This is what we've been up to!

Well Christmas is upon us!!!

This is what we've been doing as of late-

~~~~~~The Tree~~~~

Dan settin up the tree.....

( How did Mom say these were suppose to go???)

Beka's is so proud of her branch!

The tree with half the stuff on!

It's Finished!!!!!

Now on to other projects-

The shirts I made for the girls for the holidays!!

Last week I went in to check to make sure the kids were ready for school and Beka saw my Christmas sweater I got last year... " Mom, thats SOOOO cool!! Did you buy us one too?????"

So I kind felt bad they didn't have any christmas clothes...so I came up with this-

and this-

These are the christmas presents that the girls made for their teachers-

(all hand stitched)

(Beka- age 6)



(Mandi- age 7)

Well thats about all going on here. . until next time....

Seeing things through a different view-

My husband bought me a new camera a few months back- A Canon Rebel xs

Here are some of the pictures from the past week..... Enjoy!

The Rotonda West Christmas Parade-

The Rotonda West Boat Parade and Tree Lighting-

The Great Egret that visits the house often-

And last but not least... Toys from a childs view (thanks to 5 y/o Beka for building)

And I forgot a picture of Dan's art project

I'm so happy I now have a camera that I am learning how to use and one that works the way it should! I will try to share more photos as I take them.

I got a new toy!!!!

I went to a garage sale last week, and for $5 dollars!!

** FIVE DOLLARS!!***

I was able to score the most awesome,

cool,

neat,

strong,

powerful,

Sewing Machine!!!!!

I received it with all the attachments!

Here is just some more misc. photos for ya!

I thought this would be a great starter sewing machine for my children to learn on ....

So far my Dan made himself a cloth watch band and Mandi is making booties for her baby doll...

I'm sorry this has taken me so long to post, I seem to be having issues with Blogger.... :(

Clock Remake Tutorial

Well this is how it all starts-

This past week we had the time change, my husband tried to change the time on one of those cheap plastic clocks. (btw- I HATE time changes) For some odd reason the battery wouldn't work in it. I mean it only worked if you put it in half way. So, being who I am- I TOOK IT APART!!! As soon as I had it apart it magically decided to work.. Ain't that a booger... So I thought that since I had it apart I would do a little personal touch to it. So here it goes-

While taking the clock apart, make sure you remember the order the parts came off. It will help while putting it back together.

I scanned the face of the clock and with Adobe Photoshop C3. I added photos of our family using the layers with the 2nd one being at a lower fill level, so that the pictures were kinda see thru. (We still have children that are trying to learn to read an analog clock and they rely on the numbers)

I then cut out my printout the same size as the original face.

( I glued it on the face for the stability, but if you use heavy cardstock you might not need too)

I placed the face back on the clock then.

Replace all the clock hands back on the clock in the proper order.

(Make sure to put the battery in the clock before you put the cover on it to make sure the hands are going to move free without hitting each other.)

Then put the cover on it and wash all finger prints off of it (or in my case dust...)

Then hang.

Stand back and be proud that you made something with reminders of the people so dear to you.

Comments are always appreciated

Look what I've made!!!!

I've been sewing up a storm and I wanted to show you a bit of it!

1st-  I've made a roman shade for the kitchen window- the window is huge and slides from right all the way open to the left. I didn't want a normal set of curtains as they will be in the way and will get wet. 

2nd- I made a baseball style shirt for Mandi out of my husbands old shirt.. (Thank you Wardeh for this tutorial)  I knew she would love it cause it says "Rock Star" across the back. The only thing was it had a slogan for alcoholic drink on the front... I tried everything I could think to get it off- rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, blow dryer, and mineral spirits. NOTHING was getting this off!!!!  So I did what I thought was a good thing- I put that part of the shirt inside out!  I swear I couldn't see it (My husband said he could tho )     I was so excited after a few minor issues such as sewed the sleeve on backwards, broke the strings on the ruffle, and sewed on the ruffle with the seams facing out.. whoops... It was COMPLETE!!!!!


(I swear I couldn't see it...)



 

3rd- I made a skirt for complete with belt for Beka. I found it in this book -

It was fairly easy to make. I used a pair of jeans that she had gottin just about to big for, but with the seams for the legs ripped out it gave her more space for her bottom to fit!  Woo- Hoo !    (Note to self- do NOT put the pretty lace on the bottom of a skirt at knee length.. She came home from school with rug like burns on the back of her knees... )   I even made sure that the skirt followed the school rules of shorts underneath. I made a pair of white shorts out of one of my sons old tee shirts and sewed them into the skirt!  She was soooooo happy!

    

So that's what I've been up to.

Thank you for visiting my piece of life..... Jenn

Skirt Tutorial....FAIL

Well I started to make the skirt from the left overs from the last pants makover.... 
I had it pinned- sewn- then I realized I didn't pay as close attention to the waist measurements as I thought...  It was a might (Alot) bit small...  :(
Measure twice ( or three or four.. sometimes five ) times before cutting!!!!
Sorry for the tease on the skirt..
 I will post pics of the one I made with the blue denim (pants posted already)

The girls new clothes!

Recently in the past few years I've lost and gained and lost a bit of weight.. I have now decided to part with all those large items of clothing... so off I go making kids clothes again. (They grow soooo fast!) I found that with one pair of 1-2x elastic waist paints I can make a pair of capris and a skirt. Woo Hoo!! It was simple!
Please keep your sense of humor, I will try to recreate how I did it. ( How come I never think to take the pictures while I'm making stuff???)

Take a pair of larger sized pants and lay them over the pattern. (I used a pants pattern, but I lined up the bottom hem where I want the pants to fall on the child)

(I used a totally different pair of pants to show this, sorry for any confusion)

I chalk outlined where the pattern would be. I absolutely hate cutting patterns up. Notice the bottom hem is right where it would be on the childs pants? I will not have to hem these!

After cut out it will look like this- (without the elastic)

I found a easy way to make the crotch seam-
Take one pants leg right side out and place it inside the leg thats inside out .. so both rights side lay against each other- is this making sense?? Then stich together.

When you finished that then pull the leg out of the other one and make the casing for the elastic! I used 1 inch no roll elastic- cause thats all I have at the moment.

A brief pause for story time!

I was showing my daughters, 5 and 7, how and why I was making these. This pair was for my 5 y/o. I let them watch me measure for them. Cut them out. My Beka had to try on one leg after I cut them out. She looked silly but I wanted them to understand how the pants were made. When I sewed up the crotch seam I showed them on a pair of my 7 y/o's shorts what the seam was. After I was done sewing it up I handed it to my Beka to turn them right side out.. She flipped them in a hurry and insisted she try them on... I'm like " well ok if you want to...) While she was putting them on under her night shirt, I leaned to my 7 y/o and wispered-
Me- I wonder when she will notice somethings missing..
Mandi- What's missing?
Me- You'll see..
Mandi- I know what's missing- Elastic!!

Then Beka came out and held up her shirt with two hands for everyone to see her new shorts!
THEY FELL DOWN!!
She quickly picked them up as I asked her whats missing..
Her answer " BUTTONS!!!"
" Mom you forgot to add buttons!!"
I reminded her the elastic hadn't been added..
She said not to let her try on clothing until its finished next time!


Finished Product-

Here it the pair I made a few days ago-

This will be what I have left from the old pants-

With in the next few days, I will show you step by step how to make a skirt with this.......