Handmade 52 - Items 2 and 3 DONE!

I'm really enjoying finally sewing a little again. It was a long dry spell and my fabric stash was starting to taunt me and threaten to run off!

But I'm BACK!

Project #2 was a basic little, slightly gathered, curtain for the cabinet housing our homeschool books and supplies.

Before:

Nothing that pretty about it. Plus you can see all the places hardware was removed from it. It was supposed to have a big wooden piece that folded out and down to make a table for a laptop or keyboard to sit on. But seeing because we bought it for $15 in the AS-IS section of Ikea, well, it was missing that part! I still need to fill in the holes, but that will come later because I'm having too much fun sewing to find the right stuff to fill it with. Wood filler? Who knows, I'll find out soon!

Start by adding self adhesive velcro hook to the back of the little wooden piece where the curtain will attach.

Hem and gather the fabric for the curtain, then use the cool trick I learned on Pinterest for GATHERING MORE EASILY. After that sew on the velcro loop to the front of the curtain, carefully making sure your gathers are somewhat even and not coming loose.

After:

Attach to the velcro hook, and  VIOLA!  A curtain to hide the books and random assortment of homeschool goodies!

It ended up being about 3/4" too long, but that's an easy fix that come later if I decide it has to be done. ;)

Project #3:

A clear front, crayon bag for M.

M's crayons are out of control. They are everywhere! But the solution needed to be an easy place for her to remember to put them, and just as easy for her to find them. What better than a zippered pouch with a clear plastic front? It would be easy for her to see the colours she had available to use, easy to find the pouch in her drawer (that mess is a whole other issue), and easy for her to put them away and zip it closed.

So off to Joann we went and bought a yard and a half of the thickest clear vinyl they had, which was 8 gauge, I wouldn't use anything thinner btw, I'd actually prefer to try 10 gauge next time but this is holding up well so far.

And this is what she ended up with:

I learned from a few mistakes along the way, and I used THIS TUTORIAL on Make It and Love It for sewing with vinyl. I mixed it up a bit with a cute fabric for the back piece instead of more vinyl, as well as a cute tag from my tag stash....which I will never show to you in entirety for fear of being forced to come to terms with the fact that I have a tag addiction love for cute little taggies! Ha ha!

Also, see the big zipper pull (is that the right name?) on there? These are handbag zippers from KANDCSUPPLIES on Etsy. The best thing about them, is because the zipper handle (still not right?)  is bigger, it means it's easier for little fingers to grab hold and pull the zipper closed without any tears or begging Mommy for help.... right as Mommy gets baby to sleep on her lap.... 

Me trying to show you the fabric back and the vinyl front...ignore any mistakes you happen to see ;)

It may look full (and especially so because of the horrible lighting, sorry!) but really it's only half full and so there's plenty of space for little hands to dig through to find that one perfect colour for the project at hand.

A close up of the tag...ignore the stitching, I didn't stick tape to the throat plate of my machine as it suggested in the tutorial (few steps above) and you can definitely tell where the vinyl was sticking as I was sewing *whoops*!

Anyhoo, off to cross these off my list and figure out what's next!

Oh and don't forget to check out my friend Katie's blog where she takes the Handmade 52 to a whole new level! She has link ups where you can link what you've made for all to see, and all sorts of awesome things that she herself creates! Go check out RAISING ORANGES and ooh and aah over her adorable family, and the gorgeous crafts you see!

Oh, and in case you're wondering. I obviously did NOT use all that vinyl on this bag...a yard and a half is going to last me a LONG time! ;)

Beach day!

Yesterday was "Beach Day" with the base homeschool group! I'm ashamed to say how few times we've been to the beach since we moved to sunny SoCal, but this year I'm going to make sure we take advantage of the wonderful on-base beach we have here.

There are actually two beach areas on base, but thankfully the one I like the most is the one closest to my house!

There was a big military ship anchored off the shore: (I'll ask the hubby for the details on the exact type of ship later, I'm not good at remembering those things, lol!)

Jared was in and out of the water, splashing, digging and have a great time with all the kids in the group.

He doesn't know how to swim yet...we need to sign him up for lessons this summer. A few times I had to remind him to to go too far into the little waves as the big ones sneak up so quickly, but for the most part he played nicely and stayed in the shallows.

Mia was on my back in my buckle-tai carrier from Two Mommas Designs for a good while before she demanded to be let down, only to come to a shocking realization that she was now standing on cold sand that was touching her! Oh the shock and horror, lol! After a little while of standing without moving a muscle in her legs, I managed to loosen her up enough to gingerly toddle around talk to a few of the mothers. Once she figured out the sand wasn't so bad she was toddling all over the place, checking out everyone's beach bags and chairs for possible treasures!

So exited!

There Mommy! I go get it!

Come here birdie birdie!

The wind was icy cold, especially when the sun hid behind the clouds, and of course I'd brought the kids jackets, but I didn't bring one for myself. I need to remember I'm not quite as tough as I used to be "back in the day" when it took snow falling for me to put a sweater on. I'm getting old....okay not that old...just old enough where I find myself thinking that I need to "take care of myself" a little better... And it's obvious I wasn't doing that yesterday because today my throat is a little sore...whoops!

Seagull tracks....they look confused ;)

Isn't he a beaut! 

Our new Adventure: Homeschooling!

Meet the newest homeschooling mama on the block: Me!

I'm not going to go into details except to say that public school was not a good fit for Jared.We didn't like what was going on and we decided enough was enough, things had to change...and chnage they did!

He's been at home for slightly over a week now, woohoo!

We've been spending our "school" time doing revision, meeting other homeschool families at park days and just trying to re-figure out what some sort of daily schedule would be for us. The initial schedule I had in mind went up in flames (figuratively ;) ) when I realized that waiting for Mia to go down for a nap to start was not an option. Jared is ready to start most mornings right after breakfast. This morning he's plotting something out on paper "for when he's bigger", so I'll let him finish that before we get started.

But he also tires and gets frustrated quickly, so we need lots of breaks and we have to be wary of distractions....and if you have ever had or been near a 1 year old, you know they're a walking distraction leaving a trail of disaster, lol! Lots for a little boy supposed to be doing work to watch! ;)

I also need to work on my patience. (Where's an embarrassed smiley when you need one?) I've become short-tempered and impatient over the past few years and I'm pretty sure homeschooling is another way of God knocking on my door reminding me that patience is a virtue...or something much more profound. ;)

Last week, after a few days of being home, Jared pulled out his paints and brushes during one of his breaks and tore off a large piece of paper from the giant roll I found at Ikea last year (gotta love that place!). He did half of his project before we had to go and run some errands and I'll admit I asked what the last half was going to say...he told me and when we returned from our missions I let him finish because I really wanted it done, lol!

I was so proud of him and it helped quiet down those first week of homeschooling thoughts that run something like: "Oh my gosh, what am I doing? Will he learn from me? Will he resent us for pulling him out of PS? Will I go crazy? Will I ever figure out what curriculum to use?" and so on.

I fought the urge to trim the edges neatly for him and instead just enjoyed the poster as-is...a self inspired work of art that makes my heart swell with pride and happiness!