Bunny Bunting

I made these peep garlands ages ago and have been waiting till we are closer to Easter to post them. They are from this template.  I used twill ribbon for the yellow and an organza ribbon for the pink. I put the eyes and nose on with brown acrylic paint and a pencil eraser just like the tutorial called for.

I sent the pink one to a certain someone who loves pink and loves Easter decorations. 

Hi Mary:)
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I visited Joann's yestderday. I bought a ton of pearl cotton embroidery floss. I love that stuff! I had only about 5 skeins from a year or two ago and needed more. I really like the way it looks. I also bought pom pom makers from Clover. Last night I made 4. The instructions on the package were awful. Really bad and vague. By the 4th one I figured out how to make them fuller and to tie the middle string tighter, etc. They are so cute! I want to do a garland for Bird (my niece). I'll post them someday.

Don't Forget....

Thanks for all the nice comments about Jon's mom:)  

No knew updates except they postponed her radiation treatment and didn't tell anyone why.

A post I had saved for while I'm gone:

The 2nd in the "Emily Speaks" series. She's brilliant isn't she?

Maybe this should be on the back of the front door for those days I start to walk out the door without a bra.

That's never happened by the way. But there are people with big mammies who do forget!!!

The girls at the store know who I'm talking about!

A couple of weekends ago we went to a birthday party. The weather was so beautiful and with the sun behind Ava she just lit up like an angel:). So the sun does shine here!

This is one of the days she had a blow out. She went under the slide and wouldn't come out. She had that distant, simple-minded look and I couldn't get her attention.

She was busy moving property:)

 When I looked it was coming out her back. I had to change her clothes it was that bad!

Daisies

No crafty stuff. Just a picture of Emily from her Investiture Ceremony for the Daisies. I said I would post a picture of her in her uniform. And bowling with her troop.

So surprise! We're in San Diego for a while.

It all happened fast and I didn't want to post until we were here and until Jon said I could because this concerns his mother.

Last Monday (the 14th) we turned in Emily's passport paperwork to have it renewed. Well that night, we got a call from his sister that Jon's mom was in the hospital with a brain tumor. Can you believe that???? Of course this happens when we have no passport for Emily!! So long story short (sort of) we were able to get a Red Cross Message requesting Jon to be at his mom's side. Jon's Command ok'd his emergency leave so that left us with getting Emily an emergency passport. That is a very long story about people who can't do their job because they suck! But we finally got an appointment in Frankfurt this past Monday. We drove up there, got the temporary passport and that night (Monday night) we got tickets to fly Tuesday morning! Talk about an OMG moment! I was running around my house like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get ready to leave our house at 4:30 the next morning to drive to Frankfurt airport.

The flight was rough (10.5 hours to Dallas then about 3.5 hours to San Diego). Ava was bad to us but good to everyone else! Meaning she was irritable and pissy and needy but didn't scream and try to run around. She's past that stage now I guess. She wanted to take a bath several times on the plane. That was funny.

So about Jon's mom..we're no totally sure what's going on as we just got here and the Dr.s have not been the best at communicating with Jon's sister who is now her mother's caretaker. She has a mass in her brain and we're not sure if it's cancerous but it's stage 4 Glioma something-something. I thought only cancer had stages? But the Dr. wouldn't confirm it's cancer.  So who knows. She does start radiation today.

We will be spending our days at the hospital and trying to get in some shopping and visiting of other family members. The weather is beautiful and I'm very happy to be home with my family:)

Och Aye!

I have been meaning to show these since Christmas. A stocking stuffer for my sister. As I've said before, my sister and I love everything Scottish and the Outlander series. I made the cards here through this Stay Calm generator, saved them then uploaded them to Kodak Gallery. I did a set of 6 all in different pastel colors. She sent one to me in a package so that's why there's writing on this one!

The back of the card.

I made some really funny ones for Jenny B but forgot to take a picture of those before I sent them.

They are an inside joke so really might only be funny to us! I'll show them when someone emails them to me.

Ava pretending to sleep during our tax appointment.

Ava wearing the hat out on a very windy day. I think it's a wee bit big and will need a chin strap.

Reversible Bucket

The Reversible Bucket Hat made from the Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew. For both fabrics I used quilters cotton and the interfacing is Stacy woven interfacing. I made a size L because both Emily's and Ava's head measure 20.25" and the Large is supposed to fit approximately a 21" head. I liked the way the pattern went to together and thought it was easy but I'm basing that on my own skill level and can't really judge what's good for beginner's and what's not. How do they determine that anyway? I have tried other hat patterns a loooooong time ago and they never ever came out like they were supposed to. But those were patterns from the major companies (McCall's, etc) they were always homemade looking and usually way to large. I knew this one from Oliver + S would come out. I did! Because it's O+S and their patterns are truly the best. I'm just saying...

