Day 4 of Summer.... not so much a project...

there is no craftiness going on for the next week, cause it's all about this little guy. a serious change in dynamics in this house :]

jeremiah's birthday....

will be tomorrow!! so, with that said, i'll not be staying up to post tonight :[ nor will i be posting for a couple days while i get used to having 3 little bugs ruling the roost. i do have a summer project that we did today, and i do have lots of crafty pics to post from the last few weeks, but i'll have to play catch-up after baby J arrives- you know, in all my spare time :]
until then... peace out.

Day 2 of Summer... game day

Today we tackled another rainy summer day with THIS, a personalized checkerboard game for david and matthew :] Truth be told, I did most of the work, but the boys helped here and there, which made it fun for all three of us. 

I started with a plywood board- 14 in x 14 in. It was slightly bowed, so I hated to use it for a cake board, but it's perfect for this. A little paint, scrapbook paper, wooden nickels, modge podge... and voila! 

I painted the edges  and back with green acrylic craft paint, then modge-podged a 12 x 12 piece of green scrapbook paper to the center. I forgot to take a pic of the polka dot squares, but basically I took a printed piece of 12 x 12 paper and cut it into 32 1 1/2 inch squares, and glued them on in a checkered pattern. That was the trickiest part :] And then I covered the entire board with another layer of modge podge and set it aside.

While I tackled the board, the boys painted their wooden nickels. I gave each of them 15. You only need 12 per person, but I know my kids will lose one or two of these. After they finished painting, I stamped one side with their initial, and the opposite side with a crown, and sealed them with a coat of modge podge.

I grabbed a couple scraps of fabric and some hemp cord and made this tiny drawstring bag for their checker pieces. I have pics for a tutorial, but felt sort of weird posting it since I really had absolutely no idea what I was doing and probably did it wrong :] 

So, once again we fight to conquer rainy days in a house where my husband works and loud noise is more than a nuisance... I think this one will come in handy for a long time!!

Day 1 of Summer... we made it... whew.

Ok, so after ages and ages of nada on my blog... I have returned :] Here's the plan, one day this week I'll update you on all the craftiness I've been crankin' out the last few weeks as I've tried hard to cope with baby #3 hangin' out in my belly in no hurry to make his appearance. I might even do that tonight, we'll see. But what I think is totally feasible for now, and hopefully even after baby arrives, is documenting what we're doing with our summer. Today was the official first day, since David finished school Friday.
I do not like the thought of my children hanging out in the house watching Diego for hours on end, and one can only handle so many popsicles before the Texas heat puts you into a sweaty coma. My remedy= signing up for the summer reading club at our local library, and plenty of crafty nonsense :]

Today began with my boys pilfering thru my box of fleece scraps for the makings of their very own library totes. I usually carry a basket for them to fill up with books, but with my prego belly and impending package- I figured I'd better come up with a better solution. It's amazing how much kids love having something... anything... of their own. It's empowering for them. David chose a shade of blue with a red letter, Matthew chose brown, yes brown, with a lime green letter. My boys are as different as they come :]

I cut out their bags, each one consisting of a large piece to be folded in half as the body of the bag- 14x28 in, and 2 straps that I would also fold in half for reinforcement for all the heavy toting- 2x17 in. In truth, I messed up somewhere along the way, I'll leave out the details. But I had to cut the body down, and it ended up being only about 11 in wide, which worked out nicely in the end.

Then I cut out their initials. I know, J is confusing, as David starts with a D. But... my 2nd grade- almost 3rd grade- child is always reminding me that his real name is Justin. So fine, a J.
I punched pilot holes with a hole-punch, positioned the letters on their respective bag bodies, pinned them in place ,and used a skinny knitting needle to make holes all the way through. Then I armed each of my children with a blunt yarn needle and contrasting thread. They LOVED "sewing" their letters on. And while it didn't suit my perfectionist fancy all that well, it was worth it to see the accomplishment on their sweet faces.

I finished off the bags pretty quickly, folding the straps in half and sewing about 2 inches from each end, then pinning and attaching them. I just straight stitched up the sides of the bags. The boys were so proud of their bags. Super quick project + super fun trip to the library = two super happy boys :]

spider webs

i am neglecting soooo many things these days. just to name a few:

1) i haven't quilted in ages, but the full-size quilt that's two-thirds quilted (and was promised to a friend a couple weeks ago) is calling me every time i open the tiny closet in my front room where my sewing machine lives.
2) i need to make a butt-load of coffee cozys for a youth fundraiser, and right now i have a total of 1 finished.
3) i want to make a tiny doll quilt for a friend's little girl because she's fascinated with babies and i think all little aspiring mommies should have tons of tiny things that look just like the real thing.
4) i also want to make a quilt for my mom, that still doesn't own a bekalicious quilt. this is sad. and since we just found out her breast cancer has possibly returned, i feel incredibly guilty for not already providing her with that tiniest of comforts. somehow i think this should be #1, but i'm too lazy to change it. it's certainly taking priority in my heart, tho.
5) and finally, this blog... again :[ so sorry about that.

