Val's Creations

Christmas PJs 2011

2011-12-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here are the PJs for this year! I love the ruffles on the girls. Kaitlyn's is made from eyelet fabric (above)

McKenna's is from tulle (above)

Brayden's is normal

As is Nate's

As is mine.

Thanksgiving Decorations

2011-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

I made these cute things at a craft night with On The Avenue. Love that place. I really like these. I also made some block letters that spell Autumn--but apparently did not take a photo.

Christmas Card 2010

2011-12-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

This was our Christmas card last year. The photos were taken by Serra from http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2010/12/free-christmas-photo-card-templates.html

Another Photography Session

2011-12-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

I did a session with my sister-in-law and her family. Lots of cute pictures! Here are some favorites.

First Ever Photography Session

2011-11-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I took pics of my sister and her family for my first ever photography session. I have a whole lot to learn! Here are some of my favorites, and I made them a Christmas card (above). Aren't I sweet?

Halloween Costumes 2011

2011-11-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

This year, we did the King, Queen, Knight, Princess, and Dragon thing. Kaitlyn was a princess. This was a McCalls Pattern...if you want the exact number I can get it for you.

I was a queen. Again, McCalls and I can get the number if you want it.

McKenna was a dragon. She was going to be a princess, but my husband found a great dragon costume at Old Navy and insisted she be a dragon. So I insisted she be a girl dragon and made her a tutu to go with her costume.

Photography Homework: Review

2011-10-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

Composition: Leading Lines

1/160

f/8

400

Implied Motion
1/30
f/3.5
640

My dough mixing

Frozen Action

1/200

f/8

400

I don't love this photo frozen. I had been taking them panning and wanted to see what the effect was frozen. I like it better panning (see next photo).

Panning Action
1/30
f/16
400

I like the effect of the panning because it justifies the look on their faces better. However, not all of them are in focus. Is there a way to focus a lot of people in a panning shot like that?

Indoor Silhouette
1/1600
f/8
400

Indoor Portrait

1/400

f/2.8

400

She is such a cheese.

Natural Light--Natural Reflector

1/60

f/8

400

My cute little nephew in the corn maze--full of golden corn.

Stilllife

1/60

f/5

640

I put this on foam core and used a mirror to reflect light. I think a reflector would have been better, but the mirror was right there and handy.

Side lit

1/160

f/8

640

The side light was perfect for his mood--he had just been told it was time to go home.

Panning Action Bonus

Singular

1/80

f/2

640

Look at what a good sport my husband is. A great thing about this picture is that it was taken in a church--the same church I was having issues in a few weeks ago. I got the perfect white balance here.

Who Cares

1/100

f/3.5

640

Aperture isn't perfect for a who cares, but the sun had set so the lighting needed it.

Silhouette

1/4000

f/8

400

This is not the best, but it was at noon so I think considering the time of day, it is okay.

Photography Homework: Indoors

2011-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Portrait

1/125

640

2.5

This photo was taken in the morning after breakfast before she was cleaned up at all--so you get to see her in her messy glory :) The window light is to her right (our left).

Sihlouette

1/320

400

f/8

Still Life

1/80

400

2.8

This is a picture of a pillow I have recently made.

Bonus

A window portrait. We should have had a reflector for him. I edited the color just for fun since this is a bonus.

Photography Homework: Natural Light

2011-10-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

This week went much better for me once I decided to combine my favorite week so far (action) with the narual light idea. I like to get my kids in their natural state, so action works well for us :)

Backlit

SS: 1/800

f/2.5

ISO: 640

I do wish I could have gotten this without the people in the background, but if you would have seen the 20 kids running around on these straw bales, you would be impressed that I only have a few people :)

Frontlit

SS: 1/125

f/4

ISO: 400

Natural Reflector

SS: 1/60

f/10

ISO 640

Sidelit

SS: 1/200

f/1.8

ISO: 640

I realize now I should have done a higher f stop because her whole face is not in the same focus. Lesson learned.

Silhoette

SS: 1/800

f/10

ISO: 640

Runners Up

Backlit

Frontlit

Natural Reflector and Backlit

Crochet Tool Giveaway

2011-10-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

This week on my Chronicles blog, I am doing a giveaway of a cool crochet hook that makes doing borders so much easier. Here is the link to the giveaway if you wan to enter!

http://www.babywisemom.com/2011/10/sharp-crochet-hook-giveaway.html

Week Three Homework: Composition

2011-10-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

This was a sad photo week for me. It was terrible, raining weather all week. It was very gloomy. I love outside shots and had to do most photos indoors--with little to no help from natural light since the sun was far, far away behind the raining clouds. The sad thing is it is Fall here and I love outside Fall shots. Enough complaining, here is what I have.

Photo #1

Shutter Speed: 1/80

f/1.8

ISO 400

This was taken after dark, so it was all indoor lighting. I realized later in the week after watching and rewatching videos I should have taken my ISO up to get better lighting in this situation. It turned out okay. I love the shot because it epitomizes my third child's quest in life to be like her siblings. Her older sister is taking dance, so notice that she has four different tutus on. Her older brother is taking piano, so here she sits in her sister's tutus playing from her brother's piano books.

Photo #2

Shutter Speed 1/125

f/2

ISO 400

My children are such hams.

Photo #3
Shutter Speed: 1/125
f/1.8
ISO 400

Here I framed my daughter as she climbed the stairs to the slide.

Runners Up

This one didn't make it because I cut off her finger tips

This was taken in a church, which has terrible lighting, so I went with black and white here.

Photography Homework: Shutter Speed

2011-10-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

I liked the action work. I am sure that is because I have children :)

Frozen Action:

You MUST click on this picture to make it larger. My daughter was practicing writing her letters in flour, then clapping the flour off of her hands. You can see the flour dust flying off of her hands. I am very happy I caught it!

ISO=400

Shutter Speed=1/1000

f/stop=1.8

Implied Action

We kept this monarch caterpillar in a jar and she (I was informed she was a she) came out of her chrysalis this week. She was the perfect opportunity for an implied action shot as she exercised her wings.

