We went on vacation!

It’s the first family vacation we’ve had in nearly 3 years–and we all desperately needed the break! We were only able to get away for a few days, but a few days relaxing on the beach was the perfect getaway. No one wanted to leave to come back home, but we’ve returned to life and I think I just may have gotten all the sand vacuumed out of the car!

Sofie is definitely our beach bum! She has no time for sandcastles and snacks, that kid wants to be in the water the entire time she’s out there! She is very cautious and overly nervous about everything on this earth, but the ocean? She RUNS for it. Sofie possesses a deep love for the water and we know she got that from her surfer Daddy!

Chloe had a healthy fear of the water. The first day we were there she wouldn’t touch it, instead she clung to me for dear life and screamed like it was fire, trying to jump up and burn her feet. But by the time we left, she too had succumbed to the wonders of the sea and spent many hours splashing in the surf.

Ella loved the sand! She wanted nothing to do with the water and preferred to be sitting in the sand, pushing it around, feeling it between her fingers, and most importantly, eating it!

She’s 7 months old going on 2 the way she acts when she doesn’t get her way! Can you believe I wouldn’t let her eat the sand?!

I wish I had more interesting pictures to share from our trip, but these shots from the beach are all I’ve got. Some people go on vacation and go, go, go the whole time they’re gone. But we prefer to do absolutely nothing and we love it. We get lots of sleep, eat in, watch movies and spend lots of wonderful time together as a family. Things have been stressful for all of us lately and we’re thankful we got the chance to come back together as a family for a bit.

**And no, we haven’t gotten a new van yet since the accident. So yes, we went on vacation, all 5 of us for 5 days, in my tiny Corolla!! It was a tight fit, but we did it. And on just two tanks of gas!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner! Are you prepared? If you’re stumped for some ideas, check out of one my tutorials for a unique, handmade gift any Mom is sure to love!

THE SHIRT SKIRT

SILHOUETTE BRACELET

COSMETIC BAG

MAKEUP BAG

PERSONALIZED APPLIQUE TOWELS

So I completely forgot that yesterday was the 25th! I still haven’t sewn since we moved, though I’ve got some projects that absolutely have to be finished soon! But I got this done a few weeks ago and have been saving it.

I know some kids who LOVE superheroes and a cape is such and easy way to add that perfect extra touch.

I wanted to keep the logo simple, just a star and an initial to personalize them for each kiddo.

The capes have a simple velcro closure for easy on and off. I made the head hole large enough so that Sofie can get them off and on without opening the velcro! Even easier for a DIY costume piece.

After making these and tucking them away until Christmas, Sofie decided she needs one of her own. I haven’t had a chance to make it for her yet, but she hasn’t let me forget about it!

They were pretty quick and easy to make.

First I took some scrap fabric and cut my pattern piece. Capes look like a large bib so it was pretty easy to draw. I kept trying it on Sofie until I got the right size and shape I was going for. I was planning on sharing my pattern piece, but since I have no idea where my scanner is in this sea of boxes, it’ll have to wait.

For each cape I used:

-1.25 yards of fabric
-scrap felt for star and initial
-a few inches of velcro

**A note on fabric: I got my fabrics from JoAnn’s and Hobby Lobby. At JoAnn’s I got costume satins because they were the most economical for the project. I was able to cut the main outer piece all in one, but the piece on the inside had to be pieced together. The fabric I got from Hobby Lobby was the same approximate price (since both stores have frequent sales and offer coupons) but the fabric was easier to work with, didn’t fray as much, and was wider so I was able to cut 2 whole pieces. The cape I made in the tutorial was the fabric from Hobby Lobby.

So to begin I took my pattern and cut 2 pieces from my fabric.

I serged around both pieces to prevent fraying while I was working with the fabric. This isn’t necessary so if you don’t have a serger, don’t feel like the project isn’t possibly for you!

Then I cut a star from felt, using a shape I found on Google. I pinned the star in the middle of the outer cape piece (no measuring, just eyeballing) and appliqued it on.

For more information on applique see my applique tutorial and tutorial on appliqueing curves.

Using the same method, I appliqued the letter on top of the star. For the “A” and “M” I used Pharmacy font from dafont.com.

Then cut a few inches of velcro and sew them to the cape pieces. The easiest way to make sure you’ll sew them on right is to place both pieces right side up and put them on the same side. That way when you have wrong sides together they’re on opposite sides and will be correct for closing.

My card ate the rest of the pictures for the tutorial but the last steps are very easy.

Place right sides together and pin around the perimeter to hold the fabric in place. Sew around the outer edge of the cape and leave a hole a few inches wide to turn through. Then using matching thread, sew the hole closed. That’s it! Now you’re ready to help someone special help save the world!

What have YOU made this month?

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I’ve always made it a priority to save money. I’ve blogged a little about using coupons and I believe DIY is the best way to keep cash in your pocket. So this post kind of combines the two ideas.

I recently learned of this great company. Zaycon Foods cuts out the middle man in meat! A friend of mine won a giveaway on a blog and was able to try the chicken for free. Since then I’ve know several people who have ordered and loved it. I missed the chicken event in my area and right before we moved they had a beef event. But since we were moving and things were so crazy I passed on it, too. So this time, I jumped on the chicken delivery and I’m so glad I did!

Zaycon currently has events all over the country for chicken, beef, bacon and several types of fish. Browse around their website to see if they’re in your area if you’re interested. I signed up for email notifications so I didn’t have to remember to check frequently.

So, I ordered my 40 lbs of chicken last Tuesday. My total was $60 after tax! I couldn’t believe it–$1.50 per pound for fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It’s never been frozen, hormone free, and straight from the processor. Just to compare, Kroger has chicken on sale for $2.29 this week! I went Saturday to pick up my box at a local church. It was super easy, I pulled in, gave them my name, they put down a thick piece of plastic in my trunk, put my box on it, and I drove away!

I didn’t have a chance to divide my order up until yesterday. The box was heavy (it’s 40 pounds!) and a little intimidating at first. I noticed this label on the side and I assume that means my chicken was processed on the 11th. I picked it up just 3 days later!

When I opened the box I discovered a large sealed bag with smaller bags of chicken inside it.

I couldn’t believe how HUGE the breasts are! They’re butterflied so I got to work separating them and trimming off the fat pieces.

I spent about an hour and a half cleaning and preparing them. It took me a lot longer than it should have because I had to feed kids and wipe bottoms and break up fights and play another episode of Octonauts and each time I had to wash my hands and dry them well and make sure I wasn’t dripping in chicken juice. Kidless? 45 minutes tops. When I was finished I had a whole dish of diced chicken, a ton of breasts, and a bunch of strips (covered by more breasts because I ran out of space!).

This is my trimmings pile. I’m very weirded out by anything on a piece of chicken that’s not a pink, edible piece of meat. Meaning I over-butcher. Most piles would probably be a lot smaller than mine. I had a serious aversion to raw poultry while pregnant and I’ve never been able to overcome it!

Then I wrapped and bagged everything up according to meals. In my box was 37 breasts total (the very last piece was a lone breast so it was an odd amount), which came to TWENTY meals! That breaks down to just $3 per meal for 2 pounds of prepared chicken! At Kroger, on sale, that would run me $4.58 and I’d still have to cut off all the fat and yucky parts to get it all cleaned up and ready to cook. The best part about this is that it’s all ready to go! No cutting or trimming, just defrost and make and eat.

My extra freezer is starting to fill up and I’m so excited! I’m eagerly waiting on the beef to come around again and crossing my fingers that the tilapia makes its way here soon.

**Zaycon Foods did not provide me with any money or product for this post. They have no idea who I am or that I’m writing this. I just want to share my penny pinching ways with the world and let others in on a great deal!

If you decide to give Zaycon a shot, I’d appreciate you guys registering with my referral number! http://www.zayconfoods.com/refer/zf89711

It’s slow going around here, but we’re getting there! We moved in a week ago today and normally I’d have a decent amount of the house unpacked and things would be looking wonderful. But we hurried in here before we had a chance to get things truly ready and there’s still lots of work left to be done before we can really start to settle in. It doesn’t help that we moved in Friday, spent Saturday running around getting things we need, then hosted Easter on Sunday. Monday the AT&T guy was here for hours hooking up tv and internet and yesterday there were 2 guys here blowing our the ducts in our HVAC. I also had to do huge grocery shopping twice and today are more errands so we can host Easter for The Hubs’ family here tomorrow! And somewhere in there, Chloe turned 2!

But, there is big progress!! When we took possession of the house, we blew out a wall. I showed some pictures of us taking it down, but here’s a better before and during. I can’t wait to have the full “after” done!

The den was like a little cave so after tearing down the wall, we yanked out the green carpet, took the solar screens off the windows and redid the floors. A few coats of paint are making a big difference, too! In the den the bookcases are going to go to dark grey, the molding will all be painted white, the tv will be mounted over the fireplace and the fireplace will become white.

