Playhouse Pennant Tutorial

I love the pennants and flags that are popping up all over the blogosphere of late. I got the idea to make this for the kids' playhouse after making one for Little Miss Pink's 1st birthday party.

I kind of combined the pennant from Little Miss Pink's birthday with this one I'd seen in blog land (linked from a FAVORITE crafty site, One Pretty Thing):
on Maya*made.

One caveat. I am a horrible sewer. No. Wait. That's sewer, as in "place to where the toilet flush travels." Right? I mean seamstress. Whatever. I'm a terrible, awful user of a needle and thread and sewing machine. Don't look closely at the sewing. But the idea is cute, fun, and (if you're even only mildly bad at sewing!) could be even more cute if handled by a talented seamstress!

The idea behind the project was to let the kids make a little sign/flag for their playhouse. Here's how I did it.

First, I made a pattern. It only works if you have a cool personalized ruler. Or not. But you can make it any size (or shape, I suppose!) you want.

I traced & ironed the pattern out. I wanted mine fairly small.

Next, I cut out my triangles (7 of them in white), along with the backing material. I didn't show pics of this, but I used yellow and blue. All of this was just fabric I had around.

As far as what to use to color on fabric, the sample from the Maya*made blog used fabric crayons & markers. I did go check out Michael's for fabric crayons. I didn't feel like paying $6 for them, or more for fabric markers. I decided Sharpies would work fine. And they did.They also did a great job of coloring on our hands, but what's art without a bit of mess!?!

So next, I had my super cute Little Men color on their flags. And even Little Miss Pink scribbled on one.

I particularly like the "Kids Only" one! Notice the tiny "sailboat" drawn on it as well. I have a pair of Picassos on my hands.

Next, I pinned the triangles together, wrong sides together.

Then, sewed each of the triangles. Terribly. You don't have to do it terribly, but I can't help myself.

Once the triangles/pennant pieces were sewn, I turned them right side out. Notice the beautiful Sharpie on my hands. Classic. Please, don't bombard me with requests to be a hand model. I'm already very busy.

At this point, if I were a perfectionist, I could have ironed all of the pennant pieces flat. I'm not. At least not in the sewing arena. So next, using single fold bias tape, I pinned all the pennant pieces in place along the bias tape,creating the line of pennants.

This step is a bit time consuming, particularly if you aren't of the "sewing" bend.
It does help if your "boss" monitors your progress while hurling animal crackers off of her tray and demanding that you do a good job. Whilst wearing her pajamas well after morning has come and gone.

Next, sew the pennants in place all along the binding, creating the pennant. I didn't photograph this step either, but you don't need to see me getting frustrated with the machine and cursing under my breath, wishing I would have paid more attention in the sewing portion of Home Ec.

Once the pennant was complete, I cut little strips of the scrap backing fabric (in yellow & blue) and tied the strips in between each pennant for a more rustic, cute look. Ta Da!!

Next, our Playhouse Pennant was ready to be hung! It was the last night of summer, the night before school started. We hung it up and ate Last Popsicles of the Summer. The boys love their "flag" as they call it. I love their drippy, sticky, smiley faces. Also, couldn't you just eat up the brotherly love & affection that was captured here? Click on the photo to capture the full effect.

They are quite proud of their new playhouse!
I'm proud of the fair-to-middling attempt at sewing.
Luckily, anything that has the kid-stamp on it with their artwork is
precious in my book.

I hope you agree!

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day...

...And neither was this play structure.





It was a gift and cost us only one trip to urgent care (hammer claw to the nose of my handsome husband, three stitches & a cool scar) and several weekends.

Luckily, all the hard work was totally worth the effort of all involved. The kids L-O-V-E the thing and have demanded to "stake their claim" so to speak with a flag. I came up with this idea.

I'll post a tutorial soon!

Back to School Eats!

Looking for an idea to send with your kiddo for snack or lunch? I had this little brain child late Monday night. A perfect healthy snack! Not my finest packaging or note-making, but it was late & I was tired.

Just add celery, PB, raisins & cheesy mom-note!

And after school?

What goes better with the first day of school than milk & cookies?

Probably a nap. Which is what we had afterward!

No recipe (obviously!) is needed for Ants on a Log, but for the cookies, you must try my favorite cookie recipe of all. And I've tried lots & lots. My sweet baby girl will tell you they're the best. Or at least she'll clap and demand more using her version of baby sign language! Try them, you'll see!

