I may truly never buy bread again.

I made this. Yup. All by myself. New sewing or mod podge required. You can too with the directions here. I have a feeling my midsection is going to hate me for this, but my tastebuds sure love me. And I'm looking forward to many future variations (roasted garlic, olive oil & rosemary, etc.). So easy...even a non-bread maker can do it. In fact, it was my friend Lisa, who is a self-proclaimed non-bread maker, who turned me on to this. Thanks Lisa!

My Little Flower Girl

Isn't she adorable? She even performed well...sort of. She took her assignment of dropping petals VERY seriously. She dropped maybe 2 petals as she walked down the aisle and at the end she stood there dropping pile after pile of petals. And once her basket was empty, she was done. Michelle had a nice pile of petals to stand on during the ceremony!

And this isn't my favorite picture of the bunch, but I'll save my favorite for my Christmas Card (probably at least...we had family pictures taken while we were in Utah, but my kids looked so adorable at the wedding, I'm not sure I can resist!). Hey, both of these are my main projects in the making, so they count, right?

After we finally get unpacked, groceries bought, house cleaned & kids back to normal, I MAY actually work on some new projects! Anyone have any great ideas?

Flower Girl Headband

This matches her basket & the pin on her dress. She is going to be adorable I tell you! Final product pictures will follow :)

Flower Girl Basket

A little basket, spray painted black and flowers hot glued on. Cute!

Asking for help

I don't like to ask for help very often...but sometimes I get desperate. And I'm sorry, but when the pattern for your daughter's flower girl dress is written in a foreign language (well, not all of it was foreign, just the parts I couldn't undertand), it's time to get desperate. So my friend Amie's sister Beth  came to my rescue (did you get that?  Yes, my genius sewing friend who moved to Colorado called her sister for me!). Thank you Beth (and Amie for making the call!). She taught how to make these adorable puffed sleeves:

And talked me through finishing the dress. Except the zipper--her response to the zipper was, "call my mom and she'll do it for you!"  And I'm sure she would too!  They are those types of people :).  Today, I am getting more help from another friend (thanks Looli!) and will be installing the zipper this morning (if all goes well!).   I, seriously, am so grateful for so many talented people in my life.

PS--I'll be trimming all those loose strands, don't worry.  But my goodness, taffeta frays like mad!

Doll Friends

More Black Apple Dolls. They've already arrived in LA--man, the USPS is fast!


These girls are always just so darned cute.

PS--If you follow her tutorial, do not hand stitch her together in the head!  They end up looking so wonky that way.  Leave the opening to flip her right side out on the side under her arm.  It's pretty discreet and it doesn't matter how straight it is.  Oh, and if you're a perfectionist, sew her head together with the same color thread as her hair.  Then switch to a neutral to do the body.  It looks SO much better that way!

Flower Clips

Yes, I am the best sister in the world. You're welcome Becky.

Kindergarten Book Bags

At our curriculum night, Kai's kindergarten teacher asked if anyone "crafty, or good at that type of stuff" would be willing to write the kids names on their book bags. Ryan nudged me...I think he was hoping that by volunteering, I would get "in" with the teacher. I, of course, was up to proving my craftiness. I decided to freezer paper the names on (against the advice of two friends!). I had to do the paint pretty thick to get it to show up on the black, so it did seep through a bit, and they are definitely not perfect. But, black sharpie works wonders, I tell you!



The question is, does it need anything else? A blue star underneath? Or should I just call it good & be glad that they are done. All 22 of them.

Oh, and as a word of advice on freezer paper stencils:

--You do not have to trace onto the freezer paper first. The paper is sheer enough that you can use your exacto directly over what you are tracing. It eliminates a step.
--Rulersare a great help for keeping straight edges straight.
--For some reason, the freezer paper left residue where I had ironed it on some of the bags. Just be forewarned that this could happen to you on dark surfaces (again, thanks black sharpie!)
--Use a Cricut to cut out your design! (finally wishing I had one)

By the time I do this again, I hope I have a silhouette instead. Then I could just heat transfer the letters. Hmmm...I need to win one of those give aways.