Ideas Needed!!

I can't believe how absent from my blog I have been lately!  This week is the last week of school and there have been sooo many activities!  I have made more cakes, cupcakes, and cookies than I have all year :o)

Anywhooo...I have been wanting to make new bed quilts for my girlies and just ordered the most perfect fabric!!  I cannot wait until it comes in!!  The only "problem" is that it has a larger print and I don't want to chop it into little pieces.  But I don't want just plain squares, either.  I'm stumped on what type of pattern to use so that it's creative, but also shows off the prints to their fullest!

photos from fabric.com

Sooo, any ideas from my fellow quilters???  Please share :o)

Princess Peach Mario Kart Birthday Party

This weekend was Emma's 9th birthday party!!  We had to put it 2 weeks out but it was so worth the wait!!

my sweet girlies!

The Invite

Props goes to my sister for this awesome invite!!  She is the BEST graphic designer and does amazing work.  She literally just whipped this together for me :o)

The Games

Mario Kart Racing
First of all, the cars didn't turn out exactly like I had them in my head.  I got cardboard boxes from work, took them apart, and then made the cars.  I spray painted them...they turned out duller than I wanted, but...OH WELL!!  We divided the kiddos into 3 Pit Crews.  They had to assemble their cars by attaching the racing stickers, numbers, and license plates.  Then there were 3 laps...each kid in each Pit Crew got a turn to get inside the car, hold the handles on the sides, and race around the track.

Caaauuute!!!

Mario Bingo:
After the race, we decided to settle everyone down by playing some Mario Bingo!  I printed the card from HERE and the calling cards from HERE.  I found gold coins at Party City that we used for the bingo pieces.

Pinata
The hubs drew and colored Bowser Koopa for the front of my DIY pinata.  I used cardboard, duct tape, and crepe paper to make the body of the pinata.  I made it pretty sturdy...we had to break it open to get it to fall apart!

The Cake
I am not sure why I always feel compelled to change recipes, especially whenever we have company. Branson's exact word was dangerous...lol! I changed up my buttercream recipe and it turned out AMAZING...everyone seemed to love it.  I planned to make the cake messy...turns out that's harder than I thought!  I'm so used to smoothing everything out.  Anyway, the cake was strawberry, my family's fave.  My sister created the pennants.  I used checkered flag duct tape for the flags on each end.

Birthday Banner
Again, my sis did an awesome job making the pennants for the birthday banner.  All I had to do was cut out, put on cardstock, and connected each pennant with 3/8" ribbon.

I LOVE the bubbles!!!

The Table

I didn't get a picture of the table with all the food on it.  We had hot dogs, chips, homemade mac and cheese, and baked beans - the traditional Ragan party food!  I used checkered flag duct tape over the water bottle labels.  I also got these pvc pipes from Home Depot, spray painted them green, and used them for the utensils.  I found these great red bowl at the dollar store...they remind me of some of the plants in Super Mario.

Thanks for letting me share about Emma's birthday bash!!  I love hosting my girlies' birthday parties, but they sure do wear me out!

♥ Wedding Goodies ♥

I used to be a high school teacher....and 2 of my former students are getting married tomorrow!!  I'm feelin' old, let me tell ya!!  The bride asked me to make all of the bridesmaid and flower girl hair accessories.....as well as her garter.  I've never made a garter before, but wanted it to be special for her!  So, at 3 a.m. last night, I put the final touches on everything and went to bed...I can't wait for her big day!!

 Hairclips for the flower girls, and headbands for the bridesmaids.

Not bad for my first-ever garter :o) Made with white dupioni silk and orange and teal taffeta rosettes.

Doesn't the orange just GLOW....kinda funky!!

My First Quilt

I came across this quilt the other day...and decided I needed to blog about this one!  This is my very first quilt...the one that started the madness.

I made it the summer I was preggo with Dayna (7 years ago now).  I was teaching in our school's K-4 and had all naptime, all summer to work on it.  I bought this Carebear fabric at Walmart, as well as the backing fabric, and just started cutting and sewing!  I wanted to make this for Emma, as a present from the new baby.  Anyway, it has been snuggled, hauled weekly to school for naps while Emma was in daycare-Kindergarten, washed a gillion times, and now the binding is starting to fall apart and it's so thin you can see right through it.

I will never "fix" this quilt, though....it's just too special the way it is!

Sweetie Pie with Her Quilt

I am the first one to admit that I am HORRIBLE at sending personal mail....it's really sad.  I can ship out packages galore, but can't seem to get a b-day card to people on time to save my life, and forget anniversaries.  Every year, I am determined to fix this, but I never get past January!  Anyway, I FINALLY got around to mailing off my sweet niece's Single Girl quilt {blogged}

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever???  Love that girl...can't wait to see her again!!  Now, seeing this quilt again makes me want to make one for my bed...hmmmmmm

Fit Tuesday

Hi all!!  I feel like I am finally getting back to normal...at least normal for me :o)  Sickness is only hanging on by a thread {even though I was up with Dayna all night Friday throwing up}  She seems to be better too, now.  Whew!  I spent most of Saturday in my jammies, cleaning the mess out of my house, and it still didn't seem clean enough! I want to KNOW those germs are gone.

