It's Coronation Day!

Ever since we got back from Disneyland, Maia has been asking for Elsa's coronation dress. She's been relentless.
In fact, for several mornings in a row, she'd come in to our room just before 6, saying "And mommy? We need to be sure to put some blue stuff on the edges so it's just like her dress. Ok?"

And the next day "So, we need like dark blue fabric for the gloves since my gloves have holes in them."

And "Don't forget about the cape. It's pretty long so maybe we should go outside on a windy day so it doesn't get all dirty."

Apparently this dress was pretty important.
I finally caved and told her I'd work on making her one.

First I thought I'd look online to see if I could purchase the dresses. Apparently the Anna dress is being sold, but it wasn't long enough for Ruby. Elsa's dress is also being sold, but on Etsy for upwards of $120.

I also found 2 patterns on Etsy for $9.50 apiece. I swallowed my nerves and apprehension and hit the download button.

I used This Elsa pattern and this Anna pattern. Both were very clear and easy to follow.

With a list of yardage and fabrics in hand, Maia and I headed to the store.

The printing and cutting of the fabric went smoothly. Shoot, I now know what a grain line is!
Also, I should point out that La Croix fueled this project. (don't worry, they were recycled).

Then came the painting for Anna's dress. It was at this point that I felt I had perhaps gotten in too deep.

And while it seemed never ending, it was also a lot of fun.

Maia kept getting out of bed each night to "see how the dresses were coming."

And then, finally, after 3 days, they were done!

My least favorite part of this whole thing? Making the stencils.
If I ever do it again (which at this point, is doubtful), I'll buy proper stencil film and use it instead of a cereal box.

 There were so many times that I would finish a step and then laugh out loud in disbelief that it actually looked the way it was supposed to look.

There were so many things that I did for the first time.
Sleeves.
Lining.
A collar.
Fabric painting (which was a lot more fun than I anticipated).

My motto for the past three days was "it's only fabric."

They are certainly not perfect.

But the girls don't seem to notice.

They only care that it's long enough and not too itchy.

Hemming this dress was a huge job.
And probably my second least favorite part.

Lots of room for growth in this one.

The Elsa pattern had painting the fabric as the last step. If I did it again, I think I'd try to do it before sewing the dress together. That way I could paint everything at once, without having to wait for one side to dry before rotating it.

One of the hardest parts of the project was trying to complete the dresses at the same time.

I would also use gold fabric paint for the trim on Elsa's dress, instead of ribbon. It's way easier to paint on the outline than it is to sew the ribbon.

"Mommy! My gloves have shipped! They're going to be here today or tomorrow!"

Also "when are you going to make the cape?" and "we need to make a crown now."
The Elsa pattern did come with a cape and I'll probably try to have that done by Halloween.

Oh yeah, speaking of Halloween, there is no way I'm buying costumes this year. So hopefully these aren't destroyed or too small by then. If they are, too bad.

The entire project cost just about $120 for both dresses.

I have lots of material left over from the Elsa dress though, maybe enough for one more in the same (smallest) size.

It was a fun project. Exhausting, but also exciting. Especially since I don't really consider myself a sewer.
However, after this project, I think I do pretty well!

House stuff

Well, it's that time of year.
Home improvements and big projects abound.
I've been sewing all day every day for the past two days. But more on that later.

At any rate, there have been some small changes in the house.

We used to have this clothesline hanging in the hallway, to display artwork and pictures.

It now looks like this!
I replaced the clothesline with 4 frames I found at Goodwill. I painted them all the same color, placed matting in the back and attached wires in the front.

I like how we have the same display area, but its now more grown up. Also, it will be easier to cut down on all the Lion King and Frozen pictures.
Sorry! Only room for 4!

Patching up the walls and painting them brought the suddenly urgent (to me) need to give the downstairs a fresh coat of paint. The paint can the old owners left for us is from 2007. I think it might be time. I'm hoping to get that done before the semester starts.

