Recycled Crayons

Worst picture ever, I know... but I wanted to share these sweet little crayons that the littles and I made over the weekend. Like many of you, we have an ever growing pile of broken crayons that are too small to use (or, in the case of my Curly Girl, that she broke to make too small for her brother to use...). Either way, I hate to just dump them, so we made some new rainbow crayons. 

This is the easiest project in the world! All I did was spray my crafting muffin tin with some cooking spray and fill each cup with pieces. I did try to break the bigger chunks in to smaller, similar sized pieces. I wanted to stick with similar colors, but the littles did a few of their own, and we have several rainbow chunks that they love. Then I placed the tin in an oven heated to 275* until they were melted. Sorry, I don't remember how long they were actually in there... you know how that goes. Once melted, I let them cool on top of the oven, and once the tin was cool, I moved it to the freezer until they were solid. They popped right out, and we colored with them right away! We sang the ROYGBIV song from Cat in the Hat as we did it, so I think it counts as a lesson too~ LOVE that!

So what have you been up to lately?

Foraging

I get asked pretty often about what the kids and I do all day. I must admit that some days I am at a loss for anything creative. Chores mount and I can't really think of anything more than just getting through the day in one piece. I do try to get the littles outside for something organized at least once a day. We do a lot of collecting and foraging when we're outside. Remy, no doubt inspired by preschool, calls this 'compare & contrast', and we have fun making piles of found objects.

Today we went on a leaf hunt. We had categories that included biggest, smallest, strangest, greenest, silliest, etc. Once we were done collecting, we sorted them on the outside table and did a little comparing and contrasting. We also took our crayons out with us and made rubbings. It amazes me how much they love doing this every time we do it... never gets old for them seeing the smallest details appear 'magically' on their page, and it never gets old for me to see their excitement.

I'd love for you to share what kinds of activities you are doing as fall is upon us~ I can never have too many ideas! Happy Thursday!

Friday Love~ Found

In keeping with my Simple Goals, I am working on organizing my work space. I scored big last week when sorting through a much neglected drawer~ I found a bag of vintage lace and trims! Some of them scream eighties (like the gray and pink woven ribbon), while others appear much older. 

This envelope has about a yard of this incredible handmade trim. I can't even begin to imagine the time it took to make these sweet little circles!

It kind of makes me think I should clean more often (or just stay organized in the first place...)! Happy Friday!

Spa Night Recipes

I decided on Friday to put some of my years of experience selling at Crabtree & Evelyn to use and try to make some natural beauty treatments of my own for our girls Spa Night. Using only what I had on hand in the kitchen I mixed up an exfoliating foot scrub, a face mask, and a citrus hand scrub. I apologize that I didn't use any exact measurements, but I just kind of mixed things up until they looked like I thought they should. (I'm NO scientist!)

Brown Sugar Foot Scrub

1/2 cup finely ground oats

1/2 cup coarsely ground oats (for the oats, I put 1 cup in my baby food grinder and took out half when it was coarsely ground. Then I continued grinding the second half...)

1 cup brown sugar

about 2 Tablespoons honey

about 2 Tablespoons aloe vera gel

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Extra Virgin Olive Oil~ with this I just added until the consistency was smooth

This was awesome,  and it smelled a lot like an oatmeal cookie!. The only thing I think I will change when making it again would be to add some vanilla or cinnamon.

Refreshing Face Mask

This was really simple. I took some organic Greek yogurt (choose a yogurt with live, active cultures) and added finely ground oats and a bit of honey. We applied it on the face and left it for about 10 minutes. Then we rinsed it with warm water and followed up by applying a warm wash cloth to the skin for a few minutes. Skin felt great afterwards!

Citrus Hand Scrub

1 cup granulated sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Olive Oil to desired consistency

All of these recipes turned out better than even I had hoped! The girls loved them, too, and the pampering was good for everyone... I guarantee that I will be making these again, maybe even for the holidays, packaging them in cute jars or something. I'd love to know if you try them and what you think!

Easy Breezy~ Halle's Curtains

So I am almost ashamed to post this because it was sooooo easy, but I thought I would post anyway because I'm terribly happy with the results. I posted months ago that I had been working on curtains for Halle's room. I finished the curtains at that time, but we had only purchased one curtain rod. I spent the next months putting 'curtain rod' on my Target list, then promptly leaving the list on the table, or not finding the right rod at Target the one time I actually remembered my list. Finally last week I found it, and now I am happy to report that her room has curtains.

(I apologize for the poor lighting, it was very sunny. ) For the fabric, I purchased a full size sheet set that matched Halle's bedding. They were on sale, and this gave me a ton of fabric that matches all her pieces. Way cheaper than buying yardage, plus I have all this other fabric to use for something! I cut a rectangle the size of the window, adding enough for a hem on three sides and a pocket at the top. The I lined the whole piece with white cotton fabric to help it hang better and block the light a bit. (Her room is bright pink and on the sunny side of the house~ in the afternoons it glows!)

Then I just rolled it up and tied it with a pink polka dotted ribbon. I thought about doing something more elaborate, like a roman shade type thing, but after waiting this long to get rods up and curtains hung I decided to not push it and just get them on the windows. I know my limits...

Happy Tuesday!

get your CRAFT on!

 It's pretty quiet on the homefront today... laundry and packing for our trip. Plus I moved my little sprouts into bigger pots~ Yay! (Although I'm not sure why I decided that the kitchen table was a good place for this project- the mess was all over!) I'm excited to connect with Today's Creative Blog today. I linked up with my quilted burp cloths, which are on their way to a new home today. I have more piles of scraps waiting to be sorted for more string quilting escapades....

Be sure to head on over there and take a look at the other amazing projects. There are several that I am already itching to try!

Have a great Tuesday!

Piece of Mind

When making things, I am constantly plagued by feelings of guilt for not using the scraps. I have blogged about it before, getting some fun ideas from y'all about what to do with my scraps. Last year I ended up with a book from the library about string quilting (sorry, I don't remember what it was called, but it was really old...). It is thought to have begun in the depression era, when homemakers used every piece of fabric they had to make quilts out of necessity.  I immediately loved the idea and put it on my list of things to do. But as we all know, sometimes that list gets too long and lost and forgotten. So the scraps pile up in drawers (above) and in bags (below) and on tables and in containers... 

Finally last week I decided to try it. I gathered a bunch of scraps from the gorgeous Riley Blake fabric that I used for Halle's Easter dress and several things for the shop and put them together in sort of a random pattern to make two one-of-a-kind burp cloths. I am so excited about the way they turned out!

The pieces went together fairly quickly, and I feel so happy about using up some tiny pieces that might have otherwise been trashed! Wise stewardship is something that I believe God has called us to, and I think this is another way of being 'green'. These should be in my shop, along with some matching bibs later today. Have a great day!

Baking and Making

This weekend our church had a dessert night, and somehow our small group was volunteered (or maybe someone in our group volunteered us?) to make all the desserts for 120 people! We were feeling a bit intimidated about getting it all done, but in the end it worked out great! I made two of my 'old standby' Martha Stewart vanilla bean cheesecake, one with the glaze and one without. I won't bore you with the details because I absolutely do not stray from her recipe~ it is the most amazing cheesecake I've found!

Before I divulge my new top-secret recipe, let me just tell you about two of my favorite kitchen tools. The first is Cake Release from Wilton. You use it anywhere a recipe says to 'grease and flour' a pan, and the cake will pop out, crumb-free, every time! This stuff is amazing!

Another of my favorite things for baking is something I use nearly every day. My hand mixer. I think it goes back to my pioneer roots, as I would rather use this than bother with setting up and plugging in another machine. Plus I love the fact that it uses zero electricity and washes up super-easy. I received mine for Christmas from some wonderful friends, and I think they found this one at Williams-Sonoma, though I couldn't find a link anywhere.

Okay, so on with the new creation... It really isn't top-secret, as it really isn't anything too complicated, but it came out so great that I thought I would share. First I made a basic chocolate cake. Mine was rather spongy (it contained 4 eggs, I think!), but you could use any cake recipe that you like. The only alteration I made to the original recipe is that I took about 4 tablespoons of good quality raspberry preserves, heated them for a few minutes to thin them, and added that to the batter. I made it in an 8x8 pan and flipped it out on a wire rack until it was completely cooled. Once it was cooled I used a large serrated knife to split the cake horizontally into two layers, and I laid it open like a sandwich. To the bottom layer I spread on about 1/2 cup of the raspberry preserves. I placed the top layer back on top.

For the icing I made a thin chocolate glaze by heating about 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream and 2 tablespoons white corn syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until just starting to boil. Then I removed it from the heat and added about 12 oz. chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. I allowed this to come to room temp. and then spread over the cake. As a finishing touch I shaved a chocolate bar into small curls and added this to the sides of the cake while the icing was still wet. It looked so pretty!

**Amended to add: Use whichever pan(s) your recipe calls for! Mine happened to be a small recipe that only called for an 8x8, but a regular layer cake recipe would have exploded in such a small pan! Any form of cake would work for this, I think!**

I also had some time this weekend to do some sewing with these gorgeous new fabrics form Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane Collection. I had been drooling over these prints for months and finally bit the bullet and bought some when the perfect project came up. I love how these skirts turned out! I actually have a few more of her prints that I haven't cut into yet~ I can't decide what to make of them because they are so lovely! (I was fighting bad lighting, but hopefully you get the idea... I take the worst pictures!)

Happy Tuesday! I have a few custom orders I'm working on today, so it promises to be a busy one! See you tomorrow!

4

There is something magical about these early years. Toys can become treasured friends, a box can become a castle, and a house can become a party with the addition of balloons. Remy's birthday was actually yesterday, but the lines began to blur as he celebrated on Friday in his class at school, and then Saturday his party, and finally Sunday by taking donuts to his class at church. Now that the weekend is over he is 4. My sweet baby boy is no longer quite a baby, and I'm feeling a bit sentimental about the whole thing. Quick, Mandy, move on to talking about something else... !

I thought I would share a bit about the party, now that the panic and preparations are over and I can breath a little bit. Everything went off pretty much without a hitch, and we had a wonderful group of friends and family descend upon the house. I always struggle with the menu at our kids' parties because though the party is for a little one, we typically invite quite a few adults. I really strive for the food to be a bit more sophisticated in taste while appealing to the wee ones. Remy's theme this year was dinosaurs, so we went with a bit stack of cupcakes (devil's food with buttercream), dirt pudding with bone 'spoons', and 'pterodactyl wings' (buffalo wings for the adults and chicken nuggets for the littles) were the foundations of the spread.

Cupcake with fondant dinos (from this previous post) and chocolate 'dinosaur eggs'

Dirt pudding with bone 'spoons'~ I really wasn't thrilled with doing the traditional dirt pudding, so I went with my own recipe that included cream cheese, powdered sugar, whipped cream, pudding, and Oreos. It really tasted a bit more like cheesecake, and I was really happy with it! The cookies were crunchy sugar cookies with sanding sugar on top.

 Goody bags~ This was the one thing that Remy requested for his party aside from balloons. Thankfully Easter is fast approaching, so 'dinosaur' eggs are out in full force. We also included some fake bugs, yoyos, glow bracelets, poppers, and various other small treats.

The Boy Wonder had a wonderful time, though having the party in the afternoon meant for a long day. I found myself struggling for things to keep the littles occupied, but in the end it translated into an early and quick bed time routine. Remy and Halle were equally exhausted and fell asleep with almost no coaxing~ I love that! It was a great day, and we are so thankful to everyone who shared the day with us. My only 'complaint' is that we clearly stated NO presents on the invitations and EVERY SINGLE GUEST brought a gift. Late in the day Remy told me that he 'must be really special to have such a great birthday', and I assured him that it's true. My boy is so special, and we are so blessed. Happy Monday!

Friday Love~ Remember when this was fun?

I am so excited that the weekend is here! The cupcake baking is almost finished, other party foods are in the fridge, and my in-laws are on their way... this all adds up to a super-duper weekend for my birthday boy!

Happy Fine Art Print by Ginger Lee Photography

My Scoutie Girl 'homework' for the blog this week is to write about how I fell in love with creating. I have been chewing on this one since Monday and have been having a hard time putting into words. Then, as I was working on Rem's birthday banner last night it kind of came to me: I'm not so in love with creating at the moment. It sort of took me by surprise because I have had such a great week making things for the party. And that's the point! When I first started this blog it didn't have an agenda. I was living life, making with my kids and taking pictures. This journal just followed and has grown to bigger than I thought it would be. And I do love that! I love getting your emails and comments. I love the conversation around the web with my 'bloggy' friends. And I love the community~ y'all have made some hard times bearable and this outlet keeps me sane (sometimes).

So what I am thinking is that it's the pressure I put on myself that takes the life out of this. I love creating something with my two hands. I have loved it since before I can remember, I think it's just part of how God made me. But I so love my family and that is also in my makeup. I look at the Proverbs 31 woman and see who she is, and I strive to be like her. And what that translates into for me right now is doing less. Less goal setting. Less pressure for more inventory. Less advertising. Less fears that I might not be the Next Big Thing.

I want to love this life. I want to be more. I want to breath in everything that God has placed in front of me to enjoy. I want to make more with my kids. I want to make more inspired things out of joy, not some self-imposed goal. This life is too precious.

Thanks for listening to my rant. I think what this translates to is that much won't change around here, but I will. I still plan on keeping my shop. I love that little spot! But what you may see is different kinds of inventory because I really want to allow myself the freedom to create whatever it is that's in my heart & head.

Happy Friday, lovelies! I am loving this life. Right here. Today. I hope you have a weekend filled with the people and things that you love!

It's in the Details

Ruffle Bib on the dress front

This week's 'assignment' in the 52 Weeks is all about the first stages of a new product. And while I don't really have a new product on the table, I am just finishing one and I thought I would let y'all see it. When I began sewing last year after, oh, 15 years since Home Ec. classes, the thing that rang in my mind was my mom telling me years ago that the back of a piece was as important as the front. I remember her telling me that her mom would immediately flip over a project and inspect how neatly she had sewn, tied in the ends, etc. When I began creating to sell, I knew that I wanted the insides of each item to be just as lovely as the outside. So I learned everything I could about the 'bones' of sewing. I read manuals, and I practiced.  I mastered french seaming and hand-finishing. (Okay, maybe 'mastered' isn't quite true, but I do pretty well!)

French seam and care tag

I want you to know what goes into each and every 2 sweet things item. I spend tons of time drawing patterns, finishing each seam, sewing in labels... all because I want each piece to be a work of art from the inside out!

Sewn-in label

Bias trimmed armhole

Tie back of dress

Dress back, wrong-side out

Finished dress! Size 3T/4T This will be in the shop soon!

Wednesday Wish List

Happy Wednesday! I've been thinking a bit about winter decorating, so I've decided to do a little 'wishing' today for things I'd love to have around our home. Remy is just this year at an age where he gets into every holiday, so I think he would love any of these items. If I was patient enough to wait on a treasury, this color combination would be my feature- something about turquoise and red just makes me happy!

** Edited to add: I did wait for a treasury! You can find it here and leave some love!  **

rikrak felt Christmas Stocking by rikrak

Peppermint Heart Bauble by Lupin

Winter Mittens Gift Tags by Chichiboulie

Oh Christmas Tree Pouch by Sweet Irie

Festive Holiday Animal Frame Ornament by Pipoca Handmade

Mini Wreath by Ravenna Girls

Christmas Countdown Calendar by Queen Vanna Creations

Hope you enjoy todays picks! Also, don't forget to enter my first giveaway here (or below...). I also added tons of new dresses, booties, and SALE items to my shop yesterday!

My First Giveaway! ~ Crafty Mama Designs

Good morning! I am very excited about the feature today because it includes a giveaway of some of my favorite things! I showed you Halle's new hair clippies a few weeks ago, and she has been wearing them a ton since then. I can't say enough good things about them, so I asked Aviva, who has the etsy shop called Crafty Mama Designs, to tell us a little bit about herself & her shop.

Tartan Plaid Snap Clips

"My name is Aviva and I'm a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) getting crafty in my "spare time"- ha! Mostly after the kids' bedtimes and into the wee hours, that is. I started making hair bows and clips for my daughter, and became so addicted to creating them that I soon had more than she would ever need... even for a girl who loves her accessories!

