It's All About Rapunzel Around Here

As you can see from my previous post our world revolves around Rapunzel (at least for our youngest it does). Sewing her costume, thinking about her bday party that she'll have in December, and Penelope picking that movie to watch almost everyday puts it in my brain too. I happen to love the colors and design of the movie myself. I don't mind that she picks it to be honest. When I saw it in the theater I went home and wanted to start painting my walls and furniture in that same flat, folk style. I find myself jumping from hobby to hobby and interest to interest all day long. I wake up so excited to work on a million different projects or ideas and can't wait to finish a few responsible type things in the house just so I can steal some time to bake or create things. I have too many interests to ever live even close to a balanced life. If I could just love one or two things and focus on those hobbies I'm sure I would become most excellent, but as it is, I love EVERYTHING~ :) So I'm doomed to be ok or pretty good at a lot of things and still feel like I never have enough time.

Well just for my little Penelope I made this painting this morning while she sat on my lap and made her own painting. It's 8"x10" and is in the style of the Rapunzel movie. How I'd love to be brave enough to make large scale paintings all around my world. It would be so fun. Then when I got sick of them, I could just paint a wash over them and make more. Maybe someday, for now little is fun and do-able. I feel like I get something done when I paint small scale.

... and the real masterpiece

...................Pippy's painting!

And the artist herself.... in her red and gold shoes and snow hat in perfectly nice weather.....

And her sweet neighborhood friends.

My Little Princess

Halloween is around the corner. For month's my little Pip has been begging for me to make her a "Tangled dress" as she calls it. She hardly knows her name is Rapunzel, she just always calls her Tangled. It's pretty cute. :) With three kids I begin Halloween sewing in the summer so I can make them as fun as I want and not feel stressed. So here's one down and two more costumes to go... :)

Penelope with her best little buddy.

The back of the dress.

Close up detail of front. I had to let that lace soak in bleach water so that it wouldn't be yellow anymore. I've never done that before and I was pretty proud of myself. haha

So on to Kendyl's ghost costume and Makenzie's dead fairy. I think I'll be Mother Gothel to go with Rapunzel since I've got a long red dress and black cape already.

Glove Story Telling

Saturday night I had a fun idea of how to teach my Sunbeams (3 and 4 year olds) in church the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the firey furnace found in Daniel chapter 3 in the Bible. My mom had a little glove story like this when I was a kid, but more fancy. Anyway, I had a bunch of these gloves, eyeballs, and felt in one of my craft boxes and made a glove for each kid in my class. They were simple to make just a little time consuming. It was sooo worth it though. I told them the story with one of the gloves and then let them help me make theirs for them. I had all the little people ready and they told me which fingers they wanted them on while I hot glue gunned it. Then they put them on and told and retold the story. One of the moms told me that her son was still playing with it an hour after church and wanted to teach Family Home Evening the next night. Totally worth the work. :o)

THE FRONT OF THE GLOVE:

King Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and the Angel. The fire can be removed and reattached with velcro.

THE BACK OF THE GLOVE:

This is the idol that the King wanted them to bow down to and they wouldn't so threw them in the furnace, but they didn't get burned or hurt because they were obedient and an angel came to protect them.

Muy Updates on Projects...

A few years ago my sister and I were delighted to discover that one of my favorite artists (Scott Gustafson) had cross stitching patterns. I know- super dorky! We both love to cross stitch at night while snuggling with our hubbies and unwinding from the day- usually for an hour or two while catching up on shows we like or sometimes Seth will read to me (currently the Hunger Games Series). It's very grandma-ish of us.I have to brag about her because here is her finished cross stitch. This is crazy big. Mine is as well, but I am only about a 1/3 of the way done. (We tease that she lets her grandma out a little more than I do to finish so quickly- the truth is that she is faster than I am) If you'd like to see close up details here's a link to her blog (here). So you can get an idea this is on 25 count fabric and both of our designs are 18" by 22"(625 stitches per inch). The pattern is 36 pages! I know- we are completely nuts. The truth is, it is more about just having something to do than anything else. In fact- both of us don't ever keep our cross stitches. Once they are done we just find someone to give them too. Well with these I think we'll keep them. In fact- I'm hoping to create a little collection so that someday when I have grandkids I can give them each one when they are born.

