Bridesmaids Bags

Here are the results of many hours at the sewing machine to make a bridesmaids bag order.   What a cool idea and even better that I was asked to make them.  The bride recently sent me a few pictures. 

I have to say, I am quite proud.  Don't they look cute?  Look how nice they go together with the dresses.  I have yards of that fabric left over.  I think I better get to sewing a few more of these bags.  

And the Costumes

I made the boys Halloween costumes this year.  I think they should go as eskimos next year, because by the end of October it's so cold they have to put jackets on over top and you can't see what they are anyway.

Here we have Super Ryan.  He wanted to be a super hero.

Next we have a Jedi.  This is Adrian's serious Jedi face, or fighting face, I'm not sure.  Thanks to the wind we got a cool shot.

The boys enjoyed them and I'm kind of proud at how they turned out.  

Now on to Thanksgiving.

A Late Halloween Update

We carved pumpkins for Halloween.  
Of course we carved them too soon and by the time Halloween rolled 

around our pumpkins were moldy.  Oh well.

Here are our three pumpkins ready to go.

These were my helpers.

Adrian cut the top off the pumpkin, but wanted nothing to do with the insides.  Ryan's help consisted of telling me I was doing a great job.

I printed some templates off of a pumpkin carving website and used those as our guides.

I vetoed Darth Vader.  And next year I'm going to do the same when it comes to anything that has letters. These things were a pain.

And here they are.  All done.  

Heres to another year of pumpkin carving.

There's No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk

There's that old saying about spilled milk and not crying over it.  

Well, let me tell you folks.  If you spill it on your laptop, you should cry.  And in case you haven't already put the puzzle pieces together, I spilled milk on my laptop keyboard.  It ran down into parts unknown and rendered my laptop useless.  Hence the reason I haven't been posting much.  Thanks to a generous husband, I'm back in business with a new one.  And he'll be glad to know that I won't be eating my cereal over it while checking Facebook.

A Little Bit Batty

Halloween.  I've tried to escape it.  I thought I had done it moving to Switzerland.  It followed.  I got out of it for about 4 years.  But some how Halloween snuck it's way into my neighborhood and Adrian was invited to trick or treat by the neighbors.  I've also been wrangled into making a Jedi costume and a superhero costume this year.

I don't decorate for Halloween.  However, Adrian made a bat at kids daycare at the gym and I remembered this post over at the MADE website.  And like she mentioned, I'm OK with the bats. 

I made a pattern and traced them on to black paper with a white crayon.  That way Adrian could help me cut them out.

After what felt like we cut out a billion bats, we taped them on the window in our living room.

The only thing left, according to Ryan, are the "punkins" that need to go up and then it's officially Halloween.

Sewing With Friends

Last week I had a Skype call with a friend and we did some sewing together.  It was fun!  She wanted to make a maxi skirt together.  It was a new experience for me since I've always used an old skirt as a pattern.  We took our measurements and cut out the form, sewed it up AND....they were too big.  Funny.  I'm glad they were too big.  Better than too small. 

After our sewing date, I took it apart and sewed up the seems to make it a bit smaller, only to realize I sewed the waist band on backwards and had to do it again.  Now it's done and I wore it to church today.  I paired it with a scarf that I also made from some of the material from the Salvation Army.  I couldn't decide if I was going to keep it or sell it on the Etsy shop, but it went so well with my skirt I decided I better keep it.  

Ta da!

It's made from a heavier cotton jersey, so it's perfect for winter.

(Don't mind the wrinkles.  I was sitting on the couch eating pizza before I took these pictures.)

My scarf is an infinity scarf.  I made it long enough so it can be worn in different ways. On those extra cold days I can even wrap it around my neck three times.

I'm kind of proud of how it turned out.  

Thanks for the sewing date friend!

Coconut Oil Update

Some time ago I wrote about introducing coconut oil into my life.  The first thing I did was try it in my hair.  I did it for about a week.  Every other day I would slather my hair with it and then attempt to work out.  It smelled great and reminded me of summer vacation.  I think it did make my hair a little bit softer.  However, it was kind of annoying while I worked out.  My hair wouldn't stay up and kept sliding out of my hair holder.  I eventually gave up.  

The next adventure was using it as a moisturizer on my face.  I was a bit scared to try this one.  But I have a cousin who swears by it and says it helped clear up her face.  I'm have acne prone skin, so I was ready to see the results.  After about a month my face was worse.  I stopped that immediately. 

The last experiment I did was to make my own deodorant.  I'm not a health freak.  I have made fun of people who make their own deodorant.  Who has time for that?  But I was becoming so tired of sweating in any kind of shirt that had synthetic material and it smelling bad forever and ever.  Even after I washed it, if I sweat, the bad smell would return.  I tried everything.  This past summer I even tried going deodorant free.  My sister told me she read somewhere that Julia Roberts didn't wear deodorant and just used antibacterial wipes.  Well, if Julia Roberts could do it, why couldn't I?  So I went deodorant free for a month.  That was a hassle and potentially embarrassing. Especially if you forget your wipes and you are on vacation in Arizona and it's 115°F.  When I got home I decided I would try and make my own deodorant using my trusty coconut oil.  I found this recipe on-line.  

Coconut Oil Deodorant

1/4 cup of baking soda

1/4 cup of corn starch

6 tablespoons of coconut oil

In the beginning I had to keep it in the fridge.  It was summer time and if I left it out, it just melted and was to messy to apply.  Since the temperatures have fallen, I can now keep it in my bathroom.  It's nothing fancy.  I put it in a little plastic container. 

Now the verdict...IT WORKS!!! I still sweat, but I don't stink.  I read somewhere that coconut oil contains antibacterial agents.  This is probably what makes it such a great ingredient for deodorant.  

There you go - coconut oil.  Who knew?!