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96/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

I'm not sure why the weather has not gotten the memo that it is SPRING (April 6, y'all!!) but there you have it. Snow on the ground and sweet pea growing indoors.

At this rate we are never going to be able to use those lawn chairs.

The GardenProject 2009 has been going pretty well. The greenhouse packs we bought have helped the starter plants really get going. So much so that the cucumber starter plants have outgrown their current home. Which is why it is even more important for the weather to start cooperating so we can plant them in their summer home and get that process going. Also doing well? Tomato, pepper, basil and dill. Not so hot? Rosemary.

I'm trying my hand at some dianthus and sweet pea flowers as well, I was hoping to add the dainthus to the front area soon to infuse it with color but those plants are not exactly prospering like the sweet peas are. Not sure what to make of it, other than to say that when we took the seeds out of the seed packs they were not very healthy looking. I just chalked that up to being how the seeds were.

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93/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

I will write more about this later, eventually with better pictures. Suffice it to say that I am so relieved to be done with this jacket - it's a fully tailored jacket, finished with bias tape at all the seams - that I am going to reward myself by... starting on a new project.

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86/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

We ordered these capes almost a year ago - incredible that until this moment that he could have cared less about its existence. However, he put it on today and ran around the house. Such cuteness!

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85/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

It's been a very long day, but I got to skip out a bit early to come home and watch the Boilermakers (who lost spectacularly to UConn). I like to stuff my cheeks like a chipmunk while eating, while the LittleMan double fists his food and drink. He also would lean over and "feed" his lamb.

Lazy Days Skirt

Oliver + S posted a free pattern for the Lazy Days Skirt and I immediately placed it in the "things I want to do" queue. Take one look at the instructions and you will know why - no patterns, minimal finishing and the brilliant ribbon hem finish!

I finished up some other sewing projects (to be posted later when I replace my broken camera) and made room for the skirt. My sister and brother in law had sent SweetGirl some new paperback books to try and wrapped them with a beautiful purple ribbon. It was just the thing I was looking for!

Materials:


It only took about 1/2 yard of the fabric shown as SweetGirl wanted something knee length.

One morning worth of work (keeping in mind both kids are home right now due to Spring Break thus requiring entertaining) and:


Super sweet and super simple.

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83/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

The BookIt program is still alive and running! When I was in elementary school we would earn star stickers on our special badges to get our personal pizza from Pizza Hut. Now, they get little certificates after turning in monthly log sheets. The end result is the same - personal pan pizza and a happy kid.

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77/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

Sneak peek at a finished project. It's a slightly less traditional (ie: casual) Easter dress. Hopefully SweetGirl will have a use for it outside of Easter, as I am completely smitten with the fabric.

Details of the pattern used and outfit on a person to come, I had to make some alterations to it because it was so big but I think I've managed to make it work for this year (and for maybe another year).

Tooth Fairy Pillow

When SweetGirl lost her first tooth last month - we did the traditional thing of putting her teeny, tiny tooth under her giant pillow before she went to bed. When she woke up, the magical tooth fairy had come to visit and replaced the teeny, tiny tooth with monetary goodness!

The whole time she was going through the process of putting her tooth under her pillow I was stressing: Would the tooth fairy be able to visit without rousing the child? Would the tooth still be there because said child is a violent sleeper and her pillow is never where it starts at the beginning of the night? Would monetary goodness remain in place under pillow? Would tooth fairy be clumsy and accidentally do bad things thus waking child up?

The only logical solution, in my very messed up mind, was to make a tooth fairy pillow. After scouring the internet for ideas, I came back to one of my favorite craft/sewing sites, mmmcrafts. Turns out she had recently designed and put up a tutorial for exactly the item I was looking for! So with great appreciation to Larissa, I give you SweetGirl's tooth fairy pillow with our own modifications (no wings or crown, and embroidered eyes which aren't my best work but adds that homey touch, particularly since they are all the way up in the tooth's forehead. Oy). Obviously, hers is much more... polished, but I couldn't put button eyes on this pillow after having SweetGirl read Coraline! It eagerly awaits SweetGirl's next tooth to be placed in the little mouth pouch, and will hang quite nicely on her headboard - far away from late night tossing and turning.

