Paws for the Cause Autism 5K and 1 mile Fun Run

 

Meet Cameron. Cameron is the sweetest, happiest 7 year old and the son of some of our good friends in our neighborhood. He also has autism. Everyday things that are easy for most kids, are hard for him. That is why his parents are trying to get him a service dog. 

A service dog can be trained to be a calming influence for him when he becomes stressed. Service dogs are very expensive though. The training can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 and is too much of a burden for most families with autistic children. 

To help with this, Cameron's mom, Tamie, is organizing a fundraiser to help pay for Cameron's service dog and to help other families pay for service dogs as well. The fundraiser will be a 5K and 1 mile fun run on Saturday October 6th (next weekend) here in Lehi, UT. Even if you don't run, there will be other activities including a raffle, silent auction, and kids activities like bounce houses and face painting.

Please come if you can. I will be there running in the 5K and I have donated some earrings, headbands and hairclips for the auction so you can try to win those too :)

To register online for the race go to: http://www.active.com/5k-race/lehi-ut/paws-for-the-cause-autism-2012
It only costs $20 for the 5K and $15 for the mile, but it will be $5 more if you wait to register on race day.

If you want to donate, visit their blog and click on the link on the side.

For more information:
http://www.pawsforthecauseautism.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PawsForTheCauseAutismServiceDogs?ref=ts

Superhero Mask and Cuffs

My daughter was recently invited to a birthday party of a boy in her church class. I always struggle with what to get little boys. Girls are easy, I just usually give them some headbands and hair clips. I like to make gifts (it saves money and makes the gift more special) so I came up with these superhero accessories: a mask and cuffs.

What you need:
3 different colors of felt (I used one 9x12 sheet of each main color and then scraps for the third color)
Velcro (about 2 inches)
Skinny Elastic (about 12 inches)
Sewing machine
Thread
Fabric glue (optional)


I am not going to lie, I got the idea for the cuffs from See Kate Sew, she has a tutorial on how to make them, but I changed them up a little. First, I made the cuffs a little longer on each side so they would fit a preschooler (her pattern is for a toddler). Second, I made them reversible. To do this, I sewed designs onto each color of the felt before stacking them and sewing them together.

I chose to have the reverse side be his initial, but you can do whatever designs you want on either side.

For the mask, I just found a template online (I used this one) and then cut out two on different colors of felt. I also embellished the red side of the felt with small stars to match the cuffs, then sandwiched them together with about 12 inches of skinny elastic in between. I used a little bit of fabric glue to hold the elastic in place (or you can pin it) while I topstitched around the outside. When I got the part with the elastic I sewed back and forth over it a few times to reinforce it. Then sew around the eye holes as well.

Now that my kids have seen them, I am going to have make more. My two-year keeps trying to steal them and my daughter wants a superhero princess mask, I am thinking one in pink and purple with a crown instead of stars? So many possibilities.

I'm Back with some Fancy Pants Elastic Headbands!

Sorry about that long blogging hiatus. I have several excuses, the main one being that I ran out of space in blogger so I had to delete a bunch of old photos from my family blog. I didn't want to lose those posts entirely, so I made a blog book using blurb. I figured it wouldn't take me too long, but I forget sometimes that I am a perfectionist and it took me FOREVER. It turned out better than I imagined though, I am very pleased and now I can get back to blogging.

Adjusting to life with 3 kids is hard. I had other parents warn us that going from 2 to 3 kids is the hardest transition, but I didn't fully understand what that meant until I was actually experiencing it. It is getting easier though and my darling but difficult baby girl is getting easier and requiring slightly less of my attention so hopefully life can get back closer to normal. My goal is to post once a week.

 

 The first thing that I am excited to share with you all is my new line of headbands. When we drove to CA over the summer, I used the car time to work on some new fabric flowers. I really love how simple, but beautiful these flowers are. They are a little tricky sometimes and I pricked my fingers with the needle so many times while we were driving that my husband actually went to a store and bought me a thimble on our drive to try and prevent further bloodshed. They are worth it. I could go the easy way use hot glue, but then they would turn out stiffer and heavier. A needle and thread holds together better.

They are the perfect complement to this new fancy elastic. This elastic is not only soft and stretchy so it won't be uncomfortable on your baby's head, but it is totally cute and fun. Still cute and simple, but with an extra fancy touch so they can dress up an outfit. I love them.

 I currently carry three styles in my shop, but I have 7 more styles of fancy elastic headbands in the works. Once I get them all photoed and listed, they will be customizable to so you can pick whatever flower color you want with whatever elastic you want.

 I have the cutest little girl to model them on too. She is totally worth all the sleepless nights and fussy days. She will be 4 months tomorrow and is just barely too big for her newborn size clothes :)