Heart Hair Clip

Nothing says My Sweet Valentine more than Hearts!

I found this cute idea for a Valentine hair clip at Skip to My Lou. There is a simple crochet pattern to make the heart with embroidery thread. This is the first time I've used anything but yarn to crochet with and I loved it! I've got a whole new world of  hearts and flowers and butterflies!

Perfect to pull back some wispy Lil Valentine hair!

Linking Here:

Crochet Heart Bracelet

Two Blog Posts in One Day!

I'm on Fire!

I wanted to share these cute and easy bracelets I made last year for my Katy Bug!

I saw them over at Tangled Happy, and there is an easy-to-follow pattern with lots of pictures along the way!

I was able to use some left over white yarn from my stash and I found the pretty heart beads in the Wally Mart craft section. Note the faded Mrs. Potts & Chip tat on Katy's hand. She's such a rebel!

Raising HER Ears!

Today is one of those Milestone Days!

Lady Sassy Pants is having her very first hair cut! Pardon me while I run and grab a tissue...

I'm all a Tizzy. Her hair is so long right now:

Dancing with Big Brother

I feel like such a weenie about making a big deal out of her "first" hair cut when she obviously has bangs! My Mom's been trimming bangs for her almost a year now. But this is her first "in the chair" cut! 

She's about 50/50 on the Hair Fixin'. Sometimes she sits there and lets me brush and braid and primp myself into Happy Mommy Land. Sometimes she fights me like a feral hog.

But, much as I love it, the tips of her hair are still that wispy find baby fluff and the length is really uneven in the back. When I braid or roll her hair there are a million sticky out bits. So we're having them trim it to shoulder length to even it out.

And I'm having all these insane irrational fears like: 

What if her hair stops growing and we can never make it long again? What if the stylist goes nuts and gives her a Pixie Cut? What if she falls in love with the idea of having her hair cut and uses her Mountain Goat Climbing Skillz to get at the scissors and goes Baldsie?

ANYWAY! 

I've been sitting around today looking at pictures of the last two years and how much her hair has grown. And I found a couple of hair clippie photos that I forgot to share with you all.

So...in the long run...today's Crazy Hair Obsession is helping me blog!

This first one was really quick and easy. I covered an alligator clip with green ribbon. Then I hot glued five small white buttons to the clip in the shape of a circle. I centered a larger yellow button and hot glued it on top of the white ones. Voila! Insta-Daisy Clippie!

The next flower clip is my favorite! Of all time!

I found the inspiration (& short and sweet tutorial) at Aly & Ash. 

How Easy Peasy can you get? I had all the supplies on hand. The only difference is I hot glued the button to the lace center and I used an alligator clip instead of a bobby pin.

Love It! I can't believe how much Lady Katy has grown...

Time to grab some more tissues!

Giant Play Ring

Doing my last post on the Pomander Ornament reminded me of something!

With some of the extra felt rosettes I had, I whipped out this cute little Stocking Stuffer for Miss Kat!

It's crazy gaudy, right???

And it doesn't look so great on my Big Man Hands. Seriously...I my hands look like they've come through the Depression, or a Prize Fight minus the gloves.

But...I'm betting...it's going to look great on my Girlie's Dainty Princess Finger! And she loves anything over the top!

Here's how it worked.

I had a jillion of these felt rosettes made up.

Hmmmm...annoying ring pop! Do your kids love these? Mine do. And my parents love buying them for my kids. And my kids love putting half sucked on ones in their pockets. And my dryer loves smearing the sticky mess all over the rest of the clothes. But I digress. Force your child to eat a ring pop, then wash the base and snip off the little stem piece.

Start hot gluing your rosettes onto the newly flattened base! Or you could cut out felt flowers, or paper flowers, or buttons...whatever!

I was able to squeeze four rosettes onto the thing. Then I let the glue harden.

Pretty Play Ring Perfection!

Jolly Holly

First...a little Jolly.

A Jolly Hair Pretty for Miss Kat that I whipped up in no time.

This is just a regular alligator clip with sparkly pom poms hot glued on. My Model wasn't so cooperative, but it really is a simple way to glam up a Girlie's Do!

And now...some Holly!

Literally!

