Messenger Bags

Making Christmas gifts is hard, because it is difficult to try and figure out what would be good for them. I found this fantastic tutorial online about making messenger bags. I decided that I would make Patrick, Megan and Jason each a messenger bag and fill it with"adventure items" I have completed the bags and they have turned out adorable, I am just waiting for the "adventure items" to come in the mail. I will be placing binoculars, magnifying glass, small flashlight, notebook with pencil and a clip compass. I am covering the notebook with fabric and putting a little pocket for the pencil on it.

I am so excited about this project. I am using fabric that I bought at the thrift store (so it was about $2) and I bought all of the other items through oriental trading company. I can't wait to see the look on my kids face when they open these bags. I am sure they are going to want to start checking out the yard right away.

Jason's bag

Patrick's bag

Megan's bag

I left the front flap blank, and I need to put in the fastener, but for the most part they are done. The bag goes together easily and quickly I finished 2 bags in an hour. Cutting them out was harder because I never know what kind of fabric I want to use (indecision always rears it's ugly head)

Once again....I have been hunting down patterns when I happened to come upon this site. This boasts to have over 100 purse patterns. I checked it out, thought it was cool and decided to share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Aprons - Aprons - Aprons

I found this website that has 52 free apron patterns. I am always looking for apron patterns, I think they make great Christmas gifts. I loved this website as it gave so many different options, that I just wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy.

I don’t know if this happens to most kids, but my parents were always paying us to leave the house. It always happened in the same way...My father would come up to me and say “Hey Jen, don’t you want to go see a movie today? Why don’t you take your brother’s. "

My response was always " Uh...I don't know, Dad."

"How about I give you $40 and you take your brother’s to the movies” he would say.

“Uh, sure Dad” I would reply

We’d call the movie theater find a movie that was starting soon and go from there. At the time I had a sinking suspension that my parents wanted to have “Mommy and Daddy alone time”, but wasn’t entirely sure. They were old…maybe they didn’t have those feelings anymore….lol.

The year was 1989 it was Thanksgiving Day. My Dad had come up to me with $40 and the line about all of the kids going to a movie. We decided on Back to the Future 2. I didn’t realize that it was opening week for the movie, so the theater was packed. In fact right after we bought our tickets, it sold out.

We bought popcorn, soda and candy, we were lucky enough to find seats in the center of the theater, center of the row. I remember sitting right in the middle of my brothers. Josh, John, Me, Jason and Nathan. That is how we were sitting. Time was really dragging…it seemed like we had been sitting there forever listening to people chatter, popcorn crunching, the rustling of candy wrappers.

Jason stood up and I immediately moved me legs up so he could walk by, but he just stood there. I waved my arm at him as if to say “hey…go ahead and pass”. He grabbed my hand and started singing “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”. I was mortified. The entire theater went still and quiet. My jaw dropped and I started to slide to the floor. Jason however, was very strong and he kept hauling me up so that I wouldn’t hit the floor. He sang the first verse with the chorus. When he finished the theater exploded in cheers and claps. My face must have been purple…it had gone beyond red. The house lights started to dim, the crowd came under control and the previews started. I watched the movie kind of slouched down in my seat. After the movie we were milling out of the theater and people would come by and smack Jason on the back – congratulating him on his singing..

I was embarrassed – mortified – worried about what people would think. I think back on it…and it just makes me smile.

Patrick and Megan decided that they needed hair cuts. We told Patrick that this would be his last buzz cut of the year. For fun, I decided to give him a mohawk. He liked it so much that we allowed him to keep it for the last few weeks. You would not believe how many people come up and touch his head.

Megan having seen Patrick's hair cut decided that she needed a hair cut as well. So now she has a cute bob.



For Halloween this year, Megan is going to be Rogue from the X-Men. She saw the first X-men movie and proclaimed that she needed a Cloak with a hood if she was going to be Rogue. I finished it yesterday and she has been wearing it everywhere since.




She is so funny....we went to the Grocery store this morning and when she didn't want to talk to someone she just hid her head in the hood.

Life at our house right now.

This is the side of our house. What happened you say? Well the county has decided to put water and sewer lines down our little peninsula. Which is great because then I don't have to worry about my well working or my septic over flowing. WHEW!! But between my property and the property next door (which is just a forest and pond) there is an old county road. They are using that road to lay pipe to get to my house and some neighbors behind me. So needless to say it has been very loud outside my bedroom window for the last few days.

Here is the back yard and what they have done there. There is a boulder sitting on the grass by the pipes. That is a small one that was pulled out of the ground next to the house. The largest one was 5 feet long by 5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall. HUGE!! It was awesome watching them pull it out of the ground.

Here they are tearing up the street to lay the pipe in front of my house. They have us coming and going right now. My dogs have gone horse from barking at the workers. It is hilarious they can barely bark, so now they just lay next to the house and watch the CAT work. The one nice thing about them tearing everything up is they will level the ground and reseed the side and back yard. YEAH!!

Megan is my little artist. She is constantly coloring, painting, cutting out to make things. This is a picture of her "Coraline". She dug out some card stock paper and created a Coraline using tape, buttons, elastic and paper. It is adorable. She is so proud of it that she carries it with her when we go out.

Another view of Coraline - if you look closely you can see some tiny yellow square cut outs on the "jacket" those are buttons.

I know I told you all about "Element" the kitty, but she came to a tragic end. She escaped the garage and walked into the yard with the dogs. I found her laying next to Bessie. I figure she ran herself to death. It was horrible. Megan was devastated. We immediately got another cat, but this one was a street wise cat. His name is Logan and he lives in the back yard. He is the best cat I have ever had. He is loving and sweet, but he likes his space and wants to run around the back yard.

Here they are - Belle (white) and Bessie (dark) our dogs. They have been wreaking havoc on the construction workers because not only are they annoyed that they are there, the girls are in heat and the boy dogs won't come by because of the construction. Poor Girls.

I guess that is it for now. I am sure there has been a lot more happening, but I can't remember what it is just yet. Started Home Schooling again with the kids yesterday. Two days in and going strong. WHOO HOO!

Congratulations to Holly on the birth of her beautiful baby boy.

My everyday fairy wings

I made a set of these for Megan about 2 1/2 years ago. I agonized over it because she is such a tom boy that I was afraid if I bought her those gorgeous nylon wings, we wouldn't have them around for Halloween. It took me about a week to figure out what I wanted to do, and I made them. I really haven't thought anything about them until a woman stopped me and told me how she loved the wings, where did I get them.

I of course told her I made them, and then I told her the best part...they can be washed and dried!! I am selling these in both my Etsy and ArtFire store. Well, at least I am selling a PDF pattern with instructions on how to make them.

Megan has been wearing wings everywhere since I made 2 sets for my PDF pattern.

This set was made with a cotton poly blend and it took me about an hour. I love the way they stand up. TOO CUTE!!