Usually we will mail our cross-stitches back and forth just to mix things up, but with these we haven't. Here are some pictures of my progress after 2 years.

This is the full view of what I have done so far...

It will someday look like (this)

Here are a few close ups of the detail.

NEXT:

I'm super excited about this find. We have been table and chair-less since October. While driving

home from the library on Saturday I took a wrong turn accidentally and drove past an estate sale which had this 7 piece set for only $100! I am currently stripping it down, sanding it and re-painting. I do like the black- it's just horribly beat up. So I'm gonna make it pretty! :) This sure beats paying 10 times as much. I'll post pics when I'm done and it's in th

e house and I've sewn a pretty table runner or something for it.

Moving right along:

What do you do with such scrumptious fabrics????

For starters make a hair clip board for my 3 girlies.:) A friend taught a bunch of us last weekend how to make these. Super easy- super cheap- unless of course you want to buy expensive stuff. :) Now all I need to do is learn how to make those cute flower hair clips....

Also I think you should buy this (book)-

which of course I did and sew some new, funky clothes for your kids that they will adore! It's a fabulous way to use all my scraps. I just ordered the book and it's on it's w

ay. I can't wait!

Last of all: (for the time being)

This chore chart that I put together has made a HUGE difference in our house. I drew up a basic design, looked up images online of kids doing chores, designed little cards, printed, cut, and laminated them. Next I went to the store and picked up some poster board, put it all together, attached velcro to everything and voilà it's finished!

The girls will do am chores and pm chores- and when they are done they un-velcro them and stick them in the pocket waiting for me to decide what they will do the next day. There is a section for extra chores other than their normal to-do, which they can be paid extra for and a little chart to check off how they've done that day. They earn a bonus by being ready by 8am everyday as well. Each Monday night after Family Home Evening we look at their week's progress and pay them accordingly. They actually get excited to wake up and unvelcro their cards and check stuff off. The key to the success of this is for me to fill up their chore chart every morning before they wake up or the night before. Makenzie was finally able to earn enough to add to her savings from this past year to buy her own bike! Kendyl bought a pillow pet- and mom doesn't feel so stressed out about asking them to do each chore they need to that day. They are responsible for themselves! Hooray! :)

Here's a few upclose pictures of Kendyl's chart.

Well I'm off to go scrape some more paint off the top of that table.

I think the paint stripper has been sitting on it long enough. :)

Happy project making to you! Tell me what you are up to...

I FINISHED- and just in time for Christmas :)

Hooray! I stitched my last stitches at 9:30pm Christmas Eve. I have put probably over 50 hours into this baby designing, sketching, sewing, stuffing, beading and embroidering! I'm so happy it's such a hit with my sweet little girl who loves to sing her ABC's :)

Penelope finding it under the tree

Excitedly flipping through it and pulling her favorite little turtle guy out of his pocket shouting "A TOORRRDLE!" (She rolls her r's and d's) :)

Back Cover

Detail on back cover.

For closer pictures of the little figures look at these posts here and here

HOPE YOU HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A little something for my niece

This is something that I sent my niece for Christmas. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog- so I'm not worried about spoiling anything ;)

She loves LOVES to read and write. She keeps a journal with her where ever she goes so she can write down her poetry as inspiration comes. Her favorite colors are red, black, and white so when I saw this journal at the store I had to get it for

her. I added little quotes and drawings inside it and made this bookmark for her out of felt. The little red-headed girl was inspired by one of my felt pieces I made for Pip's book. Instead of making her holding an xray of herself I added pretty embroidery and bead work. :) This little present was a fun way to spend a day and now it's on her way to her for Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers it gets there in time.

(Detail on the little red-headed girl)

(Back inside cover) One of the drawings

I put in with a favorite quote of mine.

More ABC dudes

I have now finished the little ABC figures and made the pages and pockets of the book. I just need to sew it all together! I hope to be finished by Christmas so I can give it to my sweet Pip! I have put so many hours into this project and it has been very fun and fulfilling.