Potatoe, Potato

i know, posting twice in one day...but i will be gone wednesday and won't post for a little, plus i missed some days. i feel like i need to make them up. i missed it!! finally i have enough energy to picture, post and peek at everyone else's stuff.

I had joined a little critter swap ( i know, i just can't get enough!!) and sent my little bird off to her new home--texas. I did recieve mine!! All the way from New Zealand... yay.

The pretty bird was wrapped in a hankie + a lovely large chocolate crunch bar --yum-- + a bundle of cute fabric + a little crocheted heart on a string with yummy smelly in it, sachet, + a baggie of goodies....ribbon, buttons, embelishments (did i miss anything?)

Here she is up close: Check out her little feet. fancy. Ruth did a great job on it with the swirly embroidery too. just lovely. Check out her blog to see the birds best friend. She stayed in New Zealand with her mother Ruth.
It will of course take residence upon the shelf of my goodies!!
Thanks Ruth--love it, her, and all the rest too..

Here is what i did today:
I thought the kids have a digital camera that they share..just got them a sim card so they can take more than 10 pictures--now 700!! that might get me into trouble. anyways...They of course would now need a little camera bag to tote it around in!! of course....
This is what i came up with. The top of the bag has a large piece of velcro across it so nothing can slip out. (a fore thought of swinging danger) I lined it with some thinner hobbs batting. The jean material if from some pants i cut down and made into capri pants. I hope it isn't toooooo girly so the boys don't mind taking a turn too. There is a red button at the end of the strap where it is sewn to the bag.

After completing that and saying "that is pretty darn cute" I of course would make me one too, of course.
So here is mine!!!




It definitly needed to have a little bird on the front (one girl says a fish, one boy says a shark---potatoe , potato--what do you think?)
i think i will have to stitch some wings on it or something.
I put a flap across the top of mine with velcro across it (it is peeking out). Again, leftover jean parts + lined it with the blue flower sheet. The strap is like the kids, jean folded over + some cute ribbon. I put a pocket on the inside of mine also. I might have done some things different, but the camera fits (it's a fat one) and it will work just fine.
Now i can be hands free when walking and sight seeing this next week. Plus look cute.

Both were really farely easy ( i think i have it down now). Might have to sell a few. hmmmm.

Everyone is I am sure thinking 'why isn't this crazy girl packing?' Well---i'll tell ya....
Yah, we're leaving wednesday morning, yah there are 11 of us, yah we need lots of stuff....but we have made no reservations for staying the night....now before you call me crazy, again, let me explain:
in the wonderful country of ours there are wonderful stores that allow you to park in thier parking lot over night. We are 11 cheapskates (well, at least 2 of us are --the moms) and we have decided to take up that invitation!! We will be staying at walmart and flying J's. Now what could be better than staying in the parking lot of a major store that carries everything one would need? (ok, that would be flying j---so we can use the dumping station :) what a lovely combination!! We wouldn't be carying around a map of streets....oh no, we have a map with highlighted free stops!!!
So really with that advantage, i really am at a loss at what else i can do. If we forget, we go shop. Not too bad of an option. (plus we are spending all of our "spending money" on that gas that seems to be rising again.)
We might even try having the kids sell lemonade, we should have a barbaque night too and sell it.
Let's see how much we can make on our trip.
Much to the shagrin of our honeys i am sure.