The Dresses on Vacation...

Our California Vacation...

I made these dresses from Sandi Henderson's clair pattern. I have also added this link toShabby Nest, because what can be more frugal than homemade dresses? Here we are in California. I wanted to take the girls to the beach with the dresses for a little photo shoot. That didn't really happen. But I do LOVE the first photo here. I will definitely be putting that up.
Sophie being adorable in the Ocean. She LOVED it!

She loves posing for the camera. She doesn't need to do much to be adorable!


The plan was not to use the dresses as swimwear, but what do you do? I had this vision in my head of these gorgeous photos by the beach, but the girls were drenched in minutes. I got a different kind of photo shoot, and I adore the photos we got. What do you expect with four little crazy children?

Hope you all like how the dresses turned out. Just looking at the photos makes me want to sew!

Drop it like it's hot

We LOVE linky parties, and below are the places we regularly link and party!  Check them out, you can find some amazing things!!

MONDAYS:

TUESDAYS:

WEDNESDAYS:

THURSDAYS:

FRIDAYS:

My After projects...

Over at the Inspired room there was a little before and after challenge for all the procrastinators out there.

My first project...this cute hat. My second knit hat, here is my first knit hat. I have been wanting to learn to knit for a while, and I am finally doing it. Love my little cute nephew more than the hat though.... and I made myself a promise, must finish completely a knit project before starting a new one!

My second project are these cardboard magazine boxes I got from target $1 spot like 7 months ago because I could recover them cute. Finally after like $8 in decorator papers (I sort of messed up and didn't cut out for opposite sides of the box...they are done. All I did to cover them was decopauge...may favorite! Not a cheap project, but love the finished result...

Here is the finished result.... They look so cute in my craft room that I am almost ready to unveil to you all... (that is one project that requires more husband help, so I will blame it on him!)

Hope you like my projects, small, but sometimes it is the small ones you never get to!

A new Dress for Sophie!

Okay, do you love her face better or the dress???? This is the same Sandi Henderson Claire pattern used here. The pattern was so easy and cute and fun, I decided to make a dress for Sophie out of the leftover fabric from a quilt I recently finished (you will see this soon...). This line was probably my favorite of last year. It is called House by Annette Tatum for Freespirit. So pretty and vintage. Blues and browns, and pinks and browns...LOVE IT!

I just added a little pinafore to this by serging it into the waistband. I cute a simple rectangle, did a rolled hem around the edges, and sewed on two strips of ric rac. Was not any harder, but much cuter, I think I will add one to any more of these dresses I make.

The fabrics in this line are so soft and sweet. Vintage florals, ticking stripes, sweetest colors LOVE!


Just a little close of of the top. The elastic thread is magical, the shirring is SO simple, check out Sandi Hendersons blog for an easy how-to.

A good supply of binky's is what makes this little girl happy. What could be better? I wonder how long it will take her to completely destroy this dress....hmmm, don't underestimate this little pip squeaks power!

I will be linking this to A Soft Place to Land

A Beautiful Quilt

We are linking up with Beautiful Life Friday at The Inspired Room. We hope you like our quilt and our blog, take a look around!

As Heather showed with Sophie's Quilt, our mom makes gorgeous quilts for our babies. She made this quilt almost 2 years ago and I love it! The fabric is mostly Shagri La by Moda. I love the greens and blues together on a cream background. She adjusted the pattern a little to make it longer instead of square, and I love that because I will be putting this on his soon-to-be toddler bed. Here is a close up shot, we put his hand print on it, which I adore of course! He was several months old when we did it, so no, that's not a newborn's hand.
This fabulous quilter, our momma, has designed a new pattern for us, and it is amazingly cute! You can see the pattern and picture on our sidebar, it's called Snakes, Snails and Weiner Dog Tails.

Bulbs in my yard!!!!

Southern Hospitality is having a linky party too....and I guess I just like going to parties (at least in cyber world...) Anyhow it is for "what I found this weekend" and I think most people will post their shopping goods, but I am posting my bulbs, because they made me really happy :) I cut just one of these pretty pink tulips down, because I couldn't dare cut the few I have. It looks so pretty in my kitchen, just a single tulip...

I think these tulips are called "Queen Mary?" Or "Queen of the Night?"

My first year for the pretty Hyacinth....smell yummy too!

Love daffodills, but only butter yellow ones, I don't love the bright yellow ones...

And my crocus (Ugly name, but cute little flowers too, first ones up, through the snow!)

And don't feel bad about my garden, the reason I took these photos at such a wide aperature is so the background would fade out and you wouldn't see the rest of my weedy ugly yard...( and I am not just saying that, ask Megan!) And PLEASE come visit the rest of our blog FRESH POPPY DESIGN...we have tons of decor, crafts, and of course quilts! (was that a bit desperate?)

Makeover Staircase...

This is going up my staircase and before it was just a huge wall because it is all the way up to the top of the second floor. I knew I wanted to do something here. I took my favorite photos, made them black and white and got them printed. Then I waited for a fantastic sale on some frames I liked, and finally JoAnn's had a clearance on all these frames that are sparkley and vintage looking. I bought them all. Hope you like this makeover. We would love you to come check out the rest of our blog and become a follower! We have a lot of decorating, crafting, and quilts!

PS I am also linking up with The shabby chic cottage

also The Stories of A to Z, check them out!

Thrifty decor ideas

My son's room has tons of decorations in it, and it was all done very inexpensively. I use a lot of scrap fabrics and papers when I decorate.

This was a gift my sister made, a growth chart we can take wherever we go. Her husband cut and built the frame, she decoupaged paper on the inside and painted the numbers. Now I added the vinyl lettering of my son's names, and I'm keep track of their height on the sides! I absolutely love this. I made these flags from leftover fabric to go across the rail of the "loft". I just used pinking sheers to cut the flags and sewed them into double folded binding that I purchased for a couple dollars.

This is the reading nook under said "loft". We put white Christmas lights underneath, which my son loves and it absolutely brightens the space. The trunk is my hope chest which had already been painted, so I painted over it to add the argyle. I made the pillow and doggy from leftover fabrics from his bedding. And in the frame is a picture of him pondering, and it says "The Adventure's of Sawyer".

Here is his crib, where I did make all the bedding. I won't say it was easy or fast, but it definitely was cheaper than buying! The frames are mirrors from Ikea, $1.99, I painted them and glued in my own photos. I spray painted the shelves to be brown. The "S" was plain from JoAnn's, I added the paper and ribbons...let's see, anything else? And no, I didn't make his blessing outfit that is hanging, I wish I did though :)

I really love Sawyer's room! It is kinda jam packed with decor, but it makes me happy whenever I walk into it! Thanks for visiting our blog!

And this, my quilting friends, is my very first quilt! Looking back there are some changes I'd make, but I do love it.

PS Check out Decor Mama and her fabulous site, she links up every Friday to show off your fabulous thrifty finds!