Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
My Hour Project
I saw this cute embroidered tank at Dollar Tree yesterday and they had matching velor T's so, I bought one thinking that I could do something with it for Kyra. So, the T became a tunic and the tank became a bolero. Not perfect but, not bad.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Pumpkins
For Family Night this week, we invited my family over for the annual pumpkin carving event. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I have in a sense taken over the hosting of events for this season. We have the pumpkin carving night a few nights before Halloween and then, the family congregates here on Halloween for soup and bread bowls and trick or treating with the little ones.
My dad, also a Halloween junkie has also taken up a love of this holiday and is extremely fun to be around. He loves to help the little ones carve their pumpkins. This year was no exception. We had a great time.
Danza cutting away at her pumpkin while Kyra is still deciding on her design.
Don't you just love Kaeson's matching pajamas.
Toad is grandpa's little shadow! Grandpa loves it!
He was so intent on getting those pumpkin guts out. He enjoyed every second of being gooey.
Kyra getting gooies on Auntie Downi.
Yep, the ever present face of Toad.
Loving every second.
So intent!
Finished products from left to right: Danza, Downi, Grandpa, Toad, Kaeson, Kyra
Spoooky!
My dad, also a Halloween junkie has also taken up a love of this holiday and is extremely fun to be around. He loves to help the little ones carve their pumpkins. This year was no exception. We had a great time.
Danza cutting away at her pumpkin while Kyra is still deciding on her design.
Don't you just love Kaeson's matching pajamas.
Toad is grandpa's little shadow! Grandpa loves it!
He was so intent on getting those pumpkin guts out. He enjoyed every second of being gooey.
Kyra getting gooies on Auntie Downi.
Yep, the ever present face of Toad.
Loving every second.
So intent!
Finished products from left to right: Danza, Downi, Grandpa, Toad, Kaeson, Kyra
Spoooky!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Project Runway... Darci Style
Designers... Your challenge this week is last minute Halloween Costume.
*You will have a budget of $6 to spend at the thrift shop.
*You will have 12 hours to complete this project.
*For this project, you will be placed in teams of two. *
One partner will have sewing skills but be completely overwhelmed with getting the house clean, the kids fed and into bed and will still have to plan a kindergarten Halloween party for the next day.
*The other partner will be a complete gimp with a severed thumb, no sewing skills what-so-ever but, be a creative genius.
* The winner of this challenge will not be given immunity but, will have to up at the crack of dawn to get three kiddos ready for school in costume.
* If you lose this challenge, you will lose the respect of you child and this project will be known as one of their most embarrassing moments of all time.
Good Luck designers and Make It Work!!!
Sooo.... The rest of the story is this:
Kyra wanted to be a genie for Halloween. A good friend of mine came over a few weeks ago and helped me construct a cute pair of pink genie pants and part of a vest. However, the pink pants just weren't fitting well and I completely messed up the vest. Here I was left at the last possible moment with no costume for Kyra.
I headed off to Savers to see if they were selling a Genie costume. I wasn't thrilled about purchasing one but, I was desperate. No luck. They had nothing. But, I did find this cute little number. It was a Indian inspired skirt and top. Purple with orange. My sister and I saw potential so, we bought the set and headed home.
We loved the top but decided to change all of the orange to lilac and gold. We thought that it would be a no brainer and that we could glue and sew all of the trimming on. Oh, were we wrong. About an hour into the project, I cut the skirt and made it into pants. After I was finished, it looked like a Cher disco suit so, I scrapped the whole idea of using the purchased costume. I very nearly grabbed one of Kyra's many fairy costumes that I have made and forced her to wear that.
My cute sister kept echoing, Make it Work. So, we did. We raced to the basement to pillage through my stores of fabric and trimming. Finally, having and arsenol of tacky, gawdy, craft stuff paid off. We were able to manage to pull everything together for her costume from my basement. We had chains, sequins, jewelry, and fabrics of every color. Soon it looked as though the circus had blown up in my kitchen.
