Misc November...

As I am frantically trying to catch up the blog I came across a series of pictures and realized I need to make sure I put them in. So here is a random collection of our November.

Berkley finished his first season playing with Arsenal, he and Max Robison were both on team Swansea. He learned a lot this season, can't wait to see how his talent for soccer develops.

Of course, getting a medal at the end of the season made all the hard work payoff.

We also tried to warm Boston up to baths by giving him an impromptu sink bath.  It worked, he loved it and he finally warmed up to the idea of taking baths with his brothers!

Loving the head massage from his Dad!

Each month Berkley gets a project from school, this month it was to disguise a turkey. I looked on trusty Pinterest and saw a grainy idea for a peacock. This is what Berk and I came up with.  We liked it so much we did Braden's the same way a week later.

Rusty ran in a Half Marathon for Shun the Sun. He did a great job, and it is just the beginning of race season for him.

 Ami and I were faithful Baseball Mom's this season, From scorching heat to freezing cold, fall in AZ can be curious!  The late games were a challenge since they started at 7:45 so Rusty and I had to alternate who went to which game, since the other kids were in bed.

Braden finished his Fall Ball season with some nail biting games. I wasn't sure my heart could take many more games like the last 3 of the season! They made it into playoffs and were one game from winning, but lost in a tight game.  

Stratton and Braden have been playing baseball together since age 7, they have come a LONG way.

Gilbert American Little League

Fall Ball 2012

White Sox

The coach we had was great. Very positive. At the end of the season he gave each player a "game ball" and told a little about how they had improved. Braden has become an avid base runner, he can steal a base before I can even blink! He is much more comfortable in the outfield, but held his own at 3rd for a lot of the season.

More Pinterest Inspired Projects...

So after I made the wood blocks for Bunco back in December, I asked my Dad to make just a few more cuts for me.  And from those I made some blocks to put on my table seasonally. Since this is my new holiday command central of sorts. My house seemed so boring after the Christmas stuff all came down, so I made a little January display with my 'Keep Calm and Snow On"printable and SNOW blocks. 

It drove me crazy that I couldn't find something to fill my apothecary jars, I wanted some faux snow, but of course as soon as Christmas is done it is impossible to find, so I will keep my eye out early next year!

This is one project that as soon as I pinned it I knew I HAD to make it.  Sorting socks it a bit of a running joke around here.  I have bins of them, bags of them, boxes of them! I took this picture and emailed it to my Mom saying "Look, I created your very own department at Beck Inc." To which she replied, "Do you think there are enough clothes pins?" So, I added some more, and after I took out ALLLLLL the socks I matched a ton and now, I only have about as many missings as I have clothes pins.  I'd say 50% are infant socks.  The rest are either Rusty's dress socks or a hodge podge of the other boys socks.  I really do use this, having them right there where I can see them makes a HUGE difference to mating pairs back up!

These little Converation Hearts I pinned burned a HOLE in my brain until I made them. They were so easy. The hearts were at Hobby Lobby for a dollar and then I used some Martha Stewart paints to give em a coat.  The vinyl I cut with my Silhouette in red.  The cutest was Brenner, he loved showing me where his name was every single time!

After I made the red, back and white I knew a Halloween version was MUCH needed!

I want to make one simple one of a four leaf clover to put out for St. Patrick's Day. I have a "Keep Calm and Leprechaun" printable. And my Valentine's Day one says "Keep Calm and Be Mine." I also am in the process of making about a million, or so it feels that way, green and white yarn pom poms to fill the large apothecary.  I can't wait to put up Easter, it's one of my favorite to decorate for. 

Very Pinteresting...

Do you Pinterest? (I just heard Rhonda say No) well I do. It is a great place to collect images, ideas and other things and sort them all the way you want to, for when you want to. If you need an invite let me know, I'll shoot one your way.  I have gotten so many good "pins" on my 'pinboards' and I finally and getting around to sharing them! I have so many more pins to do, so I am sure this won't be my last Pinterest post. I wanted to show you the ones that I was inspired by for a side by side, but Pinterest won't let me save the pictures. Ergh. So just check my pin boards if you wanna see em.

 (I know you saw these on the Bunco post already)

 I got ideas for filling my glass apothecary jars and the "Keep Calm" printable from it. Actually the frame stays there and I have a rotating list of Keep Calm pictures that go in it.  Right now it says 'Keep Calm and Snow On'.

 The popsicle stick snowflakes were a little bit of an obsession once I started making them. The inspiration looked like the bottom far right, but was done with standard size sticks. I used variations of large sticks and patterned sticks.  Below you can see they took over my staircase.  I want more next year. And it was so cheap. I had everything on hand.

