Toasty Hands Trick-or-Treat Bag

The Toasty Hands Trick-or-Treat Bag

We never know what weather to expect on Halloween night out here in our neck of the woods.  Occasionally it's balmy, but more often than not, blustery.  I recall more than one Halloween with inches of snow on the ground.  Of course I don't want my cute little puppies/pumpkins/monkeys/cowboys to come back as popsicles, so I try to layer clothing on them under their costumes.  That still leaves their paws uncovered, and of course we can't degrade the authenticity of the costume with gloves or mittens!  So what's a puppy/pumpkin/monkey/cowboy to do?  This was the question going through my mind as I sat down to sew a trick-or-treat bag for my oldest son last week, and the Toasty Hands Trick-or-Treat Bag was born!

Since he is going to be a cowboy-on-a-horse this year, I figured it would be fitting for him to carry a saddlebag-looking treat bag.  It has a strap that he can wear around his neck or slung across his chest.  I sewed on two hand pockets that give plenty of room for wiggly fingers to stay toasty warm.  He can hold the bag open easy as can be, and if he decides he wants to take his paws out to encourage ol' Trigger into a gallop, why, he can rest easy and just let it settle. Giddyap! (Imagine I said that in my best Roy Rogers voice.)

Seriously, though, I am really excited to use this bag! -Er, have my son use it.  It was easy to make, too.  I sewed it from scraps of tan fleece and some strips of brown felt.  I made it very simply (left the edges raw), and finished the whole thing during naptime.

The view from the front.

View from the back- the only thing I'd change next time is to not put the pockets quite so close together.

Side view with my son's cute little arm.

There's no tutorial or pattern because it is pretty self-explanatory, I think.  But if you have questions about dimensions or anything, leave a comment or email me, and I'll give you whatever info I can.  Have fun Trick-or-Treating!

Pinteresting

A few months ago I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon.  Like everyone else, I'm hooked, but what a way to surround myself with beautiful things!  Many of you are probably already using Pinterest, but for those that aren't, and wonder what it's all about, it is basically an online catalogue of things you like.  You bookmark, or "pin" things onto your designated pinboards, and then it is accessible from anywhere.



No more worries about that project link you bookmarked on your browser, with no way to retrieve it (and at that critical moment when you're away from home, trying to show your crafting buddies just what you're talking about).  You "follow" other pinners and get a picture feed of what's most popular in any given category (fashion, DIY, sewing, decorating, photography, humor, etc.) and when you find something new and amazing, you "pin" it with the pin marklet button that you download onto your toolbar.  I'll be honest... it's definitely habit forming (as if anyone needed more reasons to waste time on the internet).  But if you like crafty and DIY projects, it is a mine of creative deliciousness.

Need proof?  Here's my "Baking Lovelies" pinboard (doesn't it just make you want to jump up and preheat the oven?)

And this is my "printables" board where I keep track of all the awesome graphics people share for free personal use.

A girl's gotta have dreams, right?  So I've pinned myself a virtual luxury home under "my someday home".

A cool feature of Pinterest is that if you want to follow only selected boards of a pinner, you can follow only those boards you're interested in, and skip the rest.  Also, you can invite friends on Pinterest to collaborate with you on specific boards. Now, if you're a curious sort, and wonder how many people are following your specific boards (not just your total number of followers, but how many people are following your board "Best crafting "mistakes" in the universe"), you can tell by clicking on the board and checking on the top right.  Below is an example.

"Sensational Centerpieces" is a pinboard I started a couple weeks ago when I was brainstorming for the centerpiece for the luncheon honoring women battling breast cancer which I posted about earlier this week.  As you can see on the left, Marissa and I are the contributors, and on the right, 42 people started following this particular pinboard.

So you found something you want to remember on a website?  Pin it.  Decide on the picture you want to pin to remember what the web page is.  Make sure you aren't just on the general web or blog home page, but on the specific page for that post.