Anyway, on to Fit Tuesday!!  I lost my mojo and sank into some bad eating habits this week...just bein' honest.    You know, when I'm sick all I want is chicken noodle soup, crackers, and McD's mocha frappes!!  Today though, I was totally motivated by Shelley's blog post HERE and the fact she's lost 60 pounds, people!!  In 6 months!!  I am READY to get back on track!!

So this week, I wanted to share with you a great recipe resource for low-cal dishes...Recipe Goldmine.  Of course, there are TONS of recipes, but it's so worth the sorting!  I hope you'll read Shelley's story, too!

Pounds lost this week: Big Fat Zero

Total Lost: 6

Pounds to go: 94

Happy 9th Birthday to Emma

Tomorrow is my older daughter's 9th birthday!  She's so cute and excited about sharing Mother's Day with me.  I can't believe I have a 9 year old.  It seems like yesterday she was born....cliche, I know, but it's true!

10 Things about my Emma:

♥   She is fiercely loyal to those she loves

♥   She LOVES to read and will stay up as late as possible reading a new book

♥   She is a self-proclaimed tomboy {note the super hero shirt and the tree climbing}

♥   She LOVES her family, no matter how weird we all are :o)

♥   She is a natural pessimist....but I am determined to bring her over to the bright side!

♥   She is crazy smart and gets amazing grades in school

♥   She loves to write little notes for me...she filled my suitcase with notes and a stuffed animal when I went to Chicago

♥   She has a great sense of humor

♥   She loves to draw....just like her daddy

♥   She has been my greatest teacher in the world of how to be a Mom.....this child challenges me every. single. day

I love this girl!!!

Teacher Appreciation Week {Day 4)

This is the last post for Teacher Appreciation Week!  Today I sent the finished quilts...hoping they love them :o)  This one is for Dayna's teacher.  I used a Recess charm pack (or 2, can't remember).  

This is Emma's teacher's quilt.  She is having a little boy in August, so I thought the spaceships was a great theme for this one!

Hope yall had a great week!  I know I will be glad when this week's done and in the books :o)

Teacher Appreciation Week {Day 3}

Okay, I'm a bit late in getting this posted.  This week has been a little nuts. I managed to get both quilts finished TODAY, as in before midnight, YIPPEE!!!  I also decided to open up my etsy shop again :o)  I've had so many ideas for new items and I want to start making other items to sell in my shop as well.  One of the things I am planning to make for my shop are these ruffled pouches.  Every time I give one as a gift, the recipient just loves them.  So for day 3 of Teacher Appreciation Week, I made each teacher a pouch.  They can be used for so many things...I have one for makeup, one just for my lipsticks/glosses, one for my sewing feet, one for first aid stuff I keep in my purse (I use this one all. the. time. because with my girlies, I can never be without neosporin and bandaids)

Tomorrow I am getting pics of the finished quilts....I am just loving the recess zig zag quilt, almost hate to give it away!!  I'll have to see if I can get a hold of another charm pack somewhere :o)

Teacher Appreciation {Day 2}

Today was Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Today's gift was a potted plant, pansies, for each teacher.

I made the little sign using photoshop elements and then used my cricut to make the blue scalloped frame.  The gingham stick is actually a pencil!  It just matched so perfectly :o)

I'm a little out-of-whack this week....things at work have been rough.  Several of my dear friends were laid off today and it was a sad day.  I didn't get my Fit Tuesday post up last night, so it will just have to wait until next week....thanks for understanding!!

Teacher Appreciation Week {Day 1}

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I am so excited to share all the goodies I have planned for each day!!  I am so very thankful for the teachers who have taught and influenced my girlies.  As a former teacher, I understand the blood, sweat, and tears that go into each school year.  Saying "Thank You" is just not enough!

I saw this great idea on the eighteen25 blog...full of great free printables!  Anyway, the free printable is here.  I love the way they turned out!

Sneak Peek

I have been sick as a dog this week...I'm so over it!  Today, the hubs was a featured artist at the local comic book shop for Free Comic Book Day.  He is just awesome, I hate that I couldn't be there!  I was at home, sleeping and trying to not feel like garbage.  About 2 p.m., I decided I needed to get some soup and try to get some stuff done!

This is just a sneak peek of one quilt I am working on.  Teacher Appreciation Week is this week and guess who didn't get everything finished in time....yeeeppp, yours truly.  I managed to get 2 quilts basted today and hope I have time to get them done before Friday.  I may not sleep before then, but that's okay!  This one is for Dayna's teacher.  It's a zigzag quilt using the Recess line from Moda.