Long time no write!

Well hello there blogosphere. Long time no see. Not that you weren't missed though. Big news in our family!



That's right! We're expecting #4. I'm about 28 weeks along now and our littlest man is due March 23rd, 2011. We are finally starting to get really excited now that the Christmas season is over :) He's been the biggest reason why I've been lost in the real world for so long :lol:. Once morning sickness set in it was all over from there. For some odd reason, this pregnancy brought on motion sickness and that was no bueno when it came to working on the 'puter.

There's all sorts of other news going on over here but our little guy deserves his own post :)

Blessings all! You've been missed.

DIY Andean Plying Tool

So in an act of desperation I invented me an Andean plying tool. If you don't know what Andean plying is, it's a technique where you wind unplied yarn onto your wrist in a certain way and then you are able to ply it with itself and off your wrist. The biggest downfall with Andean plying bracelets (referring to the yarn that is around your wrist like a bracelet) is that 1)you are supposed to wrap part of the yarn around your finger and eventually, if you have enough yarn, your finger starts to lose feeling and turn blue and 2)once it's around your wrist, it's really hard to get it off when you need to, oh, I don't know... pee? So, with those two things in my head, I was looking at my spindle full of singles and dreading the bracelet (though it's my all time favorite way to ply). Then, inspiration struck.



It's made from a large disposable plastic cup, two 10" knitting needles and one 7" DPN.



The top needle is for wrapping around like you would on your finger. The bottom 10" is for holding the yarn as you wrap around. The DPN is for tying the ends to (It's not really that necessary. If you can think of another way of keeping the ends free... go for it). The picture of the inside shows how I used the three needles to stabilize each other.

Amber Alert

wonderful update! The 10 year old is back with her father and where she belongs. Thanks so much to everyone who helped either in prayer and thoughts or in locating the missing girl.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll leave you with my favorite quote about daddies. It's from Chris Rock's Bigger and Blacker show and, though I cleaned it up with * in place of the swear words, it's still, well, from Chris Rock... be warned.

Now, if the kid can't read 'cause ain't no lights in the house, that's daddy fault. He got this down. Nobody give a * about daddy. There's some real daddies out there. I'm not talking about the guy that just * you and left, * him, okay? I'm talkin' about the real daddies. There's still some * out there that handle their business. There's some brothers who handle their business.

But nobody give a * about daddy. Everybody take daddy for granted. Just listen to the radio. Everything's mama, dear mama, always love my mama, mama, mama, mama. What's the daddy song? Papa was a rolling stone! Now, mama got the roughest job, I ain't gonna front. But at least people appreciate mama. That's right, every time mama do something right, mama get a compliment. 'Cause women need to hear compliments all the time. Women need food, water, and compliments. That's right, that's right. And an occasional pair of shoes. That's right. Women got to hear it all the time or they lose their mind. And make sure you thank your mama for everything. Tell your mama how good the food is. Tell your mama how nice the house looks. Tell your mama how nice her hair looks. Did you tell your mama? You better go in there and tell your mama. That's right, tell your mama, tell your mama, tell your mama.

Nobody ever tells daddy *! I'm talking about the real daddy that handle the * business. Nobody ever say, daddy, thanks for knocking out this rent. Hey, daddy, I sure love this hot water. Hey, daddy, this easy to read with all this light... Nobody give a * about daddy. Think about everything that the real daddy does. Pay the bills, buy the food, put a * roof over your head. Make your world a better, safer place. And what does daddy get for all his work? The big piece of chicken, that's all daddy get, is the big piece of chicken. That's right, and some women don't wanna give up the big piece of chicken. Who the * is you to keep the big piece of chicken? How dare you keep the big piece of chicken! A man can't work 12 hours and come home to a wing! When I was a kid, my mama would lose her mind if one of us ate the big piece of chicken by accident... you ate the big piece of chicken?! Oh, lord, no, no, no, now I got to take some chicken and sew it up. Give me two wings and a pork chop ! Daddy'll never know the difference.

