Sewing tips

So some of you who read this enjoy my sewing projects and want to start sewing  and since this mommy self-taught herself everything she knows about sewing, this mommy decided to share some tips she uses for her projects that maybe could help you if you are beginning out in the sewing adventures.

Tips:

1. Get to know your sewing machine inside and out..... yes, you should know every gear in your machine so if something goes crazy you know somewhat about where to check.  And make sure you get a brand you like, some are easier than others.... this mommy is a Singer girl all the way   :)

2. Don't be afraid to try something new...... yes new patterns can be scary and often you look at it and think "i can't do that" trust me, this mommy has done that a lot, but this mommy has also found that if you just say "I can try" and take it a step at a time most things are possible!

3. On that note: know that some projects will defeat you, be ok with that and move on to the next trial.  Getting frustrated and giving up is never the best option!  This mommy has been defeated by more projects than she cares to think about.  :)

4.  Measure twice, cut once....... this is a tip I used to hear in highschool from my shop teacher..... ironically I never heard it from my home ec. teacher......hmmmm....... who knew that my woodworking teacher knew so much about sewing?!?  interesting....... :) 

5. Go Bold!  Don't be afraid of bold, bright patterns in fabric.

6. If you are nervous about a project and don't want to risk wasting good fabric make it first using scrap fabric (this mommy likes to go to thrift stores and get sheets, these make great trial fabric and you get a lot for only a couple dollars..... and sometimes you'll find a fabric there you actually want to use for a project....... like the princess' skirts that I've made from pillowcases, and sheets, and tablecloths, and........)

7. Just because a pattern says to make something from a certain material doesn't mean you can't make it from another material, you can alter almost anything to use what you have!

8.  Never underestimate the power of the iron!  Trust me, this mommy hates ironing and used to skip the ironing steps in patterns, and this mommy also got so much more frustrated.  Ironing helps so much, and it makes your seams look much more professional.... DO NOT skip ironing!  This mommy knows its a pain but it's worth it!

9. When in doubt.... PIN!  This mommy also hates pinning and will avoid it if at all possible, and with practice a lot of things can be done without pinning, but if you aren't confident in having everything in the right place then pin!  And also make sure you pin the right direction, there's nothing more frustrating than pinning everything and then getting to your machine and the pins are going the wrong way!  Ugh, this mommy has done that too many times! 

10.  Sometimes bigger is better........ bigger projects can sometimes be easier projects..... for example, curtains are not that hard but they are big and you need room to work!  Don't be afraid to try a big project!

11.  Save your scraps!  You never know when you will need them!

12.  Just keep sewing!  with time and practice you will become a great seamstress and you will be able to take on any project you would like!

Hope this helps some of you out there!  Remember, this mommy is always here if you have questions for her!

Tinting glass vases

Ok so if you are like this mommy you like to have colorful vases to place flower arrangements into. This mommy has the easiest way for you to tint any glass jar/vase. This is what you will need:

Elmer's white school glue
Water
Food coloring of your choice
Sponge paint brush


Here is how you do it, don't worry this mommy promises anyone can do this, you could even have your kids do this......could be a great teacher present......hmmmm..... One day when my kids are in school....... Anyways.....

1. Mix up your color mixture by making a 50/50 water glue mixture and placing desired amount of food coloring into the mixture (this mommy only puts 3-4 drops in as she likes a subtle color instead of super bright but it's up to you. Stir well until color is uniform.

2. Next get your glass vase out..... This mommy knows you probably have plenty of them hidden in a closet somewhere from flowers you have gotten and didn't know what to do with all those vases.....

3. Take your sponge brush and paint the color mixture directly onto the outside of the vase, covering the whole thing in your color mixture.

4. Let dry completely.

5. Enjoy your newly colored vase!!

You can add flowers into vase or just use the vase as a pop of color to accent your room decor! Now wasn't that easy? Now you can go make a rainbow of colors so you can match every room!!

Make your own air fresheners!!

So this mommy loves air fresheners but constantly buying them gets old. Even the plug in kinds I have to buy often, maybe it would help if I tried more than one for my whole house. Lol. Well now I can! I found this recipe on pinterest a while ago (and this mommy would like to admit I have an addiction to that site!) and I decided to try it. This by far is one of the easiest things this mommy has made! So here is what you need:
2-3 glass jars depending on how big they are(this mommy found some at walmart that were perfect for 97 cents each, can't beat that).
1 oz. Of unflavored gelatin (you can find this at any grocery store.)
30 drops of essential oils (this mommy found that her local dollar store had this!)
Food coloring of your choice.
2cups cold water, divided
1tablespoon salt

So you will first prepare your glass jars:
Put your desired amount of essential oil and food coloring in the bottom of the jars

take 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil in a small saucepan.
Add the gelatin and stir until all gelatin is dissolved.
Add the other cup of water and the tablespoon of salt and stir again until dissolved.
Pour the hot gelatin mixture into your jars and stir until color is consistent.
Let cool to room temperature
Place in desired room!