ISO=400

SS=1/60

f/stop= f/8

Panning

I think panning will be really fun and very handy at my children's various athletic events! Can you tell my daughter loves to have a good time?

ISO=400

Shutter Speed=1/60

f/stop=f/8

Extras

Here are my runners up this week:

Frozen Action: I love pictures of leaves being thrown in the air. But the flour won over.

Panning: My best panning shots had the subject on the left, which works great because it implies movement through the picture. The reason for this is my focus point was on the left side. I have since learned how to move it--thanks Brooke :)

More Aperture Work

2011-10-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

As the week has gone on, I have been able to apply more of what I learned about aperture. Here are some pics from this week

Singular Theme:

Yes, he was walking, and yes, she was covering his eyes, and yes, she thought it was funny.

Storytelling:

A comment Brooke (my instructor) made about the storytelling shot last week was the lack of a subject in the foreground. I am so glad she made that comment! I could not figure out why I thought the picture was so "blah" when I love this view. One day, the farmer was out in the field so I knew this was my chance to get a subject in my field!

The aperture here is for storytelling.

Who Cares:
I loved this dried grass for a backdrop for a who cares aperture picture:

Singular Theme

2011-09-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here are more singular themes I liked. This is not homework submissions--just for my own enjoyment :)

Photography Homework: Aperture

2011-09-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

I am taking a photography class from Brooke Snow and have homework to post! Our first lesson was on Aperture. Here are my aperture photos:

Storytelling:

ISO:640

Shutter Speed: 10/3200 sec

f/22

This was my hardest aperture to photograph. My favorite is the pretty extreme opposite of this, so it was hard to find something I liked in method.

Who Cares?

ISO=640

Shutter Speed=10/250

f/8

Singular Theme

ISO=640

Shutter Speed=10/40,000

f/1.8

This is my favorite theme. I had about 50 to choose from.

Wood Jack-o-lantern

2011-09-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

This was my other project at the On The Avenue craft night--love it!

http://www.supersaturdayswithontheavenue.blogspot.com/

Berry Wreath

2011-09-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

I discovered this super fun craft night from On The Avenue:

http://www.supersaturdayswithontheavenue.blogspot.com/

Last month, I made this berry wreath as one of my projects. Love it!

Jean Skirt {repurposed}

2011-09-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

For Nate's family pictures recently, we were supposed to wear a white shirt and a denimn bottoms. I couldn't find anything I liked for McKenna, so I took an old pair of my jeans and turned them into this skirt for her. Very fun and free!

Halloween Skirts

2011-09-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

It is pattern testing time again. This is the first pattern I tested for Izzy and Ivy. Cute Halloween skirts for my girls! The smaller one is not as written because I was low on fabric, but I thought it would be cute anyway. It just isn't gathered like the bigger one.

Emergency Preparedness Binder

2011-08-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, I made this emergency preparedness binder. I am trying to organize everything for emergency preparedness in one place. If you want more details on the contents of this binder, go here: http://www.babywisemom.com/2011/05/emergency-preparedness-binder.html

Rosettes

2011-08-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

I saw this here: http://justsewsassy.com/2010/08/10/tuesday-tutorial-anthro-inspired-headband/

and wanted to make my own. Love it!

I had leftover fabric, so I made a clip.

Tutorial: Cut-off Jeans Turned Capris

2011-07-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

My legs are short. So any capri I find for myself is pretty much way too long and I look more like I am wearing floods than capris. I decided to make some cut-offs. Should be simple enough, but I am smart enough to ask people with more knowledge than myself how to do things, so I called up my sister-in-law Laur (the one who designs for Izzy & Ivy) to get her tutorial. She had some great tips! And Laur isn't a blogger, so I thought I would share her tips with the world.

Here is my before--see how long they are?

Your first step is to fold one leg up to where you want it. Laur says to put it at the skinniest point in your leg--usually right below the knee. Don't do the largest part! It will make your legs look bigger than they are. If you plan to hem it rather than leave a frayed edge, be sure to account for the hem length.

Take the pants off, leaving it folded--just the one leg. Put pins in your crease.

Fold the pants down. Cut along the pin line. I went just below it.

Next, you hem. If you want a frayed look (like I did) sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from edge (unless you want a larger fray section. I that case, go to 1/2" or whatever you want). This ensures that the fraying will stop rather than fraying for eternity. I stitched with blue thread that blended in with my pants.

Fold the pants on top of themselves. Cut the other leg off, using the first leg as your guide. This way they will be cut the exact same. Repeat the hem step for this leg.

Done! Now you have turned your pants or capris into real capris!

And here it is after a couple of washings:

Before I did this, no one ever commented on my capris. Now I get compliments on how cute they are every single time.

I have several more capris to do this to now...

Garden Angels

2011-07-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

I just ran across this picture. These are some garden angels I made. One for me, one for each mom for Mother's Day. I started to remove the background in Photoshop and it was going to take lots of effort with those wings, so I decided it wasn't worth it.

Bubble Dress

2011-07-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

We had a really busy week the end of June. I was so worn out July 2 that I decided to have a sewing day to relieve some stress. I made these dresses for the girls for Independence Day. The pattern is from Izzy & Ivy. Super cute!

Face-Out Bookshelves Tutorial

2011-07-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

I put this up on my learning blog, but I thought it would be a good fit for this blog, too. You can use these for books or pictures--of whatever you come up with!

Here is our tutorial on how to do a face-out bookshelf. This is the way my husband designed so you couldn't see a back on the shelves--it looks like they are free-floating. Hopefully I can translate from Engineer-ese to English.

Materials Needed:

3/4"x1.5" pieces of wood cut to the length you want them on the wall. This is the actual size of the wood. They will be called 1"x2" in the store. You will need two pieces of wood for each shelf. Buy as many as you need to fill the space on your wall.
3" Grabber screws
Glue if desired (we used wood glue)
Paint and paint brush (we use foam brushes for projects like this)
Finish nail gun nails
Wood putty

Tools Needed:

Drill
Router and/or Table Saw
Measuring Tape
Pencil
Finish Nail Gun

Prepping Wood

1.First, buy your wood. If you are confused on what to buy, see the picture below. Click on it to enlarge. The wood shown in this picture would make one shelf. Cut wood to desired length.

