new bag!

I've been sewing A LOT lately. Zach has been very patient as our house has been covered in thread and fabric scraps 24/7. I'm doing my first (maybe last?) craft fair next weekend and I wanted to make a smaller bag to sell in addition to the bigger birdie sling bag. My original plan was to make 4 smaller ones for the fair, but then I wanted to keep one for myself, and they've turned out to be a little more tedious to make then I wanted, so so far I've made all of 2. I'm keeping the floral one for myself! I think I deserve to hang onto one!

The bag is reversible, which is fun, but my favorite part of these bags are the flowers. They're sewn onto a safety pin, so you can switch them side to side. But let me tell you about making the flower, as I said, this bag is super tedious. You cut 24 pieces of fabric which you sew into 12 petals which you then sew into 2 flowers of 6 petals each which you then sew together and then sew decorative felt and a button on the front, then you sew a sew on safety pin to another piece of felt and then sew that to the back of the flower. And you haven't even started on the actual bag yet! Phew!Me, all dressed up to go to....Dairy Queen. I wanted to go out, but we couldn't think of anywhere fun, cheap, good for Aubrey, etc, so we ended up at the drive through at Dairy Queen. I should have stayed in sweat pants, oh well. I got some photos of the bags, so it was worth it.

First nursery project down, 9 more to go.....

For this next baby it's all things girly and soft. I'm not sure why I have this need to deck out her nursery when the rest of my house has zero decor in it. I had to limit myself to just 10 projects for her room. Chances that I'll actually get half of the projects done are slim to none, but I'll give it a go. Here is Project 1. Probably the easiest and quickest of them all.

I wanted framed silhouettes to go above the crib. I toyed with images of babies, children playing, etc, but went with ballet dancers. What could be more girly right? I used 2 frames I already had and bought one more cheap one at Goodwill, painted them with craft paint, sanded them, sprayed a coating of clear sealant, and that was that for the frames. The images I found for free on the internet, then I cleaned them up a bit in photoshop and turned them pink, printed on cardstock from my home printer, and that was it!

And here's my checklist for things to make for the rest of her room....

1) Crib bumper

2) Crib Skirt

3) Crib Sheets (I plan to make the bumper, skirt, and sheets out of these fabrics.)

4) Photo board using what's leftover from above fabric

5) Decorated letters of baby's name

6) quilt

7) cute fabric liners for wicker baskets that I'll use for diapers, wipes, burp clothes, etc

8) Gerber daisy balls to hang from the ceiling

9) Doily banner

10) Pink antiqued frame with Audrey Hepburn's "I Believe in Pink" quote

11) Gads of flannel blankets

I guess this has ended up being 12 projects in all, oops! This list got ridiculous.

Then it's on to Aubrey's room. I haven't thought it out as thoroughly as the nursery, but it's going to be more bold primary colors, and involve some painted birdhouses, bold painted furniture, bright pillows with fabric flower accents, stuffed animals (like the heather bailey turtle below and an elephant, I'm digging elephants right now)....and that's about as far as I've gotten!

I'm doing a craft fair in 3 weeks, so all of the above will have to wait until I'm done with making stuff for that, but hopefully soon after I will be posting some completed nursery room projects!

It's a party in Orlando!

Nine girls - all already mothers, 4 currently pregnant, 3 currently nursing - we achieved the impossible - an extended poolside weekend trip with no children! I had my doubts that we could pull it off, or that many people would end up making it. I even came this close to bailing the morning of my flight when Aubrey woke up with a fever. But we made it happen! Thanks in large part to Gina and her persistent thorough planning. And for me, thanks to my parents who watched Aubrey for two days.

These girls were all close friends in Pittsburgh. Now we are spread all over the country, but we intend to stay close. What did we do in Orlando? Hmm....not much! Which was the point-to see each other. We stayed up until 4 am the first night catching up, I don't think I ever recovered! So lots of talking, eating, sitting by the pool, shopping, and some crafting. Because who doesn't go to Orlando and feel inspired to stay in and have a craft night :)

Is this the life or what? I couldn't have cared less what the drink actually tasted like(it was very good), but having someone serve me poolside and telling them to "put in on my tab" is an experience I love having. Thanks Rachel for treating us all to those drinks! Zach's first comment upon seeing this picture wasn't something nice like "good color" but "how much did those cost?" So he says thank you as well!

The People!

The Place

And the Sunglasses! I love/hate my pretty skinny friends!

The whole crew again, about to begin some outlet bargin shopping

And after we ended the outlet shopping. Still smiling, but not still standing
What happens when you take pictures at 2 am

Thanks for a great trip! Hopefully the first of many. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Love you girls!

Grown up pictures

This is an extremely rare photo you are seeing - one of Zach and I together! Rarely do we get a picture taken of us together and even more rarely is it one that I would post. Usually one, or both of us, are looking too grubby in our pictures to even think about letting anyone else see. A few weeks ago, Zach and I and my parents went to a wedding of a dear friend of mine. And that is how the rare coinciding of us both being dressed up and having a camera with us happened. So here we are, we do exist!

I decided that my parents are also in need of more impromptu pictures of just them. They were spruced up for the wedding as well so I got one of them on the way to the reception. I think the lack of couple pictures is true of any married couple who has kids. We're so busy documenting the kids' lives that we don't bother to take pictures of ourselves. I couldn't resist allowing one picture including my favorite not quite grown up subject. It was taken on the same trip, so I justify it's relation to this post that way. Aubrey loves Lindsey SO much, and I think it shows here. I'm glad I had a camera on me here as well to catch this special moment between two people that are so important in my life. So the moral of the post is - Don't forget to take pictures of yourself too! And of your significant other. And keep a little camera on you as much as possible to get those unexpected special moments. And....on a less mushy but completely serious note, BACK UP YOUR PICTURES!!!

Unbelievable!

What's unbelievable is that I have pictures....

of Aubrey.....


in FOCUS!!!!

This girl is always on the move and there are very few pictures of her recently that I'm happy with the focus on. But then...along came the new lens that I have been working hard for, equipped with a high speed focusing motor and BAM! I try never to say "I'd be a better photographer if I had this lens or that equipment" because there are always improvements I can make and things I can learn, but sometimes, I have been feeling that the lenses I have were falling short in lots of situations. I haven't had much time to use the new lens yet, but so far it performs way better then the kit lens that came with my camera (not a surprise there). I think we're going to have a good relationship!

You can tell it's still summer time here, oh and we need to cut our grass, and maybe put pants on our daughter!