My Little Pony Q-Tip Painting

You've probably all seen this pin, templates for Q-Tip painting.  I had pinned it ages ago but hadn't ever looked at it.  Today was the perfect day for an activity for Catie so I headed over to Therapy Fun Zone.

I loved her templates but was sadly disappointed when there were only two.

It didn't take long to realize that there really isn't anything tricky to these.  While slightly monotonous it was also addicting and I just couldn't seem to stop pasting circles.  I kept saying I'll just finish this one and yet somehow I was starting another one.  I thought I'd share these in case someone else is as addicted to My Little Pony as we are.

So if you have someone little that likes My Little Pony and painting, download away.

A Saddle for Freckles

For Gwen's birthday we picked up this adorable white, stuffed horse for her (she's addicted to horses) and it turned out to be a huge hit.  She loves this horse that was lovingly named Sparkles.  We thought it was so cute we picked up a brown version for Catie and named it Freckles.  The horses came with these removable saddles and bridles and I figured Freckles and Sparkles would like a change of clothes.

Here's what the ponies came with

This is Freckles new and improved saddle.

And here's Sparkles

Definitely an improvement that was completely unnecessary but fun for me.

Change is Good

Sometimes we get stuck in these ruts and we do things because its what we know, not because it's the best. I may have over reacted a bit yesterday about Google Reader going away. I figured that as soon as I heard the news it was time to find a new reader so I read a couple reviews and pretty quickly downloaded Feedly. It took about three minutes for me to proclaim, "So long Google Reader". I'm totally hooked on Feedly.

To start, it uses your existing Google account so I didn't have to re-add my feeds (When Reader goes away Feedly is prepared to smoothly transition my account). It has an app for your mobile devices, both Apple and Android, (there is also a desktop version) which is the only place I ever read my feeds these days. My favourite part though is how great it looks. It makes every post look so extra professional, check out these screen shots I took.

To mark items as read you just give a little swipe.

Any your categories show up on the left when you want them.

For more details watch their video, it will make the Google Reader blow far more bearable.

So download the app, get rid of Google, this seems to be better and the change is inevitable, better sooner rather than later.

Chocolate Pants, Vinyl Detail

Catie's Pants out of Pants turned out so well that I decided I wanted to make another pair.

Once upon a time I decided to make a maxi skirt for myself.  I headed to to fabric store with my Mom and grabbed some brown jersey, my Mom asked if I was sure I wanted to use that fabric, I assured her it was perfect.  Surprise surprise, she was right and it wasn't awesome fabric, plus the skirt was a total fail.  Meaning I have had brown jersey hanging around so I cut up my awesome skirt to make these pants.

These pants are so close to perfect I'm incredible pleased with myself (pardon my self flattery).  Everything went so well and they fit great and she loves them, win, win win.

Catie had some old brown pants that no longer fit and they had this little pink hard on the hip and she loved that silly heart so I figured she'd like some white, heat flocked added.  I picked the scripty heart and I think it was a good choice.

The heart had a little heart cutout so I added that to the back, I'm pretty sure that's her favourite part.

So the pants fit well, they're super comfy and I'm resisting the urge to make her three more pairs of brown stretchy pants... a girl only needs so many brown pants.

Google Reader

Have you heard the news yet? Are you as devastated as I am? Has your world been rocked? Google is getting rid of Google Reader, what are we going to do now?

"We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months."

Perhaps the uproar it's created will change their minds... we can only hope.

My Little Pony T-Shirt

I saw this idea today and instantly loved it.  I like that it's a character t-shirt but subtle and not knock you over the head.  I knew I'd make one as soon as I saw it only at this house we have no interest in Star Wars.  We do happen to have a thing for My Little Pony.

I went online and found some photos of Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and then using the Silhouette software I traced around the images.  This gave me the nice silhouettes.  I was going to cut out their cutie marks too but they were so tiny that I decided to pass.  I cut the image onto the pink, heat flocked vinyl and ironed it onto a plain white $4 shirt I recently bought at Walmart.

I just ordered this vinyl and when it came I didn't think I liked the colour, I was a little disappointed but once I ironed it and peeled off the plastic it turned out I love it.  Especially since the shirt already had that hot pink trim on the neck.

I think my favourite part are the delicate, adorable eyelashes that turned out so well.

Now Catie just needs to wake from her nap so I can show it to her, she's going to be thrilled.