Festive Projects

I've been sewing. Nothing major, just a couple of quick projects. I have my next sewing project planned out, but I cannot find the stinkin' pattern. I dug through all of my sewing stuff last night and it's no where to be found. I guess I'll just have to buy it again. I'll look through everything once more before I do that though. Grrrrr.

Placemats that are supposed to look like Christmas Ornaments and a little fabric basket. I told you it was nothing too exciting. :p I just love that little fabric basket. It's quick and easy. It would make a great gift filled with some baked goods, don'tcha think? Wanna make one yourself? Here's how.

I snapped a few pictures of Liberty jumping on the trampoline. She loves to jump. She seriously needs a hair-cut. I just love her hair though. She's 4.5 and has never had a hair-cut. We keep saying we're going to do it, but I just can't make myself get it done! The current plan is to get it done when we're in NY for Christmas. The stylist who cut Mikayla and Benjamin's hair is there, so we might as well stick with tradition, eh? We'll see. I still have time to change my mind. :p

While I was snapping photos, I should have taken a picture of the February Lady Sweater. It's going quite well! The thing I'm struggling with now is, how long do I make it? Since it's not for me, I can't just try it on. Mom is a few inches shorter than I am. So, anyone who has made a size large and is about 5'4" care to tell me how long they made the body before blocking?

Shhhhh....it's a secret

I am 90% finished with my Christmas shopping. Since we're moving three days before Christmas, I've been stressing over shopping. It's been the last thing on my mind when I have went to bed, and the first thing on my mind when I wake up. I hate that. I know it's just been because I have so little control over much of my life right now, but I'm glad I don't have to think about it anymore. I have a few little things to pick up for the kids, some gift certificates for extended family, and that's it. My Mom will be getting several boxes delivered to her house next week. It will be so weird not going shopping in the stores this year, but alas, it is what it is. :-) I do have a few things I'm planning to make, so I'll have plenty to keep my busy between now and then. Even though we're down to less than 2 months until we move, I know it is going to go by so quickly. After five years at the same duty station, I am ready to go. I'll miss my friends here, but geez louise, I've had itchy feet for a couple of years now! ;-)

Paper Crafting

I've been knitting, but still haven't taken a picture of my current work in progress. I'll try and get that done later this week. The project is coming along nicely, but there's one problem. My Mom has been shrinking. She's lost about 20 pounds in maybe 4 weeks? It's sickening. Then there's me...takes me over 2 months to lose 20 pounds. Geez Louise. Anyway, here's what I've been doing lots since Mike left...paper crafting.

That may or not be my Christmas card for this year. So, if you usually get one from me, pretend you didn't see this. :p I signed up for a Christmas Card swap with my private swap group. Hopefully the other ladies like it. I kind of wonder how I ever scrapped or made cards before I got my Cricut Expressions? HA!

Next...a mini-album made with the Close To My Heart File Folios. Really, they're just a 12x12 file folder. So, if you've got one of those laying around, you could easily replicate this little book. This is actually the second one I made. The first, I sent to Mike for his birthday last week. He likes sentimental stuff like this, so he was pleased to get a little surprise in the mail. When he was in Iraq, I sent him an album that went everywhere with him. Even out on missions. ;-) Anyway, this one, I mailed to my Mom today. She'll appreciate it, as she says I don't mail her pictures anymore, I just e-mail 'em. Does anyone mail pictures anymore???? This is the album closed:

This is the album open, showing the little tags that pull out:

This is another little album I made. I haven't added pictures yet though. I'm thinking some black and whites of the kids would be super cute. I'm planning to make several as gifts. We give most of our extended family gift cards for Christmas. We haven't always done this, but it gets too hard to know what to buy for people we hardly see. Plus, it costs a lot to ship all of that stuff. So, my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law and my brother will be getting these little albums full of pictures of the kids, along with a gift card for Christmas. I'll probably give one to my Mom too, 'cause she'll have a cow if I don't. :p

Closed:

Open:
Each envelope has a tag that pulls out to hold a photo too. Super fun, super cute, and super quick!

For those of you American Girl fans looking to start your shopping a bit early, here's a code for you. It's $10 off a $30 purchase. You can use it as many times as you want. So, you can purchase $30 worth, submit your order and repeat! Code: 159926 Don't forget to check the sale section! They don't have much for the 18" dolls, but they have some cute stuff for the Bitty Baby/Bitty Twins!

Yee-Gads

I've been a bad blogger. Very sporadic. Geez Louise. My dh is gone again, so hopefully I'll have time to blog more faithfully. Although, I'm not sure I'm interesting enough to blog more than once per week. :p

We took a couple of field trips over the last couple of weeks. One to the Columbus Museum, and one to the Montgomery Zoo. We've been to the zoo lots of times, but the kids still love it. We're planning to go again in December, as soon as Mike gets home. It'll be the last time we go before we move. Atleast there will be a zoo closer to our house once we move...no more driving nearly 2 hours just to see some animals.

Katie also celebrated her 12th birthday. We started the day with presents, then took her to get her hair cut. She had been growing her hair for months...maybe even a couple of years? She wanted to donate it to Locks of Love. She really hated her hair long, so she was so glad to get it cut. She looks so much more grown up with her shorter hair-do.

Before:

After:

I really should take another picture of her. I like it much better the way she styles it rather than the way the hair-dresser styled it.

In knitting news, I've started a new project. I was hoping to share some photos of it with you today, but it's raining outside. In order to get the true effect of the heathers, I think it needs to be photographed with natural light. So, maybe in a day or two.

I'll share a couple of my favorite photos from the zoo...