Alphabet book Brooke Style

My daughter is 4 and learning to write her letters.  She is kind of struggling a little bit so I had this brilliant idea (I thought so anyway) way back in June and finished it August.  It didn't take me that long literally, I just have been busy. 

Supplies Needed
variety of cardstock 8.5 X 11 cut in half hamburger style
writing paper with the lines and dots on it
glue stick
stickers
laminator or get it laminated
book rings
dry erase or vis a vis wet marker

Okay.  First, I decided on what colors I wanted to use.  I chose a variety of pinks, purples, greens, yellows, and a cream color.  Not very gender neutral but the boy will use it too if it makes it that long.  I cut them in half hamburger style. 

Once I got that done, I cut out of the writing paper rectangles to fit on the bottom of the paper.  I think mine were about 3X4 ish.  I made it so there were 3 lines on it.  I glued it to the bottom half of the paper.  Then with a sharpie I wrote all the alphabet, one letter on each card.  First in solid lines on the first row, on the second row with dots, the third row nothing.  I did that for each letter, each number 0-9, her name, brother's name, and mom and dad's  name.  Once I got that done, you can add your stickers as you like.  Initially, I was going to cut all the letters out of felt and sew them on so that she could have something to trace but I started doing that with the letter A and it was very difficult so I stopped.  Then I took them somewhere to get them laminated.  Once they were laminated, I punched a hole in the corner of each one and put a book ring through them. 

My daughter loves them, she is not to the point where she can do the third line yet.  It makes her feel good that she can write the letters.  She still needs lots of work.  On the top of the paper she can draw things that start with the letter for example and apple for A.  My daughter just mostly draws smiley faces because that is what she can draw.  It is a really good educational things yet they don't even know.  The book ring allows for taking cards in and out if the card gets overused.  When you write on the letters you can wipe them off with a paper towel dry or wet.

Repurposed One Shirt into a New Shirt

Here is the story:

I got a shirt at Kohl's and when I got it, I thought it was cute.  It was $4.  Not bad.  Well, I got it home and tried it on and it reminded me more of nighttime attire.  So I had an idea.   Make a new shirt.  I cut all of the embroidery off the shirt and left the remaining for another project which I haven't quite finished.  Anyway, I went and bought my favorite colored tshirt and laid out the embroider appliques onto the neckline area of the shirt.  I hand sewed them on.  It still needed a little something so I got some ribbon the 1/8 inch type and weaved and twisted and knotted my way through the appliques and across the top of the neckline.  After doing this I decided that next time the ribbon needed to be wider.  You live you learn right?  After I hand sewed the ribbon on I went over it with my sewing machine because it would be sad if all the ribbon came off in the washer.  I then had the idea of adding pearls and beads to the shirt to but decided I liked it this way.  I love how it turned out and when I wear, I get asked a lot where I got my shirt.  That just makes any girl feel good. Right?

This was a little time consuming but I like it and it is unique.  Try one for yourself today!

I need some help with the pictures obviously.  I am still learning

Runner Rug?

I got this idea from Jen @ Tatertots and Jello.  I used placemats, they were what I could find that was the color I wanted and the price.  I ended up paying $2 a placemat, I think.  I used 4 placemats and put brown woven ribbon on one side and a limey green ribbon on the other side.  It was kind of creative sewing and don't look really close.  It was hard to get right to the edges of the ribbon on both sides but I did my best.  I am all about reversible things so this works great.  It is going in my craft/sewing room.  When I get done with it I will reveal the whole thing.  It is going to be nothing fancy, but is taking awhile to gather all of the things I want.

Berries are on!

This was actually a few weeks ago but the berries were on and I made jam.  It is so delicious and very easy to make.

Here's the recipe:

5 cups mashed berries
1/2 cup corn syrup
3 Tbl clearjel
2 cups sugar

I mix the sugar and the clearjel together and kind of sift it to make sure there are no lumps.  Then I add everything else.  We love strawberry, raspberry, raspberry with huckleberries in, and blackberry.  That is all I have tried.  Happy jam making to you.

beach towel bag

I know, beach towel bags again?  This is actually an easy project but hard to explain.  I will do my best. 

Supplies needed
1 beach towel of your choosing
1 regular towel in coordinating color or not cut in half length wise
1 yard of rope

First lay your regular towel out and fold in half hot dog style.  Cut down your fold.  I would suggest serging or zig zagging this side to control the fray before you do anything else.  

Next you are going to fold over the ends of your regular towel that you just cut in half.  Fold over about 2-3 inches.  You will be putting rope through this so make it big enough that it will hold it but be fairly easy.  When you get that done, pin your regular towel onto 1/4 of your beach towel with the part that you will put your rope through above the towel.  Sew the towel on and then fold up the rest of your towel and sew it on.  I put my towel on the white side of the beach towel.  When all sewed up,  fold up beach towel and flip into bag and tada you have a beach towel bag.  You can stuff your flip flops and and extra clothes, sunscreen, a book, whatever it is all there. 

