The Schoettler Family

Texas Monkey Boutique Model Search!

2011-03-07T18:25:00.001-08:00

I entered Ella in TMB’s Spring/Summer Model Search!

Please help Ella win! "Like" Texas Monkey Boutique on Facebook, then make sure you "like" Ella's picture! If she wins she will receive a selection of Texas Monkey Boutique products to model and will be featured on the website and Facebook page as an official TMB model!

Please click on her picture and “like” it. You will need to “like” Texas Monkey Boutique first!

Thanks soooo much!!

Oh Shutterfly, I Love You!

2010-11-24T13:23:00.001-08:00

Time for Christmas cards again! I really need to get on the ball here. I have been using Shutterfly for a while and I love how last years cards turned out. I had a hard time choosing, but decided on this one for 2009.

Now I need to decide on this years card. There are so many to choose from here.

They also have plenty of gifts for everyone on your list. Like, Desk Calendars. They’re running a great deal right now on them buy one get the other 50% off:! Just go here to get started!
There are lots of other photo gift ideas also. I know the kid’s Grandparents would love these.

Make sure to check all all the amazing things they have.

• Personalized mugs

• Holiday photo cards

• Christmas invitations

• Mother's day cards

And Shutterfly is offering an awesome incentive to all of us bloggers! A promo for 50 free cards just go here to get in on it.

I can’t wait to pick out and design this years cards! There are way too many to choose from so I better hurry up. Thank you Shutterfly!

Halloween 2010!

2010-11-01T15:21:00.001-07:00

This year we didn’t pay anything for our costumes. Well mostly. My husband went home to change into his costume, and needed to dirty himself up. He came back and told me had had used my yellow eyeliner. It didn’t bother me much, even though I had already brought some dark eye shadow to use on him.I knew I only had cheap liner because I don’t really use it, but didn’t know it was in a yellow package. When we came home last night, I found out that he used my mascara! He rubbed it all over his face and arms. So his costume cost about 7 bucks. The rest were made with stuff we had laying around the house, or borrowed in the case of my husband’s costume (besides my makeup). So onto the pictures….

Early in the day I took my son his costume for his first day of work. Here he is with my friend. I used to work for Savemart, so I just cut up my apron and hat and sewed them into his size.

Helping bag groceries.

My husband dressed as my brother in law. A little running joke. My brother in law dressed as my husband last year.

Halloween ‘09 (He had just gotten a black eye playing flag football.)

Me and my little cotton candy baby. She had a cute little trick-or-treat bag but I don’t think I got a picture of it. Or my “costume” which was a furry bear hat that I had sewn for myself.

Why is there a Christmas tree behind us? We started a little tradition last year where we decorate my parent’s house Christmas style and play Christmas music, roast marshmallows, and play Rockband in the front yard.

Christopher and his trick-or-treat grocery bag on his way to the first house.

Yummy cotton candy!

Stopping by my mom in laws house before heading back to my parent’s. She lives on the street behind my parents.

My sister had also made her families costumes. They were Barney, Betty, and BamBam. She did such a good job.

I sewed the hat for him. I did it just like I did Christopher's.

We had a lot of fun!

Crafty Christmas 2010

2010-10-27T13:58:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s been a long time! I have been crafting quite a bit, but really just haven’t taken the time to post anything on here. This year we are doing another handmade Christmas. Santa will be building a play kitchen for the kids, so I’ve been cooking up some food for it.

Spaghetti, brats, and a cheese quesadilla.

Close up of the brats, or German sausages

Broccoli and cauliflower.

Bowties and sauce.

Eggs, my husband drew one and I drew the other.

Pancakes, syrup and butter.

The “uncooked” side of the pancakes.

A smore. The hand embroidery took so long on the graham cracker that I only finished one so far last night. I have two more.

Two pieces. I wanted them to be able to put them together and take them apart, but four separate pieces was too much.

It’s not exactly life sized, but I think it will be perfect for them.

My little lonely bag of tea. It has a lot of issues, but I don’t think the kids will notice.

That’s it for now. I will post more as I get them done. It is super fun. I didn’t use any patterns or anything, but if your interested, there are a ton of sites that show you how to do it. You can search “felt food tutorials” through Google. My suggestion would be to use the search blogs option. (You know we have the best ideas!) Here are some links also where you can find some neat ideas.

One Pretty Thing

The Busy Budgeting Mama

Vote For My Cutie!!

2010-06-30T00:50:00.001-07:00

Vote Today!

Congratulations!

Thank you for entering the Kids In Hats Photo Contest! Your photo is currently in the running to become this week's winner. The photo with the most votes will take home $250 cash! Official Rules.

Come back daily! Voting ends 07/04/2010.

