Everyone is doing it....

I assume most of you have seen these wreaths by now, that is, if you're an avid blog stalker like me. But, if not, I had to share this fun craft!
Super cheap and pretty simple. Start with some cheap plastic christmas ball ornaments. I found all these at the Dollartree. The Dollartree, by the way, has the most amazing ornaments this year! So glittery and pretty. They have hot pink, purple, green, you name it! But by the time I picked these up, it was slim pickins. However, this entire wreath cost me around $8. Not bad.

You'll need a wire hanger (I read that plastic coated is best, which is what I happened to find in my closet....score!), some ribbon, pliers, and possible glue gun.

Well, the glue gun......I read everywhere to take the time to glue the tops securely to the bulbs so that they won't pop off while you're working with them....but, did I listen? No. It did result in losing like 7 bulbs by the end. Oh well.

Bend the wire hanger into a round shape, if it's not plastic coated, it may be harder to bend. That's when your hubby comes in with the pliers. Oh, and I had him snip off the curly twisted part that was left-----ornaments wouldn't fit over the twists and turns.


Then you just start to loop the ornaments onto the hang (though the little topper holes). It's fun to use different sizes of bulbs to give more dimension....another thing I learned from copying everyone else on cyber space that did this.

Oh, and it takes a lot more ornaments than you would think to fill one hanger up. So buy extras!Making progress.....Starting to take shape and become glittery pretty!.......Sparkles.....Done! I figured that since I didn't follow the hot glue instructions and had already lost several bulbs....I wouldn't bother hanging this on the front door. I could see it ending in a disastrous mess everytime the door shut. So, I opted for the dining room window.Not bad. Not as big as I had envisioned, but I got tired of doing it and was running out of bulbs, so I called it good. Oh, and it helps to have your hubby shape it closed with some pliers. I tried myself and it wasn't happening. However, him man-handling it did result in the loss of 2 more bulbs. So, if you see naked bare spots, that's why.

Merry Christmas!

It's coming....

I can't believe it's almost here....

I am starting to freak out and get a little anxiety....

I am sure everyone feels the same way, and I am talking about "Christmas" here, although the "baby-coming-freak-out" will soon be approaching as well.

However, I did get the inside of the house decorated, made some homemade glazed sugar cookies, and have some shopping done....
But, I still have lots of shopping to do, very little (if any) money to do it....yikes.

Time to get creative!

Reminding myself, Jesus is the Reason for the Season (so cliche, yet so true).
Happy shopping, baking, decorating, and freaking out to all of you!

I've been busy....

I have been googling like a mad-woman. I got a little carried away with my Amy Butler gray and mustard martini dot fabric crush.......

Apparently, gray and yellow is all the rage right now...so, let me show what I fell in love with online:

Reminder of the inspiration fabric for the room:

Two adorable Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bags: still feminine enough to feel cute lugging it around all day, but neutral enough for a boy or a girl.
Adorable gray and yellow artwork! I love it!


Look at the cute alphabet art! So CUTE! And of course the lanterns are adorable as well!
Cute chair! Cute room, a little too elegant/girly, but you get the idea with the color schemes....

Ok, love the bedskirt on the crib. Check out the cute birds on the ceiling! So chic!
Love this bedding all around.....


More cute fabric, who doesn't love houndstooth?

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this room! I love the colors of the walls and the chunky gray and white stripes! So cute, clean, and chic!


Another fabulous Amy Butler fabric, Gray Wallflower. We've made nursing covers out of this for moms of baby boys. The mom has the right to have some girly-ness while breastfeeding! :) This is the perfect pattern for it, feminine but not princessy pink.
So, this is some random couples save the date card, but wouldn't it be cute as a birth announcement! If I were to stay with the whole gray and yellow kick.....

Ok, these last couple are just for fun. Imagine how cute I would look sitting in my baby's grey and yellow room wearing this darling duo! I will still coordinate perfectly if I went out with my PPB diaper bag, and nursed in public with my AB wallflower booby blanket!

And this.....just look at! Need I say more. :)

I am loving the gray and yellow.
Stay tuned next week, I may have changed my mind.
"Happy Weekend" everyone!

I was wrong......

.....and so were the rest you.