Have fun at the lake with your new towel.

Cinnamon Chip Zucchini Bread

This recipe is so yummy.  I wanted to share and since it has been so long.  Here's to back in the saddle for today!  Courtesy of The Prepared Pantry

Cinnamon chip Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2  tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix ingredients together, add cinnamon chips at the end.  Makes 2 loave pans of the most delicious bread.  Bake for 55-60 minutes.

I sprayed my pans and then floured them. After they got out of the oven I let the bread sweat in the pans a little hoping they would all come out and they did.  Wonderful!

Cinnamon chips are like mini chocolate chips.  You can't eat them plain because they melt at a higher temperature than our body temp.  You will probably not be able to find them in a grocery store.  I order mine through Alison's Pantry They are about 5.99 for about a pound bag.  You can also order the from The Prepared Pantry.  Good luck.  Also, at Christmas I make regular white bread and at the end add the cinnamon chips.  It tastes just like cinnamon burst bread from Great Harvest.  My neighbors love me for it.

Enjoy! 

I miss blogging

I miss blogging.  I really do like my job but it leaves me with not much time for sewing and crafts.  I have lots of ideas but no time.  My sewing machine, I call her Sophia and my serger Janie, they are feeling neglected.  They want some me time.  Summer may be around to stay unless it keeps raining.  I have been getting things done non crafty like laundry and dishes and stuff though.  I guess that is good it doesn't do anything for the creative right brain.  Really the best I can do with the laundry is see how many swirls I can get my soap around the washer agitator.  Pretty boring.  I am however finishing my craft room.  So excited.  Right now it is painted and it waiting for the trim to be hung up on the walls, the floor is done and the room is waiting for some magical touches.  I got a little cubby like thing at the thrift store that still needs some attention for the fabric and then some decorations.  Can't wait, I hope moving day comes soon.  Hope you all have a great Father's Day weekend and hope to see you again soon.

Freezer paper stencils

Here are some more auction items.  They are all freezer paper stencils.  So fun and they turned out so good.  I could make a million, but then what would I do with them all?

Aren't these cool?  The tealish colored one looks better than it is.
 

Auction Items for Reunion

Some of you might be wondering "what the heck are auction items".  In my family, every year we have a family reunion.  One the of things we do while together has become one of the most exciting for many family members.  After lunch on the last day (usually a Saturday), we have an auction.  The money raised goes towards the costs of the reunion.  We have been doing this for about 5 years now and it gets a little bigger every year.

How it works:

When we send out our invitations for the reunion we put a little reminder that we are having an auction and to be working on your stuff.  We try to do this because we do mostly handmade items.  It can be anything you can make and some store bought stuff pops in too (mostly candy).  We have had jewelry, purses, aprons, bridles, cookies, fudge, caramel apples, jerky, Christmas ornaments, pillowcases, coupons for babysitting, really the items cover a wide range of stuff.

In the past, I have made some pleated purses, homemade candy, crocheted scarves, clothes, I can't remember but a variety of things.  This year I actually started a box of stuff that I come across or make for the auction.  When it is done, I put it in the box.  That way I won't have to remember where I put it all.  This year I am making freezer paper tshirts, a table runner with appliques, a bag, and a few other things.  I will post pictures after I get them all done.  So far I have one tshirt done.  It is really fun for the kids.  In fact I think they like it the most.  Every year we have raised about 400-500 dollars.  That pays for our camping sites and part of the food.  It works out for everyone I think.  

Here is one shirt.  I think it turned out cute.  The colors are corally orange, yellow, and a dark purpley plum.  I tried to do these freezer paper style and that worked but the spray paint did not work.  It bled everywhere and I got overspray.  Big mess.  What I did was use acrylic paint and added 1 part of fabric medium to 2 parts paint.  Mixed it up and painted away.  What the medium does is allow the fabric to be washed and to be permanent.  My family made a quilt  7 years ago for my parents for the 40th anniversary with everyone's handprints on and it has been washed several years and not a single one has faded.

Anyway, the paint and medium together worked like a charm.  I have a few more to go and it is so much fun.  My daughter thinks it is great also.  She always wants to help with everything.  Love her.

So look forward to a future post with the rest of my auctions items on display.

Teacher Appreciation Gift

School is out and it is probably too late to post this but who cares, it's my blog.  I had been planning to post about the levi apron but Kim @A girl and a glue gun beat me to it.  I did mine a little different.  On the army side holes I just cut them at an angle, added my fabric to the outside, and then added my kids handprints on the bottom and  put a little poem about ten little fingers in the bag and I was done.  I didn't take pictures.  Sorry.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

Check this video out.  We all need to do this everyday.  Have a great day!

