Fabric! Fabric! Fabric!

I stumbled into a $1/yard sale at Walmart this past weekend!  Look at all the lovely fabric I got, it's about 40 yards!  I usually don't buy fabric unless I have a specific project in mind, but I couldn't resist $1/yard, so most of this is unspoken for yet (although some will be used for nursing covers).  The bottom fabric in the middle stack is even home decor fabric in a tan/cream pattern!  Most of it is 100% cotton, even a red one with firetruck helmets on that I'm sure Caleb will love.  Can anyone suggest something to make him?

Petal Shirt (Up-Cycled)

I up-cycled my pink long sleeve turtle neck shirt (see pic below of the before) into this adorable petal shirt.  I used the tutorial on Crafterhours to make the petals.  It really is important to put a little pinch in the petal before sewing it on.  I have one that got unfolded as I was sewing and it's laying perfectly flat... Next up, a green shirt in the same style, and then maybe a burgundy one that's a different style, but equally ill-fitting.  Click to see my gray shirt up-cycled into a ruffled cardigan. 

Here's the all the petals pinned to the shirt.

On another note, I'm seriously upgrading to a really nice digital camera, like the SLR type.  I'd love to hear what kind you have and it's pros and cons.  Thank you in advance!

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Up-cycled Ruffle Cardigan

I love my new up-cycled cardigan!  This gray shirt was the same style as the green one in the picture below, long sleeve, high neck, and a bad fit.  It needed a facelift!  I started by cutting the sleeves off, then cutting the front right up the middle and getting rid of the awful neck line.  I also took 3 inches off the bottom so I'd have some fabric for ruffles.  I made the ruffles just like I did for the yellow t-shirt dress.  A tie finished it off, although, I'm not sure I like the tie since it doesn't lay nice.  What do you think?  I have the green shirt, and a pink one in the same style that are on the chopping block next!

Don't forget to check out my new Etsy Shop and Facebook Page!

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Facebook Page - Simple Joy Crafting

I want to announce that Simple Joy Crafting now has it's own facebook page!!!  I'd love for you to check it out and like my new page!

Simple Joy Crafting on Facebook

Can you believe Joshua is almost rolling?  I had to post a picture of him, because a blog post just wouldn't be complete without a picture.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderfully blessed Memorial Day!  And a great big thank you to all the veterans out there that sacrificed for my freedom!

My New Etsy Shop - Selling Nursing Covers

I have opened an Etsy shop!  I am so excited to start selling my custom creations!  You can get there by clicking here, or on my Etsy shop button on the sidebar (see the picture of a nursing cover).  I am starting with just nursing covers right now, and hope to add products in the future.  Tell me what you'd like to see!

What do you think of all this gorgeous fabric???

Vv Vegetable Homeschool Highlights in MFW

With the weather getting nice, we've been heading outside to spend time at the park with our friends!  I have to admit, this vegetable unit suffered a little because of the nice weather...  But we learned that "God gives me all that I need". Where we live, you can find asparagus growing in the ditches, so my husband took the kids asparagus hunting, a perfect field trip during our vegetable unit.  See a few ways we cooked it here.

 The kids always enjoy cutting pictures out of magazines, so I had them find vegetables in one of my cooking  magazines. 

I found a few printables on Homeschool Share, but Rebekah wasn't in a coloring mood, so she never did hers. 

For our literary day, we read Peter Rabbit, an old favorite of mine.  Rebekah and I drew a map of Mr. McGregor's garden.  She loved it, but I had to do most of the drawing.  We even drew in Peter and Mr. McGregor.  (Caleb was pouting on the couch during this because he wanted to read more books...)

Only two more units and we are done with Kindergarten!!!

Nursing Cover - Reversible, Extra Wide

Another adorable nursing cover made as a gift.  After making this cover, I have decided it would be a great thing to start selling.  I will have fabric choices available soon.  If you are interested in purchasing one, or know someone that might want too, please email me at simplejoycrafting AT gmail DOT com.  They will be $25 each.  The finished dimensions are 39 inches wide by 29 inches long, which is much larger than the covers sold in stores.  If you'd like to make your own, see my post Reversible Nursing Cover.

Barbie Doll Birthday Cake

My sweet niece turned 5 this week!  She specifically requested a Barbie birthday cake, and of course, her favorite colors are pink and purple!  I made strawberry cake, so even the inside was pink!  This is a ten inch round two layer cake.  The doll on top was from the dollar store.  Her dress is cake that I baked in a metal bowl, then flipped upside down onto the cake.  I had to add quite a bit of frosting around her middle because the cake wasn't tall enough.  I used a plain star tip to decorate her dress, even putting a few in her hair.  She loved it!  

Here's the purple t-shirt dress I made her.  I'm linking with:

Xx Fox Homeschool Highlights in MFW

This was Xx Fox week.  Our bible words were "God's word makes me wiser than my enemies".  Above is a picture of all the books we read.  There are a lot of fables with foxes in them!  Below are pictures of our fox den in the living room!  Even Joshua was a fox!  I let them eat their lunch inside too.  I cut their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in triangles, which made and X (I usually do squares, so this was different). 

I have been babysitting on Mondays to help a friend out, so we had two extra students join us one day.  Letter sound bingo is fun with more people!

Lap book activities came from Homeschool Share.  The bottom one has a picture of a box and says "What's in the box?", when you pull it out, it says "It's a fox".  Both kids thought it was funny!