I had mentioned on my personal facebook page that it was time to "Deck our Halls". My Aunt who lives in Washington decided to snip us some "Boughs of Holly" from her Holly bush and send them to us.

I was totally surprised and delighted!

Warning...the berries are poisonous. And the leaves are sharp little suckers! So I put some in a jar on my kitchen shelf where the kiddos can't reach them.

I'm loving how festive it looks!

25 Days Of Ornaments Twenty-Eleven!

Happy December Everyone!!!

I'm really feeling the Christmas Spirit this year. We've had some fantastic weather this Fall and I think I'm just ready for some snow and some frost and all the cozy things that go with that!

Last year I challenged myself to make 25 ornaments (one for each day) from December 1 through to Christmas Day. And I DID IT! And I had so much fun, that I want to do it again!

So here I go!

Drum Roll, Please.........

Aren't they sweet? Old Fashioned Looking Baubles!

I found the incredibly easy pattern HERE. They crocheted up so quick and used hardly any yarn. These would make great stash busters and look great on a tree or decorating a gift! And you can embellish them as much or as little as you want...I used sequins, a lazy daisy flower and buttons.

I chose some non-traditional colors because I knew where I wanted to display them:

On Miss Kat's new Super Pink Tree!

What's that?

You want to see more of the tree???

(and, people who know me in real life...no jokes about me buying a pink tree!)

We couldn't resist it! The boys have a blue one in their room. Too cute, and the kids LOVED decorating their own trees, not to mention the insta-night-light the pretty glow creates!

I wasn't about to shell out five bucks for a tree topper, though. Did you notice Kat's star?

Gotta love it being held on by a hair clippie!

Her "super shiny shiny star" started out life as...

...a pumpkin pie tin! I used the tip of my scissors to draw a star on the flat bottom and then cut it out. It was easy as, well, Pumpkin Pie!

Now I just need to whip up some mini-tree skirts!

Please come back tomorrow for Ornament #2!

Thanksgiving Sharing

I hope you all had a Wonderfully Warm & Blessing Filled Thanksgiving!

We sure did!

We spent the day with my parents and grandmother. My mom made the traditional turkey, stuffing, potatoes...and I was in charge of cranberry salad and pies!

Why can't we all just get along?!?! lol

I whipped up a cute little hair clippie for Kat. You can find the instructions with great photos HERE at Happy Hour Projects!

The little Gobbler was eyeing my Pecan Pie!

LOVE how the ribbon looks like a crown from the front! Kat was our Turkey Fairy Princess!

This was such a cute and easy project!

Then it was time to eat! John & Louie entertained us with a song John learned at pre-school. 

(sung to the tune of Are You Sleeping)

Mr. Turkey (Mr. Turkey)

Big and Fat (Big and Fat)

I am going to eat you (I am going to eat you)

Just like THAT! (Just like THAT!)

After we were all properly stuffed, James helped my dad set up their ginormous Christmas tree. Then we headed home.

Now. We live in Nebraska. And it was November 24th. In NEBRASKA. And our thermometer on our van was reading 70 degrees! In November. In Nebraska! That only means one thing...

LET'S GO OUTSIDE!!!

Louie was invited to spend the night with my parents and Kat zonked out on the ride home, but John whipped out the sidewalk chalk while we put up the outdoor lights. Here is his portrait of moi!

Kid made me look 50 pounds lighter!!!

These lines are his rendition of my plaid shoes! John is all about the details!

He's also all about Self Expression!

I'm in full Christmas Mode now! How about you?

I still have a few Fall-ish things to share that I'm going to try and squeeze on here.

But, Advent starts this Sunday and this year we're doing a Jesse Tree! I'm excited to share it with the kids and with you. I'm also in the process of putting together our Countdown to Christmas Activity Advent Calendar. Not to mention the presents I need to make. Hmmm...I'm getting tired...time for a nap!!!

And! Be watching...I'll be doing an Ornament a Day like last year!

Crochet Clippy Cuteness!

Say that 10 times fast!

I wanted to do a quick post on some of the Hair Cuteness I crocheted for Kat. The Little Lady is very into looking her best and within a matter of minutes of waking up she'll pat her hair and say, "Mine kippies at, Mama?" Which loosely translates to, "Put Something Cute In My Hair Right Now Or ELSE!"

I'm a little nervous about her teenage years...

