Wednesday, March 23

so, Brenna's dance studio had spirit week this week. They asked everyone to dress in their colors of lime green, purple, and black. I also painted Brenna's face purple to go with the theme :-)

Brenna's class :-) (I think Brenna matches the walls pretty well :-)

Hello All!!!

Just had to share some pictures and a video from Brenna's first spirit day at dance school. I made the leotard, tutu, and hair bow. (and I painted her face to match as well :-) (I painted my face too as she will tell you in the video below, but I didn't take any pictures of me (and I didn't get any pictures of Brenna and I together either)....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1-1RC3Hxjw

Hope you all enjoy!

Take Care!

Monday, March 21

Brenna with her pink outfit from Sunday - I love all the pink from the new headband to the pink shoes (sorry - I had the wrong lense on to get a whole body shot of her - but we did get at least one picture of just the shoes :-)

We also made it around the block today with Justice with the warm weather - here is Brenna after (still loving the pink headband :-) (and her favorite coat - her Hello Kitty jean jacket :-)

I like to have a conversation with Brenna when we take pictures - I have found the best way to get some real smiles from her is to have her talk about her school friends - but sometimes, I catch the picture mid-sentence. (so for me, this is what I see for most of our "photo" sessions - lol).

the smile that followed our chat :-)

Hello All!!!

Just had to share some new pictures of Brenna in the headband I found for her last week at the store (and it was even on clearance :-) She is in love with it - but will only wear it for about 20 minutes or so (which is pretty typical of her with any of her headbands).

We had a pretty quiet weekend here - Brenna was all about hanging out with Daddy (which I was glad for as he is leaving for Germany this week for a week or two - good daddy/daughter bonding time :-) The weather was cooler than Thursday and Friday, but still warmer so I took Justice for some nice long walks and Dustin played with Brenna outside. Brenna is really looking forward to some upcoming time with the Grandparents on both sides - especially for Dustin's mom coming up to stay while Daddy is gone :-) (I'm pretty sure she is going to start a countdown for that on the calendar she has in her room).

Well, that is all for now!

Take Care!

Saturday, March 19

So, Brenna has a beautiful new dress (for Easter) from Divine Miss Gammy :-) Brenna is in love with the pretty pink dress (and I hope I can get even more cute pictures of her in it :-) Thank you so much Gammy - this was just the type of dress Brenna wanted for spring (and thank you so much for saving me from needing to make her this type of dress - you are the best Gammy!!)

Brenna striking her favorite pose!

hmm - not sure if the toy story hat really fits with the dress - but she still looks adorable....

I have been crazy about making bags here lately (in case you missed that from all the bags I made for my friends baby shower). I loved the one I made in a tote so much (colors), that I made myself a new purse in those same colors. My poor sewing machine had a lot of trouble with all the layers on this bag (I went through a whole pack of jeans needles sewing it - I bent 5 of the needles, but luckily was able to bend the 5th one at the very end so I still have one jean needle left, lol). This bag pattern is from Amy Butler's new sewing pattern book (of bags).

The inside of the bag - already loaded up - I tested it out at the store yesterday - not sure how I am going to like having a magnetic snap closure - but I do like all my inside pockets. (it may only last the summer season - but hopefully I will enjoy how pretty it is for that summer :-)

Brenna modeling it for me in her PJ's :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here. It was a fairly quiet week here - the biggest excitement was dressing in green for St. Patrick's day and the beautiful sunny weather that was here for Thursday and Friday. I made a new bag for myself this week - I like the style of the bag, but the thickness was almost more than my sewing machine could handle :-(

Brenna also enjoyed modeling her new pink dress from Gammy this week - she looks so adorable in it :-) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Well, that is about all for now!

Take Care!

Saturday, March 12

So, I have been busy with sewing this week, but I didn't get everything done that I had hoped too.... ahh - so typical me. Anyway, the bags pictured here I made for the game prizes for my friends baby shower today. I love the flowers - it makes me think of spring and summer looking at them :-) (one bag was for the mom-to-be and the other was for the prize winner). (the bags used up the last of this fabric - it was used on the dress I made for Brenna back in August - so sad when one of my favorite fabrics is gone...) (the inside of both bags were different and I made different handles as well - hope the two ladies who have them like my color choices :-)

I also made a gathered clutch bag (I made 4 of these - one as a practice (and since it has some flaws, I get to keep that one, one for my sister and 2 for the shower) - I made this bag with laminated cotton inside - so the bag could be used as a make-up bag or even an ouchy bag for a mom (I saw these online with band-aids, salve, etc. in them). The only problem I see with the laminated cotton is that it isn't washable - just wipe the inside and then the outside of the bag is just surface washable...but anyway - I love this fabric and it is also all gone now - guess I will have to find some new favorites :-)

I made cupcakes for the shower as well. The frosting didn't quite turn out as I had hoped (it was too runny), but it sure tasted good. I made my mom's buttercream frosting recipe and then added fresh strawberries to it - yum, yum!!!

my friend Joy was the host for the shower and she did an amazing job decorating and the food was awesome. Can you tell the baby will be a girl??

the party was at an old renovated school house in the area - it was such a nice place for the baby shower :-)

the guest of honor with the beautiful food table. I forgot to get a close-up of the wonderful desserts - just trust me that they were all worth the calories :-)

the cute gift bags that Joy cut out and then we both assembled - so cute!

the diaper cake that Joy and I put together - so pretty!

one random picture from this week - Brenna's Wed. night dance class - if you look at the picture you can see the older ballet class inside :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here.

