The force is definitely with them

Halloween was all about handmade this year. Which was absolutely wonderful and super stressful at the same time.
We got Jack's costume finished Wednesday night for his class party Thursday (4th graders don't get to dress up, boo!). Benson's costume, however, was finished, oh, at 6:30 Halloween night!
Els has been having some major skin issues and had four separate doctors visits within a week. She woke up Friday just miserable and would cry when you tried to pick her up unless you held her a certain way, not touching any of what were becoming open wounds. We finally got in to a pediatric dermatologist Friday and figured out she had a wicked case of eczema on her entire body and got things under control. Um, the Friday we were going to finish up costumes!
Saturday was a really busy day! First up, we blessed Elsie and her cousin, David.  Ignore the faces Elsie and I are pulling in this picture. It's all about the dress, anyway!

It was so wonderful to see family and friends and bless those two sweet babies. We had a potluck lunch after that and then headed home to finish costumes. The final products?
Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi from Episode I (action shot, of course) and Anakin from Episode III (look at that face of near, but not quite, evil!)

Jack even had a hair extension in for the padawan braid, thanks to our friend, Jenny the hair stylist! These are, of course, far from accurate costumes. We searched many web sites trying to get them relatively close without going crazy! While making them was a lot of stress, it was so much fun! I worked with B (hubby) on most parts. I did the sewing, he did the leather work. He spent a couple hours making Jack's belt and helping me make Benson's boots and glove.
I'll try to get a few better photos of their costumes so you can see more detail.
Elsie got in on the Halloween action, too, wearing a cute ladybug costume put together by her aunt.

Babies in tutus!

The boys looked awesome and it was a great night ... until Benson started to complain about a sore throat. So now he's sick and we're just hoping no one else joins him! We got our regular flu shots but not the H1N1, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!

New stuff

I've finally finished a couple things! I have plenty cut out, just waiting. AND since Halloween is next week, I figured I should probably finish the boys costumes sometime! We've also had an interesting week, with a visit to Primary Children's Hospital Thursday night. Elsie and I didn't get home from there until 3 am, and have had rough nights since Wednesday, so I'm not getting things done very fast!
Here's the first car seat cover:

It's 100% cotton, backed in brown dot minky fabric.

I can make it to fit these handle types:

Or it can fit a regular straight handle.
The cover is now for sale in my Etsy shop. More of these coming!
Also, the first of the crayon rolls is done.

I also have Superman and University of Utah ones coming!

Shop update update

Items ARE being made but I decided to spend the weekend hanging out with family and going on a date to finally celebrate my anniversary with B. And Elsie, of course. Who had a rather remarkable blowout diaper at PF Changs.
So stuff will be added as I can get to it.
I'm also going to be doing a couple craft shows, one for sure, one hopefully. Right now the focus is on getting a few things done for family first (priorities! costumes!) and getting ready for Elsie's blessing on Halloween.
And I am just curious, but would anyone be interested in doing a craft swap? I have a couple ideas about making it so you can swap your crafts for points or something like similar that could be used to 'purchase' crafts made by others.

If I post it, I'll have to follow through, right?

Shop update coming!
There will be (hopefully!):
hooded towels
mini blanket and burp cloth sets (great for baby showers - I know it's what I like to give, ha!)
kid's smocks
car seat covers
crayon rolls
I hope to start putting stuff in the shop this weekend! Any of these would make great Christmas gifts. And if you don't quite see what you want, let me know and we can work out a custom order for you.

Now, about the office cleaning ...
I swear I'm doing it! I just have to clean the rest of the house as well, so it's a bit slow going :)
(How's your homework, Jana?)

I privatized my family blog - if you'd like to read it, please comment here (if I already have your email) or email me at jennifreckles(at)hotmail(dot)com.

The cleaning saga.

So. My office doesn't look much different than it did in my last post.
But, I have plans.
I have come up with a new schedule for my days. I really need this because I just started school again and need to make sure I've enough time during the day to actually accomplish something. Since I was scheduling school, I decided to schedule cleaning, too. A different area of the house every day will be tackled, in addition to the regular picking up I have to do with three kids. So the plan is to fill a garbage bag every day with stuff to get rid of. I will donate or chuck as much as I can because I truly hate clutter, yet I have the tendency to be a packrat. Usually these two things are in a state of balance, but right now it's a little off.
Oh, and there's a moratorium on purchasing. Unless it's an item I absolutely have to have to finish a gift, no more buying craft supplies. Unless something breaks and I desperately need a replacement, no buying household items (good thing I decided this after the Pampered Chef party!). And I will keep you updated on how it's going (Gee, Jana, are you too busy to get on my case about my progress?)
By the end of next week, I hope to have quite the car load to donate. Savers and DI, here I come!

Motivation

So, perhaps if I blog about the sad, sorry state of my office/craft room, I will do something about it.
Promise you will help shame me into cleaning out and organizing it? Really? That's sweet.
This is what I do: I have nice, organized drawers and bins. And completely overwhelmed counters and floors. Go figure. My kitchen is the same way. I have a hard time keeping the counters cleaned (read: my counters are never cleaned off) but my knife drawer? Those babies are on a rubberized mat so they don't bang around, neatly organized so they never touch. Although I do need to get rid of a couple because gah! Clutter in my drawer!
So pictures, to help you shame me. Um, just going to take those with photo booth because I'm scared of losing my camera if I bring it down. So they are not great, and there won't be many but oh well.
These are untouched in all their terrible messiness. Prepare yourselves.
First is the sewing/dying computer table. I have my sewing machine and serger on this table. Along with some towels I'm doing something with, gift bags that need to be put away, and various and assorted papers that are hanging out with the dying computer. Nice. To the left you see part of the fabric stash and bins of toys because for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to put them there. Note: not a good idea. You can also see the doorway into the Man Cave, with the little tv. Those white doors are to the utility area, which needs to not be blocked. Right now? Blocked.Then we have the west wall. I have my scrapbooking and school stuff along this wall and it's pretty bad. Note the nice dark walls and maroon carpet. Maroon carpet that is. Never. Clean. Because of all it's maroon carpetness. And last? Some of the East Wall, which shows some of my stash and part of the built in table where my computer sits. Yes, the top of the table is painted maroon. Because this room is not dark enough (did I mention the light fixture? That it's a wall mounted bathroom fixture that sits above the maroon table? Oh, and did I also mention the lack of windows in this room? Yep, those are issues that will be dealt with later when B puts in real lighting on the ceiling).
0Well, that's it. Be a little kind, but if I don't get moving on this and post improvements within the next month, stop with the kindness!
Let the cleaning fun begin!

Rawr, says Jack.

Even though I haven't been crafty myself, other people have been.
Yay, other people!
Let's see what they've done, shall we?

• I want one of these for Elsie. Or perhaps this one would be nice (it's totally an alpaca). Someday.
• My sister does all kinds of crafty stuff. I'm really loving the pencil card she did.
• I absolutely love these, but the tooth fairy SUCKS at our house (um, she's on Australia time, just so you know).
• These would look great on my leather couch.

Oh, baby's awake. Let's do this again soon, shall we?