However, of more immediate concern is that some of the siding on our house is rotting.

We've had four companies come out and do estimates. From these visits we've learned that the siding used on our house is the cheapest you can use, low quality (surprise, surprise), and is reaching the end of its life. There are about six spots that were repaired before we owned the house.

So, we're looking at close to $8,000-$10,000 if we do the front of the house, spots in the back, and paint the whole house (which it needs) or $20,000-$30,000 if we do the entire house and get it painted.

The thing is, we won't get our money back when we sell the house. It's not like redoing a bathroom or kitchen. But if we don't do the work, it will continue to deteriorate and cost us money when we try to sell it.

I can think of at least 20 other things I'd like to spend that much money on.

Several of the guys who came to give estimates said if we're planning on being in the house for the next 15 years, we should consider doing the whole thing or a larger part of it. However, if we're only going to be here for 4 or 5 more years, then it would make sense to just fix the spots that need it.

Bottom line, we don't have that kind of money. And I really don't want to pay it back longer than is absolutely necessary.

All the decisions we've made about our lives up to this point include being here in Wichita for the long term. There are lots of wonderful things about this place and we're happy to be here despite my longing for the Bay Area and disdain for Kansas weather. However, you never know what crazy, unexpected turns life can take.

In 15 years Ruby will have graduated high school. We certainly won't need this size house once our birdies have left the nest. We could downsize and move to a more "hip" part of town, even if it's in a terrible school district.

What would y'all do?

We're leaning toward new siding on the entire front, the few spots in the back, and getting the house repainted.

Any thoughts and/or advice?

Homemade BBQ Sauce, Ceiling Fans, and other important things

I finally finished repainting Maia's dresser!

The whole time I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach for messing with a good piece of furniture.

However, I think the finished project turned out pretty cute and I can always sand and re-stain it if I start losing sleep.

I didn't sand it before priming, which I will do in the future if I ever do this again.

But overall, it's pretty stinking adorable.

Aleks went to Bakersfield, CA last week to be a guest composer at CSUB.

While he was gone, I decided to cook things for dinner that he might not particularly enjoy.

One night I had planned to make bean and corn pizzas (a meal that Aleks actually would have enjoyed). However, I ran out of time to make dough for the crust and when I opened the fridge, I realized we were out of BBQ sauce. 

Tapping into my Kyhn roots (you should know my parents make their own pancake syrup) I decided to create something from nothing. I ended up putting the pizzas on tortillas and mixing ketchup and mustard to make BBQ sauce.

I'll be honest, it wasn't amazing, but Ruby certainly liked it!

Of course while Aleks was gone Maia caught a cold and was up all night. The next morning was a blur, but thankfully the girls usually play together pretty well and I could self-medicate with coffee.

A while ago Aleks won "Best in Show" from the Global Music Awards.

While he was gone, his trophy came in the mail.

Isn't it pretty?

I know it's the first of many awards to come.

The girls and I went to breakfast one morning that Aleks was out of town.

They did remarkably well and the outing was without incident.

Well, until Maia spilled her orange juice all over herself and the booth as we were leaving.

Sigh.

How great are Ruby's curls?!

I mean come on.

I learned how to use the timer on my camera!

Look! a picture with all 4 of us together!

When Aleks got home, he installed this ceiling fan!

And watched the girls while I was at work

 And made dinner.

I'm so lucky.

I found the cutest kid's consignment shop and got the girls some new dresses.

This one has lobsters embroidered on the collar.

So cute and vintage looking.

And pink of course.

And then there's this outfit that I think is adorable, but Aleks doesn't want her wearing belly shirts in public.

So, I'll probably put Ruby in the shirt and hope Maia wears the pants once in a while.

Sweet Ruby.

Whose favorite words are "hungry" and "bite."

Can you tell how much Ruby adores her sister?

Well, summer is here.

It's hot and muggy.

House projects are piling up.

Aleks and I are doing a 5k next Saturday.