Funky Hats

SweetGirl's school is participating in the NEA's Read Across America Program this week and as part of their festivities they have the kids do a Seuss-inspired 'something' each day of the week (wear crazy socks, wild hair day, wacky hat day, etc.)

Tomorrow is wacky hat day, and since it is Dr. Seuss themed I made a hat (because a normal parent would have dug out a hat from the play closet and I am anything but normal). It only took part of the day today and was a quick project. They are both fully lined so the seams don't itch (and to hide the fusible bonding) so it took slightly longer than I had anticipated, but it still wasn't too bad.

The first hat I made (on the right) was too small for SweetGirl's head (don't get me started on her larger than life noggin), and because I used craft fusing it had no droop and wound up looking more "Lincoln" than "Cat in the Hat". You know, if Lincoln wore a red and white striped hat.

The properly sized hat has a nice wacky quality to it (and it is taller, as requested).

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Originally uploaded by pikatures

Step two of Garden Project 2009. Someone is carefully putting the soil in the cell packs. Someone else is pouring soil on the ground. Both someones had fun planting various seeds and using the flags they made to mark which pack held what. We can't wait to see what happens this year!

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60/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

The start of GardenProject 2009.

Every year, something goes terribly wrong. The first year, we tried starting pumpkin seeds in egg cartons by our back stoop. The birds came and had a snack. The next year we managed to grow larger than life (taller than the garage) Sunflowers - which was great, except taking them down at the end was cumbersome. The year after that we tried sunflowers again, only to be thwarted by the chipmunks.

This year, we got all technical - picked up garden cell packs and seeds from the store and Aiko helped make little toothpick flags to mark what was where.

Here's to hoping this year will be a more successful year... wildlife beware!

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54/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

The plant that could - when my mom gave him to me, he was just the very bottom two leaves. That was it. He has survived and grown against all odds (my black thumb) and seems to enjoy living in the the cup Aiko made long ago.

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47/365
Originally uploaded by pikatures

SweetGirl is pretty crafty, she's really quite happy to make you a card or a drawing or whatnot. Today she requested that she learn how to fold a paper crane with her origami paper. The purple one is hers - not too bad for her first time at it!

Pinwheels as party flowers (and favors)

I found directions for making paper pinwheels on line at Heather Bailey's site and wanted to see if I could make them be "flowers" for our little cafe, which could also serve as party favors for the girls.

The pattern is approaching the double-sided paper a little nervously... as was I - the exacto knife and I have not been friends in the past.


No fingers were maimed in the making of these wheels (that happened with the vegetable peeler later in the week)


paper + hole punch + eyelet tool = pinwheel goodness



next step? painting dowel rods and wrapping them in ribbon, making the spools, attaching the flower through a hole drilled with... a power tool. Once again, no body parts were harmed (this surprises me, it really does).


Also I am silly and didn't take a photo of all of them finished, in little parfait glasses. Doh.

Combo Birthday Cake

When you have two kids born within 2 weeks of each other (albeit 4 years apart) party planning becomes difficult. Add to that the fact that Christmas is right around the corner (and Thanksgiving just behind us) and what you get is a combo party for the family to celebrate. We usually do something different for the kid celebrations, and this year was no exception. SweetGirl got a trip downtown to a fancy restaurant and American Girl Place along with a weekend full of friend fun with our good friends from the South.

In the end we came up with an "American Girl Cafe meets Ratatouille" themed party, which SweetGirl aptly named "Gusteau's American Cafe" (Ratatouille movie fans will understand why).

It was a little difficult trying to figure out how to fit an American Girl theme into a Ratatouille theme, so we went with a Mia character and Remy sitting by a Gluten-free toque.


Mia (who looks like a little Mii character on the Nintendo Wii)


Remy and his toque


The fondant is marshmallow fondant, the figures are all made out of fondant (supported by toothpicks). It was a late night the evening before but well worth it to see the joy on their faces when we brought the cake out!