Traditions of the christmas kind

Let’s talk about traditions for a moment, shall we. As a person “new” to parenting, it is funny  to think that we make up the traditions our children will remember. As a child my sister and I got to open one gift on christmas eve prior to santa coming. Every year we opened a gift from out faux grandmother and every year it was books or a gift card to get books. We discovered many book series because of this. 

For the last eight years, P and I have been together we have a ONE ornament a year rule. For the last several years they have been sentimental in one way or another. Well, this year we had a baby.. so what other way to show that in years to come. Our little theme this year seems to be her hands. It seems themes may be a tradition we may keep in the future, as this is the second year with a true theme. Last years theme was houses which you can find here. 

So, this year we used a hand making kit we received at our baby shower to make an imprint of Miss Willows hand into an ornament. It is quite the perfect way to remember her being so small for her first christmas. I am quite infatuated with all of her little parts lately, they grow up so fast. 

        

 

Our christmas cards also include little Willows hand in a glove. The glove was already cut out from the Paper source and I used a regular stamp pad to get the hand print. Tied a little string around the glove and it was that easy. 

I am really happy with the way things turned out.

      

What are your family traditions, especially around the holidays?

Baby fever

 So is it me or has everyone seriously been pregnant this year?

I feel like I have made a ton of blankets since March (thats only 6 months ago).
So for your viewing pleasure, here they are
They are all a little different .. I need variety in my life

It started when one of my really close friends adoption went through
1. Aqua and teal shell pattern

That got me started on the everyone else.. And my creative juices going
Next was a friend having her second boy and me getting a little ambitious,
so ambitious it took me an extra 6 months to finish.
2. Ombré blue apache pattern

Than my sis in law who was having her first child (boy)
3. Forrest green popcorn stitch (on top of that pile)

heres a better picture

a friend in chicago with her first (boy)
4. Raindow yarn V stitch with a twist blanket

Its a funny story because my sis in law, this friend in chicago and I were all at my bro in laws wedding 2 and half years ago and now having all our children in the same year

a good friend having her second, a girl
5. Flowers in the garden
Grey and pink single crochet with crocheted tulips added



a friend having twins (boys), I made two blankets using the same yarn but two different patterns and borders
6. A blue popcorn and green shell

 a friend had a premie baby (girl) she was just able to take home.
7. Purple wave pattern


and one for my baby
8. a color block single crocheted blanket

 

I still have 4 more to make this year and one I can't show you yet since it has not been sent out yet.
What is your go to gift for new babies?

~ Steph ~

Summer Handmade Gift Exchange

So, its been awhile since I entered in a gift exchange and was hoping that would get my creative juices flowing. Well, it did to an extent. It took me the whole month prior to think of something to make for my partner who has a baby on the way and a toddler. 

This is what I came up with.. 

I wanted to make something for everyone and they live in colorado which made the decision a little easier. I know its summer, but winter things can be so cute. 

For little brother.. two little beanies. 

One simple teal and grey and the other is a little bear

For big brother.. an owl beanie

and for mama.. two headbands

This post will link up here:

~ Steph ~

Christmas cards

Big ones, little ones, bright, ones, snowflakes, houses, santa, reindeers, ornaments, lights, and trees

Yup, christmas cards have so many varieties and say so much about your personality and your year.

In the crafting world your christmas cards are admired by so many through all the media services. 

I know that I start looking for inspiration in August, I usually use Pinterest (duh!) but there are plenty of other sources such as the the paper source catalog

(source)

These were this years contestants..

(source)

(source)

So as you know from my previous post here that I got inspiration from the latter 

and.. here it is. 

I love the simplicity and cuteness of this card. It was pretty simple. Just cut out the house and glue to a background. I used card stock for the house so it was a little thicker and than a gray background. I like gray and I like neutral holidays. I used a red envelope and it is a good card no matter what you believe. 

Are you making your christmas cards this year?

Oh the christmas house(s)

This year by accident, my christmas theme is houses. Weird.. I know, but that’s what happened. 

We moved into our new home this past weekend. It’s a one bedroom apartment that we are currently making comfortable. (More pictures to come once all the boxes are unpacked and such.) As a side note, I hate moving, even though this experience has been rather pleasant.

Coincidentally the christmas cards I started in October (yup, you read that right and they are barely getting finished now) also  have cute little houses on them and I kinda love how simple but cute they are. Are you making christmas cards this year?

Lastly, our ornament this year. If you missed the post last christmas on why we only get one ornament a year go here. I found this cute little light up house at joann’s in November and knew I wanted it because we sold out house in Illinois and we never had an ornament that signified our living in that house.

So there you are, my house themed christmas. Pretty ironic it all came together by accident. Are you working on anything right now? Christmas related?

Ipad this and Ipad that

                  After a poll on facebook, I was convinced to run not walk to go get an ipad

mainly for traveling, well I soon discovered that its small size is so convenient for much more that that.

Well, I have been busy DIYing as much as I can as I prepare to move into a new (to me) apartment. 

As I was perusing Pinterest I found a lot of inspiration for christmas gifts and gifts for myself.

I found this Ipad stand/chalkboard

(source)

I fell in love with it instantaneously and convinced my Dad to help me make it 

along with some other gifts.. which I can't spill just yet.

We took some extra wood he had laying around and cut it to size. 

We used the exact measurements in the tutorial except added a ledge on the back for easy moving of the stand. The ledge was created by nailing a piece of rounded trim to the back. 

I love it and I am not as worried about spilling something on the counter and it ruining my lovely ipad. 

It is also great for baking and following recipes easier.

Do you something like this? Do you just love your ipad?

Down under the sea..

So, I love disney and anything disney related.

I grew up with disney princesses and disney classics. 

In my adult life I have always wanted to be the little mermaid, but with group costumes, etc 

that wasn't plausible.

So with P already living in California it was the perfect opportunity.

I went pursuing the internets and pinterest to find inspiration.

It needed to be:

1. semi-comfortable

2. able to walk

3. look pretty

So for inspiration I found Christian Siriano in this costume

Which is pretty fabulous

than found when he was on Martha Stewart to show the diy portion of it. I took both inspiration and put them together to get more of an Ariel feel.

I bought i shape shifter tank top on sale at walmart for $5 and attached real sea shells to it and painted them various shades of purple

For the skirt I found a pencil lame skirt at ragstock for $15 and added the organza as described in the tutorial on martha stewart. We tried sewing the organza on but it eventually kept falling off so I started hot gluing it on

For some bling and pizzazz I added rhinestones and pearls to the bra and sequins to the fin. 

What do you think?

Entry way: Part II

In this post I talked about the multiple problems wrong with our entry way.

If you remember way back when, this is what it looked like after we painted the walls 

Kinda bland and semi-functional and OH THE CORDS!! .. ugh..

The solution: to make the space more functional  and proportionally fit the space

 

So I found a lot of tutorials on crate shelves on pinterest. I bought 4 crates from Jo Anns and got to working. I came up with a 4 crate box (not to big or small) with legs (to get it off the floor). The crates hold magazine holders with our magazines, two baskets for each of our mail and some books for decorations.

I also found this awsome mirror at home goods that was on clearance because it had a piece that was broken. If you look closely in the photo above you can see it if you look closely. I glued it and ta-da!

So after seeing this post on Bower Power blog I knew the turquoise door had to go and I wanted a black door. I used the same black paint as the post; onyx by glidden. The lamp on the divider is a hand me down, the gold frame is from a thrift store, the wooden seat is actually a queen's throne.

I also decided the inside needed some love to. I painted the door as well as the room divider. The hint of black on the top and a fresh coat of white is just what it needed

Added some new knobs and I just love it. I think that that black door brings out the other black accents 

What do you think?

This post will be linking up to these blogs this week