My Own Project

I have been working on a project all for me. I love creating stuff for my children, but there are times that I find some fabric, or a project from Pinterest that I want to do for myself. I really wanted to make a wrap skirt for me. I found some patterns online and since I hadn't done anything like that they seemed complicated and hard to follow. I wanted it to be a quick project. Makes me wish Dana would make a pattern because she makes everything simpler and easier. So I winged it, with mixed results. Mostly good, but could have been better. I guess that is where practice comes in.

I found this wrap skirt on Pinterest, which you can buy on ebay for close to $30. Check out my board to see more ideas of things I want to make for me on Pinterest. It is such a pretty skirt. Perfect for the beach. It's simple and cute and I want to make one.

When I go shopping in stores that have fabric I can't help but find something to bring back home. I found this fabric at Wal-mart. I thought this would be a good fabric to try out making my own wrap skirt. I love the dots. The colors are so cute. I picked up some white fabric to go under the print fabric because the white background is a little thin.

I read through a couple of patterns I found online and they seemed a bit complicated and I just wanted something simple. I decided to just wing it and try it to see how it would come out. If it had turned out better I would have provided a tutorial, but the whole things still needs some work to make it a better end product.

In the end the skirt is wearable and fun. It is also comfortable. Once I finished it I wore it for the rest of the day.

I was eager to get pictures of me wearing the skirt. My husband wasn't home yet so I had the boy help me. He wasn't as interested in taking pictures of me as I was hoping. He likes taking pictures so I guess I caught him on an off day. He only took a few of them and actually did a pretty good job.

It was a little windy that day and I was worried about showing too much if the wind caught the skirt just right. 

Well, still covered! So nothing to worry about there. I had cut the panels for the skirt a little shorter than I had originally planned. It needs more wrap, I think.

When my husband got home I had him take a few more pictures of me. Thanks darling.

In the end I did make a wrap skirt for me in some adorable fabric. The whole process needs more work. Maybe a circle skirt patten to help with the wrapping? I did add pockets to the skirt, and they work, although they are a bit small and feel strange when I put my hands in them. That should be an easy fix though.

I have more of this fabric so I can try to perfect my process, try something different, and maybe have better results.

The Sign

Remember this sign? From this post? It was auctioned off and sold for $45. I didn't win the auction and the sign has been on my brain ever since. Every so often I will look on Ebay to see if any have shown up to be sold. Most of the time I get nothing.

But, I happened to get lucky! I found a sign exactly like the on above and for a good price: $9.99 plus shipping. Not bad. Way cheaper than the one that was auctioned. So I bought it. I couldn't wait for it to arrive in the mail.

Oh, this is it. So exciting!

What?! This is not a Singer Sewing Machine Ad. Instead I got this ad for raisins.

So confused now.

This is not what I ordered. While completely adorable, it's just not right. I contacted the sellers right away and let them know something was wrong. Apparently my sign was shipped to someone else and I got their sign. I shipped the raisins back. The other person shipped my sign back.

Now this is much better. This is what I wanted and what I ordered. Fantastic!

Maybe this is the reason I didn't win the auction and did not have to spend $45 on this cute sign. I just had to be patient and wait. Good things will come.

I was refunded the shipping cost in sending the raisins sign back. Then the sellers refunded two more dollars from the original price because the tin sign got a little bent in the re-shipping process. :( It is only slightly noticeable from the side, but for $13.99 ($15.99 originally) I won't complain too much. I still wanted it.

Now, I can't wait to hang it in my sewing/craft room...that I don't have yet. That day is coming closer though. In my head I am already thinking of things I want to create in it and how I want it situated and decorated. I am happy in my head.

I did see a couple of other signs on ebay as well that depicted Singer sewing machines in French and Russian. Do I want those to go with the British one as well and make it more international? Hmmm. Still thinking on that one.

Fun We Had This Week...

and other stuff.

It's my short week so that means I get to spend time with the kids. Alone. Which can be daunting since I do not have backup to help me out if things start to go south or get sticky. In the last few days we have accomplished some pretty cool things. We won't talk about the fish stick and mashed potato food throwing that occurred. Phew. Ok, here we go.

A craft project I helped the kids make for Grandma's birthday. They sent her a hug in the mail. (Shh! Her birthday is tomorrow, it's a surprise).