...and for those who really have no reason to celebrate this day or who are hurting because of this day I want to send you a huge :hug: from me to you.

Taken Over

So my living room has been turned into Fort Knox. I love it.

Summer Family Movies

Just wanted to give you a heads up on a couple cheap or free movies that are happening over the summer break.

Free Family Film Festival. Certain Regal Cinemas are hosting weekly free family movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10am. . They have a G rated movie in one theatre and a PG rated movie in another. Doors open at 9:30and seating is on a first come first served basis. Once the theatre is full, it's full, so plan on showing up around 9:00 and waiting in line if the movie is a more current title. You can't reserve seating for friends that are planning on showing up either. They have to be in the theatre. To find if there is a theatre near you and what movies are playing, check out Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival site: http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx

AMC Summer Movie Camp. Certain AMC theatres are hosting a $1 family movie on Tuesday mornings at 10am. Admission is $1 and you can purchase advanced tickets online or at the theatre. Doors open at 9:30. Even if you purchase advanced tickets I would still suggest showing up at or before 9:30 in order to get seats that are actually next to each other. Their kid's concession combos are reduced to $4 also. To find a theatre near you, what movies will be playing, and to order tickets online, visit: http://www.amcentertainment.com/smc/

CineMark Summer Movie Clubhouse. CineMark which includes Century Theatres, CineArt, and Tinseltown is also having $1 family movies on Wednesdays at 10:00am. There is also a limited availability punch card for all 10 shows for $5 which is a savings of $.50 per show. To find a theatre, see what movies will be playing and to order the punch card, visit: http://www.cinemark.com/summermovieclubhouse/index.htm

Other chains also host free or reduced cost summer movies so check out your local theatre.

A couple movie tips.

Get your seats first. Generally, the theatre will fill up fast. Find your seat before you go to the bathroom or get concessions or you may not be able to find seats that are next to each other. Put down the, "these are my seats" sprawled out jackets or other items, then go do your other business.

Go to the bathroom before the movie starts. But if your kids have to go in the middle of the movie -- it's ok too.

Bring some before the movies games or activities. You may be waiting up to an hour or more in a line or in the theatre before the movies starts.

Bring your car seats with you. My little ones have a hard time sitting in the chairs without them collapsing and they have an even harder time seeing. Instead of fighting off all the other parents for one of the limited number of booster seats available through the theatre, just bring in your own booster from the car.

Don't worry about your fidgety, talkative, up and down child. Remember, you're in a theatre with over a hundred other families with small kids, they understand (and if they don't then they really shouldn't have come to the show). Don't be completely disrespective and let your baby cry through the movie but if your kids don't have the perfect theatre manners, don't worry about it.

Don't forget $ for concessions. Though the movies are free or reduced, chances are the concessions are not. Most of the time the concessions are regular priced.


Remember, enjoy your time together. This is supposed to be a family event. Try to keep your stress level down by preparing before hand and remembering that it's about the kids enjoying their theatre time, not whether or not you have everything together and your kids are on their most proper behavior. And hey, if you have to walk out, at least you didn't have to pay full price.

Part II: Pretending the Squiggle is a Square

Attempt #1: extreme organization

Seeing my struggle, a friend recommended going at my house with a much more organized approach. You see, because I'm a very... free... spirit, I don't have a routine and structured mindset so "cleaning routine" was new to my vocabulary. She suggest I write down the things I'd like to get accomplished on a daily/weekly/monthly basis and then organize it so I don't think I have to do it all every day.

I started by writing down everything that needed to be done. In the kitchen: dishes, counters, pantry organization, sweeping, moping, cleaning the microwave, fridge organization, etc. and I did that for every room in the house. Then it all got spread out onto a 6 day checklist with once weekly and once monthly columns and away I went with my new cleaning routine.

