Pumpkin Love

female bud

male bud

Did you know that there are male and female pumpkin flowers?

The male flowers are on long narrow stems that shoot up high and the female buds have little possible pumpkins right under the bud.





I've had flowers on my pumpkin vines for a while but no baby pumpkins. I decided to do a little research and found out there were two types of buds. Of course I ran right out to see if I had any female flowers since they are the ones that produce pumpkins if pollinated by a male flower. As luck would have it I had one female flower that was blooming. I guess they only bloom for one day. After reading a little more I decided to help my little female along and hand pollinated her. I hope this baby keeps growing.




I'm really excited about my pumpkins. Every time I go out I search for more females. I'm happy to report that I have found several more female buds! Now I'm waiting for them to mature and hopefully get pollinated. Cucumbers also have male and female flowers in case you were wondering.

Cutting it Close

Glad I didn't make anymore mistakes in my latest sewing project!

Super Dad!

Funds were a little tight this year as I entered the month of June. Unfortunately my husband's birthday, our anniversary, and Father's Day all fall within two weeks of each other. To help save our budget, I wanted to make my husband something for Father's Day this year. Sadly I don't often make him gifts. I find it much harder to craft for the males in my life. Experiencing the same problem for my son, I came up with the idea of making him a super hero shirt for Christmas. Since my son loved his so much, I thought why not do one for my husband too. I picked up a blue t-shirt at Target thinking I would do Captain America but changed my mind to Super Man once I got home. Lucas had seen a blue on blue Super Man shirt he really liked on The Big Bang Theory that I was not able to find online to purchase. With some freezer paper to trace with, a little Wonder Under, and some old tees I had a super present. I liked it so much I went back and got a deeper blue for a more tradition Super Man for my own super dad.

husband's shirt

My dad's shirt

<--Husband's Shirt

      Dad's Shirt-->

Upcycle Halloween Costume

Part 1 done! I decided to make a fishing vest and bucket hat for Joel this year. When I went to look through my stash, I found an old pair of shorts with this great pocket.




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Play Time

This morning I decided to try making some play dough. (Okay Joel was happily playing with the Play-Doh that he got in his Easter basket, and I thought he might like a few more colors.) I found this recipe online that used cornstarch and baking soda. I had everything on hand so I thought why not. Not sure why I had a 1 lb box of baking soda, but I did. It was a little tacky so as I was adding the color I used a little extra cornstarch. This also helped it not stick to my hands as I kneaded in the food coloring. We will see if Joel likes it as well as the Play-Doh. I think I may actually prefer the store bought stuff.

I'm Fast!

Not to long ago Joel decided that he was fast. Anytime there is an area that he deems wide and long enough to run he will ask to go fast. As soon as he started doing this my mind went to The Flash. I knew that I wanted to make him a shirt with the flash logo on it. At first I thought that I would use freezer paper and paint it on but then changed my mind and decided to applique it instead. I really wanted to get the two colors and didn't want to take the time to make two stencils or wait on the paint dry.

 

I started with a red shirt from Walmart. Next I pulled up some images of The Flash's shirt on the internet. I had the basic image in my head, but wanted to get the details right. It also made the lightning bolt easier to recreate. Using PowerPoint I made the basic shape using straight lines. This helped me play around with sizing without having to redraw it over and over. Luckily I had a yellow t-shirt in my stash that was the right color. I then traced the images on to the paper side of Pellon Wonder-Under transfer web paper. After that I cut out the image and ironed it onto the backside of the t-shirts for the circle and lightning bolt. I knew that I wanted the edges to curl up a little so I cut out the pieces about a quarter of an inch outside of the transfer paper. (I still haven't mastered the satin stitch on the edges of an applique, and I wanted this to be a quick project.) Then I ironed down the circle and stitched around the outside about a quarter of an inch inside. Finally I did the same with the lightning bolt. We call this Joel's fast shirt. If you ever catch him wearing it, he might just tell you the same. Sorry all the action shots were to blurry to post. ;)

Easy Red Sauce

We have been trying to eat at home more often lately which in turn has given me a little boost to try new things in the kitchen. Lately we have been making a lot of home made pizza.




To keep the cost down I decided to look into making red sauce. After looking at many differed recipes online and examining my cupboards, I thought I'd give it a try. It is pretty simple and can be easily converted to spaghetti sauce too.

