Valentine's heart garland tutorial

I am so excited to share this tutorial with you all!!! Crafting is one of my very favorite things and cheap and easy crafts that make awesome things are the best. I’m really into felt right now; we made felt turkeys for Thanksgiving, felt snowmen for Christmas/winter, and might as well keep the trend going for Valentine’s Day. I like felt because it’s really cheap $0.33 each at any of my local craft stores (less if you have a coupon, I always have a few). Felt is easy to maneuver, cut, twist, sew, the most difficult thing that I have run into is gluing it but then I just bought some felt glue, problem solved.

I saw this projec on Pintrest last year, you can find the original post I saw here. I knew that I could make this I just needed the time and supplies. An excuse to go shopping? Uh yes please.

 I picked 5 diffrent colors of felt 2 of each color. At $.33 each thats only $3.33. I started by cutting them in half so that I had two equal pieces. Once you've cut them place the equal pieces on top of each other.

 

Pick one of the edges and sew a straight stitch the length of the felt, back stitching at each end. Use a 1/2" seam allowance. After you have sewn one side turn it over do that the seam is faced down and roll the sides out making a heart shape. Meet each of the two edges (you can pin them if it helps you) then sew another straight stitch the length of the felt again back stitching at each end and using a 1/2" seam allowance. You should complete this process for each of your pieces of felt. Now you should have ten super cute, heart shaped felt tubes.

Next I used my soft tape measure to help me measure where to cut. I made little snips at 1" intervals along each of my 10 heart tubes. I then went back and cut each of those snips all the way through the width of the hear tubes for the end result to be a 1" felt heart.

 I really yielded more than I thought I was going to, actually enough to complete other projects after the initial garland. I just love this pile of hearts!


  






I took this as a opportunity for a home school moment on patterns with Ronnie and he made this pattern. I can only imagine all of the other things we could do with these pieces, but I cant get off track! I have a project to finish. Using Ronnie's pattern as the base for our garland I flattened the hearts out and with my needle and bakers twine threaded the needle through the middle of the stack. My piece of twin was about 5 feet long, you should cut yours to fit for where you want to hang it. My piece used about half of my felt hearts leaving me with plenty for more projects. After they were all threaded on the twine I started arranging them so that they weren't squished. You can choose to have them all point down or alternate down and up either way they spin pretty easy before or after you un-squish them.
I am loving them at this point. I reinforced our pattern with Ronnie at this point and he was excited to see the result of something he had chosen.

I love being able to do crafts with the kids. It not only teaches them to make something out of raw materials but it then shows them how to problem solve and opens so many other creative skills, pattern making, hand sewing, machine sewing, manipulation, the possibilities are endless.
This is our finished garland! our hearts liked to fall over so they took some arranging once I actually go the garland hung on the wall but now I am in love!









I had a ton of left over hearts so I whipped up this little piece but threading through the top and bottom of the hearts instead of the middle. Super cute accessory! You could thread your garland this way as well. Whichever look you like the best! I really love how many options there are with this project. Most of all I love that the coast of this project was under $5 and it took me about two hours to complete, even with a little helper. I am confident that this project will also pack away well to be used again for many Valentine's days to come. I hope you enjoy making this as much as we did.

Ashamed....

The point of my blog is to be completely honest about what is going on in our life and get it off my chest. That means also being honest with myself, so here it goes, I didn’t start T25 this week. I actually lay in bed trying to go to sleep all day Monday and it was a beautiful day! I didn’t even fall asleep until 3pm! So I not only wasted my day, lying around in bed not sleeping, it was a beautiful day! That irks me even more, I mean I have a lot of stuff that I need to do when the weather is nice.

Then I didn’t start it Tuesday, Thursday or today Friday. Now I might as well just wait till Monday. I feel bad about it, I really do. I know that exercise will help me feel better and be happier but I just am not feeling motivated to start. So Monday we are kicking our butts into gear and starting T25. I’m sick of feeling like a slug. My clothes aren’t fitting and I just feel gross. I am ready to get this show on the road. 

In my laziness this week I have accomplished some things. I went shopping and bought stuff for some crafts! Crafting is my favorite, and right now making felt things has been the trend. They are easy, cheap and fun for the kids. But that is a whole other post that I am working on editing the photos for now. 

I also picked up the supplies I need to make the tags for my sister’s wedding favors. Her wedding is creeping up pretty fast. I also ordered my dress which is another reason I need to lose this weight I’ve put on and I ordered my shoes they arrived today. I might need to order the next size up because they didn’t come in half sizes and I needed a 7.5, I ordered a 7. I think I’d rather have them a little big than a little small. 

I really am excited to share the tutorial with you guys tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll go right to sleep when I get home and I can get up and finish getting the pictures edited. I loathe editing pictures. Probably because I use my laptop to do it, I think it would be better if I had a desktop and could use that. Any way I love this Valentine’s day project and can’t wait to share it with you all!

Get it movin!

