Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Our Christmas tree will be going up this weekend. Our outdoor lights will not be going up this year. Our decks and porches are being rebuilt and I don’t know if they will be done in time to make decorating worth it this year.

Most all of our Christmas shopping is done, yeah! I will not be out shopping on Black Friday, double yeah!!! I wish all of you that are going to be out there great success in finding what you are looking for. I also hope that folks remember to just be kind to one another. I think that would make shopping on Black Friday much more fun too. Remember, kindness spreads.

In the past few days, I have been glancing back at a few of our holiday photos from last year and thinking about how it would be possible to take different portrait photos of the family this year. It is pretty hard when I have no intention of changing anything about the tree this year. As you can see from some of the crazy photos, our family is a little nuts. I guess it doesn’t really matter what the set up is, just taking the photos with these clowns is memorable for me. Last year everyone was such a clown that it was almost hard to take the photos because I was laughing so hard. By far, these are in no way the funniest photos taken. These are just a few that I thought were cute and I would share. You can see more of the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnmamaw/sets/72157622992635261/ You will get a better idea of what I am up against when I break out the camera.








I love this photo. I took so many photos the kids were seeing spots. I think this was my clue to stop.


The photo below is my favorite photo from last year. It is just so Luke, always keeping an eye on what his sister is doing.





I am still thinking I should change up some of the decorations on the tree but I have a style that is a simple, country look and haven’t thought about changing it in years. The other day Joe and I were in the store and he found Christmas lights that he and Joey would love to put on the tree. They were shot gun shell lights. I giggled and almost considered it but it just doesn’t seem right. I think they should put up a Christmas tree in their man cave/barn and decorate it. There is no telling what it would turn out like. Wow, I just totally got of track there.

In looking at the photos though, I would love to come up with another angle setup or something different and special for the 2010 photos. If you have any suggestions, I am open to hearing them. If we don’t change it up, it will still be lots of fun to take the photos. We always have fun doing them.

We are looking forward to spending time with the family for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to have a long weekend. This will be one of the first weekends in a while that Joe has not been working late on Fridays and on call for Saturdays in such a long time. I hope he will be able to kick back, relax and get some rest. He is battling a cold and hasn’t been resting well. Hopefully this weekend will give him some well needed rest.

I am looking forward to hanging out with the grandkids. Doodlebug is planning a family baseball game. It is suppose to rain this afternoon and tomorrow but hopefully it will be nice weather by Thursday to get a game going. I discussed this with Granny last night and she is willing to play too, if we can get a runner for her. I told her that wouldn’t be any problem we would put Doodles on her team. I think Doodlebug runs faster than anyone in the family so, I want to be on her team too.

Well, that’s all I have for this blog entry. I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving day with all your loved ones.

Blessings and hugs to you all!

I am so far behind, I thought I was first...

The opening line of this blog was on my newest T-shirt that I purchased for myself. I chuckled so much in the Mast General Store, I think people thought I was nuts. It just seemed to really apply to my life these days.

I have been so busy around here trying to launch this little business that I have not had an interesting thought for a post here, which stinks. There are still plenty of wonderful things going on with the family and I should be sharing them.

DoodleBug graduated from kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful little program and there were several grandmas and great grandmas sniffling and holding back the tears. They sang the song "Love Can Build A Bridge" by Wynona Judd. It was just beautiful to see those little faces light up while they were singing that song. I don't think there was a single grandma there with a dry eye. Even some of the grandpas teared up a bit too. I am sure some proud moms were tearing up too but there was something in my eyes and I couldn't see them. ;)

I was very upset with myself. I had not check to make sure I had full charges on the cameras and I only had enough power to snap off a couple of photos and grab a little clip or two. The school is offering a DVD of the whole program which, I ordered two.

It was not a cap and gown cermony; however, it was adorable just the same. Each kid was called by name to come and pick up their diploma. It was so fun just watching their moves and expressions and to see such pride in all their little faces.
After the cermony, Doodles got to take the rest of the day off. She was finished and so excited. She really had been looking forward to the ending of school for the last couple of weeks. Her last week of school, we were on a day to day count down. Each morning she would ask, "how many more days until I graduate?" Summer break couldn't have come at a better time for her.



A very short clip of DoodleBug on stage before the program started. You can just see how thrilled she was.


We spent much of the rest of the day at the park. Doodles played ball with her Great Granny. I think Granny had a really good time but was a bit tired afterwards.





I know DoodleBug had a good time playing with Great Granny. I think Granny had very good time with Doodles too.