About a month into it I realized I couldn't keep up with the expectations I put on myself and started to slip back into discouragement and eventually scrapped the whole thing because, "Why try to be something I'm not. I can't keep a good home and that's all there is to it."

Back in to chaos my house went and I felt even more beat down than before. If this is how it's going to be then I'm out...

New Giveaway

Over at CraftBlog there's a review and giveaway for the book The Creative Family written by Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama.com. It's a really great book to use as a springboard to adding more creativity into your everyday life. There are a couple things in it that, as a Jesus follower, I would not implement in my home, but with a little adaptation and tweaking, turn into great fits for my family. I highly recommend it for anyone with kids.

Check it out over at CraftBlog.com

I love indoor pools!

So my oldest went on a field trip today to a zoo/park and daddy chaperoned. To make the day equally as special for the younger two (specifically the boy), I wanted to take them some place out of the ordinary and fun. Unfortunately, weather being as strange as it is, it was a pretty damp and dismal day so things like the local amusement park were out of the question.

This morning my head popped off my pillow with the idea that my YMCA membership gave me the ability to go to any of the Y's in the association. What that meant to me is that we have the ability to go to one of the indoor pools... yeessss!

So we packed up our towels, swimsuits, flip-flops, and wet bags and headed into the rain to go to the pool. It was actually a really great time. We dropped the baby off at child watch for a bit and the boy and I had our own special time in the pool. Then we picked the baby up and took her into the pool. She loved it! The whole time she had a huge smile on her face and she laughed for anyone who would look at her -- all 3 other people at that pool.

All in all we had a very wonderful pool day.

Summer is fast approaching

So April went just as fast as it came and now we're into the middle of May and I've come to a startling realization that summer break is just around the bend. That means three months of having my oldest at home all day. Now I love my daughter to pieces and I love spending time with her, but she is a get up and go kinda girl and sometimes it can be just a bit too much for me. She's the one who jumps on my bed early in the morning and asks, "Where are we going today?" And when the answer is nowhere, she gets a very sad look on her face and then proceeds to act out for the rest of the day. So... I need a plan.

What is that plan you may ask? Well, I'm taking a cue from summer camps and homeschooling and we're going to have a theme for each week. It will start on Friday of the previous week where we will head to the library and choose a theme for the next week. Based on that theme we will pick up books on the theme and over the weekend I will come up with a game plan for the following week.

We are test driving this plan right now. Our theme is bugs and insects (oh.yay. mommy's.favorite*bleh*) and it seems to be going well so far. We have books on general information about insects, specific information about certain insects my kids like (roly polies) and an insect origami book. Outdoor activities such as going on a hiking trip with magnifying glasses to observe insects and insect photo shoots where we will take pictures and then make an album about what we've learned.

All in all I'm pretty excited about the summer. It should make for a pretty exciting time of getting to know each other again and learning something new.

Simple Pleasure #4

Whatching my children play well together.

There are those days when they don't. All kids have those. But when they do, it is so sweet. It usually ends with someone getting upset or hurt but for the moment, it's beautiful.

My prayer is that they can do that the rest of their lives.

Mother's Day 2010

Well... it came and it went. We did Mother's Day brunch yesterday and it was wonderful. A place called Chipotle's in Morgan Hill. Reminded me of Freebirds in Isla Vista (the UCSB college community) but healthier... awesome!

This morning, the little boy woke up feeling not so hot and since I had to get to church early, it was on daddy's shoulders to get the kids to church. They never made it... little man was too sick. That's ok, it was kinda nice not having to worry about whether the kids were having fun or the baby was crying or what the nursery workers were going to do with her cloth diaper when they go to change LooLoo. I came home, we had leftovers for lunch... yay :) Then, I laid the baby down and the big girl and I went off to Marshalls and Joann's (they're next door to each other, it's great). Picked up a much needed bra... funny how little things like that become really exciting when you normally have to spend your clothes budget on uniforms for the kids. Then went to Joann's to pick up materials for two skirts that have been floating around in my head that I reeeeaaaally want to see come alive.

