Our Holidays

In our lovely little family, the holiday season truly begins in September.  First there's my birthday, then Charlotte's birthday, then Halloween, then Blake's birthday, then Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And, if someone else in the family decides to celebrate their birthdays, you can throw in my sister-in-law's birthday before Charlotte's and my brother-in-law's (technically after Blake's but celebrated this year before).  If we were in the US, we could trade out my in-law's for my own siblings (and Mom's too!).

This year, all the events seem MUCH bigger.  Granted this is mainly my own fault for going full out with them, but it does make it more fun!  We did take it easy for my birthday, but that's because Blake had his tonsils out that week.  Doesn't make for too much fun, but we did go out and enjoy the evening.

Next up, we decided that since Charlotte absolutely loves animals, a trip to the zoo was in order.  It was a very, very hot day, but we did have fun with only one minor incident concerning a baby toe and a pole.

I decided to keep with the theme and make her birthday cake jungle animals too.

This is actually sculptable buttercream icing found here.  She only ate the head/neck of the giraffe and skipped the cake.  I suppose that was plenty of sugar in a couple bites!  Opening presents was lots of fun (hallelujah she loves the puff quilt) but building her bike with Poppy  was the icing on the cake.  I'll have to get the pictures of that off Nana, but here is pulling out all the pieces anyway.

I can't believe she is already 2!  Where did that time go?  I guess it flies when you're crazy... cough... having fun. :)

Charlotte's birthday was on Wednesday, and then we celebrated Xander's on Saturday.  It wouldn't seem like much of a big deal, except his was a Black Tie Ball.  Although my high school dresses do still fit.... they aren't exactly black tie formal.  After much searching online, I found this pattern.

Looked like fun, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Oh, and without said pattern as it isn't available anymore...  Please disregard my appearance as I recently got out of the shower and still had wet hair and no make-up... :)

It made me REALLY want a dress form and a cutting board/table.  It turned out pretty well considering I was piecing all sorts of other patterns together and guesstimating almost all of it.  I won't point out the flaws though and just let you admire it... :D 

Next up, Blake's birthday BBQ with family and some friends.  With a week of planning, I hope it turns out alright!  Here's a sneak peek at one of the activities.

Seagreen!!!

My favorite color is seagreen.  And lucky for me, it's come into style!  Hopefully I won't get sick of it being everywhere though...  I have been dying to figure out a way to bring some of this color into our home, and since we are only renting currently, I can't exactly paint walls with it.  Then I came across this on Pinterest (go figure).

Martha Stewart strikes again!  I loved this idea, and I decided to do my own version in a somewhat less permanent way.  And with my favorite color too!

Sorry the picture is pretty bad, but you can get the general idea.  I made the frame and added some edging to make it look a bit better and attached an mdf board to the back.  I painted the board and frame initially with magnetic primer and then used paint and grout to make it a chalkboard as well.  You can see the dates written in much better in person, but I'll probably use a different colored chalk or make magnetic numbers just so it does show up better.  Cool huh?  And now I have a bit of my favorite color in my house and it can travel with me wherever we may move. :)

Travel Prep

Only 63 days till we make the journey over the many waters!  A bit nervous to be doing this trip on my own with the munchkin, but even if it's a terrible flight, it will only last for so long and then Grandma can play with the baby while I sleep.  (Sound good, Grandma?)  In an effort to make it a little easier on me and maybe a little more fun for the munchkin, I am making her some of her very own travel accessories.
First up: The Diaper Clutch.

It is always such a hassle to dig through the bag and find the diaper, the wipes, the poop bag (if needed) so I made this clutch to save sanity and to look oh so chic while on the way to the change room.  Because that is oh so important while carrying a squirming toddler who needs a change... :)

Next we have: The Backpack.

