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Embroidery Projects

January 21, 2023 By Becca Leave a Comment

Kimberbell Candy Cane Lane Machine Embroidery Bench Pillow

About a year ago I started really getting into machine embroidery. I took a class at my local quilt shop (Quilting Mayhem) and I was hooked. Machine embroidery makes everything look so much more professional than traditional embroidery. I realize that there is a lot more talent involved in traditional embroidery, but WOW… I really love the way these projects have turned out. A lot of the Kimberbell machine embroidery projects have places for fairy lights, which make the finished product absolutely adorable. The project, shown above, is the Kimberbell Candy Cane Lane machine embroidery bench pillow. I bought the fabric kit and the embellishment kit for this project. I’m not a huge fan of pink, and I don’t have any aqua in my house, but I just loved the finished look, so I couldn’t pass it up.

I worked on the Kimberbell 2 Scoops machine embroidery bench pillow over this past summer. Again, I don’t love pink and I don’t own anything else in blue, pale green, or aqua, but how can you say no to the color combinations in this pillow. Doesn’t it just scream SUMMMER? This was the fabric kit and embellishment kit for 2 Scoops. The best part about this project is the ice cream truck. There is a little pocket sewn into the back side of the ice cream truck that holds a music box. If you push on the speaker that is on the top of the ice cream truck it will play music that sounds like it’s coming from an ice cream truck.

I finished making the Kimberbell Sweet As Pie machine embroidery bench pillow well after Thanksgiving. (Back to school season is a little crazy when you are a kindergarten teacher.) The fabric kit for this project included a lot of purple and did not have red. I shopped my fabric stash and pulled a few different red fabrics. I love the color combination and was sad to put this pillow away so quickly after it was made, but it was time to move onto Christmas decorating.

The Kimberbell Spring Showers machine embroidery wall quilt was one of the first projects I completed when I really started in with machine embroidery. It was a loooong project. This was supposed to be a seasonal wall hanging, but it’s been up all year, since the only time you see it is when you walk down the stairs.

You might have noticed a theme when it comes to my love of the Kimberbell machine embroidery projects. I truly think they are the best “project kits” out there. I have ventured out on my own machine embroidery projects. I saw a really cute pillow on Pinterest, so I decided to make the Christmas pillow in the picture below. I just used the font that was already on my machine and did a little patchwork piecing with some Christmas fabrics that I had on hand.

I have spent a lot of time, over the past year, making kitchen towels. They are the easiest things to make. The coffee embroidery project, below, took a lot more time than most of my towels because I needed to change the color of thread so often.

My husband was little worried when I made the Bunny Snacks embroidery kitchen towel. He thought that because we have a bunny, I was going to embroider bunnies on everything. This was only an Easter embroidery project and now it’s back in my kitchen drawer until next Easter.

I’ll have to post about my embroidery machine and the process that it takes to complete embroidery projects soon. Until then, happy stitching!

Bee’s Wrap Sustainable Food Storage

May 31, 2018 By Becca Leave a Comment

It’s been forever since I’ve shared a kitchen product I love, but it’s also been forever since I’ve found something new that I’m in love with. Today, I’m sharing Bee’s Wrap Sustainable Food Storage. I’m an Amazon affiliate, so I do get a little kickback if you decided to purchase Bee’s Wrap using my links. If you want to skip my background story and get to my info about the Bee’s Wrap, you’ll want to scroll down a bit. I have a story to tell about how I found the Bee’s Wrap first.

As most of you know, I had a stroke 2 months ago. The stroke was centered in the Cerebellar region, which controls balance and motor function. I look fine, when I’m walking (most of the time), but I have a dizzy feeling in my head and sometimes sway, find myself off balance, or take a little tumble. Grocery stores are the WORST! Turning my head as I walk causes all sorts of problems like extreme dizziness and nausea, and you’re constantly turning your head to look for the items you need when you are in the aisles.