Once we got home, the little man was asleep on the couch and daddy was no where to be found. I listened to Loo's door and realized she was awake (talking to herself -- so cute!) so I went in and found daddy asleep on little man's bed and the baby crawling on him. Gotta love it.

Turns out daddy's sick too... bummer.

So we had Trader Joe's orange chicken, love that stuff, and steamed broccoli and purple cabbage with an asian sauce and rice. I had to cook but it was simple enough and it tasted so dang good!

So, did you all have a good Mother's Day?

Kids Can Be So Sweet

I was writing up a tutorial for CraftBlog.com and generally trying to tune out everything. After all, the baby was napping and the other two were playing well together so it was time to get some serious writing in. A little bit later I realized that there was the sweetest music coming from the dining room. As I started to tune into it, I realized that my kids were singing Michael W. Smith's Awesome God. As I listened a little longer, I found out that they were playing church. Complete with worship, reading of the Word (my daughter can read the bible now... she's getting so big), kids craft and first and second service activities... they were playing church. It really fills my heart to hear that my kids enjoy their church experience enough to act it out during play time.

and if you're wondering... yes I finished the tutorial :)

A Huge Thank You!

This weekend I took a trip back down to Santa Maria to visit with friends and bless one very deserving mama with a beautiful baby shower. It was a girl trip and the boys stayed up north to play and have guy time. The trip down was a breeze and that was wonderful, but the trip back was a little harder. I was more tired, after the two cups of coffee (thank Ellen!) I had a full bladder and I wanted to go home. I was also not sure if I was going to make it home on the under half tank of gas I had so I stopped at the 76 gas station in King City with the girls asleep in the back.

Now I really don't like having to stop anywhere at night with my kids and without my hubby but I also didn't want to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. The two gentlemen closing up the station were amazing and helpful and made the stop a comfortable and safe feeling one and I just wanted to throw out a huge

THANK YOU!!!!
to them. Chances are they'll never see this post but just in case they do :) Little kindnesses from strangers can make all the difference and though they may not have thought that the little things they did helped much, they took what was a stressful and worrisome stop for me and made it enjoyable and comfortable and I appreciated that more than they may ever know.

Yeah, I'm a Geek

I found this quite amusing and wanted to share.

"no flash on iPhone" twitpic.



I think what I love even more is that my four year old can name each of the super heroes and their powers :D

Mom Scouts

So you're a mom and proud of it! You slave over the stove, the vacuum is a permanent extension of your arm and you can't stop yourself from swaying whenever you see a baby. Well, maybe not. The order of Mom can feel like, at times, a lowly one of service without recognition. But I say, let's wear our title with pride and celebrate our little victories (like cooking a dinner that didn't set off the fire alarm -- and yes, PB&J counts).

What are the membership requirements? Members are required to be know by someone, anyone, as "Mom". That's it, you're in. Grab yourself your Mom Badge:




You're free to pick up which ever other badges you have so rightly deserved and "wear" them with pride. Maybe post up a blog about why you earned said badge.

Here's some very simple coding for displaying your badges in a scroll box on the side bar of your blog. Cut and copy and insert as html coding:

<div style="height:250px;width:200px;overflow-y:scroll;backgound:white;"><div align=center>
<p><img src="INSERT MOM SCOUT BADGE HERE">
<p><img src="INSERT KID PIN HERE">
<p><img src="INSERT MERIT BADGE HERE">
<br/><font size="1">by <a href="http://livingwaterboutique.blogspot.com/2010/04/mom-scouts.html">LivingWaterBoutique</a></font> </div></div>

To adjust the size of the box to fit your side bar, play with the "height" and "width" sections (don't delete the "px" part). For each additional kid pin or merit badge, copy and paste this next to the ">" at the end of the coding for that section:

<img src="INSERT IMAGE URL HERE">

To get the image URL, right click on the image, select "Properties", find the "Address (URL)" and copy the entire URL. Paste it into the sections indicated in the coding above. If you have any questions, please comment or shoot me over an e-mail.

Lastly, I will be posting new badges as I finish them and they will all be tagged with "badges" and "mom scouts". If you have an idea for a badge that you would like to see, please leave your suggestion in the comments below, and I'll see what I can do about it.

Kid Pins

Boy Pin
Girl Pin
Angel Child Pin
Kid Pin (cause sometimes the world just doesn't need to know)
The Silver Grandchild Pin
The Platinum Great Grandchild Pin

Merit Badges
Big Love Badge -- no... not that kind. The kind of love that a mother has for her family. Where your heart feels like it might burst from the love you have for the little blessings placed in your life. You know what I'm talking about? Grab a Big Love Badge

Mama Medic Badge -- The role of mom encompasses many facets, not the least of which is medical professional. From diagnosing and treating runny noses and kissing and bandaging boo boos to pinning down babes for shots or late night ER visits for broken limbs -- we all have our "field" stories.

Mama Bear Badge -- "Don't you ever speak to my child that way again!" Have you had those moments of fiercely defending your little cubs from bullies, family, or that mouse that got into your house and is after the cheese he's holding? You know that adrenaline rush. Grab a bear badge.

June Cleaver I, II, & III Badge -- These are for rewarding yourself for keeping up on the laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, and any other horrid house hold chore that requires your attention. Did you conquer that pile of dishes that been building for the last 3 days... grab a June I. Have you kept that dishes pile down and attacked the laundry with vigor... grab a June II. Have you kept the sink empty of dishes, laundry is neatly folded and in its respective drawers, your floors are clean enough to eat off of and you pearl necklace is always in place... grab a June III

The Talk -- Have you had it? Grab yourself a badge... and maybe a good long bubble bath... good on you!

Mommy Seamstress I, II, & III Badge -- Did you sew that button back on the shirt instead of throwing the whole thing out... grab a Seamstress I. Did you make your kids costume for the school play (I didn't say it had to look good)... grab a Seamstress II. Is your child's wardrobe made up of mostly handmade items fresh off your sewing machine... grab a Seamstress III!

Simple Pleasure #3

My little green santoku knife from Pampered Chef.



May I just say that it is simply amazing! I'm not one to invest in items that I don't think I need but I received this knife as a hostess gift (it was an end of the year prize from my amazing consultant Ellen Hill (http://www.pamperedchef.biz/ellenhill).
This knife is the perfect size for my smaller hands. It's great for tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers along with the smaller apples our family loves so much! This knife is the first one I reach for in my kitchen when I need to chop up something quickly and efficiently.

Finally Made The Pants

So I have been promising my oldest to make her 12 inch doll Sally a pair of longies since my daughter figured out that I could make longies. So many things have stopped me from doing it, the #1 thing being that I didn't have a pattern to follow and I was sick and tired of guaging and swatching, and thinking really. Well, after 3 years of procraftinating I finally made them. They're not perfect and there are a couple things I would have changed if I wanted to -- which I didn't -- but they are finished and right now, perfect or not, that's all that matters.

I wrote up a pattern with my adjustments and changes and it's posted over on craftblog.com (which I have recently started contributing to -- yay!). You can find the pattern here: http://www.craftblog.com/sallys-longies/

Swallowing Camels: our home's hiccup remedy

My son was wandering around the house one day looking a little distraught so I asked him what was wrong. He looked at me and told me, "I [hiccup] have the [hiccup] hiccups." As he was trying to figure out what to do with himself and his predicament I overheard him tell himself that he must have [hiccup] swallowed a 600 or [hiccup] 300 bump camel. Oh my sweet boy! What an imagination kids have.

Well after that I filled up an 8oz cup with water from the tap (because that's what we drink around these parts) and had him hold his breath for 10 pretty drawn out seconds. Then he exhaled quickly and drank the water (or as much as his little tummy could handle in one sitting like that). This one seem to always work for us.

