A visit from an old friend

Whew! Where did September go?? I feel like I blinked and it was October already! September was a great month of visiting family, garage saling, preparing for #2, and more recently, a visit from my best friend and her son Nate - who has grown up way too quickly if you ask me.

Chrissy and I have been friends since we were 17 and 18. We've been through a lot together, but besides all of the history we've shared, one of the biggest things that has kept us so close is our sense of humor. Chrissy is the only person I know who is as weird as me, and yes I mean that as a compliment. Don't get me wrong, my husband is pretty weird too (love you!) but Chrissy and I take our weird humor to a different level. Once when we were younger, we dressed up in my brother's clothes and walked around Wal-Mart looking like thugs. Yes, we were 18, old enough to know better. Another time, we smuggled Chrissy's cat into Wal-Mart in my sweatshirt, just to see if we could get away with it. We did. We did a lot of stuff at Wal-Mart apparently, which included digging through the bargain movie bin for treasures like "The Never Ending Story 2." By the way, there's a reason that movie is in the bargain bin.

Chrissy is also the only other person I know who holds a conversation by talking about whatever comes to mind in rapid successtion - regardless of whether the topics relate or not. From the time I picked Chrissy and Nate up from the airport until we got back to my house half an hour later, we had covered everything from Jersey Shore to church and raising children. Believe me, there are few people in the world that can understand the link between those 3 topics easily.

I had a great time while Chrissy and Nate were here, it was just nice catching up face-to-face instead of talking over the phone states apart.


We went to the zoo...


...and saw a panda who conveniently decided it was nap time while we were there.


We played some football...


...blew bubbles...


...and Nate even pretended to tolerate Haley (not something easy for an only child to do.)


Even though Chrissy and I are both much older now and have kids of our own, there's still a lot that has stayed the same. I guess us weirdos have to stick together, right?

Steelers fever

Football season has begun! This means of course that I lose my husband to the television yet again until football and hockey season ends. He warns me each year before football season begins to get as much TV watching in as I can because come September, I have to hide myself away in the bedroom to watch any shows I might want to see.

My husband and his family are HUGE Steelers fans. I don't think I ever knew what a "fan" was until I met my husband. His love for the Steelers means when they win a game, he's on cloud 9 for the rest of the night which is great for me. But if they lose, I get Grumpy Husband who mopes around the house for the rest of the day and then goes to bed at a rediculously early hour because he's in a bad mood. Good thing they won the Super Bowl 2 years ago or he might have secluded himself in the house forever.

For his birthday this past year, Pat's family got him a Steelers jersey. Haley got one recently too, thanks to an awesome garage sale find courtesy of my mother-in-law :)


With my husband's love of the Steelers and the discovery that Baby #2 is a boy, I knew I had no choice but to make Connor a Steelers-themed baby room. I bought 7+ yards of Steelers print fabric on top of some gold fabric and other materials and set out to make matching Steelers stuff for Connor's Steelers/football baby room, including bumpers, bed sheets, a dust ruffle, and a Boppy cover. I might also throw in a blanket if I'm not feeling completely worn out by the entire ordeal.

Knowing this was going to take some time, I began with the bumpers and I'm proud to say I finished them in about a week's worth of sewing after Haley's gone down for naps and bedtime. I used Sew 4 Home's crib bumpers tutorial and they turned out great!!



The back of the bumpers is gold like the piping on the top. I'll have to get better pictures once I finish everything and can actually put it all on the crib. The actual sewing part of the bumpers wasn't difficult, but the measuring and cutting part was what took the longest. I'm extremely happy with the result though, I'd recommend this tutorial to anyone who would like to make their own bumpers (and at a fraction of the cost I might add.)

More baby room decoration updates as I continue to finish the projects!

A ruffly apron

There has been a lot going on lately, namely nesting nesting nesting! I'm 27 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow, and the thought hit me recently: this kid is coming soon and nothing is done!

