2009: In Review

I told Jaiden that I wanted to get a video if her saying "Happy New Year" to everyone and of course she agreed. It was her idea to introduce herself and decide to say her ABCs. I think they are all too cute not to post!







Well, when I think back over the past year, a lot has happened here!

In February, Nutmeg adopted us.

In March, I became an aunt!

In April, Nutmeg surprised us with 4 kittens.

In May, we began siding our house.

In June, I started successfully selling my products at a farmer's market, our dog attacked Stormy, and my grandmother fell, breaking her clavicle.


In July, Ebie and Dargo came into our lives.


In August, we took in a pregnant stray, Peaches, so we give her kittens a home after they were born.


In September, we finally got to take a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, Peaches had the kittens, and we put Daisy down due to arthritis, old age, and behavior.


Luckily, the rest of the year had been pretty quiet for us!

Both Jaiden and Arya have grown so much over the last year! Just look at the pictures for last Christmas and this Christmas:





From the Red Mommy Family to yours, HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

I'm in Love!!!

Simplicity Bias Tape Maker ($79-$99)


Simplicity Rotary Cutter ($55-$70)

Track Santa

Don't forget to track Santa to see where he has been and where he will be! As of 8:30 this morning, he has already delivered gifts in Russia and is now currently in Australia. You can track him HERE.

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone gets to have a wonderful time with family and friends while trying not to eat too much!

Doll Snuggie

There's nothing like waiting until the last minute to finish Christmas gifts, is there? Hot off the sewing machine is this snuggie I made for Jaiden's doll. I have one more to make for Arya's pig. I think the girls will get a kick out of their dolls having snuggies to match theirs.

If you count the 2 doll snuggies, I have made a total of 13! I think the Snuggie company is going to call me and tell me that I need to cut down production because they are losing sales. I never thought I would end up making so many! I had originally thought of making 2, one for Jaiden and one for Arya. Then word got out and several people requested that I make snuggies for their Christmas gifts.

Striped Pillows

This is one of the gifts that I made for my dad for Christmas. Now, if you are wondering why pillows, I will explain. He has what I refer to as a "man cave" My dad build himself a little, white house to retreat to about a hundred yards away from his back door. And, it even has an upstairs to it! He has it all decorated in black, red, and grey, traditional manly colors. He has a plain grey couch out there and my step mom told me he has no pillows on it. You just can't get very comfy laying on a couch watching movies with a pillow, hence the idea for pillows! I think he will really like them! We are going out there tonight to exchange gifts and I cannot wait to see them on the couch!

The pillows were fairly simple to make. I cut 4 strips per each color 2" wide by 18 long. I then sewed all of the strips together, ironing the seams as I went. I cut a piece of black material for the back and sewed it on. I bought two 16" pillow forms and sewed the case shut on the bottom.

Photo Coasters

This is what I made Ryan's grandmother for Christmas. I love how they turned out! I think she will love them!

They are so easy to make and make such a nice gift! Here's the original post from March where I listed the instructions.

Fashion Designer, Jaiden

Last week when Jaiden was sick, I took the opportunity to sneak and make some jammies for a Christmas present. She saw the scraps of material and asked if she could have them to make an outfit. For almost 2 hours, she sat quietly in the other room working on an outfit for Arya's doll. She was so proud of the outfit that she wanted me to take a picture of the doll and her, runny nose and all.

Jaiden just loves fabric scraps! She can play with them forever! She likes to pretend all kinds of things with the pieces. Last year for Christmas, I bought Jaiden her very own sewing machine that actually sews. She wants to be just like me! I am so proud!

Homemade Holidays #6

Here's post #6 in the Homemade Series.