What are some hiccup remedies that are tried and true for you?

Part I: From a Squiggle to a Square -- The Struggle

Let me be the first to admit to you... I don't have it all together. Ever since I was little I've been more of a clutter collector than an organizer. When it comes to personality types I am much more a squiggle than a square, and it has spilled over into every aspect of my life. My husband on the other hand is much more a square and much less a squiggle. This "minor" difference between the two of us is a pressure point in our relationship. My piles of "organized clutter" stress him out and his need for "a place for everything and everything in it's place" makes me feel confined and boxed in.

My walk with God as brought me to a point in my life that I need to live for my God, not for myself, and be a "helper suitable", as some circles would say, to my husband. I hope that by writing about my journey, and undoubtedly my struggle, I can connect with others who are going through the same thing and be an encouragement to those who feel as alone as me in this walk.


My Place in My Home: A wife's responsibility

I am a wife and with that comes the responsibilities of being a wife. In my home, my responsibility as the wife is to be my husband's help mate. That manefests itself in so many different ways in my relationship but ultimately it means that when my husband, Rob, needs help, I'm supposed to be there to provide it. This doesn't mean I'm walked on or that he has it easy because I do everything for him, it means that we are supposed to function as extentions of each other instead of independantly of one another. We are supposed to be a team and we are supposed to be more efficient that way.



Now, look at those words "supposed to." Yes they are in there for a reason. The reason is, a lot of times I am not fulfilling my end of keeping my home a retreat for my husband. Instead it is like a war zone to him. How could I expect him to function his best as a father and husband when the first thing he comes home to is, in his mind, chaos?


This has caused many an argument between the two of us. I feel like I'm trying as hard as I can and it is never good enough for him. I clean what looks like it needs cleaning (and that is everything) and at the end of the day, things still look cluttered. I get discouraged, burned out, and give up. After things get worse, I try again, get discouraged and burned out again and give up -- again. That's my cycle. It has been for years. And for the longest time I couldn't break loose of it.

Trying to Make This Home

So I've been in San Jose for about two months now and I'm still working on making this place home. At this point in life I have become quite used to moving every 1 to 2 years but what I'm not used to is the change that happens when leaving. My moves, save one prior to this one, have always been local, so changing friends, churches, schools, has never really been an issue. I'm also more of a small town girl and San Jose, with it's population 900 some-odd thousand, is not such a small town. It's busier, it's faster, it's so much more self absorbed. Yes, I said that. I know that there is selfishness everywhere you go, but, for reasons I can't quite describe, everything feels so much more "me" oriented around here (and not the "me" as in people are considerate of "me").

Trying to adapt to the busyness has been a bit overwhelming, and when I get overwhelmed... I shut down. That's my coping mechanism. Kinda sad really. But I have been wanting to get back on here and put my thoughts down on, umm... machine.

Part of adapting and adjusting is getting things back in my life that need to be, and getting things out of my life that need not be. Blogging -- back in. I have something I'll be rolling out in the next month so keep your eyes open. One thing that's leaving is the excessive amounts of toys in the kids' playroom. Yes, I purged the toy closet before we moved but somehow, between there and here, the toys multiplied. So now it's time to divide.

So as I work on making this house a home, I'll be back here too from here on out -- battling my world one blog post at a time I guess.

Taking A Moving Break

So we're making the big move on the 22nd and, as you can imagine, there's a lot that needs to get done. Because of that, I'm taking a break from the blog, an most other online communities I'm in, in order to take care of the packing and cleaning that needs to get done.

When we get moved in and settled, I have a tutorial in the wings and some other surprises.

I'll see you in San Jose!

A New Crafting Community

There's a new crafting community that's opened up. It's called CraftForum.com and it's a place where people of all different crafting mediums can come together and show off their newest creations, discuss tips and techniques, or just meet like minded people and chat about life.

I joined about two days ago and am really enjoying the conversations and community feel that this forum has. There are a lot of really talented people over there and I am getting all sorts of inspiration to try new and different mediums and techniques.

I invite you to join! Just click on the image below and register for a username and such. My user name is UndrThTblNDrumng (as it is just about everywhere else :lol:). I look forward to seeing you over there.

Simple Pleasure #2

Chocolate.

Do I really have to say more?

On a side note: I have been trying to cut back on my carbs because, well let's face it, I eat way too much of them. After completely cutting them from my diet for three days (no specific diet, just needed to break the cycle) I broke the "fast" and then had a piece of chocolate. Not a big one and not any sort of special imported from Switzerland "open in case of emergency" kind of chocolate. I believe it was one of those individually wrapped dark chocolate bites. Well, it was the most amazing, wonderful, I've never had chocolate taste so good! piece of chocolate I have ever had!

So with that, I would say that chocolate is good, but chocolate in moderation is even better!

DIY Animal Lovie

This project started as a baby shower gift for a girlfriend. I needed one in lieu of her actual gift -- which wasn't finished. Eying one of the far too many stuffed animals my children had, an idea struck me. Those stuffed animals would make wonderful upcycled animal lovies! I came up with this pattern and, because it's quick and simple, I have a feeling I will be making many more of these for friends and charity.



These instructions are for making a lovie that has animal parts in only one corner. It can be easily adapted though if you would like to have animal hands in the corners or a head in the middle of a side and hands and feed in the corners. Just repeat Step 3 #2 with each corner and animal part you want to use. And if you want a head on one side, just leave a section on that side open when stitching the blanket closed.



I would appreciate if you only used this for personal use and gifts but if you feel you must sell them, please consider donating some to a hospital or battered women's shelter or some other charity. Thank you.



Materials:



1 small stuffed animal

2 15x15" squares of fabric in matching or coordinating prints/solids (suggested fabrics: minky, flannel, woven cotton, chenille, satin)

sewing machine or sewing needle

coordinating or contrasting thread

scissors



Step 1: Cut-up the stuffed animal



My kids had a hard time watching this one :lol:There are a couple different ways you can do this. If you want an animal lovie with the head and arms at the top then you would cut your animal along it's midsection. If you want an animal lovie with the head at the top and the hands/paws on the sides, then you would cut just the head off and then cut the two arms off. If you want an animal lovie with the head on one side and the hands on the top corners and feet on the bottom corners then you would cut off the head, arms, and feet.



Step 2: Baste Close



After removing the appendages you want to use, remove a bit of stuffing in the opening of each extremity and then baste the ends closed about 1/4 inch in from the cut edge.



Step 3: The Blanket



1. Place the blanket pieces together with right sides facing each other and pin together.


2. Decide which corner you want to place the head in, mark where the head lays and cut off the corner from mark to mark.


3. Sew the blanket together starting at one corner of the cut corner and working your way around to the other corner, making sure to not sew the cut corner closed.


4. Turn the blanket right side out through the cut corner.



Step 4: Assembling the Pieces



5. Turn the raw edge inward and place the basted edge of the stuffed animal head into the opening. Pin closed.




6. Carefully maneuver the animal head so you can sew the pinned edge closed and then continue to top stitch all the way around the blanket ending with sewing over the pinned edge one more time. Trim excess thread.




7. Ta-da! You have your own little animal lovie.

We're Moving!

My family is moving from our little home on the sunny central coast of California for a place just a bit farther north, in the Bay Area. I'm really excited because it marks a new start and a new oportunity for us but... it also means changes to my beloved Living Water Boutique.

Looking into the future now it seems that Living Water Boutique will be closing up the shop and changing to just a blog. For anyone still interested in tunisian woolies, I still love trades but I will not be selling finished woolies or custom spots from here on out.

Maybe in the future, when things are more settled, and I have more time for crafting for others, I will open up shop again. But for now, I'll keep on blogging in my little corner of internet heaven :)