Yoda Cowl/Head Piece

Now, I know that it is after Halloween, but I am proud of this, so I am going to post it anyway.  My son wanted to be Yoda from Star Wars for Halloween.  Good thing I had already created the Jedi robe and vest for his Star Wars birthday party.

But how do you create a Yoda look?

First, I needed to purchase some Yoda green fleece.

What is Yoda green anyway?

Basically, I picked 2 different light colored green fleece fabrics that I thought would suit.  I had a week to go, and I was not going back to the store for more fabric.

Ribbon Christmas Tree - Kelley Style

I found this lovely Ribbon Christmas Tree on Beyond the Picket Fence.  As so many things do, it got my creative juices flowing, and I created my own version, and yes, it looks different, because, naturally, I had to do mine just a little differently.

Okay, you might be asking yourself where is the ribbon?  It is coming, just hold your horses.

A number one I had this hunk of 2x10 cut to 14 3/4in. for another project (which I obviously didn't do) a few months ago.  It has literally been hanging around my family room getting beaten up by my kids and moved here and there, and when I saw Becky's post, I just knew what I was going to do with it.  I also thought that this would be a quick (relative) result project that my son would enjoy helping me with.  He always wants to 'work' with me, but sanding and gluing, and having nothing to show for it within a 20 minute period doesn't really float his boat.

Plastic Bag Upgrade

Whoops!  Was that your head, Little Man?  Can Mama kiss it?

Some of you may still use a diaper pail, but with our second we didn't even break it out.  Firstly, we cloth diapered our second until 18 months, at which point he could pee through the most absorbent bamboo or hemp inserts with ease, and I was unwilling to stuff his pants so full that he would walk like he was sitting in a saddle.  So, now we use those pesky plastic bags that you get anywhere you buy something for our disposables.  The pee diapers get thrown once a day, while the stinkers get pitched right away.
In that vein we had this plastic bag holder which you can see leaning precariously over the changing pad in our change table topper.  Grandpa DIY'd our change table topper to fit our dresser, but the plastic bag holder was somehow not taken into account.  The older my son got, the more of a pain it became, sometimes literally.

Almost Never Infinity Scarf

This is my almost never infinity scarf.  I started this almost 3 years ago.  It is amazing to think that I was working for a different employer, my youngest son (2-years-old now) had not been born then, and the friend that I was making it for has moved from NYC to Virginia.  It is still cold enough in Virginia for this guy, don't you think?

It has sat in a canvas bag, in my craft closet, almost completed for over 2 years.

With this project, I had decided to make a true infinity scarf.  Since I collect patterns and images of knits that I like, I started scouring through them, and found this scarf from a knitting pattern calendar I was given circa 2006.  As is my  M.O. with patterns, I modified this sucker. Who wants to follow the pattern exactly anyway?  Am I right?  Well, sometimes I'm in over my head.

Crocheted Necklace/Scarf

Last Christmas my cousin and his wife (I love them!) gave me something from my Amazon wish list, which I have wanted but didn't feel like I could justify the purchase:  a teach yourself to crochet book and a set of crochet hooks.  Super expensive, right?  But I guess, since I didn't really have a vision of what I wanted to create, I felt like it would be a waste of money. 

Then I saw Delia's super fun scarf.

It took me a few minutes to locate the book, which I had placed with all my other crafty books.  Then I went to look for my new crochet hooks to break them in, and I could not find them.  I was so sure that I had placed them with my knitting needles but no dice.  The fact that I couldn't find them was driving me nuts for several days.  I kept delving into my craft closet (and it really is a closet, which I share with DVDs, a filing cabinet - not craft related, toys, and computer stuff) looking and looking and looking, until... I swung by Walmart and picked up a set of 3 for $3.47.  Problem solved, for now anyway. 

Thomas the Train Bridge Tutorial

Look familiar?  It sure is a common occurrence in our house.  Those pesky wooden block track elevators that allow your child to build higher are also those very things that bring it all crashing down when shifted during play.  They are the bain of my existence, especially when my youngest plays with our Thomas trains and track.  He is 2 and a few months and doesn't have the ability yet to get 3 different pieces to stand together with the precision it requires.  There is a lot of 'Need help.  Need HELP!  HEELP!!' while Mama and Daddy are cooking or have soapy hands or who knows what.

DIY Industrial Toilet Paper Holder

When we moved into our 1957 home, we had our Catholic wedding bearing down on us, and our quasi fixer-upper needed some love.  Some rooms required more than others.  We replaced the old, rusty, wall-mounted sinks that were in both bathrooms.  Our 'master' bathroom received a cute pedestal sink.  It was the smallest one we could purchase in the store - 19 inches wide, and our master bath offers the distinct luxury of allowing one to use the toilet and brush one's teeth at the same time when getting ready for bed.  In our other slightly larger bathroom, we were able to fit a 30 inch vanity, but we needed a new toilet paper holder to attach to the vanity's side, since the porcelain one was getting covered up by the vanity.  It was similar in design and style to the holder in the picture, which I plucked from Amazon because ours is already in the hands of the Goodwill.

I have no idea how this particular product actually attaches, but OURS (again not this product or manufacturer) always rocked back and forth where it was mounted to the vanity, so that it was never level.  This became more noticeable when my oldest started potty training.  You are not going to make a potty training kid straighten the toilet paper roll holder.  You are simply glad his business is going in the toilet and not his pants!

Star Wars Birthday T-shirts

This summer my oldest son, my first baby, had his 6th birthday.  This was going to be our first kid party that didn't just involve friends' and family's kids.  I wanted it to be a birthday to remember, and because he likes Star Wars, I thought I would do a Star Wars party.

I had a ton of great ideas to make this the most fantastical Star Wars B-day Party EVER!

Now I suspect that I am not the only Mama who wants to make their first child's first birthday party perfect.  But most of my ideas were just not feasible as a working mother.  They probably aren't even feasible for a stay at home mother (I am not stupid.  I know you don't sit at home eating chocolate and watching Jerry Springer.  You work hard too.), but it didn't stop me from trying.  Ha, ha!  One of these great ideas was to provide non-candy related, hand-made party favors.

At first I wanted to make all the kids Jedi robes based on this tutorial, but after the prototype took an entire weekend, I decided that just was not gonna happen.