As for more recent, for the Memorial day weekend, we didn't grill. We went to Famous Daves on Saturday and ate ribs instead. With the rains coming and going, we couldn't insure the tempature on the smoker so we didn't even try. Although, on Sunday evening we did build a little fire in the fire pit and Doodles roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. That was a fun evening. She was so tired from playing that day she climbed up into my lap, stretched out and fell asleep before the fire was finished. It was sweet.

Hopefully here in a few weeks, I will have the Lily Field Designs business going and the online store front running well, a system to follow and more free time...OK I am laughing now about the free time remark. If you get a chance check out the Lily Field Designs blog at lilyfielddesigns.blogspot.com and become a follwer there. I also have a fan page on facebook and the web adress is www.lilyfielddesigns.com I will provide a link on this blog to those locations very soon.

Hope everyone had a blessed holiday weekend and a great week this week.

Blessings and Hugs!

Nothing Beats A Little Pizzazz

We hit the sales rack looking for some good little canvas sneaks for Doodlebug to play in. We found this not so attractive pair of red canvas sneakers that really wouldn’t go with much of Doodlebug’s clothing. Red really isn’t Doodlebug’s color unless it is Christmas time, which then she wants everything red. We found them in her current size as well as her next size up and even though they were not her colors, we bought both pair for $3.00 each. Who can pass up a deal like that? We sure couldn’t.

We always love embellishing add personal touches to things so, we tried our hand at adding some pizzazz and made these awesome graffiti sneakers. Doodlebug painted one pair and I helped with the bigger size.

The materials we used were a basic fabric medium, Gesso, Tulip fabric markers and a few bottles of squirt fabric paint and scotch tape.


The very first thing we did was to put tape along the rubber soles to cover them so we wouldn’t get any paint on that part of the shoe. Next we added a little of the fabric medium to the gesso, stirred well and thinned it down some. Then covered the shoes completely using a brush and left them for a couple of hours to dry.

After the long awaited two hours were up, we really started to have fun. Using the fabric markers, we just added all sorts of squiggle lines, over lapped colors and just went nuts. There are no rules here, our favorite type of craft. I loved Doodlebug’s X’s and O’s idea. When the fabric markers were dry, which didn’t take very long at all, we used the squirt bottles of fabric paint and added little designs, symbols, words and more squiggles. It was really hard to stop, as you can tell.
The second pair that we painted. I got to help, it was so much fun.


Doodlebug couldn’t wait to try on her recreated sneakers and show them off. I think she did an awesome job.



This was a very fun and simple project and kids really love getting involved in creating their own style. Speaking of personal style, Doodlebug’s new favorite, all time television shows to watch are all the old Punky Bruster episodes. We all know Punky was all about adding pizzazz. Papaw happened to find one of the Punky Bruster seasons on DVD in a bargain bin at Books A Million and she loves them!!!







Blessings To You All!

DoodleBug Makes Her First Skirt

Wow, OK before I start let me say, I am getting behind here since I bought my serger. My blog is not the only thing that has gotten behind since the serger came home, laundry, sweeping, mowing...OK, I must stop or I will be on a huge guilt trip and I really don't want to go there. Pleasure trips are more my cup of tea.

Well, Doodles finally got a chance to make a skirt for Fluffy and try out her machine. She is counting down the days of her last couple of weeks at school. She has big plans to spend a lot of time with Mamaw doing a bit of sewing this summer. I think that sounds like a fun way to me to spend some of those hot summer days, inside sewing with my best friend.

Well, here are a few photos of her process with her little sewing machine.


She first took a few measurments of Fluffy.


She cut a strip of fabric allowing a bit for gathering around the top of the skirt.


We were very careful with her using the iron. I wanted to teach her how much better her sewing would look if she got into learning to press her fabric and even showed her to fold under her hem and casing and pressed before we went to the machine. She needs a small iron of her own. I do wished I could find her Papaw's travel iron. That one would be perfect for her.

She did really well for her first sewing project. She has been drawing and painting since she was very small and I think because of that fact, she has very good fine motor skills for her age.











She did well making her seams and it was a simple little plan of sewing a casing and a hem then closing the back seam, adding ribbon through the top casing and wah la! Fluffy has a new skirt. She wants to make a purse next. This should be fun.

A Few New Creations

A little dress that I made this evening out of some thrift knits and a little yardage. It is a size 6X


On the way to school one morning last week, Doodle Bug and I designed this dress.

She wanted it for a bathing suit cover up and I tried very hard to duplicate what she was seeing in her head. I made her this little racer back dress and it was more time consuming than I had thought but fun. She hasn't seen it yet and I do think I am going to turn it into a mulit media dress before it is all said and done. I think I want to fabric paint a few little shells on the beach. I also thought adding a few surf splashes to the waves might be fun and for sure, the sky needs a few clouds. I will post another photo of it after the fabric painting is done.

