A first birthday party for JJ

JJ's first birthday party was Saturday. I did not sew a stitch for it. I had big plans to make him a shirt, or a softie or... something. But you know, it didn't happen, and I am OK with that. He had a perfectly cute party without something hand-sewn by Mama. I did a few crafty touches, made a lot of food, cleaned my house (with a huge huge helping hand from my mother-in-law) and called it a day. Parties are a lot of work. Yes? We can agree on this? Every time we have one, a couple hours before the party, I think to myself, I am never doing this again.  But then once everything comes together, and all the people are there, of course, it all seems worth it.

I was a lovely time. I'm just having issues lately about what's too much. Don't mind me.

Anyway, thought I'd share a few photos.

I found the "My First Birthday" shirt at Marshall's a few days before the party, and for $5, I was sold. It was cute. It took one thing off my to-do list. Check, check.

I did a photo timeline, strung on twine, around the basement, where we held the party. I found the mini colored clothespins at Jo-Anns, and they were really cute. I used about 45 photos -- almost all of the clothespins! I loved how this looked, and at the end of the party, I told everyone they could take a photo or two as a party favor.

I made the cake the day before, using the recipe from my inspiration post. I made two layer cakes, so the cake ended up pretty enormous. But he really only ate the little section right on the top of one side. I really wanted to make him a cake from scratch and really REALLY wanted to see him make a mess with it. Mission accomplished there.

For the adults, we got a chocolate peanut-butter cake from Pinwheel Bakery in Ferndale, and it was so delicious. I highly recommend. This thing was gone in an instant!

One fun thing we did was have everyone complete a time capsule for JJ to open on his 18th birthday. This was a big hit. Now the only issue... keeping track of the responses for 17 years!

For the door, I did a fairly simple wreath. Yarn wrapped a wreath form and then stuck these adorable mini-pinwheels into one side to make a cute arrangement. I stuck a "Happy Birthday" sticker on top because I ran out of time to do what I really wanted, which was make a little flag banner that said those words. Ah well. I think it's pretty cute.

I am a bit in disbelief that my baby is one. It's bittersweet. Babyhood is the best. And this little guy... he is the sweetest, most cuddly little one. It's been a most fabulous year with him, it really has.

Easy DIY Halloween costume, take two

Are you ready for the easiest DIY Halloween costume ever?

And dare I say, one of the cutest?

Here it is!

Charlie Brown!

This was Luke's costume when he was 1. I can't even remember him being this small. Crazy. But wasn't he a doll? Let me tell you, if you have a smallish boy, you should really consider Charlie Brown. It's just so nostalgic and cute. Tons of compliments will flow your way, believe me. And it's very simple.

Step one: find a yellow T-shirt. I got mine at a thrift store.

Step two: Use a Sharpie to draw a big zig-zag along the bottom of the shirt. Or if you want to be a little extra crafty, cut a zigzag out of felt and sew it on. I didn't know how to sew back then, so I took the easy route.

Step three: Use an eyebrow pencil to draw a curlicue on his forehead.

Step four: Pair this with dark pants, a football and whatever under-the-T layers you need to keep your kid warm.

Done!

Super fast, super cheap, super cute and memorable.

Handmade Halloween, no sewing required!

The last two years, I've made Luke's Halloween costumes, and I really haven't sewn a thing. By strategically picking what he was going to be and then combing thrift and resale shops, I was able to make cute, unique costumes that didn't require much stitching at all.

Wanna see? First up, last year's costume.

Last year, Luke went as a Mounty. I assume most people know what a Mounty is, but perhaps it is more known to us Michiganders and others who border Canada.

Here's a real Mounty -- also known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

To make this costume work, the biggest thing I needed was the red coat. I totally lucked out. I found the red coat at a Mom2Mom sale for $8. I really thought it was perfect. I had to look at a few sales before finding it. So worth it!

After that, the most important piece was the right hat. I wound up finding this hat at a thrift store. It was a ladies hat and had a band of leapord print fabric around it. I snipped that off and used a black hair thingy to make it look more Mounty-ish. Then I added a fabric strip to the inside to make it fit on Luke's small head better, because it's really a full-sized adult hat. I simple stapled the strip, which was smaller than the actual hat depth, to this flappy piece of lining inside. Then it would then sit perched on his head and not fall into his eyes.

It's tough to see, but the Mounty pant is a black pant with a yellow stripe running down the side. Which, I just happened to have a pair like that! So that was easy.

The boot gave me trouble. I looked everywhere for a boy's brown boot. Nothing. Seriously, nothing. Not at the Mom2Mom sales, the thrift stores, Target, the Halloween stores, nothing, anywhere. Apparently brown boots are a girl thing. So I wound up buying a used girls' pair for $4 and covered the flowers on the side with an old sock. I just cut the toes off the sock.

A leather belt went around his waist and then I cut a brown canvas strap off an old bag to make the strap that goes across his chest.

I added some yellow fabric circles to the top of the coat, trying to mimic some details from the real Mounty coat.

Ug, my camera was messed up last year and all my photos are blurry!

I did sew him that small Canadian flag to carry around, just to reinforce the idea. I think it helped. I used a chopstick for the handle. And a friend gave me that toy horse! What's a Mounty without his royal stead?

Cute, right?

This has gotten long, so I'll save the other costume for a new post. It's a really, really simple costume that got TONS of compliments. And it's great for last minute.

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My new green door

Thanks to all who voted for me in the Stitched in Color Celebrate Color contest! I did not win, but I can't begrudge the two winners. They were both really fabulous, and if I wasn't totally all about winning fabric for myself, I probably would have voted for one of them as well. So congrats!

