Things I Haven't Posted but Should Have... Part 2

Every now and then I get the motivation to try and cook, bake, or make something edible. Sometimes it turns out great. Most of the time, its a mess. I still have fun with it and that, my friends, is the most important part! My husband and I broke in our new home by grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. I made his favorite pasta salad and some extra festive Fourth of July treats to go with it.

First up is a very festive looking beverage. I found the recipe here at Divine Dinner Party. (Scroll down). One very important thing that I learned is that, yes, the ice is important! I actually enjoyed it (considering the fact that I don't like Gatorade or Cranberry juice).


As directed, I served with a festive straw:


Next up is a Trifle Receipe that I found at the Food Network. My husband does not like Strawberries (than come to find out the day after our son was born, he's never actually TRIED one), so I topped it with raspberries instead. This was certainly my favorite desert that I've ever made. Its a good thing it was just the two of us, because this got eaten really quickly!




Finally, I found these really cute Fourth of July Rice Crispy Bars, thanks to Two Hearts Together. However, mine were... less than festive looking. The package of Air Heads I purchased didn't contain white, I didn't feel like going back to the store, and my husband doesn't eat them anways... so this is what I ended up with:

Despite the less than fantastic look, the rice crispy treats were still yummy, and that's what matters! :) Of course, I hope to perfect them in the upcoming years so that we have a backyard BBQ at house someday...

All in all, I would say it was a successful Fourth of July!

Things I Haven't Posted but Should Have... Part 1

My one year anniversy is coming up in Nov. and *gasp* I STILL have not posted photos of my wedding dress. I used a Simplicity pattern as a template and modified it to fit what I wanted. When I got engaged, I knew the kind of dress that I wanted. I also knew that I could make it for cheaper than what I would pay for it in the store. I didn't take many in progress photos, because I was engaged in what I was doing.

I purchased everything I needed from the zipper to the fabric to the lining using those fantastic 40% coupons that JoAnn Fabrics sends me in the mail. Total cost: About $50.00. I started working on it over my fall break (less than 3 weeks from my wedding date!). I worked on it for about four hours a day for four days... while watching marathons of TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. (Man, I can be such a girl sometimes!)

This was an adventure, to say the least. I had to use horse hair braid and boning in this dress, both of which I have never worked with before. I was horrifed of screwing it up, but I'm really pleased with the results.

Here are some photos, while I was working (and playing around with it):



Below is a photo of the back. This was a pain in the neck because I had to hand stitch the zipper in so that you wouldn't see the seams.


Around the middle is a large chunk of black ribbon, which runs all the way down the back. I love the way that it looked (and it hid the seams that connected the bodice of the dress to the skirt):


A side shot:


Another side shot:


About 5 seconds into the wedding, I was SO thankful that I had made my own dress, rather than purchase it. Why? My darling husband stepped on the train of my dress, thereby jerking me backwards (hard! No, I didn't fall.). The dress stood up to the test, it didn't rip, tear, or even budge! Had I purchased a dress, it probably would've ripped. What a memory that would have been!

Some photos of the big day:


(the ribbon was tied around a heart shaped pin in the back).













I loved my dres so much. Too bad pregnancy killed my body and I won't fit into it anymore...

Getting Baby's Room Organized

So.... this SHOULD have been done before Baby arrived. In all fairness, I was working on these the day that my water broke. I just didn't get to finish them until this morning. While crusing the internet (via google) I found this great tutorial on how to make baby clothes size dividers. Awesome tutorial by Craftaholics Anonymous.

I chose to use scotch tape rather than velcro to attach my numbers/letters. Mine are double sided and here's what I learned: Glue sticks are SO much better for glueing paper to wood than the Modge Podge.

I chose to use animal print scrapbooking paper and animal print ribbon to hang from the closet, given that the nursery has a jungle theme:

Notice how there's an extra one? Yeah... because I had to pack away my son's newborn size clothes already! (Granted, he arrived in this world at 8 lbs even, so...)

Close up shot of just the hangers:


Here they are with the ribbons:


Close up shot:

The One stands for one size only (the sleeper sacks only come in one size).

The ribbons themselves:


... and finally hanging in the closet (yes my son does need more clothes!)



This was a quick and easy project (or rather it would have been, had my little man arrived on time, rather than early). Still... I'm glad its done. With all the stuff he's starting to aquire (being the only great-grandchild, grandchild, and nephew on both sides of the family that's not a surprise), I want to get an early handle on making sure his stuff is organized!

Annoyed...

I am so sick and tired of never getting recognition. Granted, that is not why I do the crafty things that I do. I do them because I enjoy making things. I do them to give the people that I love unique and wonderful gifts. However, once and while there are things like THIS that just burn my cupcakes. (I'm actually talking cupcakes here).

Back in June I posted these Angry Bird Cupcakes to my blog and also listed a post which can be found here at Craftster. Like all the posts I make at craftster I got about two responses, which for me is usual, and which is why I generally don't post there very often.