Below are a couple of little dresses made from thrift knits that I picked up at a yard sell over the weekend. I did have the Good and Plenty candy T. Using another smaller dress and a section of a bright pink T, I created the little 3T/4T with the flowers. I used the tail of the dress and a sliced section and added to the Good and Plenty T to create this little fun play dress. It is size 7. I think Doodle Bug will like this one.


Now I need to get busy and spend a little time working on patterns and sizing. I have a few ideas I would like to try out for someone a little smaller than Doodles. I think I will have her to help me design it too. I am really excited to see she seems to be into helping design some of the dresses and she had really been wanting to try out Mamaw's sewing machine. We decided for her kindergarten graduation gift to get her a Hello Kitty Janome sewing machine.


She will be thrilled to have her own machine. I have tons of little easy sewing projects for her to get her started. I recieved an email today that said it had shipped so, it will be hard to put it away until graduation day. I don't know if I will be able to wait.

Now I need to get busy sorting some knits and getting ready to do some screen printing. We will have fun with this next screen printing day. We will be screen printing aliens. I found a piece of very cute and colorful knit and we are printing our one eyed alien design on the tops. It should be cute. I know it will be fun.

Blessings & Hugs All!

A Busy But Fun Week!

On Monday Doddlebug had a wonderful treat, she was out of school and her great granny was here for a visit. After being patient with us old gals at the fabric store, we took her to the park. She played for a little while. She is still getting over a respiratory infection and didn’t have as much energy as usual but she still had fun. I think her great granny had fun too. They love spending time together. After we left the park, we went for lunch and ice cream. It was a good day. We were all pretty tired in the evening.


Yesterday, I had a chance to sew a bit and to get to use my new little Singer serger more. I love that little machine. With my mom being up for a visit for Easter, we started a little project for her and made her a lady bug table cloth. She loved sewing with the serger and I think she may get her one before too long.

My time spent sewing yesterday was fun and productive. I made a couple of t-shirt dresses and a pair of shorts for my little gal. She seen them today and loved them. I told her when she had time to try them all on and let me take photos of her in them; she could take them home and start wearing them. Hopefully, we will get to do that soon.

After a little tweaking and measuring Doodlebug several times, I came up with a couple of good basic patterns to work with. I drew them out on poster board because I plan on making many of these over time. My first pattern was drawn out on the backside of Christmas wrapping paper and ripped after making my first dress. I love the idea of using old knit shirts for reworking them into other useable items. I am going to be making shopping bags from t-shirts next. Now I do look at people’s t-shirts and think…”hum, I bet I could…”

My daughter just dropped off a bag of t-shirts a bit ago and I can’t wait to go through them and see what is there. She has all of her friends passing on t-shirts to me now too. Yeah! I appreciate each one too.

Below are a few of my first few dresses. I think I will just keep rolling on these and see what happens. They are great fun to make. I will be posting some of the other creations that I come up with using t-shirts. I do have a few ideas and can't wait to try them out.

Screen Printing Fun

Yesterday we spent a several hours screen printing on old t-shirt knit. It will be turned into upcycled dresses and shorts for the kids. I thought I would be on my own with the project but as it turned out, the gals thought it looked like fun and they really got into it. I think I may invite them over again when I have more to do.



Screen printing is great fun. I think next time we do a bit of printing, I will print watermellon slices and strawberries. With summer coming, I have summer fruits on my mind. I can't wait to get some time now to turn our screen prints into a few outfits. It is such fun. I am trying to come up with a few new patterns and I going to make shopping bags out of t-shirts as well. I have a great idea for that one.

The yard is calling and needs much attention too so, I will be doing some outdoor work in the next few days too but I think right now I would much rather be sewing.

Thinking About Easter!

I have been slightly distracted from that which I should be focusing on, getting ready for Easter. Over the weekend, I finally broke down and bought a serger and I have been busy playing and sewing. I am also going to make my first attempts tomorrow to do some screen printing. I have my screens all ready and I am excited. I am sure there will be a bit of a learning curve but with some practice; I should get the hang of it.

I am excited about Easter this year and I have been so blessed in my life and especially this past year. It has been a bit of a trying year but I give thanks to God for the trials because, I have grown and learned a lot about myself and how to be more patient with others.

The kids are doing great and growing like little weeds. I had been looking back through the past few years of Easter photos the last few days and I am forever amazed at just how fast they grow. So, this is a reminder for me to still stay focused on enjoying and spending every minute I can being as much a part of their little lives and days as possible.

I have a list of things to do this week and I am glad that the next few days will be bringing sunshine and warmth. I need to buy some mulch and work on some flower beds and get ready to stain the playhouse again. I also want to put out a few plants in the little pots around the playhouse for Easter which means a trip to the local nursery is on my list this week as well as tossing some mulch. It will be much needed exercise.