I’ve been gone for quite a while, but please go vote for my little boy!! It will only take a second! Thanks!

Hopefully things around here will return to somewhat normal soon so I can pick back up on my blog.

Projects, thrift finds, and goings on…

2010-03-30T17:22:00.001-07:00

I haven’t posted anything in a while, but I have been busy with projects. We got our granite countertops in our kitchen and master bathroom. It is sooo nice having a working kitchen. I’ll have to post the pictures of the kitchen in a different post because I forgot that I didn’t have pictures of it after we put the faucet in on my computer.

But, I LOVE my bathroom!

I don’t love the handfuls of dirt taken out of my plant and sprinkled all over the toilet… I know it’s better to not have these things sitting on your counter, but since we don’t have much drawer space, we have to. I love this rusted mason jar top I found in the garage. My husband got me this plant for Valentines Day, and they shells were in his collection that I didn’t want to keep taking up space in the garage.

I painted this table that I bought off craigslist for 25 bucks. While peeling, scraping, and sanding the multiple layers of green paint off I started to think I paid too much.

But, I do love the way it turned out. I needed some color in my all neutral house.

I snagged this little candle holder thing from my sisters house before it was taken to the dump and it had been sitting in my garage. I think it looks cute with the little nest in it. The eggs were super small plastic eggs from last Easter. Then just sat it on the little candle holder thingy I got last year from the Salvation Army.

My husband doesn’t really like this. He thinks it should be hanging on the wall, but I didn’t paint enough on the glass for that. Just one egg.

I think its kinda cute. For now at least.

I made some lumpy pillows.

Did a freezer paper stencil for the first time.

The were all made with old pillowcases and a bed skirt with scraps of fabric I had laying around.

I repainted this old magazine rack my Grandma gave me.

And some frames from the Dollar Tree.

My husband watched the kids while I spent my Easter money at the thrift store.

I found this cute frame for my daughters room.

And this cute dress form jewelry holder. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but it matches her room.

I also found this. I’m not sure what it is/was, but I already turned it into something cute for our kitchen!

While “Menu” might not necessarily apply, it’s for pinning our recipes to while my husband and I cook. We print a lot off the computer and they get all splattered on and yucky.

I love the black design that was already painted on there!

Hand painted the “Menu”. I sure wish I had a Cricut machine!!!

My baby girl has been sick the past week, so when she was napping I found the time to do projects, just not post them. Sooo…. There you go! All caught up. Almost. There are a few things missing here and there.

Catching Leprechauns…

2010-03-16T18:21:00.001-07:00

I haven’t done any decorating for St. Patrick's day. It’s too short a time period for me to spend my time getting into it. But, today my son and I decided we were going to build a leprechaun trap.

We just used an old Nesquik container, some dirt mixed with glue, sticks, rocks, some moss from the Dollar Tree, and some other things I had laying around the house for the gold.

The lid has a hole cut in it so the little guy will fall in. I think it’s so cute! Christopher kept showing me what was going to happen with a little gold fuzzy. Climbing up the ladder, doodoodoo, opps he fell in, and would drop the gold in. So our little pot has less gold in it than it started with.

I remember in Kindergarten, the teacher put green footprints all over our tables. It was the neatest thing.

She LOVES it!

2010-03-15T15:58:00.001-07:00

I got my car seat blanket from R'z Cozy Creations today. I had to try it out.

Even Big Brother liked it. He had to get in on the action.

I win!!

2010-03-10T12:33:00.001-08:00

I have been so lucky lately. I won ANOTHER giveaway over at Make It and Love It. For this awesome car seat blanket from R'z Cozy Creations.

This is the one I love….

Pink Minky and Brown Damask. Ella is gonna LOVE this.

Eddie Cap

2010-03-02T17:18:00.001-08:00

I wanted a hat to match my sons Easter pants. I found this tutorial from Mushroom Villagers and it was just what I was looking for. I was using the extra fabric from the jacket that I used for the pants so I altered some of the measurements, crossing my fingers hoping it would still turn out right.

I LOVE it.

(Sorry the pictures are a little wonky. I still haven’t quite got the hang of it yet.) Tons of pictures!

I’m sad that his pants probably won’t fit him by Easter. His hat will for sure though!

WoooHooo

2010-03-02T02:04:00.001-08:00

I was so excited when I saw that I had one this giveaway on Crafterhours.

Thank you Susan! And thank you Amy! I’m still jazzed about it.

I also won a blog award from Christy, who is the owner of the site Just Thinkin'.

Rules:

List 7 interesting Facts about myself

Then pass it on..

1. I’ve been doing home improvement work since I was really young. When I was about 13, my dad’s back went out my mom and I pretty much tiled the whole house ourselves. Because of that I refuse to put tile in our house.

