Handmade gifts for nieces

I have a niece who turns one and another niece who turns 3 within a month of each other and they both came to our home for thanksgiving this year.  So, I made them their gifts.  The 1yo got this:

source
I took one of the huggies wipes containers that has a soft opening - you know, one that wouldn't scratch the baby's hand, and filled it with one charm pack of fun kids fabric.  SUPER easy, and it was a mega hit.  She didn't stop playing with it the whole time she was here :)

For the 3yo, I combined these 2 projects from chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com

I made a ginormous set of bean bags - 2 of each letter.  That way she can spell with them, play memory games with them, do whatever.  She really enjoyed them, too.
It sure feels good to create for others.  But I'm gonna have to figure out how to do it on the cheap - buying supplies for these 2 projects got to be more than the average target gift run if you know what i mean.

Advent beginnings

It looks like a picture of our neighbors house but its our advent windowsill. 5 minute doily pennants, fallen cedar twigs from our treehouse project, tea lights & a lovely star candle holder. Ahh-advent!


also, doesn't that treehouse look HUGE! it is.  the pic isn't lying.  we are going to paint it asap...

first day of advent

ive been waiting for this day for what seems like ever.  i'm getting my christmas shopping done so i can enjoy the preperatory season and create.  i have wrapped exactly 25 christmas/holiday/winter books for H to unwrap and have read to her every night of advent as a calendar.  tomorrow we will start making homemade paper ornaments to hang in the windows, and James is going to buy outdoor lights for our fence.  i really want to post more here.  i think in posts as the days go by.  i made a super cute skirt for myself.  i want to post a picture.  but getting to the camera and then hooking it up to the computer is sometimes a bit much for me these days.  oh well.  ill keep trying...

Thankfulness Garland

I'm totally addicted to pinterest.com.  I'm checking it every hour, and it literally keeps me from falling asleep and dropping my baby while nursing into the wee hours of the morning.  But the thing about pinterest is that the ideas just pour in, and you - or at least I - can't help but start creating!  For example, I decided it would be a good habit/tradition to start a Thankfulness banner each November.  

 hung just where Shepherd can stare at it :)

 each time we sit at the table as a family in the month of November, we can write something(s) we're thankful for from that day and hang it on the ribbon.  As the month creeps closer to thanksgiving and the beginning of advent, it will grow and fill up.

think about doing one yourself next year - ours filled up fast and looks super.  Happy Thankfulness month!

1 month

For a baby shower gift, my pastor gave us these rad month stickers 1-12 for Shepherd to get his photo taken with during his first year.  So, we decided we would put him in a 12 month onesie on his monthly birthday and take his photo, watching him "grow into" his onesie.

 what are you doing, mom?

yup - he's a pretty mellow baby.

*backdrop is an old ikea duvet cover I had - love using it for this!

Tree fort of MIL addition!?!

Hazel has been asking for a treehouse for about a year and a half.  So, with a slow work week, James got to it - seriously. He informed me that what I had been invisioning was a treefort not a treehouse, and he proceeded to try and tell me it needed glass in the windows, use real siding, and have a truly weatherproof roof.  I managed to talk him out of the glass windows - but the rest he kept.  and more.  I'll post all the details when it's completed, but here are some W.I.P. pictures.....

 Hazel spent the whole time James was building the house outside watching and "helping."  She even got her own carpenters pencil from Home Depot (which she affectionately calls Hawn Depot.... weird.).

 all framed in and roof in place

doesn't this roof look awesome from the inside?!

 James posing with his "tool" lol

break time.

I need to go out with the camera again and take more pictures, but we're just waiting for decent weather to paint it.  I'll post another blog when it's completed! 

Goings on

My view this evening. So blessed.

its fall

my favorite season. the time for soups, home baked bread, crockpot meals, and spiked apple cider.  james is building the kids a tree house in the front yard.  i'll post pictures when i can find the camera.  since shepherd is 6 weeks old, we are done receiving meals from friends, so my housework has fallen behind enough that i can't find the camera under whatever piles it may be hidden under.

i'm going to do my very first blog sew-a-long with noodle-head.com.  i can't wait to have a cute skirt to wear with fun tights and boots this fall.  i'll post pics of that too (when the camera is discovered....).