(Side story… words are really hard since my stroke and aisles took forever to figure out. Isles? Ailes? I finally asked my husband. Aisles isn’t normally a word that would have challenged my brain.)

Back to the story. My physical therapist gave me some homework. She said to walk down the mall on a day when it’s not too busy. Walk, looking straight ahead, and once in a while go ahead and glance into a store. She thought that would be a good step toward being able to do the grocery store more than 5 minutes. It started out ok. I started with the outdoor portion of the mall because outdoors are always better for me. Unfortunately, there was stamped concrete and the business was too much for my brain. I sat down in a little chair because I was starting to feel like I was going to fall over and… HEY, there’s Williams Sonoma. It sucked me in, Friends. I started to look for some gifts I needed and spotted the Bees Wrap on the sale rack. I have to tell you, I have been looking for Bee’s Wrap for about 2 years. I saw it in a magazine. I have put it on my Christmas list many times, but no one can ever find it. So, when I saw the Bee’s Wrap sitting there, I had to buy it.

I bake a lot of bread, so the Bee’s Wrap bread wrap was the way to go.

Saving the environment, one Bee’s Wrap at a time!

(Another side story: Going to the mall as my physical therapy assignment didn’t work out so well for me. I wound up with the headache to end all headaches, which put me back at the walk-in-clinic to get help with the pain. There are very few things I can take for pain, so they tried a shot. No luck. They finally found some meds that worked, but sheesh!!! One little trip to the mall and they were just about ready to send me back to the ER for another MRI and and IV to administer pain meds. I’m thinking it’s because I didn’t follow the rules. I went into two stores and looked around. On the plus side, I found Bee’s Wrap and got a cute new shirt. I know, I know, next time I’ll follow the rules. “Strokes are nothing to mess with. Your brain takes time to heal. Rest is important. Always stop the activity when you begin feeling too dizzy or nauseated to continue.” Those are the doctor’s words.)

My son, who doesn’t really care much about kitchen related purchases, commented on how fresh the two day old banana bread tasted. I was just happy that the bread wasn’t wrapped in plastic wrap. To wash and reuse the Bee’s Wrap, the directions say to wash with cold water and a little dish soap, hang to dry, fold to store, and reuse for about 1 year. Friends, I’m saving the planet one Bee’s Wrap at a time. I know you want to do the same!

Happy Bee’s Wrapping!

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My New Stadium Seat

December 21, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Hello friends! I want to share a product that I love with you. We spend a lot of time sitting in basketball tournaments for our two kids. After back surgery, my husband bought me a new seat, so I didn’t have to sit on uncomfortable bleachers for hours on end. Here is my new queen chair!

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The reason I’m sharing this with you is because I have been asked, more times than I can count, about where I bought this seat. It is super comfy, padded, and even has padded arms. It is so much better than a bleacher seat. I do get a little kick back from Amazon, as I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you are interested in a new stadium seat, this is the one!

Happy shopping!

LeapPad Platinum Review

July 8, 2015 By Becca 1 Comment

Oh, I can’t even begin to describe my joy when a LeapFrog box arrives in the mail for me! There are a few LeapFrog products that I absolutely can’t live without in my classroom.

1. The Letter Factory DVD
I’ve mentioned a time or 100 that this is the best product EVER made by any educational company. I swear by this video and show it to my kindergarten class until they are singing the little songs that go along with every letter.

2. The Letter Factory Board Game
Well, duh. The game goes along with the DVD and it’s just brilliant. It is no longer made, but you can find them on ebay.

3. The Tablets
I have now been the proud owner of every single tablet made by LeapFrog, and they just keep getting better.

I use the tablets in my classroom during several times of the day. I have them available during our Center time for kids to play on, during our Literacy block when I want them using the ebooks, and during our Math Centers. My favorite thing about the tablets is that even when kids are “just playing” and have no specific activities that I have selected for them, they are still learning all the time! Kart racing is one of the favorite games for my kids because they can race against each other, while they are each on their own tablet. Now, you would think that a car race isn’t educational, but in order to power up their cars they have to solve math problems. I’m telling you, learning is embedded everywhere!

