Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Fabric rosette picture frames

I am so excited to share this post!  Why so excited you might ask?  Well, I was finally able to fit in some much-needed crafting time Tuesday night!  My girlfriend Amber (you might remember her from this post) came over and we got busy on some crafts.  We saw this month's Create With Me challenge over at U-Create Crafts and we knew we had to join in.  The "Create With Me" for this month was fabric rosette picture frames!  Sooooo stinkin' cute (and easy....score!).

We worked at my new craft table that I built (post on that coming soon) in the apartment above the garage.  It's definitely nice having a space to spread out and make a mess! 

{Sorry for the blurry picture.  I'm pretty sure I was holding a baby while taking this.}

These frames are so simple to make.  All you need are some of those plain $1 wooden frames from Michaels, some acrylic paint, some fabric, a hot glue gun, and any embellishments you want.  I got a 1/4 yard of each fabric from JoAnn's and have a TON left over to do more frames.  You only need small strips of the fabric for the rosettes. 


{Amber's frame almost finished}

{My frame}

We were bad at taking pictures during the process, but it's so simple.  We just followed this tutorial.  SO easy!  Love it!  We did a couple things different, though.  We didn't "distress" or "age" our edges.  We liked the clean lines.  And I personally am not a huge fan of all the "Keep Calm...." sayings, so I put a monogram in my frame instead.  Take a look....


Amber also found that she liked the rosettes better when she didn't twist the fabric as she was wrapping it around.  It had a little bit more of a 3D effect to it.  The rosettes look great either way. 

On another note, I have something super exciting that I'm starting and I can't wait to share.  It's not quite a finished product yet, so I'm not revealing what it is just yet.  But it's something I'm super excited about!  Yay!


Friday, January 7, 2011

Emily - 2 Months

I cannot believe it but my sweet baby girl is 2 MONTHS OLD already!!!  She turned 2 months on Monday, January 3rd, 2011.  She is growing and developing so fast!


{Excuse the shotty Photoshop job.....I'm still learning!}



Here are some stats on little Miss Emily:

Height:  21 3/4"

Weight:  11 pounds, 6 ounces

Head Circumference:  37.3 cm

New Developments:  Emily, you are becoming more and more alert each day!!  Your daddy and I are so proud of you!  You have started focusing on objects really well.  You really love to focus on the spinning mobile above your swing.  You like to look in the mirror on your swing too.  You got a mobile for your crib for Christmas and you like to watch that as well because it spins, has lights, and brightly colored animals hanging from it.  Your favorite time of day is first thing in the morning.  Your smiling and cooing helps mommy roll out of bed and be excited about starting another day with you.  You smile when mommy and daddy talk to you and/or play with you.  You coo and talk back SO much!  You are going to be a talker as soon as you learn some words!  I love having little conversations with you.  It makes my heart smile so big.  You had some shots at the doctor this week.  It broke my heart to see you hurt like that.  I'm not sure who cried more....me or you!?!  The good news is, you got over really quickly (as soon as I picked you up and held you).  You are getting much better at holding your head up.  You're not quite 100% at it yet, but you certainly are getting there.  You are still breastfeeding like a champ!  You have really gotten the whole "latching on" thing down pat.  You obviously are eating well because you're clocking in at 11 pounds and 6 ounces!  You are also a GREAT sleeper!  Mommy is so lucky to have a baby like you that likes to sleep at night.  You nap really well in the morning time (usually when mommy is running errands) and maybe once or twice for short periods of time in the afternoon.  You go down for bed somewhere between 9 and 10:00.  You still sleep in a little crib beside our bed.  You are really starting to sleep for longer periods of time at night.  The past 2 nights you only woke up twice in the night to eat.  You are sleeping for solid 4 - 5 hour periods of time.  Hooray!  I think that's about all for this month.  You are an amazing baby and mommy and daddy love you very, very, very much.  You have blessed our lives more than you'll ever know.  Keep growing, kiddo!





Emily - 2 Months!!

I cannot believe it but my sweet baby girl is 2 MONTHS OLD already!!! 

Monday, January 3, 2011

Christmas time!!

I have to say....the Holidays are bittersweet.  I am so glad that Christmas is over but can't believe yet another Christmas went by so fast!  We had a great first Christmas with our sweet baby girl.  It will be neat next year when she is a bit older and will be running around tearing into her presents on her own!

The in-laws came into town for the Holidays as well.  It was nice to visit with them again.  They were excited to spend Emily's first Christmas with her as well.  It is a tradition in my family that we all get together on Christmas Eve.  We used to all go to my grandparent's house, but since my grandmother passed we have been doing our Christmas Eve festivities at my parent's house.  It is sooooo much fun to get everyone together.  We usually have drinks and appetizers and then my mom cooks an amazing feast!!  I love her Christmas cookin'.  This year, Scott's parents joined us for the fun.  I don't think they were ready for my rowdy family!  My dad had a huge bonfire going in the back.  My parents are on almost 3 acres of land so there's plenty of room for fun and games.  My uncle brought his guitar and we all sang out by the bonfire.  And of course we opened gifts.  That's the best part!  Emily made out like a bandit!  She got some great gifts, and so did Scott and I.

We spent Christmas day at our house.  We opened gifts with Scott's parents.  Then, my parents came over later on that day for dinner and brought Emily her gifts from them.  So she got to open presents for a third time!  I'm telling you, she made out with some pretty neat gifts!

Here are some of my favorite shots from Christmas Eve & Christmas:


{Me & Little Emily by her tree at Nana's house}

{Aunt Vicki & Emily}


{The fam getting some grub}

{Birthstone earrings from daddy}

{I guess she likes her new jogging stroller!  But probably not as much as mommy does!!!  Yay for the B.O.B!}
{All this gift opening makes a girl tired!}


Oh!  I almost forgot!  Scott and I had quite a time with our Christmas tree this year!  We decided to get a real tree and here's why:


That poor little guy didn't stand a chance!  I'm not really sure what we were thinking when we bought this poor little pre-lit fakie.  We got it up and it just looked.....well....pathetic in our huge formal living room.  So, we packed Emily up and we went on a hunt for a real tree!  It was quite a fiasco (think Leaning Tower of Pisa), but once we got it up we were so much happier with it!






Much better!  Here are some other Christmas decorations we had up this year.  I wish I would have photographed all of them, but I didn't.  Maybe I'll have my act together next year (I think I say that every year).



Now it's 2011 and I've got some work to do!  But, I'll save that for another post!

I hope you had a very merry Holiday season & a Happy New Year!