lovely little things

Rainbow Cake

2011-12-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today was Lucy's third birthday, and I REALLY wanted to make a rainbow cake for her because I've seen so many seriously cute pictures of them online. The problem is, I don't know much about baking and/or cake decorating. Fortunately for me, my neighbor, Christine is great at it! She volunteered to help me make the toddler cake of my dreams (ok... so she basically did the whole thing, but I learned a whole lot watching her!).

First, she mixed one white box cake mix according the directions (you can certainly make it from scratch, but it saves a ton of time using a box mix), then weighed it and divided it by six. Using that number, she weighed out six equal portions of batter for the six layers, then put them into six bowls. Then we used gel dyes (not food coloring) to make the colors really saturated.

She baked each layer for nine minutes, then let them cool and started stacking them up with a layer of frosting in between.

I thought it would be really pretty and fun to put dum dums on the cake since Lucy is a big fan of lollipops. Christine had the idea to make a border all the way around the bottom, and I thought it would look pretty to do a graduated color pattern.

We left the sticks attached to the dum dums and just pushed them into the cake. Isn't it pretty?

Here's the top view:

Look how excited she is!

Ta Da!

It was SUPER sugary, but we made quite a dent in it.

A Place for my Little One

2011-08-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

We're all ready for you, my Love! Come stay with us!

My wonderful husband took all of these beautiful photos. He's the best!

Nora's Room

2011-08-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Boy, have I been nesting! I've had so much fun re-imagining the nursery for Nora (due in less than three weeks!). As you know, I updated the canopy over the crib, and then I had a moment of brilliance! I remembered that we had a big canvas in the office covered with a fabric the same color as the new canopy. I moved it into the nursery just to see if it worked, and it was PERFECT. I love it when things work out that way.

BUT, with that new, bold fabric in the mix, I had to change out the crib skirt. I decided to make my own from a cute white and blue polka dot fabric.

And just to make it extra adorable, I added a little blue pom pom trim.

Then I had to figure out what to do with the curtains. They were originally floor-length, but with the new dresser under the window, I needed some shorter ones.

So, I cut and hemmed the existing curtains, but they were just too plain. Because of this, I decided to liven them up a bit! I hardly had any fabric leftover from the big canvas and the crib skirt, so I had to brainstorm to figure out what would work.

Then I had the idea to make a patchwork strip to sew across the bottom of the curtain, using the few scraps I had, plus a few other coordinating fabric pieces.

I'm sorry the lighting is so funky.

When I get everything hung up on the walls, I'll try to talk my photographer husband into taking some really pretty photos of the room. In the meantime, I hope you'll get at least an idea how it's coming along.

Worth The Wait

2011-08-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

I bought this cute little table at a yard sale for $5 almost a year ago.

I've been meaning to do something about the top since I bought it, but I FINALLY made it pretty!

I found some wrapping paper at Target that I knew would be perfect. I had Dave pour on the epoxy (sorry I forgot to write down what we used! I got it at hobby lobby next to the craft paints and it came in a box with two little bottles of chemicals to mix together). I figured it wasn't a good idea for this pregnant lady to do it since it had all sorts of warnings on the box about toxins.

And here it is!

Much improved.

Revamp

2011-07-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

My thoughtful mother-in-law found this ikea bed canopy at a yard sale almost two years ago for Lucy's room.

While I really like it, I wanted to change it up a bit for Nora's new room. I found this sheet of linen scrapbook paper that I've decided to use as the color inspiration for the nursery.

With that in mind, I chose a rust red corduroy (that looks velvety) to alter the canopy. I cut off the old flags.

Then I made a template for my new flags.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out! It's sort-of a cross between between a flower and a circus.

Here it is up close.

Six weeks to go!

Baby Shower Gifts

2011-07-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is having a baby shower for her baby boy who's due next month. I thought about just buying something for her, but I always like to give handmade gifts when I can.

So, this morning I put on a 30-minute show for Lucy (I know... but it works!) and whipped up these cute little burp cloths. This is one of my favorite baby shower gifts to make. They're quick, easy, super cute and one-of-a-kind.

I really love that color green mixed with the blue polka dots. I hope my friend loves them too!

I suppose it's almost time to make a few for myself!

I sewed!

2011-07-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, I finally put my little sewing machine to work. I made this cute little skirt!

Skirts are a fun alternative to shorts in the summer, and believe me, it's HOT here! Please disregard the mess of toys strewn about our living room :). It's unbelievably hard to get a toddler to hold still and pose for a photo. This was the best I could do.

And here's my little girl. She's growing up so fast! It must almost be time to have another one.

Trees for Lucy

2011-05-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

It was so fun to do something crafty after such a long time! I've been brainstorming and collecting inspiration for Lucy's new big girl room, and it's really great to start implementing. I've been seeing lots of birch trees used in design recently, and I totally love the look.

First, I sketched the trees on the wall using a regular pencil.

Then I used pieces of torn painters tape to make the markings in the trees.

I used leftover white latex wall paint from our dining room (I wore a mask and opened the window for all of you who are concerned). At first I was bummed to see how much paint leaked through the tape (curse you textured walls!), but the I realized that it actually looked pretty great.

Here's the final result! It turned out just as I had hoped.

The only problem is that I can't get the pencil off the wall. I thought I could just erase it, but I might have to use the tan paint to cover over it. If you know any cleaning secrets, please pass them on!

Design Consultant

2011-05-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of pretending to be a design consultant for my friend Christine who is expecting a little boy any day now. It was so fun helping her brainstorm for a boy's nursery!

I looked through the photos I had on file from all my time looking at decorating blogs, as well as from magazines, and came up with a fun cloud theme.

Christine glued the fabric to the cardboard letters, and she also cut out the cloud shapes.
Before:

We used spray starch to stick the clouds to the wall.
After:

Here's a close-up (because I couldn't resist).

Here's what the dresser wall looked like before:

And after! So much happier :)

I didn't want to overdo it, so we kept the closet wall fairly simple. Before:

I love the balloons in this shot!

It might be time to start focusing on the nursery for a certain little Heller baby girl who will be arriving sooner than I think!

Not-So-Exciting Garden Update

2011-04-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

So... our little garden is barely hanging on, while our neighbors garden is practically bursting at the seams with produce. Here's the lesson: plant your garden in YOUR OWN yard!
Here's some spinach that we planted from seed.

Here are our carrots (planted from seed), growing at a snail's pace.

Broccoli..

And herbs.

I've been intending to plant some tomatoes and a few other things, but based on the difficulty level of walking down the street to our neighbor's house, I don't think it's worth it. I wish there was an easy way to transfer the whole thing into our yard. Oh well. Live and learn... or if you're one of my plants... slowly die and learn.

New Arrangement

2011-03-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

As you will remember... I bought some flowers, and put them in a vase on our mantel in an attempt to make a spring time arrangement. Although I liked a few things about it, I decided that it's just not me.

