Congrats on the Little Man

Have you heard that Sarah, the owner of Pink by Design brought home a sweet new baby a couple weeks back? The news is here on her blog and his story brought me to tears. So glad he is healthy and finally home!

Well this is the card I am sending for him (albeit a bit late) and it is also my project for the challenge this week on the Pink by Design blog - Boys, Boys, Boys.

I used the Mustaches stamp set and also the Wired Background - another one of my fav stamps. Since it is Wednesday, we are sharing a technique with you - mixing patterns. This is something I love to do not only with paper but with sewing, home decor and dressing myself too. I love all the patterns and find it hard to limit!! But here is my tip - add all the patterns you like, but keep them relatively the same size. That way they don't compete with one another and you can add in a larger print to be a focal point.

And because I am usually working from my scrap pile when creating cards, it makes it easy to find fun and unique pattern/color combos from various paper lines and manufacturers that you might not think of when looking at the full sheets of paper. Got to use up every last scrap!

Click here to link up your boy themed projects. Challenge open until 6/8 and the winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to the Pink by Design store.

Enjoy the week!

Well Wishes + 4 Month Photos

Happy Monday! Dropping in tonight to share a card for the new challenge over at the Pink by Design blog  -  In The Garden. Liz and I are gearing you up for spring by sharing projects all week with birds, bees, butterflies, flowers and the like.

I made this with Saint Pat's in mind and the Vintage Greeting and Canvas Background stamp sets. The little clover flowers are made with hearts.


I also wanted to share some 4 month photos of my baby boy!

Oh he is just so sweet!! Still a very happy boy, even though he's been working on a tooth like crazy. Drool machine. He has taken a serious interest in toys and grabs at everything like comes within a close distant. It's amazing how much more eye hand coordination little boys have.

At 12 weeks exactly, he started sleeping through the night. Not every night, but most nights and it has been glorious. Up to this point he's slept in our bed but has now transitioned into his crib.

Not a big fan of dad at this point. He can only hold him for a minute or 2 before the waterworks start. If I am holding him or he can see me, he's okay but otherwise no thanks. A mama's boy for sure.

Still likes to coo and jabber a lot. Especially to his bro and sisters. He tries his hardest to get their attention if they are not giving it to him.

Weighs 16 pounds and is 26 inches long. His little chubby legs are so short and his torso is very long (built like his grandpa and great-grandpa) so we have a little trouble with clothes fitting. Still loves to nurse and has tried a few foods as well - oatmeal cereal, watermelon, avocado - which were well received.

He has rolled both ways but only a handful of times. He can also skootch around a bit on his tummy and rotate 180 degrees. Mostly  I he prefers to be held and snuggled and that's okay with me :)

It's all went by so very fast and is so exciting to see him growing and discovering and being happy.

Holiday Cheer + 2 Month Photos

Hi there! There is a new challenge up this week on the Pink by Design blog and we are creating Christmas projects with non-traditional holiday colors. While I must say the classic red, green and white colors will always be a staple in our Christmas decor, it was fun to put something together with a bright and cheerful color palette.

This card is inspired by the ornament wreaths that are becoming so popular - will get around to making one for real some day, but for now this will do. The circles are from the Nature Walk set and the sentiment and frame come from Fresh Goodies - both stamp of the month sets. The color palette comes from the Colorbox Cat's Eye Pigment Queue - Fiesta!

Add your projects to the linky below or visit the original blog post for more inspiration and a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the Pink by Design store.


I am also linking up this project to the following challenges:
Moxie Fab World - Keen on Neon
3 Girl Jam - Christmas Inspirations
Simon Says Stamp - Snowflakes
CAS-ual Fridays - Knotty or Nice

And now for some photos of my sweet babe! What a gooey little goober :) Can hardly believe he is 2 months here! It really does fly by.

Have a fantastic week!

The Story of Eli

(Just a fore warning: This is a birth story - it may get gross so feel free to skip this post if those kind of details are not for you.)

My tiny Eli.

You forget just how small a newborn baby is until you're holding them in your arms. All those months spent preparing, all the pain and pushing that will seemingly never end and then there he is lying on your chest - time just stops.