I made this little gem for Rhonda for Christmas.  By the way, I am in LOVE with the Martha Stewart line of craft paint. It is more expensive but so worth it. I used the red, and it covered in one coat. I was hooked!

And these were the cutest gifts for my Mom and Mother-in-Law. I wanted to use various shades of green for the boys hands. And then I used a star stamp. You can't see it but around the edge I glued a glittery red rickrack. On my MIL's we added 'ornaments' in red using my niece's fingerprints. I love Boss's hands, too cute huh?

So THANK YOU PINTEREST for making my holidays a little cuter, and yummier too. My 'Wanna be Foodie' board has brought me some awesome new recipes! I already have another post with Valentine's crafts inspired by Pinterest so that will be coming soon!

A Fun Tutorial...

Some of the shirts I've made this way...

I have had a number of people ask me how I made the shirts for Ethan's Run, so I thought I would do my first tutorial. I am by no means an expert, but I have done a couple dozen shirts now, so I think I have the hang of it.  First of all, I will be talking about the Cricut machine, which I don't own (borrowed one) to do the cutting for you, but it can be done simply by printing your image and cutting it out freehand with scissors and an exacto knife.  The Cricut just makes it that much easier. (And, by the way, I really hope I get one for my birthday---hint hint Rusty)

So here's what you need- the basics:

• An iron and ironing board
• freezer paper (found by the aluminum foil etc...)
• Fabric paint, I liked the Tulip Slick version
• scissors
• t-shirt
• foam brushes (one per color using, it saves so much time)
• your Cricut, Silhouette Machine or your own ingenuity
• Also, a t-shirt form. You can get them at Michael's, and Hobby Lobby which also has kids sizes. You can use regular cardboard, but this makes life easier, especially if you are making a few at once. 

1. After you get your design cut out onto the transfer paper (freezer paper), get your iron plugged in and ready your t-shirt.

2. Peel the design off the sticky board, careful not to rip it! Unlike doing vinyl lettering, you actually discard the letter, you only want the outline.

3. Once it is off, cut it down so it is easier to work with, just not super skinny, because the paint will get all over the edge of the stencil. Don't forget to grab the inner pieces that help form the letters!

4. Next, put paper SHINY side down, and iron. If it isn't where you want it, peel back carefully and reset. Make sure you do the inner edges carefully, so the paint won't run. The smaller the lettering, the more important this step becomes!

5. Get your paint ready! Easy enough, but you can also mix in glitter or mix colors together, just make sure you prepare enough pain for your project. Just to give you an idea, I used 2 full large bottles of black, 3 of green, one of red and one of white when I did the 15 Team Braden shirts.

6. Start applying paint to the shirt. I like to go around the edges and then fill in. Your brush strokes will sort of show, so just try to use nice lines. But truthfully, it's not a big deal.

7. Once the stencil is covered the package says to let dry for 4 hours. I usually waited an hour and peeled it off and then allowed it to fully dry.

8. Peel back the larger stencil pieces first. And no, you won't be able to use them over and over again. They sometimes need a little coaxing to come off. So yes, that means I printed out each of the words for all the Team Braden shirts 15 times.  I know, I need to earn a merit badge for that one.

After you peel off the smaller pieces (there is a Cricut tool for it- but I just used a toothpick)  all you have to do it wear your new creation!

Or in my case, use it to make a big announcement! 

I'll be wearing this for the next few months, then the baby will get a shirt of their own.

Yup, Beck Baby #4 will be arriving in October.  

Yes, another October baby, and yes I have been super sick and want to give a huge shout out to my Mom and Dad for doing my laundry and cleaning my house, for my Mother in law for also doing our laundry and cooking for my men, as well as my sweet nephews who gave up most of their Spring Break to help me with the kids! And honestly, without Rusty this house would fall apart. He is so sweet and understanding, and lets me do what I need to to get through the rough weeks. Even sweet Braden will bring me water if he hears me puking, I know, so sweet right? Super excited to see what this baby will be...

And in case you are super confused and actually want to do the tutorial, there are a lot of good ones out there on you tube and e-how or on a ton of craft blogs...

Team Braden...

Tomorrow is the big race day for Ethan's Run. We are so excited. It's like seeing a bunch of old friends, with stories no one but you understand. I finished up all 15 Team Braden shirts last week, and we will proudly be sporting the green shirts. FYI, they are green since that is Braden's favorite color.  I actually have one more to make tonight, Rusty decided he wants to run his 10k in a dry fit shirt, so I get to make him a second Heart Dad shirt. It's okay, he's totally worth it.

Berk's 

 Brenner's

 Braden's- I laughed trying to fit his whole diagnosis on his shirt, it was pretty funny. 

