Mom Business Cards

I just made some business cards - SUPER easy. Just follow THIS LINK to Cottage Printables and a PDF file will open. Then you just Click on the words and put your words in their place - you change one card and all the rest will automatically update. Print onto cardstock and cut-out. I used to shy away from printing in color, for fear of wasting color ink. But then I was so conservative that the color ink got too old and dried up! So now I don't feel bad using it - use it or lose it. I made my cards with my name, phone, email address, and blog url - - now if I meet other moms they can know that I'm super cool when I hand them this card instead of scrawling my phone number onto a scrap piece of paper. You can be cool too - it took less than 5 minutes.

Fabric Bulletin Boards, take 2

I finally made a boy version of the Fabric Bulletion Board (check the link for more info on how-to). It was hard to find Star Wars fabric (the stores were all out) so I cut up a top sheet of a sheet set that we don't use too often - I still have the bottom sheet, and can always pair it with a blue topsheet if needed. I used twine instead of ribbon to make it less girly.

Entering the Iron Crafter Competition for using sheets:

Summer Outfits

I love matchy matchy, and making summer outfits, so this is the best for both. I used McCall's Pattern M5836 and thought it went together quick and easy (a few days of hit-and-miss sewing during naps, etc). Wait for patterns to go on sale at JoAnn's, then it'll only be a dollar or two. I liked this pattern because there were no buttons or zippers - truly an easy pattern. I made both girls a size 3, but should have made a size 2 for the littler one. I also ended up having to take the straps in a little. So when a sale comes around, grab a pattern (look for anything that says "EASY") and some material (it's fun to let the kids pick their own) and attempt sewing. You can do it!

Bags

Making a bag is a fun summer project. You can make one just to your liking- the perfect fabric, lining, pockets, and embellishments. You can make one using a pattern, or just make one without. Below is a picture of the first bag I ever made. Since it was my first one I used a pattern (McCall's P301, view A). I wanted a nicer bag for church that would hold a 3-ring binder (I made it a little bigger than the pattern called for). I made this 3-4 years ago, right before the big bag-making rage began, and it's still holding up.

After making that bag, I understood how bags get put together and didn't need to refer to patterns. I made several smaller bags, but can't locate them for pictures. It's fun to whip up a little bag. A couple of summers ago I wanted a big bag for vacation and made the bag below using a pattern recommended to me (I can't find it right now but could probably look it up if you're interested.) I loved the bigness of this bag and the fun summer material. It also has a ton of pockets for sunscreen, waterbottles, etc.

So I've been itching to make a bag again. But as I was crusin' through target I noticed the bag pictured below that was about the style I wanted to make. It wasn't quite what I was thinking of, and I wasn't in love with the fabric, but it wasn't bad. And it was only $10. I got to thinking how I'd probably spend more than that on material to make my own bag, plus the time/effort in sewing. So I just bought the target one - I did add my initial and some brown top-stitching to match it. So I went with a copout, but encourage anyone out there who hasn't attempted one yet to make yourself a bag. And then use it with pride!

Tie-Dye

Growing up I remember using Rit Dye and dipping shirts into buckets. Tie-dying has gotten so much easier. Even a novice can do it. There is a kit that includes bottles to squirt each color and directions on how to create different designs. I let each child pick their design and where to put the colors. It made for a great family craft. Go try it!

Cookie Pizza

It's spring break, so I want to do at least one fun thing a day so that everyone is excited to be home spending time together (when I announced it was room cleaning day, Reed declared he wished he had school today). So what's more fun (and YUMMY!) than a giant cookie cut like a pizza. The kids got to add ingredients to the mixer, spread out and pat down the dough, and put on icing dots/globs.