Pocket Shirts

I have several posts in store and fun recent projects and fun to share, so I thought I'd post this one real quick before it gets lost in the shuffle!

Ryder was always tucking bouncy balls or little cars under his shirt and then poking out his tummy to show them off! I had the thought that I ought to sew him a pocket on the front of his shirt so he could tuck treasures in there and get the same effect, more effectively!

I'd say he was pretty happy with the result! The boys picked out these shirts for $2 each at Walmart!


I am a very beginning sewer, and no doubt this could have been done better than I did it, but I...

1. took a strip of fabric just over the width I wanted and about two inches more than double the length (so I could fold in half and hem),
2. then pressed and hemmed the ends,
3. folded the entire piece in half top to bottom and pressed, then
4. stitched the back piece of the top to the shirt as close to edge as possible, then
5. top stitched the sides and bottom onto the shirt, leaving the front top piece open.

(I really don't even know the best lingo when it comes to sewing, so hopefully that made any sense!) :p

Coop chose a shirt with graphics on the front, so I put his pocket on the side!

The other day, Ry was wearing a different shirt and went to tuck a bouncy ball into his pocket! Made me smile :)... and realize there are many more of these to come! :)

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

I wanted to post this much earlier today, but haven't had the chance! I saw a collage similar to this and thought it was a great idea, so I whipped one up quick for Coop.

Today we celebrated his fourth birthday!

These are pics from the past year- amazing how they change so much in just one year! 

Hard to believe its been four years... this little guy has changed my life in just about every way.

He keeps us on our toes for sure!

We love you, Cooper Conner!

Shiner!

This last weekend Ryder took a fall and the hitch on our pickup happened to be between him and the ground- OUCH! I'm sure grateful he only ended up with this fancy black eye and not a broken cheekbone or something! So it goes being a boy, I guess. He's sure sporting his sweet new battle scar...

...and about the messiest face possible too! Nice... Riding bikes is immediate business sometimes I guess! =)

Meaningful Monday: Ordinary People

I realize Monday is all but over, but thought I'd carry on with this post anyway! I actually had in mind to share this Conference talk from Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Stephen had to listen to it multiple times for his Elder's Quorum lesson yesterday and there were several parts that struck me.



As I was searching for the article, I clicked through to Elder Bednar's (my favorite!)  recent address at Women's Conference and was struck, again, by this quote below. So here's a few different colors of a quick word art that hopefully will strike you too. :) Click, then right click and copy, then paste into Word to print 4 x 6 for a frame if you like! :)

whoopdwhoop blog today

I do have something in mind for my normal Meaningful Monday today, but won't be able to get to it until later... in the meantime, today my bib clip tutorial is being featured on the whoopdwhoop blog! Click HERE to check it out and make sure to browse around whoopdwhoop while you're at it!

My latest swapping addition and quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever sewn:

Added a fun ruffle to this little drawstring backpack! Yet again, great fabrics from Mom- this little treasure just makes me smile! I'm anxious to see how long it lasts!

Fun Additions

It's been awhile since I've added anything new to Etsy and it was getting a bit sparse, so I just added these adorable little guys...

I LOVE sewing these little drawstring backpacks! Many more to come no doubt! I tried some new things with these most recent versions, making them tougher and cuter! (I love this great checkerboard fabric I got from my Mom.) I started with this tutorial from Prudent Baby. 

Also made Cooper an updated pack of his own using some Transformers flannel he picked out on a Walmart trip awhile back. He's been putting rocks and money and small shells in it for two days straight now!

To check out my shop, you can click HERE. :) Use coupon code CRE8SPRING to get 20% off!

And this cute Mary Engelbreit version is on it's way to whoopdwhoop... Also fabric from Mom- lucky me, awesome her :)

Come Visit!

Today you can find me over at Homespun Threads, happily joining in on her fun "Summer Soiree" Series! Click on over to check out our water gun targets, version 2.0!

Another place you can come visit (if you're close and able)= our Yard Sale this weekend!! 

We are busily going through each room in the house eliminating stuff we can live without! Come visit us and take home a little something for cheap! Friday and Saturday, 8-2!

Recent Travels

Over Mother's Day weekend, we made the rounds visiting our families. The first thing Coop asks when we tell him we're going to Grandma's is if we are staying the night or not- so he was thrilled to stay at both Grandma's in one weekend!

We enjoyed a kid-free dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Sally and my in-laws, Janie and Bruce at Red Lobster! Considering that Gma Sally has 30 (or more?) great grandchildren to share herself across, this was a real treat!

My Mom loves playing with the kids and they think she hangs the moon! While we were out at my Mom and Dad's, my sister and nieces came over too! I LOVE this pic of Quincy out on the swing:

She didn't end up having a swimsuit and Coop loves wearing this old one Taron's that stays at my Mom's, so Quincy borrowed Coops! So stinkin cute! :)

Ry thought Quincy's galoshes were the neatest thing ever!