That is it! See, this mommy told you it was easy. Your new gel air fresheners will last a month give or take some (again depending on how big your jar is,and then reuse the jar to make more!)
Now go enjoy some homemade air fresheners and most of all enjoy how much money you will be saving!

Holiday swirl cookies

This mommy made the cutest cookies the other day..... these are my holiday swirl cookies, these are pretty easy to make and look super cute sitting on a plate to serve to guests!
So you will start with making a sugar cookie dough..... any recipe you like is fine but here's the one I use:
Cream: 1 cup butter and 2/3 cup sugar
Beat in 1 egg
Add 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 1/2 cups flour
Mix until all ingredients are well blended. 
Divide dough into 2 equal halves.
Leave one half as is, and use food coloring to color the other half the color you would like.
Chill dough for a couple hours before rolling out.


Once chilled take the first half of dough and on a floured surface roll dough out into a 9 X 11 rectangle.  Take the other half of dough and do the same. 
Take a small amount of water and rub the top of one of the rectangles with water to make it slighty sticky. place the other rectangle on top of the wetted side of the first one.  (This can be difficult by yourself, the daddy normally helps this mommy do this part, but if you are doing it yourself you can use wax paper to roll the rectangles on instead of just a floured surface so that you can lift it up using the paper)
Lightly press the dough together (not too much or you will lose your swirl!)
Trim the edges to make them even.
Take the dough on the 11" end and start rolling the 2 rectangles together into a log roll.
once they are rolled together you can look at the end and see the swirl  :)  (this mommy is excited at this point)
You can then lay out sprinkles on a cookie sheet (cover the whole sheet) and roll the dough roll in the sprinkles making a "skin" of sprinkles on the outer layer (you don't have to use sprinkles but they are fun!)
Then you will get your sharpest knife out (be careful!  This mommy doesn't want anyone hurting themselves for the sake of cookies!) and begin cutting off the cookies.  Cut a 1/4 inch thick and lay the peices on greased baking sheets.
Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. (however every oven will vary, your first batch just watch and learn)
Take them out when they are barely golden brown, if you cook them too long you will lose the high contrast of swirls!
Let them cool, and enjoy! 
They are worth it I promise!  Take a look.........

Now aren't those cute?  They are perfect for a holiday platter!!  And you can make them for any occasion and just change up the colors!  I'm thinking football party in the colors of the team you cheer for....... yeah that would be awesome!  Enjoy!  This mommy is going to go eat some of these now!

Catching up

So this mommy knows its been a while since her last entry and she appologizes greatly!  Things here in this mommy's house has been crazy through halloween and thanksgiving.  This year was the princess's first halloween and thanksgiving.  She's also gone to see Santa for the first time!  Crazy how time flies!  She's 10 months old and crawling everywhere!  Where oh where has my baby girl gone?! Anyway, I thought I'd fill you in on what we've been up to!  First off, this mommy made both kids' halloween costumes so that consumed a bit of time, but the results were worth it.........

The boy as Captain America!  This mommy loves his fascination with super heroes lately!  This mommy made this costume completely from upcycled tshirts and a frisbee!  This mommy thinks its pretty cute!

The princess as a cute little lady bug!  This mommy made this tutu dress from tulle and a crochet band, with a homemade flower she was adorable!











Both kids had a blast trick-or-treating at the children's museum and our street!  Both got many compliments on their costumes which made this mommy very proud!

This mommy hosted Thanksgiving at her house and had about 20 people come!  A good time of food, conversation, prayer, and games was had by all! (And this mommy kicked some butt at Wii!)  :)  The boy was able to make sugar cookies with this mommy and he cut them out all himself!  This mommy is sad, the boy is growing up too fast!

Recently we took the kids to see Santa, and while waiting we took the opportunity for a quick photo shoot......

So that is all in a nutshell, but this mommy will try harder to stay updated!

Make your own Febreze!

So this mommy is a firm believer that you should get rid of the smell rather than just covering it up, but when company is coming over this mommy likes to do a quick spray over just to make sure there are no offensive odors that she missed somehow (hey, it happens, this mommy does have 3 dogs and a cat, plus 2 messy kids!).  Now this mommy is NOT a fan of the price of Febreze, especially since its so easy to make!  This will cost you next to nothing to make!

Here's what you need:
1 spray bottle (this mommy used an old Febreze bottle, then she didn't have to re-label it and everyone knows whats in it) 
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup fabric softener (find one you like the smell of, or make your own...... stay tuned, that will be another post!)
1 Tablespoon baking soda

And here we go......
pour your water into the spray bottle, add the fabric softener and baking soda.  Screw the top back on the bottle and shake well.  That's it!  Honestly, that's it!  Super easy, costs next to nothing and you can control the scent you want!  This mommy is a fan!  Now go spray your offensive smells! 

Our potty training adventure : How it took the boy 1 week to be completely potty trained!

