The bright side of having sick kids.

This past month, both my kids have been sick more often than not, so we have spent a LOT of time at home. Of course, I hate to see my kids not feeling well, but when given lemons...

The lemonade? With being home so much with kids that sleep more often, I've had some time to work on creative projects. The first of which was one I have been meaning to do since October. It is a book I compiled for my friend who adopted a long awaited, much loved little boy. We had a shower for her and people wrote messages to him (about how they've been praying for him, how we're so happy he's here, etc...), we took their pictures and I put together a book Here are a couple pics.


The background paper is scrapbooking paper I cut into 4, I glued on the cards with messages and pictures, and laminated it (w/ self stick- not the heat applied kind). Then I sewed on a fabric binding to make the edges soft. I bound it all together by punching holes, in each page, ran a piece of the binding through and made a fabric cover for the bound edge. It was one of those projects that I don't exactly know how I was going to put it all together, until it was done. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though.

I knew of lots of babies that were born in February, and I made personalized burp cloths for a couple. It may seem a little silly to make a fancy burp cloth when it will be covered in, well, spit and other foul bodily fluids. But I like utility... and they're certainly useful, why not be cute too?


Finally, my magnum opus... a dress for my baby girl. The pattern is the Comfy Jumper Dress from Amy Butler's Little Stiches for Little Ones. A book I drooled over and wanted, then bought with a friend a few months ago, and I'm so excited that I actually got to make something from it - and for my own kid, nonetheless. So this is going to be her Easter dress and I'm going to make a coordinating one for big sis (which I'm going to try to do w/o a pattern - should be interesting). I was very good and stuck to the pattern for this dress, even though there were a couple things I wanted to do differently. If I were to do it again I would probably not have added the elastic band in the back that the pattern called for, it makes it bunch a little weird in the back. But I fell in love with these fabrics (from Joann) and bought three yards of each so I'll be able to make plenty more (kid-sized) clothes with them.

And of course, my little darling, modeling. I know I put a lot of pictures, but this little dress makes me so happy, because I was finally able to sew a nice outfit for my own child, which is something I have wanted to do forever.

Here's a little better picture (taken by Sam) of the cupcakes from previous post.

P.S. I cannot stand the way adding/working with images is done on blogger. Then weird spaces show up once it's actually posted. If anyone has any advice for me I'd love to hear it.

P.P.S. I love my hair cut and have actually gotten lots of compliments. My husband ended up being the one to help me shave, and straigten up the back. Ha! I'm feeling slightly less crazy now. But I think I'll probably get it cut by a pro next time.

Veggies for dessert and saving money

My girlfriends and I made "garden party" cupcakes from the Hello, Cupcake book. Unfortunately, the pictures came out horrible, and do not do justice to the cuteness. It was a lot of fun, although I don't feel the need to make them again. There are other creations in the book I want to try.

On another topic, I feel like I'm probably almost completely crazy. I have been feeling rather frumpy and wanting my hair cut for a while now. I had all planned out what kind of cut I wanted - adding bangs again, a steeper angle coming down to the front, a little assymetry... I just haven't had the stomach to make the appointment and spend $50 we don't have. So after midnight tonight I decided I could cut it myself. I've been cutting my hubby's (buzz), and daughter's hair for over a year now, so why not my own? (Of course there was always the option in between of super cuts or the like, but where's the adventure in that?) So here's the outcome - before and after. I'm actually pretty pleased.

The back is not ready for public viewing yet. I want to buzz it, but didn't have the guts to do that myself. What I learned (1) sharp scissors would have really helped (2) Though my hair is fine, I do have a lot of it. (3) it is actually quite a rush to cut your own hair, it feels like taking such a big risk.