Wordless Wednesday

Tutorial Tuesday

We have had a ton of fun sewing American Girl/18 inch doll clothes!  We made a lot of clothing for Christmas presents to give to friends, cousins, and of course little sister Holly and are continuing just for fun.  It is so much fun to create and just let your imagination run wild!  :) 

 Morgan usually is in charge of making matching jewelry for our outfits.  She made this beautiful glass bead, stretchy necklace to go with this gingerbread outfit we sold to a neighbor for her daughters doll.

Becca purchased this doll at our local Michael's store, using a 50% off coupon, for only $10.  I made this gingerbread tunic top and tshirt material leggings for around $1.  We've not tried out hands at shoes yet, but maybe someday, so Becca took another 50% off coupon and purchased these boots for $2.50.  Morgan made the necklace for free since all the beads and stretchy string were given to us as a gift a few years ago.  Becca sold this doll as she is pictured above for $40 to a neighbor to give her daughter as a gift for Christmas.  She spent around $13, sold it for $40 and walked away making a nice little profit!

 This was another 18 inch doll we purchased for $10 using a 50% off coupon.  We decided to not purchase another one like her for Holly (this one was gifted to a friend of ours) because the hair was really hard to work with and Holly tends to do damage to the poor dolls hair with all her beautiful hairdos! :)

I found sewing these little tiny sleeves was a challenge at first, but the end product was adorable!!!  This is an outfit that the girls and I worked on.  Morgan made the jean skirt using a pair of Holland's ruined jeans.  Becca used a 50% of coupon for Michael's....our FAVORITE store....to get these adorable purple shoes for only $2!!!  I made the tshirt, that velcros up the back, out of an old tshirt of one of my boys.  I used the bottom edge of the tshirt to be the bottom hem of the shirt which cut out one step in the sewing process I didn't have to do....yea me!!!!  I was checking out at Michael's and saw this display of little leather watch bands and thought with a little imagination I could turn it into a belt.  I spent maybe $.50 cents on it with a coupon....we love coupons!!!!  It took me a little bit to figure out what would work since it was a watch band and it would not fit around the dolls waist.  I did come up with an idea that worked perfectly.  I secured the clasp and cut the band in half at the back, then I sewed a tiny strip of elastic to each cut side.  The purple watch band became a very cute belt that slips on and of!!!!  What an adorable little finishing touch to this cute outfit!  All together with the doll, shoes, and outfit we spent under $15 for a beautiful birthday gift for Holly's friend. :)  I don't know about you, but I love homemade gifts so much!!!!

 I found a great scrap of snowflake material at JoAnn's for $.50 and it turned into an adorable little tunic for this 18 inch doll we purchased (from Michael's) to give my niece for a Christmas present.  I used the same tshirt I used for the white tshirt above to make these white leggings. These shoes were on sale for $1.50 and I cute a strip of ribbon and made a velcro clasp in back.  To finish the outfit Morgan made a cute glass bead necklace.  All together I spent around $13 for a gift that my niece absolutely adored!!!!

 I had quite a bit of snowflake material left over so I made this cute skirt and gave it to Holly to gift to her friend for Christmas!  I used the shirt, ribbon belt, and necklace from the outfit for my niece just so I could take a picture for Becca's book she is keeping with all the different outfits we make.

 Becca liked this snowflake skirt so much she asked me to make another one.  So since I had quite a bit of material left and this skirt really only takes minutes to make I whipped out another skirt for her.  I used up the rest of the white boys tshirt to make another shirt for her outfit.  Becca found these "converse" tennis shoes at Michael's and after using her coupon she ended up spending $3 for them I think.   Morgan made a cute double strand, glass necklace that turned out beautifully.  Becca ended up selling this doll and full outfit to a lady we know for a Christmas present.

I wanted to share the tutorials for the snowflake skirt I made. Here they are:  Part 1 and Part 2.  I found this youtube tutorial very easy to follow and the young lady did a good job walking viewers through each step in perfect details.  My girls and I have made quite a few skirts after watching this video.  They are easy and fun to make.  We have made some shorter and putting leggings under them and we have even made a few longer.  It's a great pattern to play around with and let your imagination run wild!  :)

Happy Sewing!!!!!

