Vintage Catalog

While visiting my favorite antique store, I found this fabulous Montgomery Ward's catalog from 1949.  I snapped some shots of it with my phone, so I apologize that some of them are blurry.  

I love the one with the big bow, 4th from the left.  

The chevron print on the one on the right is very on trend.  But, I really love the plaid one (3rd from the left).  Those pockets!

 

I think my favorite out of all of them is the one with the lacing detail at the waist (second from the right in the photo below). 

I love the waistline on the polka dot one.  And, the one with the bow at the neckline (um, which I guess is also a polka dot...oops...) is fantastic.  

 

 

 

I wish we could still order from old catalogs, as if there were some great warehouse somewhere that never went out of stock.  :)  Wouldn't that be fantastic!  I love these great vintage dresses!

Balance

Every time I lose a follower, I stress out a little bit. It happens when I go too long between posts, or I don't post about sewing often enough. I want to be liked. I want my blog to be a success. I look at other blogs, ones that were little when I first started, and see them with hundreds or thousands of followers and get a little stressed. I see their fancy layouts, their gorgeous pictures, their travel to blog conferences, and I get a little stressed.

Source: howjoyful.com via Nancy on Pinterest

But, I've decided not to let it bother me. I don't have time in my life to be a big blogger. I don't have family nearby to watch my kids, a maid to do my housework, a co-blogger to share the workload of blogging with, and I have things I'd rather do with my free time than sell ads or edit my html.

My kids are at a critical age. What they learn and do now will make a huge difference in what kind of teenagers they'll be, what kind of men they'll be. My kids are at a point in their lives where they need a Mom who listens to them and helps them with dioramas more than they need a Mom who is locked in the sewing room/computer room all day trying to have a good blog.

Source: spirituallythinking.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

Why am I writing about this? Because I'm going to let go of the guilt and the pressure. I don't want to feel guilty that I didn't get a post written or have time to make a dress because I chose to go on a bike ride with my son.

Source: spirituallythinking.blogspot.com via Jengerbread on Pinterest

Probably, not much on this blog will change.  I'm just going to stop feeling pressured or guilty if I don't have time to blog.  If I only get a post or two written in a month, I'm just going to let it go. If I lose followers because I'm not posting often enough, so be it. I would much rather that I have good kids who turn out right than have lots of followers and comments. (Though wouldn't it be nice to have both.  :)  )

I'm going to share and be proud of the projects that I do and I'm not going to force myself to create a project JUST so I have content for the blog (I already said that I hate craftiness for craftiness' sake anyway).  I'm striving for balance, and if the scales are going to be tipped too far one way, I'd rather it be toward my family.

Source: blogginwithbobbi.blogspot.com via Kathleen on Pinterest

Trip Fun Binders

We took a family vacation this year for Spring Break. It was the perfect time to visit my hometown in Texas, before the sweltering heat of summer.  It's was a long drive, though, so I made up some activity books for my boys.

 

I was trying to do this trip on the cheap (isn't that what I say about all my projects?).  Let's face it, the way this economy is, we can all stand to save our pennies.  So, I didn't want to go out and buy a ton of stuff.  Free printables to the rescue!

I gathered up some old school supplies--binders, pencil bags, and various and sundry markers and colored pencils.   

I used Picasa and Google Image Search to put together a bingo card for things we might see on our trip (I saw everything except the roadrunner...).  I made a collage in Picasa, then shuffled the images to make a different card for each person.  I put the bingo cards in some plastic sleeves that I had laying around and included some dry erase markers in the pencil bag so that my boys could cross things off right on the plastic sleeve.  

 

I printed out a few mazes and coloring pages as well.  

The mazes came from mrprintables.com.  They have tons of great free printables for kids.  They're super cute.

We all had fun doing the State License Plate Bingo by The Dating Divas.

I got some fun travel games from Whimsical Fig.

And some from LilSugar, too.  

The printable Battleship game by Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made is so fun, and SO cute!

I also added some maps.  A good way to stave off "Are We There Yet?" is to give the kids a map with your route on it that they can follow along with.  Each kid got a map of all the states we drove through, plus a Google Maps printout of our route and directions.  

 

 

 Plus, since we were going to be traveling during my church's General Conference, I printed out some Conference Packets from Sugardoodle (oh how they love their conference packets every 6 months!) for them to work on as we drove as well.  

 

 And, of course, I added a bunch of notebook paper for each binder, as all of my boys love to draw and write.  

Though not in their binders, I also had some conversation starters with me (in MY binder--of course organized me has my own binder!) from iMom and Sissyprint.  A long road trip is a great time for great conversations.

Each boy had a backpack to put their binder in.  I added to each backpack a magazine (copies of The Friend and Boy's Life), Where's Waldo books (that I keep stored with the suitcases so they're still interesting every time we take a trip), a couple little snacks (Tic Tacs and Barnum's Animal Crackers are favorites), Kleenexes and a package of wipes (do you know how nice it was not to have to twist around and get my allergic boys Kleenexes every 10 minutes?), and a teeny tiny stuffed animal each.  

 

These binders and backpacks kept my three boys happy and interested for most of our 40+ hours of driving.  We didn't even have to break out the DVD player once.  I call that a Family Vacation Miracle.  :)

Liebster Award

I've won my first ever blog award!  I was awarded the Liebster Blog Award by Kei at Unfortunately Oh!.  Thanks, Kei!  

I now get to pass the award on to others.  Check out these other crafty blogs:

It's Meg and She's Doing Stuff has a bunch of great home projects to show off (and a super cute Baby 2012 Party!).  