The new LeapPad Platinum is one of the bigger tablets. The LeapPad, LeapPad2, and LeapPad3 are not quite as large. Personally, I really like the large screen and hefty feeling of the LeapPad Ultra and the LeapPad Platinum. The LeapPads are super durable. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times they are dropped by my kindergartners each day! My only complaint about the tablet itself is the sylus that is attached. It has a squishy top on the stylus that is kind of cool, but it was torn up within the first month. If the stylus is my only complaint, then I’m ok with that!

As for the content, here are a few of my favorite things:

*Kid-Safe Web – LeapSearch is a kid safe web browser that has age appropriate content picked by the LeapFrog Learning Experts.

*New Imagicard Learning Games – Ok, these are pretty cool. The interactive trading cards come to life on the LeapFrog tablets. Kids can use the camera to bring their characters to life and unlock more ways to play.

Some of the games include THE LETTER FACTORY (woo hoo!), PAW Patrol, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ummm, I can hardly wait to see how the kindergarten boys are going to fall in love with the Ninja Turtle game!

*E-books – During our Daily 5 time of our kindergarten literacy block, I tell the kids that I want them reading or listening to reading. If they are using the tablets, their only choice is to pick an ebook. Although, I think I will add in the Letter Factory games this year. There are tons of different options for ebooks. Frozen is the HUGE favorite, but I also have a space book that is a close second. I was surprised that the fairy tales stories are not chosen too often and that the Pet Pals IS chosen. Kids surprise me sometimes. I often think they will love one thing and then they pick something that I think won’t be a favorite. Here’s a picture of the Sophia the First book.

I’m even able to customize the Ultra Ebooks to the level of the kids in the class. Now, THAT is a cool feature!

Overall, I have to say this is the best tablet yet! It’s one of those MUST-HAVE items for young kids. I use these in my classroom, but my daughter also used them when she was younger. As I mentioned above, I love that learning is constantly embedded into every single activity. If there are two things your young kids need, they are: 1) The Letter Factory DVD 2) A LeapPad Tablet – and spend the few extra dollars to buy the bigger one. You won’t be sorry!

Happy Learning!

**The opinions in this post are all my own. I was provided a LeapPad Platinum in exchange for reviewing the product.**

Wire Crafting With Kids

April 7, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

A few days ago, I wrote a post about some fun activities to do with your kids over Spring Break. A couple of people told me they took my suggestions and bought an item or two! Yay! I hope you are all enjoying a little at-home-creativity.

Well, my daughter and I decided to take on a bit of wire crafting yesterday. It’s pretty fun, friends! I’ve never done anything with wire, except using it to trellis my fruits and veggies in the garden. I’ve been interested because it’s something that is introduced quite frequently in Reggio Emilia, Italy. (You can read more about my Reggio Emilia obsession on my literacy blog). I brought out the materials for wire crafting and my daughter was a bit intrigued, but didn’t know what to do with them. I do want to grab a few books from the library, to get some more ideas. We pulled out the iPad and looked up some tutorials on You Tube.

One of the first tutorials to pop up was a ring. This was my daughter’s first attempt.

I love it! She loved it so much she hasn’t taken it off since she made it.

Here are a few product suggestions to get you started, if you are new to wire crafting.

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I have a Pinterest board set up for wire crafting now.

I certainly don’t have the patience for some of the amazing tutorials I have seen online, but there were several things that might be fun to try. I’m most excited to introduce this as a medium for demonstrating learning in our nature provocations in the classroom. (Ok, that just confirmed that my teacher-brain is always running!)

Happy wire crafting!

