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2 Little Hooligans

embrace the camera {July 4th 2011}

Here is what our 4th of July looked like.

Handmade flags.
Coordinating red, white and blue outfits.

And even momma made a dress to coordinate with the kiddo’s.


Wagon rides to the parade.


Hanging with the cousins.
Lots of tears were shed from this little munchkin.
Time spent watching the parade and catching lots of loot!
Naps were taken by three little kiddo’s while momma and daddy sat on the porch chatting and drinking ice coffee (ahh). Then we heading to the carnival to eat fried dough and enjoy a few of the rides.
That night we set up the tent to watch fireworks from.
We lit sparklers while we waited for the show.

And we all finally got to watch the fireworks show, minus one little baby that was fast asleep behind us in the tent.
It was one long but fun day!

Picking berries.

It’s that time of the year to go berry picking again.

So we grabbed some baskets and headed into the fields. In no time at all, we had freshly picked berries in our baskets.
This little munchkin was content sitting in one spot while her brother and sister filled her basket for her.

The picking was a little hard in some rows, but I wont complain. There is nothing like picking fresh strawberries straight from the field!
While my son searched for the biggest berry and ended up with a bucket full of berries. My little girl picked every berry in sight, but still ended up with one empty bucket…but had one full belly!

The scenery was just as beautiful as the berries.
And just as cute as these little turtles.
Once we got home came the hard part… washing and hulling the berries.

And squeezing lemons.
To make the most scrumptious strawberry lemonade.
It’s always a lot of work to preserve our fresh goodies, but so worth it! I just love cracking open one of these jars in the middle of winter to get a little taste of those fresh strawberries.

Homemade hot dog rolls.

I’m not a huge fan of hot dogs, but the kiddo’s and my hubby love them. So the other day when I saw this recipe for homemade hot dogs via dommesticated I made them right away. I may not love hot dogs, but I surely love homemade breads. Plus I’m not a big fan of those cheap thin hot dog rolls you buy in the store, they are just not enough bread for me. I was a bit nervous making these since I have not been the most successful bread maker, but these were so easy to make and came out so yummy!

They were a hug hit and I will definitely be making them again, but next time I will be making extras to throw in the freezer. Thank you domessticated for finding these beauties for us.

Fat Quarter Friday {Guest Post from Suburbs Mama}

I’m so excited to have Rita from Suburbs Mama here today! When I first stumbled upon Rita’s blog I was shocked by the amazing dress refashions and skirts she makes. I’m still such a newbie to sewing clothes and was immediately drawn to how detailed her tutorials are and how she makes refashioning look so easy and actually doable. Here are a few of her creations that I’m loving, to see more head on over to her blog.


Hi! I am Rita from suburbsmama. I was thrilled when Christina asked me to do a guest post on Fat Quarter Friday. I absolutely love her blog and everything she makes.
Today I am going to show you how to make a elastic waist, color blocked children’s skirt.
(my daughter is a 4T):

OK, lets get started!

Take your 2 pre-shrunk fat quarters (you need two coordinating prints):

Measure your little girl and determine how long you wanted the skirt to be. Then add 2 1/2 inches to that, then cut off the access (there is a longer side to a fat quarter, that will be the waist, the shorter side is the length):

Then you need to divide your fabric squares into 3 even sections each. (6 1/2 inches wide):

Cut them all, now you should have 6 pieces:

Next you need to pin them all together (alternating the print):

Here is the wrong side all pinned:

Here is how the right side looks all pinned:

Sew all the sections together:

Then when you have sewn all of the pinned sections, put the last to ends together and sew:

Next, you need iron open all of the seams:

Ok, now we need to make a elastic casing, fold and iron down a half inch:

Then fold and iron an inch :

Sew the casing, leaving about 2 inches open:

Insert your elastic:

Once you have pulled your elastic all the way through, over lap the two ends about an inch and sew and back stitch a few times:

Then stretch the elastic and sew the casing closed:

Next, we need to create a hem, fold and iron a half inch:

Then another half inch:

Sew the hem:

At this time I attached my label (optional):

All Done:


I made a matching shirt with some of the scraps:

Come and visit me at Suburbsmama
Thanks for joining us today Rita! This is the most perfect little outfit for this weekend. Happy Fourth of July!

Come visit me over at UCreate with kids today.

I’m over at UCreate with kids today!
I was so honored when Becky asked me to join her and her readers today. Head on over and see what took us three tries to get it right. It was not because it was hard to make. Our first try was lost due to my computer not wanting to upload all of my photo’s. Our second try, well let’s just say this momma was not paying attention and the baby got a hold of it. But our third time was a charm! It was definitely one of those crazy momma days!
So head on over to UCreate with kids to see our masterpiece, cuz I deserve an award just for getting this one done!

