Pink & Brown Pleated Bag.

I recently finished this pleated pink and brown bag. It is the same pattern as the gray and yellow chevron bag I shared a few weeks ago. That bag is my new favorite and a favorite of many readers.

Machine Applique Tips

I love making things for babies. I made some sweet little bunny and robot theme bibs. I used my plain old sewing machine for doing the appliques. And I had no idea my machine could do applique so nicely.

Business Card Holders

For some reason, these little business card holders are super fun for me to sew. I made a bunch of them a few months ago.

Chevron Pleated Bag. (My new favorite thing.)

One of the most popular posts on my blog has been a trio of bags I made for a friends’ wedding (as bridesmaid-type gifts). I didn’t make the pattern or anything, it’s from a book, but they had turned out really well. So I cut out a few more. And I may be keeping this one for myself.

Bunny Applique Shirt

I know we are not all that close to Easter. However, my littlest boy will have a sweet little Easter-theme shirt to wear around this spring. I got this adorable bunny applique pattern from Make it Perfect. The blog’s author has a book and a whole line of patterns. I have not worked much with appliques, but this turned out to be fun.

More Crocheted Hats

I’ve been doing lots of crocheting lately.

I’m selling hats at a local store, Perpetual Childhood. They’re getting a new website soon. Here’s their Facebook page. If you’re from the area and need some sort of wedding attire or baptism attire, you’ll want to check out this store. They have cute everyday things, too. I really enjoyed browsing there.

Here are some of my hats you can purchase at the store.

This is one of my favorite hats. Ever. I love yellow and gray together. (This one is available in my shop as well.)

Oh, and my little tags? Those will be detailed in another post. A quick DIY project to make your handmade items look more ‘finished’.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

I found this recipe a few years ago in Taste of Home magazine and made these truffles. They were amazing and I recently made them again and had to share the recipe.

Monkey Theme First Birthday Shirt & Bib

If you follow me on Facebook, you've possibly already seen this project*!

Crochet Hats: Owls, Football & Flowers

I’ve been crocheting a lot lately! I started by making  a newborn sized owl hat for a shower gift. I made an extra.

I made my boys matching football hats. The owl hats I made them are so cute … if they wore them. My oldest won’t wear his. Every time the youngest wears his owl hat, we get comments. But the oldest wore his about three times. He said he’d wear a football hat, so I made hats for both boys.  I do love when things match!

I made myself a yellow and gray hat with a flower and used the same pattern to make some baby flower hats. There are lots of hats in my shop available for custom order.

Crocheting is such a great winter hobby. I have a whole bunch of ideas on my “To Crochet” board on Pinterest.

Teach Your Child at Home: Part 4

My boys would love to play outside. But it’s messy and cold. We needed a new indoor activity one morning, so I got out some dry rice and let them dig in it, pour it, and put it through funnels.

If you pour lots of rice into the bin, you can hide small things in it (like little beads or gems) and your kids can sift the rice off to find the objects. Kind of like panning for gold. I didn't do this because the littlest guy still puts things in his mouth.

I recommend putting a dark colored towel on the floor to aid in the clean up process. The grains of rice will still get everywhere.
But that’s why we have a dust buster. What do you let your kids do when it is too cold and messy to play outside?

SteamMachine Review & Giveaway

I was contacted a few weeks ago by HomeRight, a company who distributes SteamMachine, a steam cleaner. They asked if I wanted to try one and give one away to my readers. In the midst of a home nearly overtaken with the stomach virus, my SteamMachine arrived.

As soon as I was feeling better, I wanted to start sanitizing the house so my husband to help keep my husband from getting the stomach virus. The steam machine was easy to put together. The attachments seen above are all included, but the instructions are easy to read and understand, so I easily figured out what attachments I wanted to use.
I started with the bathrooms and then did the hard floors in my house. Cleaning with the SteamMachine was simple. It doesn’t require any chemicals, just water, that it boils into steam. I used the fixture attachment and then the floor attachment in the bathrooms.
Another thing that I like about the SteamMachine is that it is relatively lightweight. I could carry it around the house easily. It also has a long cord and a long hose to avoid having to move it often.  Many of the attachments are carried on-board, which is convenient.
It can clean shower doors and windows with the squeegee attachment. I plan to use this feature the next time I clean.

What I like about cleaning with the SteamMachine:
1. Easy setup.
2. Doesn’t require chemicals to sanitize.
3. Lightweight, long hose and cord.
4. Several attachments for cleaning different surfaces.

 
Also, if you are planning to remove wallpaper, the SteamMachine has an attachment that allows one to complete this process. Two years ago, I removed wallpaper in two of my parents’ bathrooms without the aid of any machine like this and it resulted in much drywall repair (which is a pain!) I recommend trying a SteamMachine for that process if you’ve got wallpaper removal in your future.
Would you like to win a SteamMachine? HomeRight is giving one away to followers of Monkey See, Monkey Do!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



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Disclaimer: I was given a SteamMachine for personal use. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated in any other way.

Valentine’s Day Bib.

I’ve had great feedback from handmade bibs I’ve sold. The two most common praises have been they cover kids’clothing and the snaps keep them securely fastened.



I figured I’d make a Valentine’s Day design for my shop.