2. Next, you need to router and notch one piece of wood for each shelf.

Use a router or a dado on a table saw to notch one corner (all the way down the long side) as shown. Again, click on the picture to enlarge.

Use a router the opposite corner if desired. You can do it however you like things done. We used a 45 degree chamfer. You could do things more fancy if you like, or you can do nothing at all.

3. Brush all sawdust off and paint. Allow paint to fully dry. You don't have to paint the 1" (3/4") sides of the un-notched wood.

Putting Up the Shelves

1. Measure and mark on your wall where you want the shelves. You might want to involve a level.

2. Pre-drill holes in your wall where studs are. It is very important you drill into studs.

3. You can glue one side of the shelf if desired and hold to the wall. We can't remember if we used it at this step or not.

4. Use 3" grabber screws to anchor to the studs. You want the 1" (3/4") side facing out so the long side of the wood is where your book will sit. Countersink screws so that they to just below the surface of the wood. Just make sure you don't go too far and split your wood.

Here are all of our initial pieces on the wall

5. Uses a finish nail gun to put up the face piece. At this step, we did use glue to secure the two wood pieces together. You want the notched side in and up and the routered side out and down. See the picture below. The notching makes it so the shelf is a bit deeper while providing a lip to keep books on the shelf.

Finishing Touches

1. Use wood putty to fill in holes where finish nail gun put nails in. You want this to just go in the holes and not bump out beyond the hole.

2. Paint over wood putty once it is dry.

3. Put books up!

Sally Sunhat

2011-07-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is another pattern from Izzy and Ivy. I made this for Kaitlyn. Super cute.

Jack and Jill Hat

2011-07-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

I made this hat for Brayden. This hat is a design of Izzy and Ivy, and right now you can enter to win patterns from them on my Babywise blog! Go to: http://www.babywisemom.com/2011/07/izzy-ivy-pattern-giveaway.html

It is a little big. It fits me, so I might steal this one and make him a smaller size.

Knit Fabric Project

2011-06-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on posting it isn't funny.

So back in the Spring when I did pattern testing, I did some knit projects. It was my first time really sewing knit clothes, so it is not as perfect as I would like it, but sewing with it was much easier than I thought it would be. Kaitlyn sure loves it.

Christmas Card (2009)

2011-05-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

I was just going through my files and found this card I never shared.

Turquoise Necklace

2011-05-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

A little over a year ago, my friend Serra and I were at the gem faire. She was trying to find a turquoise ring, but never could find something she liked. She loves turquoise and I wanted to give her something. She doesn't have pierced ears, so I went with necklace. I love it! And it looks really good on her. I want to make something like that for me now.

Birthday Invitations

2011-05-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

I realized I never posted invitations. Here is McKenna and Nate's birthday invitation (above).

And here is Kaitlyn's (above).

Play Make-up

2011-05-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law found a tutorial for this fun play make-up and I knew my girls would love it! I made it for the girls for Easter.

I bought some brushes from WalMart and make-up bags from the dollar store. The girls seem to think the make-up is real, so that is great. They love to sit together and play with their make-up :)

Birthday Cake

2011-05-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am in no way close to a good cake decorator, but I thought I would show you Kaitlyn's cake anyway. For someone who doesn't know what she is doing, I think it turned out cute. And Kaitlyn loved it, which is all that matters, right?

Sneak Peak

2011-05-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

It is pattern-testing season again! Here is a dress I made. Pattern coming out soon! Super cute. To see more designs from this company, go here: http://www.izzyandivydesigns.com/?page_id=8

Curtain Revamp

2011-05-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Bad picture above, sorry. I tried to find a "before" of these, but I couldn't. When we moved here, I took a large curtain I had and cut it in half to make these two curtains--never knowing exactly where I would go. I then hung them up with a swag in the middle and then they hung partially down the length of the window on each side...and there they stayed for nearly 1.5 years (but, hey, 1.5 years when you have three kids isn't that long really).

I had different ideas, but never something I loved. I finally decided I wanted to finish off this room once and for all and also that I didn't want to spend any money to do so. I knew I could get inspiration if I put my mind and heart into it, and this is what I ended up with. I like it. Best of all--it was free!

Easter Dresses 2011

2011-04-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the Easter dresses for 2011. I used two different patterns, but both are from McCalls. Kaitlyn's is very poofy and she called a gown--not a dress.

McKenna's says perfectly still when she walks so it looks like a bell.

Wreath Holder

2011-04-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura and I were shopping one day and saw something like this, so naturally I asked Nate to make one! It is beadboard with moldings around the outside. I painted it black. I might distress it. It holds a seasonal wreath. I love it!

Fabric Flower Bows

2011-03-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

We had a girls night last Saturday where we made fabric flower bows and booties. My kids are beyond booties right now, but I did some bows.

This one is to match a new outfit I got for McKenna

And here are the others. I made the white one with magnetic buttons thanks to an idea from my SIL Melanie. Super cute!

Body Pillowcase

2011-03-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

This is nothing spectacular, but I made this body pillow pillowcase for Kaitlyn. For two years (yes! TWO!!), she has been using a tan pillowcase, which is all fine and dandy as a color, but doesn't go well with yellow, pink, and white. So I finally just took 30 minutes, used leftover material from making her nursery set (yes, four years ago) and made her a pillowcase to match her room. Look how cute!

Pink Dresses

2011-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make some Valentine-esq dresses for the girls, and I wanted to do it using only stuff I already had. I used the same pattern for each dress. I don't love the pattern itself and won't ever use it again, but the dresses are cute. Above is Kaitlyn's.