We have a lot of extra seating in here right now since we’re hosting 2 events in 1 week with lots of family. We’ll move the old sofa and the bean bag chair out soon!

Under the green carpet in the kitchen we found this awesome green and yellow vinyl. Not exactly my style! So I got vinyl peel and stick tiles and have had a blast laying them.

It’s time consuming getting them done around the edges so there’s just a “bigger picture” in the breakfast room, but I finished most of the kitchen. We need to paint and put down quarter round molding and all the trim in the house needs to be repainted.

The cabinets are dingy inside so I need to scrub them out and repaint them before we unpack the kitchen. I’ve got them about 1/4 of the way painted inside, so that’s a project I need to finish (hopefully) this weekend. In a few years we’re going to gut the kitchen and replace everything, so all the changes are just to make things a little nicer in the mean time.

Whenever I get discouraged with our progress I look at the before pictures and realize we really have come a long way in just 2 weeks! It’s motivation to keep going for sure! If only I had 6 more hours each day and 4 more hands for all the things I want to do. And even though I’ll be painting trim for months to come, slowly but surely, it’s becoming home!

It’s still sinking in that we own our house! We were finally able to take possession last Saturday and things have been a total whirlwind since.

What drew us to this particular house was size and location. It needs lots and lots of love, but once all is said and done, it’s going to be INCREDIBLE!

The house boasts 6 bedrooms (!), 4 full bathrooms, an office for The Hubs, a room for sewing and playing, a huge kitchen (that needs the most love of all), a huge breakfast room, formal dining room, den, 2 car garage, deck and screened in porch! The whole thing is about 3100 square feet and has another 700 or so unfinished in the basement. We’re so excited that we have room for everyone and we can really spread out. It’s just down the street from the preschool, is about a mile from the elementary school, and takes The Hubs 10 minutes to get to work. Perfection!

When we took possession of it on Saturday, we didn’t sit still long! My brother was our real estate agent and is also doing construction work for us! Within hours of getting the keys, we’d already torn down a wall!

Then we started the overwhelming task of ripping off wallpaper, painting, and removing carpet. We’ve had to bring in some extra help because Mom and I just weren’t able to get it done with the girls underfoot and the 150 mile round trip daily commute. But we’ve made amazing progress so far and tomorrow morning, come Hell or high water, we’re going to be moving our stuff into our house! There’s still LOTS of work to be done, but we’re loving the amazing transformation already and I can’t wait to get things finished up.

I’ve figured out how to swing a crow bar while wearing a sleeping Ella! And it’s not my favorite job, but I can tear out carpet and tack strips like no one’s business!

I can’t believe tomorrow night we’ll be sleeping in a house we own, that we overhauled from top to bottom in 1 week! I’m sure Ella will be glad to have her crib back instead of my creative uses for the Moby wrap.

So stay tuned for some really great before, during, and after shots! I can’t WAIT to see it all finished!

Well, this is the month I hang my head in shame. I have no project to share today.

I normally don’t start them until after the 20th anyway, but after a very busy week, I found myself down and out with a sinus infection AND strep throat, with flu-like symptoms and a fever. Other than going to the doctor yesterday, I haven’t left my bed since Friday. I’m extremely thankful that we’re still living with my parents so I don’t have to worry about the girls. The Hubs has been out of the country on business for the past 3 weeks and there’s no way I could do this alone!

So there’s no March Christmas project today. I haven’t started it yet and I’m a little behind on some orders, so I might not get to it at all. A week from TODAY is the last day the previous owners have to turn over possession of the house and after that will be a whirlwind of wallpaper-stripping, knocking down walls, painting, and ripping up carpet before we can move in and host Easter/Chloe’s 2nd birthday party for my entire family on the 8th and Easter/April birthdays for The Hubs’ family on the 14th. It’s going to be a busy few weeks for sure!

I have done some sewing and have a few cool tutorials to share in the mean time. I also hope you’re up for a little house reno because I’m so stinking excited about it I can’t stop talking about it!

The giveaway has ended and there are 5 lucky winners! Sofie had a blast today drawing your names out of a bowl. I was going to do random number drawings like usual, but Sofie’s been very into helping lately and I knew she’d have a blast helping me choose your names out!

I’ve sent the winners an email so they can claim their prize! Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered.

Don’t forget you can still pick up your own copy of Twixt at: Amazon.com & BarnesandNoble.com & as an ebook at Kindle, Nook, iBooks & Kobo.

**A note from the author: BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Amber, Trixie, Mariah, Heather, and Barbara for winning the paperback copies of my novel TWIXT!! What some of you may not know is that Melissa’s mother Marcia taught me how to sew–and since she is a master quilter, I included a magical quilt in the novel in her honor and thanked her in my Acknowledgements page in the book. So for those of you who love to sew, who knows what magical journeys can happen through your stitching… ; )

I sincerely hope you enjoy TWIXT, and I’d like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Melissa for doing this contest! Her website is so beautiful and I’m deeply honored that she featured my novel on her blog! : ) ~Diane J. Reed

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED***

I’ve changed a few things around on the blog lately so you may or may not have noticed I have my first Sponsor! Author Diane Reed is sharing her newly-released book, Twixt.

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day:
A Magical Irish Romance!
Twixt is an epic tale about a love so powerful
that not even the sweep of time can tear it apart…
 
                          

What Rose doesn’t realize is that along with this dark curse comes an extraordinary blessing—in the form of a soul guardian named Chance Murphy who’s been protecting her for centuries. But this time around, the evil spirit that now plagues Rose has stolen Chance’s body. So the only way that Chance can reach her is late at night in her dreams, when he appears as a magical raven who escorts her to an enchanted island off the coast of Ireland. There, Chance becomes a man again, and he shows Rose how she can heal her past through the fairies’ special brand of magic. But will Rose finally be able to forge a new future and make the man of her dreams become real? Only if she can once again believe . . .

The author, Diane Reed, is actually a family friend and I’m so thrilled and honored that she asked to sponsor my blog with her amazing first book! It’s pretty awesome to say I know someone who has written a book–and even cooler that my Mom is thanked on the acknowledgements page!

But the best part is that Diane has sent me FIVE COPIES, all autographed, to give away to 5 lucky readers!

Trust me, you don’t want to miss out on this beautifully written book. It’s a great love story that transcends time and leaves your heart wanting more. I wish I could give copies to everyone so you could all experience the magic of it. To enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Twixt, simply leave me a comment on this post! I’ll draw the winners next Saturday, March 17th. What a great way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day!

And if you just can’t wait to get your hands on a copy, you can get one today at one of the following retailers: Amazon.com & BarnesandNoble.com & as an ebook at Kindle, Nook, iBooks & Kobo.

**For more information on how to become Sew Like My Mom sponsor, please email me at sewlikemymom@gmail.com for details!

It’s no secret to anyone around here that my girls are LOVING this time we’re living with my parents. There’s always extra laps to sit in, extra arms to snuggle in, and lots of extra kisses. But Sofie recently discovered another plus to life at Grammy and Granddad’s. Sewing.

Last week she asked to see what Grammy was doing so Mom picked her up and Sof excitedly sat in her lap. Mom was making a miniature doll quilt and Sofie absolutely adored guiding the tiny pieces through the machine with her fingers.

It was only a matter of time before she caught the bug, so I wasn’t surprised that she liked it. But what truly shocked me was when she kept asking Mom over and over again to do it more. So Mom pulled out the little Hello Kitty sewing machine she’d picked up at a quilt show years ago, cut a few little squares from some flannel and taught Sofie the basics.

She’s become quite the pro! She knows how to raise and lower the foot when she starts and stops.

And she always turns the wheel to leave her needle in the up position.

We were both completely certain that her interest would fade quickly. The first day they sewed all the squares together in groups of two. Sofie then bugged Grammy for 2 days until we had a chance to “snow” (as Sof calls it) again and they put the put the squares into groups of 4. She waited anxiously for her next turn to sew and talked about it to anyone who would listen, including the men that were here for 3 days replacing the AC unit!

The last day they pieced all the squares together into 1 little quilt top Sofie’s going to use as a blanket for her beloved Curious George. I couldn’t help but snap a million pictures of her sewing all by herself! It’s not every day that a 3 year old wants to make a quilt and actually does all the sewing alone!

She concentrated so hard on what she was doing.

Each time she got done with a seam she opened the project and squealed with delight. She was so proud of herself for sewing.

Once the top was totally pieced she was sad the project was over (her part, anyway!) and was asking to do it again. We need to back the little blanket before George starts using it and she’s dying to get it done.

Who knows what the future holds for Sofie and sewing, but for now Mom and I are totally eating up her enthusiasm! If she truly loves it and continues it, she’ll be the 5th generation of sewing women in my family and she too can sew like her Mom!