Christmas With The J.s

This year was awesome in many ways, and not quite as awesome in others. For instance, our tree is totally naked from four feet down because our toddlers couldn't seem to leave the ornaments alone. We also didn't have any nails so the stockings never saw the wall.

Santa made a stop at my mother-in-laws before making his runs last night!

How lucky are we?!

She didn't appreciate that too much.

And neither did he. Infact, when Santa gave him his gift,

Nicoali shook his head "no" and reached for his mommy.

(I'm so proud of that outfit!

The pants started out as scraps from Joanns, and the shirt started out a plane white onesie.)

Here we are getting ready for the family Christmas party...

Unwrapping presents...

Anastasia with Grandma J, and Nicolai with his new drum and horse/mop (since that's what he thinks it is).

Right after trying it on, she decided to try it out. Right on the kitchen floor.

Princess with her new Fur Real kitty, from Pah-pah S.

And a few of my new favorite photos.

My first post of Daddy!

I really love this picture. I love the light and the way the camera focused.

I tried for for-EVER to get a picture of him infront of the tree.

This is the best it got, lol.

Here he is again, being the best Daddy ever!

See our beautiful, naked, untrimmed tree? Hubby thought it was fine the way it was.

Next year I am SO trimming it myself. Maybe we can even have ornaments on the bottom half! I wrapped the red & white snowflake ones, and changed out bows for pompoms. Mr.J. didn't trust me to wrap them. I think I did an okay job.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Presents and Pom Poms!

I just love easy to make decorations!

Dana at made posted a super-awesome-easy tutorial. As soon as I saw it I ran out and bought some yarn. It was an hour and a half trip, and the store is only 15 minutes away! Remind me not to go back to Walmart until Christmas is over.

I knew they would be easy, but I didn't know they would be THIS easy! I'm switching out our cheap little bows and putting these on our presents instead.

I've made about... 13 of them. I had to make so many because the little ones kept running off with them. Nicolai wouldn't give me a moment of peace, following me around and pointing at the half-made pompoms and saying, "Num-num? Num-num, Mama?"

Half of them are in Anastasia's hair. They were meant for boxes or they'd be smaller :D
Here she is admiring herself in the mirror Grandpa got her for Christmas.

Excuse the mess... Talk to my husband.
I think she was trying to see what made her tongue tingle after she had some candy cane.

When you're low on funds and have barely any time to yourself, these are perfect.
They're quick and cheap! Each one took about 15 minutes.

I took pictures for a tutorial, but they're so easy I don't think anyone would even need it.

A close up...

For only sewing about a month, I think I did a pretty good job.

You'd think that for how long they've been doing this, Joann would have better shaped stockings. They were hideous! So I put in two quick lines of stitching and made it look like a real stocking.

Michaels was having a 60% off sale, so I bought a wreath and some pretty sparkly stuff

to go on it. I had to wrap some green yarn around the things to keep them in place.

Who knew it would be so hard to decorate a wreath? O,o

The 20th of December

I can't believe Christmas is here already. I can't believe that the Mr. and I have been together for nearly 5 years now. I look at our children and wonder, what happened? Who are these kids and where are my little babies?

They're growing up!

I tried starting a blog for them but it was so much work. This one was originally for my projects, to help me learn, and to document everything that I've made so that years from now I could look back and remember. But I've decided to change the name, and turn it into something more for my family. My side lives on the other side of the U.S. so I'll use it not only to show them what I've been up to, but what the kids have been up to as well.

I've been experimenting with fabric paint. This was my first serious effort, and it's a good thing I did it on an old onesie because I really botched it. He would have been really cute though.

A more simpler one, Nicolai's first initial... 

Toddlers are not very cooperative models. It's not as off-center as it looks.

My sister in law has a friend that had her baby and is going through a tough time, so she asked me if I had any baby clothes. We just moved and I threw away BAGS of Nicolai's old clothes. If only I had known sooner! So I scraped every little article of clothing I could find. If my sister in law were going a few days later I could have actually bought something for her. One of the onesies, I painted a J, for baby Joseph.

Since Anastasia's Christmas Dress won't be done in time, I took a white onesie and did this to it.

 I love how the thread stays white.

I'm much better at dyeing than painting! I don't have a printer right now so i had to draw the snowflake X_X

We took the kids Christmas shopping tonight. Since they're only 1 and 2, they don't know that half the toys are for them. They didn't even notice the things in the cart. Next year won't be so easy...

He got tired out half-way through. Hooray for big strong Daddy arms!

And that's all for now.

Until next time, 

Paint The Moon Photography Giveaway!

Paint The Moon Photography is hosting a giveaway! I made it just in time to post a few submissions before the contest ends. The last day is today to hurry and get your behind over there!

I used a few of their free actions below. The freebies are even so amazing that I don't have to do any of my photo editing crap (because it reallly is crap compaired to PTM, lol), I just use the free actions. I'm sure I'm not going to win, so when the hubby gets paid, I'm going on a PTM shopping spree!

Excuse my poor lighting ;)

Christmas Decorations & Eeyore Pants

I have finally made a pair of pants that my kids can wear more than once! I figured out how to get my machine to make sturdier stitches and to keep fabric from fraying. The back waist-line is alittle low and from the knees up is alittle tight for my liking, but I'm just happy they fit  :D

I made Christmas decorations!
Two and then another for a tutorial I'm making. I wanted something simple, fast (everything I make has to be fast, seeing as I do it all during our 1 year olds nap time), and somewhat pretty. I love them! I know that no one but family reads my blogs, but if someone else is in my situation, maybe it will help. Also, you can totally tell I've only been sewing for two weeks, but in the right hands, this technique may yeild wonderful results :)

In three days, my camera will arrive in the mail!