With McKenna's, I had issues. I thought I was all out of pink material, so I used this green. I had the dress almost done and just really disliked the green--it was way too much green. So I scavenged through my stuff and found more pink. I then thought about how to add the pink and make it look better. I had to pick the bodice/skirt seam to add the pink in, and it took a long time, but it was worth it.

Now it looks like a cute princess dress instead of some mint nightmare. I forgot to take a picture of it done. So here are some pictures of the moving target.

Leggings Leggings Everywhere!

2011-02-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

Here are my latest leggings.

I love these with the ruffle bottom. Kaitlyn loves them, too.

Coloring Books

2011-02-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

This was a simple creation. I want the kids to be doing more church-related activities during church. So coloring is great, so long as they are coloring church pages. I just want their minds to be somewhat on the purpose of church :)

I printed off a whole bunch of scripture story coloring pages and had them bound. I also laminated a title page and back page to help keep the coloring pages from getting smashed.

I printed most of mine from friend.lds.org. You have to look around--don't settle for what you initially find. You can get lots more if you look around. If you have certain stories you want, you can also Google it. So if you wanted a Daniel and the Lion's den coloring page, you Google "Daniel and the Lion's Den coloring page" and you would get some options!

This website: http://ldscoloringpages.net/ has most of what has been published on the Friend's website linked, so even if you can't find it through the Friend, you can find it through this site.

The kids have loved their coloring books! I like it because I tell them the story about what they are coloring if they can't tell me.

Scripture Bags for Kids

2011-02-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

The kids got some scriptures for Christmas, so last month I made bags for them to carry them nicely in. Here they are.

Project Planner

2011-01-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

I am quite obviously loving making these little books to organize myself with. This is my project planner. I actually made this almost a year ago, but decided to use it as a gift, so I couldn't post it until now. I LOVE it! I printed it in 5x7 size so it can fit in my purse. Above is the front cover.

This is what is on the other side of the front cover and other side of the back cover. I list all of the projects I want to do here.

I then have several of these pages so I can list individual projects.

And the back cover.

Recycled Tee Scarf

2011-01-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

My friend Kristi found this idea. When I saw it, I knew it was something my mother-in-law would like. She loves scarves. I practiced on the one above, then gave her the one below:

Here are the instructions if you want to make your own!

http://shwinandshwin.blogspot.com/2010/09/recycled-tee-scarf.html

Scripture Bag

2011-01-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I made this scripture bag to go with my church bag. Now my scriptures stay safely inside my church bag without getting bent or smashed. Lovely.

Here is a pic of the church bag:

Bows Bows

2011-01-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

These are some bows I have made lately. Above are bows I made for my niece, Keria.

This is a nice flower for Kaitlyn

I made a pair of each of these to match my girls' Christmas dresses this year.

Christmas Leggings

2011-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to post these. These were the new Christmas leggings I made for the girls this year. On one of the Rudolph ones, I tried to do a new thing where you ruffle the end instead of cuff it. It is really cute, but I want to try it on longer leggings. I will let you know what the future brings with that.

Earrings for Christmas

2011-01-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Here are the earrings I made for Christmas.

These first two were for Brayden's teacher and Brayden's piano teacher. I am in love with grey right now, so everyone else gets to receive grey right now :)

These last two were for my mom and sister. My SIL Kristin gave some to me just like them, and my mom always compliments me on them when I wear them, so I knew she would love them.

Christmas PJs

2011-01-05T14:52:00.000-08:00

I love the tradition of opening new PJs on Christmas Eve. Growing up I often got new PJs. Then I got married and Nate's mom made them...but she has recently decided to stop doing so. I decided to do it for my little family. Let me type this out for my memory next year: strongly consider buying PJs next year. You can buy them for much cheaper than you can buy material. Then you still have to make it. The only thing is that my kids all love it when I make things for them, and PJs aren't difficult in the least.

Anyway, here they are. McKenna's, Kaitlyn's, and Brayden's. I love the lace on the girls' PJs.

Keira's Bracelets

2010-12-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas has happened, I can share some more things I have made! Here are the bracelets I made for my sister's baby.

McKenna's Quiet Book

2010-12-21T07:17:00.001-08:00

Here is McKenna's quiet book for church. I think she will love it! It is my first time doing all digital scrapbooking for something. It was really fast!

More Dance Bags

2010-12-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

Things are pretty quiet around this blog because I am making things people can't see. But these are okay. The first was for my friend's little girl for her birthday. I liked it a lot so I made a matching one for McKenna for Christmas. I am pretty sure McKenna won't be checking out the blog before then :)

More bracelets

2010-12-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn had a birthday party, so we made some bracelets as a gift. Girls love bling.

Cleaning Book

2010-11-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

This is something I made months and months ago but only just got around to printing and laminating.

This is much like my menu planner. This is a cleaning book. I start off with my daily cleaning tasks, as well as a blank page for a daily list. My daily list had some things to do for Christmas, so I had to hide that from you.

Then I have a page for each month of the year with a list of specific cleaning items to do that month.

Then I have several pages of my deep cleaning lists

I end with some of my commonly used cleaning recipes and tips

I love it! I use my wet-erase marker to cross things off and write notes...I feel so organized.

Remodeling: Guest Bathroom

2010-11-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

Something we do more than anything else around here is remodel stuff. I thought it might be of interest to some of you crafters out there, so here is my first remodeling post. We just finished this last Saturday.

BEFORE

DURING

My friend Laura and I painted it in about two hours.

AFTER

I was trying to decide between beadboard (wainscotting) or just doing moldings and painting the wall white. My husband, of course, said, let's do both! So this is both up close.

We changed the cabinet hardware. We also changed the faucet. We got a new toilet. We also did new tile. Nate hated the old tile and insisted we remove it (by we I mean "he"). It was a big job, but we do like the new tile much better.

We also put up a new light fixture, which you can't really see in the picture very well.

Oil rubbed bronze towel rack, toilet paper holder, hand towel holder, hinges, and yes, the knob on the toilet is also oil rubbed bronze (as is the light fixture and the new hardware.

Baby Bracelets

2010-11-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

My friends ordered some baby bracelets and here they are! I love making bracelets. Most of them I have made before.