New Dress

It has been a while but my house is clean, kids are fed and I am blogging away.

I got this fabric at Walmart for $1 a yard.  That's right 1 buck.  So I should have bought a lot but I am on a budget so I just purchased what I need.  I think I got 2 yards.  So 2 dollars in so far and I will have a dress.  I had to buy a zipper and matching thread and that was way more than the fabric so I think I did it all for around $8.  Still a good deal and so cute.  The best part...I always cut my dresses a little longer than the pattern so there won't be any growing out of for a while.  This is for my daughter.  She actually likes it.

I used a Simplicity pattern.  I don't always use patterns.  I had this in the stash and I like how the sleeves were.  The dress has tulip sleeves that cross over.  When I follow (mostly) a pattern what that really means is I cut out my fabric using the pieces, look at the directions, find an easier way to put together and add different things, like belts, flowers, shorten, lengthen.  So I guess I really used a guide and then went my own route.  Here are the pictures.

Don't you love the food in the pictures!

Interfacing to the Rescue

Okay, so I am very sorry that my posts have been a little pathetic.  Cleaning mitts, come on we all know I am not a big cleaner,  should be, wish I was, but reality has set in and I am not.  In my dreams, my house is always spotless.  The work thing has caught me a little off guard and hopefully in the next few weeks it will have all settled.  Until then, here is slightly pathetic part 2 or is 24?  I lost count.

I am not a high maintenance girl.  Sometimes I wish I was a little higher to maintain.  The one thing I do is wax my eyebrows.  No, I don't pay for it I do it myself.  A few years ago (more like 7-10) I bought and eyebrow wax kit. 

In the beginning it had strips of papery like stuff that you would cut into strips to use to pull off the hair and wax.  Well, I have since used all the papery things and was left with a whole lotta wax left.  I did not want to throw it away, that would be wasteful and it was still useable.  So for awhile I did nothing, that included not waxing the eyebrows, they were beginning to form hedges.  I looked at all sorts of stores, Target, Wallies, I looked all over and couldn't find any of the strips.  I could find the whole kit again but I didn't want to spend the 8 dollars for the whole kit.  Them the lightbulb came on and it may have flickered a little but finally it was as bright as ever.  I could use interfacing!  I know what you are thinking,  "Seriously Brooke, interfacing to wax my eyebrows, yeah right".  Well you can and I did.

Supplies needed:

non fusible interfacing, the fusible kind might hurt a little bit you know with the iron and all.
home wax kit (for eyebrows)

Simply cut your non fusible interfacing in to 1/2 inch strips about 3-4 inches long.  Heat your wax up.  Apply only in the areas where you would like to remove hair.  Put the strip of interfacing on top of wax and press.  Wait a minute or two.  And...

get ready for it ...

grit your teeth...

brace yourself...

and

Yank or just pull on the interfacing opposite the direction of hair growth.

Then say "ouch that hurt a little bit". 

In the end, this worked great and I have less hedge like eyebrows.  If you have never done this before, go conservative.  Having more eyebrow than wanted is much better than no eyebrows at all. 

This worked for me and if you do this kind of thing, I hope it works for you.  Pathetic it may sound and be but it worked and is a  less expensive option than buying a new kit.

New stuff on etsy shop

I just posted new stuff on etsy. I posted some Moby Style Wraps and hair bows.   Hopefully this weekend I can add some diaper clutch changing pads and some more bags.  Enjoy

Gone but not forgotten

I haven't been around much lately.  I have been busy doing a little bit of everything and is only going to get busier.  I got a full time job. It should be really great.  May even lead to part time in a few months.  We will see.  What this means now is that I have to readjust and change my schedule and ways.  I have been a SAHM for the last four years.  Working from 8-5 is going to be an adjustment but hopefully it will work.  My posting and time for crafts has also taken a definite hit.  I will still try to do this in my spare time, it may be really spare though. 

I would love to host some tutorials from you and your friends.  If you want to do something shoot me an email and I would love to do something.

Here's to change...again and again.

Joy Journal

Today  I am posting about joy.  For those of you who know me you have already heard this.  You can skip this.  For those of you who haven't I guess you can skip too.

I have two kids ages 4 and 1.  After I had #2 I had a case of the blues, post partum depression, I have 2 kids, I am too busy and so on and so forth.  Well at the beginning of this year (my baby is really almost 2) I decided that I needed to get over it and move on.  I had kind of decided that I really wasn't enjoying life as a mother or even as a me.  The kids were stressing me out, lots of bawling, remodeling the house, you name it.  Everyone kept telling me that it will get better, but in my mind it never would.  So when I decided to get over it, I needed something to focus my time on and a whole lot of other things.  I started this blog, I decided I needed to spend some time on my hobbies (if I remembered what they were) and start to enjoy life.  I started a joy journal.

