The Bed Project

So, the girls are getting dolls for Christmas. G picked out a ridiculously expensive bed that she really, really liked from the catalog. (Just $119, plus shipping and handling.) Yikes.

It is cute, though. So I did a little research and found this beauty at Walmart.com:

And it was $29.99 with free shipping if I was willing to pick it up at my neighborhood Walmart. (I was!). So I got two, one for H and one for G. Knowing I was going to trick them out to suit the girls' tastes.

Here is a picture of one of the beds put together, without the provided bedding. I also left off the arch that goes on the on the top of the bed.

I went to the craft store today and bought some beads for G's bed. I chose blue, red, and green, since that will match the blanket my mom is making. H's doll blanket will be more in the pinks and pastels, so I think I'm going to use the canopy and draping they provided, but I've got some really cute pink and white ribbon I could glue gun onto the side of the bed, and I think I'll add additional sliding curtains for the sides of the bed. I'm looking forward to this project that will be worked during the day while the kids are at school. :) I'm also finishing up some crochet projects, too, as well as trying to work in some Webkinz crochet requests. G got a new eagle. And informed me that it's a boy. So that's kind of a challenge to my creativity. :)

Pictures of my projects

I finally finished the Valentine dresses for my nieces in Indiana. They turned out cuter than I pictured, and I'm very happy with them! Now I just have to box them and mail them!

T has been wearing a hat in the house in the evenings (why, yes, we do keep the heat turned down!) I decided I wanted to crochet him a hat. My first attempt was much too girly (I'm wearing it in this picture.) So I made another one for him. He's crouching down so you can't see the line up of chips and cereal on top of our pantry cupboard! :)

Here is a picture of my hat, mittens and scarf. When I was crocheting the mittens I proudly showed my first finished one to J, who asked "Is that a pot holder?" Ugh. Well, they are kind of big. But very warm!

And here is the baby blanket I've been crocheting to donate to a church auction. I think it's done. I'm going to leave it for a few days, and then look at it again to see if it needs some edging.

Pajama pants

Just a quick picture of Z's pajama pants, made from the old changing table cover my sister gave me. They are soft and cute and he wears them every night!

Our new computer desk - my latest project

T & I recently bought a new computer desk to replace our old one. (Our old one was a combination of his college computer desk and a hollowed out console tv cabinet for extra desk space.) Anyway, we actually managed to assemble it without problems, and in one night. I wasn't too fond of the open spaces, and it occured to me that I could use some shoebox sized boxes to make drawers. I had some extra fabric, and covering them would really make it look nice. Above you can see an in progress shot. (Thanks to Amazon for some of the perfectly sized boxes! And thanks to my grandma who taught me you can never save too many boxes! :) )

Here you can see a finished box. I used the material like wrapping paper. (I suppose I could have *used* wrapping paper, but I love this material my mom and I made chair covers out of.) I used packaging tape to tape the paper down.

Here's the finished product. I hope the desk always looks this clean!! If you look close you may notice a few details:

1. In front of the monitor is a fabric covered shoe box lid where we keep our bills to be paid online.
2. In that shoebox is a pencil with a flower taped to it. (This is even better seen in the before shot.) We've had these pencils for a while, but I may go buy new flowers and tape them to pens and stick them in a vase next to the monitor. :)
3. On the wall next to the computer desk is a wall hanging made by my friend H - I have a link on the sidebar to her "NapArt" blog. She actually wrote an explanation of the wallhanging. It warms my heart, and I'm glad to find a place I'll see it every day.

I have some more pictures to take - of my mittens and some blankets I made for my niece and G. Z promptly asked for a blanket, too, so I'm crocheting one for him. I'll also post about his pj pants.

Christmas Dresses and Holiday Traditions

While T's parents were here I was able to get some sewing and crocheting done. I thought I'd share the dresses I made. It was so much fun to put together the fabrics and ribbons! I used some old shirts, so it felt good to recycle from the way too big stash of clothes the girls have. I also put together the outfit for G using a pair of leggings she never wanted to wear... until I sewed the ric rac on and they matched the dress. :) Most of these will be given away as gifts, and that feels really good, too!

I am *almost* done Christmas shopping. Just a few things left, for few people. One I know will just be a gift card (J) and another is for my step-mom and I'm waiting for some ideas for her. My dad's gift will require a trip to the store which I don't want to do on the big shopping days! I don't enjoy the crowds! I've had fun doing the shopping, though. And now I look forward to being more relaxed through advent, and hopefully concentrating on Jesus and making sure the kids understand Christmas is so much more than Santa. (Though Z announced that he didn't think Santa was real, and my heart just fell!) I'm just looking forward to doing the holiday traditions we have. I'll share a few of mine, and I'd love to hear yours, too!

-We make a construction paper advent chain on Thanksgiving. Each chain link has a nice thing about one person in our family, written by someone else in the family. We all love it! It's fun to take off each link of the chain and count down to Christmas with compliments.

-We act out the manger scene, using figures, stuffed animals, or people. This is also very fun, and the kids love it! We try to do it a few times each week before bed.

-The Christmas Story movie. (T brought this tradition to the family.)

-Making spritz cookies with the cookie press - T does this with the kids

-Making mints and chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate covered ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches - I do these with the kids

I'd love to hear some of your family's traditions! Please share!

I'm Back! We're Adopted!

Wow! This past month has just flown by! We prepared for and celebrated G's 5th birthday. Then it was getting ready for H's adoption with announcements and party planning. Then it was here. We really have been busy, but it all went very well!

You can see this picture of us with the judge on H's adoption day. The judge was wonderful, along with the whole court. They all came in on their own time on a Saturday to do 12 adoptions in our county! You can see all of us with the judge, plus T's parents, who came in for the occaision and stayed until Thanksgiving.

H was very excited. She had some pretty rough days as adoption approached, and regressed back in some behaviors (yikes!!!) Thankfully we had our therapist telling us it was all normal and to be expected, so we didn't freak out. And by the time adoption day came, she'd settled down quite a bit. I figure once Thanksgiving vacation is past and we settle into more normal times we'll see how she's doing.

*I* had a last minute crisis when I realized I'd handled everything but had forgotten an adoption day gift for H! Because of J's adoption she knew to expect something. So, at the last minute I put together the blanket H and I are holding. It's silky on one side and soft and shaggy on the other. A local monogram shop added her new name and adoption date. It was very fun to do.

What did I do before crochet?

I was thinking the other day about how much I'm enjoying crocheting, and how therapeutic it is for me. Throughout my life I think I've always done crafts of some sort... cross-stitch, crochet, newsletter writing/arranging, etc. There was even a quilt I started and my mom finished for me, at my request - after it sat cut out in my closet for years! Anyway, I was wondering to myself what I'd been doing for the past few years, and how I could have survived without crochet ;)

Then I remembered H's hair! I looked up a few pictures from this year, but I have even more, going back. The pictures really don't even do them justice. The one to the left here has a zig zag par that looked SOOOO cool. Anyway, I realized that braiding and styling her hair is really a craft for me, one I love and enjoy! So I had to show off some pictures.