in the butt that I have sewed them shut 4 times.  I finally gave up and donated them to my fabric bin.  The ribbon is also the drawstrings from those pants.
Go figure!!
I made these trees specifically for the dessert table.  We can't have a white table cloth with desserts just sitting there all plain looking.  We needed height and color.  I think these trees will be perfect.

Holiday Past-times

We like to make our holiday break

all about doing things together.

(as long as Dan is napping)

And my helpers were in 

FULL FORCE!!

We spent our thanksgiving break

baking and crafting.

Two of the best stirrers in Texas.

These girls were shocked at how

yummy we could make plain pecans taste.

So delicious, they fought over who got

to lick the spoon. 

And after one bite they were addicted.

I think they single-handedly finished

the bag we brought home after

Thanksgiving dinner was over.

Candied Pecans

I have been trying to bake things other then

cookies lately.

My friends got me hooked on a very simple

white bread recipe that makes 3 loafs.

I used it to make rolls for Thanksgiving dinner,

and used 1/2 to whip up some cinnamon rolls

for breakfast the next morning.

 And after the little ones where in bed,

I let Sydney & Emma make 

Christmas ornaments with me.

(idea was taken from another fellow blogger)

 First we each painted a square of wood.

Then we painted the girls fingers and palm.

And placed it on the square.

 Then we decorated them.

The girls were shocked I let them paint

their hands, but in reality I couldn't

have made the craft without their little

hands.

Autumn Time

What do you do after you've scrubbed 

the kids teeth clean

and soothed their hyper, sugar high,

nerves to bed?

Take down all the Halloween

decorations of course.

And then dream of all the crafts

you can make to decorate

for Thanksgiving! 

It always starts with something

cute on the front,

for me, at least.

So I came up with this

little ditty from

scraps around the house.

It took all day while 

entertaining 3 kids,

but it was worth it.

Homemade Halloween

Here are a few things I have

"crafted" for the holiday!

Trying to use more old costumes

to add decorations around

the house!

I think all that is left are some pumpkins,

and the porch will be complete!

Super Saturday 2011

Made these holiday decorations

at my ward super saturday!
I love those!! 

First a Witch Plague

for the front door.

I've ordered some vinyl words

in white to say

"KEEP OUT"

that I'll lay on the plague.

And I was in LOVE

with these multi-purpose

blocks.

Just flip them around and

on the other side...

Are you inspired?

Quilted Jean Baby Blanket

 By no means am I a good seamstress,

my patience wears thin quickly

usually because I have 5 little ones

trying to "help".

So my goal is to keep things simple by sewing

2 full sheets of flannel together

and whipping it up in less then 30 mins.

But for some close friends who were

having their first son

I tried to go the extra mile

and put more effort into it.

And when I think "boy",

I think jeans.

And since this special boy is due around

the 4th of July,

red/white/blue was the obvious

color scheme.

Adding in touches of soft with 

Winnie The Pooh.

The the back was this

gorgeous night sky blue

with bursting stars that

reminded me of fireworks.

A Warm Welcome

I don't know about the rest of the world

but I think something on the front door

shouts we're friendly, we're nice,

knock on our door!!

So I couldn't help myself.

I needed something new for the

patriotic holidays

and I really like making these simple

flowers.

You just take a 2-3inch long

strip of fabric.  Then roll &

twist while putting a dot of hot

glue down to secure it.

These flowers are also those super

popular ones that moms are

attaching to headbands, necklaces

and shirts for them and their daughters.