So here are the official facts.

name: Eli Everett Alery
born: September 22, 2012 - 3:00am
size: 7lbs 11oz - 20.5 inches long

Tyler said as soon as he made his official entrance and the doctor laid him on the table, he rolled onto his side and started screaming like a bobcat.  At this point the details are a little hazy for me but this description of a little warrior sounds about right for a son of my husband.

So here's how we got to that point.

Friday night I was lying in bed watching episodes of 90210 on Netflix (teen drama shows are my guilty pleasure, don't judge) when suddenly there was a big sploosh of fluid and I realized my water just broke. Doesn't that only happen in the movies?! That was 10:45pm.

Of course this was the only night the hubby had went out in the past 2 weeks so I had to call him away from the truck pulls wondering if I would be driving myself to the hospital. Turns out I didn't. No contractions had started yet so I began packing up the car in a frenzy, running back in the bathroom as amniotic fluid is dripping all over everything and panicking because surely I will forgot something important.

We made it to the hospital at midnight. I had several contractions on the 30 minute drive there that got up to only a few minutes apart but we were chatting and laughing the whole way up. This is going to be so quick and easy, I kept thinking.

Hubby dropped me off at ER entrance and I started making my way to the maternity wing. Somehow I got lost, stopped to breathe through a contraction in the hallway and a nurse leaving from her shift found me and pushed me in a wheelchair the rest of the way there.

Next was the tiny check-in room. It was disappointing to find out I was only dilated to 3.5 (it was at 3 just two days earlier.) The nurse also thought there was meconium in the amniotic fluid so she had to hook my belly up to a stress monitor to keep an eye on the baby. Turns out there was none and it was just darkened blood from something else.

At this point my contractions are getting more intense and they moved me to the last room left in the maternity ward. We finish up the paperwork and check in process just in time for the real pain to begin. My baby is facing up and the contractions are all in my back now. It hurts worse than anything I could have imagined. I keep switching positions, sitting on the ball and nothing is helping. He keeps turning around too so I feel the contractions move from the front and just as I get comfortable they are all in the back again. Tyler is pushing with all his strength onto my lower back and while it brings some relief, its not enough.

I really wanted to have this child natural, with no epidural or pain medication (I did with my daughter and even said "I could do that again" immediately after her birth) but this is just too much. I tell my husband I can't do it - the back labor is too intense. His tries to convince me through 3 more contractions when I break down and ask the nurse what the options are without the epidural. IV meds that will progressively become less effective with each dose and will have to stop before delivery becomes imminent as to not affect the baby. I consider what to do through 2 more contractions and that's when I feel the urge to push.

They lay me down on the bed to check dilation and see I am at 8 or 9. Too late for any pain meds. My baby has turned back face down, the back pains decrease and I push through the contractions. I pushed and pushed and his little head would just not pop through. Tyler didn't think it was possible. I was screaming, panting and bearing down with every ounce of strength in my body when finally his little head popped out. Then the shoulders. Then his body; the placenta. Sweet relief. It took a lot of pep-talk telling myself just keep pushing, it's almost over, he's almost here.

And then he was here. Time stopped, my heart swelled and all the bustle of nurses in the room and the doctor stitching me back together just faded into the background.

Although this time I said I am definelty not doing that again.

Welcome to the world little one. <3

Quilt-y Progress

Remember this quilty post from way back in January? No you say? Well here is the quilt I started and am now just getting ready to finish. Eek! It's been only 7 months right? Was originally going to be a throw for the couch but will be much sweeter on baby's bed.

It also ended up quite a bit larger than crib size at about 54 x 70 inches but will transition nicely to a toddler bed and I do plan on making a couple more small blankies as well.

All of the patterned fabric is from the Nicey Jane and Modern Meadow lines - I've been hoarding saving it for several years now. Am not really a fan of all the baby blue's and these colors are perfect. If only there were a bit more orange. 

