soccer love.

a little over a year ago, mr. elliott began playing for a competitive soccer team, the cyclones. we weren't really sure about this decision as we had no idea what would be involved or what it might mean for our family. (and honestly, i still don't understand most of the rules, however. i am a great cheerleader!!)


but then something wonderful happened. we became friends with the families of these little guys, and a feeling of togetherness has brought us great joy. i think i can speak for all of us that we truly feel proud of each of the players, like they are all our sons. do you know what i mean? during one of the games this weekend one of our guys that plays in the defender (?) position SCORED A GOAL!


(he totally kicked it from the center field line and it went in the goal.) oh my gosh, the crowd went wild and his teammates were just ecstatic...such a moment for him!



tourney champions! what a great bunch of boys!

the humble cigar box.

i love cigar boxes.
seriously, there is no end to the potential they hold.
did you see what charlotte lyons did with them at mary engelbreit's party??? just ingenious. so cute and personalized. i love it, and can't wait to give it a go.

anyway, my dad found a few (hundred) cigar boxes lying around in my grandparent's basement, and was thoughtful enough to share them with karla and i. (he passed the hoarder gene right on to me.) they were a little musty smelling, so i wet wiped them and then left a dryer sheet inside to ward off the scent. guess what!? it totally worked!


beatrice is headed to her very first sleep over party!!! the soon to be eight-year-old birthday girl is a dear friend and an artist extraordinaire. beatrice thought an art kit was just the thing millie would love for a gift. we grabbed a fresh smelling cigar box and beatrice painted it pink.


on a piece of white paper the same size as the top of the cigar box, beatrice drew a pencil drawing of herself and millie wearing crowns with balloons floating around them. :) then i cut it apart. (beatrice wasn't really sure if that was a good idea or not!) we used her drawing as the template, and basically just made paper appliques. beatrice glued the pieces right onto the pink cigar box with a glue stick.


we added pink and purple "pearl" necklaces, satin flower hair accessories, and some string for the floating balloons. then we stuffed it with art supplies and a hobby lobby gift card.



so much fun!

bring on the bling!

at silver bella 2010, karla and i were totally inspired and completely gaga'd by an over the top, gorgeous, glittery, blinged up, beautiful, oh i love it so much, vintage bracelet swap hosted by cheryl.


(karla actually participated in the swap and received a beauty of a bracelet.)
i, on the other hand, was forced to face up to my covetousness.


once we heard the sad, sad, saaaaaddddd news of no silver bella 2011, we needed a little pick me up, and decided to follow cheryl's lead and put together a vintage bling necklace swap. here's what we have so far. we will be finishing them up and sending them out to the girls who participated soon! so much sparkly goodness! LOVE IT!!!!

happy day, friends!

repurposed t-shirts

while cleaning my closet last week, (a summer ritual) i found three brown t-shirt/camis that i hadn't worn in forever. recently i've been reading through past issues of publications like green craft from stampington and felt inspired.

i decided to try to make fabric flowers out of them, and i really liked how they turned out.

here's the how to.

supplies.
pretty t-shirts that you don't wear anymore
felt circles (about the size of a half dollar)
random bits to add to the center

i simply cut them into long skinny strips, maybe 12 inches long by an inch and a half in width. (ish) i then used the sewing machine to stitch a basting stitch along one edge of the strips.



next, i gathered them up into rufflies.



and then sewed them onto the felt circle. i used a zigzag stitch and found that i didn't have to be very precise. (good thing.) just sew a little, turn the circle, sew a little more.



i did leave a little empty "cavern" in the center of the flower. then i put a big glob of E600 glue in the cavern, added a circle of netting or lace, a large vintage pale pink "pearl", a few sparkly rose colored rhinestones, and small pearls. once everything dried i glued them onto a brown tank top!


pretty!

oh yeah, i have glued other bits and baubles to t-shirts before and have had no problem with laundering them! we'll see how this turns out!

happy day to you!

picnic lunch.

is this really my life?


play time at the park?


spending time with my favorite girl?


on a day with no wind??? (that happens like four days a year here in nebraska!)
thank you, Dear Lord, for these precious summer days, and i mean that from the very bottom of my heart.

little girls.

after at least ten months of being hugely pregnant, i remember viv.id.ly the moment our dr. announced, "it's a betty!" my heart fluttered and soared, and i swear, the little girl deep inside me was awakened. full throttle. it's been all about pink ruffles, crowns, and glitter ever since.


karla and i hosted a crafting party for some little girlfriends yesterday at karla's beautiful home. we decided to share some spoolie love. they were a huge hit with beatrice and kitt at pink-a-bella! (we first saw these adorable spoolies on crescendoh, linked up from missy at crafty carnival. thanks, missy!)


we had the kits all ready to go and got down to business right away.
ohmygoodnessgracious!

these little girls are precious.
each and every one of them.


sophia.


annslie. (with her mamma, jennifer.)


chloe.


millie.


grace.



kitt.


beatrice.



here we are creating our spoolies and, hopefully, precious memories. the spoolies needed some drying time, so we had short snack breaks, and we even made frilly hair clips - all in two hours!
oh yeah, we will most definitely be doing this again!
do you have little girls in your life?
if so, you've got to host a craft party!!!!
sooooo much fun!

AND, let me just say, i am sure there are lots of boys who would enjoy a good crafting experience as well.


bennett.


and mr. elliott. (who loves art class almost as much as he does p.e.)

our boys just happen to be of the mindset that if there is daylight, we'd best be MOVING!!!!!

happy day, friends!

mini book love!

well. it's true. we are loving summer around here!

mr. elliott and little miss beatrice have all kinds of fun activities to add a just wee bit of structure to our day, and still leave plenty of time for running through the sprinkler, throwing water balloons, enjoying cold treats, and most importantly, being kids.



i've had little projects here and there, too. one of my more favorites being mini books! michelle hosted a swap and i jumped at the opportunity to participate.



these are just some snapshots of the process. if you are interested, the tutorial is in miss amy's happy birthday issue - hello, $3.30 - for seriously THE best craft mag you are going to find.



mini books all packaged up and ready to share!

have a happy day, friends!