Finally I’m starting to feel like a real human being again instead of a zombie. So that means we are jumping back on the weight loss train. We have been slackin’ on eating healthy and being active, mostly being active. So Ron and I are going to start T25 together, motivate each other, and keep each other on track. 

I’m still trying to convince Ron to do a whole30 with me and stick to it. He can’t give up milk though. He also likes cereal way too much and sandwiches, he couldn’t give bread up. I think he could do it for 30 days but he doesn’t believe me. Anyone can do anything for a mere 30 days. 

So today is the day! Day one of T25 (again) and eating healthy. You all have to help keep us motivated. If you’re interested in joining us on our T25 journey or looking for some weight loss support please leave a comment and we can get you on the right track.

New Year goals.

With the New Year comes those pesky resolutions, I loathe making resolutions. They are always lofty goals that no one ever keeps. How are you supposed to make a goal and stick to it for a year? Don’t things change along the way? Life changes so much in a year that I don’t see how a person can make a single goal that lasts the entire year. Things change so much in a year, you can have a baby in less than a year, you can for sure buy a house in a year, you can get a divorce in a quarter of a year here in Washington state. Your goals should change and adapt with your life and life changes fast.

I did make some goals for the New Year they are these- 

Lose the 15lbs that I have gained- Since starting my new position I am less active at work than I was before. In fact most nights I sit the entire night. That added to rearranging my entire schedule to sleep during the day, be up all night and never feeling like I catch up let alone get ahead on anything. It is just a downward spiral. I eat at odd times; more often than not I eat unhealthy. So glad that I can identify why I have gained the weight now how can I get it off! I also want to run a 5K and Ron and I want to run tough mudder or a mud run like it. 

Devote more time to my family- The errands can wait, the stress can wait, as long as the bills are paid and we aren’t hungry I am going to stop and enjoy the time I can spend with my family. I worry way to much about things that are trivial and not enough about the things that really matter. The kids, Ron, spending time making memories as a family. That is what is important.

Cook more meals at home- We eat out entirely too much. It’s expensive and unhealthy. This is an obvious plus in all ways, eating better, spending more time together as a family, and saving money. 

Start saving for Disneyland- We really want to take the kids to Disneyland. I didn’t go to Disney until I was 20 years old, it was for my 20th birthday actually and I only got to go because we were given one day admission by family members who only used two days of their three day passes. Ron did get to go to Disney as a child but only because his dad was working in San Diego and they went to visit him. I want to experience Disney with our kids, see their faces light up, stay at a Disney resort, and do everything extreme. This all costs a pretty penny. We think it is totally worth it though. Making memories isn’t that what life is about? 

After I lose the 15lbs Ill set another weight loss goal but for now 15 isn’t that big of a number and hey 6 months ago I was there so I know it can be done. I can cook more, I can remember to take things out of the freezer on a daily basis. I think that’s mostly my problem is thinking ahead to actually take frozen items out to thaw and menu planning ahead to go grocery shopping and actually have the items on hand that we need to prepare the meals. 

These all seem like reasonable goals to build on and a great place to start our New Year, nothing to lofty and all things that we can work on and adapt through the year. This year will be a great year for the Abbay family. I can feel it.

Anual Abbay family New Year's vacay!

New years’ vacation 2014. This year marks our second annual Abbay family New Year vacation. We started this tradition last year with a trip to Leavenworth and decided to make it an annual adventure. This year we stayed in a town about 18 miles from Leavenworth called Wenatchee. We chose Wenatchee because a doctor I work with recommended going snowboarding at Mission Ridge resort about 12 miles out of Wenatchee. I’ve wanted to learn to snowboard for a couple years and Ron wasn’t all that thrilled but he came with me to be a good sport. 

 We headed east about noon on Friday, after loading the truck and dropping the dogs off we were finally on the road about 1pm and rolled into our hotel just about 5:00. Just in time to unpack and have dinner at the hotel restaurant. The hotel I booked had an awesome indoor outdoor pool that the indoor portion is open all year long so after dinner we took the kids down for some swimming. We were trying to wear them out so that they would sleep well after a day of riding in the car. It didn’t work. I passed out around 9pm but the kids and Ron didn’t even turn the TV off until 11:30pm. 

I set our alarm for 7am but it was more like 8 when we finally rolled out of bed, it's vacation after all! The snowboard lesson we were going to take started at 10am, and we still needed to drive up there, check the kids into child care, register, and rent Ron some gear. Finally we got it all done and started our 10am lesson. Our instructors name was Olivia and she had been snowboarding for 5 years. We got all of our gear strapped on and felt ready to get the show on the road. Olivia started the lesson by explaining the parts of the board to us and then showing us how to strap our first foot into the bindings. The first thing to learn was how to move ourselves around with one foot strapped into the board. Ok, let us strap ourselves to this board that weighs 15 or so pounds and then try to move around with it strapped to our foot. It’s super awkward. I think my board is a little too long to learn on as well, everyone else’s board was shorter and probably not freshly waxed and slippery as all get out. 

 Needless to say snowboarding is very physical and we need to put in some more hours at the gym before we attempt it again. 

We need to go to the gym more often before we do a lot of things actually! 

After the horrendous snowboarding attempt we had lunch and headed over to Leavenworth for some sightseeing and shopping! My fave. I think I gained 5lbs just for the three days we were on vacation. WE bought fudge, wine, taffy, and other various sweets! There is an awesome shop call Cured which has a ton of pork products that are all “cured.” I think we could spend a small fortune in that store.

There are so many awesome shops in the town I can’t even begin to tell you about everyone, but since this year there was no snow, like at all, we were able to walk around the streets way easier this year than last. We wandered into a shop called “Your Family Name.” They have all the information on your family name, the origin, and coat of arms. You can get a print made or embroider it on to various items or even get it stamped into a metal shield if you so please. We of course had to order a print of the Abbay family name. We got the coat of arms with the origin and history printed under it. Now to just find a frame that is 11x17! 

We all had an awesome time on our mini vacation. I didn’t take many pictures this year just because I didn’t feel like carrying around my big DSLR. I did snap a few with my trusty Iphone and will of course post those.

This is Evee in front of the toy store where we like to buy wood puzzles that are handmade an painted in Leavenworth.

And of course the snow!

This is the other resort that also has skiing and snowboarding called Stevens. 

And just because we love baby wearing one of me wearing a 32lb 3.5year old Ronnie in my preschool kinderpack.

Happy New Year!

Of course in the past few weeks I have fallen behind on the blog. So to be expected with the holidays and all…..well maybe that’s just an excuse for me being lazy. So on with it then.

 T25- Well that went out the window with Christmas dinner. So I decided that I would just start over when we get back from vacation on Jan 6th. I am happy to say that I have cut out my late night meal and have brought it down to a low calorie snack and/or a shakeology shake. 

 Sleep study- Came and went. We packed up our stuff, soft blankets, weighted blanket, stuffed frog, clothes, pillows, all of that. First we headed over to Marie’s to drop Miss Evee off for the night. She had her very first sleep over with Mallory, Marie’s daughter.

 Then Ronnie and I headed to Mary Bridge to get our sleep study on. We check in at 7:40pm and they escort us to the elevators and as our escort pushed the button for the 7th floor my anxiety climbed. The 7th floor of Mary Bridge hospital is where Ronnie was first placed on ECMO. In fact she took us to the exact waiting room that I had to wait in before I could see him for the first time after being placed on ECMO. We had to sit in this waiting room for about 5 minutes before our sleep technician called us back to our room. I was very anxious sitting there waiting. Those doors bring back a lot of memories, not happy ones either. 

 Letto our sleep study technologist was wonderful with Ronnie, he showed us to our room and left us to get ready for the night, jammas, teeth brushing, etc. About 45 minutes later Letto came back to apply all of the electrodes, and boy do I mean all. I think there was probably about 20 different things attached to Ronnie for the night. First he applied the telemetry monitor to his chest and legs, then the microphone on his throat to monitor his snoring, next the electrodes to his scalp and last but not least the part he hated the most was the end tidal CO2 monitor, which is a nasal cannula that he had to wear on his nose all night long. I don’t blame him having that up his nose all night would really suck! 

 About 10:30pm we finally got to sleep and because I had worked all night the night before I passed out hard. Around midnight Letto came in for the first time because Ronnie was up and crying. Low and behold it was because he peed the bed, so I get him cleaned up and Letto gets us situated again and off to sleep we go. Now sleeping in a twin size bed in a typical hospital room is absolutely nothing like sleeping at home, its cold not very welcoming, the floor is tile and the bed is hard. Add all of the wires that are essentially gathered into a ponytail at the back of Ronnie’s head and are hooked up to the machines at the side of the bed, top it off with the ETCO2 monitor up his nose and we have a recipe for disaster. Letto came in about four times during the night that I remember but it could have been more. 

 Finally at 6:15 Letto comes in and says “This is the time we do our wake ups here.” Uh are you serious? I’m not even thinking about getting up at 6:15 most days! Letto is so nice about the whole thing all the while I’m sure I was acting like a zombie. He removed the electrodes and I gave Ronnie a shower to wash all the goop off then we headed down to grab breakfast before heading to Marie’s to pick up Evee.

Marie made the kiddos pancakes from scratch for breakfast. I have never seen anyone make pancakes from scratch, she is amazing. I am a simple kind of girl, I buy the bag of pancake mix from Costco. 

 All in all it was a very long night and I left more tired than feeling rested but, Ronnie said that he liked his sleep study and had a good time so, sleep study for the win! Although it’s now Jan 2nd and we still don’t have any results. Dang holidays! I will update as soon as I hear from the neurologist.

These are the elusive PICU doors. Fourtunately I won't ever have to walk through them again as they recently added on to the hospital and have a brand new PICU. 

And here's one of Ronnie waiting on Letto to place the electrodes.