What I threatened to send:
Merry Christmas
December 25, 2010 By 6 Comments
Pimp My Violin, part 2
December 17, 2010 By 3 Comments
***Don’t forget to enter the Say It On The Wall giveaway here.***
(Part 1 is here.)
Between Pier 1 events on Wednesday (more on that later), we put the finishing touches on Macy’s violin.
Her orchestra teacher is a DARLING lady who puts her heart and soul (and eardrums) into teaching elementary kids how to play. She’s got patience I can only dream of and is always happy and positive and encouraging. So, here’s what we did:
I think Bonnie liked it. She made Macy take off the shoulder rest and hold the violin up during the performance. And I heard she took a picture of it, too.
I used my Silhouette to cut the vinyl. The tree and star are a download and the heart comes with the machine. I love that it’s so easy to stretch/change a design to fit your space…even if that space is the bottom of a violin. 
Silhouette is offering 10% off all vinyl purchases using code “CRAP” through the end of the month.
Pretty sure this is not *quite* what they had in mind
December 16, 2010 By 39 Comments
***Don’t forget to enter the Say It On The Wall giveaway here.***
Macy had Activity Days yesterday (a twice a month church thing for girls aged 8-11). They were instructed to bring a picture of themselves to make an ornament.
Here’s what my kid brought home:
She couldn’t just stick with a nice frame?
Briefly, 3 things
December 14, 2010 By 4 Comments
#1: TOMORROW is the big Bloggers Night Out at Pier 1. Come see me and enter to win one of 4 $500 gift cards, will ya? You don’t have to be a blogger to come!
#2: Say It On The Wall has a new product of the week.
Use code “NICE40” for 40% off through next Monday. And don’t forget to enter their giveaway here.
#3: If you’re related to me and you’re not on Facebook (hint: that’s you, Mom), here are my kids’ piano recital numbers. The camera quit at the actual recital so we reenacted at home.
Keller
Macy
So You Want To Be A Slurpee…
October 29, 2010 By 77 Comments
***Enter The Pleated Poppy giveaway here. It closes tonight!***
You’d better take a sedative, because that’s the only way anyone should ever commit to replicating these costumes.
Here are a few of the specifics, if you’re interested:
The “cup” is cloth automotive headliner fabric (like for the interior roof of your car). I picked it up locally at Hancock Fabrics and then I started to paint.
And paint.
And paint.
It took over a gallon of white latex paint, just to get a basecoat.
And then I did a 2nd coat (took MUCH less).
I taped off each “cup” into sixths.
I found a Slurpee font and downloaded it. Then I used my Silhouette to cut the lettering out of freezer paper. (Tip: When cutting freezer paper with a Silhouette, use the green/cardstock mat, put the dull side down, and cut your design backwards.) The freezer paper only stuck marginally to the painted surface. I had to paint carefully, but it worked out OK.
The red lettering is acrylic craft paint. The blue is latex pain.
I hot glued a “casing” along the top edge. I used sprinkler funny pipe for the frame.
The straws are red pool noodles.
The beverage portion is tulle. There’s also a coordinating colored “collar” hot glued and Gorilla taped inside the rim of the cup. It has an elastic casing to slip over the head.
Happy Ho-ho-ho-lloween?
October 28, 2010 By 42 Comments
***Don’t forget to enter The Pleated Poppy giveaway here.***
Campbell doesn’t really like costumes.
Heck, he doesn’t even like clothes (basketball shorts excluded…it’s that Asperger’s/SPD thing).
Halloweens in the past have involved him screaming and freaking out because he HATES whatever he’s wearing. I think he could be dipped in battery acid and it’d cause less commotion.
So, when he actually came up with a costume idea that he was excited about, I ran with it. Even if the requested costume WAS Santa.
I traced a pair of pajamas for the pants and then cropped them and added fur.
I traced one of his older brother’s church shirts for the jacket, and then added fur.
The belt is a dollar store picture frame spray painted gold. Then I hot glued the end of the belt vinyl to the picture frame back and slid it into the frame and glued that in place, too. It closes with velcro.
And, for the very first time ever?
I have a kid who’s happy on Halloween!
If at first you don’t succeed,
October 27, 2010 By 42 Comments
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try, try, try, try again.
Those are all Buddy the Elf hat rejects. The first one was so bad that I threw the whole hot glue-y mess in the garbage.
It turns out that trying to get a hat band to conform to the shape of a very slanty elf hat is harder than I anticipated.
Ribbon (on the right) was cute, but I didn’t like the little creases and bubbles.
A c-shaped piece of fabric (on the left) laid down nicely, but it was boring.
I got desperate and started thinking about no band at all (center).
And then I thought of my old friend “bias tape”. And we had a winner!
To make the elf hat, I traced one of my big silver mixing bowls (about 13.5″ in diameter) and then cut the circle in half. Next, I added my banding. I did a combination of sewing/gluing. Once that banding was in place, I folded the hat in half and seamed the straight edge.
Then, I folded the bottom edge under about 1/4” and hot glued it in place. I didn’t want any stitching visible. Add a red feather and you’re done!
Q: What happens when you forget to lock Bennett’s closet at nap time?
October 21, 2010 By 21 Comments
Weekending
October 4, 2010 By 11 Comments
A belated birthday dinner.
A pair of these (not for me):
Some of this:
And some of this:
And some of these.
And also a set of these:
(Used this method plus some tiny little black vinyl pumpkin faces from my Silhouette and this for the top coat.)
And the rest of the Fall/Halloween decorations are up.
How was yours?
Flakey
September 8, 2010 By 21 Comments
I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t get my crap together as of late.
Do you ever feel like you’re just doing a haphazard (totally just used the thesaurus to find something that meant half @$$ed but was more family friendly) job of everything and a good job at nothing?
That’s me.
Campbell started preschool today.
If you’re his mom (and I realize none of you are), you can see the anxiety all over his face.
This time of year is hard for him. I wonder if he needs more sunlight or vitamins or sleep or something. Or, maybe that’s just how Asperger’s rolls.
Lucky for me, this guy takes a nap during preschool.
I’m thinking 2 hours of peace and quiet 3 times a week could be just what I need to undo my flakey funk.
I’ve got BIG plans to answer emails tomorrow.
Today?
I’m going to take a nap.
