Choose Joy

Choose Joy

We were a little late for school today because I had to stop and take this picture. 

I have a tendency of sprinting through my day and forgetting to celebrate God's beauty and love. 

If you need a little inspiration today check out Ashley's blog, Lil Blue Boo.

She's beautiful, funny, extremely talented and has a story that you must read.

I've been reading Ashley's blog and drooling over her designs for two years. 

I feel that I've changed because of her blog.

I am grateful for her and her strength, courage and daily post.

I hope you're able to stop and marvel in all the beauty that surrounds you.

Happy Friday.

Valentine's Day

Better late than never...We had a busy but beautiful day.
I woke up on Valentine's Day to this beautiful bloom in our backyard.
My husband's Valentine's Day gift from a couple of years ago, camellias, Florida's winter rose.
It's a gift that keeps on giving. 

Red Camellia  

I'm especially grateful to spent my day with these two girls.

They were so excited to send a valentine message via photo message to family and friends that they didn't get to see because of soccer practice.

Messages sent to loved ones who live out of state.

What soccer coach would have practice on Valentine's Day???

Me

I forgot it was Valentine's Day. 

On the calendar two months ago it was just a Tuesday. 

By the time I realized it Valentine's Day it was too late to reschedule.
I'm glad we had practice because we had a lot of kids and the girls handed out valentines to everyone. 

Here are a few finished projects to share and tutorials or tips to follow.

Boo's skirt

BFF's Skirt

Ky-Bear's Skirt

I just couldn't resist... Pocket Full of Love Skirt x 2

We did finish valentines and they were delivered.

Teacher Gifts 

Valentines for Classmates

All heart shaped projects were completed by the sound of the late bell at school.

Dessert

Roller Skating Tonight after soccer practice. 
Pizza for dinner = Smiles for Mom

I hope everyone had a day of love and snuggles.

I have the best friend in the whole world.

This was such a great surprise... all of my favorites.
It doesn't get any better than this.
Thank you to my BFF for the best Valentine Surprise. 

Farmers Market, Soccer and Skirts

We had a great week.

We celebrated the first of the month. 

I know you're probably thinking... what is this woman talking about.

Let me explain...

We go to bed the night before the first of every month and try to remember to say the first thing in the morning...

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit 

After googling it today, it's not that strange. 

According to Wikipedia is a common British superstition. 

If you remember to say rabbit, rabbit, rabbit first thing in the morning on the first, then it is said that you will receive good luck for the duration of the month. 

 This is one of our silly family traditions and I'm so happy that we do it.
We have one last fun tradition to share. 

I find a lot of these pictures and they crack me up.

I've been putting my right shoe on before my left since I can remember.  

I was told to put my right shoe on first so that I would remember to do the right thing.

So now, I tell my girls to put their right shoe on first so that they remember to do the right thing.
I can see them thinking about it when they put their shoes on in the morning.

Do you have any traditions or superstitions?

I would love to hear them.


On to our week of sewing, running and new programs.

I was able to hit the local Farmers Market.

We stuffed tomatoes with quinoa  and spinach for dinner. 

I love walking around the market and looking at all the different vendors' table. 

It was a beautiful day and I was on a mission on find a pocket hole jig. 

I didn't find the jig but did grab some fresh strawberries, tomatoes, avocados and lettuce from the Barefoot Farmer. 

I just love colored glass

We had to build a robot out of recycled items from home this week for home work.

I was so happy that we received the homework assignment before the recycles were collected.  

Meet Rosie our recycled robot. 

Rosie

Soccer started this week for the tiny tots (3,4 and 5 year old).

I coach a lot of different ages and levels of soccer players but the tiny tots are my favorite. 

My Tiny Tot before we left for practice one day .

I'll be sharing my soccer coaching sessions over at The Youth Soccer Room.

I'm dedicating this season to get things up on a blog to share with other youth soccer coaches. 

Valentine's Day skirts, shirts and tights. 

Yes I did say tights.

I sewed my first tights for the girls.

Skirt #1

Can you believe that the main skirt, the purple - love, part originally was a white muslin?
I dyed a batch of thrift store lace about a month ago and threw a few more items in the batch.

