Ruffles and Stuff

Just thought I'd show a couple of projects I've been working on for the last couple of days. I found a blog that I just love called rufflesandstuff.blogspot.com She is an amazing seamstress that I hope to be like someday! I found a cute pillow on her blog that I knew I just had to make. Here's the picture from her blog:

Here's what I came up with:

I had some leftover Raw Silk from when my Mom and I made these dresses for the girls:

Last night I stayed up until 1 AM to upscale an old, yellow, long sleeved, shapeless T-Shirt I had. I love taking something I never wear and breathing new life into it. It's like getting a new shirt for free!

50th Anniversary

This February my in-laws celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! Since it was easier for everyone we decided to celebrate this summer. It's been 10 years since we've all been together and we had a wonderful time!

I was the decorator for the reception. My budget was only $250. It wasn't easy coming up with decorations for 10 tables, the cake table, the book/photo frame table, and an arch for Mom and Dad Allan to stand under on that budget! I did it though and I was happy with the results. I picked the colors yellow, black, and white. I didn't want everyone to have to go and buy new clothes and I figured everyone would have black and white and I chose yellow because it's close to the 50th anniversary color of Gold and it's fun and summery. I had more than one person tell me they didn't think the color scheme would look very good but changed their minds once they saw it and thought it turned out great!

My awesome sister, Tahnie, came and took all the pictures for free! How awesome is she? Thanks so much Tahnie!!! You're the best!

The photo frame signing table! This sort of freaked a lot of people out. They didn't want to sign a photo mat! We actually had to tell people to sign it. I even had a framed sign that said, "Please sign".

The cake. I was dissapointed how this turned out. The bakery did the damask design with a gel and stencil instead of fondant. Oh and there was a big old smear on the back that they didn't bother to fix. Because of this smear they picked up the fondant 50 on top of the cake and turned it but they didn't bother to smooth out the icing on top. On the fondant 50 they didn't kneed the gold color into the fondant and instead painted it on the 50 while it was on the cake resulting in gold paint on the yellow and streaks of white on the 50. Speaking of the yellow; it wasn't stirred in enough and there were a lot of white streaks. I went and talked to the manager who was going to talk to the decorater and get back with me. That never happened. I've been in a couple more times but never when the manager is there. So if you ever need a cake DON'T get it at Flour Girls Dough Boys in American Fork.

The Table Decorations! I made copies of their wedding picture and framed them. All the siblings got to take one home afterwards! All of the candle holders had fake tea light candles in them. It made a beautiful effect.

It was so much work. Just like doing a wedding reception. It was so worth it though to celebrate two of the neatest, caring, generous people I know!

Congrats Mom and Dad Allan! We love you!

School

My kids are loving going to school. They could hardly wait to wear all of their new clothes and see their friends. I'm lucky that my kids get to ride the bus to school, because only the kids that are in the Life Skills class and their siblings get to in Eagle Mountain. I'm also loving that my kids are on B Track this year. At their school there are two different starting and ending times. A Track starts at 8:15 AM and B track starts at 9:15 AM! We get to wake up a 8 AM which is wonderful for this non morning person mother!

Aubrie was thrilled to start Kindergarten! She was sad that she had to wait a whole week past her siblings to start school though. They test the kindergartner's the first week of school. Which Aubrie wasn't able to go to because she was throwing up the day she was scheduled. Luckily she started feeling better about three days before school started so she didn't miss her first day of school! She's also very happy that her best friend, Gracie, is in her class!

Hailee also started preschool! My baby is growing up! She loves going even though she is the only girl in her class. She goes to a small in home preschool and there are only 5 kids in the class. I love it because it's more one on one time for Hailee. She goes in the morning and Aubrie is in afternoon Kindergarten. So no free time for me yet. That's ok because I now have some one on one time with Hailee and Aubrie.

Sterling was taking first day pictures and somehow didn't get a picture of Christian. It made me so sad! Christian is loving 4th grade and has a wonderful teacher. She's in her 70's and reminds me of Ms. Stacy From Anne of Green Gables!!!

Things I've Made

Over the summer I've made a couple of things that I thought I'd share. First I made a purse! It's reversible and I was so proud of myself that I didn't have to undo any stitches. I did it all right the first time and a reversible bag is pretty tricky.



I also made myself a shirt by upcycling one of Sterling's size Large T-Shirts! It was a fun way to get a "new" shirt for free! I have plans for some of Sterling's other T's!!!

I also made 25 new hairbows for my girls this week!