Breakfast w/ Santa Invitations

my friend and i are planning a breakfast with santa party for our little ones and some friends :) here are the invites i made...

(outside)

(inside)

i saw the idea here. can't wait for the breakfast!

life lately...

christmas pictures were coming, so i changed up my hair and got bangs.

nathan had his first haircut too!

(click on picture to enlarge)

i went to 3 baby showers within a weeks time. so i whipped up this changing pad clutch for the mom to-be's.  here's the tutorial.

i was put in charge of the awards for our wards annual chili cook-off.

these are wooden blocks that were painted black and decopauged with the title of the catergory. then i found mini cauldrons at party city, glued dried pinto beans in them and stuck a spoon in the top. then spray painted the whole thing gold. they turned out better than i thought :)

i've been sleeping at my sewing machine the past few weeks, and here's why...

my little sister moved in with us and wanted to learn how to sew. so far we've made a skirt and her halloween costume. more to come on this i'm sure!

i was also asked to sew 2 bridesmaids outfits for a friend in the ward. this was my first time sewing anything like this. glad she had faith in me because i gave up many times! lol. first, i learned how to sew satin, she's a mean lady! i learned how to sew real buttonholes :) and i mastered sewing a zipper on. yay for me!

in the midst of all my sewing was halloween. here are our costumes i made this year. we were a family of gnomes :)

nathan LOVED trick or treating! he got the hang of it real quick!

Activity Days

turkey bags here

oreo turkeys here

"corn" here

pilgrim hats here

Soup Can Whisk Clock

jaren made me a clock and i love it!! we ordered the pendulum clock pieces and the fork and knife hands from joanns.com. the soup can we had in our pantry, obviously. and the whisk is from the dollar tree.

here it is in action...

Shower Curtain Ruffle

i love my dr seuss shower curtain i got last year. but it always bugged me that the top seemed not to be finished. i mean, they could have added clouds or a sun or something! so when i saw the tutorial for a ruffled shower curtain, i had to do it and spruce up my blah curtain. when i googled dr seuss fabric, robert kaufmans new collection popped up. but it said it wouldn't be ready until september!! so patiently i waited.... FOR 4 MONTHS! thankfully, when i finally ordered my fabric thru the fat quarter shop, they had very fast shipping and i got it 3 days later :) i love how it turned out!

this was also the first project i was brave enough to try my ruffler foot on. i BEGGED for months for it and finally got it for valentine's day and have yet to use it because it looks so intimidating! YIKES!

but it wasn't and i'm proud of myself :) ruffles everywhere, here i come!

Dump Truck Piggy Bank

saw the idea here and i loved it and just had to make one!

Trick or Treat Bags

for activity days this coming month, we're going to make trick or treat bags. tonight i tested the pattern i found online (for free)

2 down, 10 more to go!

Morro Bay Camping 2010

we went camping this year in morro bay (as usual). it's always nice to start the trip out with nathan falling asleep for most the drive. along the way, we stopped at a campground near atascadero to check it out and found a dead rattlesnake on the road.

nathan loved camping. he was everywhere and wouldn't stop moving. so i did cave in and have to put him in my parents car with a dvd a few times so i could relax.

tradition of course is to visit the aquarium and feed the sea lions. my mom said inflation has really taken its toll on the place. seal food use to be 5 cents and is now 50 cents!

after the aquarium, we headed north past hearst castle to check out the elephant seal sanctuary. it was pretty cool!

then we headed back to morro bay for lunch. you can always spot a few sea lions playing around the docks.

then we headed south towards montana de oro to check out the tide pools. we forgot nathans water shoes. so we only let him play on the smooth slimy rocks. the water was FREEZING! he didn't seem to mind.

and as always, the views are awesome!

recent crafts

picture frame for friends who recently blessed their 4th daughter at church :)

my new kitchen curtains

while camping a few weeks ago, my mom and i discovered the BEST cookie made by the brown butter cookie company in cayucos. when i came home, i just HAD to find the recipe and try my hand at it. no such luck on the exact recipe, so i compiled every recipe i found and used every review suggestion on how to better it and voila! i made them and they rock! the only thing they're missing that the originals had is sea salt.

i found this fleece baby blanket at the 99cent store. i love that place! but the blanket was BLAH! so i crocheted a simple stitch around the edge and appliqued words onto it. (original idea found here) and i love how it turned out!

we made tamales again for a "break the fast" we were having with a group of friends. it's getting to be that time of year soon!

(picture out of order) we recently went down to the LA temple with our ward. have you seen the new re-modeled visitor center? it's AWESOME!

for the break the fast, we also took a dessert. let me introduce you to my new favorite cupcake flavor, CINNABON! here's the recipe for the batter and frosting :) i also tried a new technique when i frosted them. watcha think?

here's what happened to a few cupcakes when i wasn't looking. he had a sand shovel and was scooping them closer to the edge so he could grab them! then he would take off with it!

to me, this is a good craft gone bad. i saw the idea here. and for me, it was much harder than it originally appeared. and i hate how mine turned out :( so good luck to anyone who's going to give this a try!

alterations

i bought this dress that always looked like i was wearing it crooked when i wore a cardigan over it (which was everytime).

so i chopped the top portion off. sewed up the armhole. cut apart my black tank top and made a "band" around my chest area. evened out the ruffles and cut off one tie and turned them into straps instead. it's not the greatest, but looks much better now when i wear my cardigan over it.

Boboli Pizza Party

it's been a month since i had the pizza party i "won". what i did was turn it into a competition amongst the guest and we all voted on which pizza we liked best. the flavors were... margherita (w/ DELICIOUS HOMEMADE PESTO), chicken lime cilanto, pepperoni, basil, taco and spicy ham and sausage. they were all soooo good!

it wouldn't have been a proper kathryn party without favors. jaren and i etched on "man cups" for the guys. and they also make smaller ones that we etched for the ladies.

i also made the house hostess an apron for always opening her door to me and my family :)

real blogging coming soon, i promise!

in the meantime, here's my latest challenge...