A quote a day

Today.

Today is my oldest daughter's 8th birthday. Wow. I still can't believe it!  Everyone tells you the time goes fast, but you don't realize that it actually does....until it actually does.  It goes so fast. 

My 8 year old.  She's spunky, fun, energetic, quick and marches to her own beat. I love that about her!  But sometimes, I get the feeling that she doesn't love those things about herself. 

So I decided to give her a little boost by giving her a frame (I'm going to let her decorate it) that I'll fill with a new quote every few days.  I got most of the ideas for the quotes off of my Pinterest "Inspiration" board.  I love using the Internet to inspire!  There's too much garbage out there anyways these days.

Here's the lowdown!

Start with a cheap, wooden, customizable frame. I got this one at JoAnn's in the clearance section for $2.

Grab some fun papers and cut them to size.  My frame holds a 4 x 6 inch photo, but it has rounded corners, so I just made the papers a little bit smaller, so I wouldn't have to round all the corners. (hey, it works!)

I was proud that I used materials for this that I had around the house, and even got out my Creative Memories personal trimmer from my scrapbooking supplies.  I haven't used this thing in ages! Is Creative Memories even around anymore?!

Search and find just the right quotes and write them on the papers.  Nothing fancy! 

 

Gosh, I love a good quote! 

And voila! That's it!  Easy peezy!

Once we get the frame painted, I'll share that too.

I am going to start with this quote:

Your voice is my favorite sound.

Your name is my favorite word.

Your hugs are my favorite feeling.

Your smile is my favorite sight.

I love you. You are amazing! 

What's your favorite quote? I'd love to hear, please share in the comments! 

Thanks for reading! 

~Patricia

The Baby Bib

I don't know about you, but I feel like everyone and their sister is having a baby!  I have been seeing so, so many adorable photos of babies on Facebook lately, I'm not sure what to do.

I do know that I've been invited to a lot of baby showers, and when I do, I love to throw in a little handmade gift with the obligatory wipes and dipes. Lately, I've been making what I like to call "Aunt Darlene's spaqhetti bibs," because I made the bib pattern from a bib my Aunt Darlene gave me for my first daughter.

This bib was awesome.  It was big, so it covered everything; it was double-layered, so it didn't soak through; I could easily throw it in the washer and it would come out clean; and it rolled up small so that I could take it with us wherever we went!   It was PERFECT!

Here's my little M with the perfect bib!

Since then, I've been making copies of that bib with PUL and flannel.  I've given them away to anyone who would take them because I love them so much! 

My well-worn template.

And because there are soo, sooo many different kinds of flannel and patterned PUL out there, the possibilities of cute baby bibs are endless! And yes, it's a big bib. But if you've ever had a baby, you know that as they get bigger, they make bigger and bigger messes!

So, I guess what I want to say is, "Thanks Aunt Darlene." That bib was awesome, and a lot of other moms have enjoyed having one too.   If you want me to send you one, leave a comment and we'll be in touch! 

Recent bibs! 

Most of the time I head to JoAnn's and get my flannel and PUL there (with a coupon or 2), but it's also fun to look at Amazon and see what kinds of new things are popping up.  Riley Blake has some awesome designs, like this adorable flowered one, or this basic black polka dots (which would be great at hiding stains), or with this 3 pack of Babyville PUL (you could get 3 adorable bibs out of this!).

So thanks Aunt Darlene, you've helped keep my kids cleaner and made my baby presents just a little bit cuter. :)  Later this week I'll be posting about another easy baby toy I make as a present too. 

-Patricia

Remember,

If you hate missing out on a new blog post, follow along by email or follow me on Facebook!

If you want to see what inspires me, follow me on Pinterest!

I'm also on Twitter! Click here: Follow @tshirtsandtulle

Thanks! <3
-Patricia

Easy 30 Minute St. Patrick's Day Pillow

Today I had the best afternoon!

My husband took our 3 girls to one of those inflatable bounce house places and I got some fabulous alone time with my sewing machine. It was glorious!  I've really been slacking in this area, and it was such a gift to be able to just sit and sew uninterrupted.

After sewing a baby bib (more on that in a different post), I came up with this adorable, super easy St. Patrick's Day pillow!

I decided to make it reversible, just because I love making things last for a long time. 

The heart on this pillow is actually 2 pieces of felt that were sewn together by my oldest. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so putting it on a pillow to keep sounded like a great idea!

Interested in making one?

Gather up the following supplies:
2 pieces of white felt (approx. 11 x 9in)

green felt and coordinating thread

pink felt and coordinating thread

scissors

pins

disappearing ink pen

That's it!

