A few fun gift ideas!

Still looking for a few gift ideas for the guys and gals in your life? Here are a few fun finds that have caught my eye lately. Hope some of them inspire you and help you out with that wish list.

For the Artistic/Creative

Signature Series: Kelly Purkey
Price: $17.95
I adore this girl, and I've already added her book to my Dear Santa list. Hope I've been a good enough girl this year.

A book loaded with inspiration... and the cutest author around! 

For the Photo/Camera Lover
iPhone Camera Remote
$40
I take SO many of my pictures with my phone these days. Love the idea of a remote for that camera!

For the Girl who Just Wants to Have Fun

Beastie Boys Solid Gold Hits
Price: $8.99
I know it's old-school, but this music is always the pick-me-up I need when I'm feeling low on energy or simply want to have some fun.

Available on Amazon.com

For the Modern Maven

IKEA Cart (with some Swedish name)
$50
Is it odd to have a crush on an object, because I think I'm in love with this little fella.

There are just a few of the happy things that have landed on my Dear Santa list this year. What is it you're wishing for?

Happy gift giving!

Halloween Happiness

Maggie's first Halloween!

Bwa ha ha ha ha! It’s time for a frightfully fun Halloween recap. 

Okay, so our Halloween was far more cute than creepy with it being Mag’s first and all, but we still had a scary good time. 

PUMPKINS

Carving pumpkins is a family tradition. We head to my parents’ house and transform basic gourds into works of... art?

Auntie Ruth and the Unc (Jim) joined us from Colorado this year. So nice having them here! 

Our freaky crew. From left to right: Auntie's cat, The Unc's...pock-marked pump'; Mom's unfinished gal; Cory's pumpkin carved to match the one on Maggie's onesie (below); my First Halloween pumpkin (for Mags); Curt's cute guy; Dad's odd fella; Gina's not in pic, but very pretty!

Saw this idea on Pinterest: carve the pumpkin with a drill insert twinkle lights. I did a 1 for Maggie's first Halloween.

COSTUMES

Wanting to document Maggie’s first fright night, I made her a First Halloween onesie. 

Okay, so maybe four-month-olds are too young to enjoy sugary treats, but this doesn’t mean Mom and Pop can’t use that babe as an excuse to indulge in free candy. So we dressed Maggie up as the friendliest ghost you’d ever see and set to the office where I work to get our pumpkin full.

Maggie went as our friendly little ghost. 

I simply ironed a ghost face on a onesie--super easy!

Piecing Maggie’s costume was easy. 

1. The Onesie: I simply ironed on an iron-on backing to the black and white fabric, cut the face, and ironed it on a long-sleeved onesie. 
2. The tutu: I purchased the tutu at Jo-Ann. It had a spring-like waist band, so I covered it by gluing on some black ric-rac using Beacon’s Fabri-Tac glue. (LOVE that stuff!)
3. The tights: The super cute mary jane tights are from Dillards. 
4. The headband: My friend Emily made the FAB headband. (You should check out her store or follow her on Instagram to see her latest designs available for purchase. They make awesome gifts!)

Since I’m a new mom, I didn’t have much time to put together a costume. Here’s what I ended up with--definitely a fail on the costume scale. Several people didn’t get it. Any guess?

Not my best costume, but there's always next year. 

I’m...a new mummy! Yeah, I know, but at least I tried, right? ;)

GIFTS

I can’t resist making my coworkers a little something for some of the holidays, including Halloween. This year, I stuck with the new-mummy theme and wrapped jars with that self-stick bandage stuff, which just sticks to the jar without any glue (so fast!). I then stuck on some self-adhesive googley eye. Easy!

Mummy jars for my coworkers.

For the tag, I used a cute mummy stamp from Imaginisce, smaller googley eyes, and a little baker’s twine. 

And I filled the jars with Sixlets. Who says guts have to be yuck? ;)

I filled a few larger jars with a pumpkin spice caramel apple dip for the neighbors. 

Well, that's about it for our fright night recap. I hope you and yours had a very Happy Halloween. What did you do to celebrate? I’d love to hear of your hauntings!

Boo!

Onesie... twosie... threesie...

Monthly onsies... a project I've had in mind since before my dear Mags arrived. I thought they'd be a cute way to track her growth during her first year. Alas, I didn't complete them until month two of her sweet life, which means onesie one is out of the picture. But, better late than never, I suppose.

Here's the plan: I'll sit her in her cute rocker wearing the onesie that coincides with her current month of age and snap a picture. Lambie will join her to help illustrate her growth. 

How the onesies came together:

Step 1: Purchase onesies for months 1 (or two, in my case) through 12, wash them, and iron them.