This one was new:

Baby Shower Invite

2010-11-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a baby shower invite I made for my friend who was having twins...she has since had the twins!

Wood Shelf

2010-10-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

I found a tutorial to make these shelves here: http://littlenannygoat.blogspot.com/2010/03/make-your-own-floating-shelf-one-of-my.html

So fabulous. That is a great blog. So I informed my husband of this great tutorial and informed him he would be making it for me :) I painted, he hung.

Here it is with some leaves on it. It is a great shelf for warming up the room. This picture was taken a month ago, so I have more to show you soon :)

Halloween Costume

2010-10-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here it is, my Halloween costume! This year, we are characters from Batman. I am Harley Quinn--the Joker's Girl.

Baby Bracelets

2010-10-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of bracelets I made recently. The top one is for Kaitlyn to match a dress she has. The bottom one is one someone wanted to buy. I love making baby bracelets!

Messenger Bag

2010-10-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

The final item I made for pattern testing for Izzy & Ivy was this messenger bag. I made this for Brayden's piano bag. He picked out the material.

I think one of the best thing about making your own bags is that you get to design your pockets. I made pockets for pencils, a pocket to fit the piano books, and a pocket to hold his notebook. Fabulous. He loves it and tells everyone about it :)

Claire Marie Top Coat

2010-10-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is another pattern I made from Izzy & Ivy. Isn't it darling! The outside is corduroy and the inside is flannel. The flannel might get annoying with sleeves in the winter, but hopefully annoying will be preferable to slippery coldness. Maybe when I make one again (because I will!) I will do the sleeves in cotton so it is somewhere in the middle.

I tried to get a picture of McKenna in it, but she wouldn't hold still, so here is the best I got

Halloween Leggings

2010-10-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Legging season is back! Here are the Halloween leggings I made for the girls

Halloween Tutu

2010-10-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

I made this halloween tutu for Kaitlyn. I know she will only be able to use it for one month, but I just loved the idea! I like being festive :)

If you want a tutu, the owner of Chic Baby Boutique is doing a giveaway on my Babywise blog, so be sure to check it out and enter!

Halloween Bows

2010-10-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

I love holidays. These are the Halloween bows I made for my girls this year.

Flower Clips

2010-09-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

I finished another round of flower clips...well, almost. I ran out of the alligator clips. But for the purposes of blogging about it, they are done :) These are just small and perfect for the little McKenna do's right now.

Jammies

2010-09-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a new pattern I tried out for my SIL's company Izzy and Ivy. It is for jammies. Cute huh!

Oh yeah, and don't mind my lack of photoshop skills. I figure practice might make better someday :)

Market Bag

2010-09-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

I am in love with this bag. It is HUGE. I was able to do the inside pockets they way I wanted. I am using this for my church bag, so I made pockets big enough to hold manuals. I also made pockets for several pens/scripture markers. The pockets can also hold scriptures snugly, which will be nice until I have my scripture bag done.

My Sister-In-Law designed this bag. To get the pattern, go here.

I will be making another one of these for the kids' church bag. I love it.

Dance Bag

2010-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn is in dance this year and I wanted to make her a special bag. I googled "dance bag tutorial" and this is what I found: Tutu Dance Bag Tutorial. It was perfect!

Here it is loaded up with stuff for dance. It will be handy for me, too, to be able to put papers and such in there we need to remember to take to dance. Kaitlyn loves it!

Kaitlyn's Scrapbook: Daily Life

2010-09-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

The next section in Kaitlyn's scrapbook is the "daily life" section. This is what we did daily. So we have:

Sleeping

Eating

Bath

Swing and gym

bouncer and jumper

playing

reading books

Organization: Coat Hooks

2010-08-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

I am loving using coat hangers for keeping things organized and I plan to add many more to the house. Above, you can see a simple four pronged hanger we hung in Kaitlyn's closet. She can hang her purses, backpacks, and whatever else on it.

Here we have another four pronged coat hanger. This was red and we painted it black. We hung it nice and low so the kids can reach their coats and can reach to put their coats away.

Here, we have some in our coat closet. It seems like we were constantly piling coats up because for some reason, hanging them on hangers is too much trouble. This way, everyone can keep a coat at easy access and again, the kids can hang up their own coats.

I am wanting to get some more hangers for Brayden's room. I want them for his backpack and for dress up items. I will post photos when I am done. I am still working it all out in my head.

Decorating Idea: Curtain Rod

2010-08-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

The photo is terrible, but here is an idea for you. My SIL saw something similar to this at a store once. She used the idea to mod podge letters of her daughter's name (A M Y) and h and hang those. It turned out super cute.

But my kids names are much longer than that. I went with this. I got the letters K and P from Hobby Lobby. I got the frame from IKEA. The rod was in the house when we bought it. I will have to try to get a better picture. That is awful. But the idea is cute! Oh, I found this one:

PS wondering where I have been? I have been MIA because my computer contracted a virus, followed by our hard drive dying...so after more than two weeks, I finally am back--hopefully for good.

More Scrapbooking: Milestones

2010-07-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here are Kaitlyn's Milestones pages

Vinyl Wall Clock

2010-07-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

We have this clock on our wall in our family room. Literally everyone who sees it comments on how cool it is--no matter the age.

Here is the best part. It is at Hobby Lobby for I think it is 30-50? And it goes on sale for 40-50% off all the time. So you can get this large clock for a rather inexpensive price!

We had one in our old house, too, in our master bedroom. We obviously couldn't transfer it with us, so it is still there and the new owners are enjoying it.

Scrapbooking: Kaitlyn's Family Section

2010-07-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

I love to scrapbook, and I am still an old school scrapbooker. Yes, I know digital is cheaper and faster, but there is something relaxing for me to actually scrapbook. Here is the family section of Kaitlyn's 0-12 month scrapbook (yes, yes, I am far behind).

