Monthly Archives: July 2011

Crafty Tuesday

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Rompin’ rompers! That is what we have for CT this week. When Em and Audrey went to sewing camp a few weeks ago, Addie and Mommy had our own little sewing date and she picked out some cute fabric and we made a romper from this handy tutorial. The romper is currently being washed so it can go with us on our trip, and I don’t think I’ve even taken a photo of it on her.

Of course as soon as Em saw it, she asked if we could make matching ones for her and Audrey. And since it was our dear Audrey’s birthday treat to take her to Disney for her special day last week, I DO have pics of the finished products for the big girls.

Em picked out the material…

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…and everyone loved them – and commented on the “twins.”

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The rompers seemed to “romp” very well….

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…and it was the perfect outfit as a backdrop for our aspiring blondes.

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It was my first attempt at shirring. I learned a lot, and while it wasn’t perfect, seeing it on the two best friends was perfect indeed.

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I’ll try to get a photo of Addie’s for next week’s CT since I’ll be traveling and not crafting so much. But I can check out any creations you might have since I’ll have plenty ‘o airport blog-reading time coming up!

Just checking in…

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…and restocking our suitcases before we head out again tomorrow.

Yeah, even though it couldn’t really be helped, our summer travel vacation plans kind of all got
smashed together into these few weeks.

This past weekend we got to crash Daddy and Uncle Jeff’s annual trip to Comic Con in San Diego.
The boys even took the girls to the convention for a few hours. The excitement before they headed out…

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…and Mommy and Aunt JB headed to their very happy place for a little spa day. It was all good.

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When all the girls reconvened at the resort, we had a very relaxing and beautiful weekend.

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Addie couldn’t look into the sun for the photo on the camera timer, but found a minute to pose in front of the waterfall…

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…and in some Rupunzel hair.

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It always amazes me that the girls find new friends everywhere they go.

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Maybe it is all of their ferocious energy that attracts them?

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Of course, they had to revisit their favorite part of the rooms at the Grand – the bathtub.
Addie is actually kneeling in there, that is how deep it is!

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And when they weren’t swimming in the bathtub, they perfected their jumps and flips in the big pools.

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It was indeed a fantastic weekend and great way to dive into our family vacation.

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So now we are packing it up and heading to Orlando. This time we are tagging along with Daddy as he does some work, and we are all excited about getting to explore DisneyWorld and go to Harry Potter World! Then we get a few days in Michigan to see all of our peeps up there. I’m just hoping we don’t melt in all of the humidity between the two states.

Wednesday Mash

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It has bloomed.

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And, to Addie’s great gasps of joy, one of her other little sunflowers showed up too.

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She is thrilled because all of Emma’s friends are coming over to her garden for their book club this afternoon, and now she has beautiful blooms to share with them.

While we were waiting for our flowers to bloom we spent hours playing with…wait for it…empty boxes. Yes, cardboard boxes.

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You know – whatever keeps them happy – and gives me photo opportunities like this.

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And then…just to blow their little minds, we finally were able to get bunkbeds this weekend. And whenever I couldn’t find them on the patio in the boxes, I just had to look up in the top bunk. I am not sure what the allure is, but hours, HOURS have been spent hanging out on the top bunk. Just look how many monkeys were (NOT) jumping on the bed. (And try to not look at how badly our trim needs to be painted. Ugh. Dingy-ness. Add it to the to-do list)

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All of this (kinda, somewhat) free entertainment is mighty handy since I just realized that we leave one week for our big trip, and we are taking Audrey to Disney for her birthday tomorrow, we leave for the weekend on Friday, and essentially have Monday and Tuesday to get all our world in order. Yikes.

Crafty Tuesday – Handbag Edition.

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Your Two Birdies have gone mad for handbags over here!

In our Simply Sublime Bags book there is a pattern using a placemat for a cute little summery purse. It is very easy and fun, and maybe one of these days I’ll actually have a little spare time so I can take photos and do a little tutorial on how we adapted the pattern to suit our own needs.

The first one I attempted I used a Target clearance placemat that I loved, and I knew my dear friend Cyndi – who is also a Target devotee – would appreciate.