2. I have a sugar packet collection with sugar from around the world. (Or at least Hawaii, New Zealand, Texas and California) My mom picks me up sugar from the trips her and my dad go on.

3. My husband and I bought our house about a year and a half ago. It’s house that was foreclosed on and we actually thought we would be finished in one year. HA!

4. Last summer we had roaches in the house that were so big you could throw a saddle on them and ride them.

5. I’m still scared of the dark.

6. I truly believe I saw Freddie Kruger while camping at the lake when I was little. He had a light shining on him and he was spinning in a circle. I didn’t even know who “Freddie Krueger” was at the time.

7. My sister and I can randomly think and say the same things when it has nothing to do with anything that's going on at the time. The other night we said the exact same sentence at the same time with the same pause in it. We’re 16 months apart.

Doehler Days- I totally want to try her Mossy Wreath
Carrot Sticks and Cupcakes- The very first blog I started following. She takes adorable pictures.
Life Frosting- She is doing an AWESOME challenge on her blog.
Perfectly Imperfect- I’m so jealous of all her thrift finds.
A Soft Place to Land- I love Kimba’s DIY days
Nesting Place- This blog completely changed the way I decorate and inspired me to make may first Ragamuffin garland.
Shanty 2 Chic- This is where I was first introduced to Heirloom White and Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze.

Thank you for inspiring me!!!

Dorky Easter Pants

2010-02-26T13:22:00.001-08:00

I went to the Dollar Store last night and I found this jacket.

A jacket what? Yeah. I loved the buttons on the sleeve and decided to make my son some pants out of them. I love dressing my son like a nerd.

Here they are. All in their super wrinkled glory.

There too small for elastic and I have to help him put them on, but they’re just so dorky! I love them! I’m thinking about making a matching vest with the rest of the jacket.

Room redecorating…

2010-02-24T02:31:00.001-08:00

I was going in the direction of animal print, and travel. Kind of like the Elephant Bar. Then completely changed my mind. I had this nightstand that I bought from the Salvation Army for 12 dollars.

I repaint it black and modpodged the drawers with fabric. I loved it. But, I want my room to go in a more sophisticated direction. So I sold it on craigslist. For…. 40 bucks! Yeah. Talk about a profit.

This is my dresser now, after shopping my house for things to organize my jewelry.

I know it’s pretty busy. Some of the things belong in the living room once we build some shelves. The frame is going to be a chalkboard, and the white and black thing in the back is actually the broken door off the dresser. But, this is the look that I’m going for in my room.

Before… Yes I know you LOVE my style.

My Own Bakery

2010-02-10T10:38:00.001-08:00

I started my own bakery! Too bad these are all going to a little girl for her birthday.

The cookies actually have 1-5 chocolate chips. I thought it was a neat idea if I do say so myself.

They’re not perfect in the least bit, but I still think they are sooo adorable.

And the little apron to go with it. More on that another day maybe.

I would LOVE it if my daughter got a gift like this, so hopefully they will like it.

Superbowl Yums…

2010-02-07T22:11:00.001-08:00

I got this AWESOME book from Santa this past year. I been getting the emails from Hungry Girl for such a long time now. Before it was really big with everyone and before started doing segments on the Rachel Ray show.

Well anyway, I made 3 recipes for the Superbowl. One of them was a flop because I didn’t have the right ingredients.

The first was a recipe for guacamole. Made with, you would never guess by the taste, PEAS! Yeah. Everyone, including the guys thought it tasted EXCELLENT. It was sooo good.

(image from hungrygirl.com)

I didn’t have a picture, it got eaten up too quick! But, it did look just this yummy… I served it with tortilla chips and veggies. Super good on red bell peppers.

Holy Moly Guacamole from Hungry Girls 200 under 200

One 15 oz. can peas

1/2 cup mashed avocado

1/3 cup chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt (it calls for ff Greek yogurt but I couldn’t find it)

4 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp of each-chopped garlic and garlic powder

1/2 tsp

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp of each-black pepper, ground cumin, and chili powder

Mash peas in a medium bowl, add avocado, yogurt, lime juice, garlic, and seasonings. Continue to mash until blended.

Stir in tomatoes and onions.

Makes 6 servings – 1/3 cup= 1 serving 78 calories

(Image from hungrygirl.com)

This also was too good to get a picture of. I served it with tortilla chips and it was really good with the veggies too.

Crazy-Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip

One 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained very well

One 14-oz. can artichoke hearts (packed in water), drained very well and chopped

One 8-oz. container fat-free cream cheese, room temperature

Half an 8-oz. can water chestnuts, drained and chopped

1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise ( I cut the mayo out because the hubby doesn’t like it and just doubled the sour cream. It still turned out perfect.)

