New Project completed!

Last week I completed another project and I absolulely love walking by it every day. I was watching Good Things Utah, and they were showing people how to make it and I immediately thought that it would be perfect for my empty wall in my entry way. So I went and got all of the materials that I needed and I started making it. It took me a little bit, because I only had an hour a day to work on it but I finished it on Friday.

It is made out of scrapbook paper that is either rolled up to look like a flower or cut and glued to look like a flower. It also has some croqueted ribbon curled up to make some more flowers. I love looking at this fake flower pot whenever I walk from my bedroom to the living room or kitchen.

Projects

Well today I finished another one of my projects and I thought that I would share the couple that I have finished lately.

The first one is of a table that I started before christmas and was only able to finish a couple of months ago. I was thinking today that the one piece of furniture that I can make that looks could and you can't see the mistakes that I make are tables. I love making furniture, I just wish that I could find the wood for a little cheeper.

The next project that I tackled was a blanket for Kaden. I found this extremely soft fabric on the remnant isle and then I got some more so that it could be larger. It is very nice and I love it hold the blanket because it is so soft.

One day I was thinking about what I would need for the baby and I remembered that I didn't have any recieving blankets. I was able to find fabric for 50% off and I was able to make the 4 blankets, 4 burb rags, and a nursing cover for $40. The receiving blankets that I made are two-sided so they should be really warm.

The last thing that I wanted to have for this baby is a nursing cover. With Dallin and Isaac I just used one of my blankets and it would always fall off and sometimes it would be too hot for the kids. So I found a design of a cover that I liked, but it was $20 on sale, so I decided to make one from the design and here is what I came up with. Hopefully it will work out better than the blankets that I used previously.

The last project that I have tackled in the last few months is a dry erase menu board. I saw this one a different blog and I thought that it was easy enough that I could make it. For the past month or so Jeff and I have made a menu for the week. The problem is that I have been writing it down on paper and then the paper would get lost and we couldn't find it some times. So I this should be better. It will also make it so that Dallin can read what we are having for dinner and maybe he won't ask me 10 times a day as he is doing now.

 I have a lot of projects that I want to do, but the problem is that I don't have the energy and motivation to complete the projects. But with the baby coming a month away, I have to make myself motivated. So next week I should have another one completed. Stay tuned.

New Toy

For christmas I was able to buy Photoshop Elements for around $75. I tried to work with it before and found that I did not know how to enhance photos to really do the job that I wanted so last month I finally bought a book that helps teach you how to enhance your photos for professionals. I sat down today and went through the book and tried a couple of things.

Here are some of the results:

This is the first picture that I did. I got rid of the color and than added a Burned in Edge effect (vignette). I think that it turned out okay, but not my favorite I like the original photo better.

Next, I wanted to try the enhancing a photo by getting rid of the color except for one thing. So I tried it with this flower and it looks good and I really like this effect oh photos.

This is my favorite photo that I have edited so far. I highlighted the rose and then I changed the background to a duotone, and then I added the Burned-in edge effect. I really think it makes the flower pop. I really like how this photo looks and if I can get out to the Salt Lake Temple this Spring when the flowers are in full bloom I will take more photos of flowers and make a whole collage of pictures like this.

Overall, I love the new program especially now since I have a way to make things go a little differently than I thought would be possible. I am also trying to make something where I am going to cut and paste photos families together to make one collage of all of Jeff's brothers. It is hard to get everyone together to get a family photo. The last one that was done was at my wedding, so it is really out of date.

Finally!!!!

About a month ago, I awoke one morning worrying about my kids. I thought that they would have to be freezing because they only slept with fleece blankets (besides the sheet). So I started that morning doing my reasearch on what kind of quilts that I would like to make for the boys. I don't really like the look of most quilts that I have seen in books. Don't get me wrong they look beautiful, but they really don't match my syle. So after I got discouraged from I went to see what the wonderful people of pottery barn do. I wanted my kids to be able to use their quilts when they are teenager so I went to PB Teen and found a couple of patterns that I liked (yes they actually sell quilts) and the boys picked out they pattern that they liked.