1. M&M Christmas Recipes

2. Hershey's Christmas Recipes

3. Pillsbury Christmas Recipes

4. Duncan Hines Christmas Recipes

5. Toll House Christmas Recipes

6. Melting Snowman Cookie Pt 1
Pt 2
Pt 3
Pt 4

7. Red Mommy Snickerdoodles

8. Red Mommy Chocolate Chip Cookies

9. Red Mommy Chocolate Chip Brownies

10. Red Mommy Buckeyes

11. Red Mommy Base Fudge

12. Red mommy Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

The Toilet Bandit has Struck Again!

The Toilet Bandit has struck again! If you do not know what I am referring to, read
this first before this post.

Our toilet has not been wanting to flush all the water since yesterday. Well, I guess last night it had enough and decided to overflow. Since the girls weren't home, Ryan just decided to tackle the problem this morning. We had to go through all of the steps we did last time, of course. Ryan takes the toilet outside to see what was clogging it this time. He found 3 car wash tokens, probably left over from last time, and a bottle of cold medicine. Little Miss Arya thought the cold medicine was nasty and I guess this was her way of disposing of it.

After the last incident, I put a lock on the outside of the door. The problem is that Jaiden cannot reach the lock. She waits until the last minute to go to the bathroom and by the time she tells me and I get up to unlatch the door, she has had an accident. We're going to have to find another solution. The main problem is that Arya is so sneaky. She sneaks downstairs from playing and slinks into the bathroom to play. I'm going to have to put bells on her!

Matching Jammies

This is another Christmas present I have made for the girls. I made them each a matching pair of jammies and I even made a set for their dolls! I used fleece for the shirt and flannel for the pants.
I used McCalls Stitch & Save #5735 for the girls and made my own pattern for the doll sizes. I made a few changes on the McCalls pattern. First I cut off about 3-4" off the top of the pants so they wouldn't sit under the girls' arms and a few inches off the length. I also had to make several changes to the shirt. I used the small pattern (size 4) and it was huge! Jaiden just swam in the shirt. I made the neck more narrow and shorter. I also made the shirt body more narrow so it didn't look like she had one of my shirts on. Other than the changes, it was a really easy pattern to follow and I am happy with the end results.

Flannel Sheets for Toddler Beds

We live in an older house, and even with new windows and new siding, our bedrooms are still drafty. I just recently got myself a set of flannel sheets and tried to find the girls a set too.

I just hate that you cannot find "big girl" sheets for toddler beds. All the stores carry baby looking sheets, why even have toddler beds then? And, the stores certainly do not carry flannel sheets for toddler beds, so I am making the girls a set with matching pillow cases for Christmas. The sheet in the pictures is for Ayra, she loves pigs, and I am going to make a penguin sheet for Jaiden.

Supplies:
2 yards cotton or cotton flannel material
2 - 26" pieces of 3/8" elastic
Extras:
8x8" cardboard template

1. Make sure to prewash and dry material (it's very important). Iron if needed.

2. Cut 3" off the length of the material to give you a piece that measures 45"x69".

3. Fold the material into 4ths and lay the template on the bottom corner. Make sure you will not be cutting into any folds.

4. Cut out template to make the corners of your sheet.
It should look like this when it is unfolded:

5. Serge the top and bottom of the sheet, the smaller sides. This will keep it from fraying in the wash. If you do not have a serger, fold under 1/4" and then 1/4" again and sew.

6. To sew the corners: With WRONG sides together, fold the corner onto itself by matching point A to point A. Sew with a 1/8" seam allowance. Do this with all 4 corners.


7. Turn wrong side out and press seams flat. Now, with RIGHT sides together, sew corner seams again using 1/4" seam allowance. This method with keep the seams from fraying when washing. This is what each corner should look like when completed:

8. You need to make some reference points on the corners for the elastic. Using a cutting mat or a ruler, place the corner seam on the 12" point and make a mark. Now on the left, make a mark at the zero. Then to the right, make a mark at the 24" point. Do this to all four corners.

