OK...so a new year and new goals....

So I'm officially 1/2 way through my first year of teaching (midterms are this week) and I LOVE it!!!!  It was definitely rough at first and I came home crying a couple of times but with some perseverance and an extremely supportive and loving husband I have been able to adjust to my new job.  I still have some bad days but my good days far outnumber the bad ones and my students make me laugh every day.  I am finally getting to the point where I feel I can breath a little and maybe even read a book.  With that in mind, I also need to resume my sorely neglected blog here.  So that is one of my goals for the year.  I decided this goal at 10:20 on a Sunday night so you will have to wait until probably next weekend for updated pictures.  Much has happened since my last post...I think it was in May...but I will update and summarize and try to get caught up as quickly as I can. 

My First Attempt at Quilting...

Now Delaney tells me she wants a dinosaur quilt...hmmm...maybe applique next?

It's Party Time!!!!

I love, love, love, a party and if I could make a career out of it, I would! Here are some pictures of cakes and parties I've done for my friends and families in the past in no particular order.

This one was for the son of a friend of mine...he just turned 3

 

 

Ladybug cake from the front

Ladybug cake from the back

The birthday girl herself! 

The Penguin Cake

The Smash Cake

The Aftermath!!!!  Donna's 1st Birthday.

R2D2 with his gangsta lean.  This was my 1st time using fondant that I made from marshmallows. 

Delaney's 4th Birthday Cake...I made the dogs out of modeling chocolate...this was the second set.  Our 2 golden retrievers ate my first set.

Delaney's Wall-e cake

This was for my brother and sister-in-law's baby shower.  Kate was supposed to be running for the finish line and Jim was assembling the crib.  If you've ever seen him assemble anything from a box, you'll understand why it's a mess!  I made these cake toppers out of Polymer clay

This cake was for the 3 cousins whose birthdays all fall close together.  I made the two girls mermaids and Eddie was a rower for University of Wisconsin - Madison.  I used the modeling chocolate for all of these figures. 

Fall is officially here!!!!

Now that Autumn is officially upon us, my mind starts to think of cool, crisp weather, the smell of burning leaves, picking apples and of course, Halloween.  I love to make my daughters' costumes however this year, Delaney has her heart set upon being a Triceratops.  And while I am fairly creative, I do know my limitations and a Triceratops is most definitely out of my skill set!  I am still making Donna's though and hopefully she will be the cutest little owl in town.

I got my inspiration from this cute little number

And thought that I could combine it with the wings from this outfit.

 

I finished the main part the body today but I unfortunately ran out of brown felt so my work has ceased for the day and I will be off to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow in search of more.  I'm also adding a tail and making a different headpiece for her.  I've been loving the look of the many handmade, patchwork-style stuffed toys I've been seeing on Etsy lately so that was what inspired the fabrics that I used to make the feathers.  I think that if I use a little fabric stiffener, I can curl the feathers up a little bit and give them a little more life.  Here's what I have so far...

 

Something's Missing!!!

I just finished making this cute little Tooth Fairy pillow yesterday morning and the timing couldn't have been more perfect!  Delaney came out of her room last night all excited and waiving her newly dislodged tooth in the air.  There's a small satin envelope stitched to the backside of the pillow for the late-night exchange with the Tooth Fairy to take place.  So we slipped her little tooth in there and sometime during the night, the Tooth Fairy came and left Delaney a $1 bill in the pouch.  After she woke up this morning, she found her $1 bill and immediately tried pulling out her other wriggly tooth so she could get another dollar to buy a dinosaur.  

A Little Something Steve Picked Up For The Girls....

Steve and I have been cruising craigslist for quite some time now for a playset for the girls.  In one of my late night internet surfing sessions,  (I've become a craigslist and Ebay junkie) I discovered that people are giving these things away for free as long as you remove them yourself.  They are posted quite frequently but are gone almost as quickly as they are put up.  We kept seeing them but by the time we called, they were already spoken for.  We finally lucked out though!  Thanks to Steve and Grandpa D we now have a kickin' place for the girls to play right in our own back yard! I would have loved something like this when I was a kid...I'm so excited for them to have something like this and I can't wait to make little curtains for the windows!  I can already see little battery operated twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling of the house and maybe a couple of bean bag chairs...Oh, the possibilities!!!!!

School Days Are Here....

 

We started the year off a special breakfast of Delaney's choosing so we had Belgian waffles with blueberry compote...Yum!!!!

Well summer is officially coming to a close and Delaney has started full-day Kindergarten. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  She's now in her second week of school and we all seem to be adjusting well. I have to admit though that I think it's been the roughest on me!  I am definitely not a morning person and getting up at 6:30 every morning has not been easy.  I am fortunate enough though to have a wonderful husband who wakes me up every morning with a smile and a hot cup of coffee!  Somehow waking up this way is less painful than waking to a beeping alarm.  I spend the next half hour sipping my coffee and finish the waking process (yes, it's a process for me).  Just before seven, I can hear the pitter patter of little feet followed immediately by Donna's joyous screeching at prospect of the new day before her.  Here's a couple pictures from Delaney's 1st day of school...