Withdrawals

The “gunga” (binky) fairy came two nights ago, and left Oliver some really cool Star Wars sheets for his bed. I’ve been putting it off for so long, but it was time for Oliver to hang them up.

He’s been doing pretty well at night time, its the napping that he’s having trouble with.

Today was the first time he asked for his “gunga.” When I said they were gone, he started to cry for daddy. (Ricardo was always quick to the draw to shove that thing in his mouth.)

He still loves his blanket and has attached himself to a bear. I’ll take it. The bear won’t cost us thousands of dollars in dental work!

Now if I could think of some sort of “fairy” to get Piper Ann to stop sucking her thumb!

Ruffled Pillow

Have you seen this adorable pillow floating around the internet?

I love it especially in orange.

I made my own to match my bedroom…

I love the way it turned out except for the slightly different colored white felt I had. It looks ok from far away.

 

Another One

Here’s another bag I made from Ricardo’s pants…

Its in my shop.

Score!

Ricardo cleaned out his closet last week and had 4 bags of unwanted clothes to donate.

I dug through those bags with a few items in mind…wool sweaters and dress pants.

Unfortunately I didn’t find any 100% wool sweaters to turn into felt, but I did find some awesome pants he no longer wanted.

Purses/handbags are what I had in mind for the pants.

Here is one of the purses I came up with…

I was able to keep the back pocket intact for the inside of the purse.

Extra pockets for cell phone or whatever.

This purse is for sale in my etsy store. Don’t forget 20% goes to charity!

Wheels for Henry

I just wanted to let you all know that 20% of all my sales at Livvie Lee between now and December 1st, will go towards Wheels for Henry.

Spaceship

Yesterday I was working in my newly organized sewing room (I had no before pictures, so I thought after pictures would be pointless) when Nathan came down and asked me for a cardboard box. I had just gotten a steal on some boots from DSW, so I gave him the box. He colored it and told me where to cut the holes.

We made a helmet from a beer box, because every spaceship driver needs a helmet.

He is going to kill me when I bust out these pics when he’s 16, but they’re hilarious.

He played in the front yard for hours wearing this get up. That kid has one heck of an imagination!

He says he’s going to wear this on Halloween along with the Boba Fett costume his grandpa already bought for him. We’ll see!

This leads me to my first poll…

Mellowing

My friend Nicole just did a post on this today, so I thought I’d add to it…

Before I had kids I swore they would never wear clothes with characters on them.

I also swore they would never own shoes that light up. We’ve actually only crossed paths with one pair, but we now have shirts that light up.

Homemade Halloween costumes were also a musthave. I swore I would never buy the crappy, but expensive, kind from party stores. They have come a long way since I was a kid, though.

Of course all that has gone by the wayside. The more characters the better. Now my kids study the Halloween magazines that we get in the paper or the mail to decide what they’ll be this year. Luckily grandpa funded them!

Today I finally gave in to my last “I swear I would never…,”

I bought a blow up Halloween decoration for the yard.

Ricardo is going to take the kids for a night to the in-laws. When they get home, I’ll be surprising them with a blow up haunted house and gravestones in the garden! I’ll try and post pictures.

I still have one thing I will never give in to…the orange leafbags with jack-o-lantern faces on them. I especially hate them when they’re still out at Christmastime, because the yardwaste collection has either stopped or they won’t take leaves in plastic bags!

Fill In the Blanks

Nathan was asked to fill in the blanks for a worksheet at school.

His handwriting is atrocious, but it says I’m as “wild” as a “Liger.” Hopefully his teacher is up on her pop culture! Hilarious!

New Garden

I just redid a garden bed on the side of my house. Luckily the local nurseries have been having some great sales!

Unfortunately I don’t have a before pictures.  Basically the bed consisted of bushes like these…

That then got this disease…

And ended up looking like this…

There was also a nasty tree stump and root I had to dig up.

After I was done cutting down the dead bushes and digging up the stump, I tilled the dirt and ended up with a clean slate.

{Yes, the siding is in desperate need of a powerwashing. Ricardo, get on it }

The cable company did an excellent job of buring the cable! I had to be really careful not to sever the cable!

Here are the plants lined up and ready to be planted. The large plant in the middle is a hydrangea I got for $12.  The yellow plant in front is Coreopsis.  The other obvious plants are Salvia. At first I thought they were a bargain at $.50 each, but it turns out they are an annual. Maybe I’m crazy, but I thought Salvia was a perennial.

In each of the  corners that you can’t see, I planted a light purple coneflower,  $2 each!

In front of the chimney I wanted something with height. I found this Joe Pye Weed that I know nothing about. They were $2.50 each and I liked the purple flowers, more Coreopsis in front.

Here they are all planted with a little mulch to keep them hydrated.

Yep, the orange cable is still sticking up! I’ll get to it one of these days.

Unfortunately my whole deck is lined with the disease ridden bushes. There are also some on both sides of the house and one in the front. All which have the disease. I have a lot of work ahead of me!

Polly’s Pocket Purse-Tutorial

Here’s what you’ll need to get started…

2- 7″ zippers

1- 6×8″ piece

2- 5 1/4×8″ pieces

2- 1 1/2×8″ pieces

3- 12 1/4×8″ pieces 2 out of fabric and one out of interfacing.

2- 3×25″ pieces

1-2×3″ piece

Button

1. Fold the 6 x 8 piece in half and press.

2. Lay it on one of the 5 1/4 x 8 pieces, so the bottoms match up.

3.Pin 1 3/4 inches from each side and 1 1/2 inches in from those pins. Sew a line all the way down to create the pockets.

4. Pin the zipper face down to the top of the piece.

5. Stitch with zipper foot.

6. Pin 1 1/2 x 8″ piece to other side of zipper and sew.

7. Press open.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 on other 5 1/4 x 8 piece. You should have these two pieces now.

9. Sew the sides of these two pieces, opposite of the zipper, together. Press seam open.

10. Lay the back of the pieces you have sewn together to the front of one of the 12 1/4 x 8″ pieces. This 12 1/4″ x8″ piece will be the lining for the zippered pockets.

11. Sew along the seam.

12. I did a reverse applique on the 12 1/4 x8 piece to be used for the front. This is where you’ll google your favorite reverse applique tutorial!

13. Voila.

14. Fold the 25 x 3″ pieces for the handles in half. Press.

15. Fold edges to center and press.

16. Sew along open end. Repeat with other handle piece.

17. Take your 2 x3″ piece fold in half with right sides together and sew along two of the open ends. Turn right side out.

18. Make a buttonhole to fit your button.

19. Sew button in the center towards the top of the outside piece. Line this piece up with the interfacing.

20. Pin handles and buttonhole pieces like the picture.

21. Match up the piece with the zippered pockets and the outside piece with right sides together. Pin.

22. Sew around the edges, but leave a 2 to 3 inch opening to turn right side out. Clip corners before you turn and handsew opening closed.

Here you have it!