Oh Sew Sassy!

The awaited day has finally arrived. We had a sonogram this morning and determined that we are having a baby girl. (Sorry little Oliver...maybe next time.) My sister and I joked that our family must just be really good at making girls...now there are 6 girls out of all our kiddos and only one boy. Poor Hudson...he's doomed to be terrorized by all these females. Now that I know the sex I have jumped into full preparation mode...

I have so many sewing projects going on right now that it seems almost impossible to finish them...I keep switching from project to project whenever I get bored or overwhelmed. I am making a promise to not post anymore updates about my life until I have posted a tutorial of some sort. Honestly, it looks like the first one will be how to make a crib bumper, and I plan to have it up by tomorrow. I will be posting instructions on how to make an entire set of crib bedding, including the quilt/blanket, bumper, bed skirt, and possibly even curtains.

Also in the making are instructions on how to make a chalk cloth place mat (seen here), as well as fabric crayon holders for traveling/restaurants. So stay tuned, I promise to have a few tutorials up by this weekend.

After spending a lot of the day yesterday creating cute things for everybody except me, I decided it was time to make something for keeps. I decided to try my luck with appliqué, and it turned out extremely cute. I took a onesie and appliquéd a whale on it for little Oliver (or possibly Olivia. We'll see on Thursday.) It takes a little longer than some of my other projects since all the details are done by hand, but it's really relaxing to just sit quietly and sew without all the racket of the sewing machine. This may turn in to something I do regularly.

As you can see (if you can read...) I took the handmade pledge! This holiday season I will only be giving handmade gifts. I started doing this a couple years ago and it is always a big hit. I think it's great that other people think so too. Although the main reason I make my gifts is because I love to be crafty (and frugal), my ulterior motive is to stick it to the man. And when I say man, I mean Walmart. I hate Walmart (and other similar, mass-producing, sweat-shop-in-China stores). Not only are handmade gifts way cooler than all that other store-bought stuff, they are also better for the environment. (Seriously! Read more here.) So let's join forces this holiday season and stick it to the man!

On a side note: I went to Etsy.com in order to find out more info on this extremely cool website, which basically hosts a place for sassy crafters such as myself to sell their wonderful creations. I hope to have my arts up for viewing (and buying!) very soon. In the meantime you should check out everyone else's creative juices.

Abbie and I spent the weekend on Lake Travis with my parents, my brother, and his family. My dad and my brother both brought their boats, so we really had a blast. Abbie is quite the little swimmer, but since neither of my brother's kids like the water it made for an interesting scenario. I took quite a few pictures while we were on the lake, but somehow managed to not get a single decent shot. That coupled with the fact that my camera sucks and ruined half of the photos means that I have very few to chose from to go with this post...and also has me wondering if I chose the wrong major. Yes, for those of you who don't know, I'm a photography major...seems a bit ironic at the moment, doesn't it? I probably should have spent the weekend catching up on the many sewing projects I'm behind on, but it was nice to get some sun. Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting the instructions to make a wedding garter. Also, this Thursday we have a sonogram scheduled to determine the sex of the baby! My motherly intuition tells me it's a boy...but we shall see!

Today I tried out a new lunch strategy that I saw on another blog a while ago (sorry, I can't remember which one, otherwise I would link it). Anyway, the muffin tin lunch turned out to be a big hit. I think it was actually invented in order to get the kiddos to eat a new variety of foods, but it came in handy when I realized just how past due I was for a trip to the grocery store. It made a nice little hodge-podge of foods, and my recently picky eater ate everything (except the pistachios). From top left to bottom right: fruit snacks, pistachios, croûtons, veggie crackers, beef jerky, and dried cranberries.

This past weekend the fam and I made a little road trip to Houston (Kingwood, actually) to attend a wedding. I found myself frantically looking for a formal-looking, yet comfortable (not to mention inexpensive) outfit for my 3-year-old to wear. I gave up on looking in stores, since the only outfits that fit my criteria were priced well over what I would ever pay for children's clothes. I decided to create a simple pillowcase dress and spice it up with some cute accessories. It was definitely a hit. Abbie stayed comfortable and I wasn't at all worried about her spilling something on it (which was good, since she spilled orange juice all over it the second we left the wedding).

Ah. My first post. I've always loved reading blogs, and have been somewhat interesting in starting my own for a few months now. Only somewhat, simply because I don't truly think that my ordinary life could be all that amusing to others. When I found out a few days ago that my sister started a blog, the old sibling rivalry kicked in and gave me the motivation I needed to actually get this thing started. I still have the perspective that my stay-at-home-mom life is indeed boring to even me, so I'm adding a spin to the blog by making it craft infused! Ideas for projects and step-by-step instructions will be offered in categories such as sewing/serging, painting, gifts, and anything else I come up with. I'm pretty spontaneous and easily bored, so I tend to jump around between all of my hobbies in order to keep myself occupied. There will, of course, be the occasional rants and raves about motherhood and marriage in addition to any updates of my daily life. So stay tuned, you're in for a treat!