A Slow Paced Life

This little beauty joined our family in July and it has been a whirlwind ever since her birth.

We absolutely love her to pieces! She is such a sweet, beautiful little girl and is always full of smiles when she sees us. Her brother adores her and wants to kiss and hug her constantly.

These are her newborn shots, but she has grown so much. She's almost 4 months old now! You'll see how big she is in our Halloween costumes.

Most of life has been different since she was born. We moved when she was month old. Two weeks after we moved my husband got really sick with appendicitis had his appendix removed, then two weeks after that we had both sides of our family here to visit for her baby blessing. It was crazy and stressful with all of those big events back to back. We still are not fully "settled" into our house, but each week we get a teeny bit closer. She's also been a tricky sleeper and is totally hit and miss with how long she sleeps at night. But we love her and are slowly adjusting by leading a slower paced life. We don't go a lot of places right now, but we are slowly working back up to enjoying fun outings every once and a while. Thankfully we now have a backyard so staying home is not quite as hard with a toddler as it once was in an apartment.

I haven't had a lot of time or energy to craft, but I have done a few really simple things that I will share at some point in the future! I have a million and one projects that I would really LOVE to do, but all in good time. Babies sure change things and this little girl has definitely changed our lives - in a good way!

It's Been Too Long...

It has really been a long time since I have posted on this blog. I have lots of fun crafts and recipes that I have been trying/doing since February, but life has been too busy to make time to post them. We are getting ready to welcome another baby into our family.

 

This is a picture of her from our 17 week ultrasound (which was actually in February).

  

Here's me at 29 weeks. I am now 35 weeks. I should take another picture so I can remember this pregnancy.

It has been a good one. I did have morning sickness through the first trimester, which I wasn't expecting because I did not have it with my first. The second trimester was great and the third one has been pretty good too. We did have a funky couple of weeks when I hit 32 weeks though. I started having really regular contractions so I was told to rest a lot and slow down. I did for about 2 weeks while I was recovering from the cold that they thought was irritating my uterus and causing the contractions, but then I got bored, got my energy back, and decided I was going to get off my bum and stay active again. Although, I do rest much more than I did before and I have simplified meal preparations and other things so that I am on my feet a little less.

My big craving with this pregnancy has been fruit - which actually happened with my first pregnancy as well.

This is just some of the fruit that we have in our house right now. We also have 4 boxes of blueberries (small ones), a giant cantaloupe, a humongous watermelon, and apples in the fridge (plus more kiwis and avocados if you like to count them as a fruit). We eat this much fruit every week, sometimes more. I'm addicted and it doesn't help that everything I LOVE is in season - or at least it's all for sale for great prices! This baby girl is going to be a fruit addict for sure - which is exactly how my son is so I suppose that's a good thing!

I will have posts about actual crafting coming your way soon. I have a fun Father's Day gift that I will be finishing up tomorrow and I am excited to "show it off." I think my husband will really like it!

Bow Tie Diaper Banner

Okay, I really am far behind. I took these pictures back in May. That is crazy. And if you think that is crazy, I still have posts in the works from Bennett's birthday, which was also in May. Anyway. I have 2 friends who both had twins - 1 set of girls and 1 set of boys. This was a baby shower I helped with for the twin boys and their mama.

We didn't really have much of a theme. We just went with bright colors and had yummy food.


I made this cute diaper banner. I first saw the idea HERE and thought it was too cute not to do. I might throw an all out bow-tie themed baby shower someday in the future since this was the only element of bow-ties at this one. I just love bow-ties for little guys.

The two twin mamas ready to meet their babes (or almost). Valerie (on the right) had her baby girls a couple of weeks after this picture and Kristen (who the baby shower was thrown for) had her baby boys in early July. It is so fun to see them together now with all four babies!

I didn't get any other pictures but it was a very fun evening! Congratulations Kristen on you beautiful babes.

Abby's Baby Shower

Last night I hosted a baby shower for my good friend Abby. She is having a baby boy sometime this month (or maybe even October if he is too comfortable to come out). It was a pretty simple night, with snacks, conversations, and opening gifts.

We went with green and brown, which were the colors Abby chose. I love how it all turned out.

I made this banner. It was super simple but I thought it was the perfect touch for the simple shower.

And my husband helped me make these divine mint chocolate cupcakes (the frosting and the Andes mint on top were the best parts). These little beauties deserve their very own post.

We crammed 20 people in my tiny apartment. It was packed but very fun.


Doesn't Abby just look so happy? And that little girl is her darling daughter, Avrielle. She is 7 and is WAY excited to have a baby brother.

I thought this picture was perfect! Abby & Avrielle. Thanks for having a baby Abby so that I could throw you a party! It was so much fun! Lets do it again in say...2/3 years?

Felt Squares for Baby

This may be my absolute favorite baby gift I have ever made. It was so much fun and hopefully they will get a lot of play time in with the babe. Like I said in an earlier post I have a good 10 or so baby gifts to prepare for friends having babies (2 of which are having twins), so I was excited to find this project idea over at It's Good for the Heart! The original idea came from The Crafting Chicks. Here is my twist on the baby felt squares.

