The Finished Product

I was able to finish my weekly craft last night but I also had to help my best friend move a few boxes to her new apartment so I am just finally getting the pics up this morning. 

These where the materials I started with: teal thread, 1 small piece of scrap material, 1 large piece of material, a sewing needle, some scissors, a recycled card board tube and some batting.

Here is the finished product:

I also have pics of the first one I made a while back:

.....And here is the both of them together:

This was a really fun project this week and I can't wait to decide what to do next!

A Crafters Promise

Ok, so one of the things I love to do is craft. Some people may wonder what type of crafts I enjoy, I would have to say ALL OF THEM! Currently I sew (simple purses, Halloween costumes, crazy quilt items,etc.), make recycled (acid free) paper, create hemp accessories (Necklaces, belts and bracelets), assemble cute magnets from glass flower weights and magazine clippings, scrapbook, paint, draw and decoupage. I am also working on finding some wax melting pots, like the ones we used in high school, so I can get into batiking. Alas in the craziness of everyday life, working full time and having 2 children, my crafts often find themselves on the back burner waiting for the day that I am not totally exhausted to come so they can get done. Well no more! I have officially decided (as of yesterday) that if I continue waiting till I am not tired to make them they will never get done. Lets be serious what mother of 2 small young children has spare time laying around? NONE!, and if you can manage a small tidbit of free time your almost always tired. So now I am officially making time for my crafts and plan to post pictures here. Ideally I would like to make 1 craft a week and place it in my "collection box". When my collection box is full I plan to make an Etsy account and sell all of my cool items. This will hopefully help me stay motivated and keep on track. I started a craft last night to kick off my "weekly project" and hope to have it finished in a day or two for you to see. My latest project is making sewing holder /pin cushion combo cup out of fabric (mostly scraps and remnants), a heavy duty cardboard tube (recycled from my workplace), some batting, left over sewing accessories (such as buttons), and some thread. They really are cutie and not only do they come in handy for scissors, seam rippers and pencils but also pins, needles,any anything else pointy that may need a cushion :). A few of my friends raved about them so hopefully everyone else will like them too!

The Bathtime Helper That Saved Our Sanity!

Everyone knows how sensitive kids can be, especially when it comes to rinsing out soapy hair in the bath tub. Our bath times use to be a battle when it came time to wash hair. Everything we tried was not good enough and ultimately led to tears. Then one day when I was in the store I came across something called a Kids Shampoo Rinse Cup. I immediately ran to check it out, anything that might help me from loosing all my hair during bath time was well worth checking out to me!, and it was PERFECT! I paid about $8 for it 2 years ago and it has been worth every penny. It was a little tricky at first convincing my youngest to let me try it on her but after watching me test it out on big sis she was ready to give it a try. The soft rubber front is what really makes it great, it allows you to hug their forehead so there is no drips into their sensitive eyes. I don't know what I would do without this. We never have trouble in the bath anymore and since using this cup we have adapted a new bath time routine: First wash hair & body then they can play as long as they like. It has really worked wonders for us. THANK YOU RINSE CUP!

Whoever Made Up The Phrase Terrible 2's Must Have Been Confused!

I have been blessed with two very beautiful little girls. They are the light of my life and like many other kids they go through stages, some a bit tougher than others. As they have grown I heard the same old things from everyone. "The time goes so fast enjoy it while their young", "They'll be walking before you know it", "Just wait till she hits terrible 2's". Except that this last one has not been entirely true in our case. For our family the age of 2 was not to exciting, actually it was pretty regular (except for some small potty training mishaps). For us the terrible age seems to be 3! This is the age that they really seem to be testing the rules & finding their personality. Once our older daughter hit 3 our lives were filled with melt downs, tantrums, incessant whining, and stubbornness. Since then she has grown into a very fine, sweet & smart 6yr old that we are very proud of. However her little sister seems to now be struggling with the same "Terrible 3's" we previously encountered. It was so bad last weekend that after a bit of discipline for not holding on to her sisters hand while we were crossing the parking lot she informed me that "IF YOU WEREN'T MY MOM I WOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT MOM!". Ahh, the joys of parenthood....makes me wonder if anyone else has encountered these "Terrible 3's" instead of "Terrible 2's". All we can really do is continue to stand a firm ground and pray that this "stage" will be over soon.