A few weeks later another crafty person found inspiration from my post and made cupcakes for her Dad for Father's Day (see here posting here.) I'm glad that someone else found inspiration in something that I made (that in all fairness I found inspiration from another individual and followed her tutorial).

But what annoys me is this posting here where the other crafty individual gets featured in an article and I'm just forgotten about.

Yes, its petty and I need to let it go. If this was the first time something like this has happened, I wouldn't be so annoyed, but this happens constantly in my personal and professional life. Someone else finds inspiration from something I did and this other individual is always the person that gets featured here or there or somewhere else.

**Deep Breath** okay... I'm over it. I've said my peace. I'm going to let it go and get back to crafting things for my wonderful baby boy.

Hanging Baby Quilt

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I made a baby quilt from fabric I found at JoAnn's to hang in my son's nursery. Here it is, in all its glory:

I chose to back it with giraffe print fabric. (There's Sandy, wanting to be in the middle of everything).

A close up of the back, I strung ribbon across the back of it in order to hang it on the wall:

Baby Overload

I didn't get much crafting done in July or in August, as I was preparing to go back to work. Boo. I also didn't have much motivation. I was running around like a mad woman trying to get not only my classroom set up, but also get it ready so I can go on maternity leave.

My due date was Sept. 18th. I was planning on working up until I went into labor, but then I was feeling pretty miserable (mostly at night and probably because I was working all day), so my husband and I discussed it and decided to make my last day at work Friday, Sept. 9th. At that point I want crazy with surfing the internet (thank you google!) for baby crafts and digging through my sewing patterns stash (love those 99 cents sales at JoAnns).

I got to work pulling together a list of ideas and then materials (I've mostly been working through my stash, buying very little), crafting. I worked nonstop on Monday, Sept. 12th... then my water broke (more like slowly started leaking) that evening.

Baby Alexander was born the following morning (via C-Section, he was breeched). Good thing my last day was a week earlier! So... to make a long story, shorter, here's what I got completed before my precious little son was born:

First up, are some items I created using (and I hang my head in shame at this) Simplicity patterns. Good thing I refuse to pay full price for those patterns, cuz these I probably could have sketched up on my own - if I ever paid attention to babies and their things before.

These all came from the same pattern (I don't have the number in front of me) but I think the title was something along the lines of "diaper bag and diaper bag acessories".

This is a portable changing pad. I LOVE this item. Since our baby is sleeping in a pack-in-play with an attached changing table in our bedroom currently, this is a great item that we are using right now. Once we start traveling with our baby this can be rolled up and placed in the diaper bag. The fabric is sandwhiched between vinyl (I hate working with that stuff) and terrycloth. The vinyl is great (even though I hate using it with my sewing machine) because I can just wipe down any messes he makes.





The next item that came from this batch of patterns is a tummy pillow. No its not a breast feeding pillow (its not big enough for that). Once baby gets a little bigger (and can hold his head up) it'll be a great item to help make his tummy muscles stronger. My husband and I chose the jungle fabric because his nursery is jungle themed.



The final item that I managed to finish (from the Simplicity pattern) before Alexander made his debut was a burping cloth (well, actually three). Easy pattern. One side is the fabric the back side is terry cloth. I only bought enough fabric to make one (the pattern called for 3/4yd) but guess what? 3/4 of a yard gets you three plus some extra! I wish I had made more though... he spits up so much.





While my husband and I were digging through the nursery prints at JoAnn's, we found some fabric to make those awesome cloth books. I used fusible batting in between the pages instead of quilt batting (quilt batting would have been WAY too thick to make this work with my sewing machine). Oddly enough, the characters on the tummy pillow are the same characters in the cloth book and on the wall hanging that I made (which I don't have pictures of yet.)

Here's the book:















(I still need to use fabric markers to fill out the back page).

The final item that I managed to get through (well half way through) before my little bundle of joy arrived were these write rattles. I made WAY too many, but they were so easy to make, I couldn't help myself.

I found this great pattern on how to make wrist rattles. I use fabric scraps and fat quarters that I had home. The only thing new I had to purchase were the little patches (which came nine in a pack). I probably should have saved the patches for something else to make for him, but I was on a crafting overload. Plus these things were just too cute! I couldn't help myself.























I have TONS of more things that I want to make for my wonderful baby. I need more geek crafts (I have a Yoda and Boba Fett rattle in mind, along with a Star Wars Quiet Book and Mario Brothers booties). I also want to make some crinkle toys, bibs, and covers for my nursing pillow. I'm on maternity leave through Thanksgiving and I have the perfect little man who sleeps all the time, so we'll see what I get done.

Fish City Weeks 2 and 3...

Well... that didn't last long! In my previous two posts I had mentioned how I was going to update weekly my progress on Fish City. While I haven't been updating, honestly, there's been nothing to report. My sister was in town for the entire month of June and honestly, I wasn't up to cross-stitching much. So... progress remains the same as it was during week one.

In other news... I should have plently to update with in the next few days with the Fourth of July just around the corner (happy Independence Day USA!).