Dispelling the stench...

Autumn can be quiet the little stinker. And while I love that little stinker, I don't like her smell sometimes. I also can't imagine other people enjoy it either. I'm mean, who wants to walk into a stinky mother's lounge? Not me! So I made this little beauty so I can bag the stench and toss it in the dumpster.

It's a dispenser for little lock-in-the-stink diaper bags. Actually, they are just plain ol' vegetable bags, you know, the ones you get from the store when you get fruit or veggies...

 I just attached it to the diaper bag with a carabiner (which is one of my favorite little gadgets ever!)

Here's what it looks like when you pull one out. Sure is a handy little thing!

Materials:

7 inches x 7 inches of Fabric

~ 3 inches of Elastic

3 inches of Ribbon 

Projects

I've finished a few projects lately...

First up, a growth chart.

I started this a while ago with my craft group (which has kinda fizzled-dang it!). I like the way it turned out but I think I might tweek the "big, bigger, biggest" saying. I don't know...

Second, a Family Home Evening board. My friend Elise has let me play around with her Cri-cut while she's in Japan and I am having so much fun! I used materials I had around the house/garage and put this together. I'm hoping it helps reduce the "I want to do everything!" tantrums we experience from Melanie every Monday night. :)

 Last year I was asked to come up with a craft for my old ward's Super Saturday. Since I am terrible at remembering birthdays I made this birthday board. It's handy. I don't look at it as often as I should but I like it.

 Finally, I made this "Shoes here please" sign. I don't like telling people to take off their shoes. I feel like an uptight mom when I ask, so I made this sign to help me out.

a little crafty lately

Lately I have had a spurt of craftiness. So I want to share some of my projects...

Car seat cover for my friend Stacy. I really enjoyed this project because it was fast and super easy! Don't you just love the fabric!

VIP chair cover. I wanted to have something special for birthdays, school plays, special recognition days, etc... It just makes the special day more fun! Tutorial here.

Simple decor

This is my simple take on Washington Christmas.

It's supposed to just stay up for Christmas but I think I'll keep it up all year. It fits to well with the tree theme around this place.

Hand Tracings

I found this idea at:

http://6dukes.blogspot.com/2008/05/things-i-love-thursday-hand-tracings.html

These little handprints will always remind me how precious my little girls are!

Melanie's Graduation Gown

I made this graduation gown for Melanie to wear when we graduate. I didn't use a pattern and it turned out alright. I definitely learned a thing or two!

Melanie and I call it her "black dress". She likes to put it on and play!

Now all I have to do is make the cap!

homemade book

I love to make homemade books.

This one is short and simple.

We've enjoyed it!

Cork Board

Our cork board needed  a make-over. period.

As you can tell I cut the cork board before taking the picture (oops!), but you can tell it was in need of some serious TLC!

So using a picture frame and some leftover fabric I gave it a facelift! I like it! It was cheap too!

Easter Dress

Here is Lula's Easter Dress! :)

Marriage Skills Project

I took Marriage Skills this last semester and loved the class a lot! My teacher was hilarious, very entertaining. For our final project he told us we could do anything we wanted, it just had to relate to the class/topics somehow, (it's a one credit class- very relaxed!). I decided to do this ...

It outlines the counsel method. My teacher told us of a time his family, parents and children, used the counsel method to decide if a younger brother who turned fatally ill should continue to live on life support or not. (Of course there is more to the story) They weighed the decision, prayed fervently about it and got a clear answer that he boy was to return to Heavenly Father. My teacher was 11 at the time and the experience impacted him a lot. I was touched at how the parents involved the children in the decision, what a teaching experience in so many ways. 

Anyway I connected with the story a lot because of my own similar experience with Emry Anne. I miss her, but I am sooooo incredibly glad to have gotten the chance to learn from her strong spirit. Emry taught us a lot, a lot more than I understand at this time. I am grateful for the blessing of carrying her for 8 1/2 months, being at her bedside for 13 days and holding her close for a few hours. It's amazing what a little baby can teach a person!

Old Shirt... New Dress

I made this dress from one of Ben's old button up shirts. Here is the link to the tutorial:http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0

It is Lula's Easter Dress. Which is another of my mom's Easter traditions that I loved! Hopefully Lula will let me get a good picture of her in it. Happy monday!

Bean Bag Fun

I decided to give our boring bean bags a bit more pizzazz,
so with a little bit of extra fabric....

wa la... character!

I jazzed these up for Lula for Easter!!! I love easter. My mom always did a great job of making Easter memorable so I want to pass that tradition to my kiddos.

Thank you, Mom!!!

Tote

After visiting my cousins craft blog... thecraftpatch.blogspot.com (by the way she's amazing) and seeing all of her cute creations I thought I would try my hand at it...

To keep myself occupied this weekend while my husband was away I made this tote. It took me a good long time, like all day practically! I kept making mistakes and then having to correct them, what can I say I learned a lot! Anyway it is finally finished woo-hoo! I got the idea and tutorial from ... http://anniescupboard.blogspot.com/2008/05/shopping-tote-lunch-bag-tutorial.htm. It was easy to follow, thanks to all the pictures and simple instructions. Enjoy!

Magazine Clutter Solution

I got this idea from my friend Elise and I thought it was really clever. We are a bathroom reading family, but our bathroom is tiny and there isn't a whole lot of room for reading material. Here is Elise's brilliant and inexpensive solution to bathroom clutter:

Maybe someday I'll spray paint it and make it cute. Someday when there is more free time or an extra long nap! :)

Rag blanket

After several attempts I finally finished the rag blanket! Woo-hoo! This is the first sewing project I have done all by myself! Three stars for Marcie!