1/4 cup reduced-fat parmesan-style grated topping

3 tbsp. minced shallots

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

If you want to serve this dish hot preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I strongly suggest this!)

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, and 3 tbsp. of the parm-style topping.

Add the salt and cayenne pepper, and then stir until smooth.

In a pan sprayed with nonstick spray, cook the shallots and garlic over medium heat until soft (1 - 2 minutes). Set aside.

To the large bowl, add spinach, artichoke hearts, water chestnuts and garlic/shallot mixture. Stir well.

If serving dip cold, top with the remaining tbsp. of parm-style topping. If you want to serve the dip hot, transfer to a casserole dish, top with the remaining parm, and then bake for 30 minutes (or until bubbly).

Makes 8 servings 1/3 cup=1 serving 91 calories

If anyone uses these recipes, please tell me how they turned out for you!

Chalkboard table

2010-01-30T13:37:00.001-08:00

I’ve bought this little metal table when I was still living at my parents house. I used it as a night stand. When we moved Christopher into his room, we put this table in there and I stuck all his magnets on it. It’s easy to move around and we use it for playdoh like here. We went out for pizza the other night after my brother-in-law got baptized and won enough tickets to buy some colored chalk. Well, one day I turned around and saw him using the chalk all over the table. I told him what a good idea that was and decided to spray two coats of chalkboard spray-paint on it. It had been outside since yesterday and he kept telling me it was dry. He saw it agin today and reminded me. I had forgotten about it. We brought it inside and he has been coloring ever since.

Valentines Pictures

2010-01-29T02:02:00.001-08:00

I took some pictures for the Valentines Day cards my son is making. I think they turned out CUTE. We bought a Canon Rebel Xsi before Ella was born instead of taking the kids to get pictures done. I’m just an amateur, but I’ve been pretty happy with the pictures they we’ve gotten.

I ♥ them!

And here’s some pictures that my cute hubby took when we were making pizza dough the other night and didn’t want to get our rings dirty.

He has designed every ring he’s ever bought for me and I love them…

Awesome giveaway!

2010-01-22T00:09:00.001-08:00

Linds over at That's So Cuegly is having a giveaway for this…

A Breville Juice Fountain Compact.

Check out http://www.allbarstools.com/ and don’t forget to head over to the giveaway!

Go here to take a look at even more awesome stuff.

Coffee Filters? Who knew!

2010-01-21T10:35:00.001-08:00

I actually got this as an email from my Grandma. They ideas were just so good I decided to share them!

You can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book..

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

Room to eat?

2010-01-19T01:07:00.001-08:00

We have a VERY small kitchen. Our house is still under construction, and we have moved our kitchen table to a million different places. I finally realized, we have no room for a table. So, I came up with the idea and building a high bar/table in the open space separating our kitchen from our living room. It’s still a work in progress, and my camera ran out of batteries or I would take a picture of the top. Right now its just a thick piece of plywood.

Our little helper/ hinderer…

I’m excited! It’s going to be such a big help, seems how we don’t have any counters right now.

I’ll be posting more pictures as soon as I get my batteries charged. So, be sure to check back!

My Superhero…

2010-01-13T23:11:00.001-08:00

I took some pictures of the kids and messed around with the contrast on my computer.

I LOVE this one. Look at those eyes!!

And the little outfit I made for Ella today… It’s actually a dress if the darn girl would just stand up and show it off. LOL. Then I made matching little booty pants.

That’s it!

“Mells Good!!”

2010-01-12T16:50:00.001-08:00

I handmade all the Christmas gifts for the family this year. My dad LOVES anything pumpkin. So when I found this recipe for Pumpkin Playdoh at Preschool Education I though it was so neat. Since a grown man doesn’t have much of a need for “Playdoh” I renamed it.

Here’s the label I put on the jar.

I think it is too cute. Since the recipe made so much I split it in half and kept half for Christopher.

He said it “Mells good!”

Pumpkin Pie Playdoh

5 1/2 cups flour

2 cups salt

8 teaspoons cream of tartar

3/4 cup oil

1 container (1 1/12 ounces) pumpkin pie spice

orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red)

4 cups water

Mix all of the ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until all lumps appear. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.

I halved the recipe and and since I didn’t have pumpkin pie spice and just did a mixture of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg until it smelled right. It’s smooth and not gritty or sticky. LOVE it.

Un-Stumped

2010-01-12T14:14:00.001-08:00

I had some really good ideas waiting for me in my comments!

Norma from Norma Lee Good had this great idea- put it in your laundry room for brooms, yardsticks, ohhh wrapping paper!!

Then I read this one that Emily from Emily's World- You could turn it into a quilt holder we some dowls. You could even easily drill holes into it to make them snug and then hang quilts or any other extra blankets.

My hubbs and I were talking about it last night before we went to bed and were thinking maybe a towel rack in the bathroom.

Then this morning I came on and read this comment left by Linda the brains behind the Stumped Party and Craftaholics Anonymous- You could also put dowel/rods across and get J hooks and hang buckets and bins on it to store all your hubby's balls, legos, and oh-so-fun memorabilia.

This is the one that got me soooo excited. It’s perfect because we always need more storage with all the little things my hubbs keeps bringing into the house. You can get little buckets really cheap at the dollar store, for only like… A dollar! LOL. But, we could put it in my son’s room, or an idea that just came to me, the kids bathroom for their little soaps or bath toys, hair things or whatever. Hmmm the possibilities. We’ll just have to wait and see! Thanks so much Linda for hosting such a neat party and the amazing advice!

What do I do with THIS?

2010-01-11T15:11:00.001-08:00

Today I’m joining Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous for her Stumped Party.

First off, let me just say my husband will not get rid of any of his childhood things. For example…

This, I like. Christopher likes it. It’s fun.

Chalk?! My husband is 25 years old. Why in the world would you bring 20 or so year old chalk to your new home? In a cookie tin.

Balls. I took out 3 for this picture. There is about 30 more differnt kinds of balls that he has saved. Balls from kids meal toys that he refuses to get rid of.

These are cool. I cannot believe they look brand new. I just wish he hadn’t brought it all in Christopher room at once.

Oh my goodness look at they dust. I have an excuse. We have concrete floors throughout our whole house. Dusting is a daily chore that I don’t have time to do daily. Plus it help me see if he’s been climbing on his bookshelf. LOL. That was just a joke.

I hate this ugly football man. My husband loves it. So here it sits. At least it’s not in our room.

The box of legos my husband brought into my sons room last night.

And this…

This was my husbands.

For guns I guess. I don’t want guns hanging around my house. Not really my type of decoration. The only idea I have come up with is to hang dowels and use it for my ribbon. But, my ribbon is already organized into boxes so it wouldn’t be as useful as it could be.

It hangs on the wall. Obviously. LOL. Other than that there’s not much I can say about it.

Any ideas please!?

One Little Bootie

2010-01-06T18:22:00.001-08:00

I downloaded this pattern from HomeSpun Threads for these cute little booties for free from her shop here.

Since I got this beautiful sewing machine Sunday night, all I can think about is finding things to make.

Look at the little doggy!

Since I have a two year old and a (almost) 3 month old. Any project I make has to be done during her 4 hour nap starting around11 or 12. For the past two days, we’ve been letting my son run around nakey. That’s the only way we can get him to use the big boy potty. Half way through my project, I hear… “Mommy! Big poop!” I ran looking for him thinking it was going to be somewhere on the floor. (Luckily we have stained concrete floors.) Anyway I get to the bathroom and he’s standing on the toilet seat looking into the bowl with a HUGE smile. I was so proud that he felt the urge and did it all on his own. So, after all the clapping and candy I was kinda short on time and it was then that, believe it or not, I finally realized that I had to make two. LOL. I do not know why I was in the mindset that as soon as I was finished she would have a SET of booties. Well, another day I guess. Here IT is.

I think it is sooo cute. I just hope the other one I make will match!

Bed Tent?

2010-01-05T15:40:00.001-08:00

I finally got my sewing machine. Woohoo. I love it. I decided to make my son a little hideout. I’m hoping it will make him want to sleep in his own bed rather than ours.

I used a huge mumu my mom gave me for crafting purposes, a stained pillowcase for his window, and extra checkered fabric from the ragamuffin garland I made for him.I left the pocket from the dress so he would have a secret place for special stuff.

He LOVES it! And it sticks on the bed with velcro so we can take it off whenever we want.

My Hubby’s Crafty Too!

2010-01-02T01:00:00.001-08:00

I had a ton of those recipe cards that you get in the mail. My mom always gives them to me when she gets them. They were all sitting in a box in our room, where they had been for over a year. My husband told me he was gonna throw them all away unless I took care of them right then. Then he suggested this…

Hole punched and put onto those little metal claspy clips. I’m not sure exactly what they’re called. Granted, they are not the most pleasing thing to the eyes. But, I don’t have to toss them and they take up less room than a book. I can just flip through them. I like them. Good idea Hubby!

And look what he hung up for me…

This is one of the birthday presents he got for me this year. (My birthday was just on the 27th.)

Rick Rack

2009-12-17T00:04:00.001-08:00

I hit the jackpot with all the crafting supplies my mom-in-law had sitting around her house that she wasn’t using. Tons of fabric, ribbons, wreaths…

But what do I do with all this rick rack?

