Grow With Me Gift: Three Weeks Later

I almost forgot this week to take pictures and post the Grow With Me Gift update! Time got away from me quick today. My husband is home after being offshore for 4 weeks, and Serenity and I made a trip to Galliano to pick him up.

I didn't realize how quickly it was getting dark either! Man - I took these pictures at 5:30PM and it's almost pitch black outside!

There is so much going on today! We are under tropical storm warning because Hurricane Ida is out in the Gulf right now. Although it looks like she's turning more towards Florida. I hope everyone in her path stays safe!

Looks like the Saints are going to win another game too - my husband is excited. They are 8-0 right now. Terry says that's its the first time history that's ever happened. As I'm writing this, my superstitious husband is telling me not to say anything until the game is actually over, 'cause I'm going to jinx the entire game! Silly man!

So do y'all see how big our Paperwhite bulbs are now?! The flowers haven't bloomed yet, but not long anymore - maybe next Sunday!

Remember to buy your kit HERE!

It's starting to get a little top-heavy (since it's about to bloom), so I took the twine that was around the vase and tied it around the plant and the decorated sticks to help support the plant.

Wow! Beat that run-on sentence!!



Oh yeah, girlfriends, you know that dress Serenity's wearing is from courtneycourtney!

Have fun!

Princess Wands!

Tonight Bethany came over to help me make
these cute Princess wands for Serenity's birthday
party next weekend!

I used Sweet 'n Sassy Girls' tutorial: How to Make a Tulle Wand.
The tute was very easy to understand and follow.

I had to the get hang of the glue gun for this project - too much
hot glue and it won't hold the wooden dowel.
I had to learn that the hard way!

It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but by the third wand
I was finishing them pretty fast.

I found the vase ($2) and pretty Princess-colored diamonds ($3) at Wal-Mart.
I bought two vases. I'll probably put four wands in each vase and put
them on the table as decoration.

Serenity loved the wands!
I guess that's the true test, right?!


Have fun!

Ditched the Passy!

Serenity hasn't had a passy since the 21st of October!!

That's two weeks!

My sister would tell me neat things she'd heard or read about what other parents had done to break their children's passy habit. Like giving it to Santa on Christmas, donating it to someone else who needed it, or burying it and planting something with it. But think my favorite habit-breaking trick was how one Mommy put her child's passys inside a Build-A-Bear!

We used to have one in our local Mall (Serenity's second Easter Bunny came from there), but the closest one now is in Metairie on Veterans. I think that's what I want to do with all her old passys - that way she'll always have them with her!

Road trip!



Serenity has (well, had) all kinds of different colored passys. Why do they make them look so cute? She would only suck one particular kind - the Nuk. You couldn't fool her with a different brand either - it wouldn't work. I've spent a small fortune in passys - she'd lose them constantly! And chew holes in them and then come tell me, "It don't work Mommy"!

And just when I thought I took her passy away from her for good, she'd stroll in the living room with one in her mouth that I hadn't seen in months! My Darling Stinker had a hidden stash!



So how did she break the habit? I actually started months ago by not letting her have it so much - especially during the day. Eventually I made it only a nap and nighttime thing. If she asked for it, I would say "Are you ready to take a nap (or go to bed for the night)?" I'd let her decide - usually she'd change her mind about wanting her passy.

My husband would leave it at home when he brought Serenity with him to town. If she asked for it, he would just say he forgot it at home. She wouldn't cry or anything! I thought maybe it was 'cause she was with her Daddy, and she's always better for Daddy! But I started to do it and had good results too! Alright!

Taking the passy from her wasn't an abrupt thing - it was gradual and I didn't rush her. I used to think she had that thing in her mouth all the time, but she really didn't. It just seemed like it.

Two weeks ago I simply told her that the passys were all gone. She said, "They in you kitchen". I told her no, I looked and I couldn't find one. She said, "I go find it." I told her no, she needed to go "night night" and besides, she didn't need the passy. She said, "Passy all gone. Oh well.", and went to sleep!



The only time she asked for it after that was when we tried a sleepover at her BBF's (Cobee Lynn) house three days later. I ended up going pick her up at 5 in the morning 'cause she was ready to come home. She was very upset when I talked to her on the phone, "Where are you Mommy? I wanna go home!" That just tore my heart up! When I picked her up she was just a'cryin' and wanted her passy. I told her that it was gone. I just hugged her tight and when we got home, we laid down and watched a movie that she got to pick out. She got over the need for the passy, and that was that!

I was searching through all my pictures to find some of her with a passy in her mouth - it was hard finding the few I did! I have hundreds of pictures of Serenity - but I could only find a handful of her with that passy! I think I would pop it out of her mouth before I took her pictures!



Yesterday she happened to see a couple of passys I had on my computer desk. She got very excited and said, "My passy!". I told her that they weren't hers anymore that she was a big girl and didn't need them. I was amazed when she said, "Yes I growing big" and totally ignored them after that!

Wow!! Habit broken!!


POST-IT-NOTE: You can find tons of help and advice by Googling "tips on how to ditch the passy".

Have fun!

T-Shirt Dress: How to Add a Skirt to a T-Shirt

Once your Darling Stinker's cute little tees have gotten too short for her to wear, make a dress! You've probably seen this done already, but I thought I'd share how I sewed a cute play dress for Serenity using one of her old favorite tees that she hasn't been able to wear in months.

This is a very easy project, perfect for beginner and intermediate sewers!

Click on a picture to ZOOM in.


Materials needed:
T-shirt (I used an 18M Disney Princess tee)
(1 piece) 15" x 45" main fabric
(2 pieces) 4" x 45" ruffle fabric
measuring tape
thread
needle
fray check
scissors

Try the shirt on your child and determine how long you'd like the skirt and ruffle to be.


