Lord, Help Us, We Have a TWO-Year-Old Boy on Our Hands!!!

Within a year, Anders went from a sweet and loving little boy to well...a BOY! Wow, what a difference a year makes...now I really do know what people mean when they say boys are sooooo different from girls!!! He is still loving (likes to give "huggies") but he can be not-so-loving, too. He hits his sister (50% of the time it's well-deserved), is quite grumpy ("El Groucho"), is often heard saying "No way, go away, no Madeya (Madelin)..." Despite these changes, we are thrilled to have a TWO-year-old boy running around this house! :) "Happy Birthday, Anders" bunting. Birthday bunting close-up; like the masking tape? I still haven't found a good way to attach the bunting to the wall. Oh, well Anders doesn't know or care! Our little man eating his birthday dinner; with ketchup covering most of his chin and upper lip. I'm not quite sure who opened more presents..Anders or "Little Mother." "Cars" were a very popular gift this year! :)

Anders and his two favorite girls singing "Happy Birthday" to him! Notice Little Mother keeping Anders' hand from the flames.

Monkey themed birthday invitation created on Photoshop. Anders (if you weren't sure) in his Halloween costume from last year.

I found the "mod monkey" image on Bing (I think, or Google), copied it to Photoshop and created the "Happy Birthday, Anders" around it. I found the plates at a Party store.

I'm curious to see what the next year will hold with this little monkey!

The Garden, Early June

This garden box was my birthday, Mother's Day and anniversary gift from Chris. It's great (you can't tell from these pics but it's raised about 3 - 4 ft. off of the ground)...it keeps all the critters out, big (like the dog) and small (rabbits and such)! If only I could keep the kids from digging in it....I know, wishful thinking!! Tongue depressors identify what's planted in each row...asparagus, green beans...

cucumbers, carrots, jalapenos (by the wood post)... Madelin really wants the carrots to grow! :)

This is a mess of weeds and peppers...

and strawberries.

Birthday Bags

Think of them as reusable birthday bags for the birthday girl. These are the bags that Madelin gave to two different friends for their birthdays. Each canvas bag (purchased in a package of 3 from Hobby Lobby), plus fabric easily cost less than $4-$5. All of the bags were Madelin's ideas with the addition of my craftiness! :) We then put gift inside the bag. I made the bags using craft glue and then sewed around the outside. Madelin gave this bag to her friend, Trinity.

Close-up of the heart. Unfortunately, you can see the glue spots under the yellow heart...oops!! Needless to say, it was a lesson learned!

The other side of the bag. Madelin and Trinity are big peace sign fans!

I used felt for "Izzy." The other side. Madelin told me that Izzy likes green cupcakes...um, okay?! :) I love the mind of a 6-year-old!

Cupcake close-up...felt frosting, felt cherry with green floss stem and beads for sprinkles. To make the cupcake holder I used my favorite brown/light brown fabric, cut it out with pinking shears and then stitched around it with brown floss. Yummy!

I'm still trying to decide if I should make bags for boys??

Peace Sign and Shag, What Decade is it?

Peace sign and shag pillows, that is, for Madelin's bed. The peace sign pillow was Madelin's request and I found the shag pillow here. I'm not a big fan of peace signs but anything for my girl! ;) I made this shag pillow because...1. I thought it was just too cute and 2. I had a set of jersey sheets that needed to be used for crafting purposes...the sheets just weren't cutting it on Madelin's bed! So, I used the old jersey sheet to create the shag, bought pink fabric at Hobby Lobby for the pillow and used stuffing from an old accent pillow; the total cost of the pillow was less than $3! I made the peace pillow using this yellow accent pillow (I think I made it in middle or high school!!) and the peace sign fabric was from Hobby Lobby. For the peace sign, I created my own pattern, used Pellon Wonder Under, ironed it on and then sewed around it. This pillow was easily less than $2. The complete look. :) Here's to peaceful sleep!

S is for Sailboat and Sam

Back in January when I made these shirts (flower, strawberry and turtle) for some friends' babies, I made a list of applique ideas and along with those three, sailboat was one of them. Needless to say, I was slightly delighted when my friend named her baby Sam because I knew that I was going to make a sailboat if she had a boy! :) I made the sail using some fabric from an old baby outfit of Anders' and the boat fabric has been used for many different projects (like the turtle). I used the sail fabric because it matched this pair of inexpensive shorts I bought at Kohl's last year. "Wrapped" and ready to go!

Hope You Had a Happy Easter!!

I hope your Easter was as wonderful as our's was! Here are some of the things I made for Easter, as well as some pictures from the day. :) I found these adorable bags here and thought that they would be really easy to make. They were fairly easy to make but sewing with ribbon is still not a favorite of mine. My mom gave me a bunny mold from when we were kids...fill it with a rice krispy bar recipe add black gel for eyes and whiskers and a jellybean nose and you've got one tasty little bunny. I made the tags on Photoshop. I made one for the kids' Easter basket and gave one to each of our bible study friends'. I found this Peeps Bunny Bunting here. I love how it's so bright and cheery! :)

Now for some Easter day pictures...don't mind the fact that they are in backwards order.

Madelin showing off her Easter egg findings.

Madelin sharing an egg with her brother...I'm sure this won't be the case every year!!! ;)

The Hansen fam all gussied up for church!

My favorites! :) Anders checking out what the Easter bunny brought him (with Madelin's help, of course). Madelin lining up her Easter basket treasures. Madelin and I dyeing eggs, while Anders napped. :) We're not quite ready for help from an almost 2-year-old!

My 2 Favorite Girls and Their March Birthdays!

Two birthdays meant I was one busy momma! I was busy making goodies of all kinds for my two favorite girls. My niece, Estella, turned 2 and Madelin turned 6 within days of each other. Unfortunately, Estella lives in Japan and I didn't get to be a part of her birthday but I did get to make her a few homemade goodies.

This is a watermelon barrette (made out of felt) I made to go with an outfit I bought from Gymboree.

I made these heart crayons for Estella but didn't end up sending them for fear that they would get crushed in the envelope. :(

Birthday bunting made for Madelin. Happy...

Birthday...

Madelin! To make the bunting, I first cut-out a triangle (a size that I thought looked "right"). Typed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADELIN" on the computer, pinned the letters to the triangles, cut around the letters and then used Pellon Wonder Under to adhere the letters to the triangles. I sewed the triangles to ribbon. To finish it off, I added ribbons between each word. HAPPY BIRTHDAY and MADELIN are separate pieces.

Madelin's birthday invitation; each picture is of Madelin from age 5 - 6. I found the font here, they have lots of super cute and unique fonts to choose from. I created the invitation on a Photoshop program that I have. Madelin requested a flower cake for her family party. Simple idea but do you think I came up with it?? Yeah, right! I found it here. :)

Decor for the family party. Remember this post? That twine is still coming in handy!!

Table decor for Madelin's friend party. Extra stars from the scrapbook paper I used for Madelin's cupcake toppers.

Madelin's friend party was at a gymnastics facility. I wanted to buy gymnastics related cupcake toppers from Etsy but didn't really want to pay for them. I really just wanted to make them, so I looked for gymnastics related scrapbook paper but had no luck; I found this fun star scrapbook paper at Michaels. I also found some glittery cardstock to put behind the star paper. I found the sticks in the baking section at Michaels and used hot glue to adhere them to the circles. Like the invitations, I created the toppers on Photoshop.

Madelin requested red cupcakes for her party and got red velvet cupcakes with chocolate sprinkles. YUMMY!! I found the recipe here.

Now that March is nearly over, I have some Easter crafts that I want to get started! Look for those in a few weeks.