Mothers Day 2012

Each year for Mother's and Father's Day Makenna makes a shirt for our mom and dad. This year we decided to have all three grandkids pitch in for the shirt. The shirt usually has a hand or foot print on it with a cute little saying. While living with Grandma and Grandpa A would tell Bramma and Papa "Good Night, I love your guts" so that's what we put on our shirts.

This year to make it easy on us we used a tutorial for painting the shirts with freezer paper from this website one little minute. In case you don't want to head on over there I'll tell you how I did it here.

What you'll need:

Print out of cute font

Freezer paper (wax paper is not the same thing)

x-acto knife

t-shirt

iron

pen

paint

foam brush

Print out the saying, it doesn't have to be any special paper just printer paper will do. I chose a cute font that I liked called "A Song for Jennifer" and made it large enough for it to be seen on the shirt.

Measure your freezer paper for the shirt. I folded the paper so that the words would be lined up correctly on the shirt.

Trace the font onto the freezer paper. Line it up so that all the words line up and aren't slanted at all.

Now, use your x-acto knife to cut out the letters from the freezer paper. The x-acto knife makes it easy to cut the little spaces. Remember to keep the inside of letters such as the A, E, G and O. Tip: I used my cutting mat for this so that I didn't cut into anything I would regret later.

This is the easy part, iron. Place the freezer paper on the T and line it up where you would like the words to be. It sticks really quickly and super easy to remove when the paint has dried.

Now paint it! We used Tulip Puff paint for the saying and brushed it around with the foam brush. Make sure that all of the freezer paper is ironed securely or the paint may get under the paper.

Let the paint dry for at least an hour or until it is not sticky any longer. Pull the paper off the shirt, and there you have it.

We started with the hand prints with little J in Nebraska, then sent the shirt to Utah to finish it up with A and R's handprint. The little ones were difficult to get because didn't necessarily like to open up their fists. The paint we used for the prints was just normal craft paint.

A beautiful Mother's Day gift from the grandkids.

Past years shirts can be found at these links. Makenna is such a creative gal. Just one of the many reasons we love her.

Mothers day 2011

Mothers day 2010

Baby Jane

This was my first attempt at New Born photos. I really enjoyed taking them! 

She is such a good baby! I am not sure New Born Photography is my thing it requires a lot of patience but I did love taking these of my new Niece!

Baby Shower

Last week my sweet friends through me a baby shower. It was the cutest thing ever.

We had delicious food and amazing decorations.

 My dear friend made these pom poms and the monogram for the nursery. 

The pom poms are made from tissue paper and pipe cleaners.

 We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruits and veggies (in cute vases), ice cream with any topping you can think of, and candy lots of candy (my fave!!). Everything was labeled with cards that had chalkboard paint so that they can be reused again.

 This was made with tissue paper and sticks. Super fun and simple!

 All of my amazing friends I've made since moving here to Omaha! Thanks for coming.

These two ladies are the B.E.S.T. best of all the R.E.S.T. rest! Thank you for an AMAZING day. 

Temple in Every Room

To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: “It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so [their children] from the time [they are] infant[s] could look at the picture every day [until] it becomes a part of [their lives]. When [they reach] the age that [they need] to make [the] very important decision [concerning going to the temple], it will have already been made.”⁶ 


From President Thomas S. Monson's talk The Holy Temple- A Beacon to the World




We've been told to have a picture of the temple in every room in our house. We have one that I really enjoy. 

My husband and I were married in the Jordan River Temple about three and  half years ago. I was given a plaque with this metal piece of the Jordan River Temple. I liked it a lot but the wood board that it was on did not quite go with my house decor. It was purple. So I took the temple off and placed it in this frame with some scrap material I had. 
I love it because it is something that I created and I can change the background to fit any room in my house. I love to create new things plus it's great to actually have it hanging in our house.

Whole Wheat Bread

This week for Tuesday treats I made a loaf of whole wheat bread!

I got this recipe from the Lion House Bakery book. One thing about bread. You have to be patient and that is a skill that I really need to work on. I just want to eat that bread as soon as I finish mixing it. Plus mixing it takes a long time at our house because I don't have a mixer, I do all my mixing by hand, I burn more calories that way.

Woodland Mobile

 Before my sister made me the invites for my baby shower I knew I wanted a woodland theme for our little girls' room. We got a play pen with a bassinet for her to sleep in until we get a crib or another bed and this one came with a mobile. There were little white bears on it that I did not like. So, yesterday I took the time and made these cute little felt animals for it.

 They are just made from felt and I added little embellishments, stuffed 'em with for fluff left over from making a pillow and blanket stitched them up. It was fun and easy to make.

Look how cute they are hanging over the play pen! We can't wait until she's here.

Bunting for Baby

It's been a while since I have posted anything. I have a few projects that I have done and that I have in mind to create. I am way excited about this one. It going to go in our little baby room, it will be the first decoration we put in there. Bunting is getting pretty popular these days. People are using it to spruce up just about anything. There are a ton of different ways to do it, but this is how I did mine.

What you will need:

Sewing machine or needle and thread

At least 3 different patterns of fabric

Bias tape

cardstock 

ruler

scissors

Cut out a pattern for your triangles, I made mine from cardstock. Cut it out the size you want your bunting and add 1/2 inch for seam allowance. I measured mine 15 cm top, 21 cm down the center. Mark paper in the middle measure 7 1/2 cm from center to both sides and connect together 21 cm from top. Easy as that!

 Fold your fabric right sides together. Mark your pattern on the wrong side of the fabric.

I wanted to do three of each patterns that I chose for this project. Mark all three together to save time and fabric. Pin triangles in the middle before cutting.

Sew along the long edge leaving about 1/4 inch seam allowance. When you get to the point keep the needle down and turn material. Then sew up the other long edge leaving the top open. To save thread and time, there is no need to cut the thread between each one. just sew a couple of extra stitches and add the next triangle. Follow the same steps for all of them.

After all the long sides have been sewn, trim the tip of the point so that it's not bulky when you turn it. Cut thread that was left between the triangles. Turn all triangles right sides out. Use a pencil to make sure the tip comes to a point when turning all triangles.

 Now they are ready to be ironed. I used the cardstock from before to keep the seams tight when ironing. Just stick the cardstock in the "pocket" and iron out those wrinkles.

When they are all ironed put your bunting in the order you want it to be in. Keep them in the order so it's easier when you're sewing.

Add the bias tape to the top edge of the bunting. I didn't have any bias tape so I made my own from some fabric I had at home. Sew about 10 cm of bias tape together before adding the first triangle so you have enough to fold over to hang it up. Add each triangle between the bias tape and sew using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Before adding each triangle make sure you space them apart. I used the edge of the metal piece (I don't know all sewing machine terms). I finished each triangle and added the next one at the edge of the metal piece and sewed along the bias until the triangle came up.

Once all of the Triangles have been sewn of the bias tape leave another 10 cm to the end. Fold back the bias tape and sew back and forth to secure it to the bunting, and you've got a perfect loop for hanging it up!

It has been so fun to make this. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Please leave a comment if you don't understand any of the steps.