So then I had to get creative. Thank you for all of your suggestions, because they were the inspiration for my new idea! I spotted these vases in our cabinet and a light bulb went on in my mind.

I went and grabbed a bunch of little green fuzzy ball things out of a vase in my bedroom. I divided them up into the three vases and ta-da!

I also decided to hang the painting instead of leaning it (just for a change-up), and I added two little grasses.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out, and I didn't even have to buy anything.

A Promise is a Promise

2011-03-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

True to my word, I am posting some new material today (hooray!). I have been looking for a new rug for our living room for over a year, but I had a couple of criteria. 1. It had to be approximately 9x12 2. It had to be less than $500 and 3. I had to love it. This is why it took a whole year to find this rug!

I liked the rug we had in our living room, but I didn't like the tan on tan on tan color scheme of the room, and I didn't like the large orange stain that we had to keep covered by a piece of furniture.

Here's my before photo. It's pretty old (before our yellow love seat), and pretty messy, but it's the only one I could find of our old rug.

And here's the pretty rug we found (and my husband looking quite comfortable watching Myth Busters)!

We bought it from a store here in town called Furniture Affair. It's a model home furniture outlet, and we LOVE shopping there. The rug is from Pottery Barn, and they sold it to us (in perfect condition) for $330. I couldn't believe it! It was a major score.

It's not as modern as I was picturing, but my more traditional husband loves it, so I didn't even have to talk him into it. And I love it too :). The blue is so soothing.

On a side note, I bought some new flowers at Hobby Lobby to create more of a spring arrangement for the mantel, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to take them back. The modernist in me is rebelling. I'm going to have to find something more funky.

Don't Lose Faith

2011-03-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have a few things I'd like to post about, but I haven't had the chance. So, here I am using my phone to blog at the airport. Our little garden has been growing slowly but surely, and we also got a new rug for the living room yesterday. I can't wait to show you! We're headed off to Frezno this weekend, but hopefully I'll have a new post ready to go by Monday evening. Stay tuned!

WASH

2011-03-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

I had this bright idea to buy a whole bunch of cardboard letters to put up above the sink. I wanted them to say "eat, wash, repeat." Wouldn't that have been cute and clever? I thought it would at least be better than the Van Gogh print that we had up there (which I like, but is a little boring).

Unfortunately, when I got all the letters home, they were way bigger than I anticipated. So, after I painted them with black chalkboard paint, I decided to only hang the word "wash."

But it still didn't look quite right. It was way too stark, and felt a bit out of place. So THEN I thought that it would be cute and fun and spring-y to glue some floral fabric to the letters, and look! I love it!

I love how the fabric ties in with the mirror color (don't mind Dave... he just happened to be in my shot :).

And here's a close-up only because I really love this fun fabric and I want you to get a good look at it.

These cardboard letters are $3 apeice at Joanne, so go get creative!

Music Video

2011-03-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Dave and I spent pretty much all of Monday shooting our new music video. It was so exhausting, but so much fun! Bradley Gregg was the director, and his wife, Dawn shot these awesome photos (in addition to helping us with the storyline, costumes, models, etc.). She's basically really great.

Here I am in Dawn's hat (which I didn't end up wearing on-camera), hanging out with baby Heller #2.

There were some really funny moments.

And there were times to be serious.

We had such a wonderful crew.

AND the location was fantastic! We shot it at Modern Manor in downtown Phoenix.

The furniture and decorations there really made our video unique and beautiful. What an enormous blessing!

All of the the footage is complete, but now we enter the editing process where it all gets pieced together. We've seen the Lord working through every step of the process, and we pray that He continues to lead and inspire us to create something wonderful that brings glory to His name.

Growing Garden

2011-02-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

Overall, things seem to be going well in the garden. I haven't been the most consistent waterer, so I'm actually impressed to see that things are still alive!

My cilantro looks a little sad (I'm thinking because of the lack of water), but the red leaf lettuce (in the background) and the thyme seem to be doing just fine. After the big frost, the nasturtium died, but everything else is still green and growing.

And look! The spinach is sprouting! Did you notice my little plant markers? I made them out of aluminum roof tiles.

And the carrots...

And the yellow onion!

I still have to go out and buy some tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil and zucchini.

Pretty Easy Bracelet

2011-02-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my friend Lindsey showed me how to make a really easy leather bracelet. She bought an awesome one at a boutique, and then realized that she could make them on her own! So... she brought her supplies and shared them (along with her crafting wisdom) with us lucky ladies.
Look at all of these beautiful leather scraps!

First I cut out the base shape of the bracelet out of a thicker leather, then I cut little circles for the flower layers out of the thinner, softer leather. I snipped some slits around the perimeter of each circle, then held them over a flame from a candle for a second or two until they started to curl. Isn't it amazing that a little fire can do that? I guess this would be a good time to tell you to be careful, and also that it's not a good idea to do this craft with little ones.

Then I layered three or four petal circles on top of each other, chose their placement, and hand-sewed them on. A thimble is a handy tool for this step. I also sewed a few seed beads in the center for a little extra sparkle. Then, I cut the slit for the button hole (notice that mine is a little crooked :), sewed on the button, and voila!

Cute, one-of-a-kind leather bracelet!

The great thing about this project is that you don't even have to break out the sewing machine! No finished edges needed.

Fun, right? Now you just have to go out and try to find a place that sells leather scraps. If you live in Phoenix, they sell them at SAS Fabrics on Indian School.. just don't clean them out before I get there!

More Birds

2011-02-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry. I just can't help myself. More birds. In fact, I just bought a whole book of birds to cut up and use for craft projects.

So, these are my supplies...

Here's an example of a page in this AWESOME book!

And here's my little craft project :). I still have to glue it all together, but I thought it would be fun to post, even if it's not finished yet.

I have a TON more supplies, and I'm excited to make more of these little guys. I think I might use my little letter stamps to spell out some words and phrases next time around.

Kind-of Homemade Margherita Pizza

2011-02-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

First of all, I must apologize that I don't have a photo for this one. BUT, I figured this recipe was worth sharing. Also, I don't have the exact measurements for things, so you'll have to use your own discretion.

Ingredients:
1 pack of fresh pizza dough (I love the kind from Fresh & Easy)
3 Tbs(?) Olive Oil
2 cloves minced garlic
mozzarella cheese
2 Tbs(?) romano or parmesan cheese
2 sliced tomatoes
fresh basil cut coarsely chopped
*chicken apple sausage from Fresh and Easy is awesome too!

