Vintage Pillow Case Dress

I thought I would share a dress I made today. One of the outreach programs for our Homemakers' club this year is to make Pillow Case Dresses for the Little Dresses for Africa program.

We needed a "prototype" to show at the county board meeting, and I was asked to make one. I had this beautiful vintage pillow case just hanging in the closet, and I knew it would be great for the demo dress & perfect for my S.R.

 The needlework on the bottom of the dress is all done by hand...it's beautiful!

 Instead of tying a bow on either shoulder, I decided to go with the "less-fuss" approach, and go for the one shoulder bow.

I can't wait for S.R. to wear this dress.
She squealed when she saw it. Hopefully that same enthusiasm will be there when spring arrives;o)

Taking a Minute to Breath...

This winter has been one of the strangest I can remember. It has felt like spring most of the winter months. It's been great for the kids because they have been able to spend a lot of time playing outside with our neighbors.

Yesterday, I decided I needed a break from all of the insanity that has been going on here lately...lack of sleep, and trying to catch up on that..homemakers club stuff...and then there is a certain someone's birthday coming up on Saturday as well:o)

Our neighborhood is nestled in beside a river, and there is a nice paved path and picnic tables there as well.

So we grabbed the wagon, some food & the dog and headed down to the river and had a wonderful little picnic.

I sat back, snapped pictures, and enjoyed just watching my children...just watching:o)

 E being silly, and S.R. mad because he "bonked her head."

 Flowers that S.R. picked for me

 Sweet smile

 Throwing rocks into the river

 Scosche waiting patiently as we eat in front of him:o)

 Sticks make great toys..E has a "gun"..go figure;o) And S.R. has a "smiley face."

 There is also a little playground beside the pool house, so they absolutely wanted to play on that.

 Our "Monkey" on the monkey bars...they both can cross them, and I love the look of accomplishment they have on their faces when they do!

We had a great time, and it was nice to take a moment and just breathe.

Now that our school week has officially started, it's time to hit the ground running, and there won't be any "breathing" until after the party Saturday:o)

I have a few sneak peaks that I will share with you guys as teasers throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Wizard of Oz Mini Coloring Books

I am hard at work putting the finishing touches on The Wizard of Oz birthday party. The house has started to transform into Munchkin-land...it's actually really neat looking:o)

Since I am on a strict budget right now, I am trying to come up with inexpensive and free favors.

I am not usually one for handing out coloring books, but most of the girls attending love to color.

I found a site, Kids-n-Fun.com, that has a great selection of W.o.O. color sheets. I copied and pasted them in Publisher to turn them into a mini color book.

Here's how I did it.

Supplies you need:

Blue & white gingham paper cut into 9.25"x6" sheets(folded in half)

Scissors

Print outs of Pages 1, 2 & Cover

Double sided tape

Sewing Machine

 Start out by printing your color sheets. To make them double sided, I printed page 1 first. I then laid the printed side UP into the printer with the Tin Man going in first...see pic below...& then printed page 2.

 

Once you have printed your pictures, fold into quarters with Dorothy being the first.

 Now trim very carefully across the top of the folds.

 Make sure to leave just a snippet in the very center..this will make it easier to keep everything in line when sewing the seam.

 Now fold it back in place. Line the middle seam of the gingham paper and the middle seam of the color sheets together, and run a basting stitch down the center. 

 It should look a little something like this.

 Adhere the Cover to the front, and you're done!

 A quick, easy & super inexpensive party favor.

I'll share their goody baskets very soon..they are adorable!!

To download each page, click on the links below.

Page 1

Page 2

Cover

Playing Around...

I have been M.I.A. for a bit.

 I had to go to the doctor on Tuesday because I was uber sick. I found out I have an upper respiratory infection. I am on meds right now, one being a steroid...I am tweaking my blog right now because I can't sleep because of said steroid...grr!

 I have been up since 12:00 a.m....it's now 4:10 a.m. 

Some good news...I have been decorating for S.R.'s birthday party this week. It's gone a lot slower just because I have felt miserable, but it's coming together. 

I hope to share some pics very soon:o)

I think I am going to try to lay back down:o)

New Follower Button

Hey Guys!

Just wanted to let you all know that Google Friend Connect is shutting down March 1st...for those of you who have no clue what I am talking about...you remember that little button you clicked on my sidebar to become a follower? Well that little thing is going away.

However, I put a new little "follower" box up, so you can just click on it to become a "follower" again..

Easy Peasy:o)

And if you didn't know that you could sign up for emails, there is a little box for that too!

Drive-In Movie Night

Last night for Valentines Day, we celebrated at home with a Drive-In movie night. I made these Cars for the kids to sit in using some cardboard boxes, acrylic paint and foam sheets.

The kids LOVED them, and the hubs called me the best mom ever;o)

They were geared up and ready to go with their bean bags and travel pillows tucked inside for comfort.

 I attached little storage bins to the sides with clips to hold their food and drinks.

 Can you tell that S.R. wants to show off her Valentine card from her brother...when she opened it, she squealed and jumped up and down...unicorns are her favorite right now:o)

 ...and purple:o) Can you tell what the licence plate is supposed to say?

 E called his a hot wheels car:o)

And this was the concession area:o) These were some leftovers from E's 3rd birthday party...the decorations that is:o)

Our spread...

This is what was hanging under the refreshments sign. I just used publisher and one of the templates.

 And I had this hanging on the front door so that the hubs would know where to go when he arrived home...I found it online somewhere, copied and pasted in Publisher and added what I needed.

We had a fantastic evening, and the movie was really funny. I'd say that this was a great way to spend Valentines!! I hope our was as great as ours:o)

Participating in these Parties:

This was featured here:

Happy Valentines Day

I hope you all are having a fantastic day. I wanted to share the Smilebox Card that we sent out to our family.

This free digital ecard created with Smilebox

Also, since S.R. is still recovering from strep throat, we decided to have a special girls day in...including manicures...

 along with heart-shaped mini pizzas.

Can I just say that I love have a girly tom-boy:o)

We have lots of fun things planned for this evening. I can't wait to share it with you all later on this week!! Gotta go get Mr. E so we can get ready for the festivities!!

Have a great Valentines guys!!

A Valentine's Outfit

This weekend I got to work on a Valentines outfit for S.R. to wear...unfortunately, she will be wearing it at home:o( She had a really bad weekend, and after two doctor's visits, it was confirmed that baby girl has strep throat:o( This is a first in our household. Thankfully E is already on antibiotics for a double ear infection, so his chances of getting it are slim-to-none...the hubs and I?? Only time will tell:o/

Anyway, while perusing Pinterest the other day, I came across two different tutorials for little girl's skirts. You can find them HERE & HERE.

                                         I kind of used little tidbits from both, and came up with this.

 I wanted the shirt to have the skirt fabric tied in, so I cut out little hearts in the shirt itself, and added the strawberry fabric in behind...just "heat-bonded" it and stitched. Easy peasy:o)

This outfit was made possible by the abilities of my friend Stephanie's sewing machine...mine is still on the fritz & will need to be taken in for repairs...

Thanks Stephanie!!! 

We will be having our own little Valentines party at home tomorrow while E is at preschool, and that way she will still get to wear her new outfit. 

This shirt/skirt combo will be perfect for when spring & summer role around too.

Here's my sweet little sickly today...this is after her dose of Motrin...all smiles:o) Gotta love modern meds!!