Picture Plaque

11/10/10

So I was reading A Glimpse Inside's blog and saw this plaque that Allison made. I love her craftiness and I'm planning to make one of these now but haven't decided what yet. This will be posted at a future time but for now I need to get back to my projects I have going...which are like 3 or 4! Watch out for future postings!

A bit of imagination

11/8/10

I worked on my brother and dad's birthday presents the other day and got them complete! My brother's birthday was yesterday and so I sent off his card. My dad's birthday is this Friday but he's not going to see this blog so I am posting his gift also.

For my dad's gift I used a picture frame I bought years ago and just took out a painting I had done in high school...it wasn't hanging anywhere and doesn't fit in with my decor so I knew this would work. The other year I made a similar picture frame for my dad but it was of me and him from my wedding with a poem called, "Everything Dad". He loves it and still talks about it today and it's in his office. So I thought this would be perfect of his new little girl in his life. It has a poem titled, "Grandad" with a couple of pictures of wonderful Abigail....I think he's going to like it :)

My brother's gift was real simple. I have a stamp that turns a regular piece of paper into a postcard and then I decorated the other side with this...he's a guy and doesn't care for fancy stuff obviously. Then we ended up getting him a gift card to Starbucks cause he likes it so much.

So I came across this blog tonight and adore some of the cakes. It's called the Cake Bizzle. My mom was with me (who makes excellent cakes also). I picked out these two cakes and she is going to combine them for my birthday cake this year (which is next month!). I love the 2 tiered cake directly underneath this but like the frosting on the one below....so my mom is going to make the one below but with the frosting "choppy"....much excitement when I figure out what cake I want my wonderful mother to make me each year for my birthday (it's a tradition).

So these are some of the fun things I've been up to, besides taking care of my little girl.

Live like no one else

11/5/10

The first snowfall of the season is here! Abigail's first snow :)

So this year is a little bit different for our growing family. First of all, we have a child! Secondly, I am not working anymore :) But with that things change. My husband is trying to grow a couple of businesses that he started and is working hard. He also works for other people doing landscaping, which is a downer when it comes to winter because he can't work in the snow. Thankfully he can plow but that depends on the snow. So of course I am praying for LOTS of snow this winter (sorry to those who don't want it!).

With these things comes change. Not everyone likes change. Also, with these things comes hard decisions. Kyle and I are committed to not going into debt and getting rid of the debt we have. In order to do that you have to say "no" to things that you normally do and want to do! It can be tough but that's part of being disciplined.

Since we are committed to doing God's will and not backing down, we have had to cut back for this upcoming Christmas season and that makes me sad but it is necessary. If we never say no then we will fall into the trap that can lead to wrong decisions in this area and other areas. The Christmas season isn't about gifts anyways and if we make a big deal about not being able to buy gifts then we are making it about them which is opposite of what we want. Christmas is about the birth of Christ and also spending time with family to worship Christ.

The good news is that when we get out of debt we will be able to do things we want to do now...we just have to be patient and wait. Of course that doesn't sound fun but you have to live like no one else now to live like no one else later! That's our plan!

"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender."

Proverbs 22:7

"A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't, and even brags about it!"

Proverbs 13:16

"He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a broken down city without a wall."

Proverbs 25:28

EXCITED

11/4/10

So this pretty much sums up my life right now.....excitement! I am just feeling so blessed and praising the Lord for who He is and everything He's done for me. These are some of the things I am blessed with....I had a great pregnancy (bumps at the end but great overall), GREAT labor and delivery, wonderful healthy baby and she's very content and easy to manage, the Lord is allowing me to stay home full time and take care of my family, I have wonderful friends and family, and my God is good all the time. I also am feeling like myself again, which I kind of forgot what that feels like. I have tons of energy and I just feel excited/hyper about life (which is probably unusual for having a newborn)! I am also grateful to be having a great recovery, being out of maternity clothes, and able to exercise (taking it slowly).

Anyways, now that I'm done thanking the Lord, I am also excited about the Christmas season. I am declaring it the holiday season already because I want to! There are a few family birthdays this month and of course Thanksgiving so why not start it off earlier! Since I have entered the craft world more than I ever have, making homemade gifts is what I'm going to be doing this year and trying to save money, especially because I am not working. I will be posting gifts that I make on here but not till AFTER I give them out....cause that would spoil people's gifts!!! My Dad's birthday and brother's is coming up in the next week so I will post those later! Happy beginnings to the season!!!