Adoption....

So, so, so true!

The 5 O'clock Club!

 

"Work as if you were to live a hundred years, pray as if you were to die tomorrow."       ~ Benjamin Franklin

Endless possibilities!

....all things are possible to him (her) that believeth! ~ Mark 9:23

Impossible or I'm Possible?  When I look at my life, all 13 years of it, I see so many moments that seemed impossible.  The key word there is seemed.  To me it seemed impossible....but to God...He makes the impossible....well....possible.  :)

I loved the quote above on my picture.  Impossible/I'm possible.  I'm possible = I am a girl who has great potential to become ALL that God has created me to be!!!  I'm possible = God has given me so many abilities/gifts and the strength/courage to accomplish great things for Him!!!

I. AM. POSSIBLE!!!!

When my family was in court so my parents could adopt me and my 9 siblings, many times I heard "this is impossible."  Many times I heard "there is no way."  It seemed more often then not I heard negatives from people, which was scary, but I remember when I told my mom about how I was feeling she introduced me to this song by Don Moen.   Here are the lyrics:

 God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength
For each new day
He will make a way
He will make a way
 

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today

She told me to sing it anytime I felt that things were impossible, because she wanted me to remember that "He WILL make a way".   All things are possible with God!  What a great promise and comfort that is. :)    

Even though there were many "negative Nellies" in my life God did make a way and He turned what seemed impossible into OH SO POSSIBLE!!!!

I am 13 years old and I know that He has placed endless possibilities in front of me.  He turned the impossible in my life into the possible!  I pray that He help you see that no matter what is going on in your life, He will make a way and turn what seems impossible into totally possible!

I'm Possible....Are you?

 His girl, Becca Jean

 

							(This post and the picture with quote above were done by a special person in my life...my daughter Becca.  This post blessed me so much and I hope it blesses every person who happens by my blog and reads it.  Be blessed!)

Another day!

 

Jameson ~ 8 & Holly ~ 7

2013 seems like it is flying by.  We are out of the birthday rush (6 birthdays in 6 weeks) and heading into our end of the school year stretch (we school from September 1 to Mid-August).  2013 has been AMAZING and we are not even half way through it.  God has blessed us so much.

Too cute for words!

The kids were so excited to finally get their new birth certificates a while back and now their social security cards are done.  Thankfully social security cards were much smoothly attained then the birth certificates.  Now we move on to passports and drivers licenses and getting every legal thing that has the kids birth names on them switched over.  The older kids who are more affected (i.e. online high school program, driving, work, passports, etc.) have been extremely anxious for this day....the younger ones have not been affected by all the legal name changes and such.

Who loved spending a day with daddy?  We did!!!!

L.O.V.E!!!!

Excitement in the house!!!!

The house is overflowing with excitement!  Our annual 6 Flags tickets were just purchased and the older gang is on it's way to Atlanta this Friday.  Tim is taking our 5 teens and two of Morgans friends.  Fun times!!!!  They are eager to try the Dare Devil for the first time....hehe....Tim not so much.  I hope he can actually go on the rides.  He's still in a bit of pain from his bike accident this past Sunday.  

Maxwell ~ 15

I am staying home with the younger four and we will have fun of our own.   I'm thinking yummy breakfast, then a trip to swim at the YMCA, then lunch picnic style at a park, then a trip to the local kids play museum, and who knows what other mischief we can get ourselves into.  :)  Fun times!!!!

My hero Max!!!!

I ordered our new English today!!!!  I am super excited and nervous.  We are going from a student/parent curriculum to a parent/student curriculum.  I love the 3rd grade we have right now and am excited to have all the kids switch over.  Once we  receive the books I will try and get a post put together about it!  I also got the little guys their new Explode the Code books ordered.  They are LOVING EtC!!!!  Wish I had known about EtC when I started homeschooling.  

 Love this young man!!!!