Now, here is a little optional tip that speeds things up a bit- highlight the text of the title, or some explanation that is already listed next to the picture (see below).

Click the "Pin It" button on your toolbar...

...and whatever you highlighted will show up in the description box.  You can of course skip the highlighting step and just type in whatever description you want, but this makes it go a little faster.  You choose your pinboard and click the red "Pin It" box and you're done!

Do you have a Pinterest account?  What do you like most about it?  What drives you crazy?
(Want to follow me on Pinterest?  Click the red button on my sidebar.  Don't have an account and would like an invite?  Email me at rochelle@homesweethomebodies.net)

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Source: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/

Breast cancer awareness... a matter close to my heart.  Besides having more than one family member who has battled breast cancer, I am a public health nurse at the local health department, and one of my main functions is to screen for and educate about breast cancer.

These are the lovely ladies I work with.  I truly couldn't have better coworkers.  I am on the bottom right in this picture.

We just had a health fair honoring breast cancer survivors and we put on a luncheon for a few women who have come through our clinic and who are being treated for cancer.

My boss put together a beautiful lunch for these women.  Yours truly was assigned to make the centerpiece.  I used my anthropologie-inspired cake platter/ cupcake tower, some beautiful rose cupcakes (that Marissa mostly frosted), fresh fruit, and rainbow tissue flowers as accents.  I think it turned out pretty good!

Important breast cancer information:
If you are at least 20 years old, you should be doing self breast exams.  I know you may feel uncomfortable, or it may be difficult to remember, but do whatever you have to do to remind yourself! Put a note or sticker somewhere you will see it, or choose to do it on your birthday- date each month. If you are at least 40 years old, you need a mammogram every 1-2 years (every year after age 50). Men, please encourage the women in your lives to do this- it may save their life. When breast cancers are detected early, women have an excellent chance of survival.  If you need a reminder on how to do a self- exam, check out this link that has step- by- step instructions.

I like to tell the women I screen that doing a breast self exam isn't really about following a rigid set of instructions or searching for cancer.  Thinking of it that way can cause anxiety that may cause you to avoid even thinking about it.  I recommend being aware of your body- becoming familiar with what is normal for you.  Think of it as a way to have peace of mind.  If you do notice a change, whether it be a lump, a change in color or texture of the skin on your breast, a change in shape or appearance of any part of the breast, or anything out of the ordinary that persists and doesn't resolve, you should have it checked immediately by a health care professional.

As women, we put so much of our energy into taking care of other people that we sometimes neglect to take care of ourselves.  Please consider that you can best care for those you love by keeping yourself healthy!  What I'm saying is that there really isn't any good excuse for not giving your health the attention it deserves.

If money or lack of insurance/ underinsurance is an issue, there are programs that offer free or low cost mammograms to women over 40 each year if you meet certain income requirements. The clinic I work at is one of these programs, and there are programs like this all over the U.S. You can check out the CDC’s website to find out if you qualify.

What can you do to help?
1. Get yourself screened.
2. Spread the word and encourage someone you love to get screened.
3. Show support this month for breast cancer awareness and those who have battled breast cancer by wearing pink or the BCA ribbon.
4. Raise money for breast cancer awareness by participating in or supporting fundraisers.

Make the world sweeter this month by doing as many things in the above list as you feel you can!

Welcome!

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Have a great weekend!

Our blog is moving to a new address!

This has been in the works for quite a while, but later today we are moving over to http://www.homesweethomebodies.net.  After we finish moving it, we will make another short post welcoming you to the new address- if you don't get that post, you'll need to redirect your feed to continue to get our posts.  This won't be an issue for most of you, especially if you are a fairly recent follower.  If you are having trouble getting the new feed, feel free to email me at rochelle@homesweethomebodies.net and I'll be glad to help you as much as I can.  Our site will look the same after the switch, but look for some changes in the future! Thanks everyone!