I made this set for a baby shower I went to this morning. They were so simple and easy and very inexpensive. But I love how they turned out. There are endless possibilities of shapes/designs so that makes this project even more appealing. I look forward to making up some more sets for other babies on the way!

PS: You can either sew each little shape onto the felt square or you can use a glue gun to attach them. I chose to sew them on because it seemed a little more finished and sturdy to me but I bet the glue gun would work wonders too.

Baby Shower

I hosted a small baby shower last night for a friend. She is having her third baby but it is the first girl so she definitely needed pink and girly things!

The decorations were super simple. I put together some tissue pom poms to hang from our ceiling fan. And I used my gift (a diaper cake) as the centerpiece for the goodies (sorry the lighting is terrible).

I made chocolate covered strawberries, sugar cookies (previously posted HERE), and my absolute favorite peanut butter cookies with kisses on top.

I did the diaper cake a bit different than I have done in the past. I made 12 cloth diaper burp clothes (previously posted HERE) and used those as the bottom and top layers to add color. I also LOVE the crepe paper roses that I saw HERE and added them around the cake for added cuteness. I think next time around I'll add a tiny little tissue pom pom on top as a cake topper.

Close up of the tissue pom poms.

And the recipe for the cookies:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup butter – softened 1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar 1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla

2 ¾ cups flour ½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda 1 – 12 oz package peanut butter chips

(or chocolate kisses to put on top)

Thoroughly cream butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Stir in peanut butter. Add flour till well blended then add chips. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

*If using Hershey's Kisses then skip the "add chips" step and scoop onto cookie sheet. As soon as you pull them out of the oven press 1 Hershey's Kiss into the center of each peanut butter cookie. They will be soft at first but will harden slightly as they cool.

**These are the BEST, MOISTEST peanut butter cookies ever. They do not dry up and crumble after the first day. And I love them!

Random Nothingness

This post has nothing to do with crafting, but I was really excited about some new findings and I thought I would share them in case anyone was interested.

I have been coupon shopping for almost a year now and it has been going well. I was scoring some seriously AWESOME deals and getting FREE diapers most of the time. I think cutting coupons and pairing them with sales at the stores is worth it just for the diapers (unless you are using cloth diapers). However, the food is not usually very healthy that you find for a great bargain. Most of it really is "junk" food. As I have been researching nutrition over the past month or two I have come to the conclusion that I would like to stay within a reasonable budget, but also eat mostly organic, natural food. Thus I was feeling stuck in a rut because most of the time "organic" is not cheap. And sometimes "organic" is not any healthier because it is not truly organic.

Anyway, I stumbled across this great coupon website, Organic Deals, and between that and shopping at Trader Joe's, Sprouts Farmers Markets, and sometimes Whole Foods I think I will be able to stay within our budget and still eat much healthier. Hooray!

How did I get into all this stuff? By making my own baby food for this cute little guy...

I love to cook so it just seemed natural to me (and fun) to make baby food for Bennett. I started this while we were in Brazil and made peas, carrots, and potatoes.

Once we returned from our trip I got to work on making many more varieties of baby purees and bought a few books about homemade baby food. It is really easy and very fun. Once I started making all of his food I began wondering all about nutrition and how to make the right combinations of foods so that Bennett was getting ALL of the nutrients he needed daily. I still have a lot to learn but it has made me want to eat a lot healthier for our whole family. Plus I learned that you should try to abstain from giving kids chocolate until they are 3 years old. Who knew? And I think that is really a personal choice for each parent to make. I am undecided if we will wait until he is 3 or not.

I told you this post was really random. These are just things that are on my brain while I am procrastinating crafting (or rather my research is taking up my extra time, and making Bennett's food takes some of my time too). Hope you all have a great day!

Hooded Teddy Bear Towels

One of my Christmas gifts to my husband this year was a Teddy Bear Hooded Towel. He recently mentioned that he wanted a hooded towel like our son Bennett. He was wondering why adults don't get hooded towels as well. So, I made him one as a surprise. I decided to make a matching one for Bennett. Here's Bennett modeling his towel for us. I love the cute little ears! You can find the tutorial HERE.

A close up of those ears! This was one of the more simple projects I have done. From start to finish it took me about an hour to cut and sew two towels. What a fun gift this would be for all of those baby showers I have coming up!

Airport Car Seat Bag

With all of the traveling we have been doing to show off little Bennett we have been struggling to keep his car seat clean and free from rips (no rips so far luckily). The plastic bags that they have at the airport cost at least $5 and they rip so easily that they really are not all that protective. My husband decided to do a quick search online to see if he could find something we could buy to protect the car seat and he found THIS tutorial on how to make your own airport car seat bag. Genius! Of course he knew I would want to make one. He literally found the tutorial on Thursday and I had it made by Saturday night. I bought the heaviest material I could find - it is a heavy canvas fabric that was actually pretty cheap and on sale. They mostly had light colors so I went with red thinking it would show less dirt than the creams. Plus our luggage is red so now our car seat fits right in! Here is how it turned out:

Can you tell how much I LOVE it? It is amazing, and so easy to carry! I think everyone needs this bag. Who wants one?

