Oh. Gross.

 

So I opened my dishwasher this morning to load our breakfast dishes, and what did I find?

A whole passel of ants crawling around in the bottom of my dishwasher. Oh. Gross. I’m not really one to be scared or grossed out by bugs and other creepy crawlies… unless they come in large quantities.  You know.  Swarms. Hoards. Masses. Legions. All moving around and crawling on top of each other. That kind of stuff. Oh. Gross.

I may be over-exaggerating a bit. They’re only ants. And there were probably only a hundred or so. Maybe Two. But they WERE crawling around in the appliance I use to keep the stuff we EAT off of CLEAN. So right now I’m just trying really hard not to ask uncomfortable questions like:

How did they get in there?

How long have they been there?

How bad is it that I am so lazy with rinsing my dishes they they swarmed to eat the food in the bottom of my dishwasher?

And most importantly… is it gross that I just started the dishwasher hoping they’ll be gone the next time I open it?

 

I really hope I don’t have a bunch of dead ants stuck to my dishes after this is all said and done. Oh. Gross.

Shoe Clips for Easter

I bought some little white shoes to go with a little Easter dress for my little girl.  I mostly love these shoes, but the butterfly is just a little too cheesy. And not-butterfly looking.

So I made some little flowers to clip on instead.

Want to make your own shoe clips?

To make two flower shoe clips you will need a needle and thread, fabric, two alligator clips, and a hot glue gun.

First cut about 20 2in squares from your fabric.  They don’t have to be perfect squares, as long as they are generally square-ish.  I used a shirt I bought on clearance for some crafty purpose. I THINK it’s chiffon.

Then fold each square into quarters to make a smaller square.  Holding the folded corner between your fingers, cut off the all four corners at once with a rounded edge.

When you unfold your square, you will get what looks like a flower with four petals.

Do this with all of your fabric squares. Each little flower will become one petal in your bigger flower.

Next, take your first flower and fold it in half, but do it a little skeewampus, so the petals don’t line up perfectly with each other.  Then fold it in half again to make a right angle.

Take your needle and tread and go through the point a couple times to hold it in place.

Fold the next flower into a petal the same way you did with the first. Than lay it on top of the other petal, points together, but skewed a little to the right. Pull your thread through to hold this petal in place.

Do the same thing with the next petal on the opposite side of your first petal, skewed to the opposite side. Pull your thread through again.

At this point your flower should have three petals and look somewhat like this.

Turn your flower so the folded edge of the first petal is showing (sorry the picture is a bit blurry). Add the next petal here, and the one after that on the opposite side.  Then add more petals to fill in any gaps or holes until the flower looks round. I used 9 petals in each flower.

Make sure to attach one petal at a time with your needle and tread, and keep all of the points in the same general area.

Your flower should look similar to this one.

Make one more.

Then hot glue a clip to the back of each flower, and be prepared for some seriously cute shoes.

Oh how I love those feet!


I'm sharing this project at:

The Train to Crazy
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Somewhat Simple
Paisley Passions
Suzy's Artsy Craftst Sitcom
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Someday Crafts
House of Hepworths
Gluesticks
Bloggeritaville
Chic on a Shoestring
Naptime Crafters
Be Different Act Normal

Smocked Dress Fail

 

I bought this dress at the end of the summer, and I LOVE it. 

It has some smocking around the bust, and is supposed to double as a skirt.  The high waist line was very helpful in camouflaging my tummy before we announced the baby news, and there is plenty of room for my growing belly. It’s light and airy and I’m so glad to have it to wear during the hot summer months.

So glad in fact, that I wanted another dress just like it.

It was a simple enough pattern, I figured I’d just make the next one…. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out just like it my other dress.  I used linen and lined it so I wouldn’t need to wear a slip.  I still love the fabric, but I’m just not loving how it’s turning out. I haven’t hemmed it yet, and I’m seriously considering picking out all that smocking and turning it into a skirt instead.  So much for that new Easter dress I thought I was going to get….