 The Back

I know you got a sneak of the others, but here is our family's shirts.  I don't think you can tell in the photo, but my heart has glitter on it, cause I can, cause I made them and cause I'm the HeartMom.

(I think I will have to do a tutorial on how to make these, since all it takes is a Cricut, freezer paper, and iron and paint. Really so simple- if you're not doing a million)

Hope to see you there, if not I'll post pictures from it soon. One heart family that won't be there is the Simmons. I have Owen's button on my blog. He is another brave heart warrior who is actually at Stanford, where Braden went, and underwent surgery yesterday. He is doing amazing. Jump over to his blog and give his family some love.

Word of the Month- Re-Purpose...

Well, seeing how I have a few extra minutes to myself lately, with Berk & Braden in school and Brenner on a pretty regular napping schedule, I have had a chance to get back to my roots.  Well back to the root of what I do when I am bored besides bake...

I make things.  I started making jewelry way back when I was stuck in the house with Braden- during the first year or so of his life when germs were a big scary thing to be avoided.  I needed an outlet. So I began beading. Eight-ish years later I have made thousands of pieces, and I still love the peace that I get when I am stringing beads. It may sound odd, but no matter my mood, I have to be calm and focused to get all those dang little beads on, and not drop them in the shag carpet. 

I also began sewing, and my skills are limited, but I enjoy making baby things and I made the drapes for my house. But adjusting to life with a third kid has taken quite so time for me to find time to do all these things I love. I can't bead holding a toddler (I've tried) so these past times had to be put on hiatus until recently. 

We all remember the big crystal craze that swept the Valley a few years ago. I have been looking at all my pieces lately wondering how to take the things I loved, and make them more relevant now. And then I was reading a blog about re-purposing old baby blankets into throw pillows (can't find the link now sorry) and it hit me. Why not just cut it all up and start again?

Anyway, I just had to post some of what has been keeping my hands busy lately. Like this project --I do a lot of repair work for people.  Mostly baby bracelets and little girls necklaces that have been broken and need restrung. Or, they need sized, because the bracelet that fit a cute chubby 6 month old, doesn't quite cut it on a 2 year old. Projects like this are so fun for me.  But this job was different. A woman Rusty works with wanted to see what I could to with a pile of broken necklaces, bracelets and earrings. She simply wanted back one necklace and one bracelet.  So, I started by breaking them into piles...

I sorted the Earth tones out from the berry ones. And then I played and played until I decided I would make the berry tones into a bracelet (she had the most beautiful clasp) and then use the Earth tones for a long chunky necklace.

The results...

The best part was the cost was so small because all I really had to do was restring. I even got to keep the leftover beads. Plus she caught me in the middle of a rosette making phase, so she got one on her necklace (it's removable and can be used in the hair or on a shirt!) as well. 

I'm telling you, this is just a small, small amount of what I made one weekend. They are so simple, and I even cheated and used FabriTac instead of sewing them! Messier but much faster. (Shhh, don't tell, cause she can't read yet)

I made this little hair clip out of tulle and ribbon I had laying around. My niece Talia is getting it for her Birthday tomorrow. 

The necklace below was one I had to make bigger for my cute neighbor. I made it for her almost 4 years ago for her baptism, and now she's in 6th grade, so I needed to update it, and along with a couple others I made them longer too.  Now she (and her Mom --bonus!) can wear them again. 

I know, I am obsessed with these flowers but they are soooo simple and so easy! I have been digging through my ribbon and fabric scraps making all sorts of them. I have entirely too many head bands now, but it makes bad hair days that much more tolerable.

And just because I can make my own accessories, doesn't mean I like too. Well, I do like to. Too much in fact, ask my accessory holders... But the point is I love when I get jewelry from other people. My Mom always gets me something made for Christmas, and Rusty is superb about getting ones that come in little blue boxes. And I am a little obsessed with the hand stamped jewelry right now. I mean you know I got one for Mother's Day, but that didn't stop me from entering a give away on one of the (in my opinion) founders of hand stamped stuff The Vintage Pearl. I literally squealed when I saw my comment had been chosen for the winner of one of their new designs. The 'I Love You' sign has a special place in my heart because of Braden. He has signed it to us forever --like on his first day of Kindergarten, I love it. It was way larger than I thought and I love that it is a totally different shape than my tag ones. So I mix it up.

Tonight at the store the clerk asked me where I had gotten it, and I told her. And she was nearly in tears, turns out her little boy was just diagnosed with profound hearing loss and has begun learning sign. She just kept saying how cool it was that someone would make something like this. So, needless to say, it made my night.

I have one more re purposing project in the works. Well, more re-vamp than re-purpose. But it is gonna take me a while to finish. My fingers are actually sore, as we speak, err type/read.

Have any other Crafty ideas for me???