Well, looks like I'll be suing the chinese lunar calendar for giving me false information. :)

Kidding, we did, however, find out today that baby #2 is a little boy! Much to everyone's surprise, I am totally OK about this and am actually quite excited. David and I have always wanted 2 boys and 1 girl. So, when the time comes for trying for a 3rd, get serious and PRAY. :)

Ok, all jokes aside. I am literally starting at square one for any sort of mental thoughts of boy room decor. I still want to go with white furniture as Liam will be taking his black furniture with him into his new room.

I have been googling nurseries all day and haven't been very successful or seen anything I love. However, I am still in love with the IKEA pendant lamp that you all think looks like fake fingernails and I know I want to go modern-chic (nothing baby-ish).

So far, I am currently liking another Amy Butler fabric:

I think it would be so cute with slate/gray walls or even the mustard color. Even cuter with the white furniture! Anywho, that's what I am thinking at this moment, I am sure it will change tomorrow.

But, I will leave you with this fun video of my sweet baby boy (we're keeping his name a secret til he's born---that way we can dodge the name critics) who currently looks like a fossil-skeleton creature, but still darn cute. :)

Ruffle Re-Fashion Fury #2

I was finally feeling crafty....again and late at night as usual. It ended up in quite the refashion!

I had this blah brown-turtle neck-baby doll top, that didn't really fit right, had long sleeves and was just plain frumpy. Well....I saw beyond the brown mass and envisioned something cuter!

Because I always forget to take before pics, here's one I stole from online. It's not brown and not very frumpy, but you get the idea:
So, using the same technique that I learned from the last ruffle refashion post (the gray tank top), I hacked off the sleeves, cut out the awful turtleneck, turned the sleeves into one big long ruffle and simply sewed the ruffle onto the new neckline!

Since the fabric is like a cotton t-shirt fabric, you can have raw edges that won't unravel! So basicly you just cut and do some very minor sewing! I love the new frilly elegant sleeveless look of it! And since it's empire waist, it's perfect for maternity wear! :)

Be inspired and go cut something up, and turn it into ruffles!

5 months: showing and GLOWING...literally....

Well, five months are here. Next week, 11/19, we find out the gender! Remember to be thinking pink. :)

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy seems to be going! It appears to be zooming by.
As you can see in this pic, I am definitely showing and my hair is glowing. Good times.

I did it!

Well, I went for it! Thanks for all the positive votes pushing me along. :)

I must say, I feel a little like a light bulb or malibu Barbie minus the smokin' bod, but I think I like it! It's funky, punky fresh and new. I am convinced that this baby will be a blondie after I've chemically challenged my hair.

But, blondes do have more fun!

Feeling "blah"....looking for "Wah lah!"

I know it's been forever since my last post, but today I come to you with a big issue. Desperate need for advice....

....my hair.

I am so bored with my hair. Don't get me wrong, I have found a great stylist and have loved the style, but I am bored with my color and want to go shorter. Much shorter and much, much BLONDER.

So, to best describe to you what I am thinking, I chose Paris. Paris Hilton herself to most appropriately display the new do that I am craving.
I LOVE the color. LOVE the bangs.Yes she is trashy and sultry and has an awful reputation, but the girl has cute hair. For that, I like her.I mean seriously! Adorable!!!?

What do you think? Yay or Nay?

Something's a cookin.....

Well in case you haven't heard.....there's a bun in my oven. Yep, it's true, baby no. 2 is due to arrive April 10th.

Anywho, here's a peek of what's cookin.......this is "her" at 10 weeks.
This is me at 10 1/2 weeks......

I have heard it said that you "pop" much quicker the second time around. Geez, no kidding! I totally look like I am already 6 months prego. I am only 3! Apparently your stomach muscles remember what happened last time, so they just give up early and let nature take it's course.

As you all probably know, I am dead-set on having a girl. :) And, according to the chinese lunar calendar....it will be (let's just pretend that the chinese lunar calendar is somewhat scientific and 100% accurate, ok?). So, I already have the nursery planned out in my mind. Amy Butler and her gorgeous fabrics will play a big part in all of it. And so will IKEA, and craigslist (second babies get the used stuff, I would know).
I LOVE this Amy Butler fabric.....!!! It's so far the inspiration for the room. Picture it as the bedding! Beautiful.
This IKEA lamp (which David calls the "fake fingernail" lamp) would be the main light fixture in the room. It totally resembles the scallop-y detail of the Amy Butler print! Love it.

