Back to school jumper remix

Have you ever started a project and for about until years later. Yes, I mean years. About 3.5 years ago I got it in my head that I was going to start sewing clothes for my oldest daughter. I had a need to create and she needed some new outfits. The only things I knew about sewing and my sewing machine was what I taught myself. I used to scour the craft store for the patterns marked "easy" because I was afraid to try anything different. With the McCall's M5684 jumper pattern and some adorable pink flannel material I started cutting our what was probably the 3rd or 4th dress I'd ever made Maddie. After I got the pieces cut I got side tracked and now fast forward 3.5 years and here we are. 

Two nights before the first day of school I was looking through all my patterns for something that I could make my Abby for the first day of preschool. I started opening old pattern totes and this pattern and cut out pieces caught my eye. I knew that Abby was about the same size now that Maddie was then so I decided to finally put the jumper together. I didn't mark any of the pieces so I got the pattern pieces back out to match them up and that's when I ran into a problem. 

NONE of the pieces matched. The cuts weren't straight and there were too many of some pieces and not enough of others. I started to put it back in the box when I though better. I've come a long way in the last 3.5 years with my sewing skills. I could figure this out. I set aside the instructions and set all the pieces in front of me along with the picture of the envelope as inspiration. 

 I started with pleating the front and back pieces then adding the outer side of the top piece. Next came the straps and then the lining piece. I just top stitched around the bodice from there. The buttons are supposed to be in the front, but the buttons I chose were bigger and the straps were wider than the ones pictured so I decided they looked better in the back. I didn't even sew up button holes, I just put the straps over the back where I wanted them and sewed the buttons through both pieces.  

 The dress turned out similar to the one in the picture. It's somewhere between a 4T and a 5T in size as well. I finished the inside a little bit nicer than the pattern instructed, but it's nice to see how far I've come since I started sewing for my little ladies. 

I'll leave you with Abby's version of a silly face. 

Have you ever had a sewing fail turn out better than expected? 

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First Day of School - Preschool and First Grade

My girls started school last week. Abby is in full day preschool now and Maddie is it 1st grade. They are growing so fast!!! 

I made them each "What I want to be" first day of school signs like I did last year.

In keeping with her love of animals, Maddie said she wanted to train police dogs when she grows up. Last year she wanted to be a farmer. 

This was Abby's first year to announce her future plans. She kept going back and forth between a princess and a ballerina, but this particular morning she landed on a princess. 

Maddie got a "big girl" backpack this year and I am all about the owls. Abby went with her love of GIANT bows and Minnie Mouse. :)

Abby was excited to have a seat with her name on it that was all her own. 

Maddie was excited about a "real" desk with a spot for her books inside and everything. 

How your little ones are enjoying the new school year as much as mine. 

Back to School Party - Activities

Last weekend we had our Back to School Party. The kiddos received a report card when they arrived. They had to go around to each station and complete a task to get a sticker 'grade'. The kiddos were really excited about the party and each felt really accomplised when they were done. We had three 5 year olds, two 4 year olds and a 2 year old at the party so the activities had to be appropriate for each age.

 

 

Our first stop was Math. I put together these spreadsheets in photoshop and printed one out for each kiddo. They had to fill the circles with the right amound of cheerios to math the number. They all did excellent and had almost as much fun eating the cheerios and counting them.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was science. For science we decided to do the Ivory Soap experiment. It's a ton of fun and a little bit messy. If you want the full instructions google would be your best option. That's what I did. The basics are unwrap a bar of ivory soap, place it in the microwave and heat it up for 2 minutes. The bar will expand into a giant puff in the microwave and after it cools you can play with it. If you add a little water to the flakes you can mold it into shapes with cookie cutters. This may have been the biggest hit of the day.

 

History was my favorite station. We posted a pic of each of the kids as infants (under 3 months) and they had to try and guess as many as they could.

 

 

 

Next came English. I found white board plaques that were lined like primary paper. They were supposed to write their names out on the lines. I think they did an awesome job. Definitely ready for Kindergarten.

 

 

 

 

The last station was Art. We took all the kids out to the driveway and traced around them on the concrete. They were then responsible for "dressing" themselves for school.

 

 

 

The chalk was very messy but well worth it with all the fun.

Hope everyone has an awesome school year!

Back to School Party - PB&J Cake

The food for our Back to School Party was all 'lunch box' themed. To keep with the theme I made a Peanut Butter & Jelly Cake.

A while back I ordered this Cakewich silicone pan on a whim and I've only used it a couple times since. I love that the recipe for the PB&J Cakewich is printed on the back of the box.

  

Here's what you need for the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)

1 1/2 TSP baking powder

1/4 TSP salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 TSP vanilla extract

6 large egg whites

3/4 cup milk

1. Set rack at the middle level and preheat oven to 315 degrees.

2. Grease and flour the inner bottom surface of your cake pan (I assume you could use a square pan to get a similar shape)

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, mixing well with a whisk.