Pizza Sauce
1 can tomato sauce (plain or whatever kind you like)
2-4 cloves of garlic (or more if you love garlic)
1T olive oil (I use extra virgin)

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan on stove. I use a garlic press for the garlic, but you could chop or used minced if you want. I don't really measure the EVVO, just a quick trip around the pot. I let it simmer for a 5-10 depending on how much time I have. You could go longer if you wanted to I'm sure. Now it's ready. I've kept it in the fridge for a week or so.





Pasta Sauce
4 small or 1 large can of sauce
5-8 cloves of garlic (alter to your garlic preference)
2-3 T olive oil

Additional Ingredients
1-2 t Italian Seasoning
1 t parsley flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
3 T Fresh Parmesan (I graded in some fresh Parmesan last time I did this, but I don't do this all the time. I did like the result though.)

I don't really know exactly how much I used of everything. I just guess and adjust as needed. I've also used some of the flavored tomato sauces instead of the plain. That was good too.


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A little something

Most of my sewing will have to wait until after Christmas to share, but here is a little something I've been up to.


I used the tutorial on Sew Mama Sew for the pocket tissue packs. A few of these are going to become gifts for various people, but the penguin one is for me. I don't usually sew for myself this time of year, but these went together pretty fast. The great thing about these is I used fabric from my scrap pile!

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My Little Harry

I love the way the snitch appears to be flying in this picture.

Did you guess right? I knew as soon as I saw Joel's scar that he had to be Harry Potter this year. I figured I had one more year to pick his costume so why not. I love the way the snitch turned out. I used golden felt and added wings to a basic ball. To get the detail that I wanted, I drew the basic shape and used this technique in a contrasting color to make it stand out.

I knew he wouldn't keep the glasses on so I just used some black felt and elastic to make them. They really look more like a mask then glasses, but that's okay. They were still cute for the 30 seconds he would leave them on. Since I had the snitch I wanted to make the Quidditch robes.

For the robe I bought a men's small tee in the right color and modified it by taking it in the shoulders and shortening the sleeves and bottom. I added the felt in the front to mimic the way the the robes tied in the movies. Overall I liked the illusion that the costume gave. He already had the broom so no extra cost there. His papa helped him find a wand in the back yard, and his costume was complete.

My little seeker catching his snitch

Flying with Mema

Sneak Peak

Can you guess Joel's costume this year based on these clues?










This injury is now a cute little scar.

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Sweet Dreams

I've been wanting to use some of Lucas's old t-shirts to make something for Joel for a while now and finally got around to it. I decided to try pjs since they are pretty basic in their construction. I traced a pair he had for the pants. They are a little tighter than I thought they would be, but they will work for pjs. I did have to redo the neck of the top. The first one was too tight in the neck. Hopefully try two fits. To make the pattern I cut apart an old top for the basic shape and went from there. I loosely followed the steps of the 90 minute shirt on Made.


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Worm Love

This little gal get to go to her new home this weekend. I wish I could be there is person to give her to my niece even if it is a very belated birthday gift. Next year I plan to be more on top of things.

There is a patten out there somewhere for this snake/worm, but I can't remember who makes it. Joel has one that I got at a craft fair last year, and I just make up my own pattern based on his. I basically made a tube and rounded the ends. I left an opening at one of the sections to stuff her, and then hand stitched it closed. Next I embroidered the eyes and a little mouth (not pictured). I added some extra detail to the back with the little heart. I felt it was fitting for the personality that was coming through with fabrics. Enjoy your new friend, Annie!

New Wardrobe

If only I could make myself a new wardrobe as easily as I did for my niece. Her birthday is coming up so I recycled some old clothing of mine and raided my fabric stash to make some new closes for her American Girl doll. I used Simplicity pattens 7083 and 4297 for my basics.

I wanted to tie the shirt and pants into the sweater I made so I added some green daisies to spruce them up a little. I think the hoodie is pretty cute. I made it out of an old sweater of mine that had a stain on the front. Kalena happens to love purple. I thought the polka dots were cute. I love that they also had the same shade of green. Don't you love it when things work out that way.