all the while, i'm obsessing over oils and starting a business. oh yeah, and i have a baby in my belly.
there just is not enough of me to go around.

trash to treasure?

it's been brewing for a while now- this longing for there to be something on the wall behind the couch. a little color to break up the monotony that quickly happens when tan and cream and chocolate brown and khaki all coincide in a space the way they do in my living room. i've been throwing touches of green and orange and mosaics into the mix, but this space has been crying for an eclectic treasure... and so i made one :] several months ago my sister gave me two crazy huge cabinet doors that were in her garage. and to top it off, she had two cans of blue spray paint that looked like a great start. and so it begins...

the beginning... straight from that quirky bird-lovin' part of my brain

my "canvas"

the result.... after gobs of spray paint, printed paper, acrylic paint, and a glossy glaze...

i LOVE looking at this.

i didn't purchase anything, except for the mounting brackets we put on the back of them, it was all just lying around my house tucked away for such a time as this... awesomeness.

a mosaic masterpiece....

i'm way behind on my blogging... just way too much LIFE going on around here to be constantly updating lately :] but.... here's one of my latest projects. i took a damaged table and transformed it with some broken dishes and pre-mixed grout from the hardware store. i still need to put some sort of clear poly coat over the whole thing to keep it from being so sharp- but for now, i love the result.

BEFORE... nail polish is death to my fav side table

my little helper :] this was the most "un-fun" part, cleaning off the grout...

AFTER.... happy times :]

granny quilt

So I finished a quilt last week- actually last week-END, but I am just now posting the pics. This one was sort of scary for me. I had a custom request for a quilt for a grandma to give to her granddaughter. And the doosie for me was that she asked that it say "grandma's girl" on it somewhere. Otherwise she gave me full creative liberty to do whatever I wanted as long as it was pink and girly. I LOVE the result. Modern, girly quilts are fun.

disorganized

Ok, so I've finished a quilt, made coasters, made a coffee cozy, and started 2 more projects.... but I cannot find my card-reader for my laptop. DUMB. I miss the days of slipping the SD card right in the side of my computer, but no- the old school dell that I'm working on now doesn't have one of those. Boo. A great big Boo. So until I find the missing reader, I have no pics to post, and it's just no fun to blog about craftiness with nothing to show for it. My apologies to the 10 of you that read this :] I will owe you one massive post sometime soon.

blah.

i HATE the look of this blog. i'm not super skilled, can't figure out this html nonsense, and i don't like it. i think the background makes my quilts look dumb. booooo.
speaking of quilts, binding up one today, a custom quilt for a friend- total cuteness. and now that it's sunny outside, maybe my pics will be better :] keep an eye out....

bummed.

if you're a quilter, or a crafter, or a creater at all- then you know that compulsive thing that happens in one's brain when ideas come flooding in. i personally jot these down in a notebook that i carry around in my 12 pound fossil tote bag. this notebook is chalked full of the cutest quilts imaginable. i will NEVER be able to create all these masterpieces, but there is a part of me that will ache until i can rip that page out. why am i bummed? i love white cotton- it's superb for backgrounds to colorful birds or sashing on snazzy wonky squares or even as an accent to the paper-pieced string quilt that i'm itching to make. i went to hobby lobby yesterday for the sole purpose of restocking my stash of $2.99/ yd white classic cotton. i like it, because it's cheap and it's not as weighty as white kona. did they have any- even a smidgen on the rack? no- what they did have was one clerk working fabric and a line of about 20 moody housewives waiting with endless bolts of fabric to be cut. so i couldn't even ask her if she had any in the back. and so,end of story,  i'm bummed.

lazy....

after stopping by some of my favorite blogs and drooling over their snazzy layouts and backgrounds and such- i came to this conclusion: this blog is a lousy representation of who i am. the only reason i never did anything about it before was because of my laziness that likes to poke it's ugly head out of my life every chance it gets. in an effort to send it back into hiding,  i'm on a search for a new spot. i should clarify, i'm not going anywhere- i'm just looking to make this spot a little more bekalicious :] that just means that if you stop by while i'm playing with all these templates and html- you'll probably wonder what on earth is going on. my apologies, but it had to be done. so here's to a little blogspot makeover....

blankets fo' ma' baybay...