I free-handed the shamrock and then pinned it in place.  

I used a washable green marker to write the word "lucky" and then used my machine to sew over the lines. The washable marker worked fine, but I'd use a disappearing ink pen---if I could find mine!!  I'm sure the kids moved it...somewhere....

I pulled the thread to the back and tied them off instead of back-stitching. Because I can.

And this is a great project to use up scraps!  Perfect!  Then just repeat for the other side and you're done!

The best part was when I showed the girls and they gave it a big squeeze hug; it's soooo soft! I love felt!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!

~Patricia

Current Situation: Taking photos on the front lawn

So for a long time now, I've admired those bloggers with fancy cameras who take amazing pictures and post them on their blogs.  They look awesome! And mine don't.  Don't try and be nice, but they don't.  So, I recently decided to start trying to learn how to use my new phone (you, know because my kids lost my red point and shoot camera.... and they dropped the blue point and shoot we had and shattered the screen); so the phone it is!  

So imagine that you've just got home from dropping your middle child off at preschool and dropping off library books, when you realize your youngest is sleeping in the car.

It's 10:30am.

So you sit in the car for awhile, turning the key just enough so you can hear the radio, but the car is off so you don't waste gas and hurt the environment (or something). The windows are down, it's 75 degrees, because you live in Florida and it's only really cold for 2 days out of the year. You read a magazine. Search for coupons. Check Facebook for the 10th time that day. Anything on twitter? I'm still not 100% sure how Twitter works, so no go there. Instagram? Again...the beautiful photos!  Argh!!

So you decide that it's time to figure out how to take those great photos once and for all. You get out a white board for the base. a piece of white paper clipped to a magazine holder, and set it out on the front lawn.  You then proceed to artfully arrange a bunch of yarn balls and try to take their picture in the blazing sun while lying on the grass. You can't see the pictures you are taking in your camera screen because of the sunlight, so you blindly snap away, hoping at least one will turn out. Your neighbor across the street comes home. You ignore him, as you secretly hope he's ignoring you laying on your lawn in a skirt, snapping photos of yarn balls.

You realize you left the car windows open, so you go to close them and then you realize that you've left the key in the car, playing music for over an hour and now your car battery is dead. Ugh! And things were going so well too.

Ha!  So this was my day, a little ridiculous, right?  I mean, who takes a nap at 10:30am?  Poor little C's been getting up early with her sister to go to the bus stop (her idea, not mine) and she's getting over a cold, so that might explain the early morning nap. And while I'm thankful for naps, I kinda wish she's nap in her bed so I could get some work done inside the house, instead of hanging out in the car with her. 

The pictures of the dryer balls turned out pretty awesome though, if I do say so myself.  I guess the outdoor sunlight really does make a difference!  

I don't even want to show you my previous photos--scary!

Now, if someone would just buy these, it would totally make up for my laying in the yard and draining my car battery.  Thank goodness for having friends who are willing to come jump my car!  

If you're interested in buying them, check out my Facebook page here. 

Or not, that's ok too!  I've realized that I like writing and creating, so if no one ever buys anything, that's ok. But what am I going to do with all these dryer balls?!  That is the million dollar question...I already have a bunch more bouncing around in my laundry right. now. They are really fun to make, so I think I went a little overboard, ha! 

Thanks for reading! 

Until next time,

Keep creating!
Patricia

Surviving Saturday (#1 with no tv)

So my friends, it's that time of year again: Lent. When kids give up candy for 40 days in thanksgiving of Jesus dying on the cross. I'm saving my candy for Easter morning Jesus, thanks!

This year, I decided that my kids should give up screens. But especially our tv screen and Wii screen.  My kids said I should give up my phone screen too, but ironically, that's what I'll using to write this....so I told then I'd cut back and try not to hide and check Facebook while they want to play with me. I'm actually hoping this causes them to play more with each other, because honestly, what else are they going to do?

So usually our Saturday mornings consist of me running out of the house at 9:40 to pick up a box from the produce co-op I'm in, and the kids watch tv from 8am (they are up so early and love tv so much that I had to make the 8am rule or they'd get up at 6, just to watch tv) until I get tired of listening to it and shout at them until they finally shut it off. Then there's a lot of "I'm bored" and "I'm hungry" and "Can we play on the Wii now?". Le sigh. It's exhausting.

So today I was really curious to see how they'd do....And surprisingly, it actually turned out great!