How to make your own cupcake liners.

The kiddo’s wanted to make Daddy some cupcakes for Father’s Day. So we mixed our batter and were ready to put them into the liners when I realized I had no cupcake liners. EEK! Not able to get to the store I racked my brain on what I could use instead. Of course baking a cake instead never crossed my mind. The kiddo’s wanted to make cupcakes and I was going to find a way to make those cupcakes. Because afterall cupcakes and cake taste so differently…am I right?! Looking through my drawers I came up with the idea of using parchment paper. And much to my surprise it worked great! Actually I love the idea of it. It takes a bit longer to do it this way, but once in awhile it will be fun to do for the kiddo’s.

Wanna make your own liners? Here’s how:
You will need parchment paper, regular and fancy scissors, a glass and your cupcake pans.
Rip off a 7″ piece of parchment paper.
Cut it in half.
Then center the piece of paper evenly over one of the holes in the pan.
Take your glass and push down the parchment paper. Make sure the paper is even on all sides, or as close as possible.
Now take your fingers and press the folds flat against the sides of the pan.
Take the glass out and flatten the parchment paper some more against the sides of the pan.
Now take some fancy scissors and trim the sides, or cut into shapes if you want. The kiddo’s wanted to make flowers for Daddy, so I attempted to make some flowers.
Use a large scoop to scoop the batter into the liners. Make sure you don’t get any batter on the sides…it’s just not pretty.
Make sure you give the kiddo’s their own pan to fill up. I’m a bit OCD and could never let the kiddo’s get my cupcake liners all messy on the sides. Yup, that’s how I am…sorry!

Bake your cupcakes per instructions. Ours baked a little longer then usual because we used jumbo muffin pans. We like BIG cupcakes.
We attempted to make sunflowers and some purple flowers.
But as you can see, I’m not the best at decorating cupcakes as flowers, that’s alright the kiddo’s loved them just the same.
The best part is that they can eat right from the cupcake liner. Easy clean-up and fun for the kiddo’s.
While the kiddo’s like their cupcakes decorated like flowers, I’m all about peanut butter frosting with some mini Reese’s and a peanut butter topping.

Happy Baking!

Fat Quarter Friday {Clothespin Bag Tutorial}

A few weeks ago our store bought clothespin bag finally gave out and I have been storing our clothespins in a plastic Walmart bag…cringe! Even the hubby made a comment last weekend on how he was shocked that I haven’t made a clothespin bag yet. So this week, I made a clothespin bag. I wanted a bag that was not made with a clothes hanger and one that would have ties to attach to my laundry basket as well as my clothesline. I also knew I wanted it to have a drawstring on the top to keep the clothespins from falling out. I really love how this little bag came out and I think it fits my laundry needs perfectly. This bag is very quick to make and will definitely make hanging the clothes out on the line much easier…or at least prettier. Clothespin Bag Tutorial(takes about 1-2 hours to complete)

Materials Needed:
* 2 fat quarters in contrasting fabrics

Cut your two fat quarters into the following sizes:

Main fabric:
1 piece at 20″ x 14″ (bag)

1 piece at 21″ x 3″ (part of the drawstring)

Contrasting fabric:
3 pieces at 20″ x 3″ (large ties and button flap)
1 piece at 7″ x 3 1/2″ with rounded edges (bottom of bag)
2 pieces at 20″ x 2″ (ties for the drawstring)

Start by making the large ties for the bag. Take 2 of the 3 pieces that are 20″ x 3″. Fold right sides together and sew along one side. Make the ends pointy if you want. Leave one side open for turning right side out. You do not have to do anything to the open end since it will be sewn into the bag later. You should now have two ties.

Now take the other piece that is 20″ x 3″ and fold the two ends together with right sides facing. The piece should now be 10″ long by 3″ wide.

Sew along all 3 sides and once done, turn right side out. Iron flat and then top stitch around 3 sides. This is going to be the buttoned flap.

Gather the main fabric piece that is 20″ x 14″ and pin right sides together. Piece of fabric should be 10″ x 14″ when pinned together. Sew just the open side.

Now take the 7″ x 3″ piece of fabric and round the edges slightly. Pin in place onto the bottom of the bag piece. Sew. Searge or zig-zag unfinished edge.

Turn right side out.

Take the 21″ x 3″ piece of fabric and fold both edges in twice to hide raw edges. Top stitch ends.

Now gather all of the pieces you have put together so far.

Pin the ties and buttoned flap onto the bag like shown in the picture below.

Now take the 21″ x 3″ main colored piece of fabric and fold it so that the wrong sides are touching and right sides are facing out. Working with the folded edge on the bottom pin around the top of the bag. You are going to pin right over the ties and buttoned flap that you just pinned in place.

Sew. Searge or zig-zag stitch unfinished edge.

Fold piece inside of bag and iron flat. Top stitch all around the top of the bag. Make sure you don’t sew the ties or flap down by mistake.

Now gather the 2 pieces of fabric that are 20″ x 2″. Sew the two pieces of fabric together to make one long piece of fabric. Now fold right sides together and sew along the open side. Turn right sides out and iron flat. Fold edges in or make them pointy.

Pull tie through opening in the top of the bag. Now you have your drawstring bag.

Add a button or some Velcro to the flap piece.

Don’t forget to add your tag if you have one and add any embellishments.

Now fill with clothespins and your ready to do some laundry!

I love that my clothespins will no longer be falling out.

And that it ties perfectly around my laundry basket handle.

Or will secure perfectly onto my clothesline.



**Please feel free to use this tutorial for your personal sewing projects. You may link this to your blog and use any photo’s. Just please be kind and give credit where credit is due.**

Any questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact me. If you make one using this tutorial, please add it to my flickr group. I would love to see it and you just might see it featured on my blog someday!

embrace the camera {garden days again}

I had always hoped the kiddo’s would love being in the garden as much as I do. But I’m thinking they love being in it a little more then I do. Just last night the two oldest were making dirt angels in the garden. Yup, I’m pretty sure you wont see this momma sprawled on her back in the garden, flapping her arms and legs back and forth to make dirt angels.


There is nothing this momma loves more then seeing those kiddo’s covered in dirt playing in the garden. Yes, my littlest likes to wear just one sock. Apparently she is already starting a fashion statement. Running back and fourth in between the tomato plants is their favorite thing to do.








This is where we spend most of our days and nights. Can you see why?

How to make a bubble station.

We spend a lot of time blowing bubbles in this house, so in turn we make a lot of messes with bubble solution. You know the deal, each kid wants their own wand and their own glass to dip into…baby included. So this momma fills 3 glasses with bubble solution and in about 2 minutes all of their glasses are spilled over and they are asking for more. Soon that large bottle of bubble solution is gone. So it was either come up with an easier way for us to enjoy blowing bubbles or buy stock in bubble solution. So this is what my never-ending-crafty-brain came up with.

The ultimate bubble station.

It was a no-brainer to use canning jars since we use them for EVERYTHING in this house, plus they are the perfect size for holding bubble solution and are easy for the kiddo’s to dip into. But the best part about using canning jars is that since the kiddo’s wont be spilling their bubble solution, all I have to do is screw the lids on the canning jars once they are finished and we have the remaining bubble solution ready for next time.

I can’t tell you enough how much I love this little bubble station of ours. It has really turned bubble time into something fun and not something I used to dread.

As you can see, the design is super simple. The top board is large enough for 5 holes and thick enough so that the canning jars wont tip over. The bottom piece of wood is a piece of ply-wood and is there just to keep the canning jars from falling out.

To cut the holes, the hubby simply used a hole saw that was slightly larger then a canning jar.

Once the boards were cut out I sanded and painted the two pieces of wood…orange of course. And as you can see, I’m not the best as sanding or rather, I’m very impatient. But really, if you are going to make one, take the extra time to do a better job sanding then I did. You will be thankful you did. Then after a few coats we screwed the boards together from underneath so that the screws wouldn’t show.

And there you have it, our perfect little bubble station!

Of course this little caddy isn’t used just for blowing bubbles. A caddy made for holding canning jars can be used for ANYTHING! Just think of all of the goodies that can be stored in this little caddy. I already have used it for holding candles, flowers, drinks and kids snacks.

I made The Beach Robe

Once Dana posted The Beach Robe pattern for sale I snagged it up immediately. I already knew I was going to be making this for my niece’s birthday. Dana’s pattern only goes up to a size 4 and my niece wears a 6, so I just gave myself an extra 1/2″ all around the size 4 pattern. My niece has not tried it on yet, but I have no doubt it will fit her. I tried the robe on before sewing the arms on and it fit me (snugly of course) and it was a bit big for my 3T wearing boy. So you can adjust the pattern if need be. I decided to put contrasting fabric inside the hood.

And on the underside of the tie. I just love that little pop of surprise!
I ended up having to purchase two large beach towels to accommodate for the larger size, while the 3 packages of bias tape still worked perfectly.
Her pattern was extremely easy to follow and I would recommend it to anyone. The only issue I had was with sewing the bias tape on the tie. For some reason I just couldn’t get the bias tape to look good on the edges. I tried and tried to get it perfect but just couldn’t. So the perfectionist in me finally gave in and left it looking a little wonky. I really don’t think my niece will notice and I’m ok with admitting defeat…this time. So lesson learned, make your tie first and don’t leave it for the morning when 3 kids are running around at your feet!
Thanks for a great pattern Dana, I forsee lots of these being made!