i do realize that three is the magic number when it comes to kiddos. i realize that the life we know and love will be shaken up quite a bit with the arrival of this new little person in june. i also realize that i'll have to work twice as hard for matthew not to suffer hard-core from middle child syndrome, and david not to crater under the weight of our expectations for him as the perfect oldest kid. and bless his little heart, baby jeremiah will be born into a life of getting jipped if i don't start trying to thwart it off now. so, i am starting with two of my favorite pastimes: quilting and knitting. my goal: two blankets made by me for him BEFORE he's five years old. so far, one down, one in progress. not bad, since i have 3 months before he's scheduled to arrive to finish knitting the last third of his blanket. yehaw! and, of course, here's some pics :]

a quilt for ruthie...

so i have mastered something. above all other talents, one exceeds them all.... procrastination. i can make excuses all day long about how i'm pregnant and tired and blah, blah, blah- but it just boils down to this simple truth- i love to put things off. this phenomenon eludes me, as i'm also a super planner and strive to get so many things done ahead of time. weird. anyhooo, all that to say this- ruthie's birthday quilt (her birthday was december 6th) is finally finished. i LOVE it. in fact, i'll be honest and admit that i thought about keeping it about 10 times during it's completion. so, here's the story- start to finish, for all of you who wonder how my brain works. just a few disclaimers- i'm a lazy quilter. i refuse to use patterns, eyeball almost everything, and tend to like random cuts more than precise ones- see? lazy.

i start with a pile. basically, this is the product of my rummaging thru my scrap bins for pieces that i think will work well together. ruthie's flavor- blues, greens, and browns. a quilt after my own heart :]

then i come up with a plan and cut away. i wanted strips with lots of different prints, against a clean white background. and this is what i came up with. it is, of course, not set in stone till i sew it all together- always changing as it comes together.

and finally a finished quilt! i stippled it, because i find that crinkle absolutely irresistible, and backed it with a martha stewart sheet in an amazing shade of aqua blue. i hope she finds it atleast as half delicious as i do. honestly, i don't know if this picture does it justice. i could look this quilt for hours. 

super duper

i intended to quilt today, that was not a lie. in fact, i even have a pile of cute coordinating fabrics on my cutting mat, ready to be hacked into the picture in my mind, but... i detoured. i made these this morning, for a friend's birthday, and then i clocked out on the couch for a bit before i had to get in the car rider line at the school. not super productive, but these are pretty sweet :]

random

after last week's amazing productiveness, i'm proud to say that i do not know what to do with myself this week. i owe my sister a birthday quilt- it's embarassing how late it is, really. and so i think i might tackle that. and we took a trip to ikea today- awesome. we now have a baby crib set up... love it. so that means i can make little man a quilt too, or finish the blanket i'm knitting for him. i also bought some boucle traditions in pink mist today- a possible knitting project for a friend's baby. guess i have a few things i could work on. just an ounce of motivation would be nice :]

a week in photos

sometimes i laugh when people say that i'm a homebody, or when they assume that all i do is sit on my keester watching soaps all day. not so, friends. i tend to fight over-enthusiastic cleaning and creating on a regular basis. but either way, this week has been insane, so i'll log it for you in pics.

A QUILT. this one might count as puffery- since it's technically an end-of-last-week-feat, but who cares. as promised, i finished this quilt. green with envy, that's what i'm calling it- kind of a squirrely and random product of my love affair with circles and polka dots. but i like it :]

NO WAL-MART CARDS, MOM. LET'S MAKE 'EM. i made these for david's class... he personalized each one, with his favorites from a list of text messsages i printed for him. the keypads are made from old-fashioned candy buttons. genious. i stole this idea from family circle or something like that- i just opted not to hand-write each one, because i knew the perfectionist would take over and i'd be a mess for it. no lie- the kids loved these, i witnessed every single one of them running around the classroom having fake conversations with eachother. priceless.

MARSHMALLOWS ANYONE? in an effort to find an original solution for the ever-looming problem of teacher gifts, i scoured my pantry for usable items, and this amazingness is what i came up with. i had all of this: candy sticks, treat bags, marshmallows, wilton candy metls, and sprinkles.
seriously, these are so fast, and so cute. coupled with a homemade card from david- his teacher was raving over it. and i'll admit, i had a few bites of one of these- yum.

CUPCAKE LOVE. and... i made these for david's valentine's party. i resolved the latter part of last year that i would not keep making cakes if it meant that my kids never got have them. so, here's another installment to that. david came home from school last week and explained that he told his teacher that i would be upset if i didn't get to make the cupcakes for the party- because that's what i love to do. obviously, i couldn't disappoint :] i know i've said it before, but cupcakes trump cake decorating any day. i could make these tiny decorations for hours.

