Fashion Design

The kids did some fashion design with old fabric scraps the other day. It was fun to see how creative they were. Each child definitely has their own style and idea's! Mr. {D} was all about incorporating skulls into his clothing. Miss {M} wanted her to be pretty and frilly. It makes me smile, how she always draws her girls with bog, rosy pink cheeks.

Something quick, easy and fun to try with the kids when they are bored. For smaller kids you can even draw the people yourself and have little ones glue strips of fabric to the paper.

Eggs!

We spend the weekend fighting through a cold--that everyone here managed to pick up! It was LONG week last week, so Saturday we needed something fun to lift our sick spirits.

Easter Egg coloring seemed to be the perfect choice! This was the first year that we dyed both brown and white eggs. Typically all we have in the house are brown eggs. I have to go to another grocery store to pick up white eggs. After seeing a post on Ohdeedoh about brown eggs, I thought we'd give it a shot. They turned out great!

Little {L} liked breaking and eating the eggs more than coloring them. He went through quite a few that were thrown from the table with a menacing giggle.

Happy Birthday

Today is my Birthday!! I decided to use a little bit of "free" time [aka-nap time] t finally sew this makeup bag. I've had the pieces cut for this since Thanksgiving. If today isn't a good day to make something for myself, I don't know when is. I love the blue circles of this print. They pair nicely with the blue lining fabric. The pattern is from the Heather Ross book, Weekend Sewing.

This year will be my very last year in my 20's-man am I feeling old today. I remember when I thought I'd never be 30, and it's looming in the near future now! To counteract this feeling, I've been thinking of all the amazing things that will happen in my 29th year. I will give birth for the fourth time. My family will grow, which is always amazing! I plan to try and find a tiny bit of "me" time and get back into painting. I will get to watch my children grow and learn through everyday experiences and homeschool. So many unknown and great things can happen in the next year. I want to enjoy each and every one!

Spring!

We are so excited about the arrival of Spring!! The kids helped me make this fun spring wreath out of scraps today. It's quick, easy and fun to do with little helpers. They can be customized to any season or event by changing colors and adding little trinkets. Mr. {D} is already planning his approach to the Summer wreath.

I really like how the colors turned out! It's cheerful and bright, which will help us get through the rest of the rainy, yucky weather that is still waiting to come.

On a side note, we're 30 weeks into the pregnancy!! Yay! Crazy that it's passed so fast. Even crazier is the thought that in a few short weeks, we'll be a family of 6!!!!I hope the rest of my pregnancy passes as smoothly as the past weeks. My last two babies came at 38 weeks, so we are in preparation mode, making sure everything is set up and ready for the arrival. I'm getting so impatient to know if we will be adding a boy or girl to the family--we'll know pretty soon!

Baby Unicorn

Some sewing for baby! When I was pregnant with Little {L}, the two older kids decided he or she needed a name. No baby could be without a name!! They decided to call him Eggy. Yes, weeks after he was born and named the kids still called him Eggy. They did finally start calling him by his actual name. That was quickly followed with their cousin Poppy's birth. She is a 1.5 years old now, and they still call her Poppy instead of her real name.

So, this new growing baby needed a name too! Within hours of telling them I was was pregnant with #4, the kids were calling him, or her, Baby Unicorn. When I said I was pregnant, Mr. {D} asked me how I knew it was going to be a baby? Cause really, if you can't "see" it, how could I be so sure a baby was growing in my belly, not something else, like a .....unicorn. This got such great laughs from his sister that this baby was named in that moment! I'm hoping for it's sake that it's a girl with that nickname. If we have another little boy, I'm not sure how much he'll like that--or this dress!

I've been in love with the Heather Ross, far far away fabric line as soon as I saw it! I have some of the princess and the pea fabric for a year now, but I've been too scared to cut it! My sister got me some of the unicorn, snails, and frogs fabric for my birthday! Thanks baby sister! I had to take advantage of this babies nickname and make a "if you come out a girl, dress". I love it. Right now it is hanging over the crib, and I smile every time I look at it! Mr. {D} actually asked me if the baby comes out a boy, will you make him wear that dress anyways, Mama?" Hilarious!

Some embroidered artwork for the wall. I love this fun mermaid pattern from Badbird!

Spring

With the upcoming arrival of Spring, I've been dreaming of lush grass, warm sunshine and color! The past week has been spent in a frenzy of house cleaning and sewing. I usually make most of Miss {M}'s clothes for the warmer months, and a few things for the boys. With the baby due to arrive in 2 short months[!] I needed to get started!

I made this fun reversible jumper from a Sandy Henderson pattern. I love how easy & quick this design is! The shirt I made from this pattern last year was well worn!! There is just something so fun to kids about "reversible" clothes too! My favorite part is the fun button details down the back!

Reverses to the pink stripes print-so pretty!

Every new season needs a new handbag. This one turned out so cute, I considered keeping it for myself. This fun print is a Japanese import that I've been holding onto! I used the Made by Rae bag pattern. It was easy to follow and quick too! I see some family birthday gifts in the making.

This weekend, I have more sewing on the adgenda, and kids club tomorrow at Whole Foods-the kids are super excited! What's your weekend look like?

The Eco-nomical Baby Guide

Book review time! I jumped at the chance to write a review of the new book by Joy Hatch and Rebecca Kelley, The eco-nomical baby guide! With the arrival of baby #4 coming in a few short months, we are thinking -all baby- at our house right now. Our family tries to live as eco-friendly as we can, so this book was right up my alley.

The authors write a blog, the greenbabyguide, where they discuss lots of eco-friendly tips, products and idea's. As my family has grown, we have incorporated more and more earth friendly ways, but at the same time, our income has been stretched a little more each time. What I love about this book is the premise that you can be good to our planet, AND afford it! There are so many eco-friendly, really awesome products I come across that are sadly, just way, WAY out of our price range.

This would be a perfect baby shower gift for first time parents! I wish I had this back when our family started growing. Much of the idea's in the book, we have already incorporated into our lives, but through trial and error and many years. It would have been so much easier to have a great reference guide like this! We are definitely a pro-breastfeeding, repurposing, green cleaning product, and organic eating family! The book really shows the pro's of these without being too preachy [as some books get]. Any family with young children, wanting to green up their choices would find this book helpful!

While we are are no longer first time parents, there was still plenty for me to learn too. There is a HUGE section on cloth diapering. Cloth diapering is the one thing that I always wanted to do, but just didn't know enough about it. I have no one to ask, and most resources list such dated material. This was fantastic for me. The different types of cloth diapers, uses, pro's/con's, and cost were shown in an easy to understand manner. I really likes the charts used in this section. Easy to see the choices compared to each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It has a nice, easy flow, that can put down and picked up [as anyone with little kids at home HAS to do!] without forgetting what your reading about. Each chapter focus on another subject which I really liked.