Archive | August, 2011

A Little Skirt

31 Aug

This skirt took me about ten minutes to make and is so darn stinking cute on Sophi that I could just about scream.

Lots and Lots of Sweater Pants

28 Aug

Sometimes I am more in the mood to blog and play around on the computer.  Right now though I am in full blown craft and make stuff mode.  This doesn’t happen very often and I have to capitalize whenever I am feeling majorly productive.  This is what I have been up to lately:

21 pairs of sweater pants.  Unfortunately, most of them still need elastic. Darn it

There is a craft show in the twin cities that is called the No Coast Craft-O-Rama, they claim to be “not your grandma’s usual craft show.”  In the past years there have been thousands of people who pass through the craft show and I would love to be able to sell some of my stuff there.  The only problem is there are about 300 people who apply for only 90 spots.  I have sent in 10 pictures of my work and by the end of September I will know if I have been chosen.  I’ve got to keep my fingers crossed and keep working until then.  I have decided that if I am not chosen as one of the vendors I will start an etsy store.  Yikes.

So this is what I have been up to, what have you been up to?

T-Shirt Dress

25 Aug

I have SOOOOOOO many T-shirts.  Who doesn’t, right?

I have been experimenting with some of them.  Working with T-Shirts is a wonderful experience, mostly because you do not have to worry about them fraying.  I made the girls these dresses:

Sophia started out pretty clean but ended the day looking like this.  After eating about 6 or 7 watermelon slices she was a bit sticky.

This was our first young family event and we had around 80 people attend!  Here is our team photo:

A Dress and a Rainstorm

22 Aug

Every once in a while it is nice to have a break from the heat and have a good excuse to go inside without feeling guilty.  The other day we had a break from the sunshine for a storm.

During nap time instead of  being unproductive or taking a nap myself I decided to head down to the sewing zone.  I made Aleah this dress out of a shirt I bought at a Colorado garage sale earlier this summer.  I bought it for a whopping 25 cents.

All I did was take in the front of the dress and shorten up the straps.

After a good storm the sunshine is always welcome and we return outside with more appreciation for the beautiful weather.

Headboard Bench

19 Aug

I first saw this idea on a website called pintrest.  This website has beautiful pictures and wonderful ideas.  This is the picture I started with.

Since the minute I saw this picture I have been hunting for a wooden headboard with which to make a bench.  I have seen some new headboards and some  for more money than I would like to spend.  So I kept patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) waiting.

Last Saturday we took a family trip to the dump.  Fun right?

At the dump we dropped off our garbage and our recyclables.  As we were driving out I spotted what I had been waiting for!

There is a green shed off to the side of the dump where people can bring things they don’t want anymore but is still nice enough that someone else might want it.  I saw a beautiful headboard and footboard for a twin bed.  At first we thought we might not be able to use it because it was fairly small.  The picture in my head was to use a queen size headboard to make a bench large enough for adults.  But Jared had the genius idea to make a bench for the girls!

He worked on it one afternoon in the garage.  His work bench was an old boat trailer left in the garage and he borrowed the saw from a good friend.

The girls were in and out always checking on him and wanting to help.

Since the bench still needed a little something, I made a cushion to go on top.

Right now it is sitting on our front porch and is a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Headband and Some Cute Girls

16 Aug

After church on Sunday we got home and I ran into the house to get my camera and a pack of fun fruits for bribery.  I ran outside as the girls were meandering down the path.  Perfect.

I wanted to get a few picture before the girls melted down from crabbiness and before Aleah either stomped on the headband or Sophi ate it.

I had made this headband the night before to wear to church.  But it ended up being WAY cuter on Aleah so she wore it instead.  Glad it was her size =)

How to make: Cover a headband with purple fabric by sewing a tube of the fabric and then turning it inside out.  Trim the edges and then hand sew it down on each side of the bottom of the headband.  The flower is actually a doily and I bunched up the doily and sewed it a bit off center onto the headband.

I love these girls so much it hurts sometimes.

Have you ever seen so much attiTUDE from just one little human?

Hope you are all having a great day and this just brightens it up a tad.

Extreme Makeover: Office Edition

13 Aug

The first couple days of work, Jared was told he could paint his office.  Since we were not allowed to paint our previous apartment, we were very delighted.  However, this decision to paint the office also meant removing the decades-old wallpaper from one of the walls.  More on that later…

Then we set off to the hardware store to try and decide what color his office should be.  We considered keeping it neutral and bland, or vibrant and happy.  This was going to be harder to decide than we thought.  We walked around the store some more and finally decided on a color called Riverview.  Sounds nice right.  As the hardware store lady was pouring out the color for us it seemed a bit crazy and bright and I could see that Jared and I were both a bit concerned.  Oh well, this was our decision and we were sticking to it.  For the next day and a half Jared spent his office hour time painting his office…

And here is what it looks like and we both love it.

My little sister took this picture at the Como Zoo and her boyfriend edited it.

This picture was first a postcard I found in a consignment store.  I had it blown up for $1 and the picture frame was from IKEA for $2.

Jared dug through the garbage to find the wallpaper that had previously been on the wall (it has tiny little ducks).  Oh boy.  Thank you Jared for humoring me and finding the wallpaper =)

We were told that we could scour the church and find whatever furniture we wanted to fill his office.  We found some bright blue couches, some yellow slippery chairs, but nothing seemed to quite fit.