9. On both pieces of elastic make the following reference marks: 6", 12", 14", and 20".

10. Align one piece of elastic with the first mark to the left of the corner at the top of the sheet. Using a long stitch, start sewing in place. Stretch the elastic as much as you can to match the reference marks on the elastic to the ones on the sheet. Do this with the other piece of elastic to the bottom of the sheet.

That's it! It took me less than a hour to make this sheet. They fit pretty well on both girls' mattresses. I cannot wait for them to use them!


My sheet was based upon the instructions I found here.

Homemade Holidays #5

This is post #5 for the Homemade Holiday Series

1. Toddler Belt

2. Clay Pot Bird Bath

3. Wind Chimes

4. Rose Ear Rings

5. Neck Tie Onesies

6. Colored Pencil Roll

7. Beach Glass Necklace

8. Covered Headbands

9. Grill Buddy

10. Princess Pavilion

11. Women's Underwear

12. 6 Pocket Bag

13. Toddler Girl Underwear

14. Bath Toiletry Recipes

15. Christmas Tree Hair Bow

16. Sayings to go with Gifts

17. Quick & Cheap Gifts

18. Stethoscope Cover

Updates

Well, we are still sick! Jaiden has joined us now on the sick train. My throat has been so sore that I thought it was going to close from being swelled. Arya's nose is running and she has a nasty cough still. Jaiden has been showing sings of being sick since Friday, so I started giving her some cold medicine as a preventive measure. It didn't work. She looks so pitiful this morning with a red nose and deep cough.

I called the doctor and they both go in today at 1:00, hopefully to get some different medication. I've ran out of my OTC medicine and have to get some more. Our days have been spent on the couch watching cartoons and reading books. I was able to do some cleaning and laundry this weekend, so the house isn't a total wreck.

As for my uncle, he had his surgery on Wednesday. Everything went really well. The tumors did turn out to be cancerous. The doctors were able to remove both tumors (the third was calcified). The good news in that the tumors didn't metastasize when they were removed. The evening after his surgery, he was up talking and eating. The doctors were surprised at his fast recovery. On Friday, he was moved closer to us to a care facility where he'll remain until Wednesday. After that, he will be staying with my mother and grandmother until he is able to be on his own. The doctors did run some more tests and he'll get the results next week to find out what course of action he should take; should they find more cancerous cells.

With all this sickness, I feel as though I will never get my Christmas projects finished! I haven't even started Ryan's gifts and I have several more to go for the girls. I have a few things left to make for our families, Ryan's work, and Jaiden's teachers. I'll be a very busy little elf next week!

Yuck, Ick, We're Sick!

Arya started with a runny nose on Friday and it has progressed into a bronchial infection. I took her to the doctor today because she had such a deep cough. She has been very weak and clingy. The doctor gave her steroids and some other antibiotic and said she should be better in 2 days.

I woke up with it this morning. My eye was matted shut and my throat is killing me. I am burning up then I freeze. I hoping that I feel better tomorrow so I can get some housework done. I have been taking Alka Seltzer cold, and that usually does the trick.

On another note, my uncle came up from Florida to spend Thanksgiving. Since he had gotten here, he experienced dizziness and headaches. He went to the emergency room on Friday and they found 3 tumors on his brain, and one of them was bleeding. They transported him down to University Hospital in Cincinnati to find out what exactly what was going on. He is having surgery tomorrow to see if they can remove the tumors. Thank god, none of them are cancerous.

I will keep everyone updated, but if I'm not around for a while, you know why. Please keep my family in your thoughts!

Homemade Holidays #4

Here's installment #4 in the Homemade Holiday Series.

1. Snack Bag

2. Shirt Stencils

3. Edible Crayons

4. Fabric Covered Night Lights

5. Red Cordial

6. 2 Hour Tote

7. Tepee

8. Cupcake Bath Bomb

9. Memory Game

10. Headache Band

11. Momma Doll

12. Superhero Cape

13. Mermaid Tail

14. Cloak

15. No Sew Cloak

16. Fabric Doll

17.Bath Mat