How To Keep Your Kids Busy Over Spring Break

April 1, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Spring break is almost here! We are sticking pretty close to home this year and it made me think about what we are going to do to keep ourselves busy. This blog is all about home and family. I love to share cooking, sewing, gardening, and art projects that we are doing around here so I thought I’d let you in on my secret weapon. I must confess that I don’t always come up with amazing ideas on my own to keep my daughter busy. I love books and I’m always on the lookout for fun How-To books for her. Over the past few years, these have provided hours of entertainment.

*In full disclosure, I’m part of the Amazon Affiliate program, so if you choose to buy a product by clicking on it, I get a little kick-back. I promise, I wouldn’t tell you to buy these books unless I really and truly loved them.*

First up is the Mom and Me Cookbook. I have a pretty big children’s cookbook collection and this one is my absolute favorite.

If you’re up for a little sewing, this book has some great projects for beginners. My daughter and niece made both of the projects on the front of the book, had a great time, and learned a new skill.

If gardening is your thing, then this next book is great for getting a few little projects going.

The next item is something that I don’t actually own, but it is on my wish list. I’ve been wanting to do some experimenting with wire art in the classroom and at home. I thought this would be a good way to start and see how we like it.

I bought this pipe cleaner book when we were on vacation and needed an activity for our down-time. It was a great way to keep kids busy. Did you know the best way to cut pipe cleaners is with nail clippers? The book comes with pipe cleaners and shows you how to make all sorts of different animals.

Ok, this one is awesome. Have you ever heard of watercolor pencils? You color with them, like normal pencils, but then you add water to the colored-on paper with a paintbrush. It makes it look like a watercolor painting! You might be thinking, “Ok, that’s great, but I can’t draw.” Well, neither can I! This book walks you through the drawing process, step by step, and you end up with a pretty cool product. My daughter liked this one and even framed a few of her paintings.

My last suggestion is the Loopdedoo. It’s a little “machine” that helps you make friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss. Each bracelet takes just minutes and there are tons of different looks you can make. This was a Christmas present one year and it kept my daughter busy for the entire break.

I can’t wait for Spring Break. Sigh. Arts and crafts, gardening, sewing, and baking are on my To Do list. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

Happy shopping!

Slipcovers For The Ottomans – A Fabric Review For Organic Cotton Plus

March 20, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about my new chocolate brown Hemp fabric from Organic Cotton Plus. Last week I was able to make the slipcovers for my ottomans. (For the record, I had to Google what the plural form of ottoman is. Ottomans just doesn’t sound right, but neither does ottomen.

So far, I’m loving the durability of the fabric. It is quite heavy, doesn’t wrinkle, and fits snuggly over the ottomans. The only slight downside I see, so far, is the color. I wish it was a tad darker. I would like it to be closer in color to the dark brown chair, in the background, but I’m loving the fabric itself.

To make the slipcovers, I took apart my old slipcovers and used one of the side panels as a template. I used a heavy duty needle because my quilting needles aren’t quite thick enough for this fabric. Sewing with this fabric was similar to sewing with denim.

Over the years, I’ve definitely become an online shopper. Organic Cotton Plus has a great selection of fabrics and I love that they are made in the USA.

If you missed my post on my happy mail day, here is the rundown on my fabric:

Last Thursday was a very happy mail day for me. Three yards of brown hemp fabric arrived in the mail.

About a week prior, I was contacted by Organic Cotton Plus to do another fabric review for them. I have done a few reviews for Organic Cotton Plus, and I have been very pleased with their fabric, so I was thrilled when they contacted me again. I was invited to review their new Hemp line and the invitation came at a very good time. I searched through their website and several things caught my eye, but I was especially excited about the brown hemp that I found, that resembled the brown fabric covers on my ottomans.

I loved my chocolate brown corduroy, when I first made the covers. Sadly, after about two years, they have seen better days. The corduroy is looking very worn and starting to come apart at the seams. I expected that it wouldn’t last too long. This is, obviously, a place for our feet to rest and is used quite a bit.