Anyway! Here we go!

This cute flower was originally part of a headband pattern that I found at Ambassador Crochet. Kat's not a big fan of headbands, but I really liked the flower. I hot glued the giant yellow button in the center and then hot glued the whole flower to a clip.

Next I found these cute crochet bows at Crochet Spot. I whipped up lots of different colors, they're kind of addictive!!!

And...last but not least...another flower!

How cute is that??? I LOVE the wooden button! Very Sunflowery!

I made this flower using the pattern HERE at The Handmade Dress. Too cute!

I love short little projects like these. They don't take a lot of time and the end result is so very satisfying!!!

Mom's Of All Trades Project!

Hi There Everyone!

Are your kids back in school yet? I've got one down and one to go! John started pre-school last Thursday. Louie doesn't start until Wednesday. I'm not sure if Kat will love or hate her brothers being gone. Probably a bit of both...just like Mom!

So I'm still having trouble getting back into my bloggy groove! Today I'm taking it easy, though, and re-visiting a guest post I did for Mom's Of All Trades back in June.

Head HERE to the original post to find out how I made this cute little Hair Clip holder.

Easy Peasy!

I LOVE to join these Linky Parties!!!

Easiest Dress You'll Ever Sew!

When I was a little girl I loved summertime, because I could wear my stash of Sun Dresses!

So comfy! So girly!

Now I've got my own daughter to dress like a little mini me doll...er...to pass on the Sun Dress Love!

We were shopping at Wal-Mart back at the beginning of summer mainly to check out the crafty section. There are only two Wal-Marts left in town that carry fabric and the whole caboodle and so I drove my family 20 minutes out of the way to hit one!

I'm so glad I did, because they had this super cute Tinkerbell fabric. ALREADY shirred and hemmed! YaHoo! I didn't have my Little Ladies measurements on hand, so I stood her up in the cart and wrapped the fabric directly around her. Very professional.

This is so easy, I didn't even take photos. When we got home I re-wrapped her and pinned it to fit. You basically make an inside-out tube of the fabric by stitching up a side (or I did a back) seam. Then I measured the length she would need for straps and cut some ribbon I already had on hand. I stitched both straps into place. Turn it all pretty-side-out. Then I finished it up by stitching a button on the front of each strap.

Wanna See???

Easy Sun Dress Perfection. It makes her look ridiculously tall and grown up!

Oh. As I was doing this "photo shoot" our Middle One got into a huff about me not EVER taking HIS picture or blogging about HIM. So here is Mister-In-The-Middle...posing in his hand-me-down jammies.

First stop...Living Room Sofa Runway. Next stop...Cover of Fashion Magazine.

Dolly Diapers

For the past few months, Kat has been in tune to all things Potty. This is a good thing...it's making potty training much easier! She associates diapers and dirty pants with babies. And she doesn't see herself as a baby anymore (insert Mommy whimper), so she's passing it along to her Baby Dolls.

So when I saw THESE at 2 Little Hooligans, I flipped out! Sooooooo Cute! And a little wipes case to go with the diapers? Yes, please!

Here's how mine turned out:

2 Little Hooligans has a GREAT tutorial and I love the colorful fabrics to make Dolly Diaper Change Time more fun! However, when I tried to free hand a diaper shape...my non-artist skills reared their ugly head! I couldn't get a diaper that didn't look all wonky!

Enter Skip To My Lou! She's got a printable diaper template and I used the heck out of it!!!

I was ready to GO!

I picked out four different fabrics from a JoAnn's 99 cent fat quarter sale. I was going to buy some fleece (it's SO expensive...where do you get your fleece?). But then I remembered an old baby blanket in my up-cycle pile that was backed with white fleece. AWESOME! Then I picked up some velcro for the fasteners.

I printed out the template and cut out all my fabric and fleece. Then I followed all 2 Little Hooligans directions to sew everything together!

Whoops! A little bunched up...

Plenty of Whoopsies! as I went along...but...

All together, they look GREAT! And they are making a Mini-Momma-In-Training very happy!

Now, about those wipes...

I just used cheapy felt sheets that I had left over from other projects.

Open the top to pull out the "wipes"!

Here's the case and the pile of wipes. Again, I followed 2 Little Hooligans directions and I'm so excited with the way everything turned out!!!