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Why yes – that is Miss Petaluma modeling the hottest summer accessory. How cute is she? (And the handbag isn’t so bad, either!)

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And, then I moved on from placemats and used this great fabric that I had lying around and made another bag for another dear friend who had a June birthday.

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AND…yes, another June birthday friend. This one was made out of fabric remnants as well, not a placemat, but I think it is my favorite.

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Added ribbon and a partitioned pocket on the inside…and also squared off the bottom so it will sit nicely.

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I have two more June birthdays that need to be finished this week before I leave. I’m determined to get them done before July slips by as well.

Any summer crafting happening out there?

Perfect Weekend?

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If I sat down to really think about it…

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I would say that the perfect weekend would be filled with friends…

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…lots of laughs…

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…and even more fun.

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Throw in a lot of family time, some serious spring summer cleaning, and a new (clearanced!!) patio set and I would say it for sure was a (much needed) relaxing weekend. Just about perfect, I think.

Another Garden…

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…of the Secret kind.

Em started her Summer Book Club with a few of her best friends today. They are reading The Secret Garden.

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So far she loves the book and I am enjoying re-reading it with her.

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It is incredible to watch all of the girls taking it so seriously.

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If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times – we are so very lucky to have such an amazing group of friends to fill our life with great times, fun and plenty of smiles.

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Next week Addie has offered up her garden as the Book Club’s meeting place, so we’ll get some more good shots of the sunflower, hopefully in bloom.

Growing like a…well, sunflower, I guess.

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A little Addie’s garden update for you. Remember her little sunflower that she planted way back when she was a mere kindergartener? Well…take a look at it now!

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We are anxiously awaiting the bloom, sooner or later it has to open up – I mean it is already 1 Daddy + 1 Addie high!

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Her garden is ridiculous and pretty much just growing every which way. We had green beans for dinner tonight. We’ve had blueberries for our yogurt nearly every single day. And we almost have enough tomatoes to make a nice little caprese salad. And herbs. Holy cow, we have herbs like you wouldn’t believe. Please friends if you need something, come over and clip them from our yard…do not buy them at the market!

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Every morning she takes her little basket out and wanders down the path to see what she can find.

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I told her the other day that she has a very green thumb and she insisted, “No I don’t! I just washed my hands, Mama!”

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My little garden girl.

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Crafty Tuesday

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Have been on a bit of a forced hiatus around here, from the computer at least, due to my unanticipated hard drive problem last week.

The good news is that Apple replaced my hard drive (with one that is nearly twice as big – thank you Steve Jobs!) for free and fixed my laptop casing.

The bad news is I’m still encountering stuff that I didn’t get a chance to save copies of…the big stuff, like photos and projects are all backed up and fine, but the little stuff like Photoshop actions and programs I used to upload files and photos…all need to be reinstated. It is time consuming, but I’m trying to be zen about it all.

We did manage to be a little crafty in between all of the crazy computer stuff last week. Em and Audrey completed their sewing camp and had a great time.

They finished cute little skirts (all by themselves!)…

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And then the second half of the week they finished little tops…

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I was very impressed with the sewing abilities of my little seamstress and we are working on a project for Audrey’s birthday this week, so stay tuned for more sewing goodies compliments of Em.

I also finished two little baby blankets for our friend who is having twins!

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Her theme is owls, and look at the cuteness of these – the skunk kills me!

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This is pre-washing and pressing…but I had to take photos so I wouldn’t forget.

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I also finished a little romper for Addie – we decided to sew something for her while Em was off doing her sewing thing. She has promised to wear it tomorrow, so I’ll get some pics then.

Any other summer craftiness going on?

A Happy Birthday and a little bit of Crafty, too.

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My little sis is one year older today! And soon she’ll be all caught up to me because I’m sticking and staying where I’m at – so I’ll see you in a few years, Meesh!

All kidding aside, we wish you a very, very happy birthday, Aunt Meesh. You are a beautiful person inside and out and I feel so blessed to be able to call you my sister, and most of all my best friend.