I made this shirt for my son for Christmas. Basically a crappy version of this adorable shirt from Brixton Lane. I’m going to make a cuter one for my baby girl as soon as I find some thing to put it on.

Why yes… That is a blob of hot glue you see on there. With a two month old I really don’t have the time or patience to hand sew it on. Besides, it’s almost too small for him so it was a last ditch effort to get more use out of it.

What do you do with a million yards of rickrack?

Homemade Christmas

2009-12-13T19:48:00.001-08:00

WOW… It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy taking care of Ella and chasing Christopher around. This year, because most of us are short on funds, we have decided that instead of the family gift exchange we’re going to make gifts. Let me just say… It is a blast! I love actually coming up with things to make for each different person rather than settling on something that I found in the store. This week I have been working on my sister’s gift and my brothers girlfriend’s. I decided on hair bands. I’m totally addicted to making these fabric flowers they’re all over my house.

I had a old pair of shoes that we’re falling apart and added some flowers and it spruced them up for at least one more night of wear. I wore them to my husband’s company Christmas party.

The headbands I made…

I love them! Too cute…

While at the Christmas party this happened to my little boy at the sitters…

He got bit by their little dog.

Poor little guy. It hurts me to see it.

Halloweeney

2009-11-03T12:51:00.001-08:00

It’s time for…. Halloween pictures! Let’s start by taking a look at the past few years…

Halloween 2007. Baby Christopher was about 2 months old.

Halloween 2008. Christopher had just turned 1.

My cute little squishy bear!

This year the whole family was dressed up. I even got the hubbs to dress up.

I don’t bother with buying myself a costume. I just search my closet and can come up with a pirate outfit any day of the week. Everything the hubbs is wearing is mine except his shirt and boots.

My little “Flog”.

Our little princess!

Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin trick-or-treating with us.

Our Kitchen Cabinets

2009-10-30T14:57:00.001-07:00

Don’t you just love my flashy titles? Anyway, with money being short having to completely rebuild pretty much our whole house (foreclosure) we were only able to afford the upper cabinets for our kitchen.

We bought them unstained and the hubbs and my brother hung them up.

Then I got to pick out the stain. I really don’t like the look of stained wood, so I picked out an ebony color.

I like them a lot. I think the color will look good with all our black appliances. The front of the doors still need sealer and then handles.

Little Man’s Stool

2009-10-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

I bought this ugly green stained stool at a Goodwill for 2 bucks. It was going to be a chair for the computer, but the desk that I ended up buying came with a bench already. Plus my son loved it too much and though it was his. I don’t have a before picture.

You can’t really tell in the last two pictures, but it’s dark brown and the “S” is silver and gold-ish brown.

Ella’s Halloween Costume

2009-10-23T19:25:00.001-07:00

I had won a tutu at a luncheon that my Mom, Sister and myself went to a few weeks ago, but it was too big for her. I had already planned on making her one for her costume and had bought all the stuff from the store. I started it last night and got such a HUGE headache I couldn’t finish it. It only took like an hour and a half altogether to finish it, probably less.

Miss Ella modeling her new tutu.

She has a little onesie that says, “Princess” on it and the little tiara I made for her, which I’m not sure how to make work. I also have some black leggings that I got at Target at the dollar spot, for when we take Christopher trick-or-treating. He’s going as a frog or “flog” with a slur as he says it. LOL. But get it? The princess and the frog? I’m going to glue a crown to his costume.

PS. I took these pictures with the vacuum on. Don’t I feel smart.

Yeaaa!

2009-10-22T18:13:00.001-07:00

I’m a little behind and was catching up on reading my comments and saw that I was featured on the blog Someday Crafts for Ella’s ragamuffin garland in her room. Kinda cool so I thought I might share.

Is there a way to get alerts or something when you get a comment?

Christopher’s Room

2009-10-22T18:00:00.001-07:00

I’ve been meaning to put pictures of this on here for a while. I made another ragamuffin garland this time for my son’s room. He saw the letters at the store and wanted them. They were only a dollar each so I was like “What the heck”. I actually made it the night before I had Ella. I was crafting away trying to get my mind off the surgery. Which turned out to a piece of cake btw. I’ll come up with a less cluttered place to hang it, but this is where it ended up seems how I also hung it the night before the extraction.

And of course he started posing as soon as he saw the camera.

Ella Belle Morgan Schoettler

2009-10-12T22:43:00.001-07:00

She’s finally here!

Friday October 9th, 11:33 am- 8lbs 3 oz - 20 1/2 inches

Christopher loves his little sister!