Family intro page

Daddy page

Mommy page

Nana

Papa

Grandma Beverly

Grandpa Ron

Great Grandparents

More Great Grandparents

Aunts and Uncles

Cousins

Brayden

This is what I have been spending most of my crafting time on, and why things have been pretty quiet around the craft blog over the last month.

Decorating Idea: More Grouping

2010-07-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here is another example of a place I have grouped things on the wall in my home. This is in the hall, so that is why the picture is not good. That P is so great, I got it at Hobby Lobby. Notice also that all of my frames are different. We once would try to have matching frames, but then things would happen like somebody would knock one down and break it while he moved things up and down the stairs (that would be my husband) or we would want to add a frame because we had a new baby, so we decided the best idea was to have different frames. They are all black, but all different. There is also a mirror there.

Africa Dresses

2010-07-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who sent supplies an dresses for Africa! And thanks to Serra for helping me make the dresses. One reader did them a bit differently, and I think they are fabulous--mostly because they require no bias tape and I despise sewing with bias tape. Go here to see the tutorial on her amazing craft blog. These little girls are going to be so excited to have these adorable dresses to wear!

Menu Planner

2010-07-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I posted about this menu book I made. I have since printed the book, laminated it, and used it, and I love it!

I got a wet erase marker (like they use on overheads) and write out my weekly menu plan. I am totally loving this!

SnuggleU

2010-07-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been up to...

sewing things for our new business! Here are some photos:

I also made some logos for the business:

Intrigued? See the SnuggleU blog.

Want to win one? See the giveaway on my Babywise blog.

Brayden's Birthday Invitations

2010-06-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the invitations I made for Brayden's parties:

First, for his friend party. It was an Indiana Jones party (obviously):

Second, his family party.

Decorating Idea: Wall Groupings

2010-06-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

I like grouping things on othe wall. Here is one of our walls with our grouping. Maybe it can give you some inspiration if you are looking for it :).

Dresses for Africa

2010-06-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is a friendly reminder that if you want to make a dress for Africa and send it to me to send to Africa to do so! I need them by June 30 so I can hand them over July 1 to be sent to Africa. This is a picture of one I made from stuff sent from blog reader Robin. Isn't it so cute!

For more info on this, see this post.

Mother's Day Earrings

2010-06-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

A little late, but here are the earrings I made for our moms for mother's day.

I made these for my mother-in-law. I also made a pair for me!

I made a pair for each mom

These were for my mother in law

These were for my mom

And these were for my mom

Decorating Idea: Old Cupboard Doors

2010-06-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law gave me this idea and this cupboard door :)

All you do is get an old cupboard door, remove hardware, and paint it if desired.

Then you get a framed picture of your choice and mount it to the cupboard door. Then put the whole thing on your wall, shelf, or whatever.

Toy Organization

2010-06-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my parenting blog per request and thought it was a good post for the readers of this blog, too. So, here it is!

WHERE?

"Are most toys stored in your children's bedrooms or in a more common space like the family room or a playroom?"

In my ideal world, there would be a toy room where most toys were located. Now, for me this 'ideal' isn't high enough to trump other ideals. We have a 6 bedroom house. Each child has their own room. My husband and I have a room. I have a craft room. And we have an office/guest room. So, if we had a 7th bedroom, it would be a toy room. But we don't...

So, toys are stored bedrooms.

We also have some toys in various other locations. We have some toys in my craft room for McKenna's blanket time. We have a small tote of toys in our family room closet that we can pull out for the family room. We have some fridge toys in the kitchen.

We also have a family room closet with puzzles, games, coloring stuff, etc.

SHARED TOYS

"What about toys that are shared (like a play kitchen or basic blocks)?"

If we had designed the space in this house, there would be a 7th bedroom and it would be a toy room. Brayden's room is ridiculously large. I mean, really big. His room has most of the toys we own in it.

Each girl has some toys in her room. The "baby" toys are in McKenna's room. Kaitlyn has some of her favorite toys and the most "girly" toys in her room. But everything else is in Brayden's room. He has toys in there that are "his," "Kaitlyn's," and "McKenna's"--but I prefer that everyone pretty much think of all toys as everyone's. Anyway, not the point. 85-90% of the toys we own are in Brayden's room.

This actually works out nicely. Brayden and Kaitlyn both typically have independent playtime in Brayden's room (not at the same time). It is nice to have most of the toys in one location for that purpose. It is also nice because the girls' rooms are in a separate part of the house. It is hard to explain exactly, but I can keep that part quiet and people out of it for nap times.

Brayden's room is closer to the main living space. The kids can play and play even with someone napping in the sleeping part of the house.

It is also nice because it keeps most toys in one location. That makes clean-up easier.

STORAGE

Speaking of toys...how do you handle toy storage in your home?

The "where" you store your toys is going to be quite unique to your house layout, number of rooms, and number of children. But storage ideas can be applied no matter where the exact location of your toys. Here are some storage solutions I love, complete with pictures of my stuff:

Bookcase

I think this is fairly well-known and often used. A bookcase is a great place to store books :). There are lots of styles available. This bookcase above is a traditional type. We got it at an antique shop.

This one (above) is a more contemporary look. Don't mind it--it is new and not decorated officially yet. This is from IKEA.

In most cases, we aren't big child-proofers here, but we do bolt our bookcases to the wall.

You could also use bookcases to store toys on. Kaitlyn has a bookcase in her room with dolls, her diaper bag, and her Fisher Price House.

You can also put baskets on shelves to hold things. On my IKEA bookshelf, I plan to get a couple of the boxes that fit in the cubes to put hats, gloves, and sunglasses in.

Baskets

We use various baskets to hold various items.

Here are two miniature crates. The hold some of McKenna's toys. I keep this in the family room storage closet. When she is in the family room and needs toys to play with, we just pull this out.

These aren't toys, but children items. On my IKEA bookshelf, I currently have a few baskets holding sunglasses and hats and gloves, etc. The baskets are getting too small, hence the move to the boxes made specifically for the bookcase. You can see lots of Baskets For Storage on Amazon, as well as many other baskets.