Tomorrow we're going to see a Dinosuar exhibit downtown.

Hopefully Maia won't be disappointed when the pteranodons don't start singing and dancing.

But seriously, thank you Jim Hensen for Dinosaur Train.

Happy Weekend!

Potty Trained! (and the F-bomb)

Dare I say it?

Maia is potty trained!

It took about 2 weeks. 

She has yet to go when we are out of the house, but she's been really good at holding it until we get home.

And she's still in diapers at night.

One of her potty prizes was this dinosaur egg that gets submerged in water and hatches.

Maia was so excited. She climbed up on her chair incessantly throughout the day to see if it had hatched. She even sang it a good night song.

The next morning it was hatched!

Aleks washed it off for her and let her hold it while she was on the potty.

I looked in on her and she was holding the dinosaur on her lap, looking at it skeptically. She looked up at me and asked, "Mommy is it just a toy dinosaur?" My heart broke at her disappointment. We had to explain about extinction and I almost went out to buy her a pet. 

Thankfully, Aleks talked me down; I don't want to clean up after anything else.

Later that day, she was rhyming and found a word that starts with an "f" and rhymes with truck.

This little girl has had me in stitches all week.

Today I finished a project in Maia's room.

I had three frames that I wasn't using and found a fourth, larger one at Goodwill.

I primed and then painted them all with gloss paint.

I filled the center of the large frame with chalkboard paint.

Anyone know what book this picture is from?*

I found this image here. It's an outline of Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life, which I colored.

I was unfamiliar with the work, but I love it.

I can't find where I got this free printable from, but it's pretty cute!

This might be a bit over my 3 year old's head, but I like the message.

Here they are on the wall.

Bad lighting and all.

Next project?

See that dresser to the left?

It's getting a coat of paint!

*The Paper Bag Princess, a must read for any independent little girl.

Flower-gedden

Three weeks ago I went to Michaels to buy some felt for a possible Valentine's Day project.

(Here it is- completed a day before Valentine's Day)

I also purchased a 6 inch florists styrofoam ball.

I saw this on Pinterest and was interested in replicating it for Maia's room:

My sister-in-law taught me how to make felt flowers, and since I love felt, I thought I'd use it instead of paper.

I headed back to Michaels, where I picked up 16 sheets of pink felt. I cut each sheet in half and then created ovals by rounding the corners. I cut the ovals into spirals and cut a wiggly edge on the outside of the spiral.

Then I rolled the felt, starting at the outside end until I got to the middle. I used a glue gun to secure the finished flower.

Once the flowers were made, I glued them to the ball. 

So, 16x2= 32 flowers. 

Which covered a little less than half the ball.

As I was gluing flower 25 or so, I began to grasp the enormity of this project.

So, back to Michaels, where I picked up 14 more sheets of pink felt, which created 28 more flowers.

This time, the felt sat on my work table for a week.

Finally, this past weekend I buckled down and whipped up more flowers.

And then I started gluing them onto the ball.

And realized that I was still going to need more flowers.

So, Aleks was still out of town and we happened to be by Joann's, so I picked up 7 more sheets of pink felt there. That night I cut, and rolled, and glued with a renewed sense of determination and drive. Then I took the flowers upstairs to glue them onto the ball and discovered that it was a different shade of pink.

Blerg.

At this point, the felt flower ball was not going to win.

The next day I went to Michaels with a scrap of the correct felt and finished this sucker.

I used a glue gun to attach a hook to the ball. I'm a little concerned about the weight of the whole thing and have daymeres of it falling on Maia's head in the middle of the night, but Aleks seems to think it will hold.

I was going to wait until it was hung to post this, but honestly, I don't know when that is going to happen. So, here it is finished (all 74 flowers!) and I'll be sure to add a picture of it hanging in Maia's room at some point.

The original plan was to create three of these in different colors, but I don't know if it's worth it.

If you're laid up in bed for a few days, I'd say go for it and make your own. 

Otherwise, this might be one decoration worth buying.