Step 2: Select fabric for your numbers and iron fusible webbing (stiffener) to the back of each piece. This is a two-sided iron-on material that will allow you to die-cut your numbers and iron them to the onesies. I used Ultrahold Heat-n-Bond by Therm O Web.  

Step 3: Use a die-cutting machine to cut your numbers. I used the Fabrique by Making Memories. Note: If you don't have a die-cutting machine, you can use stencils to trace numbers and cut them out, or you can simply freehand cut them out. It's up to you!

I cut four of each number so I can make extra sets to give as gifts. 

Step 4: Iron the numbers on the onesies. 

Step 5: Take your photos onesie... errr, once a month. ;) 

Since I was a slacker and missed month one, I'm starting with month 2. (How can my baby girl be two months old already?)

You'd think the photo taking would be the easy part. Yeah, not so much. Here are just a few of the MANY outtakes. 

When ever there's a camera out, Jack has to make an appearance.

Reese (dog speak for "cheese")

Going...

Going... 

Gone! 

Whew! This picture-taking business is hard work.

Cheers!

BTW, I'm thinking about selling these onesie sets. If you're interested in purchasing a set, please e-mail me at M2E2G at aol.com. I'm happy to use colors that work for your needs, and I can do sets for boys, girls, or I can keep 'em gender neutral. Just let me know. :)

The Name Game: Nursery Decor

Foolish me. I thought maternity would leave me with all this free time to create. Umm... not so much. I've pretty much spent every free minute of this happy time holding my sweet girl. BUT, I have managed to squeeze in a few crafts, including decor for Miss Maggie's room.

As soon as I saw these frames and letters from BasicGrey, I knew I had to have them for Mag's nursery. I filled them with fabric—the same fabric I used on the banners I made for her special space.

If you like this look, you can create it in a few simple steps:

1. Select your frames, letters and fabric. Iron the fabric.
2. I used spray adhesive to attach the letter negatives to the fabric.
3. Smooth out any air bubbles. (BTW, is it me or does my hand look VERY freaky in this photo? It bugs. Like Penguin's flipper or something. Yuck!)
4. I backed my fabric with white cardstock to make the fabric pop more than it would if I had just framed it without a backing.
5. Frame the fabric-backed letter.

You'll have to excuse the reflection. Shooting glass with a cell phone doesn't make for the best shot. 

These letters are actually two projects in one, as you can use the negative shape (above), as well as the positive shape (the letter you punch out), which is what I did for the M.

Here's a closer look at each letter. I adore the splash of color this adds to Maggie's room. And she seems to dig it... well, as much as a two-month-old can dig wall art. :)

More baby crafts to come soon. Until then, I hope this one brings a smile to your face. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

Meet Maggie

A few of decor pieces I made for Maggie's nursery.

Just call me slacker. My sweet Maggie turns one month old next week, and I've yet to post anything on my blog about her. To make up for that, I have a little photo video of her first few weeks for your viewing pleasure. 

We feel very blessed to have this angel in our lives, and we're thrilled to introduce her to you. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

Eight Things at 38 Weeks

From the looks of my ever growing belly, my baby girl’s arrival is just around the corner. The end of this miraculous stage is fast approaching. Of course, the thing I look forward to the most is meeting this little person who has been keeping me company for the better part of the year. What a moment that will be!

There are a few other things that I’m looking forward to. Nothing that compares to meeting my babe, but things. In honor of the 38 week milestone, here are just eight of those things:

1. Wearing shoes other than flip flops. Right now, my swollen feet won’t fit into anything else. Good thing warm weather is here.

2. Drinking a Red Bull. Oh, how I miss my wings. 

3. Bending over to pick things up without moaning and groaning. 

4. Walking without a waddle. 

5. Sleeping through the night without having my bladder wake me several times. Of course, that will likely be replaced with a babe waking me, but that’s A-okay with me. 

6. Drinking the occasional cocktail with dinner. Mmmm...

7. Wearing something other than the six-ish outfits I currently have available to me. 

8. Fully embracing Cory again. Bring on the bear hugs! 

Cheers!

Plus Size Model (and her cute hubby)

A few weeks ago, the talented Elisha Snow posted on Facebook about a beautiful, blossom-filled cherry orchard by her house, saying she would do photo shoots there if anyone was interested. I had been thinking a bit about a maternity shoot and I love Elisha's work, so I jumped at the chance. I'm happy to say that my sweet husband played along without the slightest grumble. How'd I ever get so lucky?

Here are just a few of the lovely shots Elisha took, both in her studio and out with the blooming cherry trees. For more on her work, be sure to check out her website.

Thanks so much, Elisha! You do beautiful work and these are photos we'll treasure forever! 

Cheers!