The vest finally started coming together. I found great purple sheer fabric in one of my MANY fabric boxes downstairs and fashioned some rather nifty pants. The shoes were the main object of kyra's affection and they were a must have for her costume (foretelling???)
We finished the costume at 3:00 a.m. Her cute jacket has so much beading, trim and glue on it that it acts more like a bullet proof vest than a Halloween costume. The pants, not bad. The shoes, I loved. I made up the pattern for them and my sister decorated them. All in all, it was a fun costume.
The next morning, Kyra was thrilled to see the new costume. However, she did ask for us to glue more jewels onto the pants. Goodness. She is more into glitz and glamor than I had expected. Politely, we told her that she looked just fine.
Now, my only concern now. On the real Project Runway, I am sure that they have a crew to pick up their messes and clean up their spaces. On my Project Runway, I am the crew and my mess is really quite extensive. That is always the part of the creative process that I hate. The finished product made it worth it though!
*You will have a budget of $6 to spend at the thrift shop.
*You will have 12 hours to complete this project.
*For this project, you will be placed in teams of two. *
One partner will have sewing skills but be completely overwhelmed with getting the house clean, the kids fed and into bed and will still have to plan a kindergarten Halloween party for the next day.
*The other partner will be a complete gimp with a severed thumb, no sewing skills what-so-ever but, be a creative genius.
* The winner of this challenge will not be given immunity but, will have to up at the crack of dawn to get three kiddos ready for school in costume.
* If you lose this challenge, you will lose the respect of you child and this project will be known as one of their most embarrassing moments of all time.
Good Luck designers and Make It Work!!!
Sooo.... The rest of the story is this:
Kyra wanted to be a genie for Halloween. A good friend of mine came over a few weeks ago and helped me construct a cute pair of pink genie pants and part of a vest. However, the pink pants just weren't fitting well and I completely messed up the vest. Here I was left at the last possible moment with no costume for Kyra.
I headed off to Savers to see if they were selling a Genie costume. I wasn't thrilled about purchasing one but, I was desperate. No luck. They had nothing. But, I did find this cute little number. It was a Indian inspired skirt and top. Purple with orange. My sister and I saw potential so, we bought the set and headed home.
We loved the top but decided to change all of the orange to lilac and gold. We thought that it would be a no brainer and that we could glue and sew all of the trimming on. Oh, were we wrong. About an hour into the project, I cut the skirt and made it into pants. After I was finished, it looked like a Cher disco suit so, I scrapped the whole idea of using the purchased costume. I very nearly grabbed one of Kyra's many fairy costumes that I have made and forced her to wear that.
My cute sister kept echoing, Make it Work. So, we did. We raced to the basement to pillage through my stores of fabric and trimming. Finally, having and arsenol of tacky, gawdy, craft stuff paid off. We were able to manage to pull everything together for her costume from my basement. We had chains, sequins, jewelry, and fabrics of every color. Soon it looked as though the circus had blown up in my kitchen.
The vest finally started coming together. I found great purple sheer fabric in one of my MANY fabric boxes downstairs and fashioned some rather nifty pants. The shoes were the main object of kyra's affection and they were a must have for her costume (foretelling???)
We finished the costume at 3:00 a.m. Her cute jacket has so much beading, trim and glue on it that it acts more like a bullet proof vest than a Halloween costume. The pants, not bad. The shoes, I loved. I made up the pattern for them and my sister decorated them. All in all, it was a fun costume.
The next morning, Kyra was thrilled to see the new costume. However, she did ask for us to glue more jewels onto the pants. Goodness. She is more into glitz and glamor than I had expected. Politely, we told her that she looked just fine.
Now, my only concern now. On the real Project Runway, I am sure that they have a crew to pick up their messes and clean up their spaces. On my Project Runway, I am the crew and my mess is really quite extensive. That is always the part of the creative process that I hate. The finished product made it worth it though!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sharing Someone Else's Secret
Ok, so the title is a lot more tantalizing than the content but, I had to get a great catch phrase to get you to read my post. Don't you just love bait and switch!