For the main fabric, I used glitter Disney Princess material I found at Hobby Lobby a while back. The ruffle fabric is a bright pink tie-dyed material I got from Hancock a couple of years ago. I cut the main fabric 15" long and the ruffle pieces 4" long. For the width, cut all pieces selvage to selvage.


With right sides facing, lay the ruffle pieces on top of one another, then sew both ends forming a large circle. Open and iron the seams flat. Fold the ruffle in half and iron again. I like to make my ruffle this way so I don't have to hem! Saves a lot of time, but you'll use a little more fabric.


With right sides facing, sew the main fabric together forming a tube, serge or zig-zag the edges, then iron the seam flat.


Set your machine to a long stitch (or gathering stitch) and sew the top edge of the ruffle piece. Pull the bobbin thread to gather the ruffle. Go slowly so you don't break the thread.


Once the ruffle is the same width as the main fabric, wrap the thread around a pin and push it down to keep the ruffles from coming undone, arrange the ruffles evenly all the way around, then pin the ruffle to the right side of the main fabric.


Sew the ruffle to the skirt. I sewed right over my gathering stitch. Take your time and straighten the ruffles as you sew. Serge or try using a 3-step zig-zag on the edges, and then iron the seam up toward the top of the skirt.


Top stitch to keep the ruffle in place. Sew a gathering stitch on the top of the skirt, and then pull the bobbin thread to gather the skirt the same width as the t-shirt.


Cut the hem off the shirt. With right sides together pin the seams together, then continue pinning the skirt to the tee all the way around. Use lots of pins! Sew a little above the gathering stitch. I use a long stitch length (3.5") since it makes it easier (for me) to sew knit. Go slowly, straightening the skirt as you sew.


Pull out the gathering stitch, serge or finish your seams using a zig-zag stitch. Thread the loose ends back through and add a drop of fray check.


All done! I made the dress very long. It actually touches Serenity's feet. Serenity of course loves her new dress - she said, "I a Princess Mommy!"


Have fun!

Grow With Me Gift: Two Weeks Later

This is the Grow With Me Gift kit after two weeks. If you missed my other posts about the GWMG kit - click here and here to check them out!

Serenity loves taking care of her plant, as you can see!



Look how much it has grown! We've been keeping it in the kitchen and it's doing great!
I've noticed three flower pods, so it looks like we'll have flowers soon!
Serenity is going to be so excited!



Don't forget to get your Grow With Me Gift kit today!

If you guessed Serenity's darling bubble dress was made by courtneycourtney, then you're right!!



Have fun!

Happy Birthday Serenity!!

My baby girl is 3 today!!

Yep, she's a Halloween baby!

Here she is on her 1st birthday. We had a Halloween themed party on Halloween day.
I won't ever do that again - we barely had time to go Trick or Treating!

And here she is for her 2nd birthday.
That one was an Ariel themed party. She was all about Ariel last year!
This time we had her birthday party a week before her actual birthday.

My husband works offshore, so we'll be having Serenity's 3rd birthday party in 2 more weeks when he gets home!
Serenity asks about her birthday party every day without fail! She has to ask everybody she talks to, "You coming to my birthday party?" - it doesn't matter if she's already asked them a dozen times either!
This year her party will have a Princess/castle theme - and that's all I hear her talking about - she even wants a castle cake!
She's totally excited!

Actually, I am too!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Hope y'all have a great day!

Have fun Trick or Treating!!

My New Banner & Buttons!

I got a new banner!! I'm so excited! I have new buttons too! I've been wanted to have a banner done, but I really couldn't find anything I liked. I wanted something kiddie - something whimsical! It had to match my blog name and keep in mind that most of the stuff I put on here is kid-orientated.

The other night, I was checking how (once again) to make blog buttons, when I came across Musings of a Housewife. She owns DCR Desgin too - she designs all those pretty blog banners and buttons that I've been eying for a while now!
On her post, How to Design a Blog Button, was a link to Steven Novak's website novakillustion.com. She said Steven was affordable and would create something no one else had - something totally unique! Well I certainly wanted to check him out!

Steven specializes in children's illustrations and they are so cool - I love his artwork! He captures childhood wonderfully.

Check out his Bio - he's written three novels, a graphic novel and a picture book too! Wow! This guy is talented!!

I contacted Steven and told him my idea for a banner.
He was willing to draw one up along with two button-size illustrations for a very affordable price.
He did everything he could to make sure I was totally happy with my illustrations too!

Steven started off with a pencil sketch of what I had in mind.

Then he moved on to the color composition.

Before the final illustration, Steven added special touches to the artwork too, like Serenity's lavender muumuu (the blankie that she drags everywhere), her Blabla mermaid she named Lily, a flower in cartoon Serenity's hand, and I even sewed the top and tutu she's wearing!

I'm more than satisfied to be able to get a wonderful banner that is so personal, just totally cute and a beautiful piece of art!
Serenity loves it too - she got so excited when she saw her cartoon self - and her Lily doll, her muumuu, the dinosaur and all the rest of the toys!
She kept pointing everything out - "that's MY flower, that's MY shoes, that's MY Lily", and on and on!!
She such a character!

If you're looking around for something very unique and fun for your banner and buttons - go check out Steven Novak's awesome illustrations!! You'll be very happy you did!

Now that I had my awesome button-sized illustrations, I headed over to A Heart For Home and grabbed the HTML button code I needed to created my buttons so I could share with y'all!
Allyson has done all the hard work of creating the HTML button code for you - all you have to do is copy and paste!!
How easy!

Don't forget to grab one of my buttons before you leave!


Have fun!