So I bagged the rainy day sewing project and we made a cheesecake instead :)

How cute is this little helper of mine?

It’s Raining… It’s Pouring (and raining, and raining…)

 

It hasn’t stopped raining in days. We’re feeling a little hard pressed for non-TV indoor activities around here. 

So… I introduced blanket forts into our lives. 

(pretty cool fort huh?)

I’m still trying to decide whether or not it was a smart move. Sure, it was fun the first time, we piled in pillows and blankets and books and snacks, I finished making a hat, and it used up about an hour of our inside time.

But now, any day we are at home and inside for any slightly significant amount of time, the little girl asks to make a fort. And unless I’m in there with her, she stays in it for about 5 minutes. Unless the TV is on, which totally defeats the purpose.

What’s a mom to do?

I guess I need to find a book to read….

Show and Tell

Yellow Roses

My mantle, I mean entertainment center, has been evolving a bit.  I finally got rid of the Christmas tree and brought back the fabric leaves, and I've been looking for something new to go in that blue bowl in the right corner.  The jute pears were a little to big to look good, and I'd like to use the Easter eggs I made last year elsewhere. 

 The bowl originally came home with a bouquet of flowers in it, and I wanted to make something similar, without buying a lot of (or any) supplies.  After scratching the fabric flower idea, I found this tutorial for paper flowers.  I made a couple dozen flowers out of different shades of yellow paper.  I followed the directions exactly, except I added a dab of hot glue to help the flowers keep the size and shape I wanted. They were easy to make, and and I made them all one evening sitting at the desk watching TV on the internet. Yay for me time!

In the spirit of not buying things, I decided to use this ball made from crochet thread and glue that I had left over from a previous project.  It happened to fit perfectly inside my bowl.  If you don't already have one laying around, it would be much easier to go and buy a styrofoam ball or other round object.

I began attaching the flowers with hot glue, starting at the top.

I used scraps left from making the flowers and tucked them in the spaces between flowers, so that the crochet thread wouldn't peak through the gaps.

The scraps also ensured that light wouldn't shine through from one side of the ball to the other.

There were a few gaps around the bottom of the bouquet when I finished.

I cut out some leaves and folded them in half to tuck under the flowers and hide any remaining gaps...

...like so.

I have to say it turned out better than I had hoped.

And the yellow flowers are so light and springy.  Too bad it's currently snowing outside....

I'm sharing this project at:

Be Different Act Normal

The Shabby Nest

Craft Goodies

Craft Envy

It's a Crafty Life

Nifty Trifty Things

Confessions

So this is what my house looks like, more often than not.  Yes, that's instant oatmeal all over the couch, floor, and even my pillow (which is in fact, laying on the floor). 

A certain little two year old can be thanked for the oatmeal and toys scattered about, but I'm afraid only I can take credit for the pillow and blanket on the floor (mind you this picture was taken at 5:00 PM, oops!).

And it wouldn't be so bad if this were the worst of it.  If you could only see the heap of stuff that has collected on top of my out-of-order washing machine, or the thing that was growing inside our toilet bowl. Yick.

Motivation has not been one of my strong points.  And a poor little girl is often heard saying "mommy gid up," and "wake, mommy, wake."

I guess you could say I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately....  If "under the weather"  means so sick and tired that I don't feel like moving, eating, getting dressed, or even waking up.  And if the last three months count as "lately." 

The good news is:

 I've been feeling significantly better lately, crafty even :).   If only the sun would shine, I might even go out and exercise. HA.

My mom and brother came to visit last week and I had a baby shower at my house for an ex roommate, both of which provided a little external motivation to get my house in order. 

AND....

We're very excited to be expecting an addition to the family in September.  Pretty cool action shot of the little swimmer, don't you think?

Other good news is that I've managed to complete a project or two and I might even get around to sharing them!