We went to the museum and had a good time. They are pretending to be space explorers.

Sleeping on a giant dinosaur egg.

At home we did some ideas I found on Pinterest, which included the sending a hug in the mail.

Here they are getting toys ready to be frozen.

A day later they are frozen and ready to be excavated. Eventually they were all freed, whether by chipping from the kids or thawing naturally.



The kids were blowing bubbles in their milk, which is a no-no at the table. I thought by putting bubble solution on a pie tin they could blow to their hearts content.

Finished another hat project. I made this one slightly bigger and while it fits better in the areas I wanted to improve- it ended up being a little too big on the boy's head.

I thought that this might be an item I would make and enter into the State Fair. Hopefully the next one I make will come out better in every way. Better stitching and sewing, better fit, and a better overall finished product. It is a cute hat though.

About Nothing and Everything

I don't having any project to share but I have many that I want to start, do, complete, admire. I've been planning several projects though. There's so much to do in the next few weeks/months. Fall is coming up so that means part two of the Consignment sales are just around the corner. One sale is on my calendar. The other sale hasn't announced their sale dates yet and I am so anxious for them to do so. Hurry up Tot Trade! I've got planning and scheduling to do.

I am currently getting things ready for a yard sale that one of my coworkers is having, well, the entire neighborhood is having a yard sale. I've sorted through everything in the house to find things to sell. Yesterday I started putting the kids clothes on hangers. I ran out of plastic outfit hangers that I save to hang the kids clothing with. I guess I will have to move to using the adult metal hangers.

In September after the unofficial end of summer vacation, and after school starts for the school age children, I am working with another coworker to rent his beach house and take the kids to the beach for the first time. I am really looking forward to them seeing the great big ocean and playing in the sand. My girl would be in heaven. She loves sand.

We still have several more parks to visit before then end of summer to finish up our Summer Bucket List. I am so glad that the weather turned cooler, highs in the lower 90's instead of hovering around 100+.

I have been trying to find and make ideas to prepare my boy for Kindergarten in 2013. I want to work on writing...he can write his name so we are going to work on making it smaller and a little neater; sight words and phonics...he's pretty good at figuring what a word starts with but with the sight words hopefully we will start the beginnings of reading; and a little math...we are starting to introduce this concept to him. We will be talking about counting or numbers and ask him if there were three more how many would be have (just an example, we do change the numbers) and he can usually get that right without thinking too hard or starting the whole counting process over. He does it in his head and we keep it simple, I mean he's 4, we're not trying to solve for "x" yet.

I want to include more things that deal with God and Jesus and Bible teachings into the kids' every day life. I want to make a scripture picture book for them. I found some online that are already complete and all I have to do is print them out and put them together. I like them and all but I want to add some other verses I have found and want them to know. Like "Children listen to/obey your mother and father" for the letter C. Or add more than just one verse to a letter so we have options when we read it. We are working on the whole listening and obeying thing. I guess that part of parenthood will never get easier.

I want to find and do fun things with them and get a head start on crafts for the fall and winter. We seem to always run out of time because I don't plan ahead enough, work gets in the way of that sometimes. I want to spend more time with my kids and teach them stuff, make things with them, make things for them and just enjoy it all. I have tons of ideas saved on Pinterest, it's crazy and the best thing ever to store and share ideas.

I want to learn how to be a better wife for my husband. Still in the research phase of that one.

I have my idea for our 7th wedding anniversary and found what I needed for it, just need to finish it. The traditional gift for that year is copper and I will share my idea later. Found it on Pinterest so it is not original but totally cute, and happens to fit the gift idea for that year.

I have started the process of making my girl her toddler bed so we can give her crib to a friend who will need it for her first child in the winter. I will share that project later as well when it is complete. I hope it turns out as cute as the one I found online. Pinterest of course. I can actually do most of the work but I am not at a place in my life where I am brave enough to use a power saw. I happen to be very fond of my fingers, arms, and legs, and blood staying inside my body.

The State Fair is coming up and registration has already started to enter into the arts and crafts and other displays. I am trying to figure out what I want to make and possibly enter this year. I have no aspirations of winning anything, but I think it would be fun to at least try. After all, you never know.

