My recent DIY projects

I feel like I've been overcome with the crafting bug lately. I have little desire to clean during nap time like I really should. Instead, when I get a little mommy alone time (it is precious and much coveted time), these projects have been born. Take a peek if you care!

This first one is our new dresser. I couldn't be happier with it. We found it at our Stake rummage sale for $30! It was already in pretty good shape, but with a little wear and tear. I should have taken a "before" picture, but I forgot. My sweet husband fixed it up for us, added a little stain to the worn spots, fixed the broken drawers, and shined it up. I love it! (Please excuse the clutter of my room. Our apt. is really small and my craft table is jammed in our bedroom. Also, Kassidy was watching a movie when I took this pic).

This is my new church bag. I've been wanting to make this for months! I finally got around to it, and I have to say I'm very pleased how it turned out. It's made out of a thicker, home decor fabric with interfacing between the layers, so it stands up pretty well on its own. I put some cardboard in the bottom between the layers too for a more durable bottom.

Add some pockets for those much needed church trinkets, and there is the perfect bag for my primary binders and papers.

This projects was for my kids to play with quietly at church or whenever. I found the idea here. They are dinosaur play mats, complete with a drawstring bag to hold the dinos.
Finally, here are my decorative pillows for my bed. Made from home decor fabric, and my first time doing piping (or cording, whatever you call it). It was actually a lot easier than I expected, and I was satisfied. I cut open to smooshed and ugly Walmart pillows and stuffed the stuffing in these babies. So they're a little lumpy, but they do the job. Not sure why the pictures are a little fuzzy though...

I have a list of many more projects, and fabric galore in my craft stash waiting to come to life. Happy crafting all!

Giants Game

The Saturday before Easter we were lucky enough to get to go to a Giants baseball game. Our old next door neighbors gave us 2 pairs of his season tickets because he knew Kevin was such a huge Braves fan and the Giants were playing the Braves Saturday. It was the perfect birthday present, and Kevin and Britanna happened to be here to join us!

The weather was perfect, the seats were A-MAZING (12th row on the first base line), and the game was great (especially since the Braves won)! We had a great time, and despite Korbin, Kevin and I still feeling sick, we had a perfect day. We even got a little sunburned. Go Braves! Go Giants!

Cutest little rally baby ever!

Here's a good braces shot if you haven't seen yet ;)

The kids were pooped after a long day and were both asleep by this point.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year, full of good food and even better company. The only thing that could have been better was if we were all feeling better. Sickness hit our home for the past week and a half and is finally gone. Yay! I hate being sick and hate even more when my kids are sick.

My little brother Kevin and his wife Britanna came to visit us for Easter and brought with them many goodies from Utah grandma's, making Easter at our house seem a bit like Christmas :)
Korbin got a cool bike that turns into a walker. He's mastered going backwards, but is very frustrated that he can't make it go forwards.
Kassidy had a very Tangles Easter and was thrilled! She's already watched this movie more than 8 times this week already.
Here's my cute brother and his beautiful wife. They were troopers to camp out in our living room and put up with our sickness and limited space.
We also celebrated Kevin's 29th birthday on Easter. Happy birthday babe! It was the first time his birthday's ever fallen on Easter. His big present was going to the Giants vs Braves game the day before, which I'll post about later. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful father and husband in our lives. We love you Kevin! (And I finally got a picture of the braces. Sorry babe!)
We took an Easter Sunday trip to show my brother the Oaklyn temple. Here's my little Rapunzel playing in the fountain.

Later we had an easter egg hunt at my uncle's house, complete with a pinata that I made to look like an easter egg. I have to admit it was a fun waste of 8 hours since the thing was destroyed within 30 seconds. But Kassidy enjoyed it, which was the whole point.

Egg heads :)

We had a great Easter, and of course taught Kassidy to the true meaning of Easter. She loves the part where Jesus comes back alive. I love how much this little girl is learning in Primary and repeats back to us. She and Korbin light up my life and make every day wonderful. I'll have more posts to come about our time with Kevin and Britanna here soon.

Delinquent blogger

I've been quite the delinquent blogger of late. Blame it on a sick house. It's Kevin's spring break this week and part of next week and of course, everyone at our house got sick. But of course not all at once. We decided to drag it out and stagger it so it's not all over at once! Poo. I'm tired and ready for everyone to be healthy again because we have a fun weekend planned and lots to do. Anyway, I've been working on some projects I need to post and have lots of cute pictures, but no motivation. If you're one of the 2 people who care (Grandma :), just know I'm getting to it!

Quiet Book

After 3 months of work on this project, it's FINALLY done!! I am so relieved to not have to work on it anymore, and very happy with the end result. My friend had the idea back in January of making a felt quiet book. We took on the challenge, aided by the internet and other people's fabulous ideas, and went to work.

I lost steam about a month into it and the book sat on my craft table unfinished, only to be resumed a few weeks later. I decided to take the long route and sew everything. I've seen some books like this where the maker used "wonder under" and ironed the pieces on. I want my book to get many years of good use, so I sewed everything.

This book took countless after bedtime hours, but I think it's worth it. Next step, I'm going to make a bag for miss Kassidy to carry this baby in to church. She loves it by the way, so it's a success. Here are some pictures of the pages if you're interested.

Snap on shape page.

Barn with adorable finger puppets inside.

Tic Tac Toe board with velcro pieces. Surprisingly, this was the easiest page to make, and it's also Kassidy's favorite page to play with. Go figure!

Counting flower with velcro.

Stackable ice cream cone with a pocket to hold ice cream and toppings.

There's a flavor for any taste!

Button on bubbles. (this was a last minute page because I needed one more. I don't love it, but it works)

Find the mouse doors and windows. This idea was my cute husband's. He was excited to contribute and came up with many more ideas after I was done with the book. I may be adding more pages after I've recovered for a few months :)

There it is!

Hand goes in the mitten.

Kassidy doll.

Kassidy doll's clothes line and laundry basket.

Build a snowman. The pieces just sit on the flannel square.

Here's the pocket to keep the snowman pieces.

Crayon pockets.

Notebook and pen pockets.

Back zipper pocket with Mr and Mrs. Potato Head-like faces with pieces. I'm making a few more accessories and appendages.

*I got some of my ideas HERE....HERE...and HERE.

Need to be BIG

My "little man" isn't so little anymore. It makes me sad to think how in a few short years he'll be a teenager (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little)!! But seriously, this little guy amazes me every day by the things he's learning and doing. He wants to do everything big sis does, even though he's not even crawling yet. We love you Korbin and are so glad you're in our family :)

P.S. Another new post is below this one.

Eagle Scout

Last Sunday my cute cousin Blake and 6 other boys in our ward received their Eagle Scout awards. For those of you not familiar with the scouting world, this is the highest award you can receive as a scout. It means hours of work, projects and service and is quite the accomplishment. We were so glad we could be here to see Blake receive this award. It was a neat night, with my uncle Scott awarding each of the boys. He's been a huge part of helping Blake receive this award and is a big advocate of the scouting program.

I found this wonderful quote by President Ezra Taft Benson, former President of our church (1953-1961). I love it and wanted to share it:

"Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned his Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life."



Way to go Blake!!