children

Well hello there…

Posted by Nat on Jul 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Well hello there…

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks.  I’m having to reassess my ability to jump back into things in the blogging world.  In the meantime, please meet our newest addition, Emily Lou.  If you’d like to read more about her, click here.

I have lots of things in the works… in my head.  Some are already finished and I just need to write them up.  Others are projects that I’m longing to do, but just haven’t found the time yet.  I am also attending BlogHer next week, and that is going to take some prep work.  So, please pardon the sporadic posting, and hopefully BlogHer will give me the jumpstart I need to… do whatever it is I’m going to do with myself. 🙂

More to come!

Health Record (Freebie!)

Posted by Nat on Jun 15, 2011 | 1 comment

This project is not rocket science.  Nor is it the coolest invention ever- but I haven’t seen anything like it, so hopefully it’s helpful.  It’s been bouncing around in my head for quite a while now.  It came about when my son, Jack, started having chronic ear infections.  At one point I took him to a Minute Clinic and the nurse asked me, “How many ear infections has he had in the last six months?” I had no idea.  I sheepishly said, “Well, it just seems like he’s been sick all the time since… since….”  but I couldn’t tell her when.  It wasn’t until I got home and started talking through the timeline with my husband that we could put a finger on when it started.

This was when I realized:  I need a health record for the kids.  I’ve seen them in old-fashioned baby books, but I’m not the kind of person that can remember once I get home to log everything into the baby book.  I also know there are some phone apps out there that will keep track of your health, your family’s health, etc…  But in this case I want something I can write on, something I can show someone else.

After not finding anything online that fit the bill, I decided to give it a try on my own.  I knew I wanted it to be small, and decided that something the same size as the kids’ immunization records would be nice.  I keep those in my purse at all times so that I don’t forget them when we go to the doctor.  I knew I wanted to keep track of when they were sick, what they had, and what, if anything, the doctor prescribed.  This is my final product:

I got the little nurse and doctor graphics online from the Mircosoft Word website.  This is not the craftiest thing, but I’m just as practical as I am crafty.   Here’s the inside:

And here you can see that they are just slightly larger than the immunization records we have.

And here’s my favorite part:  you can download pdfs of the cover and the inside and print them yourself!  All you need is some cardstock, a paper cutter, a small hole punch, and something to hold it all together- I used plain brads, but may replace them with something cuter if I find it.  Here’s my only request: please leave a comment if you download, and if you are a blogger, show me some linky-love, too. 🙂

You should be able to click on each of these links (two total) and download the pdfs.  You will end up with four covers- if you have extras give them to a mommy friend or as a baby shower gift- I wish I had thought of this when Anna was a baby….

Health record cover

health record inside

Once you print, just slice and dice your pages in half twice, punch a hole in the corner and secure with something- voila!

Update:  I’m linking up to “Serenity Now’s” Weekend Bloggy Reading.  If I don’t go into labor in the next 24 hours, I will be reading up on all of her links, too.  Thanks, Amanda!

Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

Posted by Nat on Jan 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

Hi everyone,

I’m not even sure who “everyone” is these days- I know I don’t have a huge following on this here blog (yet).  I’ve been thinking the last few days about this blog and what I want it to be.  I have yet to totally arrive at any conclusion to that, too.  I do know that, with as much change as I’m going to see in the coming months, I need to take it easy on myself.  The readers will come, the crafting will get done- eventually.  And perhaps someday I will have thousands of followers and I can refer back to this post and laugh.

What I do know is that right now I must go easy on myself.  Work 4 days/week, expecting #3, and trying to keep my head above water:  that’s all I need to focus on.  I’m still sewing every once in a while, I’m still using good ol’ Mod Podge where I see fit, but my hopes of being a renegade, craft-at-all-hours, multiple-posting blogger WHILE doing all of the things I must to keep myself and my family healthy and sane- those were futile hopes, I fear.

So I guess in a way I’m sort of giving myself public permission to “let my blog go” for now.  I will post infrequently, as I see fit, and I will not feel bad about it.  I will keep my blog floating with minimal supplies, and come summer time when all of my big changes happen, then “Howdy, folks!” I will be back and blogging (I hope).

Until then I hope to bring you fun posts as they come- maybe once a week, maybe once a month… maybe longer.  I thank you in advance if you stick with me through this tough time- because it’s tough for me to work 4 days/week and try to maintain any presence…anywhere, let alone online. 🙂

Hugs,

Nat

A Hat for Miss M

Posted by Nat on Sep 14, 2010 | 4 comments

Well, here I am during the third week of school and already we are plagued with sickness.  My son, Jack, and I are sick.  He is a gross, snot-factory, cranky sort of sick.  As mommy, I’m only allowed to be sick and still functioning in many ways, so I have been drugging myself with Sudafed, but yesterday was the last straw with that approach.  Today  my husband is home, Anna is at school, and I am presently waiting for an iTunes movie to download so I can veg in bed.  While I wait for my movie, I thought I’d show you a little something I made.