This one came about from a few reasons.  The hubby didn't really like carrying around my feminine bag with all the baby stuff.  I didn't want to go the way of the diaper bag AND purse, so everything always ended up in my purse; which ends up being the diaper bag and getting all the wear and tear of a diaper bag.  (However, now what am I going to put in my purse?!)  I also wanted the munchkin to be able to carry something of her own while traveling.  Even if it's just her blanket and a toy, those are two things I don't have to try to pack into my carry on and dig out over and over again.  I am also not a fan of themed items.  I don't want to give in to my daughter wearing Dora or Winnie the Pooh or any other character just yet.  I'm sure it will come, but I'll enjoy not having to deal with that yet.
Enough said about that, here's the backpack.

Can you believe that I had to order all the parts (zipper, triglide, and webbing) from Canada because you can't find white ones here?  I'm sure they exist here, but most stores don't have websites, or decent websites, so unless you want to drive around in hopes of finding some random store, good luck!  But that's an entirely different soap box. :)

I definitely have to give credit where credit is due though.  I have attempted to make other bags and cases and haven't figured out how to do so well with all the seams hidden until I found this tutorial.  I did do a few things differently, like the straps and shape/size, but the basic tutorial I followed step by step.  I will also be using the basic instructions for the last travel accessory that I haven't gotten to yet.  The Travel Art Desk.

And because the object of my labors is so darn cute:

I apologize for the camera phone pictures.  We moved and now I can't find the real one!

Hard At Work or Hardly Working

Wow, it has been a while since I last blogged.  Although I'm sure lots of interesting things have happened that you are all dying to know about.... blogging hasn't been on the top of my priority list.  However, I have been getting my backside into gear and have done some fun projects that I wanted to record.  We'll start off with the quilt.

 Yup, this one.  Talk about a LOT of work!  I saw this picture and couldn't help but want to make one of my own.  I had my own ideas of colors and what I wanted, but then I went to the fabric store.  Holy land of fabric!  I wandered around in this place for at least an hour before even starting to pull out the fabric I decided to use.

When the lady who works there asked if she could help, I told her that my ideas disappeared once I walked in the door.  She informed me that it happens ALL the time.  No surprise there!  

Isn't the fabric so fun?  I absolutely fell in love with the little turtles. I'm planning on making a puff turtle softie to go with it too.  Hopefully before Charli's birthday, but we'll see about that.  Now, although I am a pretty crazy seamstress who doesn't like to use patterns..... I did read through the instructions on Awaiting Ada first before attempting my own way.  Not that it was much different as there are only so many ways to puff a quilt.

Coming up next: Travel Prep.

Other Projects

I allowed myself to join Pinterest a little while ago, even though I knew it would lead to an addiction.  But the things I have found!!!!  Like my last post for the menu calendar.  SO helpful!  And these fun things I did for Valentine's Day.

Wire birdcage from here.

Mini kisses idea from here.

String art typography idea from here.  Although, I got the idea from there, I used my own type font and didn't use anybody else's patterns.

Pretty cool eh?  Hopefully I'll have as much fun for future holidays too.  And to keep me busy between holidays.......

Yeah...  that's my 9' couch covered in clothes that I plan on refashioning into something for myself or Charlotte.  And it doesn't include another pile I found in my closet.... :)  Time to find a sewing desk!!!

My First Report

If you're anything like me, projects NEVER seem to get finished.  I have a pile...  Seriously.  However, I do occasionally get around to finishing some.  Typically these are holiday projects that I have a deadline to complete, but I finished one yesterday that had no deadline other than my sanity in seeing it partly completed.  Check out my new............      MAGNETIC MENU CALENDAR!

I wish I could say this was my own idea, but thanks to Pinterest, it belongs to Controlling My Chaos.  I used just strips of black paper as my outline as I don't have a vinyl cutter, but I think it worked pretty well.  The paper I used are freebies from here.  My other half is super excited about the ability to change things around based on his mood (although he is only allowed to meals after the current week).

The Cutie Pie

After 52,548 minutes worth of dirty diapers, tears, laughs, and cuddles, this is what I have to show for it!

I think I'll keep her.  Pictures of the party will come soon.  (Whenever I get them from great grandma anyway...)