Fall Pumpkins

I have to say I'm VERY excited about this project!  Mainly because, as far as I know, it is my first "original" idea!!!  I'm very good at copying other projects, but this one I came up with on my own!  I do have to give inspirational credit to HL, Walmart, and this website.  (She did this AMAZING wall with Sharpies!)

Have you been to HL and seen those large monogrammed pumpkins?  I'm not huge on monogrammed pieces, but I was confident I could do something similar.  Here's my miniature version...

I picked up this mini pumpkin at my local Dollar Tree.  They also have some at Walmart as well for $1.00.  I then chose a font on Microsoft Word that I liked and printed out a few different sizes.  Once I decided on size, I used my hobby knife to cut out the letter.  I then used the letter like a stencil and traced it with a pencil onto the pumpkin.  Then I went back with my Sharpie and colored it in.  I also used a pencil to sketch on my thick circle, then went back and colored it in with my Sharpie.  I free-handed my thin circle and dots with the Sharpie.

Then I saw a pumpkin at Walmart for $5/$10 that had the words "Give Thanks" on them.  Again..I figured I could do this.  I did the same, as far as finding a font that I like on Word.  The only issue was cutting it out.  It was much too "scripty" to cut it out to use it as a stencil.  So by looking at what I printed, I free-handed it on in pencil first.  Any mistakes could be erased easily with a baby wipe.  Then I went back and filled it in with my Sharpie.  The big pumpkin I also found at the Dollar Tree.  I made a few different versions of these though to be used as gifts for some special ladies.  I did find though that you needed to either use the Super Fine Tip Sharpies on the smaller pumpkins, or just make sure you have a brand new Sharpie.  Otherwise you don't really get the look you want (at least with the font I chose.)

Finally, I wanted to try and imitate this other pumpkin I saw at HL.  The one at the store was a ceramic piece in B&W.  Lots of intricate floral work on it.  I figured since I could get a mini pumpkin for $1.00 if I messed it up it wouldn't be that detrimental.  It definitely didn't turn out quite like I wanted.  But the idea is there and maybe I'll try again next year.  For this pumpkin I bought a stencil set at HL and traced it on my pumpkin with a pencil.  I think it would look better if I would have gotten the stencils closer together; with less space in between each.  And if I do try this again next year I might actually try spray painting it white first to give it a more dramatic look.  Not my favorite outcome, but it will work for now.

This is the project I choose for our MOPS group to do in two weeks, so I think I bought out all available mini pumpkins at the Dollar Tree's and Walmarts in all three cities surrounding me.  I was trying to wait to post this till after our group did this project, but was thinking that if anyone else is interested in trying this it would be too late to find any pumpkins.  You could of course do this on real pumpkins too, of any size, but I like that I can have them again for next year.

$0.91 Burp Cloths

I didn't really keep a lot of baby clothes or basic things from my previous two boys.  I knew there would be a possibility of having more kids, but maybe there was a small part of me that was thinking, "There's no way I could have three boys in a row"!  Haha.  The things we convince ourselves of!  Plus, a lot of the stuff I did have had made it thru two boys, which meant lots of stains.  (I'm horrible at getting stains out of anything.)  In the past I've just used the plain white cloth diapers as burp cloths.  They definitely serve their purpose...they're just not so "cute".  I was debating for a while whether I should buy some more, but then I came across this pretty cheap material at Walmart that would suffice for the back side and I picked up some flannel at HL for the front.  There weren't too many patterns in flannel to choose from, but four was enough.  All in all, there were 4 yards of fabric which allowed me to make 16 burp cloths, averaging at $0.91 a burp cloth.  Not too shabby!.  Plus they have some character to them opposed to the plain white cloth diapers!

Potty Time!

Colin has shown signs of being ready to potty train off and on for the last six months or so.  I'm just not sure I'm ready!  Before Tim left we were doing a lot of traveling.  And soon there will be a change with a new baby, Tim coming home for a few weeks, then more traveling.  Still not convinced it's the best time, or right time, but he's still showing interest so we are all up for "pre-potty training".  He's stood at the toilet plenty of times, but we have yet to have a successful pee in the toilet.  He wanted to sit on the toilet the other night and about ten minutes later he pooped in the tub..so maybe he does know what's going on more than I think.  So I went out and bought him a little seat that goes on the toilet.  At first he choose to wear it on his head...