Memento Pin Boxes

Here's another of my half-finished projects that I finished recently.  It seems like we pick up little knick-knacks here and there over the years, and while some of them just end up in the garbage or are given away, others are precious reminders of achievements or events that were important in our lives.  We tend to collect pins as mementos of our travels and accomplishments, but our pins were stored rolled up in a towel, inside of a box- not a great way to keep the memories alive!

I randomly got this shadow box at the dollar store a while back, and I realized that this would work well for my pins to go in, if I could find a way to add something to the back that they could be pinned to.

My husband had a lot more pins though, so I counted my lucky stars when I found this larger shadow box on sale at Michael's.

I pulled the backs out and measured them.  At this point, I lost steam and let them sit for a few weeks (not recommended).

I came back to it, re-measured, and pulled out some fancy fabric and some batting, and cut squares.

I just sewed the batting and the fabric together, and pinned my pins in.  Then I hot glued the top of the fabric to the top of the cardboard frame back.  It popped right in to the frame, and I decided I liked it standing on my desk shelf rather than hanging it on the wall.

At this point, I lost steam again, plus I couldn't find my husband's pins, so I let his frame sit under the futon in the office for 3 months (also not recommended).  A couple weeks ago, I serendipitously found the pins, so I was motivated to go digging under the futon to find the parts of the frame and put it together.  Alas, I could not find the back, until after 20 minutes of searching led me to the depths of the closet, where I found the frame back wedged between the wall and the storage bins.  Whew- disaster averted!  Ten minutes and one hot-glue-burned finger later, it was finished, and I proudly hung it on the wall.

Ta-da!

Finishing Half-Finished Projects

A while ago I talked about my procrastination problem- I mean the fact that I start tons of projects but don't finish them.  Ever since then, I have been trying to finish up projects that I started or had the supplies for but hadn't completed.  Here are a few:

1. Bibs. I bought a cheap pack of bibs a long time ago and intended on decorating all of them but most of them just sat in my closet for a long time... until this week!  I used scraps of fabric from past projects and vintage sheets to add some interest, and even gave a few away. 

2. Burp cloths.  I had a template at one point that I had used to make burp cloths before, but I couldn't find it when I went to make these burp cloths out of flannel scraps, so I drew up my own template.   These were really quick to make; I just sewed them with right sides together and a little hole for turning them right side out, then I top stitched them together.

3. Marble maze game.  I first saw this idea over at Serving Pink Lemonade.  Again, I just used fleece scraps and marbles I had lying around.  This would be a good activity for preschool and school aged kids to stay busy while traveling, at church, at the dentist's office, etc. 

4. Glass etching.  Between Marissa and I, we had everything we needed for this project months ago, but we never got around to it, and she went to Africa.  But now that she is back, we decided to give it a try. We followed this tutorial from make it and love it.  Here are a couple of things that I made.

We used the Silhouette to cut out the letters. I didn't have any vinyl, so we just cut contact paper to an 8 1/2 x 11 size and ran it through.  It worked pretty well, although it didn't want to stick on the carrier sheet very firmly.  Our etching cream seemed to work ok, although we had to leave it on for more like 30 minutes to get the desired effect.

5. Car seat protector pad.  I had seen the piddle pads that you can buy but I wanted something that would cover more of the seat.  I made it when I started potty training my son, but planned to continue using it after we finished potty training.  It has been really useful so far... it has kept me from having to wash the seat from potty accidents, spilled drinks, ketchup and cheese, all all sorts of other icky stuff.  It was easy to make... I just cut a slightly trapezoidal shape, put it in the car seat, and marked where to add the darts, make slits for the straps on the side, and a long button hole in the middle for the buckle.  I used flannel and part of an extra waterproof crib pad on the bottom. I am going to make another one for my other son's car seat, and I think I will add a layer of batting to make it even more absorbent, and cushy.

I think those are enough projects for one post, but there's more, believe me!  I will share a few other projects that I have finished in the next few days.  What projects have you all been working on?  Leave a comment with a link to your latest and greatest, and I will be sure to visit and comment on your blog too!