Up cycled tee beanie

This was super easy and I love how it turned out! Only took less than half a tshirt. 

maxi skirt from three tees

This might be my most favorite upcycle to date. I made a maxi skirt or strapless sundress out of three old t-shirts. I absolutely love it and it is super comfy!

I took the photos before adding the waist casing and drawstring, which I made out of the cut off hem scraps from the shirts. The bottom stripe is a patchwork of the shirt scraps. The only pieces of the shirts I had left when complete were the necks and sleeves... might have to make some pockets with them! Man I'm a genius. :)

Sublime re-tee

Here is my latest re-tee.... plain Sublime mens t-shirt made into a tank top. Wish I'd taken a before pic! I used this tutorial....
http://kelseyinspired.blogspot.co.nz/2011/08/t-shirt-re-style.html

Not completely satisfied with the straps (did them a little differently than the tutorial) and I might re-do them in another way, but overall I like it! I'm sure I'll do a few more of them.

BUTTER!!!

Inspired by Della at Householder's Guide to the Galaxy, I decided to try and make butter from scratch. I had these old notions of churning and churning all day like what I'd read in my Little House books as a child, but thanks to technology, the whole process took about 10 minutes start to finish. I watched a few YouTube videos, bought a quart of cream, poured it into my KitchenAid mixer and voila. Butter. Made by me. It may be silly but I feel a bit like a superhero. Next time I plan to go to the local dairy and buy the all-natural cream. Here is a pic to show my end product!!

Yay me!!!

The Privilege of Being a Nurse

This is an amazing article. As a nurse on the OB/GYN floor, it is not uncommon to go from one room, helping a brand new mom learn to breastfeed her baby to the next room, where another woman has just had her breasts, uterus, ovaries, (everything that makes her a woman) removed. I feel humbled and blessed on many nights to have the important job that I do. I've been entrusted to help these patients recover during life changing experiences; how awesome is that? When I was a student I felt the same about the learning opportunities. As much as I disliked clinicals, I felt awestruck to be one of the six people in the OR during a patient's most vulnerable moments. I can only hope that the student mentioned in this article has begun to see the privilege of her profession and the importance of making her patients feel safe.
Read it here:
Article: I will fear no evil: for you are with me 

Re-tee #1: Ruffle and rose tank

I had a boxy, ill-fitting, hole-containing, favorite-colored mens t-shirt that needed some re-teeing. I found this cute tutorial, and although it took me a bit longer than she said it would, I think it turned out so cute! Can't wait to pair it with one of my hippie skirts!

(the right side of the collar ruffle really isn't messed up, I just didn't realize it needed flattened back down before I took the photo!)

Here is a link to the tutorial I followed:
ruffle and roses tank refashion tutorial here

Previous Re-Tees....

These don't really count per-se, because I did them awhile back, but here are some newborn gowns I made out of adult tees.

Here is the tutorial that I used: http://thismamamakesstuff.com/2008/08/tutorial-t-shirt-to-newborn-gown/

My Blog Sewing Project

Sew, (or so, haha) I've been really inspired the last few weeks by blog projects. Della's year long quest to make all things from scratch, "This Busy Mommy's" project-a-week for 52 weeks, etc.... I've finally decided on one to do myself. For the rest of the year, (hopefully I'm disciplined enough to keep going!) I'm going to upcycle a t-shirt into something else. We are getting ready to build a walk-in closet/enlarge our laundry room, and in purging clothes I've found that we have WAY too many t-shirts in this house. Not to mention, on any given day you have an endless selection of dirt cheap tees at the thrift stores, just waiting to become something fabulous. Alas, here I am announcing "Project Re-Tee." Stay tuned for my photos and tutorial links! It's going to be interesting, if not fun!