You can use anything for your joy journal.  You can make your own notebook, use a tablet, type it on a blog, your own personal journal, use pictures if that what you like.  I use a notebook I got at Michael's for a buck.

At the start of this i would write everyday or every few days.  The more I wrote the easier it was to see the joy everyday, in the kids, the hubs, it is really everywhere we just need to look for it.  It won't find you, you have to find it.  Anyway,  they were just simple things like laughter, smiles, loving family.  They were things I don't always notice and that I have come to take for granted.  Go for it, try it and make your own joy journal and see if it changes your outlook.

The Happiness Project Book by Gretchen Rubin, talks about this.  It is a good book by the way.  For me, by doing this little things has made me realize I love being a mom, having fun with the kids, and that is did get better and continues to in different ways.

Here is a little thought shared by yours truly for a post Mother's day thought.

We become mothers for a variety of reasons I guess. Sometimes as I go throughout my day and have a zillion things go wrong or worse think I am crazy, I wonder why I signed up for this thing called motherhood.

You find out you are pregnant and you and your husband are elated. It is exciting to have a baby. The moment you first feel it kick or that you find out if you are having a boy or girl. What is there not to be excited about. Nothing. You didn't think about how the baby was actually going to get out of the womb and then nobody tells you anything about the after effects of having the baby. You know what I am talking about, the weight gain, trying to shed the weight gain, breastfeeding, getting no sleep, trying to figure out if the baby is hungry or just exactly why it is crying and don't even let me get started on the hormone changes your body decides to go through at this time too. It is pure bliss.

As months go by you think you have the hang of this baby thing. You pride yourself on being able to get 6 hours of sleep or even better go throughout the day with less sleep and try not to be too ornery. That is just when it begins. No one tells you will become the person that takes away their bottle, their precious and most loved binky, their blanket if they happen to have one, change them from a crib to a bed, and yes potty train them. The bottle, I could do. It seemed to be a fairly easy transition to deal with, even the bed wasn't that bad, the binky on the other hand it is a little bit harder. They get so attached to it. It is the equivalent to mountain dew for some people or perhaps a cigarette for others. I mean, we all have our vices, we just don't realize what they are to us until we have to give them up.

I decided to potty train today so we left somewhere and came back and took a nap and after that we put panties on which was about 4pm. Well, at 8 pm we had already gone through 4 additional pairs of panties and it doesn't seems to phase her too much. I have kept my patience though. Tomorrow is another day and we will start again. Motherhood.

So anyway, my point in all of this is that we didn't sign up for all of these other things that we have to do along the way. But at the end of the day, I get to look at the most beautiful thing as I put her to bed 2 hours late because she won't stay in bed. And the minute they hand you your newborn baby in the hospital that moment is a moment you will never forget how you felt. Just like Heavenly Father said, I never said it would be easy, it will be worth. Jesus Christ gave his life for us and it was worth it to him to make that sacrifice for me. Motherhood may not be easy, but is always worth it. It is so pleasing to me every time my daughter does something that I know I have taught her or when she turns around and has two binkies stuffed in her mouth, or when she really does want to hold your hand to walk across the street, or when she says please and thank you. Even though several times a day I think it will just be a few more days before they admit me to the nut house I become a mother because that is my divine role, because these are the moments that I have waited for, and because I love it.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all you crafty Momma's.  Good work on keeping everything fun and making it look so easy. Hope everyone has a great day!

Balance

Hello all,

I am really trying to find some sort of balance in my life right now.  The kids, the house, the blog, the yard, and the whatever else.  I have realized although I want to post something everyday, I really don't think I can.  I have two kids ages 4 and 1.  My husband owns his own construction business which I do the books, I am in the primary presidency, I drive for preschool,  and a whole lot of others in the mix.  I know you all are busy too, but I can't let this take over the majority of my life when I have more important things (kids) to attend to.  I am really going to try to post 2-3 times a week.  If I can sneak in more I will.  There is certainly not a lack of ideas, they seem to flowing freely.  I just really need to have a balance of something.  I wanted to do this because I thought it would be a fun thing to do, but to also release some creative juices, and a release from the mundane household tasks I do.  So if you don't see something new, check back I am around.  I love my followers because it makes me keep going.  For awhile there, I thought maybe no one was looking.  Slow and steady wins the race.

How do you all balance your time, kids, blogs, and everything else we do?  Let me know some great ideas.

Jewelry Box Redo

Arghh!

I am tired and I obviously need help.  I can't get my photos to show up.  If I don't post your button or image it is not because I don't like you or want to it is because I am very technically challenged and can't figure it out.  Any help would be great.
Thanks in advance