Plastic Totes

We use lots and lots of totes around here. The other day, my neighbor was going on and on to her sister about how organized I am and how she needs to come see my house so she can see how organized I am. Her sister asked if being organized required lots of totes. I had to laugh.

The tote thing is all my husband. He LOVES totes. He wants a tote for everything. When we first got married, I consented to some totes, but dragged my feet because it can be expensive to own so many totes! But over the years, I have seen the value. You can use totes in many ways.

With totes, you can divide things up into specific categories. Here we have our crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc. in one tote, and our Play Doh in another. When the kids want to play Play Doh, we get the tote out. It is one simple thing to carry and it keeps things organized on the shelf.

Here we have our Wii stuff in a tote. We keep the lid off for easy access, but it is much easier to keep these items together and clean while they are in the tote than if they were just on the shelf. You could accomplish the same thing with a basket.

Here, we have a larger tote holding all of our dress clothes. We might do a cute trunk someday, but we already had this tote.

We have a small tote with a handle on the lid that holds small baby toys. It is handy for taking to relative's homes, camping, traveling, or even just around the house.

We have totes dedicated to categories of toys. Kaitlyn has a tote for her ponies. Brayden has a tote for his cars and trucks. We also store clothes that are too small in totes. They stay clean, dry, and bug free.

Drawers

Drawers are another great solution to toy storage needs. In general, I don't like drawers for toys as much as totes because they are not as easy to move around as the tote. However, there are situations where they are helpful.

This shows our drawers for our kitchen. It holds dishes and food.

You can also do mini drawers that would sit on a shelf, counter, dresser, etc.

Or there is the single drawer.

And don't forget about possible extra drawers in a dresser.

Cupboards/Cabinets

In our previous home, the owners before us had remodeled this room pictured below. It had dormers, but they took the dormers out. They then put cupboards along the bottom edge. I loved this for toy storage. It was a great use of that space.

I am a macro cleaner, which means I need the visible area to be clean. I also like my drawers and cupboards organized, but if I can see stuff, it isn't clean to me. For that reason, a toy organizer with bins wouldn't work super-well for me, but some people love them. I can see that they could make for easy clean up with little ones.

When we moved into our current home, I wanted a cabinet in Brayden's room for toy storage. A toy box could work, but then you just have a ton of toys piled on top of each other. To get a toy out on the bottom, all of the toys must come out.

Kidcraft makes a darling storage bench that could work well, and would be a good solution to the toy box toys all on top of each other (actually, I want one similar to this in black in my entry way. Then we could put our shoes in there. Or, Kaitlyn has her stuffed animals in a tote at the foot of her bed. It isn't very cute out in the open like that...hmm...):

Anyway, I needed cabinet solutions. Luckily, we had this already. This cabinet has served many purposes for us. We used it in a bathroom in a rental that had little bathroom storage. We used it in our kitchen in our previous home as a pantry. Now it is in Brayden's room as major toy storage. I have one similar in my craft room. These things hold a lot of stuff.

Another great thing about cabinets is it is an easy way to rotate toys. If you leave them closed, you child is likely to not think about the toys in there. I always just opened cabinets I wanted the kids to play with, and they did.

Under The Bed

Don't forget to utilize available space under beds. Under Brayden's bed, we have totes with toys in them. Kaitlyn's bed is a toddler bed, so it doesn't really fit anything under there. Back when she wore diapers, we put extra diapers and wipes under it. You can fit all sorts of things under cribs, too. And don't forget your own bed. Under our bed, I fold up and store my blanket. I sleep with an extra quilt because I get cold and my husband gets hot. Back to the macro cleaner, I don't like a blanket on my bed, so I put it under.

Closets

We have never had satellite until recently. Our current home can't get local channels reliably, so we ended up getting a satellite, so I now have HGTV. I love to watch House Hunters. As I do, I am often shocked by the reactions to closets--especially in homes on the East coast. There will be one rod in a huge closet and people comment on what good space it is.

My husband and I are space utilizers. Every house we have ever lived in, we have optimized the space in each closet in the house. We get every inch of storage out of it we can. He is an actual rocket scientist, so he engineers everything perfectly. If neither you nor your husband have that capability, I would find someone who you can pay to do it for you! Find someone good. Closets are space meant to store things, why not get every inch out of it you can?

This is Brayden's closet. It just had a rod in it with a shelf above. We added the second shelf in this picture to more easily store blankets, sheets, and quilts without them all falling over whenever you got one down.

This is also in Brayden's closet. Can you believe none of these shelves where here? We added those for great toy storage. We also added more shelves on the other side of the closet for shoes and clothes.

This is our family room closet. This was literally a little tiny room with zero shelves. Zero! There are shelves behind the door, also. We can fit so much in this closet now.

Toy Table

We have a train table we found at a garage sale. It has drawers under it--and they are so worth it. You can store all of your train stuff in them. There are also "activity tables" sold by companies like Melissa & Doug for things other than trains.

Coat Hooks

I have small children. These children are not really capable of using hangers yet. Nor can they even reach the hangers in the coat closet. Therefore, I am either destined to pick up coats repeatedly for several more years of my life, or I needed to find a solution. Coat hooks. Yes! Coat hooks.

Above: We mounted a wall-mount coat hook rack. This holds coats and snow pants. It can also hold jackets and sun hats in the summer months.

Above: This is the inside of the door to my coat closet. We bought five three-pronged coat and hat hooks (see photo below) and mounted them to the inside of the door. Each person in our family has a hook for coats, hats, purses, backpacks, etc. I love this. Now my children can put their own coats up.

Outside

It can be tricky to store your toys outside. You want them safe and dry. We found this Rubbermaid Deck box at Home Depot and thought it would be perfect. We liked it so much, we bought a second, and our neighbors bought one of their own.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it. There are my toy storage ideas. Please share any toy storage solutions you love!

RELATED BLOG LABELS

toys

Necklaces

2010-06-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of necklaces I made recently. I love these--especially this first one. You can't tell from the picture, but I promise it is awesome :)

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

2010-05-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

I have a challenge for us all. Let's each make at least one little Pillowcase dress to send to Africa! When you finish yours, you can either mail it to me and I will send it on to Africa (my church is doing this) or you can mail it through littledressesforafrica.org. If you want to mail it to me, I need to have it before July 1.

It is so fast and easy! And this one dress will be the prized possession for a little girl in Africa.

You can find lots of instructions out there for how to make this dress. I followed instructions given to me that were printed from nancysnotions.com. Here are my instructions complete with photos.

Supplies:

5/8-1 1/8 yard of fabric, depending on size of dress. You could also use a pillowcase for the material.
2.5 yards double fold bias tape
12"-16" elastic that is 1/4" wide, depending on size of dress
Thread
Instructions
Pins
Cutting mat (optional)
Scissors or rotary cutter
Sewing machine

Sizes

3: Cut to 22"x42"

4: Cut to 25"x42"

5: Cut to 27"x42"

6: Cut to 29"x42"

7: Cut to 31"x42"

8: Cut to 33"x42"

9: Cut to 35"x42"

10: Cut to 37"x42"

11: Cut to 39"x42"

12: Cut to 41"x42"

Instructions

1-Cut a fabric rectangle to the appropriate size. You could also use a pillowcase instead.

2-Fold fabric in half, meeting selvage edge with right sides together. Stitch or serge seam. Press seam. This seam is the center back of the dress. I then serged along the top edge.

3-Cut armhole on upper side edge. Repeat for other side. You will need to go to this link and print out the page to get the pattern for the armhole.

4-Fold under top edge to form casing. You can fold under 1/4", press, then fold under 1/2", press and stitch close to pressed edge. You can also serge raw edge (as I did above), fold under 1/2", press, and stitch in place.

Here is a photo of edge stitching the casing in place:

5-Cut two pieces of elastic. For sizes 3-5, cut it to 6". For sizes 7-9, cut to 7". For sizes 10-12, cut to 8".

I then put a safety pin on one end of the elastic.

6-Insert the elastic into the casing and thread it through.In this picture, my thumb is holding the safety pin.

7-Stitch ends of elastic to outer edge of the casing so they won't pull out. Now, insert other elastic into the other casing you have made.

8-Cut two 38" lengths of double fold bias tape. Open tape out and turn under 1/4" on each end. Refold tape.

9-You will now encase the arm hole using the bias tape. Center tape on arm hole so that equal amounts of tape to come of each end so it can be tied at the shoulders.

I like to pin mine in place. Then edge stitch open edge of tape closed.

10-Hem lower edge of dress by turning under 1/4" and then 2", press, and edge stitch. You can also serge edge, then fold under 2", press, and edge stitch.

Now it is done! So cute!

Trim Ideas:

If you want to fancy it up, you could add pockets, add a band of contrasting fabric, add lace or other trims, add an applique, add machine embroidery, or whatever else you can come up with. Don't feel like you have to go any fancier. It is cute how it is!

Ruthie's Romper

2010-05-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

This is yet another item designed by my sister-in-law. A cute little romper for McKenna to wear!

Petunia Bag

2010-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here are pics of the Petunia Bag I made, also designed by my Sister-In-Law.

The photos really don't do it justice. You can see a better photo of it here. It is super cute full of ruffles. But sewing the bag is a lot like working out. The whole time, you are hating it. When you are done and see the results, you are happy you did it :)

Addie Jo Skirt

2010-05-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law designs patterns for sewing things. She was about to send her patterns to the printer and wanted some help testing patterns to make sure the instructions were clear and made sense and such. Since my degree is technical writing and I love to sew, this is right up my ally! Here is the first item, the Addie Jo skirt.

And I already showed this before, but I must remind you of the cute matching bow:

Wood Block Pictures

2010-05-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

This is an art project you can have your child help out with and give to Mom or Grandma. They are blocks that spell out the word "Grandma" (or Mother, Mom, or Grandmother, etc.). I dedicated one block per person and put pictures on it. I did one block for my Mom's Grandmothers. One for her mom. One for my Dad's mom. One for my mom with Brayden. And one for her with Kaitlyn. Since I gave her these, two grandchildren have joined the family, so I will have to update them!

Now, you can tell from this picture that she doesn't actually show the "Grandma" spelling. She really just likes it for displaying pictures. If your Mom/Grandma would be like that, then you can skip the letter part of the blocks.

SUPPLIES

Wood blocks the size of your choice. We bought a 4x4 piece of wood from Home Depot and cut the blocks to our desired length. I am sure you could find something similar in a craft store like Michaels.
Decoupage or Mod Podge. You can also get Mod Podge Satin All-In-One Decoupage Sealer. Please note that different Mod Podges have different finishes, from Matte to Lustre.
Foam Brush
Photos of your choice, cut to the appropriate size for your blocks.
Paint
Vinyl Letters or you could paint letters on
Sandpaper if you want a "distressed" look

METHOD

Paint the blocks using the paint and foam brush. This is something your child can help with. Most of the block is covered by photos, plus if you distress it , you will have little need for a "perfect" paint job. Plus, we love things made by the children we love.
Let dry.
If you want a distressed look, gently sand the each edge of each block. You can decide if you do this part yourself or with help. Wipe all dust off.
Put some decoupage or mod podge on the block.
Put some decoupage or mod podge on the back of a photo.
Place the photo on the block.
Continue for all sides.
Once you have photos all around the block, move on to the other blocks and put photos on those.
Let dry.
Decoupage or mod podge over the top of each photo. This will help protect the photo from scratches, water, etc.

You are done! And you have a lovely gift any mom will love.

Decorating Idea: The Square Picture Collage

2010-05-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

I am slowly working on decorating Brayden's room.

I am really loving this look right now. You take four square frames and put them in a square on the wall, like so:

And here it is on the context of the room:

I got these frames at Hobby Lobby.

You could do any number you like. You could do six and put them in a rectangle...

Earings

2010-04-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some earrings I have made recently:

It is hard to tell from that picture how these grey ones are supposed to sit, so here they are on even though the picture isn't fabulous: