Little Diva Shoes

Our little friend, Averi, is turning 1 this weekend. Her feet are so tiny that they can fit into little shoes like these! 3.5" inches to be exact!

I bought this pattern for Kaylee when she was 8 months old, thinking that it would be easy to resize. The pattern said that you could, but you can't. At least, you can't just enlarge each piece by 25% or whatever like the pattern said to because baby's feet don't grow as fast in width as they do in length. I tried that and the shoes were way too wide.

It is a darling pattern, I just wish it came in more sizes, or that my altering skills were better! Someday...

For now I can make as many little shoes in the 3-6 month size as I want!

I purchased the pattern from Homespun Threads, but also noticed that Ashley from Make it and Love it has a pattern like these as well.

Like my cheapo wrapping paper? At least it matches, lol. Cardstock and a sharpie pen...

Bartering!

When it comes to making hair bows, these little corker bows are the only ones I enjoy making. Anything else is just too tedious for me! And I like tiny little bows and hair accessories, not the big bows and flowers that I usually see in the stores and online. So I usually stick with tiny little bows that I just tie around a little pony tail holder for Kaylee.

My friend, Jenelle, who is also a Coast Guard wife, makes adorable hair bows! She e-mailed me asking if I'd like to do a trade with her. I was so excited and came up with a little skirt and hat for her little girl that I would trade for a bunch of bows for my little girl. It was a lot of fun! She's ordered shoes from me in the past so I threw in a little bonus pair, just because they are so much fun to make!

Kaylee is wearing two of the tiny bows that Jenelle sent me. Here are some of the others. I love the colors and selection. She sent me a little of everything! The blue/brown one is darling and matches a lot of Kaylee's outfits since it my favorite color scheme too!

Her prices can't be beat. I LOVE the tiny little bows and have been checking out how she made them. I have lots of ribbon and should just make my own, but I enjoy sewing so much more. This trade was fun and it was a "win win"!

You can check out here selection here.

Hot Artichoke Dip

This is my FAVORITE dip. I don't care for spinach artichoke dip, but I love this!

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated, and or, shredded Parmesan cheese

1 can artichoke hearts, chopped and drained

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 T. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and bake in a small casserole dish @ 350 for 30 minutes. DO NOT overbake or it will get greasy. It should be hot and bubbly. Serve with bread or crackers.

Paper Bag Wreath

I saw a paper bag wreath on a blog while browsing a link party a few weeks ago. I thought it was so neat! So I made one for myself over the weekend.

I liked the look of the natural brown, but I thought it would look nice with a light coat of spray paint on it. I love dried hydrangeas and wanted it to look like that. I think the paint did the trick. Looking at it, you'd never guess it was made from brown paper lunch sacks! And my cost was $1 for the foam ring at the Dollar Tree store. Even better!

For instructions on making your own paper bag wreath, check this out! I followed her instructions except on how to cut out the scalloped circles. I didn't have a punch, but did have the Accent Essentials cricut cartridge. So I used that to cut out all of my scallops. Just cut the paper bag down the side and laid it flat on my cricut mat.

 

Pizza Pizza Pizza!

We had a pizza and movie night at our house recently with friends! It was a lot of fun and we ate waaaay too much. Everyone brought a homemade pizza (or 2) and then we watched "Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel".
I made a fruit pizza for dessert. I saw this fruit dip on my friend Brooke's blog (she has lots of awesome recipes over there!), and knew it would be perfect! Usually I use a marshmallow cream/cream cheese combo for my fruit pizza, but this one was so much better! It makes A LOT. I made a half recipe and it was plenty to cover a large pizza.

I made a sugar cookie crust, baked it on a pizza sheet, then added the fruit dip and fresh fruit.
Delicious!
Look at this spread! We had 2 BBQ chicken pizzas(one was soy and dairy free, and both with an amazing cilantro BBQ sauce), a chicken/bacon/ranch pizza (mine), a pepperoni & sausage pizza (mine), and a Chicago style combination pizza (YUM!) . We have some seriously talented friends!

Itty Bitty Dresses

Have I mentioned how much fun it is to have a little girl to sew for? Probably. There are just so many more choices in patterns, fabrics, and tutorials. My poor boys got the shaft. I sewed tons of stuff for them, but it was usually blankets, and toys. Not many clothing items except for costumes.

I had a great time making these little dresses and jumpers for Kaylee to wear now that the weather is warmer.
It is so much cheaper to make her clothes (and fun!)This little pink one, along with the blue /brown jumper were made from the Simplicity #3808 pattern.
The other little dresses with sleeves were made from the Simplicity #3511 pattern.

But I do have a tutorial that I found on another blog for this little blue one! It actually was supposed to have tiny ruffled sleeves, but I changed it to have straps instead. I thought it would be cute with a little white t-shirt. It was so quick and simple to make that I am going to sew another one soon with the ruffled sleeves. I made it longer so that it could be a dress, but the actual instructions are for a shirt.

My cousin, Kiersten, made an adorable dress from a men's dress shirt. Not the typical jumper style one that I have seen all over. She shared the tutorial on HER blog. I need to get over to Goodwill and pick up a couple of shirts so that I can make one for Kaylee too! Her little girl looked darling in hers!
I am going to create a tutorial for this little skirt sometime. I made this for Kaylee to wear on St. Patrick's day. The fabric had been in my stash FOREVER. It took about 15 minutes start to finish. Skirts are so fun because you don't need a pattern. Just a few measurements, fabric, and elastic! I like to keep things simple---to avoid seam rippers, botched up sewing jobs, and projects in the trash that my husband digs out and convinces me to save for a time when I am not so frustrated.


Thanks for looking!

Our New Basement!

My husband is amazing. AMAZING I tell you! When it comes to home improvement, he is the MAN :)

We moved into our home 2 years ago. It was a brand new with an unfinished basement. Derrick started making plans right away for what he wanted to build down there. He worked on the plans, researched what it would cost, and decided what he would hire out for and what he would do himself. This past winter was all about the BASEMENT.

He took time off of work to work on it. He'd go downstairs and work on it for several hours after he got off work on other nights. And he FINISHED it.

It was an awkward U shape as most basements are as they wrap around the water heater and stairway.
Framing, Electrical, Plumbing, Paint, Trim... He hired out a crew to hang and tape the drywall. He also hired Lowe's to install the carpet.

Finishing touches!

And here it is! A Toy Room, 4 closets, a 3/4 bathroom, a Home Theater with refrigerator and a Storeroom. It has been done for 2 months now and We LOVE it. We have spent many hours as a family down there and have had some fun movie nights with friends.

Toy Room.

Dress up Closet under the stairs.

Another shot of the Toy Room.

***The toy storage bins are homemade. Derrick made these 4 years ago and they work great. He made a pvc pipe frame and bought the buckets at walmart. He removed the handles and they pop right into the frame squares nice and snug. I've had several people ask and post questions about this.***

3/4 Bath.

Movie Theater

Thanks for Looking!

Frozen Bananas!

This was one of my favorite FHE treats when I was little! We had some really ripe bananas to use up, so the kids and I made Frozen Bananas. I gave each of the boys a butter knife and told them to cut the bananas in half. I went into the pantry to grab lollipop sticks and came back to this...

But I think it works out BETTER! The smaller pieces are easier for the kids to eat :)

We froze them for a few hours....actually 8 (gotta love last minute trips to the doctor). But it doesn't take long for the bananas to freeze.

We melted chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 60 seconds. Then dipped each banana in chocolate, and rolled it in toppings. We used Halloween & Christmas sprinkles, as well as crushed almonds (my fav.). Then placed them on waxed paper to dry. Since the bananas are frozen the chocolate set almost instantly.

Pig out!

Kaylee did!

A Night Hat...

I posted this on our family blog, but thought I'd share it on here as well. A funny little project for our funny little guy.

Aaron asked me to make him a night hat a few weeks ago. Apparently, he needed one to keep his head warm when he sleeps. After all, summer is coming and we all know how cold it gets here in this Hot and Humid climate, lol.

I thought he was crazy. Every couple of days he'd remind me that I said I would make him one sometime and so I finally made him one.

I had not idea how I was going to do this, but figured the best way to get a cone shaped hat would be to just cut out a large triangle and sew up the sides. The base was the circumference of his head. It worked like a charm.

He wanted it blue, with yellow polka dots and an orange pom pom. We had the fabric already in my stash so it was a fun, quick, and inexpensive project. Best of all, he LOVES it. As soon as it was done, he ran into the living room, grabbed a blanket, and pretended to sleep so that I could take a picture of him.

I asked him where he saw someone wearing a night hat and he said that he saw it on a Muppet movie.

He is a CRAZY little guy and we love him.