Well, some things are done...I have some boy clothes and a lot of essentials left over from when Haley was a newborn, but Connor's room isn't ready. We plan to put him in the room that Haley is currently in and move her to a toddler bed in one of the other spare rooms...but she's currently occupying the crib, and I'm not so sure she's ready to make the big move yet. So with that in mind, I've been feverishly working on Connor's Steelers themed baby bedding so that it will at least be ready by the time he comes, even if he has to sleep in the Pack 'N Play bassinet for the first month or so. I'll have pictures up soon of my progress, but it's taking some time...which seems to be slipping away more and more lately, which is funny because it drug by with my last pregnancy. It's exciting and scary at the same time! Soon, we're going to be a family of 4. FOUR. I can't wait.

In the meantime while I've been running around like a madwoman cleaning and making baby bedding, I've managed to work in a couple projects, one which is an apron for my Mom's birthday....which was in July (I know I know, it's September.) Anyways, I found some fabric in my favorite colors - brown and blue - and made THIS super cute Ruffle Apron from One More Moore. I really wanted to keep it for myself, but I did end up with some leftover fabric, so I may just make a second one soon. Soon being after December when Connor is born.


I love how it turned out! It looks more like a skirt than an apron, if it were me, I don't know if I could bring myself to get any food on it. Oh, and see the belly? It was impossible to get a picture of me wearing the apron without the belly getting in the way. I guess I probably should have picked a shirt that coordinated better with the apron :)
So here it is, your apron is finally on the way Mom! You should probably try it out by baking me some cookies....for the baby of course.

Vacation and a new chair

We are back from an amazing (and very refreshing) trip to Pittsburgh to visit family one last time before Connor is born. After driving 13 hours each way, I'm glad to be on an unmoving surface again, but I would make that drive a hundred times over if we could have as much fun as we did this past weekend.

We packed so much stuff into 4 days: shopping, yard saling, the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, 2 birthday celebrations, a trip to Kennywood Amusement Park, a visit to Treesdale for canoeing, and plenty of hang out time with family. It was a great final getaway before the baby comes, and Haley had SO much fun

getting an ice cream mustache at Kennywood...

...canoeing on the lake with Cousin Lena...

...wearing a crown made of wildflowers...

...and riding her first rides at Kennywood (with Mommy of course, I'm not ready to let her try it on her own just yet!)

Oh, and did I mention one of the Christmas presents we got for Haley came in yesterday?

It's a toddler-sized recliner! Yes, I realize it's September, but we just couldn't wait to give her her present. She loves sitting in the kid-size foam chairs at daycare, so we knew we had to get her one of her own. And why not get her one to match Daddy's chair?

How cute are they?? Now they can both watch the Fresh Beat Band together in their recliners :) And by the way, I would like to thank the whole cast of the Fresh Beat Band for making our 26 hour round trip to and from Pittsburgh that much more enjoyable. Although I have to say their songs are unavoidably catchy, and I think I may have infected my in-laws with Fresh Beat madness while we were visiting...there are worse things I suppose.

The tutorial for the quilted bibs is coming soon, stay tuned!

Quilted bibs and burp cloths - upcoming tutorial!

My mom emailed me recently wanting some burp cloths and bibs made for a friend at her church. I have this really cute book of baby crafts called Sweet Booties! which is where I got the pattern for all of the cloth rings I've made.



The book has so many cute projects that I haven't tried yet from crib shoes to blankets. There was one project in particular, a quilted bib, that I've been wanting to try for months so my mom's request was the perfect opportunity to try it! It took a little more time than usual, but the result was sooo adorable and worth the extra time and effort!


I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought 5 different fabrics that I thought would look cute together, but you can always use whatever scraps you have laying around. The only other materials needed were some bias tape to line the edges, flannel for the back of the bib, and string. I love that this project can be done with things I have just laying around. Best of all, I used the same quilting technique and made some adorable coordinating burp cloths!


They're almost too cute to let your baby spit up on. Would you like to know how to make some quilted burp cloths of your own? I sense an upcoming tutorial...