In the morning, instead of watching tv, they painted. Mostly the table, but on paper too. Then they met our neighbor's daughter and her dog outside and chatted with her for awhile. Then lunch. Then begging to go in our unheated pool, and finally playing next to it for a few hours. Their Barbies got to go swimming though, good for them! Then, more playing outside, watering the plants, chalk drawing on the driveway, racing Dad on the road, dinner and then playing a game with Dad, which they were soooo excited about!

Honestly, it was a good day! Once, in the afternoon, they came to me with their best sad faces (they've been practicing-no joke), and asked to watch tv.  But, I was strong and didn't give in, and to my surprise, we lived!  My husband wanted to watch a movie with the kids, but I think he enjoyed playing a game with them, just as much as they did.

So that's Day 4 / 40 technically of no tv, and we've made it so far! Are you giving up anything this Lent?

Valentine's Day cometh

This year the girls got their lists of classmates for their inevitable Valentine's day parties the week of Valentine's. Which is a little strange to me. The teachers know they are having a party, so why don't they hand out the lists earlier?

Now I have to scramble last minute to get Valentine's at the store, which will look something like this:

1. Go to Target, dragging kids who will ultimately get the case of the gimmies.
2. Walk to the back of the store, putting a few things in my cart that I "really" need in too.
3. Stop at Women's clearance, just to see if there's anything there for me.
4. Stop in baby clearance, you know, just to check.
5. Make it back to Valentine's area, spend too much time trying to decide which Valentine's to get...do I get them both the same ones? Why are they sold in packs of 16? Classes are generally bigger than 16. Tattoos or pencils? Stickers? $5?!?! These are pieces of paper for goodness sake.
6. Finally decide on something.
7. Wonder if I need to get the girls something for Valentine's day. Target seems to think so.
8. Get the girls something they ultimately don't need and will not be interested in a few days later.
9. Stop by the food clearance and that one clearance shelf by dog food.
10. Stop by girl's clearance, marvel at how I need to buy the next size up for G, she's getting so tall!
11. Stand in line for checkout, "No kids, we're not buying the little barbies, or mints or candy. Did you not see the Valentine's I just bought you? You will have plenty of candy on Friday. Relax."
12. Contemplate getting pizza from the in-store Pizza Hut.
13. Get it. Regret it, it's not that good. (Once they sold me breadsticks without the sauce.....I mean really? No sauce? Why even put them out if there's no sauce?)
14. Get everyone loaded up in the car, finally and head home. Whew!

And that is usually what it looks like!

But, this year, I held off going to Target until the last possible day. G, my oldest, couldn't wait to do Valentine's, so she made her own, all by herself, out of construction paper and some (probably old) candy she found in our cupboard.

I couldn't bring myself to buy Valentine's for M's class, so I ended up making those too. I figure, I have all these craft supplies, I should start to use them!

I think they turned out pretty cute!! And thank goodness for Pinterest, I would never have come up with that on my own.

And then when I picked her up from school that day, I realized she hadn't handed them all out.  She said she forgot to give them to the other class (there's only 2 classes), so I just left them there and maybe someone would help her hand them out on Monday. I know my kids; bringing home a bunch of little bubbles is just asking for a big mess and bubbles on the floor!

Here's a pic of Marie's Valentine's. Once I figured out how to make a nice looking heart, the rest was easy. Thank you Sharpie and random bag of little bubbles. I don't know why I have you, but thanks!

Under the bathroom sink organizing!

Last week, I was so excited to go out to lunch with a new friend; I got a babysitter and everything!  And then I got a message that she had to cancel due to work. I read her email at 10:30am, and I was supposed to leave at 11am and the babysitter was already on her way.

What's a girl to do with no plans and a babysitter for the kids?!  Shopping of course!

I ended up going to Bed, Bath ad Beyond, and although I felt like the youngest person in there by 30 years (there are a lot of snowbirds where I live), I found some awesome things!

I got this really cool Two Tier Sliding Basket Organizer for $20, and I used it to organizer under our bathroom sink in the master bath.  I was really proud of myself that I actually used it (sometimes I like to just buy things, lol) and that it really worked well since I didn't measure it or anything!  I also got rid of a bunch of stuff we don't use anymore and cleaned the cabinet.  The drawers slide out really nicely too!

I also got a few clip-on shelves for the girl's beds, hopefully to help keep all their stuff off the floor.  It's so hard to clean when there's stuff everywhere!  I also got a over-the-door organizer, a bathtub storage thingy and a few letter trays.  Oh, and a new shower curtain to go with the new paint color I'm putting up in the master bath this week.  I can't wait for that!  Our bathroom is going to be amazing! 

Stay tuned!
~Patricia