Pre-heat your oven to 450.
1. Put some flour down and roll out your dough.
2. Put olive oil in a pan and saute garlic until just turning golden.
3. Use pastry brush (or whatever you got!) to spread olive oil over the crust.
4. sprinkle with just a tiny bit of sea salt if you want to.
5. Add the delicious cheeses and tomato and sausage (if you want).. but don't add the basil just yet.
6. You can add a bit more cheese on top of your toppings if you'd like
7. put it in the oven for 10 minutes or so.
8. When it looks almost done, pull it out and add the fresh basil.
9. Put it back in the oven, and take it out when the cheese is nice and bubbly, and the bottom starts to get a little bit golden.

Let me know if you try it out. This one has been a big hit around my house!

My Beautiful Birds!

2011-02-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

I LOVE my new wallpaper! And I realize it's a bit of a cliche, but I can't help it... I love birds! Apparently, a lot of other people do too, hence this video:

Moving on.. Here's my fun before photo:

And after!

It's so pretty and peaceful!

AND... to make things even more exciting, I bought this new jute rug at Ikea this week! It warms up the room so much. (side note: I don't know why there's a missing chair. Dave took this photo :).

The dining room is almost complete. I just need to figure out what i'm going to hang on the walls. We might want to get a buffet (to put on that right wall) and/or a piano (to put against the wallpaper wall) but for now, I'm so very pleased :).

Square Foot Dreams

2011-01-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

We're actually underway... my sister-in-law, Jes, and I are embarking on our very first square foot garden. Our awesome neighbors (and dear friends) are allowing us to use their yard to grow our plants. They are tending two of their own 4x4 gardens, while we wrangle ours.

I've always considered myself to have a black thumb, so I'm honestly going into this with pretty low expectations. It would be SO WONDERFUL though, if we could grow and eat our own food!

This was our original plan, and we pretty much stuck to it except that we decided to swap the locations of the carrots and herbs, and we're going to do only one square of cucumber, and add a square of squash.

And here's our cute little box that our neighbor built for us. We filled it with a combination of top soil and a mulch type mix (sorry for my lack of detail!).

And this is what it looked like at the end of yesterday. We're going to fill the empty squares with bell peppers, squash, tomatoes and cucumbers in a few weeks when the risk of frost has passed.

And that's what's happening so far!

So Pretty

2011-01-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

Look at this fantastic project

I ran across today! I just thought I'd share the genius. This brooch would make a great Valentine's Day gift.

Look What I Found!

2011-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

I went to one of my favorite stores in Phoenix the other day (it's called Rust and Roses), and I found this fantastic green chair!

The wood is painted green with gold highlights, and the upholstery is allegedly vintage linen from Europe (I know. Fancy shmancy).

Anyhow, I thought it was a pretty great price (which I can't even remember now, and I don't feel like looking it up... I do know that is was well under $100), and it was a welcome addition to our office.

Butterfly Cards

2011-01-24T12:57:00.001-08:00

I decided to branch out and do something crafty that I've never done before. I made a few cards for my mom. First, I bought a blank card set at Michael's for $1 (don't tell my mom... then again, she might be proud of my thriftiness :). I'm pretty sure they always have cards like these stocked in their discount section. Then, I used a butterfly shaped hole punch by Martha Stewart, an alphabet stamp set, and my sewing machine.

I love the way all the elements work together.

There you go. A hand-made card set for not much money. These make great gifts!

Poor, Poor Powder Room

2011-01-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

This little half-bath has been neglected ever since we moved in.

We DID add the bead board which helped a lot, but other than that, it only has a mirror with broken pieces, southwest-style copper accessories (not my style), a decent but not awesome light fixture, and no artwork on the walls.

First, I really like the idea of putting a big mirror on the wall that stretches over the toilet and the vanity. (I found this photo here).

Now, about those blank walls... I was thinking about having it wallpapered, but then I had an interesting idea: I could possibly stencil it. It would be much less expensive than wallpaper, but I'm sure it would be quite a time investment. Before you get scared, hear me out. I typically think of chickens and grapevines when I think of stencils but that's why I was blown away when I found these pretty, modern ones. This store has some really cool Moroccan styles like this:

And here's what the actual stencil would look like:

And then I found this AWESOME one with birch trees:

Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it worth the time?

Christmas Coat

2010-12-23T18:40:00.001-08:00

I started to make a coat for Lucy several months ago, and I just finished it yesterday! It was SO fun to work on and SUCH a cute pattern. My mom bought me a great book by Anna Maria Horner for my birthday, and I just fell in love with this hooded jacket.

I actually ended up using the same main fabric as the jacket in the example photo because I loved how charming it was :). I love that the coat has buttons, but didn't require any buttonholes!

I chose a super soft pink flannel for the lining.

It fits her perfectly! If you're really observant, you'll notice that in the photos of Lucy wearing it, there are pockets on the coat. I decided to add them because the "finished" coat, seemed like it was missing something. I LOVE the pockets!
Lucy seems to really like her new coat too. It's especially good for pretending to fly.

Lucy's Apron

2010-12-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

It was so much fun to be able to make this project for Lucy! I finished the whole thing in one day (except for adding the velcro, which took me about 10 minutes the next day). The advent calendar had me so bogged-down that I didn't even want to sew (which made me realize that it was time to set the advent calendar aside for awhile).

It took some playing around with different fabrics to decide on the final color combination. This is the one I ended up going with.

And here's the finished product!

I used a nice, long piece of velcro so that it can adjust to fit her as she grows.

I love how all of these patterns work together. The color palette is so much fun.

Here's a shot of the back for those of you who might want to make your own little apron :).

I can't wait to give it to her for Christmas!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

2010-12-20T13:16:00.001-08:00

Oh Advent Calendar. You are/were so much more work than I expected. That's why I reluctantly decided to set you aside until next year.

Maybe I'll have more motivation in a few months.

Paper and Lights

2010-12-11T11:52:00.001-08:00

There are two fun new things going on in our dining room. First, Dave gave me these awesome pendant lights for my birthday a couple months ago (I know. It's taken me FOREVER to post about it!). I really love them, and I love how they bring the room up a notch.

Even after the new lights were in, we both felt like the dining room was way too stark and colorless. My solution: wallpaper! Before you get too scared, just look at how beautiful it is! It's from Hygge & West and it's called Daydream.

We're planning to have the back wall (the one with the colorful canvas on it right now) papered as soon as the wallpaper comes in the mail. Can you picture it?

The colors in the photo they have online are not very accurate. Here's a pic of the sample they mailed to me. It's going to be so whimsical and soothing at the same time.

Now I just want to get some sort of sisal rug in there, and put a few things up on the wall.

It's a Start

2010-12-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hello long, lost blogging friends. I'm finally HOME! That means more time for blogging. I'm supposed to be watching Lucy right now, so I'll just post one photo really quick.

Here's a little dress I made for a friend of mine. She gave me a t-shirt of hers that she wanted me to make a dress out of for her beautiful daughter, Millie. Lucy modeled it for me before I sent it off in the mail.