A fun recent trip full of our favorite people!

Meaningful Monday: Practice

We've all heard how many times that "Practice Makes Perfect." I've been thinking a bit about the things that we can't exactly practice at in life.Or maybe better said, things that once we've got the practice in, it's too late. Like, these two for example...

Anyone else thinking parenting falls into this category? I had these great thoughts that my boys would turn out like my brother. Conner is just, well... rare. Amazing. I thought my kids would feel toward me the way I feel toward my own parents. Respectful, aware, awed. I cared so much about my parents approval as a kid, and still as an adult really. That was the reason for a lot of the decisions I made. 

But ya know what, I don't think my boys have that. Cooper thinks we're equals- that he can tell me the way it is just as much as (or more even) I tell him. He has no problem ignoring me before I'm even finished making a request. And Ryder, well he's still so young, but he doesn't seem to care too much about what I say either.

 I don't think I had the delusion that my kids would be perfect, I guess I just thought it would be... well, more natural or something. I realize I'm so new to parenting, but it kinda strikes me that it's not one of those things that practice can actually perfect. Certainly improve, but not perfect.

I guess I'm just thinking that I can see I'm stumbling as a mother in lots of ways right now. I hope it passes to a degree, that it's just their ages or their age difference or whatever else. I hope they do actually care enough that I affect their choices someday. Like any Mom, I just want the best for them. Want them to want the best for themselves.

How do you ever feel like that best is... well... you?

Another thing probably best not to practice: catching bees! This is sting number two in two days! Yes, indeed, Mom's warnings to catch other bugs instead went in one ear and out the other...



PS. Find my article in today's Times News about a benefit cookout in honor of a local injured Police Officer by clicking HERE!  Probably my fav story I've covered so far. :)

Shorts, Plants, Popsicles, Smiles

We just bought a set of three tomato plants. I LOVE garden tomatoes. Stephen hates them with a passion! If he gets tomatoes on his order in a drive-thru (he always asks for NO tomatoes), he'll look up and call the place to complain! Oh well, bummer for him, more for me!

And for the boys I daresay... Cooper LOVES these little plants! He was the one that suggested we get them at the store and now he coddles them like they are his charge to keep well. :) He sits and watches them and softly touches the leaves- so cute! Wish I could get him to act that way towards Ryder... :)

Had a fun couple of really beautiful days last week- the boys got to wear shorts for the first time and suck up popsicles in the yard! See Ryder's squishy face at the cold of the first bite?!

These awesome popsicle holders are so handy! They make it so the boys hands don't get cold while eating them. I've been swapping these ones at whoopdwhoop!

Fun Mother's Day Gifts!

Ok, I can't resist- I'm excited to share the fun gifts we've come up with for our own Moms and Grandmas for Mothers Day this year! We're pretty sure they won't be stopping the blog through the weekend, so I guess I'll risk ruining the surprise to post about these fun gifts before the day is over!

For the first part of the gift, I went looking around the crafty blog world for something Cooper and Ryder could get in on creating with me. I came across this post from Brown Paper Packages and knew it would be what we would do- Personalized notepads that include the boys' own drawings!

I love homemade gifts that include photos- it's just more "me" I guess. And neither my own mom nor my mother-in-law, Janie, or Stephen's Grandma Sally (who had a big hand in raising him), are people we get to see all that often, so photos are valuable to them too! I used the instruction from Kierste almost exactly, other than I added some small pics of the boys along the top!

You draw a pencil line a couple of inches up from the bottom of a sheet of normal white paper. That is the space that I let Cooper (and a tiny bit Ryder- he's just not as into doodling yet) draw within. Then I placed and sized the pictures along the top of a Word document, as well as put the words "Grandma's Notes" in a cute font in the middle. Four is a nice number when it comes to craftiness, eh? :)

Then I took this exact sheet in to a local copy shop and asked that it be sized down to a quarter of a page. Then those were cut and stacked in sets of 50 and made into notepads with chipboard at the bottom. These will hopefully be perfect for Janie at work or and for my Mom in both her offices! They'll have something that makes them think briefly of their handsome grandsons when writing a reminder!

EDIT: Want a much cheaper way to make these? Click through to this tutorial at The Letter Four to see how you can skip the copy shop and make your own notepads! Could've saved a lot if I had thought of it before!

Fun, eh? Well, then just a couple days ago, Stephen had the thought that we should trying making our own dipped strawberries to add to the gifts also! I love making pretty food!

Aren't these lovely?! And they really taste yummy! I think I may try perfecting the packaging and selling these, along with pretty caramel apples, at a future craft show sometime.

We are anxious to give these simple, cute little gifts to our favorite ladies this weekend! Our Moms are some of the best parts of us- they are amazing Grandma's and such selfless examples- we love you!

Either one of these, and specifically the notepads, would make fun gifts for all sorts of occasions! We wish anyone stopping by a wonderful Mother's Day!