This is a little hat I knit.  My friend and colleague (in that order) Stephanie, just had a little baby girl, Mackenzie.  Mackenzie is adorable, and I worry that she may not need this hat because she has the most gorgeous head of hair a girl could ask for.  But, babies need hats, right?  And I started the hat before she was born with all of that hair, so either way, she was getting a hat.

I think this is my first knitting post on Crafting Crazy, so I’ll give you a little background on my knitting history.  I tried to get a knitting lesson from my aunt a couple of years ago and we just couldn’t get it done.  She started showing me how to cast on, but because a certain little miss would not eat unless I fed her during that holiday season, I headed back to San Diego with what one might call “knitters frustration.”  For whatever reason, I really wanted to learn.  I love yarn, I love handmade things, and yet I didn’t know how.  So I hopped on YouTube and decided to teach myself with video tutorials.  I guess it worked.  I wouldn’t say I’m an expert knitter, but I have made several things.  My next project, I decided, is going to be for me.  I actually started a wrap that I think may take eons.  Not sure if I’ll finish it or cave and switch to something else.

But back to Mackenzie’s hat…  I made it with Debbie Bliss yarn- I just love Debbie Bliss.  Anything Debbie Bliss is right up my alley.  This is a thin yarn, so I actually double-knit it on size 7 circular needles.  Just your basic hat pattern- I think I cast on 88 stitches, then knit in the round until it was about 5-6 inches long.  Then I reduced and switched to DPNs when needed.  My favorite part, though, is the top.  Check it out:

I got this part of the hat on Ravelry.  If you haven’t discovered Ravelry, go check it out- it’s a great online community of knitters, and there are tons of free patterns.  If you want to make this little “twirl top” then search “Twirl Top Baby Hat” and you’ll find it.  It took me about 4 tries to get it right, but it was worth it- it makes it so stinkin’ cute.  I can’t wait to see a picture of little Miss M in her twirl top hat.  This last collage is just an ode to the stockinette stitch:

There is something so visually satisfying in knit stitches that line up perfectly.

Welcome to the world, Mackenzie!

And what about you, dear reader?  Do you knit?  If you live in SD I’d love to teach you- I have tons of friends I’ve offered this to, and no one has taken me up on it….

Props to the crafting ladies

Posted by missmusic1976 on Jul 1, 2010 | 1 comment

I am in awe of some of my friends who craft so well.  One of the reasons I started this blog is because I was honestly a bit jealous of the abilities of some wonderful women I know, and some women I don’t know but who I stalk on a regular basis via their blogs.

A few months ago my friend Kari, who sews the most beautiful things, posted about making gifts for children.  I saw these crayon rolls and just had to try them.  I have now made four, and I know that I will be making more.  There is something so satisfying about choosing two fun fabrics, getting a few supplies together and having your end product be so cute AND usable.  I can’t give Kari all the recognition, though, because Kari actually got the idea from Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy and now I am hooked on yet another blog!

So thanks, Kari!  Thanks, Lindsey!

Below are my attempts at making the crayon rolls.  And Lindsey is right- the best part is sliding the crayons in when you’re almost done.  (Here’s a link to Lindsey’s tutorial in case you want to make them for yourself.)

I made two with a “girly” theme.  I love, love, love this button- I want to get more of it.

Note my tags that I ordered, too- I got them from Lisa at MommieMadeIt on etsy.com.  Love them!  I also love the two “boyish” ones, too.  Hopefully you can’t tell in these photos, but I actually didn’t get the crayon pockets perfect on either of these two.  Something about the dark fabric made it hard.  I had to use tailor’s chalk to mark the lines so that it would show on the black.  I was probably rushing through it.  But the crayons still fit, and I know that the 2 recipients of these will not care.  For the next set I will be more careful!  Scout’s honor.

Anna’s Sticker Book

Posted by missmusic1976 on Jul 1, 2010 | Comments Off on Anna’s Sticker Book

This is not rocket science, people, of this I am aware.  But I thought I’d share this because it will hopefully save me (and you?) some sticker angst.  Anna loves stickers, like most toddlers.  However, she loves to wear them.  She’d like them to last forever, and this is where the explaining was hitting a brick wall for a while- she would cry huge tears at the thought of a sticker losing it’s stickiness.  For reals.  So anytime we “lost” a sticker due to over-wearing, rips, or (heaven forbid) falling off, it was an ordeal.  Enter the sticker book.  It was super easy to make and she is slowly getting into it.

I used all cardstock.  I printed a simple title on the front.   I was momentarily tempted to find a super-cute font, but realized that would have been for me.  Then the teacher in me stepped in and decided to make it with letters she might actually be able to read, so I used the good ol’ standard:  Comic Sans.  I folded the cover and the inside pages in half, and then punched holes in them with an old school hole puncher.

I added a cute ribbon to hold it all together, slapped some daisy stickers on the front, and Voila!  Anna’s Sticker Book!  When I gave it to her (complete with some new stickers) she didn’t get it.  Ah, the anticlimactic world of parenting.  However, the other night she came across some princess stickers and wanted to put one on me (Belle, I believe).  I told her that Belle would be on my shirt for a little while but then she’d end up in the trash or the wash.  How about that sticker book?  There was almost an audible *click* as I said, “…because then you could keep it forever!”