That Easter thing, we do.

So for weeks I've been sewing vests, dresses, and then Saturday night I decided on a whim to sew up some new bow ties for the boys.  I had everything all ironed and ready for Sunday.

My husband agreeingly humored me by taking pictures of us all real quick before Church.

Thus we were five minutes late.

But look at those darling kids?  

As we pulled out for Church, after all that preparation he asked, "So...is this a thing now?...Where you go all out for Easter?  Is this a thing that we do?"

It was then that I reminded him of every other last Easter where I've sewn things for the kids.

Examples here, and here, and here, and here. 

"Yes", I told him, "it is a thing.  Once a year it's really fun to sew things for the kids and have them all matchy, matchy.  Especially while they're still young enough to kind of think it's cool."

Then my husband gave me a real shocker when he asked me, "Well, where's my bow tie?"  

He'd never shown any interest in a bow tie before.  I did think about sewing him up a matching bow tie with the boys but felt pretty sure he would think it was too geeky to match his sons.  Who knew?  I told him, "I had no idea you wanted a bow tie.  I sew you one tomorrow."  

To which he replied, "Why don't you put an order in for me next Easter."

  

As long as everyone's happy.

EASTER SALE

Find cute things like this:

Gentleman's bow tie sewing pattern.

and this:

Bow Tie /Suspender Set

and this:

Custom Delicate Arch Magnet

Visit my shop HERE.

Hurry, sale ends April 30th.

Project Kid-- 100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Fun

 A couple weeks ago I was contacted to see if I'd like to review the book Project Kid by Amanda Kingloff.  The book looked so charming and I was excited to check it out.

When the book arrived we immediately stopped everything we were doing and sat down to pour over each page and make plans to create things together.

Once we were done discussing each page, the kids looked through each page again, proclaiming all the fun things they wanted to make.  

The projects are all simple, kid friendly, and mostly made with recyclables or everyday crafts you often have on hand.

She includes step-by-step directions and lots of beautiful, colorful pictures.

My son is especially fond of this robot bank and has been begging me to make it with him.

The other day I was looking through this book, when I was struck with inspiration for my little preschool class coming up.  Our lesson topic was the city where we live.  When I saw this darling art lesson on mosaics, I quickly thought up a plan to make our state into a mosaic.

First I drew an outline of our state.

Then I added glue and torn crepe paper.

It made for a lovely Mosaic.  The bead represents where we live.

This project was simple enough for the kids to grasp, and they loved tearing and placing their torn papers.

 Everyone stayed engaged and the results were so darling.

Here's how my 5 year old's (left) and 3 year old's (right) State Mosaics turned out.  They were so great!

This book is really fantastic.  I love the simple crafts, made with easy material, that the kids want to do.  

For sure we'll be crafting from this book again soon.

You can pick up the book from Amazon here or from their website here.

** This book was generously gifted to me, but all opinions are my own.**

The Sweet Simple Dress-- Looking for Pattern Testers!!

In a perfect world I would have written this post a month ago, so I could have had my new pattern all done and tested with plenty of time for the Easter sewing still ahead...but alas here we are.

I am Super excited to start testing on my new pattern 

The Sweet Simple Dress sizes 0 - 4t!!!

The Sweet Simple Dress is meant to be just that-- Simple..but also really sweet.

The simple refers to the fact that there are no zippers or buttons.  It has an elastic casing which slips easily over the head. 

The Sweet refers to all the fun ways you can customize this dress. I have included many ways to customize it in the pattern, as well as a few ideas you could easily try, to change up the dress again and again.

Here you'll see this cute gathered flower on the left and a gathered tiered neckline on the right, both included in the pattern.

  

Here's a fun option for changing up the hem.

Single stitch with gathered hem or using a double needle.

The sleeves are kind of my favorite.  They're super easy to make and really add that feminine touch.  I don't know if there's a real name for it...but I'm calling it the pleated puffed sleeve (Anne of Green Gables, anyone?)

 This simple dress is really easy and quick.  

Perfect for a first sewing project or a quick afternoon sew.

If you're interested in being a pattern tester please fill out this form HERE.

I'll be contacting people by Monday, April 7th.

** Important:  The sewing and testing will need to be done by Friday, April 18th**

12 New General Conference Activity Ideas

I was thinking about this round-up I made two years ago and thinking about how it needed to be updated.

Enter:

The Ultimate General Conference guide by Food Storage and Beyond.  Where she shares this adorable packet she made with 'A' is for 'Apostales', 'B' is for 'Book of Mormon"...etc.  It's really cute.  

Check out her post here to download and print it out.

Kiki & Company has this fantastic set found HERE. 

SugarDoodle shares this excellent general conference packet made for this April's 2014 conference.  I would say it's made for older kids, but has lots of great resources.

Click Here to see it.

Deseret Book shares this great booklet Here.

Jenny Philips shares some great packets and even includes one in spanish.

Somewhat Simple shares this darling idea of Conference Cash, where she uses play cash as rewards for being reverent, listening, and being to answer questions about each talk.  What child wouldn't love this?

Somewhat Simple also shared this darling packet last year.

Moms Have Questions Too is a great resource for younger children.  They have a ton of really great ideas.

Like this one

and this one

 and this one

Fluffy Bunny Feet Designs made this darling general conference packet that can be held all together with a ring and some crayons.

The official church website has this really cute find the hidden picture pages

And lastly, for those of you tech-savvy types, here is an app for general conference bingo.