My sister and I were having a conversation today where she told me that I have fantastic luck in picking products and implementing ideas. She mentioned that I never choose anything that isn't fabulous. Truth be told... I choose unwisely ALL OF THE TIME. I just don't talk about it a lot. The last thing in the world that I love to announce is that I spend too much money or time on a product or idea that didn't work. However, I am quite the loud mouth when it comes to ideas and products that I love.
So, in the spirit of sharing amazing ideas, I thought that I would send one your direction. Now, I wish that I could take credit for this one but, I can't. This idea belongs to my great friend Toni. She happened to mention to me how her meal planning works and I have to tell you, it is genius! I love it and I am saving a TON of money! So, although I won't take any amount of credit for this, I am so pathetically excited over it that I couldn't keep it in anymore.
Toni shops once a week and spends a ridiculously low amount on her food bill. This is how she does it. She doesn't buy anything unless it is on sale and she shops the adds. She will load up on things when they are on sale and incorporate them into her budget. That is not the great part. The great part is her organization. She has a master meal plan that repeats every week. This is how it works.
Monday- Spaghetti (and her husband comes home and makes it)
Tuesday- Casserole or rice dish. I have changed this to be a convenience food: mac and cheese, mummy dogs, hamburger helper, soup and breadsticks etc.
Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner.
Thursday- Mexican
Friday- Homemade Pizza
Saturday- Left overs
Sunday- Big Meal: This is the night we usually go to grandma's for dinner so, I only plan for 2 sunday dinners a month.
So, once I heard about this, I thought that I would try it. I sat down with my calendar and add and planned out a whole months worth of meals in about 5 minutes. I went grocery shopping and spent a fraction of what I would normally have spent. Literally, I was stunned as to how much I saved. And... here is the big one..... my kids LOVE it. They love the fact that they know what is on the menu for the night.
You can really mix it up as well. Examples: for Mexican night, we have had burritos, enchiladas, tacos and taco salad. All huge hits. Breakfast for dinner has ranged from pancakes and fruit to crepes to oatmeal casserole. The homemade pizza is the best and takes so little time that it blew my socks off. Now, you can certainly mix it up the way you would like to do it but, I just had to share.
This has been one of the best ideas that I have ever heard and incorporating it into my life has made things SO much simpler. Anyway, I just thought that I would share!
My sister and I were having a conversation today where she told me that I have fantastic luck in picking products and implementing ideas. She mentioned that I never choose anything that isn't fabulous. Truth be told... I choose unwisely ALL OF THE TIME. I just don't talk about it a lot. The last thing in the world that I love to announce is that I spend too much money or time on a product or idea that didn't work. However, I am quite the loud mouth when it comes to ideas and products that I love.
So, in the spirit of sharing amazing ideas, I thought that I would send one your direction. Now, I wish that I could take credit for this one but, I can't. This idea belongs to my great friend Toni. She happened to mention to me how her meal planning works and I have to tell you, it is genius! I love it and I am saving a TON of money! So, although I won't take any amount of credit for this, I am so pathetically excited over it that I couldn't keep it in anymore.
Toni shops once a week and spends a ridiculously low amount on her food bill. This is how she does it. She doesn't buy anything unless it is on sale and she shops the adds. She will load up on things when they are on sale and incorporate them into her budget. That is not the great part. The great part is her organization. She has a master meal plan that repeats every week. This is how it works.
Monday- Spaghetti (and her husband comes home and makes it)
Tuesday- Casserole or rice dish. I have changed this to be a convenience food: mac and cheese, mummy dogs, hamburger helper, soup and breadsticks etc.
Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner.
Thursday- Mexican
Friday- Homemade Pizza
Saturday- Left overs
Sunday- Big Meal: This is the night we usually go to grandma's for dinner so, I only plan for 2 sunday dinners a month.
So, once I heard about this, I thought that I would try it. I sat down with my calendar and add and planned out a whole months worth of meals in about 5 minutes. I went grocery shopping and spent a fraction of what I would normally have spent. Literally, I was stunned as to how much I saved. And... here is the big one..... my kids LOVE it. They love the fact that they know what is on the menu for the night.
