Blog Button!

It is finally done!  I am so happy with it.  I used this tutorial for it.  She has the best that I have found.  My button works great now.  Hope you all take one and share it for me.

Garden

Here is Hawaii we are blessed to have so much sun to enjoy.  By far my favorite thing to do with my kids is to work out in my garden.  My loving husband follows my crazy ideas and helps me out with them.  My loving mother sacrifices her yard for my joy in getting dirty and loves to reap the benefits (like my eggplants).

 It started of with just pots on my old bamboo bed frame.  The frame was breaking down and I did not want my kids getting hurt from the bamboo and nails popping up.  But I could not throw it away cause it was still in good solid condition.  So it became my garden table.

 Then we reorganized the house and had extra boards that used to be a shelf with hollow tile.  Now it is a planter box that I made and painted with my kids and sits on top of the tile.

But I could not stop there and expanded more.

 Here is a more updated photo.  I have added two tomato plants and two bell pepper plants.

 Dirt is so expensive here and only goes so far.  So I have started a compost in a bin.  I have been wanting to do this for awhile and finally learned of this bin idea.  I love it. 

Here are some helpful sites: http://www.compostbinplans.com/worm-bin-plans/

http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/displaypub.aspx?p=g6957

http://homemadecompostbin.com/

And here is my daughters garden.  If you look closely you can spy a wooden block with two pots with her dirt and a little weed for a plant.  She was walking around with it and I asked her what she was doing.  She said she was making her garden and later I found this.  Isn't she cute!

Princess Towel

Another 1st Birthday party  coming up and the theme is Princess!  I made this towel for my mother to give as a gift and had fun with it.  She chose to do Ariel and we found this towel at Ross.  I always make the hood first and then add on the accents at the edges. 

 I tried to sew it to compliment the theme.  If you look closely you can see it is not sewn in a straight line.  It is wide around Ariela and gets thinner after and continues wide around Ariel again.  So much fun making this towel.  We found the softest towel and it is perfect.

Old toy made new

I got this toy tool box for a dollar at the Salvation army.  It was unpainted with pen marks and falling apart.  So I fell in love with it.  I took it home and broke it apart.  My daughter (3yrs) helped me paint it.  I used a spray seal and better nails and put it back together.

And now they have this beautiful tool box to play with.

Marshmallows in winter!

I was asked to teach a song at a primary activity and the theme was pioneers.  So we sang The Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked.   As a reward I made these Marshmallow treats.  We couldn't make a fire so this was the closest to a roasted marshmallow I could do.

So after they learned the song they had to sing it around my homemade fire that I hid under a table at the other end of the room.  We turned the lights off and I had my husbands headlamp, with a red light, and a Halloween blinking light in it, so that it looked like a flickering flame.

And it worked out so great!  They sang and after they each got to have their treat.

If you want to try this out I found several sites.  Like Chica and Jo http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/06/19/chocolate-covered-marshmallow-treats/. I took their instructions and found some quick melting chocolate in the walmart cake section instead of the Wilton chocolate and I used small skewers.  I used cups with covers and put it upside down to use as a cover for distribution.  You could also use bags.  The cups for me were cheaper and easier to use. I live in hot Hawaii and the chocolate melts too fast to neatly put in a bag.

Have Fun!

First year party decor

For my sons first year birthday party I had so much fun planning the decor!  I used my cricut to make the favors to the right of the photo and to make the train that went around the card box.  The sign in book was good old fashion computer work and a binding machine I bought for my mother a few years back.

I decorated Infamil cans and decorated them with trains (can you tell the theme was trains?) and stuffed it with lollipops on straws (for height) and toothpicks with tissue for color.  The party was at a beach and very windy, so I added windmills in the center (not too girly, but just cute enough) and it was a hit.

I had so many compliments and my mother in law put me in-charge of my brother in laws wedding decorations (but I first had to meet the wife and talk with her of course).

Of course I had to have a banner and a 12 month picture frame.  So I love my cricut, can you tell?  I made the banner with the cricut and placed it over the dessert table with the frame under.

Babies Bibs and Towel

I love when baby showers come around and first birthdays.  I like to make bibs and most of all hooded towels.

I also added a matching headband.  Here is one I made for a friend.  I like to make my hoods have a border around the inside.  But this pattern for the hood is easier and I got it from Break it Down Designs.