Vinyl and the Giant Pot

     I've had an idea for awhile now about some onesies that I wanted to start carrying in the shop, so over the past few weeks, I was able to start ordering the supplies to start getting the project underway.  Heat transfer vinyl came in first, and while looking through a Silhouette group, I discovered permanent vinyl as well... which led to an order of a variety pack of that... as well as a heat press to top the whole thing off.

     Thank goodness I have an understanding husband.  My crafting addiction not only makes me pick up new hobbies left and right, but to dive in headfirst.  I do not know the meaning of dipping my toes in the water.

     So anyway, my heat press came in last week!  I was so excited (and, frankly, a little intimidated) to get started.  Usually, it takes me awhile to let the idea of using new equipment, but with this, I just went for it.  So glad I did.

     I started off by using the Silhouette to cut some heat transfer material, then booted up the heat press and knocked out some onesies with the artwork I had chosen.

The kiwi bird shirt, I kept for Liam and used it as a tester.

That poor shirt endured more wash and abuse in the past few days than you would believe.  However, I wanted to test the limit of the heat transfer material and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with the durability!

     After trying out the heat transfer material, I wanted to give the permanent vinyl a shot.  My first project was a travel mug for Cam's swim coach.  Cam's coach has been a phenomenal teacher and really made a difference in his self-esteem.  He went from not being able to swim at all, to being ready to go on the swim team!  Unfortunately, his teacher is leaving soon, so we wanted to show our appreciation with a gift he could remember Cam by.

Front of travel mug (with white paper so you can see the design better).

Back of mug.

     He seemed really happy when Cam gave it to him, so I'm happy that it was well-received!  Cam took his swim test and passed with flying colors.  So proud of him!

     After using and abusing the kiwi bird shirt, I felt ready to knock out the onesies for the shop.

    Please excuse the horrible lighting, it was 11 o'clock at night and I was wiped out.  They look a LOT better when you can actually see them....

     ...and even better when being worn.  ;)

     I fell in love with the brown sugar glider onesie and decided to keep it for Liam.  I think he liked it too... at least he didn't scream like he did with the Dr. Seuss hat.

     To finish up the week, I took the kids to the new TJMaxx store that just opened up.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot there, but we did discover the biggest pot I have ever seen in my life.

     As any good mom would do, I stuck my kids inside, pretended to make "children soup" and snapped some pictures.

     Of course, Cam was too "cool" to get into the pot; however, the little guys had a BLAST!

Random Projects

     Liam is growing so fast!  The kids all adore him, and the cats are really starting to love hanging out with him as well.

Booger "kissing" Liam.

     He's even starting to smile!

Liam's gummy grin.

     With four kids and almost zero free time when they're awake, I've made nap time my crafting sanity saver.  I created my own hat pattern that makes double-layered hats with hidden seams and worked it until my crafting-OCD tendencies were completely satisfied.  So I made some hats to add to the shop:

And then I made some more:

And then I made a million more.  :)  All-in-all, I came up with a nice selection for the shop.

     In between hat-making and various other craft projects, I've been trying to figure out creative ways to use up all of the eggs that our ladies are now laying.  With five chickens, we're averaging 4-5 eggs a day.  That means a LOT of scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs omelets, quiche, egg soufflés and whatever else I can think of.

     I really wanted to start carrying a variety of onesies in my shop as well, since my favorite, absolute FAVORITE, thing in the world to make is baby stuff.  If I hear that someone is having a baby, it's ON.

     So I placed an order for onesies, and I plan to add them to the shop after they've received the Spicy Pinecone treatment.  ;)

     I also have a friend that is an absolutely fantastic artist.  I asked him if I could use his artwork for my kids (just my own personal use) so I could use it to make them some t-shirts.  He was totally cool with it and gave me the go-ahead, so I took an afternoon, my Silhouette and some printable heat transfer paper and went to town.

   Optimus Prime, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Wall-E.  Each kid got 3 tees and all of the older kids (unfortunately, while Liam will look fantastic, he does not appreciate fine t-shirt art as of yet) just completely lost their minds when they saw them.  Scarlett immediately had to put on her TMNT shirt and get her picture taken.

