Christmas Presents

Because we live far away from our family and don't get to see them all that often I wanted to do a little something for each of my nieces and nephews this Christmas to let them know that even though we aren't able to spend much time together we are still thinking about them and love them.

I was pondering what I could do for them while organizing my craft room and thought it would be fun to make them each a little something personal.

Thus started a three month journey which was both fun and fulfilling. Being superstitious I didn't want to say anything here just in case I didn't finish. But Christmas is now over and I actually managed to pull it off (hooray!) so I can now do the big reveal. So without further ado: *cue fanfare* I present Christmas presents 2010!

I made this tutu for Aurora who loves to dance. It was so fun and easy! I can't wait until I get to a craft store to get more tulle so I can make some for the girls (who both informed me that they would like one as well - thankfully they were both very understanding about each gift I made being for one of their cousins. I think knowing where each one was fun for them and made it a little more exciting and connected for them.)

This is the whale I made for Reipe. Funny story: it was knitting a whale (albeit a smaller whale) that really got me thinking about making presents. I looked at the smaller finished product and thought that it would be fun to make some of those harder to find toys that the kids might enjoy. (By the way the picture doesn't do it justice on the softness front. It's pretty soft and cuddly.)

This was is Isabelle's kitty which I've been informed has been named 'Kitty' so obviously it came out right. ;) This was my first attempt at crocheting in many (many) years. I won't go into the whole story here but I'd dabbled with crochet before but hadn't actually completed anything. So there was a little anxiety about if it would turn out looking like what it was supposed to and a few times when I almost threw my hands up in despair. I wasn't really sold until I embroidered the nose and put the whiskers on. At which point it suddenly looked like a kitty and I was relieved happy with how she came out.

When I heard that chamberlain was into doing crafty things I got very excited. I knew that the perfect thing for me to do for her would be to put together a little craft kit which ended up including supplies for making cards (markers, glue, paper, ribbons, buttons, stamps and ink) and a braided rug. What Chamberlain probably doesn't realize is that it was probably more of a present for me to be able to give her these little craft kits. I think most crafty people will tell you that the thing they love most about crafting (whatever their craft may be) is sharing it with others and they will almost always jump at the chance to give of their supplies to somebody who is interested in joining the ranks of their craft. (Or maybe that's just me...and a few other people I've observed...) I've got another little project that I don't want to say anything about yet (you know in case I don't actually follow through...which has been known to happen) but it involves being able to share my craft and it makes me smile every time I think about it.

This is Kassel's monkey. It was crochet project number two. Of course I'm still figuring a few things out about crochet so there was a little bit of a learning curve involved but it still came out very cute and should be pretty cuddly for her.

I drew Pamela's name for the family draw on my side. Pam's on a mission so I thought the thing she might appreciate most would be a little stationary holder/organizer. Of course it couldn't be too big but I wanted it to be able to fit stationary paper (which in my world is 8 1/2 by 5 1/2), envelopes, a couple of pens and some stamps.

The stamps go in the right hand pocket...I just hadn't purchased them when I took the picture. When Pam talked to me on Christmas she said she was able to put the letters she needed to write back somewhere and that they fit perfectly. She was very excited about it. As was I. I really want to work on another one so I can make a few tweeks to the design.

Pamela loves skinny long scarves so I also made this patchwork scarf out of scraps from a quilt my friend had made. It turned out incredibly cute (though really hard to photograph in any useful way...apparently in my crafting frenzy my photography got pushed aside a little bit...) I need to play around with better ways to pose scarves so I can photograph them better. As a bonus if I get really good at it I can put it down on a resume as a totally marketable skill. (*skills: Excellent scarf poser - who isn't looking for one of those ;)

And of course I couldn't forget about my own kids. Liberty absolutely loves Dora the Explorer so I modified a rag doll pattern to make this Dora doll.

Side story: My mom has always had great sketching skills. She can do little sketches of all sorts of things and I was mildly sad that I can't draw a straight line...okay the straight line doesn't get me down as much as other things...that's what rulers are for...but I've always thought it would be amazing to be able to draw little things like she does.