Lazy days

Hey, I just noticed it's almost time for my annual post! No really, I should try to do this more often. Done with nursing school, (yaaahhooooooo) I work a full time job that actually turns out to be part time most of the time, so I really have no excuse. Yes, I've promised this before but I am actually going to give it more effort. Promise.

a break from nursing school insanity

Nursing school is intense, nerve wracking, freedom-stealing insanity. I learned this the first time I went. Yep, I said "first time." You can't really say that unless there is a second time, right??? well, unfortunately there is now. I went back. Why, if it's such torture? Well, a bigger paycheck is a huge incentive. Not to mention the greater opportunities I will have with an RN after my name rather than an LPN. Administering blood, taking care of premature labor patients, and even preemie babies on IV's and ventilators. Oooohhh, and maybe the helicopter.... someday. All I can say is that I was crazy enough to go back for more, but the good news is that I'm halfway done with the last leg. Only 6 more months to go.

Something I've been missing most is my sewing hobby. It just makes me feel too guilty to indulge in it when I have a pile of studying to do. I happily realized today that I can do an occasional short and easy project and still get my homework done. Well, most of the time. So here is what I made today. Yay!

If you want to make one for your own bike, you can find the tutorial here:
http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/06/bicycle-bucket-tutorial.html

Mother's Day

I think that out of everything I've ever done, being a mom has been the greatest experience of my life. I had a fabulous Mother's Day this week; hiking in the beautiful country of western Colorado, and having dinner with my two favorite boys. Here are some photos from our day.

This is from one of the outlooks on the road.

We saw this cool lizard at the trailhead to Devil's Kitchen

It's a good thing there are trail markers like this.... cause we got "off-the-trail" a few times! This is Caleb's attempt at some BAD body humor... (boys!)

One of the grottos along the way...

Yay, we made it to the end! Caleb calls this shot "Cliffhanger"...

Now, how do I get down?

Spiderboy...

family shot

See the tiny pine tree growing out of the rock? It never had anyone say that's impossible...

Our newest member of the house... Trouble!

Caleb has a new kitten.... he named him Trouble. I like to think of him as Tornado!

So I'm not the best at keeping up with this blog. I've occasionally looked through my journals kept throughout my life, and realized that I only write about every several months, if that! I always think about it and I love reading other people's renditions of their daily lives; I just never get around to my own. The only time I kept a frequent update was the journal I was forced to write in nursing school! When being asked specific questions on a regular basis, I found that I love to write and express my thoughts. Maybe I should find some kind of question source for this blog.
Anyway.... I can't believe how fast this year is flying by. It's almost my son's TENTH birthday, and it seems like it was just February. (Maybe that's because this winter was such a long one?!) We just had conferences at school, and Caleb's teacher told us how much of a genius she thinks our son is. Well, I have always thought the same thing, but I am a little biased. She suggested getting him evaluated for a gifted program so that he doesn't slip off the radar. Apparently he remains in the "advanced" categories of most all of his testing without putting forth much effort. She thinks it would be interesting to see where he ends up if he actually tries! We will have to look into it. I don't want him to get bored!
I must now go downstairs and find my workout clothes. I have a trainer appointment at the gym; another big change in the last year. I've lost 20 lbs since this time last year; mostly by eating healthier and exercising (the right way to do it!) rather than crash diets. It doesn't seem like a lot of weight to me, until I realized the other day that it would be like carrying two 10-lb bags of potatoes everywhere I went! Wow, that's pretty heavy. No wonder I never had much energy to do anything.
I will close for now. Meanwhile, maybe this weekend I'll find a journaling question source and try harder to keep this thing current. blah. :)

more to come...

Wow, I really should write more often than once a year... has it really been a whole year since my last post? What a slacker.

Our Family Vacation to Williamsburg, VA and Washington, DC

Caleb has always been a history buff. Very patriotic from the beginning, he's had a collection of American flags since he was a toddler. When I asked him a year or two ago where he'd like to go on vacation someday, he answered "to the National Archives or The Library of Congress." What??? No Disneyland? Isn't that the typical kid response? Not my son, little braniac science nut. He wanted to see The Declaration of Independence in person. His favorite movie of all time is National Treasure. I waited until we were on the plane to tell him we were not taking any lemon juice to the museum. ;)
We did all of the typical tourist stuff, including riding around historical DC in the top of the double decker bus. Caleb loved every bit of it; every monument, every artifact. But the best part was saved for last...The Declaration. We had to go through the line 3 times to view it before we left. I call that photo "True Happiness."