And since you are at Camp this week, I’m going to use your birthday gifts on our Crafty Tuesday today. If by chance you are reading this before you get to open your birthday gifts….STOP READING. Right NOW.

Okay, now that she is gone…I can let you in on quite possibly my worst, most frustrating project…ever. Grrrrr….I’m still a little steamy about the whole thing but it is wrapped up and on its’ way.

Awhile ago my sis told me she wanted a little case/cozy for her new iPad. And I happened to have this gorgeous, soft, gray sweater that I had felted. I had visions of a soft case with a pretty light blue fabric lining  and a little birdy on the outside.

Yes. And that is what it started as…and after taking it completely apart three different times, the knit became so misshapen and out-of-whack, and I eventually just worked it down too much and the whole thing became too small. It just wasn’t working. I sadly tossed it in the scrap heap, where Addie immediately rescued it as a sleeping bag for one of her stuffed cats. Meh. At least it is getting some sort of use.

It was the right idea…

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So I took a new tactic. One of the books I got for Christmas has this great idea to make handbags out of placemats. I happened upon some clearance placemats at Target a few weeks ago and have been experimenting with some purses and I had an extra one…so I opened it up, added some padding to protect her new little iPad, and added some clasps.

This little piece only saw the seam ripper twice. Gah. But, I was a little happier with this one.

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I also made a little bag for a friend of Michelle’s. Again, using 3 of my clearance placemats I put this together. And then put it together again. My proportions are a little off…the bag is too tall – but it is a good-sized bag.

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I just don’t know what it was about this weekend, but my sewing mojo was OFF. I’m hoping that I can get it back this week since I have a whole lotta stuff to get done!

It’s Friday…I’m In Love.

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…In love with long weekends filled with nothing to do!

Well, there is always something to do. And if I consult our new little Summer To Do list, it appears we might not have enough weeks of summer left to get it all done.

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The only things on the list that we have to do this weekend are (1) feed the cats and (2) take care of the cats. Em and Ad are cat-sitting for Uncle Jeff and Aunt JB, and apparently Addie felt very strongly that they deserved TWO checks on our list.

I also love the last one she added today…playing with sisters and mom and dad. Definite great summer goal.

However, I can’t say I’m entirely in love with the fact that it is July 1st today. HOW did this happen? It feels like just yesterday that the girls were walking home with end-of-year goodies and report cards. Since then, we have completed an entire cycle of tennis camp. I’m not sure how much they learned tennis-wise, but Coach Ron said the girls were “delightful” and showed great promise for their age if they wanted to continue pursuing tennis. Heh. I’m sure he says that about all the girls.

They have both been swimming, swimming, swimming. We have had lots of free swims, they are both on swim teams, we’ve had the first of our weekly swim parties with friends, and we’ve been to the beach – well, there wasn’t much swimming at the beach since the water was 63 degrees, but there is nothing like being (even an hour) on an ocean beach.

And we got to share some love with Aunt Meesh and Uncle DJ this past weekend. They came for a visit sans kids for their anniversary. We did a little courtyard hula-ing and dancing…

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The girls got to go to their first real concert, Alison Krauss at the Greek theater. And of course, our entertaining standby – we got a little crazy in Disneyland…

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(I honestly don’t know. She might be trying to “lick” her sister? Who knows…)

And even though I’ve been vigilant with the sunscreen and hats – thanks to the awe-some weather – we are starting to see some Coppertone bottoms and a smattering of nose freckles around here…

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Next week after our little weekend stay-cation, my little Birdie is taking on a new adventure. Sewing camp.

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Oh you can bet your buttons that I am just about as excited as she is. We went fabric shopping downtown today, in the camp they will be making a tunic top and a skirt. She zeroed in on the pirate fabric the very first step into the cottons section and could not be dissuaded from it. So she has the pirates for the top and the polka-dots for the bottom. Stay tuned for a Crafty Tuesday creation, I’m thinking.

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And the best news to love today – we have finally booked our “family vacation” for the end of July/start of August. We are tagging along with J. to Orlando and then stopping in Michigan on our way back. We are all looking forward to the trip – but we have a lot of summer living to do before then, so I best be getting back to our list. Right now!