4. Whisk together the egg whites and milk by hand in a medium mixing bowl until just combined.

5. In a heavy-duty mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla and beat vigoursly.

6. Reduce speed to low and add one-quarter of the flour, then one-third of the milk mixture, mixing until just combined, scraping down the bowl and beater after each addition.

7. Scrape the bowl well with a large rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

8. Bake for about 60 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

9. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for one hour, then unmold it to finish cooling right side up.

10. Once it's cooled usea serrated bread knife and slice off the 'dome' on top then slice the cakewich in half in the center to make two even "slices" of bread cake.

This is what it will look like once it's cool. (After you slice off the cake "dome")

The next step is to prepare the peanut butter frosting, yum! Here's what you need:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 TSP vanilla extract

1. Place the butter and peanut butter into a mixing bowl, and beat with an electric mixer for several minutes until combined.

2. Gradually mix in the sugar until combined.

3. Add vanilla and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy.

Now I know it says fluffy, but the few times I've made it it has never come out fluffy. It's more of the consistancy of the inside of a Reese and still tastes awesome!

The next step says to add 1/2 cup fruit jelly, slightly warmed to the peanut butter, but I don't measure it. It kind of like making a ral PB&J sandwich you go off of how it looks. 



Here's a side view of the awesome PB&J Cakewich. Looks just like the real thing and tastes just as good.

Here's the cakewich in all it's glory. Hope you try it and let me know how you like it!

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Back to School Party - Treat Bags

As you can see in my post here we recently has a back to school party. Each of the kids (even those not big enough to school) received one of these treat bags.

The bags were fun to put together and really inexpensive. I used brown lunch sacks to stick with the theme. I found the foam puzzle pieces and letter stickers at the dollar spot at Target. I just folded over the top and stapled them to the bags to keep them closed.

Each bag had a snacks/treat that you would normally find in a lunch box and some basic school supplies. They had:

 - GoGo Squeeze cinnamon applesauce pouches

 - Fruit snacks

 - Skittles or Starburst

 - a box of crayons

 - a #2 pencil

 - a pink eraser

The treat bags were a hit and with all the great back to school deals going on right now they were only about $1 a piece to put together.

Come back later this week for more details from the back to school party.

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First Day of School

Yesterday was my oldest daughter's first day of Kindergarten. She's going to the same school that she attended Pre-K at but there is something about the sweet little uniform that makes this seem so grown.

Here's the closeup of the sign. I've seen this idea all over facebook and the web and I think it's a very cute way to document your child year after year. Maddie's new career choice is to be a Farmer. She says that unlike a Vet, Farmers get to keep their animals. :)

 I don't know what's with my girls, but they love to pose.

Before I dropped her off for her first day of Kindergarten we stopped at Tim Hortons for a special breakfast.

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Back to School Party

This weekend we threw a back to school party for my girls and my sister's boys. Between the two of us we have 3 Kindergarteners this year.

Life Size Ruler

Each kiddo was given a 'report card' to see if they were ready for the upcoming school year. We separated it into 5 different subjects.

After thet completed each station they received a sticker on their 'report card'.

When it was all full they were able to turn it in for a treat bag full of school supplies and lunch box goodies.

After all that brain work these little ones were hungry. Our meal had a "lunch box" these to it with classics that you would back in a school lunch.

Our meal was hot dogs, Capri Suns, Fruit Snacks and bags of chips. It seemed to be a hit.

Dessert was even a giant peanut butter & jelly sandwich cake

The party was a lot of fun to plan and I can't wait to see how I can make it even more fun next year.

 I'll be posting more details about the party this week including a how to on the sandwich cake so be on the lookout for that.

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Life Size Ruler

It's back to school time again and we are still in the middle of planning our back to school party. This is just our next giant school supply for the party.



This was really easy to make. I stopped by Lowe's and picked up a 1" x 12" x 6' board.

The dash marks are made with black electrical tape. I started by placing the marks at the foot marks then every 6 inches then every 3. I was trying to make it look like 6 inch ruler, only bigger. :)

The 'back to school' was cut our using my Cricut and Mod Podged onto the board. For the numbers I cut out the numbers with the Cricut and then taped then on the board and painted black inside the outline of the numbers.





I can't believe my little Kindergardener is almost 4 feet tall!

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Pool Noodle Pencil (that writes!)

I am still in the process of planning a back to school party for my girls and my sister's boys. We are going to take beginning of the school year pictures with the kiddos and I have been making a couple of giant school supply props for the pictures.

This giant pencil was super easy to make and the best part is that it actually writes.

I couldn't find any pool noodles in the stores this time of summer, so I snagged a couple from my parents house. (They have a pool) The main part if the pencil is a full yellow round noodle and the "eraser" is about 6 inches cut off of a pink hexagon noodle. The 2 pieces are stuck together with duck tape.

The "lead" side of the pencil was easy too. I created the shape with a searated knife then I stuck a grey crayola sidewalk chalk into the hole in the noodle. I like the crayola brand ones because they are already pointed on one end. The best part is that the chalk fits perfectly in the center of the noodle and can be swapped out when it is used up.

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