Finally finished, only 3 years late!

Three years ago, Kade asked me for a sock lion for his birthday. That was his favorite animal at the time, and his favorite color was yellow. I bought some cute yellow socks, cut and sewed them up, and set them in my bin full of projects I needed to finish. And there they stayed, getting covered up with more and more unfinished projects.

Kade asked me about his sock lion the other day, and I immediately felt so guilty! I've made close to a hundred sock creatures in the last three years, plus countless other stuffed animals and other things. But I forgot about his little sock lion. I can't believe Kade didn't forget about it too, since it's been so long!

In a way, I'm glad I made this lion now instead of three years ago. I don't think it would have turned out looking anything like a lion back then, when I was just getting the hang of sock monkeys! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It took hours to hand tie each hair of his mane to his head, but it was worth it!

Now, three years later, Kade's favorite animals are turtles. His favorite color is "all the colors but pink!". But I think he will still love his finished sock lion that I will give him as part of his Easter basket. Better late than never, right?

Still to do in my huge pile of halfway done projects-
~King size jean quilt
~Three sock monkeys
~Owl purse
~Two fabric first name puzzles
~A few pairs of baby booties
~A summer shirt for me
~A wallet for Jer

....plus more! Am I the only one who has this problem? It's a personal goal of mine to start finishing all the things I've started, to make way for new things. I *love* getting something done and checking it off my mental list. I'm not going to procrastinate any more. This yellow lion is the first of many, and I'm so excited to move on to the next!!

***Just thought I would add the link to the tutorial I used, years ago, to learn how to make sock monkeys! They are easy, and with just the basic sock monkey form you can also make lions like mine, cats, dogs, bunnies, monsters, and lots of other things! There are also lots of other sock creature tutorials out there if you just search for them. I highly recommend it, they are so fun to make!***

Raja the Literacy Cat

Kade had a very captive little audience for his daily reading yesterday! Raja the cat just climbed up and made himself comfy.


Reading to the cat was the most fun he's had reading in a long time! Kade will read if I tell him to, but never choses to read for fun. Long books intimidate him, although he is a pretty good reader (at or slightly above his age level for this time of the school year). This book took him about 25 minutes to read, and he never once asked me if he could take a break.


I've heard of therapy dogs that are taken into school for children to read to. It helps to improve their literacy skills.


After seeing this, I believe animals really can be great reading companions! Kade was definitely more excited about reading to a cat than he ever has been about reading to me! I'm putting that on my mental list of good reasons to get our own cat when we move next year!

(note- Raja is not an actual trained therapy animal. He's just our friend's sweet pet. Well, sweet unless he's trying to steal cheese, in which case he's downright obnoxious! But we love him!)

A Herd of Snugglesauruses

I recently made some new dinos for the shop! They are similar to an item I used to make, but these are even better... they have an improved design, stand up by themselves, and have two rows of adorable ruffles down their back! Just the right size for babies, and super cute too! There are seven different fabrics I used for the ruffles, here is a sampling:




And here is the whole herd lined up for a group photo:


Fun stuff :)

Star Wars Theme 30th Birthday Cupcakes

Jer turned the big three-oh last month, and to celebrate, I threw him a Star Wars themed bash. While he and a bunch of our friends were out racing go-karts at Traxx, I was at home, helping to prepare this tasty spread, made by my mom!

I got him a new barbecue (that my dad and friend Raelene were racing to put together in 2 hours before Jer got back!) so I planned for burgers, steaks, and hot dogs. I made a huge yummy pasta salad, and had lots of chips and dips choices. My mom made Carbonite Jello, complete with Han Solo, three different kinds of cupcakes, and a Death Star watermelon! Here are some close-ups of her amazing work:

"Cheesecake baked in almond-flavored cupcakes with cherry filling, topped with edible stars from a Galaxy Far, Far Away":

"I am your reeses filled chocolate cupcake with chocolate butter cream frosting topped with edible Vader and Light Sabers":

"Pumpkin Pie filled cupcake with chai butter cream frosting topped with a white chocolate Yoda I am, yesssss, hmmmmm":

And by pumpkin pie filled, she means exactly that- there is a real, homemade mini pumpkin pie inside each cupcake!! YUM!!

I can't decide which one was my favorite... they were all super delicious, and so creative!

This watermelon was carved with stamp carving tools, to look like the Death Star. We had a lot of fun the next day destroying that Death Star and eating it!! :)


I am so thankful for my mom and her help in making Jer's birthday very memorable! Everybody was in awe of the cupcakes, and luckily there were enough to try one of each!


If you'd like to check out some of my mom's other Star Wars cakes that she has made for Jer, here are some links for you!

~Death Star Cake
~Light Saber Cake