Our kind of Sushi

Peighton takes her lunch to school each day.

And every day its the same old thing...peanut butter and jelly, yogurt and some fruit.

I don't know about her but I was getting bored making that each time!!!!

So, I decided to get a little creative.

We made "sushi."

Here's what we did:

1. Cut off the crust (it makes a prettier sushi roll!)

2. Flatten with a rolling pin.

3. Spread your peanut butter and jelly.

I put the peanut butter on the whole thing and the jelly just on one end so it didn't all squish out.

4. Roll 'em up!

I slice them into smaller chunks for her lunch box.

Pack them up for lunch and you're done!

Faith, Trust and a little bit of Pixie Dust!

 My sweet girl turns 5 on Wednesday.

Five years has gone by really fast!

For her party she chose a Tinkerbell theme.

We had lots of fun with it!

Once the garage was cleaned out we dumped a bunch of corn into the baby pool for the kids.

Peighton and Preston had to try it out first.

Preston spent most of the afternoon in there.

He had some serious farming to do.

Peighton LOVED getting dressed up like Tink.

We even did a funky bun that looks a bit like Tinkerbell.

I made a quick tutu and stuck a green flower on the side-she thought it was fabulous.

I should have done a close-up of the cake but I just didn't think of it!

I used the Wilton doll cake pan and stuck a whole Tinkerbell doll in there.

I was a bit nervous and didn't bother trying to make a practice cake prior to the party but it was pretty easy and turned out great!

I used my Mom's Cricut machine to make a happy birthday sign and we made lots of fun confetti for the tables with all the scraps of paper-Peighton thought that was great!

She appointed Grandpa as her "assistant" for opening presents!

The boys fought over the Barbie toys for a bit.

I think her favorite part though was the Tinkerbell pinata!

They had such a great time!

Preston LOVED hitting it and laughed the whole time!

And once it was empty, the decided to keep hitting it but this time Peighton was in charge of the rope!

That was pretty funny.

She had a great party and is already planning her next one!



Lots and lots of LETTERS!

Peighton is LOVING Pre-k.

She comes home each day just bursting with all she needs to tell me and what she has learned that day.

I love it.

The former teacher in me wants to reinforce what she is doing at school with activities and projects at home too.

Right now she is obsessed with letters and spelling.

I feel like I am in a spelling bee most days.

We spell during breakfast, while brushing teeth, in the car, in the grocery store, at Target, in the car some more, while we play, during bedtime....seriously a 24 hour spelling bee around here.

I've been working on a "Letter Box."

I saw the idea on Pinterest while I was browsing one night.

Such a great idea!

All I had to do was cut apart all the letters on cereal boxes, granola bars, pasta boxes-the list goes on and on!
Basically anything that used to go straight to my recylcing box now gets cut apart first and THEN goes to the recycling!

Here's some of our letter stash:

There are just so many wonderful things to be done with a bunch of letters that are all different!

We have:

sorted them into capital and lowercase letters,

spelled simple words,

sorted them into colors of letters,

sorted into "big" and "small,"

spelled some more words,

spelled her name,

tried to put them in alphabetical order (but we don't quite have all the letters),

and sometimes Peighton just makes up her own games.

This has been a great activity for us!

I love that it was a FREE thing to make and we used something that was going to be put in the trash!

Love it!

DIY American Girl knot dress tutorial

Nellie (our American Girl) was in need of some new dresses, specifically Christmas dresses according to Peighton.

Peighton already had some new knot dresses for this Christams so I decided to make Miss Nellie a few to match!

I took pictures along the way and made a quick tutorial so anybody can whip up a few for the girls in their life.

Here's how I did it:

SUPPLIES:

Scraps of coordinating fabrics

(I was able to use leftovers from making Peighton's knot dress)

1. Start by cutting all the pieces. All the pieces are rectangles which makes it super easy.

Top: 7 1/2" x 3". Cut 2 of the main fabric and 2 of the lining.