Hubby, grandma, and a few other males think it is very gender neutral - okay for a baby but not a little boy. And I suppose if you focus on the flowers, but idk. I'd never choose brown, blue and green for a little lassy.  What do you think - not boyish enough?

Just in case they are right, the back side is mostly brown with just a couple strips of blocks so it can be reversed. Two layers of batting for extra warmth and coziness. Now I just need to add the binding and it will be all ready to go!

 Hooray!!

Busy Bodies

Wow has it been a busy June so far. We have had so much going on and days so full that I can hardly believe today is Wednesday and now is nearly over.

Lets start with last Friday. A nearly all day dress rehearsal. Itchy costumes and one very antsy little boy made for an extra long day, but it's the only chance for the moms who have to stay backstage to see the entire show, so worth it.

Somehow we still had enough energy to take a mile long walk down to the bridge. Actually make that run. The kids ran all the way there. We stopped to take lots of pics along the way. This one is my favorite :)

Saturday and Sunday morning both were the final T-ball games of the season.

And in the evenings we had dance performances. They had one great show and lots of fun with all the primping, make-up and back stage girl time. Very cute :)

Also hit the big 6-month mark with this pregnancy! Still need to take some belly pics of that. Have been cleaning, planning and organizing like a mad woman! Hope this energy keeps up cause there is so much to do.

I've been making a bunch of stuff too but either I can't share it yet or am just to lazy to take pictures other than in Instagram - hope these will suffice ;)

These nightgowns were made from some pretty vintage pillowcases that have been in my stash for a while. Made them to look similar to the dress from this tutorial by Blooms and Bugs if you want to create something like it. I tucked instead of gathered and added fabric flowers in place of a bow.

Made some jammy pants too with skully fabric and this tutorial by Dana Made It. These were my first ever pants and wow they were way easy! I will no longer fear legged bottoms!

A customized planner for keeping track of summer days.

And a  few baby bibs using scrap fabric and this simple tutorial by SewSheSews. Skipped the quilting part and they still look super cute :)

Phew, that was a long post! Hope it counts for the whole week cause I think I'd rather spend the week creating instead of online. See you soon!

Clearsnap + Basically Bare

Clearsnap has teamed up with Basically Bare this week to show just how well these products compliment one another. They really do have some awesome mixed media shapes and albums and I was so excited to turn the Celestial Shapes pack into this baby mobile, with the help of some Colorbox Mix'd Media Inx, of course.

Check out the full post (as well as the rest of the team's projects) right here.

Oh and don't forget to leave a comment for the chance to win some goodies of your own!

at 20 Weeks

Whew! 20 weeks down and I am officially half way through this pregnancy. It certainly goes by a lot faster when you have other little ones running around, commanding your attention. My belly is growing steadily, as is my appetite and oddly enough it seems like I have more energy and need less sleep than when we started.

The 20 week check-up and ultrasound was Friday. If we are Facebook friends, then you probably already saw that a little fellow is on the way!! After doing every gender predictor quiz on the internet and the doctor telling me she thought there was a little peepee growing at the first ultrasound, I kind of had a feeling but it feels good to just finally know. There is no way I could wait until the birth to find out - how do some of you do it?! The anticipation would kill me!

Let the nesting, sewing and shopping commence!

Have a wonderful week!! ♥

Sweet Baby Mini Book

Hi there. Just wanted to share a post I had up on the Clearsnap blog earlier this month. It's a teeny tiny little accordian mini book tucked into a Bare Neccessitites tin. I used lots of Clearsnap goodies along my March kit from The Paper Bakery and is really came together in a snap! Perfect for proud grandparents, mommies and daddies-to be or anyone who has a new little one coming into their life.

I'll share the pictures below and you can visit the original post to find out more how-to info. Have a lovely day!

InLinkz.com

Other Supplies
Stamps: The Stamps of Life, My Mind's Eye
Paper: Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye
Chipboard: My Mind's Eye
Stickers: Authentique
Template: The Crafter's Workshop
Dies: Sizzix
Twine: The Twinery
Button: Hydrangea Hippo
Adhesive: Scor-Tape, Therm-o-Web
Kit Club: The Paper Bakery