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Thanks everyone for the get-well wishes. I did not feel better till yesterday evening and Ava seems fine but has had 4 major diaper blow-outs (up the back of the shirt)  2 were while we were out and then once in the bathtub. That was disgusting. And trying to get her to say whether it came from her butt or mouth was like talking to a....3 year old!!! I finally had to smell her mouth and then knew it came from the other end.

True that!

 I just had the roughest week! After my last post (last Sunday) I went to bed and woke up at about 1am with stomach cramps. They were (and the repeated vomiting) so bad by lunch time that I asked Jon to come home so I could go to the clinic. I got some anti cramping and anti nausea meds that helped tremendously but I'm STILL recovering. STILL. Holy cow this has totally wiped me out. This is when it sucks to have kids. You still have to take care of them! The things you don't think about when contemplating having kids...And then Ava got it too. Chocolate milk and hot dogs...something I don't ever want to see mixed together again!
I haven't even been able to email much or comment on other blogs. waaahhhhh!

So the only thing I've been able to do while laid up on the couch is the above poster (more on that in a minute) embroidery, and watch movies! I finished Downton Abbey on Itunes and watched Sense and Sensibility on DVD. The one with Kate Winslet. I had never seen that one before and I own it! And I LOVE period movies! I loved Downton Abbey!!!

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So anyway, about the poster above. I made this from one of my favorite quotes by Emily. It's modeled after this guy who is now selling his prints at landofnod.com too. I plan on doing a series of them for the kitchen or bathroom. I did this in photo shop and still have much to learn. I just figured out how to squash or stretch text! I need to learn how to space things..is there a ruler or guide thingy in CS5?

Art Wall

A while ago I saw this "art wall" and thought how cool that would be in our kitchen since we have a huge blank space above the kitchen table. I've seen this before many times but it took this picture to make me want to do it NOW! Hardware available at Ikea.

Emily drew this picture of Ava  a while back. How funny is this?

I think it's funny that this is how Emily sees Ava!

German Alphabet fries. I don't know if they sell the alphabet fries in the states. Do they?

The girls LOVE that they are letters.

I shop waaay more on the economy now than in Stuttgart. It's probably because I have my German friend Connie to tell me what's good and to tell me how to make stuff when I can't read the instructions! Also, the commissary here does not sell fresh chicken anymore! Only frozen chicken.

Thing 2

On the way to the bus stop this morning.

*look at those eyebrows!

This week at Emily's school was Read Across America week and Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Monday: silly hat (Emily wore a pirate hat)

Tuesday: bring a stuffed animal (she brought a T-Rex dressed in barbie clothes)

Wednesday: silly socks (she wore purple socks with silver stars)

Thursday: wear green (the only green thing she owns is a hoodie Jon got her in Ireland)

Friday: come as your favorite Seuss character (Emily came as Thing 2 as you can see!)

Emily's teacher wore a Thing 2 costume also! Sooo cute! The blue hair clip was the closest I was going to come to blue hair:)

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*This was super easy to make. I found a plate the right size for her hoodie front and traced around it on white felt, cut out the circle, then cut it in half. I sewed it on the front with a big basting stitch so It can be taken off after today. I played around with the font in WORD (I wrote Thing 2 in many different sizes, all Century Gothic bold) I printed then laid the paper on the circle till I found the best size. I then cut around each letter on the paper leaving white all around it. I laid each letter on black felt and then cut out each letter exactly, cutting off the white. I then glued each letter on the white circle. I positioned the 2 over the zipper and cut it in half then glued it down.

Coated polaroid keyfob

For Jocelyn's birthday, a Polaroid painting of her family.

No, it doesn't look anything like her but I think it's adorable!

And it does look like baby Mimi and her husband Mike.

The painting was done by this etsy seller.

Someday I will order one of the girls.

Two key fobs, the wee sheepy one for her and the skulls for our spare keys.

Thank you Corinnea for starting that trend at the store:)

And finally a wet bag for all baby Mimi's blow-outs, etc. It's made from a coated nylon-something. Rip stop. Maybe that;s what it is. Anyway, I had always meant to make myself one when the girls were smaller and of course never got around to it. the coated stuff is from here. to make it I went on etsy and looked at all the wet bags for sizes and how they were made. Then just made a rectangle (lots of tutorials out there for zippered bags) and used french seams. I didn't line it because it's already lined with a rubbery fabric.