Baby Shower and Easter Fun

Here's some fun stuff I made for a friend's baby shower last week.

We had a wonderful Easter at my parents' house with lots of family. 

The Easter bunny even dropped off a basket for Jackson.

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance

Sheesh, it's been over a week since I posted anything. And I had been on such a roll. I spent the last week with my parents and brother's family on vacation and didn't get around to doing any posting.

While on vacation, I got the chance to read this book. I actually did read it, not listen to it. :) I have mixed feelings about it. One one hand, it was so captivating that I stayed up till 2:00 AM reading it, it was well written, it was interesting, it was honest, and it was hysterical. It had me laughing out loud multiple times.

 On the other hand, it did absolutely no good for the LDS Church and it was extremely crass. Some people say that any press is good press, but that's not the case here. Elna Baker, a single Mormon in New York City, is burdened by the Church and its standards. She seems put out that she knows God exists because with that knowledge, her conscious doesn't allow her to go out and do whatever she wants, although she does at times anyway. She never mentions the good that comes from knowing God exists and following His commandments. She is also a little too honest. I would be horrified if I were her parents reading this book, which is probably why she apologized to them in the foreword of the book.

On another note, I told Brett about my new resolve to work out (i.e. to actually use the treadmill be bought me). He didn't believe that I would, so I have to prove him wrong of course. I better get to it while Jackson is sleeping.

Anne with an "e"

I finished Anne of Green Gables a few days ago and LOVED it. I knew I would. I have loved the TV movie since I was young, but I had never read any of the books before. Hearing all the stories again made me nostalgic for my own childhood and certain childhood friends, who are "kindred spirits" to me. I love Anne's  determination, imagination, idealism, dramatization of everything, and loyalty. I love that she finds excitement and beauty in everything. She is such a fun character. 

I just downloaded a bunch of new books from the library to listen to. I can't wait to get to them all! Here's what's on the list:

• Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (I actually read it years ago. I think it might be my favorite book ever.)
• Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (I've read most of her Shopaholic series, which are pretty fun reads.)
• Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult 
• Knit Two by Kate Jacobs (I recently listened to the prequel, The Friday Night Knitting Club, which I liked. It actually kinda made me want to start a crochet club. It could be fun, right??)
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

So may hours of entertainment ahead. I can't wait.

Jackson and the Bowtie

I followed this tutorial to make the adorable bowtie that Jackson is wearing. I just love how it turned out and how cute it looks on my little man. It took some time to make, but I think I've got it down, so the next one won't be so time consuming. Oh, and the next one will be for Brett. Yes, that's right, he wants to have a matching bowtie with Jacskon.

 I decided that we needed a little photoshoot to show off Jackson's new bowtie and his cuteness. This was not on his agenda; however, he was a little happier when I pulled out the guitar.

Pillow Makeover

This ugly pillow (and a few more just like it) came with my couch. I never really liked them much, but used them anyway because they are pretty comfortable. 

But, today I decided to give it a little makeover.

Ta-da... 

Isn't it sooooo much cuter now?? I am going to make another one that is just the opposite, but I couldn't not post a picture as soon as I finished this one!

I got the idea over at Make It and Love It. I didn't end up following the tutorial because it was pretty straight forward and my pillow is a different shape, but you can find the tutorial here if you want it.

Happy Friday! 

I seem to have lost my phone number, could I borrow yours?

This is a joke of course...Jackson really doesn't need your numbers. :)

Fun Finds at Ross

Remember how I said that I finished piecing my quilt?? Well, here it is, part of it anyway. 

I brought it over to my friend Jenny for her to quilt. (She's an amazing longarm quilter). I'm super excited about it. In the meantime, I'll be working on making some matching pillows.

After I dropped off the quilt, Jenny and I headed over to Ross. Take a look at my fun finds. 

Too cool for spool

I had an amazing weekend at the beach with the mister and the little mister. Brett is doing some work on my brother-in-law's mother's charming beach house, so Jack and I tagged along. 

While Brett worked, I...

• finally finished piecing my quilt (I will have to post a picture later),
• finished listening to The Lost Symbol, which was really not that great, by the way, (I am obsessed with listening to books on my iPod these days while I craft, sew, clean, do laundry, cook, drive, etc.),
• started listening to Anne of Green Gables, 
• practiced the guitar (Brett started teaching me to play last week and I'm kind of addicted, but not that good yet), 
• took some walks along the beach,
• watched a couple movies,  
• took some photos, 
• did a little reading, and
• played with Jackson.

While Brett worked, Jackson...

• played with an empty spool of thread for hours and hours, (It's his favorite toy. I'm not even sure why I bother buying him anything else!)
• listened to my not-so-great guitar playing,
• played with Brett's iPod,
• slept,
• smiled,
• laughed,
• ate, and...
• learned how to crawl!! It was his determination to get my lens cap that finally did the trick. 

