sew long time

WOW...

school for kids + school for me + family + buisness makes Kristen a busy lady!!

Needless to say it's been an adjustment settling into our new routine. I've been collecting photos of everything Ive done in the past few months but Im just now getting around to posting it.

First off, Mandi was here last month. Her amazing madre got married and I was honored to of hung out with the girls the week of the wedding and help Lindsay with some sewing for the big day. Here's us

(this photo was taken after we danced our hineys off-HENCE the shinyness!)

I made Mandi a skirt for the occassion which started off as a potato sack skirt but quickly evolved into something else. A little free lance designing going on!

Feeling a little drab, I decided last minute to refashion a little something for myself. Here's the before...

(I'm terribly embarrased by this pic but eh...whatta gonna do?)

It's just a simple floor length black skirt that I wore once for my sister-in-laws wedding that's been chillin' in my closet. Here's the after...

I just took it in on the sides, took out the length, and added the lace and VOILA! My new favorite skirt!

These last 2 weeks, my etsy shop has been quite productive! My last 10 orders have all been my Darth Vader onsie. After becoming an INTERNATIONAL SELLER (Hey-o!) to places like France and The Netherlands I thought, "I need to jump on this Star Wars train!" that's where these new designs came from...

"The Stormpooper"

"Buns of Steel"

(get it? cause she's tough!)







I wanted the decal to say, "NICE BUNS!" but it didn't look good with the Jedi font

I have a few random onsies lying around that I needed to do something with so I started exploring the question, "what would I want MY babies to wear?) This one's not finished (the quote I edited on, it's not really on the onsie) It's not listed in the shop but I wanted to show you the direction Im taking. Also think MacGruber and The Target Lady...

Ron Burgundy anyone?

I did a few back to school items for the kids, not as many as I'd like but I have the whole year! Starting with Brody's new shirt...

You read that right, "you have baked beans- you have a party!"
He thinks beans is such a funny word, so why not? His teacher probably thinks Im a weirdo mom for letting him wear that shirt let alone MAKING it!

I just made Saylee a bunch of jumpers. It's been awhile since I did any and I love them so much. There easy, Saylee CAN'T take them off (she's a bit of a free spirit!) and they're good to wear year round. This one is my favorite.

just a basic red and white remnant I got at JoAnn's, I was inspired to incorproate the inverted strips from this, and I love how it turned out!








This one's pretty plain,another remnant, same fabric in black and white









Forgive me, I pulled this next one out of the dirty clothes to take a photo so it's oober wrinkled. I really like this print but I might change the button colors







Close up of the print and Im trying to add some variety the pockets

I recently hit up an AWESOME estate sale and found this vintage remnant for a buck. Im thinking jumper but not quite sure yet... don't you loves?

windmill lovin!

Had to share some of my other finds



vintage bias tape- these guys are so old, it's not even funny! a quarter each, this women had a box FULL of them, i could of bought them all.

Vintage picnic basket- $10









And this recent/latest project isn't finished yet. I haven't had time with school, etc. I still need to sew up the back and add the white trim to the bottom of the skirt.

I chose a linen because I was afraid that cotton would drape as nicely, because of that, it's a little heavy but I don't mind. Other than that, I think I'll really like it once it's on and done.

I'm hoping to post my projects from school as I make them. I have 3 garments to complete by the end of the semester (which apparently isn't alot of time) so im excited! I love school! I can already tell it's going to be challenging. I definetley don't know as much as I thought. My SEWING skills im sure are up to par but as far as knowledge in CONSTRUCTING an article of clothing from scratch (the real way!) I'm pretty much clueless!!

zero more days

We've had the countdown going all week. "mom, guess what?...6 more days until I go to school!"

Oh trust me Brody, i know...

I have such mixed feelings about school. On one hand, Im excited to gain a lighter kid load and encourage his independance but on the other hand,...all day?? Really?? That's seems drastic.

So today when I woke him up he marched downstairs and from the bathroom mid-stream I hear, "zero more days and now I get to go to school!"

and so he did.

On top of all his excitment, being a busrider was icing on his back to school cake!

He couldn't even wait for me!!!

I'm yelling through my tears, "wait for me! wait for me!!"

his new sweet Lakai's are a size 2!!! That is confirmation of a grown boy!

