Updating...

I thought it was high time my blog had a new look! I also added a section on the sidebar for links to tutorials and recipes that I really like, which I will be adding to when I have time.

A big girl!

We've started a little self-feeding with Joanna - with a fun new snack recommended to us from a friend. These are "Mum Mums", a baby rice cracker. Joanna absolutely loves them! Whenever I hold one out to her, she grabs it and shoves it in her mouth! I love that they immediately melt in her mouth. Cheerios were the first thing Benjamin fed himself, but these are easier for babies, because they can be held in a fist rather than with fingers.

Early Christmas projects...

I would love to get started on making Christmas presents, but I need some good ideas first! So I decided to make Joanna a Christmas outfit, so that would at least be ready. I had this material in my stash, and it worked perfectly for a little skirt and a headband. I love how they turned out - my only concern is that they fit her now, so hopefully they'll still fit her in a few months!

A new use for olive oil...

If you're like me and reuse glass bottles and jars you get with food (like salad dressing bottles or pasta sauce jars) then you have probably dealt with the frustration of labels not coming off nicely or leaving sticky residue. When this happens, I usually use vinegar to get the residue off, which often, but not always, works. But I read somewhere about olive oil removing sticky stuff - so the last time I had a label not come off very well, I tried it. I sprayed some olive oil on the sticky spot and left it for a few minutes. When I wiped it with my washcloth, the residue wiped right off! Yay for olive oil!

My new favorite organizational tool!

Sometimes I feel like we're in a constant state of decluttering and trying to organize our things better. I used to keep my shoes in a box, but removed them when I discovered some of them had gotten moldy, so then they were just sitting in a pile on our closet floor. I thought about buying an over-the-door shoe holder, but then thought - I could make that! So I did.


It's been in the works for a couple of weeks now as I got up the motivation to do the two things I don't love about sewing - cutting out and ironing. But I finally finished it - and I am loving this! I used material I already had - I didn't quite have enough of the darker green, so I used a lighter green, too, which I think makes it a bit more interesting looking. The bottom row is bigger pockets which hold one each of larger shoes - like my tennis shoes, and the other rows are smaller pockets which each hold either one shoe or two flip flops. This perfectly holds all my shoes and certainly looks much nicer than the clear plastic one I had thought about buying.

I've been making...

Sandwich and snack bags, using this tutorial. I adjusted the measurements based on the sizes I wanted and fabric I had.
Blackberry pie and jam - from free fresh-picked blackberries! Yay for free stuff!

A new friend for Benjamin - he's really into snakes right now. I wouldn't have made the tongue out of felt, though, if I had know that he would carry the snake around by its tongue!