I have many more projects in the works, so I promise to make an effort to show you my handiwork.
P.S. I just ordered wallpaper for the first time in my life. Maybe that will be my next post :).

I Was Wrong

2010-10-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I was being so creative and smart when we bought the coffee table to go in the kitchen nook. I thought, "Why would we need another place to eat when we have the bar right there, and the formal dining table one room over?" It made a lot of sense in theory. Little did I know just how much we'd end up eating around that little coffee table with our plates on our laps. I found out that I just don't care for eating with my plate on my lap.

So my poor, understanding husband agreed to let me get a real kitchen table to put in that space, and we moved the round coffee table into the office.

I really really love it. We found it at World Market, and just picked it up today!

Racer-Back Dress

2010-10-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

I made this little yellow dress for Lucy a while ago, but I had a hard time getting my act together to grab my camera while she was wearing it. It's been great during the hot hot summer here in Phoenix. I just love making these little t-shirt dresses! I first got the idea from this tutorial.

I used the ruffle effect like I've done before, and I love the way that the vertical lines look against the horizontal stripes. By the way... this is the very first time Lucy has ever "smiled" for the camera. Basically, it's her first fake smile :). Doesn't she look so grown-up?

Here's the fun little racer back.

Ruffles are so easy and make such an impact! I love it.

If you have a little girl in your life, you should totally make her one of these! They take less than an hour and are so super cute.

Fabric Makeover

2010-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

I had the idea awhile back to buy an inexpensive well-made love seat and have it reupholstered. I was under the impression that it would much less costly than it actually was, but in the end I have a really pretty piece of furniture.

I bought this Ethan Allen love seat on craigslist for $125. Here's the before:

And here it is redone! I'm really happy with the overall effect.

Call me a picky perfectionist, but the placement of the flower designs are not where I expected/hoped they would be. The symmetrical design makes it look very retro and less modern, but I've decided that that can be cool too. The back is the most bothersome part... but everyone likes owls, right?

Now to find a big rug to tie it all together.

Sheet Skirt

2010-10-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have been sewing a little bit, but I haven't been blogging. This week is all about playing catch up.

I posted a long time ago about this fabulous elastic I found for super cheap at a fabric store here in Phoenix. I used it in a skirt for Lucy, but I also made a little something for myself.

I bought this sheet a year ago at a thrift store because it was so wonderfully and whimsically retro, and I FINALLY used it to make myself a skirt (see the cute little pink butterflies?).

The really cool thing about it was that I used the existing finished edge of the sheet, so I didn't even have to hem it!

I'm thinking I can wear it with a long-sleeve t and some tights for the fall. And now that I think about it, this skirt probably cost me less than $1 to make! This gal would be proud :).

summer dress!

2010-09-03T13:22:00.001-07:00

Here's another tutorial that looks fairly simple. She didn't even use a sewing machine!

Jeans

2010-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't been home recently to do anything crafty, I decided to post more tutorials that I've run across recently. Check out this one about how to take in the waist of your jeans. Love it!

I've added Freshly Picked to my blogroll. I just found it, and I just love it!

Strawberries & Ruffles

2010-08-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

I ran across this brilliantly sweet tutorial today.

I also found this awesome tutorial for a ruffly blouse. I can't wait to get my hands on a sewing machine so that I can make a few of these cutenesses.

Not So Much

2010-08-23T12:05:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I have great ideas that don't quite pan out. Like this skirt I made for Lucy.

I thought it would be cute and frilly and feminine, but instead she looks like a peasant princess. This is good motivation to start her collection of dress-up clothes.

Obsession

2010-08-15T09:04:00.001-07:00

It seems that I have a new love in my life (pictured below).

I've been going crazy with cans of this stuff. I also have another mirror (or two) that I'm thinking about painting this same color.

I decided to paint the one remaining frame in the living room that was not yet "heirloom white."

Before:

After:

It's so fun to be home!

More Craftiness!

2010-08-11T09:25:00.001-07:00

We just finished hanging a bunch of family photos in white frames down our hallway. I totally love it!

But then, the two Elizabeth Foster pieces we have suddenly looked out of place in their heavy brown frames. The problem was, I really liked the brown frames. It was a super hard decision, and some of you will probably scold me for this, but I decided to paint them!

The look is SO different.

This frame was especially pretty and it hurt me to paint it white... but I love it!

It just fits our decor so much better.

So are you all mad at me?

Lucy's Room

2010-08-10T15:47:00.001-07:00

It's been slow going in terms of decorating Lucy's room. We've been in and out of town so much, that it's been hard to get important stuff done (like decorating :).

I found this Pottery Barn Kids map at a model home furniture outlet.

It looked a little too boyish, so I added some ribbon (it was actually Dave's idea!) to make it more feminine.

Then we looked through our calendar, and marked all the places where Lucy has been.

And THEN I reframed a cross stitched scene that my mother-in-law made years and years ago. She was going to get rid of it, but I thought it would be really cute in Lucy's room. I couldn't find a frame that would fit it perfectly, but I like how quirky-cute it is.

I was planning to nail the paper mache letters to the wall, but I really like how they look just set on top of the picture frame.

Isn't it cute? Her room is almost done!

New Skirt!

2010-07-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to sew! And, oh my, was it glorious. I had bought this super cute this super cute greenish yellow fabric several months ago, and I FINALLY got the chance to use it.

I also got a bunch of yards of this black and white striped elastic that I love. I used it on a skirt for myself as well (but I haven't taken photos of it yet). I bought it for something like 50 cents per yard, so of course I got a ton of it.

The elastic is three inches wide, so I decided to sew the fabric on top of it to make it appear thinner.

This might be my favorite thing I've ever made for Lucy.

A friend of mine also suggested that I sew a big fold into the back so that I can let it out as Lucy grows. So smart! Even if it starts to get a little short, she can always wear leggings under it.

Embroidery

2010-07-08T16:16:00.001-07:00

I've been trying my hand at some embroidery recently, and I've REALLY been enjoying it. So far I've only done a few onesies, but I'm looking forward to tackling a little pink hoodie next. My mother-in-law just bought me an AWESOME book about embroidery with tons of photos and illustrations. She found it at a thrift store... what a treasure! I wish I had taken a photo of it to show you all its magnificence. Perhaps that will be in a later post.

So with all that said, here's my first attempt... I took the photo in the car right before I gave it to a sweet friend who just had a little girl.

This is the one I just completed. I got the pattern from this delightful store on etsy.com.

It's such a cute little graphic!

Here's a question from an inexperienced needle-worker: is there anything I could or should attach to the wrong side of the design so that it won't fall apart in the wash or irritate baby skin? I use the wash-away stabilizer while I'm stitching, but that's it. Does anyone have any insight for me?

Bedding

2010-07-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Look at me! Two posts in one week! I can't tell you what a sense of accomplishment I feel right now.