I started working on this doll by cutting out a circle and a heart (on the Cricut because I can't draw either one even halfway evenly...see above statement) then glued the circle to the heart and trimmed away until I had her hair peaking just like Dora's does. I then put that paper onto another piece of paper and drew the side hair. (My drawing was much more accurate to what Dora looks like than the finished product because I didn't assemble it in perhaps the best fashion but I'm okay with that because I'm still learning.) Anyhow I drew her hair, then her eyes nose and mouth by looking at a coloring book. And I felt so awesome! I freehanded something just like my mom had always done. It was a very exciting moment for me. The funny thing about this Dora doll is that after I had sewn on the felt eyes and mouth and embroidered her nose she still only looked okay. It wasn't until I added those little white eye glints (just a few stitches with white thread) that suddenly she looked like Dora. It never ceases to amaze me how big a difference seemingly little details can make.

For Samuel I found a pattern at my friends house for a pig, elephant, giraffe and cat. I still needed to do a pig for Emmuska so I borrowed it. Then I started contemplating the giraffe. It looked pretty good but I wasn't sure what fabric I would use as I didn't really have anything orange or giraffe-ish. Then I walked by my scrap box and saw this pair of ACU's (Army Combat Uniform) that Mycal didn't fit anymore. He was going to throw them out but I had snatched them up and put them in my scrap box with all the jeans we wear throw. (You might have noticed some of those got used for the stationary holder.) Anyhow I passed by it and was struck by how perfect they would be for making the giraffe. So I spent a couple days tearing out seam after seam (because they have pockets and patches and who knows what else all over them) and came across some great little odds and ends that I just stashed away. When it came to putting it all together I pulled out the blousing strips from the pants and found that they were just perfect for doing the neck fringe, horns (you can't really see them in the picture but trust me they are pretty dang cute) and tail. Then I used the buttons for the eyes. It was fun and so rewarding to make this entire toy out of something that was no longer 'useful'. Samuel ended up really liking it. We'd been trying to find a little lovey for him for a while and had only had a little success with a little blanket I had made him last year. But when he saw this giraffe it just clicked for him.

I made a few other things but in the hub-bub of Christmas completely forgot to take pictures of them. In the above picture on the far left you can see Emmuska's pig (there will be a few better pictures when I do the Christmas post) and on the far right Bonnie's monkey (which you can read about in great detail here).

Emmuska's pig was exciting in that I figured out how to do the tail all on my own (the pattern didn't have a tail but having learned from experience on the giraffe I knew I needed to put one on...okay so the giraffe didn't originally have a tail but I was informed it needed on as giraffes do so it was sewn on afterwards) and it was even curly. And I found the perfect scrap piece of fabric in the bottom of my box. It was pretty exciting.

I also made these books for Tiedyn and Azure. They are soft nursery rhyme books but I was so worried about getting them mailed in time I totally forgot to take a picture (this one is courtesy of SuZan). They were a lot of fun to make and a good beginner project as all the lines where straight.

And there you have it. That would pretty much sum up why I neglected my blog for the last few months. Each project was so exciting and rewarding for me and I think it was a lot of fun for the kids too. I think they really enjoyed talking about what was for whom and what they thought about. It made their cousins seem a lot closer because we were talking about them each day. It's funny I went into this thinking it would be good for letting the recipients know that they have family halfway across the country which it probably did but what it really did around here was remind the girls about the family they have which was something I didn't really foresee but am completely thankful for.

Shotgun Wedding

Lately the girls have been pretending they have babies in their tummies which I'm assuming is normal for girls though I'm not sure why they decided to start doing it at this particular juncture...anyhow a lot of stuffed animals have had the opportunity of seeing the underside of the girls shirts. So I was actually pretty happy when I Emmuska told me that she had to get married before she had her baby. 'Alright!' I thought 'I'm doing alright on teaching them the proper order of things' that was until I turned around to see her already 'pregnant' and just in time to hear her say: 'I've got to hurry and get married this baby is going to be here soon!' Okay...guess we'll work on this one a little more...

Good Looking Bunch

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits. Mycal's grandmother got these adorable ensembles.

Emmuska and Liberty call them their 'ladybug' dresses and both absolutely love them. Liberty was telling me yesterday that she couldn't wait to go to church so everybody could see her ballerina dance in her ladybug dress. Because having the right dress is the first step to spectacular dancing. (And yes I'm saying that in complete seriousness.)

And then you have Samuel in his little outfit. The vest and tie make totally make him absolutely irresistible. (Not that he needed any help with that...his dimples and blue eyes already affect most people's judgement when around him...)