I'm saying NO to Auto

I have oh so much to blog about right now, but this short post will have to do until later. I've got to catch some zzzzzzzz's.

I bought the e-book, Say No! to Auto by Kristen Duke, and I am now committed to turning the camera off of auto and on to manual. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but have never taken the time to really learn how. I've been afraid of messing up my photos and losing the moment. But now is as good a time as ever. I have a lot to learn, but here's my start...

Doesn't he kinda look like a little old man in this picture??

Easter Bunny Basket

I am dying to make the Easter bunny basket I found here for Jackson. (With a bowtie instead of a hair bow of course.) I'm hoping to find time between now and Easter! Isn't it adorable?

It's a knockoff of the basket below, but I actually think it's cuter!

Sometimes

Sometimes Jackson comes to work with me,

and sometimes I forget to bring toys for him.

So, sometimes he plays with things like highlighters, spoons, and bananas.

Sometimes Jackson wets through this pants,

and sometimes I forget to bring an extra pair.

So, sometimes he ends up bare-legged all day long.

But, Jackson ALWAYS puts a smile on my face.

Percentiles

It's been a few weeks now, but I just realized that I forgot to post Jackson's 9 month stats. So, here they are...

Weight: 18.4 lbs. 17%

Height: 30 in. 94%

Head Circumference: 18.5 in. 91 %

Still tall and skinny with a big head, and cute as ever of course!

Graphic Tees

A couple weeks ago, I was looking online at some graphic tees/onesies that I liked, when I thought, "hey, I could totally make something like that." 

I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to buy some iron-on transfer paper and started designing in Photoshop. With my very limited Photoshop abilities, I came up with the camera onesie above.

Brett couldn't believe that I had actually made that. Really, he was quite impressed and wanted to know just exactly how I had done it. Then his wheels started turning and our house turned into a t-shirt factor for the next week or so. (Have I mentioned how much he loves Photoshop??) We designed t-shirts for some of our friends' kids, family, etc. Oh, and we still have lots more ideas! 

Here are just a few, but I'll post some more later.

This one is my favorite. Brett's family owns the driving school and we both work there. We brought Jackson to the office wearing this one and got some good laughs.

If you're interested in doing any of these, they're pretty simple. You just need plain t-shirts/onesies and iron-on transfer paper (which is pretty cheap and you can get it at any craft store). Print the design you want onto the transfer paper and iron it onto the shirt. 

I'd like to share our designs with you, but I first have to figure out how to attach a file on here. Anybody know how??

Baby-proofing = DIY Ottoman

We got the table pictured below from the as-is section at Ikea a while back for $15. I was debating getting rid of it because the corners are so sharp and I didn't want Jackson getting hurt on it. My friend Ashley gave me the great idea (she found here) of turning the coffee table into an ottoman, with soft corners and all.

Of course I enlisted Brett to help me with this project, which he wasn't too excited about. But, he headed over to Jo-Ann Fabrics with me anyway to pick out the fabric and pretty much did the rest of it himself. Thanks, Brett! You're the best!


The best part about it is that we only spent $8.36 for the whole project. Brett already had some padding that we used instead of foam, and the fabric was 50% off because we got the last yard. 


Brett took apart the table, stapled the foam to the underside of the table top (using his staple gun), stretched the fabric over the foam and stapled it on, and then screwed the legs back on.

I love how it turned out. Brett was a little less enthusiastic. He says he feels like he ruined a perfectly good coffee table. (It's not quite as stable as it was. He kept saying that somebody is going to "Tommy Boy" it.) But, I think it's growing on him. Now I just need to find some coordinating fabrics to make new pillow shams.

Argyle

I followed this tutorial to to make this adorable argyle shirt.

I had this polo shirt that I had gotten on sale for probably around $1.50, but I had never put Jackson in it because it was a little to plain and I wasn't a huge fan of the color. But, now he will be wearing it plenty! 


It was super easy to do. I just used Wonder Under to for the diamonds and stitched around them with my sewing machine, used disappearing pen to mark where I wanted to embroider the lines, and then followed the lines with embroidery thread. Pretty simple. I was a little skeptical that the "disappearing pen" would actually disappear, but it did! 

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but you can see the shirt pretty well in it. Isn't it cute? He was reaching up for the tambourine I was using to hold his attention. Now that he's more mobile, he doesn't want to pose for picture anymore. Boo.

There are so many more fun projects I want to get to this week, including argyle curtains for Jackson's room. Hopefully I can find the time. Happy Monday!

MS Walk 2011

We are doing the MS Walk this weekend. I have MS. I hate MS. Please walk or donate (if you can) to help us create a world free of MS!


Click here to find the Walk near you, click here to donate to the National MS Society, or go to my Facebook page to donate to my team.