The Chewy Cookie
Courtesy of/adapted ever-so-slightly from Alton Brown
2 sticks butter, melted (I use the microwave to melt & use either salter or unsalted)
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 TB milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips of your choice (I like semi-sweet)

Sift together the flour, soda & salt. I use a sieve. I hate the sifter. It takes too long.
Add the melted butter to your mixer bowl, along with both sugars. Cream together on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, milk & vanilla and mix until it looks so good that you want to lick it. Or until well combined, whichever comes first.
Slowly add in the flour mixture. Scrape into another bowl if desired (for refrigeration) & fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but up to a day.
Preheat oven to 375. Bring dough to almost room temp before attempting the following step, or be prepared to break your ice cream scoop. Using a #20 disher (or standard ice cream scoop), scoop big 'ole balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper, but it's not necessary)--about 6 dough balls (!) to a sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. If you can wait that long.

Pour yourself some milk & thank me for introducing you to the best. darn. chocolate chip cookie. ever.

Letting Go

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots, the other is wings."-Hodding Carter

I do believe there are other important bequests we leave to our children, but I suppose that within the realm of "roots" are love, faith in Christ, hope, and the desire to work hard and be kind. I know they've got a good foundation for the "roots" and will continue to develop further. So today, they both started earning their wings as they set off to school!

I wrote each of my school-bound boys a letter last night. I didn't shed a tear until I heard my oldest read the letter aloud (Needless to say, the "A" "I" "The" sight words are already mastered!). The letter basically expressed how proud I am of each little boy and how it's hard to let go, but that I know God has each of them in the palm of His hand. And I know He does.

So, with that (and some tears), my boys were off to school, backpacks and all.

The boys are 20 months apart and best friends in the whole, wide world.


As soon as he entered the kindergarten room, my little man headed to the reading nook. When his sister arrived, she joined him and he read to her. I found another reason to tear up!

Luckily, I didn't lose it and kept the tears to a minimum. Mostly, it was a very happy day. We are incredibly proud to have two fantastic boys and two amazing schools to which we can send them. They both had terrific days at school. In the words of the big kindergartner, it was "perfect." The feeling is mutual.

And then there were none!

About a week and a half ago, we made a little craft project to count down the days until school started. The boys were getting ready to head to kindergarten and preschool, respectively.

This is what we started with:

Here is what was waiting for me this morning:


The summer was amazing and fun, and now fall is upon us! The boys couldn't wait to get the last paper links off of their countdown calendars and make it "official." Everything is more fun when it's been made "official" with a countdown calendar. I highly recommend it!

But shouldn't you be YOU?

Secretly, deep down, I always wanted to be a mom. I mean, yes, there was that time in 3rd grade that I was convinced I'd be a lawyer-slash-teacher-slash-Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. And I did go to college to become a teacher, which I still hope to do someday. But way deep down, I knew I'd be a mom. I grew up with an amazing stay at home mom who built robots out of cardboard boxes, let me cook in the kitchen, made me write in my journal in the summer and go to the library often. That growing up experience solidified my desire to be a mom.

So back to the title--shouldn't I be "Nicole" and not "Mostly Mom"? I'm not a mom first; I'm a child of God first. A wife second. A mom third. But if I had a dime for every time I heard the word "Mom" I could retire to Fiji with my kids and have a limitless source of wealth. To heck with the NASDAQ and plunging dollar! So, I'm Mostly Mom because, well, I think I hear that word more times in a day than any other word.

And, truth be told, I wouldn't change that for all the money in the world.

(Beautiful photography by Olivia Wagner Photography!)

Where does Time go?

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that Time goes to the same place as all of the lonely un-matched socks that end up in my dryer.

Poof. Gone. Vanished.

At least Time leaves us memories (as well as thousands of digital photos that are priceless, but still not in a photo album!). The dryer just leaves me a huge basket of single socks that will never find a match!

Back to where I started. Time has marched on in this little Irish-Norwegian household. And school starts a week from today!

We're savoring the last moments of summer, forgetting about the unmatched socks (let's pretend I'm "focused" on them all of the rest of the time...ha!), and enjoying the two big boys at home before they start school next Tuesday.

Our summer has been priceless. Hope yours has been that way, too.