Crafty Corner! -- Custom Ponytail elastics

So after looking around for the right color ribbon festooned ponytail elastic for Lily to wear for her soccer games and not finding anything I liked I decided to make her some myself.  I mean how hard could they be??  Looked to me like they were just ribbons knotted onto rubber bands to me. So I went searching on the internet and came across this fantastic post from Chica and Jo.

My next step was to go shopping for ribbon to match Lily's soccer kit.

Unfortunately it seems that "hunter green" really isn't in vogue right now, so finding the organza ribbon the tutorial calls for wasn't going to happen.  Soooo I remembered back to the blog and that they also made them out of fleece! So that was my answer! I bought  the elastics and a strip of green fleece and set about cutting it up!

If you don't already have a rotary cutter, 18" clear craft ruler, and a self healing cutting mat I highly recommend you get these awesome tools! Nothing cuts straighter. And nothing cuts fleece more quickly or more easily. 

I decided to make the strips of random thickness in order to give the whole thing some interest. Each strip is 12" long.  I've toyed with the idea of random lengths too which I may do on the next one.

Next I knotted the strips onto the elastic by wrapping the strip around the elastic and pulling the tails through the hoop and pull tight.

 

 

Slide each strip of fleece up next to the one before and continue until you have 2/3 of the elastic filled. I decided it was easier to get into Lily's hair if I left some of the elastic bare. Took me about 22 strips to get the one I was making this full.

And here's the finished ponytail holder in action!

 

Wordless Wednesday-August 18th, 2010--First Soccer Practice Ever!

EasyLunchBoxes--Giveaway

Another blogger, Miscellaneous Mom, I follow is giving away a set of EasyLunchBoxes!!  I encourage you guys to go check it out!

http://miscellaneousmom.com/2010/08/16/accidentally-green-healthy/

They look like the perfect solution to our school lunch dilema.

It's Friday and I'm in Love! (a week in review)

In love with my family, friends, my amazing community, the beautiful weather her in Oregon, the time I've gotten to spend outside this week, and amazing deals found to make my back yard more of the outdoor room I dream it can be!

My kids bring me such joy and inspiration! They also bring me moments of intense frustration and complete astonishment.

This week Austin started his writing workshop summer school.  He's such a dichotomy much of the time. One moment he's sharing all the neat stuff he learned, and the next he's whining about how he doesn't know why he has to go to summer school! It's so not fair mom!!  One minute he's the most amazingly helpful 9 year old. Jumping up to get me something, or help his siblings. He even helped me with the mama's at todays Big Latch-on event which I will go into more detail later.  Then not 3 hours later he's complaining when I ask him to help his sick sister or grab me something because my hands are full of HIS STUFF.
I can't decide if it's the age, his being a boy, or the fact that he's a moody Cancer. Or all 3!! He's 9 going on 19 oh the drama! LOL

Colton and Lily spent the week going to VBS with my friend's kiddos.  They really seemed to enjoy it. Lily really loved the singing and dancing. Loved learning to sign to the songs too.  She's always signing "I love you" now to us, it's so adorable.  After picking Austin up each day we met my friend and all the kids at Beaverton City Park (near the library) for lunch in the park and play time.  It was so wonderful to get to visit with her, and see her children.  Her 2nd daughter and Lily have known each other since they were babies and really really love each other. It's very sweet.  She even asked Lily to spend the night Thursday night, so that they could have more play time together.  Lily LOVES sleepovers with this family.  It's precious to me that my daughter has someone she so enjoys time with like this.  So every day this week we've gotten to spend at least 2 hours outside in the sunshine just relaxing, chatting with friends, and playing at the park.

After lunch Lily went home with my friend, and the boys and I ran some errands and got Frosties!. Catching up with some old friends and off to meet new ones!  I was blessed to be introduced to an amazing mama of 8 (yes EIGHT!!) through another lovely friend of mine, Krista (check out her blog!)  The boys and I headed over to her house to get some zucchini that she offered up on Fbook, were previously we've only ever chatted.  As soon as we walked into her adorable home, my boys and her boys disappeared and played for the whole hour and a half that she and I chatted! It was so awesome to see.  I loved watching them just totally hit it off and play like they'd known each other for years.  Rosie and I had so much in common and really enjoyed getting to know each other.  And we found out our husbands were both in the Navy! I hope this is the beginning of an awesome friendship!

While Lily was at her sleepover the boys, Marc, and I went out for dinner to celebrate the 1st real bonus he's gotten in 2 years! Woo Hoo!!  Then we went to REI to get Marc some gear for his bike.  He has been commuting so much via bike that we both agreed he needed some upgrades.  So we got him new shoes, cleats, pedals, a new rack, and a bag for his computer that hooks to the rack.  It felt good to see him get some thing I know he will get a lot of use and enjoyment out of.  Of course not all was smooth sailing for him with his new set up.  Trying on his shoes and "clicking in" to his pedals (after I was already in bed) he went for a ride. Which was awesome up until he tried to stop and couldn't get his shoes to "un-click" from the pedals and manged to fall over bike on top of him at the end of our drive way at 11:30pm!  Guess he should have practiced that little maneuver before taking off huh?  And of course he had to wake me up to tell me all about his silliness!

This morning (Friday morning) I volunteered for The Big Latch-on PDX. An event aimed at breaking the world record of the most moms breastfeeding their babies simultaneously.  Our venue was Thinker Toys in Multnoma Village.  WOW what an amazing toy store!! I can't tell you how much Austin and I enjoyed this store and it's owner Joan!  We can't wait to go back and take Marc and the other two kids.  I would say even if it's a trek for you go check them out!! Very very cool place.  Anyway, we ended up with 25 moms at the event!! 22 were able to get babies nursing at the right time. The venue organizer, Erica (a fellow doula!), and I were really excited since we both thought we'd end up with 5-10 moms! It was really cool to meet Kate and Erica from PDX Doulas and chat with Erica about our jobs. Our community is so amazing and I am really blessed to be a part of it! Austin was an amazing helper today too! He helped collect the tokens we used to count mamas who took part in the breastfeeding challenge and handed out goodie bags to them all. He even helped collect trash and straighten up the space when we were done. Then we walked down the street and had scones and talked for about 20 minutes about all sorts of cool stuff. I <3 my kiddo!

This evening I got to enjoy my newest "thrift store find!!" A steel frame patio swing!! I found it at the "bins" for get this $20!!! I'm so crazy happy about this! It's a futon style swing that lays flat into a bed and all 3 kids and I can fit on it! I'm in love. I relaxed for a bit chatting with a friend about a fundraiser for MamaBabyHaiti, took a phone call from an amazing mama friend of mine that runs the Pass It On Sale here on the westside and spend about 30 minutes reconnecting with her, and then reading my book.  After dinner Marc, Austin and I sat out on the swing talking and joking around.  I can see so many good times in our "outdoor living room" and am so glad my instinct told me stop and check the bins for anything "useful"  I also found a completely fruit laden plum tree hiding at the very back of the property we rent! I can't wait until tomorrow when I can pick it clean and make plum jam.

Austin asked to build us a fire (with the skills he learned at scout camp) so Marc and I sat back and watched as he used the "log cabin" technique to build us a nice fire in our fire pit, then enjoyed a glass of yummy Pinot Gris from Cooper Mountain.  Colton and Lily spent that time snuggled up on the swing laid out like a bed and playing.  Now we're winding down inside and all 3 kids have fallen asleep on the swing, under blankets and with a tarp over it like a tent! Trying now to decide if we are going to leave them there or bring them in.....

What a great day, what a great week, and what a great life!