Also, a few people have emailed me asking how to make the rosettes. I followed this tutorial. You basically cut a circle out of felt -- the bigger the circle, the bigger your finished flower will be. Then cut the circle into a spiral. Roll the spiral up from one end and glue it at the end. That's it! If you cut the circle with scallops or points (like a sun) you wind up with some different types of petals and variations in your look. It's fun to experiment, and see what you end up with. I hot glued my rosettes to pieces of scrap felt, and then hot glued those right to the wreath form. That's it! Here's my original post.

By the way, the wreath is looking lovely these days on my new green door. Yup, I listened to you! I wanted to paint the door orange or yellow... But you said, no Krista, no. Green. Green is it. I think you were right.

Here she is!

The color is Saguaro by Sherwin-Williams. It took one goat of grey primer and three coats of paint to get a nice, even color. I did the first two coats last weekend, including one Sunday, a day I had 50 people over for a party. Ha ha ha! I am so smart.

Here's the before pic, and then the after.

I love it. Especially with the pumpkins and mums! Thanks for pointing me to green, friends!

Presents for Kim Kim

I said good-bye to a dear friend last week. My friend Kim. She moved to China, and she'll be there at least three years. Maybe five.

She's very dear to me. She's the kind of friend who brings you flowers for no reason. She did this for me at least five times. She's the kind of friend who comes over when you are feeling like shit and plays with your kids and brings fresh squeezed orange juice that cost $7 for a half-gallon AND the most delicious chicken pot pie you can ever imagine. She's the kind of friend who listens when you cry about your kids, your job, your mother, you husband, whatever, and then somehow makes you realize that you're silly because your life is really, really blessed. She's a kind soul, one of the best I've ever met. She's amazingly kind-hearted, nice to everyone, always giving of her time, her things, her talents. She's always wanted to live abroad and this is an amazing opportunity for her and her husband. I'm happy for her. And I'm going to miss her so, so much.

She hates having her picture taken. So I have hardly any to share.

Here's one from our last girls' night out.

Me, Aimee, Kim and Kelly

I fretted for months about what to get her before she left. I wanted to give her some parting gift. She's a fabulous, thoughtful gift giver, so this makes it tougher. Right?

I settled on two things. First, when Anna of Noodlehead came out with her new bag patterns, I immediately thought of Kim. Kim loves handbags and accessories of all kinds, and she has been super encouraging about my sewing habit. And it's called the Go Anywhere bag. I figure, hey, she can go to China with it!

Used a nice heavyweight houndstooth, a yellow patterned Olive and S fabric, and some of my Jessica Jones Outside Oslo home decor fabric, too. Inside is a purple Joel Dewberry wood print. I love it and have been hording it for months now, trying to figure out where to use it. I love these colors -- yellow, black and white, and then the pop of purple inside.

There are tons of details in this bag. A pocket inside, a pleated front with three pockets and a large pocket with a magnetic closure in the back.

Pleats are a little scary. Mine turned out only so-so. But this is a great pattern, and I'm excited to make another one. This is a big, roomy bag that can hold a ton. Very useful!

I hope she loves it! (And she said she does. :) )

So that was part of the gift. I also wanted something that had more of my boys in it. Because Kim is amazing with them. She's as much a part of their lives as she is a part of mine. Luke is going to miss her like crazy, as much as a three-year-old is capable of missing someone.

I stumbled one night onto the etsy shop called FlashyFish and found a vintage glass locket that was just perfect.  Here's the listing.

I wanted one side to be pretty, and the other to have a picture of the boys. So I took this painting that Luke did:

I scanned it into my computer and scaled it way down, then printed it out. I also printed out a cute photos of the boys taken this summer. Popped them in the locket, and seriously, why are lockets so dang sentimental. I wanted to cry just looking at it!

I must get one for myself. I really loved it. Kim opened it and didn't say anything, and I think that was because it choked her up a bit. Either that or she hated it. But I'm pretty sure it was the first thing. I really hope she loves it. Cause I love her. :)

If you want to follow Kim on her adventure, she has a blog!

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Felt flower fall wreath

First off all, thanks for those who commented in the sewing confessional! It's so nice to know that you're also ignoring your tension and totally forgetting about what needle you're using. And not caring about which needle size is right to use anyway! That's another one I am very bad at. I just use the same needles for everything.
Glad to know I'm not alone!

I had some fun with my sewing machine, wrong needles and all, last weekend. I'll show you my project shortly! But first:

Another project completed inspired by something found on Pinterest!

I'm loving Pinterest. You? I really don't want to just pin pin pin and never make the things I pin. So I'm trying to be diligent about that. This weekend, I carved out some time to turn some of the inspiration from my wreath pin board into a new fall wreath for my door.

The board had lots of good inspiration, but I honed in on this one.

Isn't it pretty? I thought those rosettes were orange, but the blogger says they're mustard. I had orange in my head though, and went to the store for orange felt. The only orange felt I saw had a distinct I'm-about-to-go-hunting vibe though. So I skipped it and went with mustard (probably the same mustard?), two shades of brown and a mossy green.

Then I made many rosettes, some small. Some big. At least half were yellow because I thought that would pop best. I still really wish I'd found some way to get some orange in there. But oh well. I like the results as they are!

Not too "country," is it? At one point I had some fake berries stuck in it, but my friend pointed out it looked a little less Martha and a little more country that way. I think she was right.

What's on your door for the fall?

PS. I just might enter this into the Stitched in Color Celebrate Color contest. Go check it out here!