Baby Girl is 1! {Happy Birthday}

On July 19th, my baby girl turned 1! On July 20th we celebrated her birthday with friends and family. :) Over at GYCT Designs I'm sharing the sheets I made to help me with planning and organizing the birthday party as part of her Sizzlin' Summer Organization Series.

Enjoy some of the pictures here of the party, her cake Hubby decorated and her 'eating' it, and the dress I made her. :)

We used a Koala theme for the birthday cake and invitations. It also happens to be the mural that is on her wall in her bedroom! :) We used the Koala from the Create a Critter for the  (affiliate)for the Cricut Expression Cutting Machine (affiliate) , cut it out from cardstock and used it to make an impression in the frosting.  Hubby then filled it in with frosting once removing the cardstock.

She was shy listening to happy birthday

Baby girl, just like her brother, was not a fan of the frosting!

And some more cake eating pictures, mostly because I missed the first bite...

We had family and friends over, and I am so thankful for them celebrating with us. I was too busy to take too many pictures, but here are a few good ones.

Cousin's helped open presents. They are such good helpers.

I made her a dress for the day too, in a very thin material to help stay cool. It's the Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop's Sweetheart Halter (affiliate). I just extended the shirt to make it a dress. 

Don't forget to head over to GYCT Designs and check out the sheets I made that help me plan birthday parties (and other parties). 

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! May you have many more!

Why I Sew: It's My Meditation and Some of my History

Some awesome bloggers have put together a series stating the reasons why they sew and GYCT has a linky party for others to join in with their stories as well. It's some pretty amazing things, these wonderful women and their reasonings behind why they sew. 

I know I have shared, at times, why I sew. It is relaxing for me. It is my stress and anxiety reliever. But I guess now I will provide with a bit of background.

I made my first outfit when I was younger. It was for girl scouts. I don't remember much about it, but I still have the pattern, folded, in the tiny envelope, with the rest of my paper patterns...

Simplicity 8953 *affiliate* pattern copyright dated 1994

Skip ahead several years and I wanted to quilt. My inspiration? My great-grandmother's quilt.

1930's fabric, completed (?) 1950's

So, my mom enrolled me in a quilting class with her at a local fabric shop (which is now closed! The horror!), and I sewed up my first quilt!

My first quilt, 2006

I learned so much from that class. And I have leaned so much since then. I attempted 1 shirt and 2 dresses for me, 2 dresses for a friend and felt that I failed miserably. Here was one I wore to a friends wedding.

B4919 Butterick *affiliate* retro '52 sewn in 2007

Then I sewed up Nikolai's Quilt and then the 2012 Craftsy BOM, Not to mention the numerous clothes I have sewn up since November when I really starting sewing clothes again.

I love sewing clothes for my kids. I love that I can make them something that is purposeful.

I even have branched out to bags! And those are so fun!

But really, I love the sound of the machine. I love the listening to it whir. I get lost in creation, in the noise and the focus that it takes to take pieces of fabric and turn it into something amazing! I find it incredible relaxing and an amazing stress reliever.

I discovered these last few months that I almost need to sew. I was sick a few months back, the kids were sick and I wasn't able to take the time behind my machine with my foot on the petal to listen to the mechanical workings of the cam and gears. I was lost. I was stressed. I was pent up and frustrated. Once I was able to sew I relaxed and felt calmer. It was amazing.

Why do I sew? To relax, to calm down. It is my meditation.

Why do you sew/craft/create?

Don't forget to head over to GYCT's a linky party to see who is contributing and those that were in the blog tour! :)

Halloween 2013

I love dressing up for Halloween, and I especially love doing it as a family. There is nothing greater than the cheesy, group-themed, Halloween costumes. And, I love making them! 

Here are the last 2 years... So fun!

And this year...

I was Tigerlily, Brandon was the Fox Lost Boy (Not anything to do with 'what does the fox say?'), Samara was Tinkerbell and Nikolai was Peter Pan. :)

Here are Samara's wings, green sparkly tulle sandwiched with cereal bag to make it crinkle...

Here was a picture before adding the lacing and wings so you can see the bodice and skirt. Got the idea here but didn't do halter...

Nikolai loved being Peter Pan! He was thrilled when people knew what he was dressed up as!

And what good is being Peter Pan if you can't shoot something?

And Brandon's Tail... Made with yarn and took forever! Tutorial used here...

And my Father-in-Law, pretty cool costume too!

I love it! So fun! Hope y'all had a fantastic Halloween!

3 month Update..

It's been crazy 'round up in these here parts! Baby girl can roll over from tummy to back and very much prefers to sleep on her tummy...

Nikolai loves singing his ABCs and story + activity time. Love it! I have my Nick Sharratt story activity on the camera, but just need to get it onto the computer...

That is, after the craziness of Halloween!  Can't wait to share our costumes!

I attempted to join in at the end of Kids Clothes Week and look forward to the next sewing event! Fun!!

We've also been to the zoo...

And celebrated a birthday....

So when I am not rushing to finish the costumes I will post more! :)

Fun with Colors {watercolor crayon resist}

So, since my Virtual Book Club For Kids post on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Nikolai has been totally into learning colors and playing with them. More specifically... paint...

yay...

So, I've been wanting to do crayon resist with watercolor for some time now and had the perfect opportunity to do it. We are going to celebrate my niece and nephews birthdays on Sunday. I found this awesome idea to turn kids artwork into greeting cards on pinterest. Perfect!

I am really excited how they turned out. Super Cute! Watercolor crayon resist greeting cards...

2 Babies Vaccinated = 1 tired Momma...

Now that my 2 babies are both asleep. I have some peace to myself! Can I sleep? No, that cup of coffee pounded before the oldest actually drifted off into a suddenly silent slumber has started to take it's effects. I can feel my hands shake with the need to move, to do something... Aah, the sound of wakefulness... Not more than 5 minutes...

Since the littlest one is still swinging in peaceful sleep, and the migraine is still tempting the base of my skull threatening pain in the ears, I am going to attempt to provide the most recent doctor update from our foray into the city just for a (ahem) 2 hour doctor visit. A little long, don't you think? But, alas, necessary...

It was a visit strictly for Baby Girl. Of course, not how it ended. Both my babies have been vaccinated; now I have a constant crier and a tempestuous toddler... Yay for me, and my nagging migraine...

I just love her facial expressions, now if only I can get one of her adorable smile!