We're getting close to the end of kindergarten!!!  Only 3 more units left!!!

Spicy Asparagus Alfredo

Where I live, asparagus grows in ditches!!!  My husband picked these a few days ago, and then last night he took the kids with him to go asparagus hunting.  I considered it a field trip since we're learning about Vv Vegetables right now! 

What to do with all this asparagus???  Well, I made and asparagus red pepper frittata that was really yummy (mix eggs and veggies in a skillet, cook until almost set, add cheese on top and throw in the oven until done).  We also grilled some, adding olive oil and black pepper.  But my favorite so far has been this spicy asparagus alfredo.  It was actually a little too spicy, so I would only add half a can of tomatoes with chili's, or just use plain tomatoes.  I bet the Italian flavored tomatoes would be yummy.

Spicy Asparagus Alfredo
Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (I used onions and fresh garlic)

Bunch of asparagus, washed and cut to 1 inch pieces
1 can of tomatoes with green chili's (or half a can, or plain tomatoes if you don't like spice)
Fettuccine, cooked
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Make the homemade condensed cream of chicken soup according to the recipe.  Add asparagus and tomatoes.  Cook on medium heat until asparagus is tender.  Serve over fettuccine and top with mozzarella cheese.

That's it, easy!  I also blanched some and froze it so I can make this again, and my Cajun Pasta.

Dinosaur Footprint Snack

I found a book at the library called A Dinosaur Cookbook by Sarah L. Schuette.  These are the Dinosaur Fossil Tracks.  The kids thought it was great fun to be able to follow a recipe by themselves, and who doesn't love peanut butter?!  

We also want to try the T. Rex Teeth Pops (chocolate covered bananas on a stick).

Purple T-Shirt Dress with Ribbon

I made another t-shirt dress, this one is going to my niece for her birthday.  This one started with a purple t-shirt I bought at Walmart, size medium in girls.  I cut the bottom half off and added the skirt, just like I did for the yellow t-shirt dress.  I found the fabric for the skirt at Goodwill for $4, and I have enough to make something else too!  The skirt is made out of two pieces, 27 inches wide by 21 inches tall.  This dress should fit size 7/8 girls.  I added ribbon around the middle that ties in the back.  Then I hand sewed a bow onto the front to add a little decoration.  What do you think?

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Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!  This is our first family picture with all 5 of us!  Joshua is sleeping and Rebekah wouldn't turn around and look, but it's the best we're going to get (you should see our horrendous Easter picture!).  Today we dedicated Joshua to the Lord.  This is the pledge that we took:

We recognize these children as gifts from God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing.

We dedicate our children to the Lord who gave them to us, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God.

We pledge as parents that with God's help, we will bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives.

We promise to provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of our children, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them.

We promise, God helping us, to make it our regular prayer that, by God's grace, our children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life.

We promise to lead our children to a lifestyle of holiness by our words and more importantly by our example.

We promise to teach our children to be faithful to the house of God and to the daily disciplines of bible reading and prayer. 

We did not take this pledge lightly, we fully intend to abide by everything that we promised.  For Joshua, and our other children as well.  God has been so good to us, to trust us with three precious souls to raise!

Joshua started out in this outfit, but he pooped during the ceremony and it leaked...  

Simple Joy - My New Bistro Set

Ecclesiastes 7:14 starts with "In the day of prosperity be joyful..."  I started this blog to bring attention to all the things that give me joy.  I don't want to overlook all the simple things that God has blessed me with.  As we recently learned in church, even the poorest Americans are still rich compared to most of the world.  I am rich, this truly is the day of prosperity, and I will be joyful!

Today I am joyful for my new bistro set!  I am excited to have a nice place to sit while watching my kids play outside.  I was just looking at this set at Shopko, but they wanted $120 for it!!!  I actually considered it, but then decided I really didn't want to spend more than $100.  Then yesterday I got an add in the mail from the hardware store, and this set was on the cover for $49.99!  Woohoo!  I also just happened to have a $5 off coupon for the same store, so my grand total after taxes was a little over $47!!!  God blessed me and I didn't even ask Him!

The real blessing though, was my daughter and the cashier.  Rebekah made an art project this week (black paper with colored paper shapes glued all over it).  When she made it, she wanted to give it to a friend, but she didn't know who, I thought we'd take it to church.  Today, she decided to take it to the store and give it to a lady.  She was so proud to be carrying her picture into the store!  I should mention that I never go to this store, so the cashier was a complete stranger.  Rebekah was really shy, as usual, and had me hand the lady her picture.  She was so overwhelmed that a little girl would give her a picture, she kept saying thank you to Rebekah.  I think it made her day, hopefully gave her some joy!  I'm so proud of my daughter!

And Joshua is joyful today too!

New Lamp & Shelf in Craft Area

I've been cleaning and trying to organize my craft area in the basement.  I found this super cute lamp at Walmart.  I really needed some more light down there!  (The stuff stashed in the corner is for future projects!)

This shelf used to be in Rebekah's nursery, but I never put anything on it!  I considered giving it away, but I think it will be good to store little crafty things on.  I'm sure I'll find more things to put on it!

Here's a view of my whole area. 

And here is my stash of jeans and other clothes that I'm saving to use as fabric.  That pile was much bigger before I made my picnic blanket.  I have plans for that diaper box too!

Look at Joshua now!  He loves to chew on his fingers, all day long!!!