Thoughts

Just a few random thoughts for you to start your week off right.
Driving home from church today I couldn't help but love the air - despite the fact that it has been getting increasingly colder over the last couple of days. In this case the coldness is what helped make it endearing (if air can be endearing...something I'll have to ponder...) In any case the air was crisp and filled with the smell of wood fires burning. In a word it was glorious. In the olfactal sense it was the very essence of winter. The only thing I needed at that moment was a good book (or possibly a movie and project) my own fire and a cup o'warm beverage.
Another thing happened when driving home. I saw an armadillo walking across the road. Which immediately triggered two thoughts: First) armadillos look really funny when they walk (run? it wasn't moving really fast so it's hard to qualify it as a run...scurry?) which triggered thought number two) how could I have not noticed how funny armadillos look when they walk...I've seen tons of them haven't I? Wait...I think this is the first time I've seen one alive. In the more than a year and a half we've been here I've seen many armadillos but they've all been dead! Armadillos look neater alive than dead.
I had steamed cabbage with leftover sausage for dinner tonight and really enjoyed it. And with each bite I thought "It's amazing that cabbage can be this good...from what I've heard it's full of vitamins and pretty dang cheap...I should eat cabbage more often." And it's true. I think I'm going to go add cabbage to my grocery list right now.
And finally something I've been thinking about lately but would love some feedback on. I've been considering getting some fashionably cute leg warmers. Here is my thinking: I would love to wear my skirts out more often but don't have proper winter footwear for them. I would love to buy boots but in all honesty boots look absolutely ridiculous on me because my legs are too skinny for the size I need. Big foot, skinny calf is apparently not a common combination...that or we are all far too quiet as it's hard to find anything that looks halfway decent...think straw in soda cup and you have a good idea of what my leg looks like in a boot. I recently saw somebody in legwarmers and they pulled it off really well and it seemed like it might be a good solution for me but I'm weary because I'm not the most fashion savvy person I know so I'd like some feedback before I look more into making/buying some.
And there you have the highbrow kind of thinking that you can only be found here. (Okay there probably where a few more random thoughts thrown in there but I mercifully forgot them before I got to the computer.)

Libster's Third

Praises be sung! Blogger is letting me upload photos tonight which means for your viewing pleasure we have pictures of Liberty's third birthday. It was a pretty exciting day for her. She and Emmuska played nicely pretty much all day (a miracle around here - they usually have some sort of falling out at least once a day...). We all went out in the afternoon to pick up some wrapping paper - where I gave each of the girls a few dollars each so they could buy each other presents. They had so much fun picking things out for each other (or rather for themselves then showing each other what they picked out at which time the other would decide the chosen item would be the one they purchased). We made pizza for dinner and chocolate cupcakes for dessert which we were able to share with Liberty's best friend Abby - something she may have been more excited about than anything else that day...she really loves spending time with Abby.

 Three candles in her princess cupcake (decorated with a dress-up ring to make it princess-y). It's hard to believe she's already three!

She really got into blowing out the candles on her cupcake this year.

Of course it may have taken a few tries but there where a lot of candles! ;) I love how her arms got in on the action to help give her the bodily momentum to finally vanquish those flames. (Actually I love just about everything about this picture from the smoke rising off the candle to her puffed out cheeks and closed eyes - it just has so much fun and happiness captured in it that it makes me smile every time I look at it.)

Finally present time!

You can't see it here but this box housed a doll from her Grandma and Grandpa - the second she got it out of the box she named it Dora and it has been pretty much everywhere Liberty has since she got it. She absolutely loves her 'Dora Baby'.

Which makes this stroller she also got very handy.

That is until Samuel notices it has wheels and is meant to be pushed around at which point he's convinced that it's really supposed to be his and a territory battle ensues. Fortunately generally fights over the stroller are dwindling.

Emmuska modeling her present from Liberty - dress up shoes. Emmuska loves princess dress up stuff so she was very excited about these shoes.

I was really excited about how well the day turned out. Liberty had a great day and loved everything she got - there weren't any meltdown and I managed to make pizza and cupcakes. That's what I call a fabulous day.

Grumble

Blogger isn't letting me add photos to my blog. It gives me a message saying something to the effect that the feature I'm requesting is unavailable. Anybody experience this? Anybody know what to do about it? I've been trying to post pictures of Liberty's birthday for a few days but keep running into this error. I would love help/advice/input.

Sam-Attack Turns One!