Lil' Crunchies cans into storage containers

If you are the parent of a toddler, it's likely that you've bought plenty of these.



My daughter LOVES these things, they're like healthy baby Cheetos. (I won't lie, I've eaten a few myself and they are pretty tasty.) We go through a can or two each week, depending on growth spurts/pickiness. With all those Lil' Crunchies she's downing, you can imagine how many cans we throw away. I'm always misplacing my daughter's hair clips and pacifiers, and a thought came to me: rather than tossing them, why not use the cans to make something useful?

In the tutorial below, I'll show you how to turn something destined for the trash into a storage container for all of your toddler's (or your own) little knick knacks using only a few simple supplies.




You will need:

• Lil' Crunchies cans (or any other container you have laying around like a coffee can, peanut can, etc.) cleaned out and dried
• Assorted scrapbook paper for covering and decorating your containers
• Mod Podge craft glue found at your local craft store
• Scissors
• Sharpies
• Acrylic paint, gems, or other items to decorate your containers (optional)

First, you want to measure the width and height of your container. When measuring height, make sure you measure the approximate height of your container's label and not the whole container itself. You'll notice in the pictures that the cans have metal bands around the tops and bottom, you want to make sure you don't add these area's into your calculations or you'll end up overlapping the bands with scrapbook paper. The Lil' Crunchies container I used was about 12 3/4 inches wide and 4 inches tall.

Second, cut out your scrapbook paper and attach around the perimeter of your container by gradually coating the can in a thin coat of Mod Podge one section at a time. Make sure you take your time with this, you don't want to smear extra glue on the outside of your scrapbook paper (speaking from experience here :) If your scrapbook paper wrinkles as you're attaching it, carefully peel back that section and smooth it down again with your fingers. Don't use too much Mod Podge. This will lead to more wrinkles and soggy paper. Some wrinkles will happen, you just want to avoid as many as you can :)


Third, use extra scraps to decorate your containers wherever you want and attach with Mod Podge. I put a border at the top of one of my containers. You could also cut out some flowers or use stickers or other scrapbook decorations to jazz up the containers. The sky's the limit! You could get really creative with these depending on your interpretation. I didn't have the patience need to do too much with these, so I kept it simple.


Fourth, cut out some circles (or whatever shape you prefer) out of scrap paper to use as labels for your containers. I used a coffee cup to trace a circle, but you could use whatever happens to be laying around. You could also make your own label by using Photoshop or Word and pasting it on. Next, take a Sharpie marker to write the contents on your labels. I have boy handwriting so if you're like me, you can find a fun font on Word to use as guidance. Mine still came out a little funky, but hey, that's the charm of handmade stuff right? Attach your labels to the cans using more Mod Podge.


Last, use more scrapbook paper, acrylic paint, and any other decorations you may have to spice up your containers! I cut out some flowers from scrapbook paper to add to my "Pacifiers" container and used white acrylic paint to paint some dots on the label for my "Hair Clips" container. I also made a "Tooth Brush" container and cut notches in the lid with an X-Acto knife to hold my daughter's toothbrush so it doesn't have to lay on the dirty counter.

Voila, new storage containers for your loose knick knacks and less garbage in your trash can! Easy right?


These would make really cute storage containers for an office as a candy jar, container for paper clips, rubber bands or pens, at home for loose change, spare keys, or beads and other craft supplies.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Baby update!

Just wanted to post the latest picture of #2 :)


This was taken about 2 weeks ago, and boy oh boy has he been kicking up a storm and making his presence known in there. Connor is approximately 1 pound 4 ounces as of 2 weeks ago. At almost 24 weeks pregnant, I'm feeling lots of movement and the occassional hiccups. At my last appointment, my doctor told me it's normal to not feel the baby moving every day. I can safely say this is not a problem for me.

I have a feeling this little boy is going to be ALL BOY. Now I just have to start making the Steelers-themed baby bedding I've been talking about....time is passing too quickly and too slowly simultaneously! Argh!