Straps: 11" x 1 1/2". Cut 4.

Middle section: 14" x 6". Cut 2

Bottom section: 14" x 4". Cut 2.

2. Take all 4 pieces of the "top" and fold them in half with the short sides together.

Make a mark 1" down the side and 1" in from the right side. (I used my disappearing marker for this step and you can kind of see it in the picture.)

Cut a semi circle connecting the two lines like this:

You could also trace a cup or other circular object but it's really not hard to just eyeball it.

When you open them up you should have 2 linings and 2 main pieces that look like my picture above.

3. Put all pieces right sides together.

Sew the straps on the 2 long sides and 1 short side. Leave one short end open for turning.

Sew only the short sides of the top together. Repeat for the lining.

Sew the short sides of the middle section and the bottom section together.

*I used my serger to finish all the seams but you could also use a zigzag stitch or pinking shears to stop the edges from fraying.*

Turn both straps right sides out with a turning tool.

Press with an iron and topstitch.

4. Turn the middle section right side out.

Match the seams of the bottom section to the seams of the middle section.

Pin and then stitch all the way around.

5. Press the seam up towards the top and then topstitch.
Press the bottom of the dress up 1/4" all the way around then then press it up another 1/4" to make the hem.
Stitch the hem.

6. Turn the main top piece right side out.

Place the lining over that piece so the right sides are together. (See picture below)

Next insert the straps in between 2 of the layers.

Place them about 1 inch in from each side.

Pin, matching side seams and sew all the way around the top.

(I like to clip the armholes just a bit so they lay flat when turned right sides out.)

Turn right sides out, poke corners out and press.

Once it is turned right sides out and pressed, topstitch all the way around.

7. Take the skirt part and make a gathering stitch around the top.

Lay it next to the top section and try to make them about the same width.

Match side seams and pin together.

Then sew all the way around.

Finish seam with serger/zigzag/pinking shears.

8. Make button holes in the top section.

I make mine about a 1/2" down from the top and 1/4" in from the sides. It doesn't have to be exact.

Press the whole dress and try it on!

Please forgive Nellie in the following pictures for wearing her tap outfit under her new knot dress....she was rudely pulled out of "Tap class" for modeling purposes.

Felt food!

If you know me, you may know that felt food makes me smile.

And sometimes giggle.

It's just such a happy little toy.

And I know that it's going to make my little girl smile when she sees it!

So, I seem to have signed up for quite a few vendor events in the coming weeks.

I started thinking about what I could add to my "stuff" that people would want to put in a stocking or give as a sweet handmade gift for Christmas this year.

I thought of felt food immediately!

Some I do by hand but some I make on my fabulous embroidery machine!

Needless to say, my embroidery machine has been getting quite a workout lately.

Here's a bit from my stash that is growing by the day:

We've got:

Pasta

Goldfish

S'mores

Eggs and pancakes

Chicken Nuggets and french fries (not in the picture-they weren't done but oh my are they cute!!!!!)

And Christmas cookies with sprinkles!!!

I keep adding to it as I have time. 

It's kind of addicting!

I may need a bigger basket soon!



Bathtub painting...another Pinterest idea!

I am just so in love with Pinterest.

If you haven't taken a peek at it just do it!

I have found so many fun things to do on there!

Even Dustin made something from the wonderful Pinterest this weekend!!!

I'll reveal that at a later date though...it's not all put together yet and it does require some (more involved) work on my end too.  Guess it's a joint project. ;-)

Here is out latest SIMPLE fun:

Shaving Cream with food coloring for the bathtub!

I went easy on the food coloring because I didn't want stained hands or a stained bathtub!

I think I did 2 drops into each mini muffin cup.

Probably could have added more and had brighter colors-maybe next time!

The mini muffin tins worked GREAT-it was like a little painters palette.

They had a great time painting and drawing and then of course cleaning it off!

Another successful night because of Pinterest.