I know this is terribly late (much like my ice cream sandwich post which I have been informed once or twice happened quite some time ago...) But I still wanted to share a couple of pictures from Samuel's birthday.

We didn't do a whole lot for his birthday but Grandma and Grandpa sent out the perfect toy for him to enjoy:

I opened the door to this rather large box a couple of days before Samuel's birthday. I pulled it inside and started to open it and was quickly rushed by three very excited children. When it was evident that Samuel was very interested in 'unwrapping' his gift I asked the girls to let him try.

Considering the truck is almost the same size as he is he did a pretty good job wrestling his gift out of the box.

Of course he had to give it a good visual inspection to ascertain that it was a well built piece of machinery...

Then he saw that I had the camera out so he had to put his inspection on hold to give me one of his grins - I'm beginning to think he and the camera have a relationship - you know the kind where the camera is hopelessly devoted to him and he is casually interested now and then but other times indifferent...yeah I know it's a timeless tale...

Then Emmuska pushed one of the buttons and the thrill of the truck was back - I mean what can possibly compete with truck noises in a little boy's world?

I mean could this boy be any happier about his truck? 

Probably not. 

 And of course we had to do some cake for his birthday. Samuel was very excited about this part of the celebration. He loved the cupcakes and as soon as one was finished he was off to get another one - sometimes by any means necessary. Let's just say Liberty might have lost a cupcake or two...

Happy Birthday Sam-Attack - it's hard to believe it's already been a year. You're getting so big and doing so much. I only hope I can keep up with you throughout the year to come.

Ice Cream Sandwich Day 2010

Some of you may remember that I discovered a worthwhile tradition last year in the form of Ice Cream Sandwich Day (you can head over to the blog post about it here). It was such a hit that I got really excited about doing it again this year - so I had the ice cream sandwiches already in my freezer and strictly forbade anyone from getting close to them until the appropriate date finally arrived, which if finally did. I was so excited about taking pictures of the fun we would be having that I didn't properly check my camera settings and ended up with a bunch of pictures that looked like this:

Definitely not as lovely as the pictures I captured last year. *Sigh* There was also the fact that the girls just weren't as excited about the ice cream sandwiches this year.

Thankfully I did manage to change my settings as still capture a picture or two of the girls enjoying their sandwiches.

While I didn't get the fabulous pictures of the rapt enjoyment over this little holiday that I had been hoping for I did manage to take a picture that I absolutely love. Of course my favorite picture for the evening wasn't one of the kids or anything I would have expected it to be but rather the one of this dismissed (rapidly melting) frozen dessert. Just goes to show that you never know how things are going to turn out and while something may seem like a complete bust you usually walk away with something - you just might have to change your perspective a bit.

Stuffed Shells and Breadsticks

We love to eat so limiting ourselves to a list of one or two favorites isn't something that we readily do however if we did have a list of our favorite meals Stuffed Shells and Bread sticks would definitely be on it.

It makes me feel like I'm eating out because it's something I never thought I'd be able to make - only it costs a lot less and tastes better than if I had gone out to eat (if I had someplace to go...my area is pretty limited on it's dining out options).

Of course part of this is due to the bread sticks...which are incredible. So good in fact that I can't seem to manage taking a picture of all the bread sticks before any of them are eaten. Somehow between pulling them out of the oven and aiming my camera a few of them manage to disappear - no mean feat as they are really hot at that point. I know this from experience. A lot of experience.

Point being if your looking for a little inexpensive extravagance in your life whip up some stuffed shells with bread sticks. It'll make you smile.

Sam Attack

While I try to get my life more organized I thought I'd actually publish some of the posts I started but never finished...enjoy!

(note: I started this post before I took my grand adventure west where many of you were personally introduced to Samuel for the first time - so this might seem a little repetitive but I still wanted to post it.)

It recently came to my attention that our favorite nickname for Samuel might be a little odd (when within the space of two hours three people ask in absolute astonishment and wonder if I just called my son 'Sam-Attack' it became a question worth addressing). Samuel has a couple of nicknames such as Buddy and Little Guy but Sam-Attack is by far the most used moniker for our little man. The pictures below are just one reason why:

If he's not busy cuddling with me then he can usually be found pulling something apart or going after one of the girls. When it comes to exploration that tends to the destructive Samuel is the forefront in the field. And while picking up the books at least five times a day or putting the canned goods back into the cupboard can get tiring his little smiles generally make it okay.