making an impression

Pinterest will be the death of me. My right-brained self yearns for daily creativity, so I tend to have 18 different projects rolling around up there until I actually find time to get them out. This one has been bothering me for well, since the bebe was born. I wish I had stopped to get impressions of her little 1 week old feet, but 3 month feet will have to do. I'll do them again at 6 months, a year and maybe two or three years. Then it will be complete! Even though it's just the beginning, it's a pretty darn cute piece of art:


Inspiration for this project came from here. I actually outlined bebe's feet with a fine tip art pen and labeled the age along side. The feet were a little too light and blurred {do you know how hard it is to get a 3 month old who loves to kick to stay flat footed for a few seconds?} and I wanted a little more distinction. Anyway, I'm happy with everything about it. Here's to creative ways to track little memories.

what's that smell?

It's not to say that I have a stinky home, BUT there are a few more scents now thanks to all the diapers and burp cloths hanging around. So when I saw these pop up on Pinterest I had to give them a shot. Of course, I spent way too much on lavender oil for the project, but now that I have it, the cost will be significantly lower for future jars. This is the one in the bebe's room:



These air fresheners are incredibly simple to make, and in general fairly inexpensive. I paid $4 for a four pack of small ball jars, $2 for a box of baking soda and different prices for the essential oils, depending on where you buy them. I had tea tree oil already and splurged on some lavender oil. At first I wasn't impressed with the smell of the fresheners, but once they settled and were placed in their appropriate locations it was nice to walk into a room and have something that wasn't overpowering and pungent like a plug-in or a spray.

This one is in the laundry room now which is great, since that's where I keep the dirty diapers. It used to smell like pee when I opened those double doors and now it smells like lavender. Fabulous!


This one is in one of the bathrooms:


And here's the tutorial on how to make these. It's nice to display some of my cute scrapbook paper while having an actual useful purpose. I will definitely be making more of these. Two nostrils up!

yummy yummy in my tummy

I've made these twice so far and they're a big hit. They're so easy to make and don't usually last long around here so I'll be making a double batch next time. And they're no-bake, score! {Oh, and I add more peanut butter to ensure stickiness...}

put a fabric on it

I'm starting to attack everything with mod podge and fabric. I'm starting to worry for the dog and the bebe. Here's a silver tray that had slight rust on the top, so I covered it with some fabric. Now I like it better:

a new life for a recycled box

How easy is it to create your own simple cheap storage? As easy as reusing a lovely cardboard box. I admit, not all shoe boxes are worthy, but this eco-friendly box that held an organic cotton bunny, was just the thing for some cute storage. All I did was add a couple of grommets, a bit of rope that came with the bunny, and I have a cute little box for bebe's cute little hats.



And here's that adorable little bunny and a sneak peak at the living room redo. It's been about creating as much storage as possible for a growing bebe and all her diapers/pajamas/burp clothes/blankets/toys/books...you see why we needed the storage?? The trick was creating something clean and useful without becoming overpowering.

organize it pretty

But not just pretty, it's a huge space-saver. I had to do some touch-ups to my kitchen door the other day, and I had a heck of a time getting the rusted shut cover off. I saw a tip a while back and decided it was time to implement it. So I bought some plastic mixing bottles from walmart for $2 a piece and filled them with leftover room paints. I labelled each container with the color, finish and room details using the new Martha Stewart kraft labels from Staples. Now I have an easy way to grab a color for quick touch-ups and those nasty cans won't be knocking around in my basement work bench anymore...

time stealer

This little girl has been keeping me on my toes. I have those good days where she's happy and sleepy and I get lots done, but there are definitely those days where she's not tired at all and I get nothing done. But my favorite days are the ones where she's happy and squirmy and full of smiles for me and her daddy:

welcome to bebe land

Since everyone seems to be having children, i've had several bebe gifts on my project list. This time it was some burp cloths:




and a very wonky stuffed rattle/ball:



A quilter I am not. I found the tutorial on Pinterest, but you can get it here. Hers look much nicer! Anyway, I'm sure you're sick of bebe themed crafting, but I'll have something else to show you soon. I've been working on a living room remodel...

for bebe Sloane

A friend finally delivered her 'not-going-to-find-out' baby and it turned out to be a girl, SO a girly gift was on the project list. I decided to cover a wood letter for her and add some hanging ribbon for hair bow storage. I added a few dimensional flower stickers to the ends of the ribbons to keep them weighted. I'm pretty happy with the final project, I'm finding that I love anything fabric-covered and I have enough stashed fabric for years of projects...

did i ever tell you the story?

You know, the one where I had a baby?

It's a good one. It started on a Thursday at about 3pm. I was getting bundled up to take le dog out for le walk when my water broke. It must have been all the walking around Target that morning. I called the husband {who had just left home to go back to work} and told him what happened and that if he wanted to come home he could or he could just wait until I spoke with the midwife and figured out what we should do. He turned around as the midwife told me to come into the hospital. She wanted to make sure I had actually gone into labor. Well, I of course had, and decided to head back home until I really started to feel contractions. So around 8pm or so I decided to check into the hospital. In hindsight, I probably could have labored a bit longer at home, but being my first time, I was new to all this and not really sure how much time I had.

So back at the hospital, my contractions were pretty strong, about a minute long and a minute apart, yay, I was close, right? Not so much. I labored all night long with those contractions, a minute long, pretty intense, a minute apart. You don't realize how tired it can make you when you're only getting 1 minute naps...So I cried, and slept, and felt very much drugged through the night, even though I wasn't. I stood, I leaned, tried a bath, a birthing ball, the rocking chair. I begged the midwife to drug me, just let me sleep, but she assured me I could do it, I could actually stick to my birthing plan and that I had the strength to do it all sans drugs. So i'll leave out a lot of the gory details, it wasn't the best 20+ hours of my life, but it was almost over, she was almost here and doing remarkably well. By about 11 the next morning, my midwife decided it was time for me to start pushing. I pushed and pushed, and according to my husband, the midwife pulled and pulled {bebe was really cozy and happy in there} and finally at about 12:30ish bebe made her debut.

We didn't have a name picked out yet, so on Friday she remained unnamed and then by Saturday we filled out all her paperwork as Elsie Grace and I loved it. Sure, it wasn't Zoey, but it was cute and unique, and really we think it fits her perfectly.

The first month was crazy and a HUGE adjustment. I felt like a walking zombie, but we had helpers and somehow we made it through unscathed. Elsie didn't do a whole lot except eat and sleep and a whole lotta pooping.

The second month has been so much easier, and although I'm finding it difficult to have 'me time', I've organized my days to handle all the necessary things, like diaper washing, house cleaning and food making. And I even manage a daily shower now, which is more than I can say for month one.

All in all, I was blessed to have had such a drama and problem free delivery as well as an amazing pregnancy. I am proud to have experienced a drug-free labor. My midwife says they still talk about my birth at the hospital, and were all impressed by my strength and determination {it's called stubbornness and I have it in droves}. The main nurse who helped said I was only the second successful hypnobirth she had witnessed! I was so blessed to have an amazing support system in my family and friends, a wonderful midwife team, and most importantly my husband. Without his encouragement, his help and his love, I would never have made it through to the other side with my sanity in tact.

And now, we have this beautiful little girl who fills our days with smiles and coos and several poopy diapers: