Monday, June 20, 2011

Appliqued Flower Tee

I stumbled across a cute idea from the ladies at Marie-Madeline Studio to make an adorable tee with a funky flower on the front. This business sells beautiful, quality fabrics as well as hand made items. They have a list of different tutorials on their blog and this particular project is called "Put A Flower On Your Tee."  You can see it at http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com/.
 It reminded me of something one would see in a catalog such as Mini Boden or sold at a children's clothing boutique. It seemed simple enough, so I decided to give it a try. 
They walk you through it with lots of pictures and step by step instructions along the way. I was able to put this together in an evening and was surprised at how quick it was, even with the all of that hand stitching.
I did everything mostly as they did, except for also embroidering around the center. I decided to add some little dabs of fray block around the raw edges of the flower. I would reccomend washing this on gentle cycle and air drying flat.
Here is a picture of the flower I made when it was half finished:
Here is the completed project......

...and a close up of the actual flower, to give an idea of what it looks like.
This was for Emma, of course, and she absolutely loves it! I made her a matching skirt to wear with it, and will be writing a post about that soon, along with some pictures of Emma modeling her new outfit! I am inspired to try some more applique designs on her other plain shirts. The possibilities are endless!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Inchworm Cake

We kept Ethan's recent 2nd birthday very simple this year...but I couldn't resist making this adorable cake for him:




You can see the recipe and directions here: www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/inchworm-cake/2a3e4b7b-09ba-42de-b621-06e453e21795 . The video link is helpful also.


I was happy with how it turned out and Ethan loved it! I would make this again.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Two


How is it possible that our baby boy is turning two years old today?
It seems like just yesterday that this screaming bundle
of joy was placed in our arms...

I can still remember that magical moment when we introduced Ethan Jacob to his older brother and sister. It was love at first sight! 

They were so excited when we got to bring him home. 
2009 was a big year for us as we went from two children to three...all age four and under. It was an adjustment, but it really has been great all around!

2010 came and went in a flash. Life became that much busier once Ethan was fully mobile and walking quickly progressed to running...
And now it is 2011 and Ethan is not so little anymore! He is now TWO years old, a  ball of energy and giggles with a huge, dimpled grin...an active toddler who loves macaroni and cheese and Bob the Builder. He brings sunshine to even the stormiest of days. It is hard to remember life without him in it.


Happy Birthday, Ethan! We all love you so much.


Sunday, May 1, 2011

Future Baker of America...

Emma has inherited my "baking gene", that's for sure. She is always finding pictures of things in cooking magazines and books that she wants to try. Here she is, proudly posing with a big loaf of Challah bread that she helped to make recently, fresh from the oven.

We used a recipe from www.tammysrecipes.com and were surprised at how easy it was to make. Challah is a light, slightly sweet bread. It goes well with just about anything and the leftovers  make great french toast, too!
I opted for doing the more complicated, six strand braid. Emma liked how it looked "fancier" than the regular three strand version. It is a bit tricky at first, but once you get used to the pattern, it gets to be automatic. There are several good challah braiding video tutorials on You Tube that were helpful.
One batch yielded two huge loaves, but I'm sure it will all be gone within a few days!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Artsy

Mounds of shaving cream and some paint


resulted in a fun activity that kept the children busy for awhile. They loved dribbling paint on the shaving cream and then swirling the paint around to make interesting designs however they wished.
When they were done, we pressed sheets of paper down over the top. When lifted off, the painted design stayed on, and the shaving cream dried clear!
It looks like very neat abstract art.

We will be definitely doing this again. It is messy, but something fun for little hands that need to be kept busy on a rainy day!


Tuesday, April 12, 2011

More Family Fun





More pictures from our adventure. As usual, I am not in any of them as I am generally the one behind the camera. :)