I'm loving the Simple Summer Tunic at Tupelo Creative.

Covered in Modpodge has a fantastic baby gate tutorial!

City Stitchin recently posted an adorable city tote and a cute knotted headband.

I love Joy Is At Home's "Man Cookbook."  I may need to make one for my husband!

Here are the rules for passing on the award:

• Show your appreciation to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to them.
• Post the award on your blog.
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
• Link back to the blogs you are awarding so that everyone else can pay them a visit.
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

Quick Zipper Pull

Hi, I'm back! Please forgive my two-week absence, my family and I took a lovely trip for Spring Break. Now that I'm back and getting back on top of things, it's time for a new blog post!

Do you ever lose your zipper pull? The one on my purse, a nice leather pull, is about to come off the zipper entirely. I've been thinking for awhile about how to replace it when it inevitably breaks off. I suddenly had the solution, as I was packing my boys for our trip. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. And, you all will probably wonder why I'm bothering to blog about it...I bet you've already thought of it. :)

As I was packing, I noticed that my little guy's backpack was missing its zipper pulls, too.  Once upon a time I'd replaced the pull with a safety pin, to give me something to pull to zip it shut, but it kept opening and poking my hand.  Not the safest option.

Instead, I used ribbon!  I threaded a little grosgrain ribbon that I had lying around through the zipper and sewed it together at a couple points (um...really quickly, which is why it's so crooked.  I was more interested in speed than appearance at this point.  If I had been, I probably would have bothered matching the thread, too.).  Voila, a new zipper pull!

 

 

Star Wars Apron Tutorial

My son has this adorable robot apron from Old Navy. It was starting to get too small, so I told him I'd get him another. I wish they still sold those cute boy aprons, but I bought it years and years ago. He just loved the cute screen printing on it, though, and didn't want a plain "manly" apron. So, I thought I'd try the freezer paper stencil technique I've seen around blogland and make a cool Star Wars Apron.

First, I bought a basic apron from the craft section at Walmart.

Then, I found a pumpkin carving stencil online.  (Found here.)  He has been super into Star Wars lately, so I thought a Storm Trooper would be fun.  I printed it onto freezer paper.

I taped it down so it wouldn't wiggle while I cut, then cut out the black areas with an exacto knife.

 

I then positioned the stencil where I wanted it on the apron and ironed it on (shiny side down).  Make sure your iron is hot enough that the stencil is tightly stuck.  The first time I tried this (craft fail!) I didn't iron it well enough and paint seeped underneath the edges.  

I used fabric paint and a sponge brush to paint the openings in my stencil.  

 

I put on a couple of coats, until it didn't look pink anymore.  When it was nearly dry, I peeled off the stencil. I let the paint dry fully, and then I ironed over it to set the paint.  (I have no idea if that is even necessary, but I figured it couldn't hurt.)  

I think the Storm Trooper apron turned out really cute.  It's perfect for my boy. 

 

Scientist Birthday Party

My twins turned 9 this month. It's my official policy that they only get a birthday party every other year.  Except, I never enforce this policy.  After throwing their Harry Potter birthday party last year, I decided that this year they were going to do something simple for their birthday.  No more parties.  Too expensive, too much stress.  Right?

And then birthday time rolls around and I just have too many good ideas for a party.  :)  I threw them a Science Birthday Party this year.   I was reminded of my idea to throw them a science party (it was in the running for last year's theme) when I came across fun little science-y things (like safety goggles and test tubes) in the dollar section at Target.  I love the dollar section at Target, don't you?  So, I broke my rule (again) and told my boys that they could only invite a few friends each and that this was going to be a simple, cheap party.  And, it was.  I love parties that are cute, but also easy and inexpensive.

A science party is a perfect party theme for this age.  They're at such a fun age--they're so excited about everything. They're Cub Scouts and love doing fun scout things like building and experimenting. They were super excited about getting to do some science experiments with their friends.

In keeping with the must-be-easy rule, I didn't start from scratch.  For invitations, I used these adorable printable invitations from Living Locurto.

 

The favor bags contained the safety goggles and test tubes from Target, some gloves, Nerds (because scientists are nerdy, right?), and glow-in-the-dark slime!

 

For the slime (which we made at the party, in addition to the ones I put together before hand), I used this "recipe" at Science Bob.  I love Science Bob!  There are so many fun experiments there.   I added some glow-in-the dark paint to make it glow in the dark (though I'm not sure if it worked...).  I made my own labels, too.  

I packaged the favors in white lunch sacks, with Living Locurto's caution stickers.  

I went with basic cupcakes, with orange frosting to match the decor.  I pre-scooped the ice cream into cupcake liners, so I didn't have to scoop at the party.  Such an awesome idea, courtesy of Real Simple. 

The only decorations were the yellow tablecloth and "The Lab" poster that I whipped up by printing out words and clipart and gluing to a piece of poster board.  

The supplies for the experiments kind of worked with the color scheme, though.

 

 The experiments (demonstrations, really) were a huge hit with the kids, even with the kids who came in saying they'd be boring.  The Oobleck was a huge hit.  

 

 

The fireworks in a jar were pretty fun, too.  

 

 

My personal favorite was the one where we blew up a balloon with a bottle.  It's the same vinegar and baking soda experiment as the old volcano eruption project (did you do that one in 5th grade like I did?), except without the mess.  

 

It was a fun (and inexpensive--I only spent about $15) party.  And, of course, my favorite part was when one of the party guests told me it was the best birthday party he'd ever been to in his whole life.  :)