As for the crib, I am thinking something white, and something convertible, that "she" can have and use all growing up. Liam has a legacy crib in black. They're awesome.

Keep your eyes peeled for something like this via craigslist this time ;)

Anywho, dream with me and think positive thoughts for a GIRL.

Until later....

Another year older....

Discovering that my birthday was to land on a Sunday was a wee-bit disappointing considering that I wake up alone every Sunday since David likes to get to the church practically at the crack of dawn (he's a hardworking worship & arts pastor). However, looking back, every special occasion that lands on a Sunday always starts well. While I may be alone, every special Sunday, I wake up, realize what "holiday" it is and jump out of bed, come around the hallway and lay eyes upon my pleasant surprise that David so fabulously leaves for me.

This time it was this beautiful bouquet of flowers, a sweet card from David, and an adorable handmade card from Liam (with the help of daddy). So special. After church, lunch, and a much needed and deserved (since it's my b-day n' all) nap, we headed out for birthday fun. I got my FREE coffee from Dutch Bros (I know I am a cheapskate, but I am proud of it). I got maybe a couple of sips out of a delicious DECAF almond joy blended coffee snazzed up with whipped cream....until Liam started freaking out in the car yelling "cotti! cotti! peeez, cotti?" Yes, our almost 2 year old loves "cotti". Thankfully it was decaf, but he seriously freaks out about it. We went to starbucks late the other night and I didn't finish my DECAF skinny vanilla latte before we went to bed. I apparently left it on the table because the next morning I found Liam sitting at the dining room table eating his toast and holding his starbucks "cotti". The only thing missing was a pair of slippers and a newspaper.

Anywho, I didn't mean to veer off on a tangent, back to the birthday, back to ME. :)
David had put together a fun dinner party for me at Red Robin where we met up with a few friends and I got to use my FREE birthday burger coupon. I highly recommend taking advantage of FREE burgers once a year.

David wanted me to open a present from him first, so I did....there are pictures to follow, narrating my husband's sick and clever since of humor....


Opening the present and slightly annoyed that David is making a scene by standing up walking around trying to get all these pictures.....
I opened it up. It was a cute black scrapbook with a white damask print on the front. Not bad, good job David! He insists that I open up the scrapbook and says he got it started for me already.

Getting excited I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, my husband probably took some cute pics of Liam and I and tried his hand at scrapbooking! How sweet".....remember, these were JUST thoughts....

Instead, this is what I found: a ziploc baggy holding a smashed gutsy looking bug of some sort.....I was sooooooooooooo confused and SOOOOO grossed out and slightly embarrassed at this point, thinking "Is my husband some kind of sick minded psycho gift giver?"......Then he explained, these were his words:"Since I couldn't get you a Cricut, I got you a grasshopper!" Funny and clever, yet still slightly sick and twisted. He made me laugh. :)What to my surprise ;), was my real gift? An actual Cricut! Wahoo! David coordinated with friends and family to do a gift pool on getting me a much coveted and desired Cricut machine.
Despite the crazy loud restaurant, the fact that Liam was acting more like a devil child by throwing everything in reach, a rude waitress and a smashed grasshopper in a body bag joining us for dinner, it ended well and I was very happy turning 26!

Thank you everybody, and I love you, David....oh so much!

Ruffle Re-Fashion Fury!!!

Ok, so, I stalk blogs like I do...for this very reason!. Look at this adorable tutorial from Alexis at My Mama Made It. It's amazingly easy!

As soon as I saw it, I dug through my shirt drawer searching desperately for a long-sleeved tee that would work for this re-fashion. I am in love with it!!! Don't act surprised if you see me wearing ruffles on everything now!

This is me VERY happy about the way it turned out!
I made the mistake of not taking a before pic of the shirt, but I happened to have the same one in a different color, so, you'll get the idea.

Before....After....!!!! (ok, so, remember I said they're different but the same...)Ok, so I didn't mean for this to be so much of a boob shot...that's what happens when you try to get artsy when taking photos of yourself with one hand! But look at those ruffles!More ruffles....and cute scrabble tile pendant! :)

Happy Friday....I work today....boo!

To the rest of you.....Go make ruffles!