You can really mix it up as well. Examples: for Mexican night, we have had burritos, enchiladas, tacos and taco salad. All huge hits. Breakfast for dinner has ranged from pancakes and fruit to crepes to oatmeal casserole. The homemade pizza is the best and takes so little time that it blew my socks off. Now, you can certainly mix it up the way you would like to do it but, I just had to share.
This has been one of the best ideas that I have ever heard and incorporating it into my life has made things SO much simpler. Anyway, I just thought that I would share!
You Can Make This
As you ALL know by now, I am a complete craft and sewing junkie. I collect fabric, notions, fasteners, ribbon, beading, and most of all patterns. I have tons and tons of patterns. Along with those patterns is the desire to make all of them. I keep saying, someday.
Well, I found this site a couple of years ago and it is by far one of my favorites. At this site, you can find the patterns that you are looking for and download them IMMEDIATELY. There is no waiting for a package or an email, you download it as soon as you pay for it.
They were featured on Good Things Utah a few weeks ago and for a limited time (until October 31) They are offering two of their really amazing patterns for free. One is for a layered filled tutu- super cute and I love it and a trendy little vest. Anyway, I am just letting you all know so that you can hop on over and check it out.
You Can Make This
Monday, October 19, 2009
West Jordan Pumpkin Patch
For years, we have known about the West Jordan Pumpkin Walk but, have had other things going on. However, this year, I made it a priority and got the kiddos up and dressed and we headed out. I was so pleased with myself that I had the boys in matching outfits and Kyra was decked out in her witch dress. Then, when we got there, many of the kiddos were dressed in costumes. Kyra was a little disappointed until I reminded her that her costume has yet to be completed. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.
The pumpkin walk was amazing and the kids had so much fun. Plus...here is the good part...it was completely free! I am putting myself on a huge budget overhaul and free always fits nicely into that overhaul plan.
They had the Tiny Tim train which is always a favorite at neighborhood events.
Each family got to pick a pumpkin to take home. Completely free of charge.
Each child got a balloon hat, animal or sword. I just LOVE Kelty's choice don't you? Kaeson was thrilled with his sword. Kyra chose to have a teddy bear which deflated almost immediately but, there was so much going on that she didn't perseverate on it for very long.
They had all of the little houses decked out for trick or treating. This particular house was a fishing pond of sorts.
Lots of blow up yard decor. Kyra became quite attached to the skeleton playing the organ. She kept trying to hold its hand. (She will kill me for typing that.)
Kyra also loves vampire teeth and always has. Apparently she has a thing for Edward too. Anyway, they were the treat given away at the apple bobbing booth and she could not have been more pleased.
The apple bobbing was fun, although my kids just picked out the apples with their fingers. Yep, I am a bit of a germ-a-phob right now since Swine Flu is racing out of control and my kiddos pick up every tiny bug that goes around.
Checking out the loot from the trick-or-treat.
Toad was a master at the bean bag toss.
I was surprised that the kiddos wanted to get their faces painted. They generally don't like things on their faces. I was excited to see them breaking out of the box a bit.
Bobbing for donuts was another big hit. I guess eating anything off of a string is exciting for little kids. To be honest, they were just floored that I let them eat whatever they wanted. Toad was in seventh heaven. Although, what would you expect from a 2 year old that weighs just 7 pounds less than is 7 year old sister. Yep folks, Toad is a chub.
For waking up on the wrong side of the crib... no, the wrong side of the planet (worst mood I have ever seen a child in... EVER) he actually enjoyed the majority of the day.
Even the volunteers dressed to kill.
Again, need I saw more about little one. I don't think that this is following the doctors recommendation of more carrots and skim milk instead of 2%. What can I say, my kiddo likes to eat.
Kaseon chose a ghost. He is in a bit of a ghost period at the moment. He is entranced with them and is drawing them all of the time. He wants to make a giant ghost for the front of the lawn. Maybe, one day, he will meet a real life ghost. Or so he wishes.