CAKE LOVE. and finally, i delivered this yesterday morn, before i headed off to david's school for a par-tay. two friends of mine got married last night, in a super small ceremony of mostly just close family. but seriously, a wedding without cake?! so, she didn't really care what i did- gave me full creative liberty, just said that she liked eclectic, bohemian, white and chocolate brown- and that she'd like a stripe of blue on there for the groom. this is what i came up with. i personally, wanted to paint this all over my living room walls after i was finished. i love the design.

soooo..... i have not been logging baby progress and photos in this post, because justin thinks that blogs are dangerous places to post all your personal laundry. i say hardy har to that, but i'll respect it all the same. but just so ya know... with all this craziness passing us by super quickly, i'm happy to say that i am ready. if baby arrived tomorrow, i'd have clean clothes, cloth diapers, and a sweet bassinet for him to sleep in. enough said.

spring fever

call me crazy, but one can only handle so much winter... dreary, cold, wet, ugly winter. and then you start to go a little nuts. i realize that in texas i don't experience an ounce of what my northern friends do- but thank God for that, cause i'm not cut out for long seasons of nastiness. i miss saltwater and the beach and my flowers and dirt and sunshine. so... this is what i've done as of late, to help bring a little "springiness" back into my life.

these are on my dining room table. $5 cannot be better spent at wal-mart... absolutely cannot. i smile every single time i walk around the corner :]

 

and i started these crazy creations, something about aqua and avocado green that really tickle my fancy. i can't wait to see how they both turn out, as i'm sort of clueless as to what the end result will be just yet. maybe i'll have some pictures to show you by the end of the week. i'm in full-fledged quilting mode these days, so it could happen.

and since spring always brings on the uncanny urge to spring clean and complete projects around the house.... i spent the day caulking baseboards, patching holes, and touching up paint in my boys' room. it is officially ready for a crib now :] and that means i'm brainstorming a crib quilt too. i LOVE that.

mommy's a hoot

i finished this little booger last night. in truth, it took longer than i think it should have, but i love the result. and i think i want to make a billion more in all sorts of colors. owls are fun :]

short and sweet

i'm about 6 inches of binding away from finishing another toddler quilt. yay for that. pics tomorrow, i promise.

it's a boy... again :]

so i will soon be joining the ranks of a crazy group of women- mothers to three boys. how weird. i can't say that i'm not totally stoked... cause i am. i no longer have the challenge of integrating a girl into our very boyish lifestyle and i am relieved about that. truth be told, i enjoy being the only source of girly hormones in this house. even still, it's fair to say that our lives will never be the same. three kids seems huge to me, but i'm up for the challenge. sooooo.... now the i have the amazing project of making over the boys' room to accommodate a crib and making changes to the color scheme so i can redo all the bedding. i love this part :]
and here's my favorite pic from the ultrasound, how cute are these little legs?! for the record, my dad sits with his feet crossed like this, and every one of my boys has inherited it- how cute....

spend all your time waiting...

i realize that i have yet to hold up my part of the bargain on two things: keeping my blog updated, and posting pics. i just noticed that alden's october cake and quilt never made it to the screen either. soooo..... maybe i'll edit this post to include them later on today. or... maybe i won't because i'll forget as my pregnant brain fails me a gazillion times more than my un-pregnant one when it comes to multi-tasking and real-lifin' it. this is utterly ridiculous. but i did manage to finish the baby quilt that's been sitting in the basket for 3 months, and last night i stayed up all night making two of the most adorable cakes for a friend's daughter. i ALMOST feel like myself again sometimes. and then i realize that my life is still upside-down and all shaken up, but that's the way i like it. no worries. so... here's to later on today. we'll see what happens :]

p.s. monday is the big reveal... should totally be able to find out what we need to buy this time around: tiny pink moccasins or mini blue flip-flops.....*sigh*

As Promised!!!! my latest accomplishments:

=last week

= last night

longggggggg overdo.

Wow. Where on earth have I been? As you know, this baby has been taking me for quite the ride, and I still have 5 months to go :] But I'm back to feeling like Bekah again, which is saying a lot. I'm really not sure who's been living in this body, but it hasn't been me. Today I'm finishing a quilt that is lacking a stitch or two and the binding. I will not promise pics tomorrow, but it could happen :] I am super motivated for a little quilting action these days. I'm a month overdo on a birthday quilt for my sister. Sorry, Ruthie. And I desperately need to finish some of the other quilts I've started so I can get them for sale on Etsy. This, my friends, is how I plan on funding the makeover in my boys' bedroom. The tiny space has to accommodate another person, thus, another bed. And I'm ok with that as long as it still feels like a comfortable space, which will take a little effort on my part. But Jesus is faithful to keep me sane this far, so I think it'll all come together. Again, I'm so sorry for taking so long to get back to this blog. I've missed it. So here's to the new year and all the craziness that awaits.