Dallin choose this pattern.

We spent almost an hour picking the fabric at Joanns. The fabric that he kept picking was the ones with neon colors on it. It took me awhile to convince him that the plaid was good and then once he agreed it went a lot quicker.

Isaac choose this pattern. The only problem was that within a hour he had changed his mind three times. So I choose for him.

While Dallin took a lot of time Isaac was really easy. While we were picking fabric for Dallin, Isaac had latched on to a piece of orange fabric so all I had to do was go through and pick colors that matched the orange and get Isaac's approval and he agreed with whatever I suggested.

I am excited that they are done and now I can move on to other projects that I have been putting on the back burner while I finished these.

Projects Completed.

Sorry it has been awhile since I have completed these projects and I just forgetting to take pictures and put them up for everyone to see.

This is the first one I completed. This is an apron that iI thought looked really fun to do. The only other apron that I have is one that I won from a fundraiser when I was 13 or 14. So it was pretty small on me so I decided to make another one. The total cost for this apron was $17.54.

This is a pair of shorts that I made. I love to wear shorts during the summer and so I thought it would be cheeper to make a pair than to buy one when I made these a month ago. The are a pink and green plaid. I like them a lot. The total price was around $8.

This is the last project that I completed and the one I love the most. It is a knit dress that has bunching around the belly to hid some of my unsightly belly fat. It is a wonderful dress and I have already worn it twice in the last three weeks. The total price of the dress was around $20.

I had so much fun with these last sewing projects that I decided to make another dress. At the same time I will be helping my friend Jenn Klenk make a dublicate of the knit dress. She got a better deal because she was able to get her fabric for $5. That is a really good deal. I hope to get it done with in the next week and hopefully I will be able to post a picture faster.

Updates on the family

Well it has been a long time since I have posted so I thought that I would give you the updates. First off Dallin has had a couple of cool things happen to him. First off he finally got over his fear of his bike and learned to ride it without his training wheels. He fought a little bit, but I made sure that I kept complimenting him on how well he did. I would run next to him for a little bit with my hand on his back, just in case he fell and he was a little afraid of when I did that. But I finally took my hand off his back and just ran next to him and he got excited that he was doing it all by himself. I am so proud of him. I love to see how his face lights up when he does something that he thinks he can't.

The other thing that he did was that Dallin graduated from Kindergarten. I was a little worried about what he would do for the ceremony, because when he graduated from preschool Dallin spent the whole time sitting down by us and refusing to participate. But this year was different, first off he went to school by himself and Isaac and I showed up later so that helped. He acted a little shy when I pulled out the camera to take a picture of him, but he sat in his chair the whole time and actually sung a couple of the songs. It is amazing to see him grow and get over a few of his fears. He is truly amazing. Below is some of the pictures that I took at the ceremony along with one of his good friends and his teacher.

Isaac has not had much happen to him, but he is still a wonderful boy and getting better at everything that he does. Ever since Dallin finished with school we have been taking a little time to practise and I have tried to teach Isaac a little bit. So we sat down and I was going to help Isaac learn his letters and to my surprise there were very few that he did not know. It is amazing what a child can lean when he spends his time watching PBS kids.

The only other news that I have to report is that I no longer go to work. Dallin and Isaac were being the littler terrors that they can be from time to time and Jeff and I decided that the boys were trying to tell us that they are feeling neglected a little. So I quit and I am now trying to focus my energy on making the boys feel loved. It has been nice so far and I hope that it will continue.

My next projects that I am tackling is that I am going to sew a pair of shorts, a dress and an apron. I know three projects, but I am in the mood for some new clothes and I found a deal on patterns at Joanns today so I took advantage of that and I also got a good deal on some fabric so that those three things will cost a combined total of around $50. It is nice to find savings. I hope that I will remember to put up pictures once the items are finished