A photo of the kids on Easter of last year.


Once the Easter holiday has passed, I can get back to creating. I think it is time too to pull the easel back out of the closet. The little guy has ask Mamaw to paint a few Spider Man paintings for his room and when Doddlebug heard this, she has requested some Little Pet Shop character paintings. I have plenty of canvas and paint and I think painting cartoons are always fun. It shouldn’t take too long once I get started. Maybe a few hours in the afternoons and I should have them several. I will be sure to post those photos when I get those painted.

Just in case I do not post again before Easter let me say, “may your Easter be special and blessed, spent with family and friends in remembrance of the love that God has for us all.”

Happy Easter!

The Fox And The Child

Before you preview it, you might need to pause the music player at the bottom of my blog.

I have to say, the five dollar bargin bin of DVDs at Walmart sure held a great treat for us. We found the movie "The Fox And The Child." We had not seen it before but it looked like it may be a good little movie for the kids so we bought it. We finally got around to watching this movie a couple of nights ago and was such a sweet little movie. It ranks up there in our opinion with "A Stranger In The Woods." I was so excited that we acutally found a movie in that bin well worth five bucks for a change. My gal really loved it she is six. She worked the next day on drawing a very neat picture of the fox. I would have scanned it and shared it here but it was a gift for her teacher at school and she took it to her before I had a chance.

It is a wonderful movie and if you have young children or grandchildren, they will love this movie for sure.

Learning To Use A New Lens

Well, I finally got the lens that I have been wanting for such a long time. It is a 1/4f 50mm Nikkor. All the reading that I had done on the lens suggested that it was a great little portrait lens. I started playing around with the the other morning and took a few photos of my grandson. He was in a good mood and willing. I didn't get to snap off very many to test it before he became tired of process but at least I had a chance to get an idea of what the lens can do. I loved the clairty and color that shown in his eyes when I zoomed in to take a look.

I am looking forwad to setting up a little makeshift portrait studio in my living room. I have some great windows that will add wonderful natural lighting. I also have the fabric needed for dying some backdrops. I will be doing that on our next nice day outside. I found a great how-to article at DIY Photography on creating your own backdrops. I also need to hit a few resale shops and look for some nice old vintage drapes or bedspreads to use as backdrops. Some of those could add great texture to the photos I think.

My grandaughter recently had a little accident while turning a cartwheel. She fell and cut open her eyebrow and they used adhesive to close it up at the emergency room but it has yet to start coming out of her brow. I do hope it starts coming out soon. I want to take photos of her and she is a very good model for me and will pose for as long as I need her to. She gives me lots of time and some cute looks. I have taken a few photos of her with the adhesive brow and all my eye does is go straight for that brow. I will be waiting until that heals before taking more photos with her. The down time will give me time to get the other things together that I need too to make my little home studio. I am also looking forward to getting to work with the new lens outside as well. I am exctied to see what it and I can do out of "auto" mode.

I also have been doing a bit of sewing for my granddaughter. Making a few summer outfits and shorts. She is in a size 7 now and I am just not impressed with most of the clothes on the market in a size 7. I think most colthing I see is just not age appropriate for our young girls these days. I always said, once she moved out of 6X I would be doing a lot of sewing for her. Good thing I enjoy sewing.

Below are a few more of the shots that I took of my grandson with the new lens. If you have any pointers using a 50mm, I would love to hear them.

Blessings To You All!




Here's a photo of my gal with the gash in her eyebrow from her cartwheel accident...Just for you Joy!

I heart faces contest entry.

Warming Up
You can check out all the cool contests at http://www.iheartfaces.com

I am going to give this a shot, see if I can figure out how to do the entry but the theme of this contest is bundle up.

I think the photo of of my gal warming with hot chocolate after playing in the snow might be a good one. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Read across America day is today, March 2nd. Today at school, the kids were allowed to wear their pj's and they get to listen to books being read to them all day. It is to be a truly relaxing and fun day.

I wanted to add to my gal's fun by making her a very special pair of pjs. I made her a pair of THING 2 pjs. It was pretty easy. I basically just painted her shirt with acrylic paints mixed with fabric medium and stitched her a pair of pants out of red fleece. I was a bit stumped when it came to the blue fuzzy wig until a walk through Hobby Lobby provided me all that I needed to make this whole outfit come together as well as finding the materials for the wig. I made the wig out of a baby's jersey knit skull cap and blue boas. It took longer to stitch those boas down than it did to make the rest of the outfit.

My gal really loved how it turned out. I was so glad. Hope you like the photos. I am looking forward to hearing about how her silly fun day went. I can't wait till she gets home.

Silly Thing 1 & Thing 2 socks were a must.