Made By Me Monday

A week before Charlie arrived my office threw me a potluck shower. I felt funny not contributing, so I made some little "cigars" for everyone to have.

These were made with:
10 packs of Rolos
Slightly sparkly brown and gold paper
Glue
Pink yarn
Paper Tags
Pink Marker

I just wrapped the Rolos in the brown paper and glued the seam, then cut out a little band from the gold paper and glued that on too. Then I tied a piece of yarn with a paper tag saying "It's a Girl!" around the middle and put them all in a cigar box. Presto! Inexpensive festive shower treat.

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

This is what I commonly refer to as Charlie's boy outfit. Despite the tunic style top, ruffles, bow, bear with flower, and polka dots of it all, this is the outfit she was wearing the only time I've ever heard the dreaded words, "Is it a girl? It's wearing blue." Sigh.

Although it is tainted with that memory, I still think it's adorable. The whole outfit is Carters. The top under the blue tunic has two little bears holding flowers embroidered on it, and a little blue bow at the collar, so if she spits up on the first layer, Voila! new outfit underneath.
This is said under shirt:

Bonus shot cause she's so stinking cute. Or, as I was told the other night, she won the genetic lottery. Sweet!

Baby Attack

The joys of baby mood swings. I love how intense her face is in this picture with Auntie Chie.
And the sweet looks on her face with Uncle Chris, Uncle Tim and Papa.

Reaching is her new favorite. And grabbing, as demonstrated by her death grip on Uncle Chris's beard. It works out though, she carried my mail for me the other day.

Somewhere In Time...

I worked on a slide show for my Grandma's memorial service and really enjoyed seeing so many pictures of her with my grandpa when they were dating and newly weds (they met and married within a few months). this was taken at a restaurant/live music show with friends
at the beach. I love her swim suit...Grandpa's is a bit too skimpy though :)

A picnic lunch

Isn't this the sweetest?

Easter Sunday...complete with an Easter bonnet

I'm so glad to know they are now reunited in Christ.

Made By Me Monday

When I saw this tutorial, I couldn't wait to make one. I pulled out my scrap fabrics and some fat quarters, and chose this brown polka dot pattern for my first attempt:
I love how it turned out. My fabric was slightly shorter than what was called for, so it made a smaller Charlie sized flower. With a few quick stitches I added it to an elastic head band that immediately dresses up Charlie's outfits.

She loves to wear it (I assume, since she doesn't yank it off) to church.

Isn't it adorable! Make your own in about an hour. I'll probably make a bunch more, but I have to wait till I'm in an ironing mood...which is almost never.
Again, I'm curious...would you purchase something like this from an Etsy shop? What would you expect to pay?

Happy Birthday to my Original Baby

Today my husband joins me in the last year of our roaring 20's. (Yes he's younger than me, cradle robbing runs in my family. My Grandma had 8 years on my Grandpa.) Our amazing friends Ryan and Meghan are coming over to take care of our tiny, and sending us off to Tim's favorite restaurant for dinner. We are so excited! It's been a l-o-n-g time since we've eaten out. I made a cute colorful "Happy Birthday" bunting rather than pull out the shiny metal birthday banner I bought years ago. I thought this was more fun and personal. It should be a happy night, full of little black dresses, yummy food, laughter, and later games and cake with Ryan and Meg. So excited!

Valentine's Day Revisited

A glimpse at our Valentine's day:

Quick and easy construction paper decor

Charlie's Valentine's present from Nana and Papa

(He tells you that he "Wufs you" and his ears waggle)

Enjoying handmade cards from friends

Wearing red shoes - any excuse

Drinking red wine - any excuse

Snuggling my Sweets


What a wonderful Valentine's Day

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Today we defied the weather forecast (possible snow tomorrow? Yeesh.), and both Charlie and I opted for light weight cardigans over white tanks. This is the first outfit I've shared that I actually paid for in it's entirety. (Though the giraffe was a gift)

Charlie's flowery ruffley tank is from Old Navy - if I remember right it was $2.60. Her cardigan is Circo (Target) and I actually paid full price - $6.

The pants are part of the peacock ensemble from this post, and that whole outfit by Dwell Studio for Target was another $6 or so on clearance. The socks came in a 6 pack of multicolored ballet socks from TJ Maxx for $5.99.

I can't believe my baby is 20 weeks old. She's changed so much, today when I held her by the hands I was able to pull her from laying down to sitting up, and from sitting up to standing. Such a strong little girl. She also started rolling again, after a several week hiatus. Tim still has not seen her do this, poor guy. Hope you are having a great Wednesday!