Online fabric shopping seems like it would be a little challenging, but I have been pleasantly surprised. The picture, below, shows my new fabric sitting on my old ottoman. Not a bad match! I was looking for something durable and about the same color. It’s hard, when you can’t feel and touch the fabric, but I decided to just go for it. The hemp that I requested was VERY thick and heavy. I’m so excited because I think it will be long lasting and look perfect in this space. Honestly, it’s exactly what I would have picked if I went shopping at the store, rather than online.

The hemp fabric that I picked is a woven fabric, that reminds me of a heavy duck cloth canvas.

Isn’t it pretty? I can’t wait to get started sewing! I will be sure to share my pictures of the finished product when I’m done.

Organic Cotton Plus provided me with 3 yards of brown Hemp fabric in exchange for my review of the product. The opinions stated here are my own.

Side note: I’m always a bit hesitant to accept the invitation of companies to review their products. I don’t ever want this blog to feel like I’m always trying to “sell” something. Currently, the only two companies I have reviewed for are LeapFrog and Organic Cotton Plus Fabrics. I believe in these companies and will happily promote the good work they do! I do receive offers almost daily, in my inbox, but I rarely think a company would be a good fit for me. A few of the reasons I chose to review products for this company are: I love to sew, the idea of working with organic fabric appeals to me, and the fabric is made in the USA. That being said, you probably won’t find a whole slew of new product reviews on here, unless Williams Sonoma calls. I will happily review their products any day.

Happy Online Fabric Shopping!

Organizing With Bins and Labels

March 4, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Bins and labels. I guess that’s what I do. I was looking through some blog photos and noticed how many times I’ve posted about organizing with bins and labels. Here are the bins in my laundry room.

I should probably give a shout-out to my laminator too! It comes in handy for making sturdy labels. (It’s a Scotch brand, from Amazon, and it was only $30.)

When my daughter was younger, her toy bins had labels with pictures. I would pretend that it helped my daughter put her toys away in the right places. In reality, it helped ME put her toys away in the right places.

For the garage, I made printed adhesive labels. Sadly, these bins are all overflowing and need some attention at the moment. But, the labels are still pretty!

The next two pictures were from my bathroom organization post. One of the parents in my classroom stopped me today to let me know that she bought bins and organized her bathroom like this today! Love it! Doesn’t organization make you happy?

This was the best 20 minutes I’ve ever spent organizing. I can find stuff again! My label maker came in handy for organizing the bins too. I heart my label maker.

My classroom books are all in little labeled bins too. These are the seasonal books that I only get out for about a month each year. It’s easy to find Christmas books or St. Patrick’s Day books when they are all organized by theme, month, or author.

Ah, the pantry. Let me just say, that this photo was taken on a good day. In summer. When I wasn’t working. And my kids were younger and didn’t have their teenage friends rummaging through our food. And I had more time. You get the idea.

You know that little cupboard in your kitchen, on the backside of your cabinets, that seems like dead space? It’s our art cubby. Everyone needs an art cubby if you have kids at home. Ok, now that the kids are older I call it the Homework Supply Cupboard (although sometimes Art Cubby just slips out… hey, I’m a kindergarten teacher). Once again, we have bins and labels in there!

I guess I’m a little obsessed, but there are worse things to be obsessed with!

Happy organizing!

A Happy Mail Day – Fabric From Organic Cotton Plus

February 17, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Last Thursday was a very happy mail day for me. Three yards of brown hemp fabric arrived in the mail.

The hemp fabric that I picked is a woven fabric, that reminds me of a heavy duck cloth canvas.

Isn’t it pretty? I can’t wait to get started sewing! I will be sure to share my pictures of the finished product when I’m done.

Organic Cotton Plus provided me with 3 yards of brown Hemp fabric in exchange for my review of the product. The opinions stated here are my own.

Happy Online Fabric Shopping!

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