Frozen Lemon-Ginger Yogurt

The other day I was looking for a recipe that used some leftover buttermilk that I had. I was looking through the recipes at Epicurious and came across this one for Lemon-Ginger frozen yogurt. They also have a cool app for the Iphone/pod if you are interested. I'd always been interested in using fresh ginger and thought that it sounded delicious. After reading the reviews I decided to use Greek yogurt to give it the tang. (One of my favorite treats right now is the tart frozen yogurt.) I enjoyed the finished product. After the initial shock of the tart my son enjoyed it too.

My Weakness

I'm a sucker for pomegranate. If you put it on the label, there is a good chance I'll buy it at least once. My latest pomegranate impulse buy was this gum.




It not too bad. My normal gum choice is something with mint. However, if I'm ever craving berry, I would consider this again. I'm not sure it has a strong pomegranate taste, but good none the less.

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Grandma Camp!

I have the best parents in the world. Every summer my mother hosts a week long Grandma Camp for the grandkids. Yes, a whole week with just the kids. This year we decided to do it in shifts with an overlapping weekend for the grandkids (and kids.)

To celebrate I decided to make shirts for the grandkids. I wish I'd thought ahead and made one for Grandma too, but there is always next year. I originally was planning to use freezer paper to stencil the words and design. I jumped on the computer and played around with some ideas in PowerPoint until I created something I liked. First I came up with the saying. I kept playing around with the idea of Hanging Around with Grandma, but ended up settling on Monkeying Around at Grandma Camp. After choosing the idea of a monkey, I looked at different clipart. While looking at them, I decided to applique the face of the monkey in the middle of each shirt. I knew I would need some brown and tan knit. When Hobby Lobby didn't have any tan, I thought I would try Savers. I could always use the rest of the fabric for a future project. So I bought two t-shirt in the right colors to cut up. Thank goodness that Savers is color coordinated. Next I scoured Walmart to find the shirts. I wasn't able to find ones that I like for all the kids so I dyed white ones instead. While at Hobby Lobby I did pick up some dye just in case. I like how the color turned out slightly variegated. I didn't stir constantly so the dye soaked in differently across the fabric. (It is hard to tell in the picture, but trust me it's cute.)

The one and two year olds have matching plain t-shirts. For the almost five year old I bought a single shirt with a little more detailing. The top is a little gathered giving it a feminine feel. I was not getting the look I wanted with the freezer paper for the letters so I choose to embroider the words instead. This also allowed me to curve the letters around the face of the monkey. I think they were a big hit!

The kids all wore them to the animal park. It did rain on us while we were there, but who lets a little rain ruin their fun? I think the rain was Joel's favorite part.

Now I just have to figure out next year's shirt. Any good ideas?

I love free stuff! update

So a while ago I signed up to be a Buzz agent. Basically they send you products for you to try and then you just talk about them. Well I joined my first campaign and was really excited because it was a product that I'd been looking at already. The only reason that I hadn't bought it already was because I already had eye shadow at home, and I kept talking myself out of it. For once procrastination paid off.

Overall I like the eye shadow. It is fast to apply, and even the first time I liked the results. I was a little worried that it would be too bold for everyday wear, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was just fine. The only thing that I don't like is sometimes I get a build-up in my eyelid crease, but that is easy enough to fix.

Here is the best shot I have when wearing the eye shadow and gloss. I know it's not great, but it's what you get.

I love free stuff!

My first bzz agent campaign arrived today! More info to come later.




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If you like this top you should check out this awsome giveaway at Dear Lillie. She has a lot of really cute stuff in her Etsy store.

Blessing

A few months ago we attended an event at our church designed to help families make their homes the first place their kids are exposed to God. Every age has a different theme. Since we have a one year old, that's the one we went to. The topic was praying blessings over your children. One suggestion they had was framing one and putting it close to your child's bed. I liked the idea, but didn't want to use paper so I embroidered one of my favorites on a linen like fabric.

To start with I printed the verse off on the computer in a font I liked. Then I added the embelishments. Since the verse was about not being afraid, I went with the moon and stars. Next I traced it on to the fabric with carbon paper and a knitting needle. Since it was such a dark fabric I ended up going over the lines with a fabric marker. I think I maybe should have used a brighter contrast for the blue thread, but overall I like the way it came out.

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