I have wanted a DSLR for years. Since I still have to wait for one, I decided to beg the hubby to take advantage of the Black Friday camera sale and get the next best thing. After much hard work and persuasion, he gave in. I think it was also that he may have felt somewhat guilty for finally getting his dream TV... It's a 42" and we got it for something like $385. It's nice and the Mr. is crazy in love, so I'm happy.
 So until three days from now my pictures will continue to suck :D



Sugar Facial, from my husband!

My husband is into the whole healthy eating, exercise, take-care-of-your-body thing. Last night he actually made and gave me a Sugar Facial! Isn't he awesome?

Ingredients

• Small sponge (we took a big cleaning sponge and cut a small piece from it)
• Your daily face-soap (to remove loose grime)
• 1 teaspoon of Sugar (adds grainy-ness to help scrub, and conditions skin)
• 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Directions

*Wash face as normal.
*Mix the teaspoon of sugar, and the teaspoon of Baking Powder in with two teaspoons of water.
*Dip sponge into mixture and gently work in small circles on and around forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin. Be cafeful to stay away from lips and eyes.
Use as often as you want, not exceeding three times a day.


The Mr. was so gentle and professional, I fealt like I was in a spa. Normally my skin is back to being it's oily self within a few hours after washing, but it felt clean all the way to mid-day today. After just one application, the red-ness in my cheeks has faded and it almost looked like I had foundation on.
Well... I'm off to make some more!


What are some of your favorite home-made beauty recipes?

Contest & PJ Pants!

The Contest...

Infarrantly Creative is holding a giveaway!
Click here to enter for your own Silouhette.

(Image from Infarrantly Creative)

Latest Project...

New pajama pants for our Princess Anastasia. I can't believe how unbelievably soft they are!
And they fray somethin' awful. It's a good thing I had to bring them in.

Next is a matching top!

For Nicolai...

I just LOVE these pants! The fabric is awesome and the color! Oh the color. It's a shame though because EVERYTHING I make comes out at least one size too small. I had to squeeze his little body into them while he squirmed and kicked and giggled.
And they were in the Fabric Remnants bin so I doubt they have any more left :(
Oh well. Lesson learned: 4 inch seam allowance from now on! At least I can now put in elastic without screwing up the entire project ;-)

Decorating

In the four years that Mr.J and I have been together, the most decorating we have ever done is putting up a christmas tree. We don't even have pictures on the walls! So this weekend I'm setting up the frames and begging the Mr. to hang them.

Searching for garland, I found this, by Wee Folk Art. 

Oh how I wish we still had a mantle! Since we don't, I'll be lining the ceiling instead. Mabye I'll even get to make a few of her little Gnomes! And their Mini Stockings are just too cute! I'm deffinatly doing those stockings.

Next on my list though is finishing my two shirts, pajamas for both babies, and most importantly, Anastasias Christmas dress. I still have a full month to do it, but I've been working on this dress since I got the machine. I finally got the top part complete, but I can't wake her up to see if it fits. Red and gold = <3

New Pants, Pin Cushions, and More Milk!

We've moved, so I haven't had any time to practice sewing. I have finished a pair of pants and started a pin cushion that I'm very proud of.

      My Pin Cushion     
He's a cute wittle punkin!

At least, I think so. Mr.J. said he was "ugly".

(Tutorial Here)

The kids can't seem to leave him alone, so I'm going to make a few more just for them.
Making it toddler-safe ofcourse ;-)

     Nicolai's New Pants     

I've still got alot of work to do but I think they turned out really good, at least for being my fifth project.

     Anastasia's Screwed Up Pants     

Here are Anastasia's pants. They were done before I decided to make the waistband seperate and before I learned to sew completely straight, so they're headed for the trash.

We had just moved in, so she was enjoying the big open floor...

The shirt I talked about in my previous post has been lost. I'm heartbroken! I took it off to unpack a few boxes (the shirt is actually a sweater that was HOT) and when I went to put it back on it was gone! I'm guessing Mr.J. or my dad threw it out thinking it was part of whatever box I layed it on. I guess I'll have to make another... at least I can do it right this time ;-)

I've always wanted to try cloth diapering, but never did. I deffinatly will with our next baby! On that subject, disposable pads make me break out. Thankfully, I've been nursing for the past 15 months and haven't had a period. Since Nicolai is cutting out some of his feedings (full nights rest, here I come!), Aunt Flo is visiting again. Maybe I can actually make my own cloth pads! I'll be following this tutorial.

Speaking of nursing, has anyone here ever donated milk?

I have for the last time (with this baby I mean) this weekend. I have donated breast milk six times in the past 15 months. 1100oz, that's 8 1/2 gallons! Here are all the pictures I took before shipping...

That's nothing though. If I were pumping the first four months I could have easily trippled that number.

I once talked to a mommy that had donated 13 gallons worth of milk in the first three months. Amazing!

 Please excuse my typos. Did I mention my keyboard is broken?

A few keys are missing, and my space bar isn't working properly.

I guess I'll have to get it fixed in a few weeks >__>