The doctor actually let me go home a day early. I feel really good. It’s so much different than last time. And I know I’m speaking too early, but this whole having two kids thing doesn’t seem all that difficult. Yet…

Pumpkins In The Bathroom

2009-10-08T01:21:00.001-07:00

My bathroom is UGLY. Very ugly. It’s the last room in the house that hasn’t been torn out yet. Because we need it still. It has a new toilet in it and everything else is stained and old. I can’t even stand to take pictures of it. Anyway, I saw somewhere online how to make toilet paper pumpkins. I don’t remember where. But, I wanted at least one nice looking thing in that horrible bathroom. Especially since we will probably be having a few guests over after Ella is born. Which happens to be tomorrow. Oh my goodness. Tomorrow! Wow… It’s a scheduled c-section so at 9:30 on October 9th, I will be wheeled into surgery. Terrifying!! Okay where was I…. My pumpkins!!

Don’t you just love the GORGOUS tile? Believe it or not it goes all the way to the ceiling in a million colors.

Can you tell I got a new camera? I thought so. Look how clear my pictures are!! I love my hand twisted copper vines. I picked the sticks off our peach tree. I told my husband I found them on the ground when he asked.

Are you still interested in what the rest of the ~~outhouse~~ bathroom looks like? Okay…

We do NOT use this shower in case anyone was wondering. The faucet is literally falling out of the wall.

I love the lovely mix of colors. It looks like someone barfed up the ocean.

I know you can’t see it too well, but that little gold hook just makes me think of all the Neat things I could hang from it.

Okay that’s about it for now.

Mod Podged Shoes Giveaway!

2009-10-06T11:32:00.001-07:00

Okay when Erika from Oops I Craft My Pants first posted her Mod Podged shoes, I went searching through my house to find a suitable pair to fix up. I didn’t find one. So, I was so excited to see the she’s having a giveaway and is giving away a pair in the size and color you want. Yeaaaaa!!!

So head over and make to sure enter and check out her other neat projects!! Giveaway ends on Saturday, October 10 at 10 pm~~

My First Ragamuffin Garland

2009-10-05T20:43:00.001-07:00

I’ve seen those ragamuffin garlands everywhere, then saw Nester's tutorial and being just days away from having Ella, I had to try it. When first doing her room, I had wanted to get those wooded letters to spell out her name. It was too much on a nothing budget, so instead I printed out her name in a font that I found on dafont.com. I cut them out and hung them from some ribbon and lace I had lying around. Free. Then my husband took way too long to hang it up and I’m so glad because it goes soooo much better with her room now. It looked like paper hanging from a ribbon before and now…….

Ohhh I love it so much! I also won this adorable tutu at a luncheon that I went to Saturday.

I’m going to use it for her halloween costume, along with this tiara headband I made.

I’m linking up to Kimba's blog party for DIY Tuesday!

Make sure to go check out all the other projects!

Strider Running Bike Giveaway!

2009-10-02T09:04:00.001-07:00

The Bragging Mommy is having a Giveaway! It’s for an awesome bike called The Strider Running Bike.

No pedals, no training wheels!

Go check it out and enter yourself to win!

Yes I’m Horrible

2009-10-02T00:52:00.001-07:00

I made another halloween decoration. I saw these Photo Holders on My Repurposed Life’s blog and it reminded me a little of this flower holder thingy I made a while back.

So I decided to mix the two and came up with this. I’ll make it quick and just post a picture. But, I think its caaaute! My 2 year old calls the skulls boogaboogas. I found the wood outside and stripped the copper out of some wires I had saved for crafting. Skulls came from the dollar store.

Poopie Pastries

2009-09-30T08:25:00.001-07:00

Design Dazzle is having an awesome giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to purchase whatever their hearts desire from the Poopie Pastries Etsy shop.

My favorite…

So head over to Design Dazzle and enter yourself to win!!

Psst…

2009-09-28T23:34:00.001-07:00

Gail from My Repurposed Life is having a giveaway! Go leave her a comment and you’ll be entered to win a photo holder of your choice.

My favorite…

Hurry because the giveaway ends October 2nd at midnight!!

SPOOKY

2009-09-28T10:22:00.001-07:00

I’m so into halloween decorating right now. Since Ella will be here in 11 days, I’m doing it all early. My son had a fever Saturday night and I was up at 4 o’clock in the morning giving him medicine and couldn’t sleep afterwards. So, I laid in bed and thought up this idea.

I had leftover Target scrapbook paper from my BOO banner and bottle caps galore. So I painted them black and cut circles of paper to fit inside the bottle caps.

I used puff paint and wrote out SPOOKY on the circles.

I just used white glue and glued letter into the bottle caps.

But, because of the little ridge on the caps it didn’t glue as well as I had wanted it to. So, I did a coat of Mod Podge on each one to seal it. (Sorry for the bad pictures. We really need a new camera.)