No worries though..we won't be letting him do that again.  And within minutes, he was taking the seat upstairs to the bathroom.  He gets so excited when he gets to sit on the toilet.  Now if we can just get him to actually pee in it.  But I'm not stressing over it.  After things settle back down after the New Year than we can really start to focus on it, but right now I just want to encourage his interest.

My Other Half

So I know I've been posting tons of pictures of what the boys and I have been doing, but I thought some of you might like to see what Tim has been up to.  I sent him a camera about a month ago, so here are some of the pics he's taken over there.  This makes me feel guilty for complaining about the heat..pregnant or not.

 I believe Tim said this is one of the little vehicles they ride around in.  On base of course.

 Slim is a nickname Tim picked up in his first unit.

 I don't know the proper name for this vehicle, but this is the "bigger truck" they drive around.  AKA The Crazy Chicken.

 Tim said he had a oil filter bust on him.  But he also said it's quite normal to get that dirty every day.

The boys and I love getting pics from him.  Hope you enjoy them too!

Canvas Makeover

For this coming year I've volunteered to help out with the crafts for our MOPS group. So part of that is getting to experiment. Test things out. Make things work the way they're supposed to. So this was an idea I saw on a few different blogs.  It's one of the many things that is on our list of things to try to make. I picked up this "lovely" piece of art at a friend's yard sale for $0.25.

Next, I sanded down some of the paint. Then I sifted through my stack of scrapbook paper and found two that somewhat worked. I used Modge Podge and glued them on. Since my paper didn't wrap all around the edges I decided to hot glue some ribbon on.  It's not my favorite piece, but it served it's purpose as far as experimenting. 

Next I went out and bought these two 12x12 canvas at HL, on sale.  While sifting thru all my scrapbook paper I came across these two other sheets that I decided would look marvelous in my bathroom!  I also used ribbon for the edges on them.  The 5/8" ribbon is the perfect size for the edge of these canvas'.  Anything bigger kind of hangs over.  You can always paint your edge or get enough paper to wrap around the edge as well.

Now just picture the color of my walls a rich teal blue color, and it would make these look even better!  I love how they turned out!  And I love the idea I saw on another blog that if I get tired of these, or decide to change my decor, I can just go buy two more pieces of paper and glue them on top and I'll have two all new pieces!

Happy 2!!!!

Colin turned 2 this past Tuesday!  This is my 10 PM the night before, so tired I could cry, why in the world didn't I just stick with cupcakes and white icing, super frilly, over-frosted, scary looking caterpillar, cake-decorating skills.  I should probably take a class for future birthdays.  Or just stick to buying a cake.


 We had started out that morning with some Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Sometimes the boys will eat while I shower, or finish getting ready..as was such on Tuesday.  When I came out to check on them, Colin was having more fun putting his cereal in his tractor than eating it. 

It was a bit of a crazy morning, but we made it home in time to do a video chat with Tim on the internet for a mini-celebration.  This is right after he opened his first gift..a truck that Ryan bought for him (with his own money...so proud!).  He was so excited and was holding it out for Tim to see.

 Colin has been all about basketball lately.  Any ball really..but he makes note of any basketball hoops we may pass when driving.

The best part was when we told him to blow out the candle and instead he decided to touch it.  It was quite hilarious!  He was traumatized for about a minute, then I put him back down at the table with some cake and he was good to go.  Only wish I had gotten it on video.  This pic is right before he touched the flame.

 Later that night they both got a "special treat" and got to sit on Daddy's motorcycle.

Baby Bump #3

I'm telling you..while we were in Oklahoma we had a packed schedule.  A good friend of mine, Jess, agreed to do my materinty pics while we were there.  I was still a few weeks early as far as prime maternity pics go, but I'm glad we did it anyway.  I was also able to convince my sister-in-law, Liz, to tag along for the ride.  I'm not going to share all of them, but here are some of my favorites..in no particular order.  (Yes, this is a "few".  haha)  Thanks again Jess!  You're amazing!!!!