So let's get to the point. Dave loves our down comforter, so that's what we've been using. However, we didn't have a duvet cover which means we couldn't wash it (which means... yucky). I was planning to go to Home Goods to buy a white duvet cover, but then I saw something lovely.

Here are my thoughts. After I made the curtains (which I haven't posted about yet because I haven't actually finished them yet), our bedroom started to feel a little bit too country for my taste. I love the fabric for the curtains, but I really wanted to balance it out with some modern elements. I couldn't quite figure out how to do it until today.

See what I mean about the curtains? Cute, but country... especially next to that antique chair.

Here's another before shot:

And now with the new duvet cover!

With the curtains in the background....

I also found this brown felt throw pillow on sale for $12.

I love that there are a ton of patterns going on in the room, but somehow they all go together. It makes my inner-decorator smile :).

p.s. I just bought it today, so if you want one for yourself, run out to Home Goods right now and get one before they're gone!

Shoes

2010-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Lucy is old enough to be trying on my shoes... not that they fit, but this seems like such a "big kid" thing to do.

This photo is so cute it makes me want to cry.

At Camp

2010-05-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

Since Lucy is asleep when we play music for the campers, we wanted to take a photo of her to show them what she looks like. Here's what Dave shot yesterday.

Tank Top Re-do

2010-05-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

We have this great store in Phoenix called Last Chance that's FULL of great bargains. Awhile ago they were selling tank tops for $1 each... so I bought 10! The problem is that I didn't try them on, and when I got them home I realized that they were all really low-cut.

This post is the first in (hopefully) a series of tank top re-dos. I used pre-made ruffle trim that I bought at SAS fabric for 30 cents per yard. I think it's pretty cute :).

This photo shows what the tank top looks like...

... but this shot is cuter :)

And here's the back:
Ta Da!

Africa Pillow

2010-05-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

I was commissioned to do another pillow! I have been SO crazy busy, that I surprised myself when I said that I'd do it. A lovely young woman named Kortney asked me to make her a pillow with the Dallas skyline a year or two ago, and she contacted me again to see if I'd make one about her trip to Mozambique. She wrote to me about how life-changing her experience was, and I just couldn't say no.

She told me about a little boy who made a big impact on her. It was hard for them to communicate because of the language barrier, but when Kortney asked him to sing her a song, she was surprised to hear him sing the word "butterfly" in English. So OF COURSE I had to include some winged beauties on the pillow.

So, here it is Kortney! I hope you like it :). I'll put it in the mail sometime soon.

Guilty

2010-05-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Basically every time I blog I feel guilty because there are so many other things that I should be doing. And even though the photos of Lucy are super cute, I'm tired of seeing the same post every time I visit my blog. That said, let's move forward.

We decided to hire our friend Mike to install molding and taller baseboards to the office, Lucy's room, and the guest bedroom. I can't believe the difference it makes.
In process...

After:

We decided to put a comfy chair by the windows, and I really love it. Our windows are bare at the moment, but we should be getting new shutters sometime very soon.

It's hard to post these photos, because nothing is actually completed, but I thought it would be fun to document our progress.

Here are a couple images of Lucy's room:

Before we had it painted, the dining room was a dark tan-ish orange with a light tan ceiling. You can't really tell how dark it is from the photo, but you can get a glimpse of how it used to be.

We had it painted white because it tends to be a dark room. We still want to get two pendant light fixtures, and put more colorful artwork up on the walls. It looks pretty stark right now, but I can see the potential.

Now back to real life.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T08:44:00.001-07:00

This is our tiny girl. She fit into the same outfit that she wore last year on Mother's Day. In case you wanted to know... it's size 3-6 months.

Jewelry Organization Project (plus paint colors)

2010-04-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a project I finished a few weeks ago, but haven't gotten around to posting about until now. I saw something similar to this in Better Homes and Gardens, and I just fell in love. They used a radiator grill like this woman, and even though I think it's really lovely, I didn't want to take the time to hunt one down AND spend a good chunk of change on it.

My friend, Carol, and I went the easy, budget route and bought a $6 roll of wire mesh from Home Depot. The employee recommended treating the metal with white vinegar before painting it, so I did. Once the vinegar was dry, I spray painted the mesh white (along with a frame that I already had).

I used a staple gun to secure the mesh to the frame, and viola! It's so functional! My dangly earrings just hook right on, and I used some tiny s-hooks to hang the necklaces.

It is SO much easier to find my jewelry now. AND my necklaces are no longer a tangled mess!

P.S.
Many of you asked about the specific colors we used in our design. So I will tell you!
1. The red spray paint that we used on the mirror and frame is called "Paprika" by Rustoleam in the satin finish.
2. The living room color is called "Silver Sage" by Restoration Hardware (although the paint itself is not Restoration Hardware brand).
3. The kitchen and nook color is called "Meditation" by Benjamin Moore. It's in the the swatch packet from Pottery Barn.

I'm hoping to post more photos of the rest of the house sometime very soon. I still need to get stuff hung up the the walls, and then make sure it's all tidy enough to take a picture :).

I really need to pack but...

2010-04-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

... I wanted to post these photos really quickly! We got our coffee table (yay!). But I'm realizing now that a round rug would really tie it all together.

After seeing our new paint color, I made an executive decision and painted the chalkboard the same red as the mirror.

Aren't these paint colors SO pretty on the walls?

lighting

2010-04-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

I found one more photo of an "after" shot of our house. We bought this chandelier at Home Depot to go over our little seating nook.

It's kind-of Crate and Barrel-esque without the Crate and Barrel price.

More Little Changes

2010-04-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a lot of little things here and there to make our house feel more our style. The sconces in the hallway weren't awful, but they weren't awesome either. Replacing them was inexpensive and quick.
Before:
After:

I was a little bit stumped about what to put above our bed, but then Carol and I saw a whole bunch of really cool crosses at Hobby Lobby. Most of them were on sale (yay), so we decided to buy a bunch and spray paint one red, and one white.
Before:

After:

Some are ceramic, some are poly-resin (I think that's what it's called), one is metal, and there's one wood one. Aren't they pretty?

Our house is almost done being painted, and I CAN'T WAIT to post photos of our new colors! Having the ceilings painted white (instead of tan) makes SUCH a huge difference. I'm so excited to start putting things back up on the walls.

Lucy and Chicks and Bunnies

2010-04-13T13:37:00.001-07:00

Hard At Work

2010-04-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

More and more things are getting done! I'm beginning to really fall in love with our home :).

I was able to talk my mother-in-law into writing on my chalkboard using her beautiful penmanship. Didn't she do a good job?

I just love this quote by David Meeks. It struck me when I read it for the first time. P.S. That's a new chair the photo above :).

