Busy October

Doesn't it seem like sometimes life gets in the way? I've been wanting to blog for a week now... but never seem to find enough time to do it (the only reason I have time now is that I'm stuck in bed with horrible back pain - sometimes I'm forced to stop). We have our bedroom torn apart (carpet torn up) trying to figure out where a leak is coming from. My father-in-law came up from California to help us out (thankfully) and he's been sealing everything he can on the outside of house. We also had a roof issue (did I mention that we have a fairly new house - just 4 years old). Hurray for family!

We've been very fortunate that while things are falling apart a little... we've had luck on our side and it hasn't caused a huge disruption. But as it always is in October, things have been hectic.

We attended the EtsyRAIN Halloween party over the weekend and my husband and I won the costume contest (we were the Wonder Twins). Now proud owners of purple sweatsuits with classy collars! It was a lot of fun - but only the precursor to a very busy Halloween week.

Halloween party in my daughter's classroom tomorrow and I'll be helping in my son's on Friday. I'm taking advantage of having my husband's parents in town and trying to work in the kid's classrooms while I can. We still haven't made it to the pumpkin patch. Don't think it's going to happen this year. Hopefully I'll at least be able to pick a pumpkin up from the market so that we can carve it before Halloween. We'll see how my back cooperates.

While I've done little work these last two days, I have a lot on my plate. I have several dresses to post (and a hood) and even more in the works. I've taken a small break from costumes and hope to get back into production at the beginning of next week to gear up for the holidays.

It's such a busy time... and aside from my house still suffering, I'm loving it. Looking forward to a fun holiday season!

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Wordless Wednesday - Robbie's Word Search

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Fall is here

Lately, I've been inspired by the cooler and breezier weather that we get here in the Pacific Northwest during the fall. I'm also inspired constantly by my growing stash of tshirt scraps. So... here's the latest creation - you can find them in the store now!

I made these hooded scarves with teens in mind... although they fit all sizes. I only have young ones to model for me... but these do fit me as well. I figure my son is a good example, as that boy has a large noggin :) They can be found in my Etsy shop: NueToMe.

I hope to have more added after Halloween. I've been crazy busy making custom orders for the World of Whimm shop these last few months... now I have to take a break from custom orders and get my kid's costumes made.

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Muffin Tin Monday - No Theme

Is it possible for my busy schedule to get even busier? I feel like it has. This weekend, we did the muffin tin for the kids. 1 - so that I wasn't trying to fit it in after the pumpkin patch excursion that Lyssie's class has... and 2 - because Robbie never gets to participate anymore. Oh, and then there's the simple fact that it's one of the easiest things to serve when you have a refrigerator fill of random items.

Contents: Ham sandwich on the best bread ever (Oroweat Sandwich Thins), carrots, Macaroni and Cheese (this one is Easy Mac), raisins and cranberries, and whole grain wheat thins.

Remember to check out the other Muffin Tins this week! We are off to the pumpkin patch - the nice wet and muddy pumpkin patch... fun!

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5 Little Pumpkins

I've been meaning to spend more crafty time with my daughter while her brother is at school. My son and I used to do these things all the time when it was just the two of us - but with the addition of his sister, it just never seemed to fit well into our schedule. Now, I'm forcing it into my schedule. It was a good thing that I chose today to do this. While she and I were in the middle of our project I got a call (thankful I had my phone working again) from my son's bus driver. Apparently, today was a short day and I missed him at his bus stop. After picking up a distressed kid... I was thankful that I had a project already planned to distract him.


We started off my making pumpkin faces with the print out from here. I printed it up on orange paper since it was originally for my daughter and I wanted to make it simple for her (I would have lost her interest if she had to color it as well).

Then I made a page with 5 pumpkins on it (I'm including the picture of them in the hopes that you can click on it and print it. If not, I took the pumpkin clip art from here - and then changed the shape of it and flipped it a few times to make each pumpkin different.


I had the kids cut the pumpkins out first (this was my primary objective - to get my daughter cutting something other than confetti). I worked with her on how to hold the scissors correctly and how to turn the paper while cutting. It took us a bit, but I think she did a great job, never cutting into the pumpkin... and not cutting herself or me! Then I had them make a face on each pumpkin. We taped Popsicle sticks to the back of the pumpkin - and voila! They have their own set of The Five Little Pumpkins.


My daughter chose to glue googly eyes on hers... but my son insisted that googly eyes would just be too silly for halloween.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Muffin Tin Monday on Tuesday - AGAIN

Yep, still behind. But, I've decided that being behind is okay. My mom and aunt were in town until yesterday, so getting back onto a schedule the very next day seems pretty good to me. Lyssie got hungry early this morning and I needed something easy to make her.

Yesterday's Muffin Tin Monday theme was kabobs... so I did my best. I really only had toothpicks (until I remembered the picks that I have for bento lunches). Luckily doesn't know what the theme is... and she doesn't know what a kabob is. I do have to admit that she was a little annoyed that I "tied" her ham up.

Contents: Chicken "kabob", grape "kabob", edamame and carrot "kabob", ham "kabob", strawberry yogurt (I thought that this would be a treat because she used to love it... but she informed me today that she doesn't), string cheese (I got tired of kabobing)

It's busy day today. I have tons of things to list, a house that is even worse than it was last week and I'll be working on the EtsyRAIN show this afternoon. In addition, we have our normal Tuesday schedule with homework and karate after school. Good times people!

Don't forget to visit Her Cup Overfloweth for more muffin tins!

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Even better, she's here in town and we got to celebrate it with her. Never knowing what to get my mom, I made her a gift. She does a lot of the knit bands that you see throughout my World of Whimm store. She often knits them while she is in the car driving between their home and my brother's. So, I decided a knitting bag to make it easier would be the perfect gift.