Restoration

10/26/10

I haven't exactly had time to start a bunch of new projects (wonder why....lol) so I will post something that I didn't before! We bought this dresser at a garage sale in the Spring because Abigail's room needed one! We didn't have a ton of cash to just buy all new furniture so I bargained shopped and looked for something that would look great....it worked! We bought it for $10.00 at a garage sale (basically and estate sale). They had a china cabinet too that was really cheap and I think would have cleaned up great but with no where to put it for a while we didn't get it...I'm a little disappointed we didn't but there is probably something else out there that we could find next year or later!

Kyle sanded it (no pic) down well.

Fresh coat of brown paint!

New knobs.

Finished product in her room!

The Birth of Abigail

10/21/10

So for all those curious, I will tell the story of my experience giving birth! It's crazy to think a week ago right now I was in labor at the hospital! Anyways, Wednesday the 13th I thought my water might have broke but I wasn't sure. It was about 9 at night. We went to the hospital cause they wanted to check me out. Well, it wasn't broke and we went back home. We went to sleep and I actually was able to with my rash! Well, I woke up and went to the bathroom, my underwear was soaked but I was sleepy and thought nothing of it so I went back to bed. Then I woke up later feeling like I had to go again and the same thing. So I changed and went back to bed. Ha. Then I woke up one last time at 3:20 AM and on the way to the bathroom it gushed out and down my leg. So I yelled, "Kyle my water really broke!" He was out of bed before he realized what he was doing.

At this point I just had lots of water coming out but no painful contractions. You just feel like you're peeing a lot with no control! When waiting to hear back from the midwife, I washed my hair and styled it! haha. So I went in about 4 in the morning to the hospital. I started from ground zero cause I wasn't dilated, even though they said I was the week before. Contractions started hurting mid-morning and I labored all day. But it was so calm and Kyle was so helpful. I just saw the whole thing as a sports competition. Every time I had a contraction Kyle would hold my hand and motivate me by telling me it was my last lap around the track or to hit a backhand in tennis. It worked and they weren't that bad to me. I got an epidural at 6:30 at night cause I was tired and the contractions were getting so strong I was going to puke.

Epidural=amazing! I could still feel everything but just had no pain. I went from 5 1/2 cm to 9 1/2 in 2 hours. Then I felt it was time to push and it was. I pushed 2 1/2 hours which was really tiring but so worth it. Abigail was born on Oct 15th at 2:19 AM. It really was a great experience and I actually enjoyed it more than my whole pregnancy which I never imagined!! God has blessed us so much and I will never forget it.1

Baby Bumper Tutorial

10/4/10

So I didn't get a full bedding set forAbigail and the only thing I really needed was bumper pads. So I decided to make them myself! I decided this was to be my first project with my sewing machine and it turned out great! I did it all by myself with no help and it took a lot of re-doing at first cause I hadn't used a sewing machine since Jr. High! But I feel that I know a little bit more and stuff came back to me from my FACS class. Anyways, here's how I did it....

I started with getting the fabric for JoAnn Fabric. I got a 1 1/2 yards of each pattern because everything I found on the online tutorials said to get about 2 1/2. So I went for 3 just in case. It turned out to be PLENTY and I was able to make a little pillow afterwards with still a lot extra. But be sure to measure your crib first! I also bought ribbon too. One spool would be enough. But I messed up and had to buy one more so you could be safe and buy two.

I made the pattern with paper. I just measured how long each side is of the crib and added 1 inch so it wasn't too short. I used the width of the paper as the length of how high the bumper would be (hope that makes sense).

I just taped the paper together to the proper length for the bumper pads. Then I cut it out.

I used 2 different patterns of fabric, so I cut them both out and pinned them together. You want the outside (side to look at) facing the inside for both fabric pieces.

Now I cut all my ribbons to tie on the crib. I did 2 each end of the bumpers because I didn't sew them altogether like some bumpers are, I just kept them separate pieces.

Then I folded them evenly in half to sew onto the bumper pad. I placed them on the ends of the bumpers and pinned them at the seam.

Make sure the ribbon is on the INSIDE of both pieces and not sticking out so it will be outside the fabric when you turn it inside out. Then you'll be able to tie the ribbon onto the crib. I originally messed up on this and had to cut the ribbon off which is why I had to buy more. Ha.

Then I sewed them together and left a hole to put the batting in. After they were stuffed I hand-stitched the holes closed! Here's a pic of the bumper in the crib....I am going to put a brown sheet so it's not so busy. But that's about it. It turned out to be pretty fun and now Abigail has a home-made bed bumper by her mommy :)