He waved goodbye and ran onto the bus without a second thought. I was crying behind my sunglasses worrying to myself, "who's he gonna sit with??" I was so scared for him.

and just like that, he was gone...

stupid bus!...

Saylee also started her 2nd year of preschool today. She is at a different school than Brody which I hope isn't too stressful for us. Last night we had to go to "meet the teacher" night at 2 schools and got a taste of the chaos. It was pure madness.

Anywho...

I have mixed emotions about Saylee's 1st day. This summer has been tough, and when I say tough I mean like "The Terminator battles Rambo with a side of The Icredible Hulk "tough. She regressed quite a bit this summer that I wasn't ready to deal with. She has been dying for some independance away from home. So i had more excited feelings than lonely feelings about her departing. PLUS- she's still in preschool and she's not gone for long.

Here she is, ready to go...with girafey

I had to document quickly her hair because it's been in her face for the last 3 months!!

I love this pic...

She had no issues, saying goodbye either. She just have me a kiss and said goodbye! I know she's going to knock our socks off this year with what she's going to be able to accomplish.

I love you Brody and Saylee! This year is going to be crazy! I feel like a mom who just entered the pro's! I start school in 2 weeks and Im hoping I can eat all that's on my plate, but with my appetite, it shouldn't be a problem!!

Down in the dumps

So I have this backyard...

Nope, that's not it... It's more like this

and this...

and this

We downsized so much from the rental to here that the backyard looks more like a junkyard! I wanted it cleaned before the monsoon season hit so I got a sitter and decided that Dus and I would knock it out in one day.

But when it comes to my life, NOTHING goes according to plan

After loading up our trailer, donned in my sweaty pj's, we we're off to the dump. My first time, I wasn't even scared! While on the freeway, our plan went KA-BLOOEY...literally!

This is, I mean WAS one of our trailer tires

demolished much?

This shredded mama took our wheel well for a roll. Again, literally!

This is after I had messed with it a little


Because the wheel well was all curled up, we couldn't get the tire off. (Not that we had a spare or anything!) In order to get to the tire, we had to pull it off. So, I grabbed a metal rod from the trailer and went to work! Nothing like taking out a little fat agression!

I told Dustin to take a picture, which he did followed by taking a little video. For some reason I can't get it to load but here's a link...PLEASE WATCH IT!


Of coarse Dustin was the one to actually pull it off but I totally loosened it for him!






Hey wheel well...





My little act of insanity must of got somebody's attention because this guy showed up!

After hitting up a few different tire shops, we got what we were looking for. We ate at Ned's and had an unexpacted day date! Bonus....we smelt unbearable!! We finally replaced the tire and headed off to the dump.


So here we are literally in the middle of the dump. As you can imagine, it smelt like Christmas morning! We unloaded as fast as we could, I sustained a slight injury because APPARENTLY, it's not smart to wear flip flops to the dump!

I don't know why but I was fascinated with this place. Decades of garbage compacted. Right before we we're finished this guy started spraying us with us with water...what's that about? Now we're working in mud!





So our little project for the day turned into an unexpected adventure, another one for the books!


And I haven't touched my backyard since!

Fun in the hot hot sun

Now may I present...

This is us

(with NO children)

This is Dustin with Jerry the jet ski

This is Dustin's wicked farmer's tan!

This is my ooh la-la picture

We were out on the water about 5-6 hours. It was one of the best day's we've ever had! We ate a good lunch, wakeboarded (well, Dustin wakeboarded- I flopped around the water alot), caught some nice waves and laughed our buns off!

The clouds were out and about

and so was this family of ducks!

Dustin said I looked super cool driving the jet ski

and you know what??








I felt cool!

(although I look slightly crazy instead of cool)

But sometimes being SO cool, can make you a little hot...

I know what you're thinking, and YES of coarse I wore sunscreen. My body just doesn't care. For those of my longtime buddies, you're probably remembering "the big burn of '02" well, this is as painful but not on 90% of my body like last time.

and here's some more...

Dustin got burned pretty bad on his back but wasn't keen to the idea of me snapping a million pictures of him. So being as in pain as we were, we did what any level-headed couple would do...

We went to dinner and a movie...



a 3-D movie

We slept fairly okay last night but here's me as of this morning

This random line down my leg (it's a little bigger in real life) is the worst for me. It looks like I actually burned it on something, my hair folicles are purple.

But it was worth it for sure!

and believe it or not...

I've had worse!