Strawberry Fun

I blogger that I follow is having a fun Strawberry Giveaway.


I really love this time of year and the way that even looking at a strawberry gets your mouth watering. Summer is gearing up and this giveaway would be the perfect start to summer for any crafter. Stop on by and enter to win!

Airplane Traytable Cover for Kids

I don't want to say that I am a germaphobe,

but after I watched a special on Oprah a few months ago

about how germy airplane tray tables are,

I am super cautious when I am flying.

Traveling with a three year old makes matters worse

(especially when that three year old is very handsy).

I brainstormed for a couple of days about

what I could do to minimize the germ interaction

when I fly with my daughter.

Of course I have sani-wipes in my purse,

but I wanted something that would slide over

the tray and that she could eat on. I also wanted something

that would keep all of the "activities" that we bring on the plane together.

So this is what was born....

The top is vinyl so it can be cleaned. Also, games like tic-tac-toe can be slid under the vinyl and grease pencils can write on the vinyl (you can use the same game sheet over and over then!). There are three pouches on the front for pens and colors and snacks. The underside of the cover is another pouch that holds paper and coloring books. I also added a strap so that my daughter can carry it on her own. The cover in the pictures is now the 3rd one that I have made...one for my daughter and two for some friends of ours. All three are a bit different...but I love them.

First Camping Trip of the Year

The weather was too good to pass up a camping trip.

We loaded up the car and

headed out early Saturday morning.

We weren't quite sure where

we were going to end up,

we just knew a general direction for where we wanted to go.

Once we found a spot, we quickly got to work on getting the camp set up...

...and then we got to the relaxing!

There were some great views from our camp.

And of course there was nature!

We played around and had a lot of fun.

We had a great time and can't wait until the next camping trip!

(Kaelin was passed out before we hit the main road)

Great Givaway

I came across a great blog, The Workshop Window, with a great giveaway going on until May 16th. For all of you gardeners out there...this is fantastic. Even if you aren't a gardener and just like great vintage things, this giveaway is for you too! Check it out here. Here's a couple of pictures of the giveaway too!

Kaelin's Garden

Kaelin and I planted our container garden about a month ago. She is leaning about how seeds turn into plants, so we started everything from seed (besides the tomato and strawberries) so that she could see the whole process. Kaelin gets so excited when she walks up to one of the pots and sees seedlings growing...she says, "Look, look, look mom. They are growing up like me!"

I thought I would post some pictures of the start of our container journey

(I am used to and more comfortable with a traditional garden patch in my yard...but we're in a rental house that didn't have a spot already and I didn't want to put that effort into a rental house).

We've got our

Peas & Carrot

and

Lettuce & Tomato pots

Short and Sweet Carrots

Basil

Cilantro






Flat Leaf Parsley

STRAWBERRIES

I am looking forward to our harvest

and will keep you posted!

My Mom is Joining the 21st Century

I love my mom to death...

but she is not the most

tech-savvy person around.

The other day, she surprised me by

telling me that she bought a Kindle.

My mom is an avid reader, so it makes sense

to have whatever book she wants to read

in the palm of her hand.

I was just taken back by her techie-purchase.

So moving on,

I was skimming through the

Freebies for Crafters blog,

and clicked on the blog of Christina in Vancouver, WA

called The Sometimes Crafter.

She has a ton of free tutorials

and happened to have a tutorial for a Kindle Cover.

Needless to say, I had to make one

for my mom and surprise her with it.

On a little side note...

I had a great score at

Goodwill the other day.

I bought a picnic basket for $1.99.

I spent a little bit of time today

making a new liner for it and sprucing it up some...

Kaelin and I had a great picnic lunch at the park today!!!

A Little Something

So I admit it...I am addicted to blog surfing.

The other day while getting my "fix"

I stumbled on a great blog. The blog's author, Anna,

has alot of great tutorials

(which I am always interested in).

I decided to undertake one of her tutorials

for a Gathered Clutch.

This is what I did in about

2 hours tonight

(I don't think that my next one will take as long).

This is a great little clutch

that is perfect for quick trips out of the house

or if you don't like carrying a big bag.

It is about 5"x8" and has a spot for cards and

two additional pockets inside.

I might just make a few of these for Christmas or birthday gifts!

YAY!

Mother's Day and Marymere Falls

Mother's Day has been good to me. Greg woke up with Kaelin this morning and let me sleep in (I still was awake at 7:00 like normal, but just staying in bed was really nice). I came out to the living room, and Greg was making pancakes (for the first time in his life). They actually turned out really good for a first timer, a little crispy, but yummy still. To top off a great breakfast, I dint' have to lift a finger for the whole day. Greg cleaned the kitchen, switched out the laundry, vacuumed the floors and put the laundry away (my least favorite job of all). Then, all three of us jumped around the living room listening to oldies and having fun.

We spent some time out with nature today too. We drove out past Lake Crescent, to a popular hiking spot called Marymere Falls. We weren't the only ones with this idea, but the weather was nice and who could ask for better company! We came across a lot of big trees (that Kaelin just had to be photo'ed in front of) and even a couple of deer.

We were all in awe of the size of these trees!

We got a couple of good family shots too...

Kaelin was our little adventurer.

She was rock climbing, blazing the trail on her own, and being an explorer.

Here are some more of the pictures that we took...

To put a perfect end to our outing,

there were Forget-Me-Not's everywhere.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there. I know that it is a hard job, but it is the best job in the world!

The Three Girls

So, with Mother's Day coming up this weekend, my sister and I were conspiring to do something crafty for our mom. At Christmas, we had bought our mom a frame that was supposed to hold pictures from a photo shoot of all three girls, my Kaelin and her Haley and Aubrey. But higher powers had other plans, and my sister and her girls couldn't make it home for Christmas and the photo shoot was only done with my Kaelin. Now our mom has an empty picture frame just waiting to be filled with something of the girls'.

Being that we live in Washington and my sister lives in Texas, another photo shoot was definitely out. So my sis and I decided to make fabric silhouettes of the girls to fill our mom's empty picture frame.

I printed their names directly on the fabric strips (I was hoping it would work...and it did - YAY!). The silhouettes were picked out from photos that my sister emailed back and forth and then traced onto some iron-on adhesive. All three of the "girls" and their names are going to go into the 3-floating photo frame and finally fill the empty spaces. Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

I loved these so much though, that I made a silhouette of Kaelin for me and one of each of my sisters girls for her too. Then I made some for Grandmas and Great Grandmas! Once I figured out how I was going to do these, I was a silhouette making machine!