I plan was to use the muslin as the skirt base and the lace as the the decorative top ruffled layer but this is where it ended up.
Stamping the fabric with a homemade stamp and fabric paint was a great way to dress up the muslin and make it Valentine ready.
I made three skirts. 

Skirt Number 2

Skirt Number 3 was a birthday present that was out the door a few hours after completion and I have to wait for a picture from its new owner.

Off to enjoy the football game.

Go PATRIOTS!

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

Valentine's Day Felt Garland and Streamers

For most holidays and special occasions I try to makeover the girls' room in a fun festive way.

I'll try to transform their room while they're asleep, just to give them a little surprise when they wake up. 

I love the look on their faces when they see everything in the morning.

Hanging Valentine Hearts and Snowflakes

 I used a combination of Valentine decorating ideas and leftover felt to make  a simple, fun and easy room(s) transformation.

Goofy Girls lying on the floor to look at their new decorations.

It takes me forever to decide what I want to create. 

It's difficult to find a project that matches both the materials I already have and the size of our home.

This year for our Valentine's Day decor I used some pinterest ideas and some of my favorite author  Betz White's inspirations.

Betz White's book, Sewing Green, was one of the first books I checked out of the library when I bought my sewing machine three years ago.

Sewing Green has 25 projects made with re-purposed and organic materials. 

I love the book's photos, her detailed project guides and useful tips. 

Betz White has a wonderful way of transforming everyday items into some of the most elegant and practical gifts and treasures.

If you haven't checked out her book or blog you need to hop over there today. 

Betz White's blog has a list of great Valentine's Day ideas. 

Paper Chain Heart Garland 

Felt Heart Garland 

FELT VALENTINE'S DAY GARLAND

TUTORIAL


I used several different ideas to come up with what works best for our sweet but small home and even smaller budget. 
Last year my daughter's preschool had a Sock Hop. 

I made her a poodle skirt out of felt and so I'm using the remnants from that and other projects for the garland and streamers.  
You can make the hearts for the garland any size you desire. 
I did small ones for our home and larger ones for a friend. 

Start with two felt rectangles.

I used two 4.5 x 15 inch pieces of felt and it made 14 hearts.

Again, use what you have and need.  

Place the two felt pieces on top of each other, align the edges, and sew down one long edge.

Open the sewn felt rectangles.
Then match the other edge of the long side. 

You can start to see the heart take shape. 

Sew down the second long side you just matched. 

When you finish, you will have a felt tube.

If you're a perfectionist you will need to draw lines down your long felt tube 3/4 inch apart. 
This will give you the thickness of your felt heart.

I used blue dash marks in the picture below to show you but you may want to use chalk or a color that will not show in your finished project.  

Start cutting on your lines and watch your hearts pile up.

You now have a choice on how you want your hearts to be displayed. 

If you want your hearts vertical you will string your needle and thread from the bottom of your hearts to the top. 

I used a bead at the end of my string because it will show when hanging from the ceiling. 

 

If you want your garland to display horizontally you will need to string your hearts from side to side.

When you have your garland horizontal they have a tendency to flip over.

Betz White offers a great solution to this problem and you can check it out here. 

For the girls' room I used a combination of felt circles and hearts.

It took me about 15 minutes to cut out the circles and hearts.  

I just sewed the circles together ending each streamer with a felt heart. 

It added a little more color and playfulness that I thought worked in their room. 

Have a Great Day!

I'm off to start on Valentine's Day outfits.

Photos from the Weekend

Our computer has been down since my last post.

It seems like we have things back to normal. 

I couldn't be happier.

I have a couple of interesting projects to share.

For now I have photos.

Valentine Garland 

The girls woke up Saturday to a decorated room.

Little heart everywhere! We are ready for February 14th. 

The yard getting a needed makeover for the next planting season.

Made a stamp out of puffy letters and a wood block... I love to recycle.

Putting the new stamp to use to make a new banner. 

Outside all day resulted in a vegetarian chili. 

Working on some hair clip and pins for Valentine gifts.

Hope you all had a great weekend.