I also got a chance to hang a window that was given to us when we were living in Nashville.
Here's before:

And after:

Red Mirror

2010-04-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Carol is visiting, and she is such a great influence on me. She encourages me to be bold in my decorating, and I'm SO glad.

Do you remember what the mirror looked like when I bought it? Here it is before:

And check it out now! I love it, I love it, I love it!

Lucy Pants

2010-04-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

Lucy's Grandma (Dave's mom) made some ADORABLE pants with the leftover yarn from the robe she made awhile ago.
So here's the bathrobe...

And here are her new pants! Can you believe how cute they are? Lucy is so lucky :)

Control

2010-03-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

This past summer, Dave and I had the chance to hear part of a friend's story while we were working together at Young Life Camp. Brittany shared with us (and the campers) about her difficult family situation when she was growing up. They looked to her to be the "perfect" one who held them all together. She decided that if she was going to be feeling pain anyway, she wanted to be the one who was in control of it, and that was the start of her addiction to self mutilation.

Fortunately, she eventually found herself in a community of friends who loved her and showed her that God wanted to heal her. She realized that it was only when she gave up control to the Lord, she could finally be free of her addiction. I took her story and ran with it. I hope "Control" does her justice.

The song is available exclusively through digital retailers like iTunes. Click the photo (below) to check it out. If you want to share it with friends on Twitter, or Facebook, you can do it right from the iTunes Music Store. Just click the little arrow to the right of the "Buy" button, and select "Share on Twitter/Facebook."

Two Things

2010-03-27T20:06:00.001-07:00

And we are once again moving forward with our house project. We bought this chair today and it's so comfy.

Dave and I have a vision of using our eat-in-kitchen space for a conversation/reading/coffee-drinking nook. We spend some time searching for a round, wooden table to fit the space, and we just ordered it online. Don't worry, we're not going to use that bistro table in that space... it's just for reference.

AND... I found this AWESOME mirror! I just love it. It's made out of some mysterious plastic-y substance.

I'm going to paint it, but I don't know what color yet. White is the most sensible, but I want to wait to make my final decision until we choose all our room colors. It could look awesome if I paint it a vibrant color.

By the way... I put the stool in the photo to give you a size reference. I can't wait to paint it and put it on the wall!

Bel Kai Designs

2010-03-17T13:46:00.001-07:00

I just got this necklace in the mail from Whitney over at Bel Kai Designs. I love it! There's even a little "L" for my Lucy Love. Please take a minute to go check out her beautiful jewelry.

Thank you Whitney!

Living Room

2010-03-16T13:34:00.001-07:00

First of all, I wanted to say a big "thank-you" to all of you who posted links to lighting photos on my last post. I think we've settled on doing a criss-cross pattern to make it feel bistro-like.

Now... I was wondering if you all had some input on furniture arrangement in the living room. The glider that's in there right now is just temporary, but we'd like to get something else. It would be nice to get a love seat, but I'm not sure how it would fit. A chair might leave us with not enough seating. I brilliant friend of mine suggested finding a chair and a half. Keep in mind that we can adjust the angle of the rug as well. Thoughts?

P.S. New carpet is being installed RIGHT NOW!

porch lights

2010-03-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited. I just bought these lights to put up on the back porch, but we're kind-of undecided about how we should do it.

Dave wants to string them in a straight line along that horizontal beam.

But I think it would be cool to zig-zag them from the beam, to the house, back to the beam, etc.

I suppose another option could be to wrap the lights around that beam.
Can anyone find any good inspiration photos?

Little By Little

2010-03-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

We invested in new door knobs! I couldn't believe how much it totaled up to be, but it was SO worth it. We decided to go with "aged bronze" to match our front door. This box makes me feel like we could have our own hardware store.

But look at the difference!!!
Before:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Sometimes it's the smallest things that can make the biggest difference. For example... my husband brought these flowers home for me last night. I love him :).

Making Arrangements

2010-03-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Here's what I have for my mantle arrangement so far.

I know that the little green branch-y things are a little too sparse. Do you think I should buy more of those and make it more full, or should I add something else?

I definitely don't know very much about flower arranging, so any input would be much appreciated.

House Progress

2010-02-26T13:51:00.001-08:00

We're steadily making progress on all the projects around our new house. It feels so great to be able to cross stuff off our list. We decided to put doors onto the den to create a nice big office/quiet place to read. Here's a view of it from the living room.

Here's the space (clutter and all).
Here are the new doors installed! We still need to frost the glass (we're thinking a film maybe?) AND...

... if you hadn't noticed already, we removed the monkey shrine. I'm so relieved it's gone. I had NO IDEA what to put in there.

So, here's the question: do we stain the doors to match the front door and the french doors, or do we paint the new doors white, and paint the french doors white to match (and possibly paint the front door as well).
I would try to find the same white as our new entertainment unit.
What do you think?

model

2010-02-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

Here she is!

dress after

2010-02-22T20:13:00.001-08:00

I've had these photos sitting in my camera FOREVER. I was all set to shoot some photos of Lucy actually wearing the dress, but then she fell on her face and got blood all over it (SO sad for her). All the stains came out, but I've yet to actually photograph her wearing it again. So... I figured I'd post what I had, and hopefully I'll be able to snap some shots of her wearing it sometime soon.

But.. just so you know.. she looks totally adorable in it :).

Life

2010-02-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've been too busy to take any photos recently, but here are a couple that my sister in law, Jes, took during our brief time moving into our new home.

Just So That...

2010-02-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

...you don't lose ALL faith in me... just tonight I started a new sewing project! Here's an awful iphone snapshot:

I have all the pieces cut out, and now I just have to find the time to actually sew it all together. It's going to be a pinafore :).

My Darling Child

2010-02-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

Wings!

2010-01-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

I stole this idea from a book I saw in a fabric store. I thought it was just too ridiculously adorable not to try. This would make such a cute baby shower gift!

LucyBee

2010-01-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

I love the look of embroidery, and I wanted to try to teach myself how to do it.

This is my first attempt. It's far from perfect, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

See how much Lucy likes it?

Pig Tails

2010-01-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've been looking forward to this for SO LONG! I love how Lucy looks in pigtails. She hates having them put in, but can you blame me for wanting to do her hair like this?

Perfect Purse Pattern

2010-01-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

... okay, so maybe it's not quite perfect, but it's SUPER great. I found this purse pattern here, and I'm so glad I did! Here's what I made:

I think I'll make another!

Back on Solid Ground

2010-01-13T19:06:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful time on our seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. This vacation was given to us as a gift, and we are SOOOOO thankful! We had a great time with Dave's family, and now I'm sad that no one comes to my house to make my bed twice a day.

Here's our ridiculously large ship.

Here's the beautiful banquet hall where we ate a three-course meal every evening.

Now for some crazy cute photos of Lucy...

Having a balcony was SO wonderful.