Kyra chose the candy corn. Side note here... not that it has anything to do with this post but, I LOVE candy corn. I could eat an entire bag by myself at a single sitting. I know... you are thinking gross. I am thinking Mmmmmm.
Toad demonstrating either the cover of the Beatles album or showing off his TERRIBLE mood.
Saying goodbye to the fabulous Pumpkin walk. This will absolutely become a yearly tradition. We highly recommend it.
The pumpkin walk was amazing and the kids had so much fun. Plus...here is the good part...it was completely free! I am putting myself on a huge budget overhaul and free always fits nicely into that overhaul plan.
They had the Tiny Tim train which is always a favorite at neighborhood events. 
Each family got to pick a pumpkin to take home. Completely free of charge.
Each child got a balloon hat, animal or sword. I just LOVE Kelty's choice don't you? Kaeson was thrilled with his sword. Kyra chose to have a teddy bear which deflated almost immediately but, there was so much going on that she didn't perseverate on it for very long. 
They had all of the little houses decked out for trick or treating. This particular house was a fishing pond of sorts.
Lots of blow up yard decor. Kyra became quite attached to the skeleton playing the organ. She kept trying to hold its hand. (She will kill me for typing that.)
Kyra also loves vampire teeth and always has. Apparently she has a thing for Edward too. Anyway, they were the treat given away at the apple bobbing booth and she could not have been more pleased.
The apple bobbing was fun, although my kids just picked out the apples with their fingers. Yep, I am a bit of a germ-a-phob right now since Swine Flu is racing out of control and my kiddos pick up every tiny bug that goes around.
Checking out the loot from the trick-or-treat.
Toad was a master at the bean bag toss.
I was surprised that the kiddos wanted to get their faces painted. They generally don't like things on their faces. I was excited to see them breaking out of the box a bit.
Bobbing for donuts was another big hit. I guess eating anything off of a string is exciting for little kids. To be honest, they were just floored that I let them eat whatever they wanted. Toad was in seventh heaven. Although, what would you expect from a 2 year old that weighs just 7 pounds less than is 7 year old sister. Yep folks, Toad is a chub.
For waking up on the wrong side of the crib... no, the wrong side of the planet (worst mood I have ever seen a child in... EVER) he actually enjoyed the majority of the day.
Even the volunteers dressed to kill.
Again, need I saw more about little one. I don't think that this is following the doctors recommendation of more carrots and skim milk instead of 2%. What can I say, my kiddo likes to eat.
Kaseon chose a ghost. He is in a bit of a ghost period at the moment. He is entranced with them and is drawing them all of the time. He wants to make a giant ghost for the front of the lawn. Maybe, one day, he will meet a real life ghost. Or so he wishes.
Kyra chose the candy corn. Side note here... not that it has anything to do with this post but, I LOVE candy corn. I could eat an entire bag by myself at a single sitting. I know... you are thinking gross. I am thinking Mmmmmm. 
Toad demonstrating either the cover of the Beatles album or showing off his TERRIBLE mood.
Saying goodbye to the fabulous Pumpkin walk. This will absolutely become a yearly tradition. We highly recommend it.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Loving This Outfit
A friend of mine from high school is a really great designer. I saw her post this darling dress and jumped on it. I thought that I would share.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Toad Birthday Cake
I saw this online and thought that it would be a fun cake for Toad. Don't look too closely, I did it in a huge hurry but, I enjoyed doing it.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Creativity
The other night I went into Kyras room to turn off her lamp only to find her completely wide awake with a box of Sharpie markers, a notebook and double stick tape. The back of her wall was covered with the creations that she had already dreamt up. I had to smile.
Kyra has never been able to sleep well. She takes hours to fall asleep. For the past few months, she has made her way to dreamland with a good book but, this time, her imagination had just gotten too much of a head start. I thought that I would share some of the photos that I snapped.
Ordinarily, I would take them off the wall and confiscate the box of markers but, this time, I am going to feed her creativity and let her keep them there... for a while atleast.
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