It's here!! Celebrate the boy!!!!

So excited for a whole month of BOY projects!! Check it out here:

and here:

Can't wait!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We had a great few days at the Stag house. Ryan and I went out Sunday night, to Blue Goose and Barnes and Noble. While we were at the bookstore, Ryan informed me I WOULD be getting a Nookcolor for Valentine's day. I put up a good fight, but in the end that little electronic book won me over. I've been playing with it for about a day, and so far, I love it!!

I made a couple of items for the boys for Valentine's day. First, I made each of them a shirt to wear to school:

Sam's shirt:



Henry's shirt:



Here they are in action! Henry got some bubbles from his teacher, so the first thing we did when we got home was play with bubbles.






Such a satisfied smile on his face!



Sam couldn't quite grasp the bubbles, but he had fun eating his graham cracker.







Well, he had fun most of the time!



I also made some cute little bags for Henry's class and for both of the boys' teachers. These are super simple to make. I've made them for bachelorette parties, baby showers, wedding showers...they're a great party favor!






Inside the bag, candy and a thank you note to Henry and Sam's wonderful teachers!



Bags for teachers and kids!







Overall, a pretty successful Valentine's Day!!!!

Celebrate the BOY!!!

Two of my favorite bloggers are about to start their second annual "Celebrate the Boy" month. I think everyone agrees that there are a ton of cute tutorials on baby girl stuff. Tutus, bows, cute onesies, dress up clothes....but the boys are often left out. I know, I have two boys! So I'm so excited that these two women felt the same way and are doing something about it!! Check them out!

and

Can't wait to see what they've come up with!

Bits and Pieces

After being snowed in for 4 days with two sick kids, I'm glad to report that the sun is shining, the snow is melting and both of my sick boys are on the mend! Sam is back to his sweet self, and Henry is almost there. Right now, they're both going on hour 2 of their nap, so life is good!

Over our snow filled holiday, I wasn't able to get a lot of sewing done. All Henry wanted to do for 4 days was lie down with me and watch cartoons. While I was happy to oblige and have the forced quiet time, I'm definitely antsy to get creative again.

I was able to get a little bit done, but I came to a stopping point on several projects...and because of the weather, I couldn't run out to Joann's to get what I needed to finish. But, here's a little peek at what I've been doing lately.

First, as always, are the aprons.





I still need to buy Velcro to attach the towels, but otherwise I've got two of each of the three aprons made. A good start! My goal is to make two a month until September, when I will hopefully be participating in one of the largest local craft shows in Flower Mound. Since I've already got 6 (almost) done, I'm well on my way.

I've made a small change to my design. I added a 'D ring' so that the neck strap would be adjustable.



This adds to the cost of each apron, but I think it will be worth it. I think with the adjustable neck strap, they will be fit a wider range of people. Men, teens, women, etc. I've got a ton more fabric, and some great ideas for iron-on transfers using my awesome Silhouette.

What is a Silhouette, you ask? Only the coolest thing EVER! It's a little machine, similiar to the Cricut that cuts paper, vinyl, iron-on transfers and fabric. I'm in heaven. I started with paper, in case I messed up, and have been organizing the house.



When I showed my husband the new laundry labels, he said "I know where our laundry goes!" True...but now it's cuter!



I moved on to the adhesive vinyl, which was a little tricky. Hopefully with more practice I'll get better at applying it.

The one thing I actually completed over the break was this little bag for Sam.



Henry got a monogrammed bag for his birthday from his aunt, and he LOVES it. He puts all his favorite books in it and carries them around the house. Any time Sam tried to use it, Henry gets really angry. So now Sam has his own book bag. I wish I had made the straps brown, but otherwise I'm happy with how his little bag turned out. Perfect for trips to the library!!

I was finally able to venture out to Joann's today, so hopefully I'll have my Recycled Receiving Blanket tutorial done and posted soon.

Stay warm and safe!

Bronchitis, ear infections, and the flu...oh my!

