Swing Set Makeover

We were the happy recipients of a well-loved (FREE) swing set. Yay! I just wanted to share with you my fun little makeover. See how happy Spunky and Sunshine are on the new swings? They don't really care about what it looks like (this picture was taken before the makeover).

It was a pretty old set, so there was quite a bit of rust. Rustoleum has a product out called "Stops Rust". I primed and sprayed it with "Sunset Red" (Spunky picked it out). Not bad for my first spray paint project!

I was going to paint the whole thing top to bottom, but I ran out of spray paint. Now I just have to find a new swing or two (the old one is VERY rusted). I do have the rings to hang, but Spunky is having so much fun pretending it's a lasso, I'm not sure I want to put them back up!

Cow-a-bunga!!!

Chik-fil-A just had "Cow Appreciation Day". Crazy folks like me dressed up like cows and got their meals for free. Spunky was sooooo excited to "appreciate cows" with me. We got our meals for free, too!

With a cute little tail (made from unwrapped twine).

Where are my ears, you ask? Well, we were very short on time, and my ears (though taped), kept falling off.

Fun with Dick and Jane

Like I said in my previous post, my sister is an amazing photographer. So for her birthday I got the crazy idea to make her some old-timey looking blocks for photo props. So with a little help from Mod Podge, Dick and Jane, and some 5x5 (ish) cardboard boxes, I made these cute little blocks. The biggest problem I had was figuring out how to do the project without getting toddler handprints on them (since I was working on the kitchen table).

Here's the "before" picture.

...and after...

So adorable! Wish I could get pics with my little ones and these. Maybe some day we will (we're several states away).

The E Bag

Here's my very late post about last Christmas. See, I was very pregnant (I had Sprout on January 7th), so I was in my crazy phase. Some women nest, I sew. Simple, right?
Well, anyway, I wanted to give a special handmade gift to my sister so I made her a monogrammed tote bag.
She came to cold and dreary Ohio (from her cozy home in Florida) to help me out when Sprout was born, and I was hoping to get this super special gift to her for a Christmas/thank you gift.

I did not take pictures of this bag before I gave it to her, but she is an awesome photographer, so when I asked her to send pictures she sent these. Sweet, huh? I love the monogram, it was all done by hand. Glad my name doesn't start with an E or I might have been tempted to keep it. (Kidding - only kidding! Sheesh, what kind of person do you think I am?!!!)

(I really love this photo)

Wrist Cuff

I won a giveaway over at Say it With Thread (sayitwiththread.blogspot.com):
a Moda Jelly Roll!!!
What's that, you say?
That, my uninformed readers, is a big 'ol roll of awesome fabric in coordinating colors and patterns in pre-cut strips that I can use for - well, whatever I want! (Thanks, Patty!!!)

With 3 kids under 5 I don't have time to craft (or blog) very much, but I like to do it so I made this quick and easy wrist cuff from ideas floating around on the web. I had made a small batch (ok so they're not finished yet...) of lunch money cuffs from A Lemon Squeezy Home (alemonsqueezyhome.blogspot.com) for my nieces and nephews, so I thought I'd make a quick cuff (no pocket for lunch money - I never have cash!).

Spunky likes it.

So does Sunshine. And Sprout was pretty interested, too. Or it may be that he has just figured out how to grab something that is near. But I think it at least was interesting enough to him to want to grab it - "hmmm, looks yummy! wonder how to get that off her arm and into my mouth?"

In the end I decided I like it - isn't that what it's all about? Making the recipient happy? Yep. Even if it IS yourself!

Target Practice

Boys are boys. No matter how hard we try to teach them to be gentle there is something in them that wants to conquer - to shoot, to make war, to blow things up, etc. My Spunky, now almost 5 years old, got a 4-pack of water guns. He loves them. So my artsy friend and I made these targets (mainly so he'd squirt THEM instead of his little sister)! We play with "make believe points" - or I'd be out some serious cash (see how the "points" are totally random? That'd be Spunky's idea).

Maybe instead of punching the holes through the cardboard (yes, these are recycled cereal boxes), I should put the holes through the lamination plastic only? (They're looking a little soggy).

Saved by Grace

Last week I said to my husband, "If you ever see me making clothing for myself, just tell me to go to bed!". Sewing for myself seems to always end in disaster. And I've realized a few things about myself:

1. I don't have a good eye for visualizing what will look good on me.
2. I stink at measurements and mathematics.
3. I've had 4 pregnancies in 5 years. ('nuf said?)
4. My best sewing (and my worst sewing) is late at night.

I know, this is a random post, but I think it's a good thing to be real. So for real - I screw up a lot. Makes me want to box up all of my sewing stuff and store it, preferably somewhere out of sight. Or out of state, even. But alas, that is not possible, and it just keeps staring at me, teasing me, begging me to start over. So I do - but this time I turn that terrible creation into something great - for someone smaller than myself.
I will spare you the details of this weeks disasters (yes, plural). And thankfully, there are no pictures of them, either. I just can't bear for you to see my lumpy, bumpy, frumpy frocks. But as a reminder to me of God's grace, I did end up being able to bring salvation to a couple items. I have a friend who is much smaller than I am, so she ended up with this skirt:

Cute, huh? Don't mind the terrible photo - this skirt is red, white and blue - just in time for 4th of July (Independence Day for us here in the USA).

And another cute save - a little dress for Sunshine and one to match for her friend! (I don't feel TOO bad about 2 full dresses being made out of ONE of my skirts, the girls are less than 2 and 6 years old!)