I have been busy with some craft projects this week (hmm, I made 6 new bags - I guess that isn't too bad, lol) and also 2 burp rags. I had hoped to do a couple other projects, but maybe I will still get those done and give them to the parents after the baby arrives....

I can't think of too much else that went on this week, but I did want to remember that on Tuesday morning when Brenna woke up to put on her costume, she came into my craft room with her shoes in hand to put the dress on right away - I think I made a winner with this one!! (She even took it with her down to Gammy and Papa's house today to show them :-)

Brenna went to a birthday party this morning with Dustin while I was getting stuff ready for the baby shower today - I'm sure she had lots of fun with the party (it was for one of the girls in her dance class).

Well, that is about all I can think of...

Take Care!

Tuesday, March 8

so, after weeks of waiting on Brenna's part, I finally finished her new Tangled costume (for anyone not in the know - this is the the Disney version of Rapunzel. Brenna loved the movie when she saw it in the theater with Dustin - I stayed with my mom that day and worked on crafts so I am very excited that it comes out on video this month. Especially since we have read all the Tangled books and I know the story now :-) I let Brenna wear her dress to school today - I am missing Carnival/Mardi Gras in Germany this year and today was Fat Tuesday (although the parade and dress up day in the town we lived it would have been yesterday - but then who could Brenna show off her new dress to?)

Brenna also got new summer shoes over the weekend - we can't wait for spring/summer here (Brenna can't wait to get out her new flip flops - mommy found her 3 new pairs (although one is a slipper pair that she can wear now in the house). Brenna had to have the shoes below when she saw the bow, sparkles, and princess heels - love at first sight for her :-)

It was almost 50 degrees at our house today, so I asked Brenna to go outside and model her dress really quick - we were outside for less than 5 minutes, but she was such a little model :-)

modeling in the sunshine in the front window - it was hard to get a real smile, but Brenna loved her new costume from today so much she asked to wear it again tomorrow (and she wouldn't let me hang it in the closet unless she could reach it when she wanted to - I think maybe this one will get more wear than the Princess and the Frog dress...)

Brenna holding the dress I made as a gift for our friend Kora - we missed her birthday party since Brenna was still recovering from her ear infection. There is so much fabric at the bottom that the dress can almost stand on its own - I think we could sew the bottom shut when Kora is done wearing it and it could be a cute bag :-) Brenna loved the dress when I finished Kora's - she can't wait for me to make hers now (but I'm sure she is glad that I finished the Rapunzel dress first).

Brenna with the flower she wore in her hair to school this morning.

gotta show off my new shoes...

after Brenna was almost over her ear infection (Brenna was sick the whole week after the ice festival - talk about a long week here), I made some rice heating pads. The dog one I designed and the owl was a design I found on the Make and Take website.

Brenna's new owl heating pad. She loves it - I heard her ask Dustin to heat it up tonight before bed :-) (I made him out of the scraps from Kora's dress - so cute!)

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. Brenna was down with an ear infection for a whole week in Feb. (it started right after the Ice Festival). Brenna hasn't had an ear infection since she was a baby - so it made for a very long week here. (she also was feeling awful with a runny nose and sore throat, but thankfully, we are past the antibiotic now and she is feeling great). I was exhausted the week following - not sure if it was the winter blahs or what, but this week we are all feeling better :-)

At the tail end of Brenna's ear infection I found this cute owl heating pad that you fill with rice - I made him in about 2 hours and Brenna was in love - I think I will have to make more of these, but I need to get some more felt first :-) I also made a dog heating pad with rice - I drew the dog free hand - I am pretty impressed with my first pass at that :-)

Since today was Fat Tuesday, I worked yesterday to finish Brenna's Tangled costume that I promised her in January. I think it turned out awesome - Brenna loved it so much she asked to wear it again tomorrow :-) Hopefully she won't abuse it as much the next time she wears it though - we waited in the hall at preschool today for one of Brenna's other friends to be picked up and she crawled on the floor with it and ran up and down the hall - I guess my construction was pretty good as I don't see any noticeable damage to it yet. I made the costume a little bigger at the top in case she still wants to wear it for Halloween - maybe I will be lucky and the dress will still look good at Halloween time and she will want to wear it :-)

Other than that, I need to be busy with projects this week to finish some gifts in time for my friends shower this weekend - just need to figure out exactly what I want to make now...

Take Care!!!