Every once in awhile...

our kitchen table looks like this...

it just happens when my kids get into "craft" mode...

sometimes they end up like this...

and when they let their imaginations go wild...

Samantha and Joshua's Pet Rock Collection 2011

they make and create...

Joshua's                  ~Fabric Paint Mix~               Samantha's

and I'm bursting at the seams with love, joy and pride.

It's Official: Joshua is 6

Joshua is one lucky kid.  He gets to celebrate his birthday for an entire month.  Since Josh was born in the HOTTEST month of the year (at least in Texas), there is no way to have a birthday party without having someone pass-out because of the heat. So his birthday party is usually sometime mid- to late September ...still hot but not as hot. Here is the break down of this year's celebration:

First day of school and 6th birthday morning:

Balloons in Bed

Made especially for the birthday boy shirt plus a party at school...on the first day of school.

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant a la buffet style.  Our waitress was so nice that when she overheard us talking about Joshua's birthday, she came out with this. This all came from the buffet...minus the candle...isn't it cute! She made carrot rosettes and carved out the orange...

Fast forward --> 28 days: The REAL birthday...at least in Joshua's head.  

There is no turning another year older UNTIL the birthday party...

Mario Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

DIY party streamers

Made just for the birthday boy Mario appliqued shirt

Lots and lots and lots of these...big eyes, smiles and dimples.

 Oh yeah, he also got LOTS and LOTS of presents. 

There you have it...Joshua is officially, like for reals, 6 years old...28 days later.  

Happy Birthday, Joshua, my little baby boy. We love you lots!

DIY Angry Bird Backpack

When we bought my son's backpack for school, I was surprised that he wanted a plain Jane backpack.  No Spiderman. No Batman. Not even Spongebob. He chose a black, red and grey backpack.  But I was not surprised that Joshua already had something in mind for his plain Jane backpack. He wanted an Angry Bird backpack...more specific, he wanted the black bomb bird and the red angry bird.  So this was my solution to his 'simple' request.

I found Angry Bird clip art online and traced it with freezer paper.  I cut out the images and ironed them onto the flaps.  Cheri at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar has a really good tutorial on freezer paper stenciling.

Right about this point is when I regretted the whole idea of the freezer paper.  See how I burned the nylon around the black edge of the flap...ugh! But I just carried on...the only option I had was to try to make it better.  So once I was done, I went back and painted in the burned part with fabric paint. It doesn't look that bad. And the best part is that Josh didn't notice...or at least he didn't say anything.

So, I painted the flaps with fabric paint, including the beaks.  I added googly eyes with fabric glue.  

A week later into kindergarten and the eyes are still on.

Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out, burned flap and all.

It's the perfect backpack for Buddy to wait for Joshua every day.  We NEVER leave home without Buddy...

not even on the first day of school. 

Sam's shirt tutorial.  Rose clip tutorial. Joshua's shirt tutorial. 

So far, Buddy has perfect attendance 

and he doesn't mind waiting in the backpack until the end of the school day. 

That is when he gets to come out of the backpack and ride the bus shot gun with his best bud, Joshua. 

Dragon Applique T-shirt ~ A Boden Knock Off

My son is not a happy camper right now.  His birthday happens to land on His First Day Of School, as in, he's-going-to-kindergarten-at-the-big-school-first-day-of-school.  It's a big deal for him and kind of over whelming at the same time.  Two big mile stones in his life wrapped up in one day...so, yeah, he's not happy.  

So in order to make His day super special, I made him a shirt to wear for His birthday on His first day of school.

My inspiration was this shirt from Boden.

First thing I did was pick-off the pocket from the $1 shirt I bought on clearance.  

I used freezer paper to make a pattern. Looking at the picture in the catalog, I drew my version of the dragon on freezer paper (not on the shiny side).  Can you see all the semi erased lines?  I had a hard time drawing the feet but I finally drew feet that I was happy with.

Using the hand drawn dragon as a template, I placed another piece of freezer paper on top and copied the spikes, eyes, hands and teeth.

I cut out my pattern 

and ironed it (shiny side down) onto the t-shirt fabrics that I used.  These came from t-shirts that don't fit my kids anymore. See the grey fabric?  It's the picked-off pocket and it became part of the eyes. 

Then I ironed fusible web to the back of the t-shirt fabric.  So, basically, the top has the freezer paper ironed on and the back has fusible web ironed on.  Then, cut out the pattern on the freezer paper. Here is the dragon pieced together.  

Remove the freezer paper.  An easy way to do this is to use a pin and make a slit in the middle.  Just run your pin across the paper and peel the paper off.  (I did this for both the freezer paper and the fusible web.)

Now this step you can skip if you want but I did it because my son does not like interfacing on the inside of his shirts.  In order to add some sort of stability and make it easier to sew, I ironed on the dragon to a thin piece of white felt.  Here is the dragon    with the fusible web ready to be ironed onto the felt.

Once the dragon was securely ironed onto the felt, I ironed fusible web to the back of the felt. I cut the dragon again,  this time leaving a small trim. Ironed on the entire applique to the shirt 

and sewed ALL the edges. I think this was the hardest part for me.  There was a lot of stopping and pivoting the needle to get the spikes, hands and feet done.  

By the time I got to the eyes, I wasn't too worried about making perfect circles...

My son was happy with his new shirt and his bribe...you know, just to stand still for a good picture.

This is his response to, "Mijo, give me a big smile"...

Minus the sharp teeth, I think he was trying to imitate the dragon's smile...love it!

I am entering this knock-off into this challenge:

Fun the the Hot Texas Sun ~ Austin Style

It has been an "I-can't-remember-the-last-time-it-was-this-sweltering-HOT-outside", kinda summer here in Central Texas. So we have been doing a lot of this to beat the SUN and its scorching, blistering, sizzling, stifling and oppressive heat rays.  All I have to say is, In your face Mr. Sun...take that! At this record breaking temperature rate, I suspect that we will be playing in these fountains through December.

Through Joshua's Eyes

I recently downloaded pictures from my camera and I found these random pictures.  Seems like Joshua has taken an interest in photography as this is not the first time he plays with the camera.  I think I have a budding photographer on my hands.  

Self portraits  

Love this picture of popcorn in a bowl.  

How he did it, I don't know but it's pretty cool.

Feeder goldfish that were bought to get the "cycle" going in our new  aquarium

Picture of  his at-the-moment-favorite action figure; Tron

I never know what I'm gonna get when I down load my pictures but one thing is for sure, I love seeing Joshua's world through HIS eyes.