Happy Valentines Day/Made By Me Monday

I'm kinda cheating this morning with some super quick projects I did last night and this morning. I channelled elementary school with this heart bunting, alternating long and thin with short and stout:

Charlotte is wearing a dress from Old Navy, tights from a local consignment shop and little shoes from Target

Last night while Tim was at work, I took a white Gerber onesie and some sharpies and quickly made this little tee.

Since we're not in a position to go out, I'm doing some light decorating (switching orange pillows with red, and hanging the heart bunting) and brainstorming dinner ideas. Currently I'm thinking crepes with fruit and nutella, hashbrowns and chocolate chip cookies for dessert with some after dinner coffee and then wine after Charlie goes down. Exciting, right? What are your plans?

The Weekend...

our weekend will be spent relaxing and playing board games (Monoply has made a come back in this house.) And, of course lots of snuggling will be done with this beauty. Tim has a potentially life changing job interview on Monday, so we'll also be spending time prepping and praying and probably day dreaming. How will you be spending your weekend?

Ten on Ten - in Charlotte's Room

A new month

A fun friend
Wishful thinking

View from the crib

Coming soon

Monster in the closet

Japanese fairytale Q-Tip holder

Dotted Duckies

A little culture

Valentine's Day friend from Nana and Grandpa

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday...or Thursday as it were

Well, second week of doing WCWW, and I failed to post it. But, I had a very good reason. My 88 year old grandma took a fall last week, breaking her femur bone. While she was in the hospital, an infection was discovered, and my sweet, feisty grandma quickly deteriorated. She went Home to be with her Lord and Savior, as well as her husband and daughter early yesterday. So, the day was spent with my dad rather than in my photo studio, aka, rocking chair.

Tim, Grandma and me at my brothers wedding in Castaic Lake, CA
Grandma and my side of the family at my wedding in Renton WA

So, despite the sadness of the day, Charlie brought us lots of joy, and I did manage to take pictures of outfits #3 and #4 before bed. (Yes, it was a 4 outfit day, and neither of these were what I planned for her to wear for WCWW).

This outfit is a hodge podge of various pieces. The headband is one I won over a year before Charlie was even conceived. It's from BudsButtonsandBows on Etsy. She puts snaps on each headband and bud, button or bow, so you can make your own color/style combination. Genius! The top was a gift from a friend, and is Circo from Target. The pants are part of a Carters fleece set, and came with a skirted hoodie, that she got for Christmas. The socks are also Carters, and are clearly on their way off...also a gift, so this outfit cost me nothing.

This next outfit is a sweet snugly sleeper that I got at my first shower. You can see the confusion on Charlie's face as she notices her bear feet. Also, forgive the squints, this poor little girl has the dreaded pink eye.

That's that, hopefully next week I'll actually get this up on Wednesday.

Made by Me Mondays

The day before Charlie was born was my last day of work. Tim and I knew that when we started our family, we wanted, more than anything, for me to be able to stay home. My passion and desire is to be with Charlie as much as possible, to teach her, to learn from her, to love her and dote on her, to do everything I can for her.

To be able to do this, we've had to make a lot of sacrifices. Tim has to work two jobs, we've had to cut all extras out of our budget and live the leanest we've ever lived. Worth it? Absolutely.

So, when Christmas time rolled around, I was faced with the biggest challenge I've experienced in this lean time...no buying presents for people, something I love to do. Thankfully, there is a never ending amount of crafting to be done, so in our need for creative gift giving, I was able to make, among other things (jewelry, mounds of cookies, etc...):

Yarn Wreaths with Felt Flowers:

I found a tutorial on this a few weeks before Christmas and made one for my Grandma in traditional Christmas colors:

It took me awhile to decide if I liked it, but eventually I determined I did.

(Bonus shot, Grandma with her great grandkids on Christmas Eve)

Once I decided I liked it, I made another in less traditional colors for my sweet friend Laura. I was even more uncertain of this one, so much so that I didn't initially give it to her, giving her only the jewelry portion at first. Later I decided I was being stupid, "slyly" asked her if she was familiar with the yarn wreath fad, and eventually presented her with the wreath, assuring her that she didn't have to like it. She did though, and happily hung it up right then.

What do you think of yarn wreaths? Is this something you'd buy in an Etsy shop? What would you expect to pay, and what color combos would you like to see? Any input it welcome!