So the boy is 28 months now and this mommy decided  last month that she was done changing his diapers (especially since I also have the princess to change).  I know all the statistics that say that "boys are harder to train" and "boys aren't ready as early" and blah blah blah.  Just for the record this mommy thinks thats all a bunch of bologna and it just depends on whether you want to spend the time working with them or not.  Now this mommy had researched every possible potty training technique, "put pull ups on them" (well arent pull-ups just glorified diapers?  How would that work?!?)  "watch for signs and then take the diaper off and take them to the potty" (well for my boy by the time he showed signs of going he had already gone! so that was out) "wait until he tells you he's ready to try" (well this mommy wasn't going to change diapers until the boy was 4!).  This mommy was getting frustrated..... how was I ever going to potty train this kid?  He knows what the toilet is and he knows what its for..... This mommy just knew he was ready!  Then this mommy read about a technique called Naked Training.... this one made sense!  Basically you take the diaper off and let them go naked (yikes, this is where this mommy was nervous).  But reading on, it was based on the theory that if they don't have the diaper they are more aware of what is going on and what they are doing with their bodies (well that makes sense, nobody wants to pee on themselves!)  So with a big sigh and a determined mind I decided I'd try it, what did I have to lose?!?  So the next day, off went the diaper!  I took it off and told him we didnt have any more diapers for him, the only diapers we had now were for the baby and he had to use the potty since he was a big boy.  He didn't seem to care at the time and ran around naked perfectly happy.  Then came the time he had to go, he quickly asked for a diaper, and when I responded "we don't have any diapers for you, you have to go in the potty" the thing I dreaded happened, he stood there looking at me and pee'd on the floor!  Sigh!  This mommy cleaned it up and thought "well at least he knew he had to go!"  I'm not going to lie to you, that first day of no diapers was a disaster and very frustrating, we cleaned up about a million messes (or so it felt) and this mommy was following him everywhere watching his every move to rush him to the potty at the first sign of pee!  At the end of the day this mommy was exhausted, then I thought "what do I do at night?!?"  they reccommend not having the diaper on at night either, which would be fine if he slept in his own bed, but we co-sleep with him and this mommy didn't really want to end up waking up in a pool of pee!  Then it hit me.....a cloth diaper!  He would feel it if it was wet but it wouldn't be the same as his diapers he was used to!  So on went the cloth diaper, we called it his "big boy sleeping pants" and off to bed we went!  We woke up dry!  This mommy was happy, and she rushed the boy to the potty to go, and he did!  Off to a good start!  This mommy looked like an idiot cheering and jumping but I didn't care!  He went in the potty!  Then the boy went naked again, with this mommy determined this day would be easier!  The day started off horribly!  More accidents and this mommy was getting frustrated and thinking this wasn't going to work!  Then right after lunch something changed...... the boy went to the potty, sat down and peed!  (granted he had bad aim and not much went in the potty but still!)  Yay! a breakthrough!  We cheered, we danced, we had candy, and we got a new hotwheels car!  This was a big deal!!  The boy was so excited that the rest of the day we were pretty much going to the potty to pee (sometimes we'd miss, sometimes we would wait too long, but it was progress!).  But then..... uh oh, this mommy knew that look, he had to poop!  This mommy took him to the potty and sat him down, the boy started screaming saying "no!!  need diaper!!  need diaper!!!"  I again told him we didnt have any and he had to go on the potty....... the screaming and kicking continued for about 20 minutes, then he calmed down and nothing happened for another 10 minutes.  This mommy figured she misjudged and let the boy get off the potty.  He took about 5 steps and pooped on the floor!  Sigh!  Well its a work in progress and this is only day 2!  Time for bed again so "big boy sleeping pants" go on and off to bed we go!  Woke up dry again!  yay!  Day 3 was a good day!  we ended up being around 90% there through the whole day, including pooping!!..... not too bad at all!  We didn't dare go out yet.  Day 4 & day 5 were even better getting up to about 95% there.  Day 6 we put on big boy underwear and worked on taking them off and on and going, still about 95% there even with the extra step, this mommy was very proud!  Day 7 we braved going out and about with only underwear on under his pants.  We only went out for about 2 hours, and we stayed dry the whole time!  As soon as we got home he ran to the potty and went!  Yay!  Good job boy!!  Only had 1 accident but it was my fault, he wanted help and I didn't hear him ask until it was too late.  No blame on the boy, and this mommy knew he wasn't going to have any more accidents, and she was right!  We then started letting him go to bed with only underwear on and have been dry every night!  Its been about 3 weeks since we started this process and I can honestly say I don't ever worry about him going in his pants, I trust him 100% with pottying, he plays and then you'll see him run into the bathroom and take his pants off and go all by himself!, he still wants to cheer and dance when he goes so he'll come get me after to show me he went and we cheer and dance!  So this mommy is a happy mommy, I have a completely potty trained 2 year old and less diapers to change!  And who ever has said he's too young to potty train doesn't know anything!  The proof is here sitting next to me!  I'm a very proud mommy!!! 

If you have questions about this method feel free to ask, I'd love to help you so you too can have a potty trained little one!!!  :)