We have had a trying week and a half at the Stag house. It started with Sam, who came down with a nasty cough, runny nose and overall grumpiness about a week ago. My husband took him to the doctor last Thursday, and they told us he had a cold. No RSV, no strep, no ear infections...just a cold. I stayed home with Sam the next day, and after his four hour nap, he woke up with a fever and was very lethargic. Very un-Sam like. So, back to the doctor for another check up. This time, both ears were infected, he was wheezing and had a fever. We did two breathing treatments at the clinic, as well as a double dose of steroids. We brought home our sick Sam, and he immediately started doing better....until Saturday night. Saturday, he was grumpy on and off all day. Saturday night, he was inconsolable. Our sweet Sam, who is always in a good mood, who falls asleep after happily playing in his crib was crying, non-stop till the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday afternoon we couldn't take it anymore...we took him BACK to the doctor, who said the combo of his steroids, breathing treatments and antibiotics were causing a bad reaction (no joke). We're still on the antibiotics, but stopped everything else. And now we have Sweet Sam back. I missed him so much!!!

Now that Sam is better, it's Henry's turn to be under the weather. Monday he woke up with a fever. Ryan took the day off and took both boys to the doctor (4th time for Sam in 5 days!). Sam was on the mend, but Henry had the flu.

So that's how our week has gone! Luckily, we had a bizarre snow storm Monday night and have been iced in ever since. No school since the beginning of the week!! We're all going a little crazy...I haven't even put shoes on since Monday...but we're hanging in! It couldn't have come at a better time for my sick boys.

I've been able to sew alot, but I'm at a stand still for many projects. I need to get to Joann's to buy a few things, but the roads are too icy. Guess I'll have to get creative with what I've got!

Real Quick...

Ok, so maybe I'm not as on top about blogging as I thought I would be! It's been a while! I was just looking at my favorite blogs, wondering why they don't post more, and then I decided I should quit looking and start writing!!

I've gotten back in touch with my sewing machine over the past few days. I've finished 2 aprons, and have fabric for dozens more. I also made a new blanket for Sam. I've posted pics of the blanket I made for Henry out of his onesies, burp cloths and other clothes from his first year...I've got all the clothes set aside for Sam, but haven't gotten started yet. Those blankets take a LOT of time! But as I was cleaning out Sam's closet, I realized we had close to two dozen receiving blankets that we never use. When the boys were babies, we would use them as burp cloths. We never did use them as blankets b/c both of our boys were giants when they were born and were too big to be swaddled.

Anyways, I sometimes feel the need to FINISH a project. I've got a ton of stuff in the works, but nothing that can be completed in one sitting. (Except aprons, of course, but those don't count). So I grabbed a handful of blankets, the rotary cutter and went to work. I'm going to try my hand at writing a tutorial for the finished product. I do it all the time for the projects my Fashion Design kids do at school, so hopefully it won't be too hard.

So stay tuned for that!

I've also fallen in love with a thrift store in town, and have found some awesome fabric at incredibly cheap prices. I found a super cute vintage dress on Saturday, for $10. I tried it on, it fit...but...I just can't pay $10 for something at a thrift store! So, tomorrow, in honore of MLK day, all clothing is half off. I'm going back and hoping it is still there. I don't know if it's truly "vintage" or just OLD. Either way, I really like it. Can't wait to show you pics of my fabrics and dress (if I can find it again tomorrow!)

More soon!

Catching Up.

Sort of strange, but now that we're back in our routine, I feel as though I have more time to catch up on blogging and various other things I was too lazy to do while we were on break. We had a wonderful two weeks off.

Henry's birthday party was a huge success. He loved every minute of it...as you can probably tell!




His party was at "Pump it Up," which is indoor bounce houses and huge inflatable slides. The kids all had a blast! Sam wore himself out pretty quick, but recovered when he got to play with the balloons.




Everyone ate cupcakes and had a great time!




His actual birthday is December 21...the first official day of winter. And this is how we were dressed down here in Texas:



That's right, shorts and t-shirts. How wrong is that?!

One of Henry's favorite presents was from his Aunt Jo and Uncle Kevin...it's been very LOUD at our house lately!



Christmas was another frenzy of fun and chaos. But what else would you expect with a 3 year old and 18 month old?

I DID finish Sam's stocking...with about a week to spare!



And speaking of my sweet, sweet Sam, he found Henry's old Elmo slippers. AFter a few hesitant steps, he was so excited! He wore them for days!!!