An Upcycled Spring Wardrobe

 As always, I'm joining up with some wonderful ladies for Crafting On!

There's this thrift store just outside of town that does 5$ bags.  You get a garbage bag and fill it up!  I've never actually paid the full 5$ either!  I got all the things below for 4$!  Its like a crafter's dream!  I have big plans for that pile!  That stuff there is going to be (hopefully) the girls' spring wardrobe!  There's some stuff for Weston in there too...but I find sewing for boys much more difficult.  Anything but shorts and pants is outside my abilities...so far!

 I started out with a simple pillowcase night gown for Brooklynn.  I think it is so pretty!  I love the dainty look, its extra sweet!  The tutorial, if you are interested, comes from here.

Then I did a simple pillow case top, also for Brooklynn.  I'm going to knit a little sweater that she can wear over strapless shirts to keep her shoulders covered. 

Finally, a skirt, made out of pj pants!  I just cut strips out of the pants, sewed them together to make a big piece of fabric and sewed a basic skirt!

I'm kind of excited to see what else I can come up with.  Refashioning is king of thrilling! ;)  Stay tuned for more!

Crafting On: Tiny Longies and Easter Animals

As always, I'll be linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm, Craft On. 

For some wonderful, crafty ideas, go check it out!

This week, I finally got around to knitting up my Kool Aid wool.

It was such a treat to knit with.  It even smelled a little bit like Kool Aid still!  I'm working on a wee pair of longies for a friend's new babe.  Makes me a little sad though...I can't knit anything for my kids with only one skein!

 

 

I'm still trying to decide how to knit the cuffs.  

I also worked on some needle felted animals for the kids for Easter.  I've got a rabbit, a baby chick and a mouse with some cheese.  They all still need eyes.  I'm a very beginner needle felter and detail work is a little tricky for me...so I've been avoiding it (just like Amelia's sweater...sigh).

 Ryan is on vacation this week he and Brooklynn did a little creating of their own!  I love that he is painting and she is "making lists". She clearly takes after her mother. ;)

It's that time of year again...

We're dreaming, planning, hoping, and praying about our garden!

We are not avid gardiners yet but every year I look forward to this!  I know that we are going to learn a lot...and maybe, just maybe, we'll get more than a few beans and a tomato!

Unfortunately, we can't put in a real garden because this is a rental with a very small yard, no fence and a whole lot of animals who love to munch.  That said, we get to fill our deck with pots full of beautiful, yummy plants!  They provide shade, privacy and hours of entertainment for the little ones!

I can't wait for our little seedlings to start popping up.  The kids are going to be so excited!!

Crafting On: Upcycled Sweater Longies! Yay!

I found a wool sweater at the thrift store last week.  I look all the time but never find any so this was exciting for me!!  I haved been coveting a pair of upcycled sweater longies for a long, long time!

I used this tutorial (She seriously has the coolest ideas.  There's a soaker tutorial I want to try too!).  It was super easy and only took about half an hour.  It probably would have taken less time but I sewed it inside out and had to rip it out and try again...sigh. 

Here they are!  I was so excited to try them on Amelia, I had a hard time not going in and waking her up from her nap!

 I think they look pretty darn cute!

Now I'm on the hunt for more sweaters!  I want to make some for Weston too!  And some footies too!

Simplifying our Rhythm

       

 Friday is supposed to be cleaning day but I have to confess, the last few weeks have been more like...avoid cleaning day.  We've spent most of our days out of the house lately.   I've had a bad case of cabin fever and have been avoiding spending any time at home.  Of course, this means I do little to no cleaning...which means it gets messier and messier...which means I don't want to be at home to look at the mess...and well...you see my predicament.

So I would take the kids on pointless trips, spending money that I really don't need to and spending time "entertaining" them (read: keeping them busy) but not really connecting with them.

Sometimes I forget how much joy I find in spending time at home with my family.  Nothing planned, nowhere to go.  Just us.  Those times are usually the best times; the most fulfilling.  We always find something fun to do and at the end of those days, I always feel revitalized.  Its easy to forget that though.

Sometimes, I think I just fill our days with pointless busy work just because I think that's what we're supposed to do.  In turn, the kids start to expect that I will provide them with things to do to keep them busy and very quickly, they lose the ability to entertain themselves.  All playing ceases and instead, I'm bombarded with "I'm booooored." and "There's nothing to doooo!".

I need to simplify. And not just our surroundings but our rhythm too.  

 If our main goal in living simply is getting rid of stuff, our focus is still on stuff and that isn't the point of simple living.  The point is to simplify our whole lives so that we can spend time focusing on what is really important.  I'm pretty good at minimizing the amount of stuff in our lives.  I'm terrible, however, at getting rid of distractions from what's really important.

So, with that in mind, today we stayed home.  We spent the morning cleaning, getting the house back to the zen place we love so much.  I pulled out all the supplies, some for me and some for Weston.  We hummed our clean up songs as we swept and dusted.  He helped me move chairs as I vaccuumed.  We laughed as I dusted him and he dusted Amelia.  We connected.  And I feel rejuvinated.  I feel energized and I feel calm.

 We have the whole weekend ahead of us with no plans and daddy is home (yay for the end of tax season!!) and I am so looking forward to it.