good morning

my auturm breakfast - trader joes pumpkin spice coffee ( in my awesome  "i heart public transportation" mug from my bff), and a toasted bagel with trader joes pumpkin cream cheese. delightful.  also, see my super boring fence out that window?

today's (hopefully) the day I'll begin making my fence-fabulous bunting from these oilcloths.  pretty, huh? i got them all at pacific farics for $7.99/yd :)

this is the pretty little pink flower that welcomed me this morning on the succulent on my kitchen windowsill.  this plant flowers every couple of weeks, one blossom at a time, and each one lasts just 1 day.

and here's the little cutie i get to stare at the rest of the day.  yup - i'm a lucky mama :)

happy october day wishes to all of you!

crafting cravings....

i intend to make one of these sometime this weekend while the husband is holding the baby.

to make some of this fall felt leaf garland for my dining room and kitchen windows.


to throw together some kind of lovely outdoor-friendly bunting to hang along the inside of my fence, to give me something fun to look at in these coming drab days.
    

dont those sound like fun & easy weekend projects for a recovering new (again) mama? i think so, too :)
Liz

Shepherd

from here...

to here!

Shepherd [shep-erd] noun 1. a person who herds, tends, and guards sheep. 2. a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people.

We are a family blessed (and sometimes not so blessed) with privilege. We are white, middle class, heterosexual, married, home owning, business owning, "average" people.  But that average isn't accurate, because the majority of the world is not sheltered by so many privileges.  I will get around to writing out this baby's birth story eventually, but for those of you who know our family, this was our 5th pregnancy.  Beginning in 2005, we carried a baby boy - Noah - who died inutero at 21 weeks.  In 2007, we had our lovely life-changing Hazel.  In 2009, we had a miscarriage at 8 weeks, immediately followed by a 4th pregnancy with out son Ian dying inutero at 22 weeks.  When, in early 2011 we learned of pregnancy #5, we shouldered our defenses and hoped for the best (medical interventions were highly utilized to keep the pregnancy healthy) and planned to cope with the worst.  After a virtually uneventful pregnancy, I was induced to deliver a healthy term baby.  After about 22 hours of not super productive laboring, the dr broke my water, I recieved an epidural, and was checked for further dialation.  When reaching for my cervix, the doctor said our baby had just grabbed her finger.  stunned, she attempted to push his hand back into my uterus when she discovered his head was resting on top of his umbilical cord - cutting off his oxygen supply and a sure sign of potential risk to the babys life.  We had an emergency cesarean section, and 5 minutes later, our baby was born.

Perfectly happy, calm, content, and uncannily peaceful.

He was watching over a people. His family. Protecting us from soul harm, and guiding the doctor - by the hand - to do so.

Shepherd Glenn is the newest love in our lives, and by naming him such, we hope his name will be a blessing to him and those around him.  That Shepherd will use his ihereted privileges to protect those who are without, to guide those with, and watch over relationships with virtue, respect, and honor.  To us, there is no better name.

-Liz

a cloudy seattle kids room

I just finished putting up these clouds here in the kids shared room. I'm so proud of them!  I don't have sources for the fabrics I used, but each cloud took a fat quarter.  I followed this tutorial that uses a super simple starch to stick the fabric to the walls.  I used Lotta Jansdotter's cloud template from her book Simple Sewing for Babies.  Hazel's bed is an ultra cheap-o one from ikea that we painted with her chosen shade of green paint when she turned 3.  Shepherd's crib is a hand-me-over from some good friends (Hazel chewed her crib rail to complete grossness, so we totally appreciated the freebie new one to spare lil'Shep from his sister's teeth markings!).  The cover blanket is another lucky ikea find from days of old - a duvet cover, but it's too warm for us to use the full comforter right now, so we just use the cover for color.  Once I've recovered a bit from the new structure of my family unit, I'll give you a detailed tour :) I'm pretty stoked about it!
~L

A New Space for New Things

Hello Friends!  After blogging (albeit sporadically at times) for a couple of years, I think I may finally have an idea of how I would like to make this work :)  My intention is that this new format will provide a space for sharing about my family, my home-making attempts, linking to tutorials, and thought-provoking discussions. 

I promise to do my best at keeping updated here - posting about life and what my family and I are up to.  But mostly, I want this to be a place I can document the things I make and do to swaddle my family in love and comfort without over-doing it :)  Hope you stop by often!
~L