I really like how it came out and hope to make one for myself one of these days. I used a showroom floor sample that had grommets already in it. I lined the grommets up so that she could thread the yarn through the holes. I paired the fabric sample with a loose weave muslin. There are small straps on the inside if she wants to carry it along with her and a pocket inside for the knitting needles and a pair of scissors.

She used it the other day when we were driving to Auburn for my cousin's wedding - and it seemed to work great. The yarn didn't get all tangled up (which happens frequently when you are working with the fun fur).

So, Happy Birthday Mom! Maybe by my birthday in February I'll get around to making one for myself.

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A week in Bentos

Well, he buys three days a week right now, so there really are only two bentos to share. So, not exactly a week in bentos.

Contents: steamed carrots, pepperoni, ham sandwich, grapes and Japanese cookies.

This one was apparently devoured because all I got back were some very clean muffin tin liners. It's nice since lately, I've been getting bento boxes back with a few things still left in them.

Contents: grapes, edamame, peanut butter and jelly sandwich and goldfish crackers.

I'm sure this didn't look the same when he opened it up today, but I really wanted to give him a little bit more of something... but ran out of room. So, that's why I added the fish. I've been trying to stick to just one little box because he runs out of time and gets upset that he can't finish. Plus, he now gets a snack when he gets home from school which we never did before. But the snack helps decompress him when he gets home and it tides him over until dinner.

Funny, with my tightening schedule... my blogs seem to center around food. I do have great ideas of other blogs... then just never seem to happen. I am also slowly working on more tutorials. So much I want to do, so little time! I'm sure after Halloween things will slow a bit in the stores and I'll get back to my routine. I keep saying that don't I? Get back to my routine... haha, I think being off a routine is my routine.

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Muffin Tin Monday - All About Me!

Or rather, it's all about her. I only feed one child these days for lunch, and today's Muffin Tin Meal was "All About Me" - so today, I did a muffin tin meal all about Lyssie.

I took a picture after I made it - then proceeded to delete if off the computer after I uploaded it. By the time I went back to take another photo (maybe two minutes had lapsed), she had eaten all the carrots that were in one of the spaces. Oh well - told you these are her favorite foods :)

Contents: Milk in a pink cup, goldfish crackers (a treat since I never buy them), quesadilla wedges, carrots (that's what was in the empty one), strawberry yogurt (the only way she can really have fruit), string cheese circles and an "A" ham for Alyssa (she's currently loving ham).

She came home from school a bit sick today, so it was the perfect day to do something with all her favorite foods. Of course, I'm not sure she's really hungry - so we'll see how much of it she manages to eat.

Remember to check out Her Cup Overfloweth for more muffin tin meals!

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Process

I've been wanting to take before and after pictures of my dresses for a while. The problem is that I often don't know what I'm going to do ahead of time... so I have a hard time taking the before photo. Today I decided that I would at least start with a before photo of the shirts that I thought I might use. It worked out. I used the two that I took the picture of... plus a few things from my scrap bin.

The clover pajamas were inherited from a friend of mine. It was at the end of her garage sale and she was packing things up to be donated. I loved the pattern and thought it would be cute on a dress. The pieces were small, so it involved a lot of cutting.


I played with putting the clover fabric on the sleeves... but it was a little too much. So I used it for the ruffle instead. I had to piece several strips together and ended up using the entire pajama top to make it a nice full ruffle. I have zig-zagged the edges to make it a little lacy on the bottom of the ruffle.


Because the bottom of the shirt was just as busy as the top, I opted for white sleeves (pulled from my scrap box). I added a green flower on the bottom made from about 10 small hearts.

After lots of indecision, cutting, and sewing... this dress ultimately took me just under two hours. Which, is about average for a dress. I spent a lot of time debating on covering the "s" in "charms" - I thought it would be cute if it said "Lucky Charm". However, the placement of the "s" made things look a little awekard there and I'm not sure it would have translated correctly once it was on a child. It's a size 3T and will probably be listed in the store some time this week.

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Baby Icing

Last month we put a few of our items in the new Baby Icing shop that just opened in Burlington. We visited the shop recently to snap a few pictures and to check it out. While my pictures aren't great, the store is adorable.

The kids enjoyed the shop because she had a little corner with a tv, chairs and toys.

She had lots of unique items, so I'm pleased that my costume pieces fit in nicely. If you live in the Burlington area... or if you are every just passing through. I recommend stopping in and checking out what she has to offer.

Baby Icing - 404 E Fairhaven, Burlington, WA 98233

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Week of bentos

Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of all the bentos - but I remembered a few of them. Of course, I'm not sure why I keep taking pictures of them when they include basically the same ingredients... just in different places.

Bento #1 - Robbie tries Nutella. It's a big hit. This is a Nutella and strawberry sandwich. Also included is string cheese, wheat thins (multi-grain), carrots and a treat in the egg (it's just a few chocolate chips)

Bento #2: Ham sandwich on the yummiest hamburger buns ever! They are flat, multi-grain buns and they are good for both burgers and sandwiches. Smoked almonds and string cheese.

For October, Robbie is wanting to buy lunch three times a week. This has yet to me approved by dad. But I'm not sure if this is because he misses warmer lunches, is tired of my bentos, or is just enjoying buying lunch at school. But at least he's been eating the things that I do send with him. I guess I can't ask for more than that.

Looking forward to a nice, unplanned weekend. Hoping to get some cleaning done as we will have my mom and aunt visiting at the end of next week. This house is in no condition for visitors. Of course, it's also in no condition for my friends to come over - but I'm doing that anyhow. I have the nicest friends ever! They will be watching the kids tonight so that my husband and I can have a night out. Yay for great friends!

Have a great weekend!

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