Lucy loved to play on it and watch the world go by.

We bought Lucy a sweet little dress in Cabo.

I was planning to get tan... apparently I forgot that taking care of a one-year-old doesn't normally involve basking lazily in the sun. So, I'm still fair-skinned but happy.

Hat

2009-12-25T20:38:00.001-08:00

Sometimes my very generous and thoughtful friend Heather sends us delightful hand-me-downs from her beautiful daughter Sammy. This white hat happens to be my favorite so far! Here are some photos from Christmas Day 2009.

This first shot just KILLS me!

Doesn't it look like an old-fashioned football helmet?

Lucy is moderately amused.

Last One

2009-12-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

We decided to take one final photo of our family in front of our house in Nashville just before we left for the airport. Tomorrow (Friday), papers will be signed and it won't be our house anymore. Thanks for the great memories!

Empty House

2009-12-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling a little sad tonight. Goodbye Nashville house.

Today..

2009-12-10T19:55:00.001-08:00

We're in Nashville right now packing up our house so that we can move to warmer weather (which sounds REALLY nice right now, but not so nice in the summer). Phoenix, here we come!

Amidst all of the mess, I noticed how pretty all of these knick knacks looked on the bookshelves. I had tried to group them together so that they would be easy to pack, and then it hit me how pretty they were :).

AND.. Elizabeth Foster came by today so that we could take a look at more of her art. It's my belated birthday gift from Dave! We just LOVE the art we bought from her awhile back (which I posted about here and here), and we decided that we would like more please. It was so hard to choose, but these were the ones we decided on.

I mean... how could we resist flying whales?

... and a horse wearing a Victrola?...

Lucy's Party

2009-12-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

This morning I was setting up for Lucy's party and I decided that there was a shortage of festive decorations. So.. I made a little pink and purple birthday banner, which cheered everything up in a hurry!

I've never been a big fan of buttercream frosting, so I made some whipped cream and added some fun pink sprinkles.

Here's my little birthday beauty in her home-made crown! Boy, was she cute :)

We tried to coax her to blow out the candle, but she just kept reaching for the pretty fire with her hand. We ended up helping her extinguish the flame.

I thought there would be cake and whipped cream everywhere, but Lucy was very composed about the whole thing. I think she was just trying to take it all in.

I was so thrilled to see how much she loves Lilly the doll!

She just kept hugging her and nuzzling her face. Oh what good it did a mama's heart!

Happy Birthday my darling girl.

Introducing...

2009-12-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

...Lilly the doll!
I can't believe how long it took me to make her, but she's finished!

I had to learn how to backstitch and satin stitch with embroidery floss to make her face :).

It was fun to add my own little touches like:
... a ruffle on the bottom and velcro to the back of the tunic instead of a button...

.. pockets and a button on the pants..

... a felt flower to her hair...

... and finally, a little heart to show Lilly's affection for her new best friend! I bought that fabric with little hearts all over it a long time ago not sure what I would use it for. I'm so glad I bought it now! It was the perfect finishing touch for a home-made doll for Lucy's first birthday. I can't wait to give it to her.

A big thank-you to hop skip jump for making such a charming little pattern.

Random Highlights

2009-12-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

There have been so many things going on! I made twenty of these gift bags for our visit to K-LOVE. Each one had a copy of our Christmas EP along with some yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Lucy also started to ride in a shopping cart like a big girl (instead of in her car seat).

AND I found this baby backpack at a yard sale for $10!!! It's so fun to go hiking when I can bring my favorite little person along.

Poppy Doll In Progress

2009-11-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

Lucy's first birthday is coming up in less than a week, and I decided to make her a doll! I saw this pattern

And I could not get over the cuteness of it all. I went over to Hop Skip Jump and purchased a pattern of my very own.

This is what it's supposed to look like when I'm done...

But we'll see what actually happens :). I've had a lot of fun making it, but I'm beginning to realize why she sells the already-made dolls for $95.. it's so much work!

This is what I have so far... sorry for the creepiness!

60 Flights...

2009-11-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

... in one year!!!! Lucy tells us how she feels about air travel.

Itty Bitty Dress

2009-11-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

I used some birthday money to buy a pattern for this sweet little dress, and it's so great! It's quick and simple and only requires a small bit of fabric and some 1/4 inch elastic. I've made two so far. The one in the photo is made from a sheet that I bought from Saver's (I bought so many awesome sheets and pillowcases from there to use as fabric!). I love how it looks with little leggings (I'm totally obsessed with leggings on her, by the way).

Please ignore the giant crease down the middle :).

Radio Interview

2009-11-21T23:05:00.000-08:00

Dave and I had a chance to visit the K-LOVE studios this Friday. We spent an hour in the studio with afternoon DJ's Scott and Kelli. It was A LOT of fun. I hope you enjoy listening:)

The interview segments are at the beginning, 7:17, 27:58, and 44:19.

JJ Heller 11/20/09 KLOVE Interview from The Secret Life Of Kat on Vimeo.

Finally!!!!

2009-11-17T20:23:00.001-08:00

For basically her entire life, Lucy has not had a friendly relationship with food. When she was a few weeks old, she almost stopped eating completely. We found out that she had acid reflux, and she began taking medication which worked pretty well, but it was a continued struggle to get her to eat enough milk.

Then we added baby food to her regimen, and she hated it. We FINALLY started to feed her real, grown-up food, and she loves it! She can't get enough. Whenever Dave and I are eating, Lucy always crawls over to us and whines as she opens and closes her hands until we share some of our food with her. I'm SO relieved that she likes eating now! Avocados are her favorite (as pictured below :).

If You Want to Make One

2009-11-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine just wrote with some questions about the birthday crown I just made for Lucy, and just when I was about to send off the email, I thought some of you might be interested in some crown-making tips as well!

If I was really ambitious, I would take photos of all of these steps and post them next to each instruction, but... I just spend 8 hours traveling from Abilene, TX to Phoenix, AZ, and I'm really tired :).

Here's what I wrote to my friend....

To answer some of your questions.. I did use elastic in the back. I chose black because I knew white would start to get dingy over the years. The felt part of the crown is 12.5 inches and the elastic part is 4.5 inches (I actually made the elastic about 2 inches longer to start with, but it was too big for lucy's tiny head, so I just tacked it on both sides to make it 4.5 inches. It ended up working out great because when she gets older, I can just take out those few stitches and lengthen the elastic back to it's original length).

I used a medium weight stabilizer in between the two layers. I'm not sure if there's a difference between stabilizer and interfacing, but mine doesn't have any sort of fuzibility (if that's a word).

I would also probably recommend using real wool felt so that it's more durable. They didn't have the colors I wanted in the wool felt at Joann when I went, so i just chose synthetic. When I was working with it, though, it left this weird film on my hands. It's not a big deal, but I probably would choose a higher quality material next time.