Baby Carsen

One of my best friends Mary, had a baby in September and I finally finished her gift this past week. Talk about LATE! And yes, I know that I should be demoted from said status as best friend since I am so late with the gift. Sorry Mary.

Anyway, I made a cover for baby Carsen's car seat! I love how it turned out! Hopefully momma and baby enjoy it as well.

Welcome to the world baby Carsen!

(Mary, this will be in the mail as soon as I can get to the post office!)

Nursing Cover

I am working my way back into crafting. And more especially I am working my way back into blogging about my crafting. Last year I made this nursing cover for a friend:


I used THIS tutorial! I finally decided I would make one for myself because the one I have is not very large and my little guy is getting bigger. I love how it turned out. I actually bought some other fabric and will be making one more! I love having options and things that match different outfits. Lets face it, a girl has got to match!

Baby Bennett

All crafting has been put on hold for the time being. Why you ask? Because of this sweet boy who joined our family 1 week ago:

Isn't he adorable? We sure think so!

Burp Cloths

I saw THIS adorable tutorial on how to beautify cloth diapers and turn them into burp cloths. I knew that I wanted to make them as gifts for family and friends, as well as make some for our own little one. These were my first attempt:


I made some for my sister-in-law who just had a darling little baby girl. And I also made a couple for one of my friends who also just had a baby girl! I absolutely love the fabric and am saving the rest to use if I ever have a little girl of my own!

Rocking Chair (Completed)

I finally figured out what to do for a seat cushion on our rocking chair! I found a CUSHY seat pad at Cost Plus and made a slipcover for it! It was very simple to make and I think it turned out great. Now our rocking chair is PERFECT and COMFORTABLE for all of those readings, late night feedings, and rocking our little one to sleep.

Here you can see the glossy finish that my husband added!


A close up of the seat cushion!


Gearing up for story time!


And preparing for the late night feedings and rockings to sleep!

Basket Liners

I have been doing finishing touches on our baby's nursery and one of the things I wanted to do was buy baskets for his toys and make cute basket liners to tie in nursery colors. I really love how they turned out and I love the fabric.

Now he has toys and books ready to go!


A close up of the liners!

I am also using this same fabric for my seat cushion on the rocking chair (coming up soon)! And we are thinking about using this fabric for the bassinet skirt and bumper pad! I can't wait to get it all finished and see the nursery complete!

I used THIS tutorial, for the liners, from "Make It and Love It." I found it last summer and made these...


for my snack baskets in the kitchen. Keep in mind that we live in an apartment so that is why we have our food storage out in the open for everyone to see. I at least tried to make it look as cute as I could. Of course how cute can you really make cans of food look?

ABC Letters

I finally finished and hung the Alphabet letters in the nursery! They turned out so cute and I am so excited about them. Every time I walk into the baby's room I smile because they look so darling on the wall!

Now the other walls need some serious help in comparison. Boring, blank, white walls just won't do next to these...


Sorry the lighting is not fantastic. Once the entire room is finished we will try to take some nice photos with natural sunlight and everything!

Crib Bumper

I finally finished the bumper for our little guys' crib! I love how it turned out and I have to admit that I am especially proud of myself on this project. There are definitely a lot of mistakes, but none of them are really visible to the naked eye. Now the crib is all set up with crib skirt, crib sheet, and crib bumper attached! Only the quilt to add and the crib set will be complete.

Front view of the crib all ready to go!

And here is a better view of the bumper! You can kind of see on the left side that there are pockets on the sections that cover the ends of the crib. I love these pockets and I look forward to using them for stashing books and toys when he is older!

The Countdown Begins!

Approximately 10 weeks from today our house will be in need of this beautiful crib...

Which will be arriving next week! I have been a busy bee working on the bedding! It was so much cheaper for me to sew the bedding than it would have been to purchase a set. Besides, it was so much fun to custom design the nursery with colors and fabrics that I loved!

Today I finished the crib skirt! I love how it turned out! Of course it will look so much better once it is actually on the crib, but here is a peek of what you will see in a little over a week:

ABCs

I am loving my alphabet letters that I am working on for our nursery! They are turning out so cute! I can't wait until they are all finished and up on the wall! Once the crib arrives next week we can put the room together. 10 weeks and counting!

Infant Car Seat Cover

I have been working diligently on preparing for our first baby to join our family. One of the things I have made is this car seat cover. I love how it turned out!


I started with measurements of the length and width that I wanted. Then I laid out my fabric and started cutting. I lined the edges with Bias Tape Maxi Piping. I think it was a nice "finishing" touch! Now our little guy can sleep soundly in his car seat while we are out and about! Anyone want one? They are $20, including shipping charges within the US. Email me at mswenson28 AT gmail.com!

Upcoming baby project: Crib Bedding!