O-H-

I-O.  After 8 hours of half snow, half rain, the kids and I made it to Ohio late last night (or early this morning).  I'm still working on another big project using up all those scraps that I hope to be able to show you next week.  It's taking longer than I'd hoped but I'm fairly sure it will be awesome when I finish.

As a part of stash busting, I'm also trying to finish up some projects that were close but not quite done.  I'm happy to say another project I knocked off my list was a second American Girl Bunk Bed and bedding.  Well, IronFish and the girls finished the bed and I got the bedding made.  This set was for one of my spares, Tasha's best friend.  She has two dolls so now they both have a place to sleep.  Here's the finished product:

 The quilts are both the same and reversible

 

Here's a close up of the mattress and sheet.  I used an old pillow case that I made the correct width and then just tucked the end in.  Since it fits snugly into the bed it stays on without a problem but can be taken off to wash if need be.

Tonight is my sweet nephew's first birthday party!  One cake is in the oven and I'm finishing up his birthday present while it cooks.  Have a great weekend!

Peace be with you,

American Girl Bunk Beds and Bedding

This family project is officially done!  It took a little longer than expected but the bunk beds and the doll quilts are done!

A while back I decided it would be fun to make my girls bunk beds for their American Girl (-ish) dolls using the directions from Pieces for Reese.  My intention was for me to do the work with the girls assisting me.  JuneBug helped me shop for the wood, we got enough for two sets (one is going to be a gift for their friend, one of my "spares") and spent less than $20, included a countersink drill bit.

IronFish ended up jumping in on the action and he did most of the building and painting with the girls help (and a bit of mine).  The final results...

Shhhh.....

 Which one snores?

We finished it with a glossy white paint to match the bunk beds the girls got for Christmas.  My mother-in-law made each of my kids a quilt for their beds.  She sent me the left over fabric so I was able to make them coordinating doll quilts.  Thanks to Christine at From an Igloo, for the inspiration!

I did make a bit of a change from the original plans, on the bottom bunk, we put the plywood under the side rails to make a tray to hold the mattress in place.  I made the mattresses out of left over foam I had covered in old pillow cases I had in my stash.  I simply serged one side to the width I wanted, slid the foam in and tucked it closed.  I personally thought it was pretty clever (everyone should be proud of themselves every now and then!).

It feels good to knock a few things off my Craft Bucket List.

Peace be with you,

New Year = New Addiction

Yup, I think I'm officially addicted to blogging, it'll be interesting to see how long this lasts.  The good thing is, I feel like I have to follow through with my plans as to not let my massive quantity of readers down (hahahaha), which made for a very productive day.  I'm so excited by this, I had to share.  Some people are re-capping 2010, I'm going to get a head start on re-capping 2011:

• Christmas Clean-up: With the help of my trusty timer, I got the holiday decorations put away and filled 2 give-a-way boxes with the decor I don't truly love anymore.  Thanks to the blog world, I have a list of new things I'd like to make for xmas 2011 so, if I don't love it, it's going out.  Most of the things I love are handmade by myself or another crafter.
• I'm so glad you're not a neat freak, Mom, Kate [Gosslin] would never let her kids do this: The doll bunk beds became a family project.  Junebug and I both helped IronFish with the construction.  That comment was made while she and Tasha were getting wood putty all over the dining room table!

• Box Tops 4 Education save our Lessmeatarian dinner: I soaked the dried beans for over 24 hours before putting them into the crock pot but as of yet, they still aren't soft... on the bright side, if they are ready for dinner tomorrow, I won't have to cook!  We ended up pulling out a box of tuna helper.  While I'm aiming for less processed foods, I also can't waste food we already have and since I have an ongoing obsession with Box Tops (more on that later, I'm sure!) and it is really hard for me to pass up $1/box sale plus a doubled 75cent off of 3 coupon, I'll probably always have a few boxes on hand for dinner disasters.......
• Not resolutions but new rules for sanity: since my mind was composing blog posts all day, I began categorizing the things I want to make/do/attempt/learn/accomplish/etc and have decided many of these things fit into a few rules or guideline that I feel will make positive changes in my life.  So, while I won't call them resolutions (since those rarely last until February), I'm hopeful these changes will help me reach my domestic goals.