Also, for the trim... make sure there's no lead in it. I originally chose a different trim, but when I was taking up to the counter to get cut, I noticed a warning on it that it contains lead! Needless to say, I chose a different one.

It was definitely easy to draw the outline of the crown onto the felt, then sew through all three pieces. Then I just cut it out along the seam line, and it was all set.

For the numbers, I cut out 2 pieces of gold felt, and 1 piece of pink for each number. I used the bottom of a can of corn as my template, and traced around the can onto the pink felt with a regular pen. While the felt pieces were still in the shape of squares (before cutting out the circles), I sewed 2 pieces of velcro onto one of the gold pieces of felt. I used a disappearing ink pen to draw the number onto the pink felt, then I put the pink felt on the top, the plain gold one in the middle, and the velcro one on the bottom. I used the regular pen marking as a guide and sewed a seam with the right side of the presser foot lined up with the pen mark. Then I sewed a seam tracing the number that I drew on the pink felt. Then I cut out the circle getting close to the seam, and then very carefully cut out the pink felt from inside the number.

Adding a little princess patch is a great thought. I was toying with the idea of making a separate crown just for dress up. I thought the birthday crown might get worn out if it was used all year. There's also a pattern out there for a princess hat. Did you see that? That could be fun too. (you know.. a cone-shaped hat with tulle coming out of the top).

.... So that's it. Lots of words, but hopefully you can learn from my mistakes!
Happy crown-making!

Fit for a Queen

2009-11-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

I LOVE it! It's always surprising (and wonderful) to me when a project turns out the way I envisioned it. I changed the design a bit from the inspiration crown, because I wanted to make it look a little more like a tiara. It kind-of reminds me of Princess Aurora :).

I think the detachable number idea is going to work really well. I haven't sewn all of the other numbers (for future birthdays) yet, but number one is ready!

I love the sparkly trim and the rhinestone buttons... ummm... did I seriously just type that? It's amazing what having a little girl can do to a person :).

I REALLY wanted to post a photo of her wearing it, but decided to wait until her actual birthday.

Almost Party Time

2009-11-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

I am SO excited to make Lucy her very own birthday crown! The big day is coming up in less than a month (I can't believe it!), so I'm starting to make my plans. I was totally inspired by this design (pictured below) over at Skip to My Lou.
Isn't it so cute? I love the shape. I just bought supplies to make a dark gray and pink one for my soon-to be one-year-old. I want to attach the number with velcro so that we can swap it out with other numbers for future birthdays. I can't wait to get started!

I'm In LOVE

2009-11-04T20:16:00.001-08:00

Awhile back I made this changing mat for lucy and blogged about the process.

Since then, I've kept my eye out for pretty oilcloth to make another changing mat, or possibly a bib or two for lucy. I have a bib for her that's wipeable and has a little pocket at the bottom to catch slippery food :). Ours kind-of looks like this one...

But I would LOVE to make one with pretty oilcloth! Imagine my delight when I ran across this post by Anna Marie Horner. Look at HOW BEAUTIFUL this fabric is!!!!
It's $17.50 per yard, so I'll have to decide just how much a love it :).

Making it Mine

2009-11-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

I found this dress for Lucy at a consignment shop a week or two ago (I think it was $3). It was cute enough, but I decided to improve upon it a little bit to suit my (and therefore Lucy's) style.

First, I knew I wanted to cover up the embroidery on the pockets.. but then it took me a long time to figure out what kind of applique to use to cover up the design on the top.

I finally remembered this owl design that was a free download from one of my favorite blogs (called Lil Blue Boo). Isn't it so cute? This gal is so talented and you need to go check out her blog right now :).

This dress is so cute with little leggings underneath. Perfect for fall!

And believe it or not, this was the best photo I could get of Lucy wearing the dress. She moves like the wind these days!

My Little Unicorn

2009-10-31T22:02:00.001-07:00

My plan was to go to Target on Halloween because I knew the baby costumes would be on sale. Lucky for me, they had ONE infant-size costume left... a beautiful pink unicorn.

We took our little unicorn to the Arizona State Fairgrounds to see a Jars of Clay concert (which was great, by the way :). She made SO many people smile!... can you blame them? The cuteness is overwhelming.

A Hat For My Baby

2009-10-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is another pattern I bought for my birthday. It's by Leila and Ben and I bought it here. Once I purchased it, all I had to do was click the link to download it, then I printed it out. It was a super fun project that was really quick and didn't require a lot of fabric. I'm TOTALLY going to make more of these. A cute little hat would make a good baby shower gift for a boy or girl, don't you think?

Oh! to Sew!

2009-10-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

I spent some of my birthday money (thanks mom!) on a couple of sewing patterns. This is one that I'm saving for a rainy day... or maybe a day when Lucy starts taking longer naps. I've had my eye on it for a long time, and I finally decided to make my purchase. It looks pretty involved, but oh so cute! I haven't picked out the fabric for it yet, but it will sure be fun.

Addendum...
Just so it's clear, I bought the pattern here at The Sugar City Shop. They didn't have any frock patterns available yesterday when I posted this blog, but they're in stock now! Happy shopping!

What a difference a year makes

2009-10-24T15:17:00.001-07:00

This photo was taken a year ago at the park near my parent's house when I was in San Jose for my baby shower.

When we were back in town earlier this month Dave took this photo. It wasn't until later that we realized that we were in the exact same spot.

Hijacked

2009-10-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is JJ's husband, Dave. I think it's time for a new blog post, but I've kept JJ too busy to update her blog. So I'm going to just post a bunch of photos of Lucy that I've taken over the past month (it's been an exciting one for her).

She started to eat at the table with mommy.

Sitting and crawling like a "big girl."

One of many hotel rooms.

One of few bathtimes.

Using the armrest.

She just started clapping...

...and swinging.

Preview

2009-10-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

So.. I can't really post very many photos from the shoot because I don't want to give away too much before we release our record. BUT.. here are a couple of fun shots of our family. Aren't these great?

Too Busy

2009-10-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have my favorite blogs that I check semi-obsessively, and I'm SO frustrated when they haven't been updated... and I am TOTALLY that non-updating blogger right now! It's been driving me crazy that I haven't posted anything new in forever, but we finally have a few days in a row at home, and I'm hoping to work on some awesome craftiness.

In the meantime, this is what we've been up to (in non-chronological order, because I can't remember what happened when)...

We've been to the beach in Southern California

.. and northern California..

...Pennsylvania (which made us sleepy)...

Lucy got to hang out with her cousin, Bryce in Costa Mesa...

.. We had an AMAZING photo shoot in Hollywood (I'll be sure to post some of those photos really soon)..

.. and we flew, and flew, and flew

Lucy should be the official poster child for Southwest Airlines. She's been on 52 flights in 10 months. Go baby, go.