     Finally, just today, I went to Cam's school because they were having a Locks of Love donation today.  I didn't know that we'd be getting our hair chopped off in front of hundreds of students and almost the entire school faculty!  I was a little surprised, but the kids got a huge kick out of seeing all the hair getting lopped off.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the event because I was juggling a baby and a toddler and my son was in the crowd, but trust me when I say that it was horribly crowded, bright, and HOT outside.

    I did, however, get a picture of Scarlett holding up a bag of my hair afterwards, once we were allowed to come inside.

  And a nice crossing guard was kind enough to snap another picture of me after the donation, while a hairstylist cleaned up my new 'do.

    At this point, Liam was NOT happy in his carseat and insisted on being held throughout the haircut.  I swear, I think that every woman at the event passed by and tickled his toes.  He adored it.

Playing Catch Up

     It's been a crazy few weeks!  Between dealing with a newborn, trying to keep the house from looking like it was hit by a tornado, and getting everyone off to school and set in a routine... we've been busy!

     Anyway, here's a look at what we've been up to around here.

     First, the kids had to start the school year.  The first day is always the most exciting!

    It was Kai's first year of school and he was over the moon about riding the bus.  We love our bus driver to pieces.  That man is great!  Always in a good mood and ready with a wave and a smile.  The boys adore him.

    Also, our chickens are laying eggs like you wouldn't believe.  I expected a few eggs here and there, but we're getting 5 a day!

Scarlett's chicken, "Ballerina".

     The chickens do have kind of a prankster side to them.  They love to escape from their chicken enclosure and walk up to the back door to tease our cat, Rango.  I swear sometimes that chickens really can and DO laugh.

    With all these eggs, we have to find creative ways to use them.  Omelets for dinner, hard-boiled eggs for snack and packed in lunches, and an egg-souffle' creation that actually turned out quite yummy!

    Between all the running around, there is still time for us to goof around.  This mustache is still something that we love to run around with.  Who would have thought you could get so much enjoyment from a little piece of felt?  I recommend felt mustaches and glue dots to everyone.  :)

     Luckily, I've been able to catch a few spare moments here and there to keep up my crafty addiction. First, I wanted to whip up a Dr. Seuss hat for Liam.  The first fitting didn't go so well.

    Liam kept moving and it slid down over his eyes.  Being the great mother I am, I had to snap a photo before quickly removing his unintended blindfold.  ;)

     When I finally finished, I was so proud and excited to finally get some of those adorable baby shots I've always admired online.  I had visions of sweet, sleeping Liam with an adorable Dr. Seuss hat.  Instead, I put it on and he hated, HATED this hat.

    Once he calmed down, he then wouldn't stop trying to eat the pom-pom.

   You wouldn't believe the amount of "outtake" photos that I have with this hat.  I tried everything.  Finally, I was able to snap a quick shot of him being peaceful and calm.  Success!

     We haven't touched the hat since.

     I have gotten some sewing done.  A few of my friends are having babies and I wanted to make them presents as a surprise.  Everyone loves non-bill related mail!

    So I made some hats for my friend having twins.

    And a blanket for my friend having a little girl.

     Then, I got all hopped up on a sewing high and whipped up swaddles and burp cloths to put into the Etsy shop.  I adore bright colors and beautiful patterns.

     So that's what we've been up to.  I'm back into a routine and should be posting with more regularity now.  Hope everyone else is doing well too!

New Helper at Spicy Pinecone

     I suppose that my idea of nesting manifesting itself in the form of craftiness was pretty spot-on.  The crazy crafting week I blogged about in my last post led up to me going into labor that night.  Thank goodness that I had finished up the big brother/sister shirts a few hours before.  Otherwise, they may not have ever gotten done.

     Anyway, on August 7, 2012, Spicy Pinecone got a new helper.  Meet Liam. 

     And all of the Spicy Pinecone munchkins together (modeling those snazzy shirts that were finished in the nick of time).  :)

     And last but not least, the newest addition taking a nap in one of the cotton gauze swaddling blankets I made for him.  Crafty nesting rocks.  I think Liam agrees.

Crazy Week!

     So it's been a bit of a crazy past week.  Been trying to get everything in order before the baby arrives so I've been on a bit of a crafting spree as well as nesting like mad.  (I've joked that my nesting is manifesting itself in the form of crafting... it just may be!)