In order to do some of this stuff I need space, my own work space to create and spend time in. I am ready to start the building process. I have yet another (former?) coworker who is/was going to help me with that. But he's moving across the state, soon. Puts a kink into that plan but I might be able to still get it done without wiping out my savings.

So much to do and plan for. The results should be very rewarding though. Looking forward to it.

Small Town Fun: The Peach Festival

Something amazing happens in this one little town on one hot summer day. What is typically a quiet place to live and play turns into a town that hosts thousands of people. Every 4th of July Gilbert, South Carolina becomes the place to be to celebrate Independence Day with the Lexington County Peach Festival.

There are arts and crafts tables, food, music, a parade, and fireworks. And of course peaches. And the different foods you can make with peaches. Maybe next year I can look around by myself and take pictures of all of the different varieties of offerings.

Here is the transformation of a small town:



The fields are quiet and the parking lot empty.



Small town charm: Recreation center, library, post office, pharmacy and dance studio.



Going towards Main Street.





On Main Street. The sign.



Before and Afters:



Setting and preparations. Some people stake out their spots a day or two beforehand. The rest try to get lucky enough for a street spot or pay to park in grass lots. On the way to the festival you can see some of the floats in the staging areas on the side streets.

On to the festival!

Arts and crafts.

A nice shady spot to see the parade, and lots and lots of people.

The amount of people walking around and sometimes getting in the way is hard to get used to. Even though I know people come to the festival it always amazes me that they are actually there. I mean, they are visible, and walk slow, and get in the way of good photos, but besides that we are all having a great time.

When we have had enough fun...we go back home. Which is actually kind of nice. Air conditioning, comfy places to sit, cold drinks and food, and it's quiet. But we know just about 1 mile down the road is more fun if we need it.









Fun, Food, and "Fireworks". Those little pop-its things that you throw on the ground and make noises with. Gives the kids exercise and keeps them entertained.

A wonderful day to enjoy our Independence!



Happy 4th of July!

The kids had a great time at the parade! Here's a few snapshots.

On the way to the parade.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Abraham the Camel in the parade.

I plan on doing a more detailed post later, maybe tomorrow, complete with before and after pictures of the transformation that a small town undertakes for this one summer day.

Happy Independence Day!

Summer Bucket List: Part 1

I saw this idea online to do a Summer Bucket List. There were many different crafts, activities, places to see, and things to do that I could choose from, or make up my own. The kiddos are a little young for most arts and crafts stuff and they aren't as in to it yet as I would like them to be. So I chose something different.

They like to play on playgrounds and go to the park. We have three small parks within walking distance from our house. While I was looking online I found other parks in the county that they might like to visit as well. Our Summer Bucket List contains 13 parks. We've been to seven of them already!

Here's our list so far:

1. I didn't take the camera with me when we went to the community park this year, but here are some pictures from a previous trip to the park. I promise we really did go.

2. The train depot has some swings, a big metal slide, and a half circle climbing ladder. The kids love going to the depot to see the train and have a look around the inside of the depot.

3. The ball fields are very close to our house. We can hear the crack of the bats, and the cheers from the excited parents as their boys and girls play baseball, softball, soccer and football. There is a small playground there and we take the kids there the most.

4. The walking park in the small town next to our small town built a wooden playset last year (?). The Sheriff's department put it together.

5. Another set of ball fields are about 10 miles from the house. They have a pretty cool playset so we checked it out for the first time.

6. Virginia Hylton park is a little farther away. It is very wooded (so you stay cool) and has great trails and streams to look at. The kids would have enjoyed playing on the playgrounds (a toddler one and a big kid one) more if other kids weren't there. We are working on that social aspect of childhood. The girl is a little better about playing around other kids. I did get some great pictures of the kids though.

7. I found this little park online. It has a couple of swings (not pictured), a playground, and some plastic musical instruments (not pictured), and a water tree. It took some getting used to by the kids. The whole "other kids being around" thing again. We were able to get in a little water time before the boy decided he wanted to go home and play in the pool instead. The girl refused to play in the water and had more fun playing with the sand and putting it in the water tree floor area.

We have six more parks to visit before the end of summer, plus going to the Peach Festival, and the museum. I am also working on a trip to the beach after Labor Day. The kids have never been so it should be lots of fun. I am looking forward to it. So much more to do before the summer ends and we are only half way through.