Then we walked upstairs to a little bible study room behind the sanctuary and there it was:

Since the red didn’t exactly go with the new green, I decided to get to work on my sewing machine.

I had found these beautiful tablecloths at a garage sale for a dollar a piece and had invisioned them hanging in my future kitchen as curtains.  Wouldn’t these have made great drapes?  So cheerful and happy.  Anyways, I took one for the team and used them to cover the couch in Jared’s office.

Since we will be moving a few more times in the next year it was nice to be able to decorate a room that will not be in transition.  His office will be his office wherever we will be living.  I suppose I just needed to sew something for a room that we would not be moving out of.

A mission, a fun and rewarding mission, accomplished.

Thrifty Thursday

11 Aug

And the winner of the jewelry wallet giveaway is…

Congratulations Cassie!  Your gift will be in the mail shortly.

And now on to a Thrifty Thursday Post, I think we are due for one:

A couple weeks ago Jared and I went to our good friends’ wedding in the Twin Cities.

It was a wonderful time to see old friends and have a day without the kiddos, thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  My dress for the occasion came from a consignment shop on Grand Avenue called My Sister’s Closet.  It has a great variety and some very “out” there vintage clothes as well.  I found my dress for the wedding there and it was %10 off $18.   I was very happy to find such a great deal.  But most of all I LOVE the dress.  It was really comfortable, which is priority #1 but also it looked pretty good =)

Here are some pictures of my great deal and the fun day:

My mom let me borrow her black necklace she had previously found it at a thrift store.  Oh yeah and she had bought shoes a while ago but they slipped off her feet so she gave those to me!  So I went to a wedding and my entire outfit cost me $16.20!

the weather was so humid it completely fogged up my lens, darn

Well, that is one of my latest finds, hope you run in to some good deals too!

We Have Reached 10,000!

8 Aug

10,000 what?

We have reached over 10,000 views!  I am so excited about this!  A big thank you to all you wonderful people who find the time in your busy lives to visit hesowedshesewed.  This website has brought me more joy than I ever thought possible.  I love the comments you leave, I love seeing the stats after I put up a new post and I love that people all across the country can be a part of our life!

In honor of reaching this momentous place =)  I want to say thank you with this special giveaway.

A jewelry wallet:

It is very handy to keep your jewelry organized when you travel.

Earrings attach through the black wool and necklaces can be places in the cute little pocket in the back.

 On to the important stuff…how can you win?

All you have to do is comment and you have until Wednesday morning at 10:30 am CST.  After 10:30 am on Wednesday the contest will be closed and we will have a winner!

I will put all of your names in a hat and then have Aleah randomly pick a name (hopefully yours) out of the hat.  Good luck to you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for visiting.

Down on the Farm

5 Aug

Eggs from the store taste nothing like eggs from a farm.  Real, fresh, beautiful eggs.  Eggs from the store taste fine and all, they are good to bake with, they get the job done in the morning when you need them to.  But farm fresh eggs are one of the most delicious foods you will ever eat.  The yolks of a fresh, happy chicken egg will be a dark, golden bright orangish yellow, and many times you will find more that one yolk in the eggs.

From Jared: I know what you are thinking.  Many of you, whether from indifference or simply because there’s no convenient place to get farm-fresh eggs (and it’s not worth the $5 a dozen at the hipster grocery store) are saying to yourself “Yah right, you’re just saying that to romanticize your little trip to the farm where the happy little free-range chickens happily lay their free-range eggs in a happy little barn with happy little rays of sun glistening off their feathers.”

Yah there’s some funny truth in that, but seriously there’s a difference.  Our family eats at least a half-dozen eggs every morning.  The girls usually share at least four scrambled eggs between the three of them, and I will have at least two fried eggs, over-easy, all runny and gooey and delicious.  And this doesn’t even include whatever eggs our pancake or French Toast recipe calls for.  So we know our eggs.  We’ve eaten a lot of them, and these last several months we’ve had access to farm-fresh eggs both from my sister-in-laws boyfriend’s family that raises chickens, and now from a friendly church member in Cook who processes meat, gardens, and raises animals (including many egg-laying hens.)  This exposure to farm-fresh eggs has made it obvious that there’s a significant difference, and when you crack a farm-fresh egg into your skillet, the bright orange yolk almost startles you with it’s vibrancy and richness.  And the color is simply an indicator of the flavor of the egg.  They are creamy, bold, and rich, and it’s almost a shame to add cheese or salt and pepper.  We love it.  We love our romantic, idyllic little image of the chickens, we love the bright color as it sizzles in our dark cast iron skillet, and of course, we love the taste.

Caitlyn Again: The girls and I were feeling like we needed an adventure one morning so we decided to head out to a local farm where they sell eggs.

I was so proud of Aleah for reaching her little hands in there and picking out the eggs.

Aleah looking at the pig through the cage and Sophia trying to get into the pig’s cage.  We have two quite different little gals.

It doesn’t get much cuter than this.  At first she was just yelling at the chicken but then decided she wanted to pet it.

Peeking into the chicks house and Sophia wondering if chick food would be tasty.

She loved our morning excursion and I am sure I will be hearing pleas from her to head out there again soon.

petting a turkey

So head out to a local farm to see what adventures AND what delicious food await you.

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