"My daughter has really been my inspiration- mostly out of necessity! She has crazy curly red hair, and so I started making clips to keep the hair out of her face and (slightly) under control! She's a girly-girl for sure, and now she loves to check out my ribbon stash and pick out what I should make for her next.

Winter Applique Clippies

"I really love to use fun, bright colors and whimsical patterns for the hair clips in my shop. I think any set in the shop would be a great gift idea-- they make fun stocking stuffers or party favors too! I pay a lot of attention to detail and offer my crafty creations for affordable prices, because I just have so much fun doing it!

Crochet Layered Flower Clippies

"I'll be running a promotion towards the end of November, so to stay updated on the details, become a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter! I do have a blog, but it's sadly neglected right now since I’m having too much fun making clips!!"

Where you can find Crafty Mama Designs:
~ her etsy shop: http://craftymamadesigns.etsy.com
~facebook: http://facebook.com/CraftyMamaDesigns
~twitter: http://twitter.com/CalifCraftyMama
~blog: http://CaliforniaCraftyMama.blogspot.com

Be sure you check out her shop and add it to your holiday list! I swear the little non-slip grippers she can add to her clippies are miracle workers~ Halle hasn't been able to pull them out a bit! I get so many compliments, and at her awesome prices you can afford to stock up to match every outfit.

Retro Winter Snowflake Clippies

Now here's where it gets really exciting! Aviva has offered to giveaway a set of clippies from her shop to one of my readers. So cute! Any set, excluding the dozen clip started sets, is up for grabs! All you have to do is go to her shop, decide which set you would like (that's the hard part because they are all so adorable!) and come back here and comment your choice. Entries only in the US and Canada. Only one entry per person, please! The giveaway ends Monday, November 16th, and I will announce the winner here on Tuesday the 17th. Easy, right?!

Velvet Mini Bow Clippies

Let There Be Light!

Proverbs 31: 25 "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at days to come."

Well, My first show was Saturday, and what a bust! The weather in middle Tennessee was one of those 'Garden of Eden' type days where all you want to do is go outside, and I do believe that is what people did! Very few people came out to the show, and most sellers left disappointed. But today I am taking a cue from my beloved (and sometimes rival) Proverbs 31 Woman and having optimism. There were many good things wrapped up in this poor sales day, and I am determined to fix my eyes on them. Here they are:

~ It was great to set up my booth and see how it all worked together in the given space. I even remembered to take a few pictures for you. (I am starting to think like a true blogger, I think, and am finally keeping my camera handy.) 8 feet by 8 feet is not as large as it appeared in my dining room! I was pretty happy with how everything looked in the tiny space.

Here is my whole booth.

A stand of burp cloths

Baskets of Booties

~I also realized that had I completely sold out of everything (a girl can dream, right!?), this next month would have been super crazy. With an out of town trip coming in two weeks, Thanksgiving, and a show on December 5th, I would have been in a mad scramble to make more stuff, and I think my family may have suffered for it. I NEVER want to do this at their expense!

~My lovely friend, Estera, accompanied me to the show, and it was great to be able to spend the day with her. We don't see each other often enough! Trace also had a great 'Daddy Day' with the little people. Remy had been telling Halle for a week that 'Daddy Day' was approaching, and they had a blast!

~I am thankful that I had inventory to take this morning to Zoe & Friends, a shop in Hendersonville, TN that is going to start carrying 2 sweet things! I first met Nicole, the owner, a few years ago when Zoe's was a consignment shop. She has since moved to a different location and now specializes in hip, designer children's clothing and accessories. The things in her shop are so, so cute, and I am so excited to be a part of it! You can check out her website here, and even shop online. If your local, be sure to check it out up by Indian Lakes Village.

The moral of the story, I guess, is that God continues to take care of us. I wouldn't have chosen for it to work out the way that it did, but in hindsight, it works out so well. It's a good thing that I don't call the shots, I think.

P.S. I am having my first sale in my etsy shop!! I have added FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING on all items and have created a sale section here. I hope you'll check it out. I will also be adding several new dresses and skirts tomorrow.

Happy Monday!