I found this piece of wood in the backyard. So I hot glued each letter to it and used a piece of scrap ribbon to hang it with. I really had to work with the ribbon to bake it hang right.

I ended up adding a strip of magnet behind the word SPOOKY and at the top where the bow is. So I could hang it where ever I want.

The pictures are horrible, but the sign is cute.

And one more halloween decoration I made today. I’m really loving it… Sifted through my piles of sheet music to find something fitting.

I’m going to be linking up to Kimba's blog party for DIY Tuesday!

Halloween!

2009-09-25T17:12:00.001-07:00

The only two things that I really love about halloween are being able to get dressed up (or getting my son dressed up nowdays) and decorating! I found the link to this project from Kimba’s blog A Soft Place To Land and really wanted to make something like it.

I already had halloween scrapbook paper that I bought at Target for $1.00 for 8 sheets. Soooo cute…

I also have a TON of stray piano sheet music that I saved for whatever project comes to mind. So I just took a couple and popped them into my printer and printed each of the BOO letters on a separate piece. I used the paint.net application that I downloaded for free and found a font that I liked and downloaded for free from dafont.com

I cut them out using my son’s Happy Birthday banner as a template and glued them onto the scrapbook paper. Then just used random scraps of ribbon, glitter, puff paint, and fabric to make this…

Not at all as elaborate as hers, but I still love it.

And my little ghostie…

My "New" Goodies

2009-09-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

The house is s l o w l y coming together one piece at a time.

I had registered for this lamp to put in Ella's room but after, I decided it would make much more sense to find one at the thrift store and found this one for 3.50. I already had the fabric left over from her ottoman, so with a little hot glue... Tada! I think it fits just perfect. And come on... It would have been over $60 for the base and shade, so this it wayyy better. I might add some trim later, but for now I'm very pleased.

Her room all set up. You can kind of see the lamp in the corner.

I got this shelf from my MIL and decided to hang it in the entryway for all my Willow Tree figurines. I think it looks pretty cute. I'm not too picky.

I finally found a desk for the entryway that I LOVE. We needed to get one of the computers out our room to make space for Ella's playpen and the only space we had to move it into was the hallway/ entryway. I wanted something that wouldn't be an eyesore and found this! I'll eventually recover the bench, but it works for now. I don't even want to repaint it, which just makes it easier for me.

New Furniture!

2009-08-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

I got an ottoman at a yard sale yesterday for 5 bucks. It was very ugly with a few layers of fabric covering it and a dark stain with white trim. I don't have pictures of it like that because I was in too much of a hurry to get started. But, trust me, it was UGLY. I decided to "rehab" it for Ella's room and I love how it turned out I couldn't be any happier. I even added little tufting buttons or what have you which was something I had never done before. Anyway, here are the pictures of it sitting pretty in her room.

The floor is still covered in sawdust from all the baseboard/molding work being done in the hallway. Don't mind it.

And more pictures of her room just for fun...

I got the pink buckets at the 99 cent store and the lace ribbons from a belt at the Dollar Tree. Yes, a belt. It had 6 different kinds braided together.

I painted and glued fabric into this basket for her diapers.

Linked up to DIY Thursday at Kimba's ASPTL!

Christopher's Finished Room!

2009-08-10T15:08:00.001-07:00

Christopher's room is all finished and just in time to put all the new stuff he got for his birthday away. We bought him a toy box for his birthday.

His birthday was nice. Just family. We did the whole Cars theme again this year because he's just so crazy about that movie. I bought him a Car cake because I wanted to eat store buttercream frosting.

I also made his pinata. Which was completely INSANE. I was up until 2:30, the day of the party, decorating it. I just wish I would have gotten a better picture of it.

A New Room!

2009-07-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

The progress on Christopher's new room is going VERY good. I'm quite surprised. I was able to paint his walls all by myself. His closet shelves are put up, along with his fan and the light switches. We're going to stain the concrete in our house if it ends up turning out good. So today we're etching the floor in his room. Then it's baseboards and trim.

I had another doctor's appointment on the 23rd. Everything is going good and she is just the right size. I saw a little bit of her face when he did the ultrasound and I think she looks like Christopher. I am so excited to meet her.

The Gang

2009-06-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

Christopher really needs to be sleeping in his own bed. Because there really isn't room for six in ours. (Chris, me, baby girl, Christopher, and then Gb and Av.)

Our Little Girl

2009-06-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

In 14 weeks we're due to have our first girl! The rounder I get the more out of reach it seems that Christopher's room will be finished in time. It's pretty much at square one, needing to be taped, textured, and painted. Only then can we move his "big boy" bunk beds in and get our little girls room done up. But, I will continue to have faith in my husband that he will have it done just in time to welcome her home.

Names we ♥

Ella Jean Schoettler
Ella Belle Schoettler