     To start with, I made a cute crab blanket from some fabric that I found on Fabric.com.  The crab material is https://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=9cf98664-8bea-4088-8db2-5a2bf2ecfc44 and I got some blue bubble flannel for the backing.

     Then, our chickens (whom we refer to as "The Ladies") started laying!  We were so excited to discover our first egg last Monday.

     They started off laying one egg a day until we got to Day 5, when we got 3 in one day! 

End of Day 5... 7 eggs!

     Since they're just starting out, the eggs are kind of sporadic.  However, the kids are super excited and now have to take turns going outside to check for eggs.  Each child has an assigned "egg day".  It's probably the one chore that they all fight over.  :) 

     Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, our neighbor's pitbull dug a hole under the fence and bit one of our chickens' heads off.  (Sorry for that mental image.)  The little kids don't know, but Cam helped me take care of the body and we were horribly upset to lose one of our ladies.  Not only because she was so close to laying, but we had raised her from a chick and each of the chickens really has become a pet at this point.

     Next in our week, was the new dining room table.  We've had a counter-height table that seats 4 for a few years now.  However, it's hard for Scarlett to climb up on the chairs when it's dinner time and when Travis is home, the entire family can't sit down at the table at once.  (We had to set Scarlett up in her old high chair at those times, which she LOATHED.)  Time for a new table.  I scouted around and decided to pick one up from Overstock since they were having a sale and I purchased through a rebate site in addition to the sale and a coupon I had found.  In short, I got a good deal that I couldn't pass up.

     However, putting the table together was an entirely different story.  It was a nightmare.  Holes weren't where they should have been, some pieces didn't have any holes at all, and the directions were flat-out wrong in some areas.  Now I've put together my fair share of furniture, but this one took the cake for being the biggest nightmare ever to have to be assembled.  In the end, though, it finally all worked out, though I will be writing the company a strongly-worded letter about their inadequate instructions, materials, and build time.

     Then, I decided to really start attacking my "Project Tower" in my craft room.  The Project Tower is a tower of fabric that I have separated and stacked for specific projects.  Needless to say, it really has become a tower.  One of the items in my project tower was a hooded towel.  I had two that I had to finish, but I knocked out one. 

     For some reason, it looks Day-Glo orange.  It's bright orange, alright, but not as crazy as this picture makes it look.  It's got a dinosaur-print bias edging.

     Last but not least, today I took the time to knock out the "Big Brother/Sister" shirts I've been planning on making for when the baby comes and the kids visit the hospital.  Gotta love the Silhouette and freezer-paper stenciling!

     All-in-all, a very busy week!  I need to sit down and write out a list of the other projects that I'd like to finish so I can at least have it semi-organized.  Right now, I feel as though I'm scrambling a bit.  So hectic around here! 

     Hope you all are staying busy and are ready for the new school year coming up!

Gauze Swaddle Blankets

     I guess the nesting urge has kicked into full-gear.  I went on a sewing spree this morning and finished the remaining 8 (out of 12) gauze baby blankets that I had planned to knock out.  Holding back 3 for the baby on the way and ended up listing the rest in my shop. 

All finished!

     At one point, my table was COVERED in swaddling blankets!  Once they were complete, I wrapped them up to take pictures for listing them in the shop.

Wrapped and ready!

Glow-in-the-Dark "Ooga Boogas"

     My two younger munchkins have really been worried about monsters and aliens lately.  We use "Alien Spray" (Glade) every night and that used to do the trick, but either the scary guys are becoming immune to it, or the little kids are catching on.  Either way, I figured that something had to be done.  Waking up numerous times every night to soothe monster/alien fears is not the best way to feel like a well-rested and SANE mom in the morning.  :)

     I had an idea to create something with the glow-in-the-dark clay that I've had for awhile.  I thought that they should be kid-loving and cute, while also being able to scare away and/or fight monsters and aliens.  I came up with "Ooga Boogas"... since they're meant to scare away unwanted nighttime boogeymen. 

      These little guys are the best alien/monster fighting machines you can find.  Contrary to their adorable-ness...  they also possess the ability to scare away and/or fight off anything that is not welcome to their territory. 

      So monsters and aliens BEWARE!  These little guys pack a heck of a wallop.  They're loyal to their kids and will protect them at all costs. 

     Oh, and uhhh... I DID mention how cute they were, right?  ;)