Seth’s Ducks January 19, 2008

One of my cousins, Heather, recently emailed me about making a shirt for her little boy, Seth (my cousin also).  He is completely obsessed with hockey and his favorite team is the Anaheim Ducks.  I like to call them the Mighty Ducks, hence the movie from the 90s.  She even sent me some proof of his obsession.  How adorable?!?

This is Olivia (Seth’s big sister) with Seth.  I LOVE the skates!

Heather says Seth insists on wearing the above get-up and three other hockey t-shirts everyday and he doesn’t want to cover them up with a jacket.  So she asked if I could make him a hockey sweatshirt.  I got right to work.  I ended up making the Ducks logo out of felt pieces.  My stitching got a little crazy at some points, but nothing too bad.  I hope Seth will love his shirt.

Oh and Grant got his pirate t-shirt yesterday.  Rebecca sent me a picture of him in it.  She says he doesn’t want to take it off.  How cute?!?

Hooo’s Pregnant & Kitchies January 18, 2008

Recently we found out that my brother-in-law Andy and sister-in-law Becky are expecting a baby mid August. They are going to be wonderful parents. They are crazy about their nieces and nephews and Josh and I are so thankful they love Harper the way they do.

We are SUPER excited about having another niece or nephew. So of course I needed to make the new little peapod something to let her know we are thinking and loving her even before she arrives. Now I am calling the baby a her because I think Harper needs another little girl cousin, but they haven’t found out the sex yet, so the burpcloth I made had to be somewhat neutral. So I went with an owl. That’s right, an owl. I thought it was cute and bi-genderish. Also hence the title, “Hooo’s Pregnant….” So check it out. A little blue, a little yellow, a little green and a little pink, Perfect for boy or girl peapod.

About my Kitchies…(this is what I am calling all the new kitchen items I have been working on) again I am giving these to someone as a gift, but if you like what you see let me know. The first is a potholder that I jazzed up. The second picture are two dish towels that I added some flare to as well. And the third picture is of a notepad (for grocery lists, etc)….now this didn’t quite go as planned. I totally dropped the ball about really thinking this one out. I just went right to sewing without even thinking about the fact I that I wouldn’t be able to sew along the metal spiral side. So that’s why there is no stitching and I had to do some hot glueing. Oh well, you live and learn. It’s a little crazy looking too. I hope the recipiant can look past the notepad’s quirkiness and know it was made with love. Enjoy!

Spunky Spoon January 17, 2008

My Aunt Lynda put this idea in my head. She said she saw something similar to this in Texas. I made this for a very special someone, but haven’t given it to them yet, so I won’t reveal who just yet. This serving spoon is kind of wimpy, but all in all, I like how it turned out. I hope you all noticed that I did not take the picture on my carpet. I’ve decided never again to include our carpet in my photos again. I think it’s quite an improvement. Hope you enjoy! If you would like to own one yourself let me know.

Grant the Pirate January 15, 2008

My cousin Rebecca and her husband Brian have two of these sweetest, cutest and polite little boys I know, Grant and Garrett.

Grant and Harper

Cousin Garrett

I love my little cousins and Grant and Garrett are so special to Josh and me. Grant has always been a BIG fan of Josh’s and Josh loves to play with these two. We love getting to see them, but they live in Memphis so visits are few and far between. When they are in town we always try to visit and we have taken a few trips to Memphis to visit as well. I do always make sure we send birthday gifts and little special surprises to make sure they know we are thinking of them. So Grant is turning 4, oh my, and he is obsessed with pirates. So we got him this great pirate set that has gold coins, a little bag for his coins, pirate paper, invisible ink markers and a compass that has a UV light to show the invisible ink. It turns out Grant in having a complete pirate party as well. So I thought it would be great to make him a pirate shirt for his party. I found a camo tshirt on sale at Walmart for just $2, bought a little bit of pirate fabric and some felt and we were in business. I placed a piece of fabric that has a P on it for his patch….You know P is for pirate, patch and parrot (just can’t escape that teacher in me). I also cut out a parrot from some fabric and made it a patch for the sleeve. I really hope Grant loves it.

Tators Granters!

Harper’s New Shirts January 14, 2008

I must say, I think I’m completely obsessed with my sewing machine.  I use it for everything – Harper’s scrapbook, cards for others, burp cloths and NOW on Harper’s clothes.  Aunt Jen, for Christmas, gave Harper two cute long sleeved shirts that were blank on the front.  So I thought I could jazz them up a bit.  Here are my final prodcuts.  Check out my cute model for the pear shirt.

Campbell’s Cat Cake January 14, 2008

As promised, I wanted to post Campbell’s cat cake I finished today for her 5th birthday party. It was a fairly easy cake to make and ice. And it didn’t taste too bad.

I think Campbell liked her cake and had a good time at her party.  The little girls wore cat ears and I drew cat whiskers and noses on them.  I thought Harper needed to join in the fun too, so Harper was a cat at the party also.  Meow, aren’t they cute.

Saturday and Birthdays January 13, 2008

Today… SATURDAY… was a very productive day for me. If you know me, then you know that I like to be organized and I like to plan ahead. So Harper will be turning 1 at the end of March (I can’t believe it), but I have already started planning her party. I know I’m crazy, but I put so much effort into everybody else’s birthday parties, I figured I owed it to Harper to bring my A-game. Nothing too over the top, but I do want it to be sweet, simple and sentimental. So I have been working on her invitations and got a lot done. I have taken a close up of part of her invitation. Can you take a guess at what kind of party we will be having? Guesses anyone?!?

Also I have been working on my niece Campbell’s 5th birthday cake. I make all my nieces and nephews birthday cakes and Campbell’s party is tomorrow and she is having a cat party. I have been working on the beginnings of a cat cake. I’ll post that picture tomorrow. Here are some of the cake’s I’ve made for birthday’s over the years. The only one I used a cake mold for was Elmo.

Also I made Campbell a cute little door hanger/birthday tag/card to go on her birthday present. I mixed fabric, paper, a button and a sewing machine and this is what I came out with. Not too shabby. I always like to write a special note to my nieces and nephews on their birthdays, so Campbell’s message is on the back. Happy 5th Birthday Campbell!!!

Last but not least, here is a picture I took of Harper today. She was in our living room playing and the sun was shining through the window so brightly. I really like this picture. Isn’t she sweet. Happy Saturday everyone!

New Things Happening January 12, 2008

So I have been working on several new and different items. First, I’ve been working on a HOME item. Basically its four different sized black frames, torn scrapbook paper under the glass of the frame and then the letters that spell out HOME adhered to the outside of the glass. I think it’s kind of cool. I saw something similar to this at Joanns a while back. Right now I have the letters sitting in a window at our house. I really think they would look great on a mantle, but we don’t have a fire place. If you are interested, let me know and I would be willing to sell them to someone else. I like them, but actually had to take down some decorations that are more sentimental to me. Let me know, I’ll give you a deal.

The second thing I’ve been working on are two burp cloths for my little nephew Jack. I LOVE giving all my nieces and nephews a little something for each holiday and Valentines is fast approaching. I bought these sweet little purses for McKinley and Campbell.

I have Cooper and Lyla a book, but needed something special for Jack – - He’s only 5 weeks old, so I thought some handmade burp cloths would be perfect.

I really like how they turned out. The Rockstar one needs a little explaining…My brother Chris, Jack’s daddy, likes those cool vintage rock t-shirts, so I tried to make one burp cloth look like some of Chris’ t-shirts. You can judge for yourself. Anyways, Oh and I would like to plug a friend of mine, Alison Harris, who also has been busy making curtains, burp cloths and some adorable little dresses for her daughter Maggie. Check out her blog… http://theharrishome.blogspot.com/
I always get excited to find someone else who is into the same stuff as me. I really love Alison’s stuff and if you do too, leave her a comment and let her know. Well, I suppose that’s all for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Libi Faith Jai Qi January 8, 2008

I recently had an order placed by a mother, Amy Arnold, who lives in Illinois. Her and her family are adopting a special little baby girl, Libi Faith Jai Qi, coming all the way from China. Amy ordered a ladybug because it is a significant symbol for Chinese babies coming to America. To personalize the painting I added Libi’s name and the Bible verse Job 12:9 “Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” Libi has several health problems and today I received an email from Amy saying that Libi’s health has taken a turn for the worse, but this will speed up the time it was going to take to get into America. Please pray for this sweet little baby and her new family. You can read more of their story on Amy’s blog: www.libifaith.blogspot.com Amy it was a pleasure hearing your story and doing business with you. Thank You!

Hall Reunion January 2, 2008

In a past post, I talked about my mom being the youngest of 12 siblings, so our family in huge…to say the least.  Twice a year we all get together for a reunion, one of those always being the Saturday after Christmas.  We visit, eat, talk, eat, get reaquainted, eat some more and have a Chinese auction.  I’m not real sure why it’s called a Chinese auction, that’s just what it’s been dubbed.  Anyways, how it works is everybody brings an item (it can be anything, but not crappy stuff), then you buy as many tickets as you would like ($1.00=4 tickets),  write your name on your tickets and then place your tickets in cups labled for the items you would like to have.   After we all have  enjoyed some GOOD food the auction begins.  Usually my Uncle David and Aunt Linda do the auction, but this year I took over for Uncle David.  We take each item brought individually, dump all the tickets for that item in a bag and then have a smaller cousin draw a ticket.  Whoever’s name is on the ticket drawn gets the item.  Do you see how this works?  Luck of the draw.  At the very end all the tickets for all the items are put into one big bag and we draw names for cash prizes, from the money that was used to buy tickets.  It is SO much fun.  So after my cousin Mike passed away a few years ago, he was an artist and always brought a painting for the auction, I decided I would take over for him and always bring a painting.  This year I painted two cactus’, similar to an old painting of Mike’s that adorns our bathroom.  It was a pretty hot item, along with a dog basket my cousin Rhonda brought.   When the ticket was drawn by my little cousin Matthew, Rebecca (one of my closest cousins) had won the cactus’.   It was a great time had  by all and I look forward to next year.   Below is the cactus painting and the big winner, Rebecca with Harper.