a blanket

Thought I'd better give another update.  I've started my lifetime of doc appointments for this pregnancy. I go in twice a week for NSTs, once a week for an appointment with the doc, and once a week for an ultrasound.  It's nice to have the reassurance that everything is going well but it is a killer in gas!  So I found out that I was able to get my fluid levels down to a 16 which is AWESOME!!  And my little lamb is only around 4 lbs at this time so she will likely be in the 7 lb range when she's born which is super sweet. I didn't think that I would ever have a baby under 8 lbs (knock on wood).  Tyler has been gone for a week and will be back next Saturday and I am more than ready for him to get home. I wear out quickly these days, but everything is going so well and I'm just starting to get things ready for her arrival.  The deep cleaning has been done for a while since we are trying to sell our house, so instead of doing that kind of nesting, I've just been making lots of baby things (and online shopping, shhh!). I made this blanket over the last 3 days

I'm really proud of it! It looks all sorts of professional like :D. So that's about all that's new around this joint. BYE!

Baby things

I thought I'd better do an update on my how the pregnancy is going since, well, I haven't done one yet. I'm in week 31 and am starting to feel huge. I had to have an umbililcal hernia repaired about 9 weeks ago (which sucked!! I hope to never have a C-section). After the surgery I started having contrations so I've been taking pre-term labor shots for the last 8 weeks to help keep me from going into labor early. They were going to put me on them anyway so I was lucky and already had all of the stuff that I needed to take them. They suck way bad. The medicine is mixed in castor oil and I have to do the shot in the butt. They are painful but I'm hoping they help. At my last doc appt they did an ultrasound and my fluid level is starting to get high (that's what I did with Declan) so if it gets too high I don't think that the shots are going to do any good anyway. I will be more than happy if I can make it to September though if I can make it to September 12th, that would be the best because then they will induce me and there is a lot less pain that way. So anyway, that's where I am now.

Kelso took this totally awesome pasty white legged picture of me for your viewing pleasure. It doesn't do my biggness justice.

That one's a little better. I don't think I'm as big as I was with Declan at this point so we'll see how big the baby measures on Thursday. In the meantime I made Chandlee's blessing dress and just got it finished today. I made my own pattern for it and I'm pretty excited about it. It looks so small!!

So I made the dress, the diaper cover, and the headband and I'm waiting for her foot flair to come in the mail. I can't wait to have it all together and then to actually have her wear it!! Anyway that's about all that's going on at our place right now but we're ready for this little lamb to get here!

A Little Lady

So I have some fun news.

After about 5 months of dripping whatever I happen to be eating on my belly, patiently waiting for my ankles to officially turn into cankles, and growing out of every piece of clothing that I own, I finally found out that

It’s a GIRL!!!

22 weeks along and I have officially switched in to little girl craft mode. I’ve decided that when we sell our house (please be soon!!) I will be doing her room in gray, yellow, and pops of pink. So to celebrate the news of my little boys’ new “sister-baby”, I made a little 11x14 print for her room and thought I would share it with you! Please download for personal use only!!

Click on print or click here to download!

You know...

All of those girly little things that are so fun to look at, but are of no need at my house? Like this...

and these...

Well it looks like I have a reason to have them around now!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

It’s So Fluffy, I’m Gonna DIE!!

I’ve been sitting around fighting these winter blues, creative itch driving me nuts, trying to decide what to do with my time. I thought about mod podging my TV stand, but I promised the hubs that I wouldn’t decoupage any more furniture until we sell our house (so here’s hoping for a quick sell), and I think he’ll be looking at some new LCD TV stands to go with his new TV. So instead I ordered

feathers-

lots of them too. And they are so cool! Purples, teals, browns, stripes. Oh man, I’m obsessed! I will be purchasing more very soon. Like, probably as soon as I’m done writing this. I did buy them with an intention in mind, and it’s this…

fFeather Earringse

Yes please!! And can I tell you that I am so in love with how they turned out! They have a little fun sexy thing going on and they make me feel dressed up and effortless, which is perfect for me and my life right now. Two little rascals, the less work I have to put into me, the better.

So here is a quick little tute if you want to make some yourself.

Supplies Needed:

2 dozen feathers, thread, leather cording, kidney wire earrings, 4 jump rings, 2 thin chains- one 4” the other 4 1/2”, with charms on the ends

To start off take a dozen of your feathers and bunch them together, making sure that the tops are even.

Take the thread and double it so it’s stronger, then tie a tight knot around the tops of the feather bunch.

Grab a length of the leather cording and thread on 2 of the jump rings.

Now take one of the jump rings and make a loop pointing down and hold it onto the end of the feather bunch.

And make another large loop with the other end of the cording, about 1 1/2 to 2 ft, making sure to leave the 2nd jump ring in that loop, but don’t cut the cording!

Then take one end of the large loop (not the end connected to the spool) and start tightly wrapping the cording from about and inch down the bunch, up to the top of the earring.

When you get to the top of the bunch take the cut end of the cord and the end still attached to the spool and pull them as tight as you can and cut off the excess. I took some hot glue and put some on the top and bottom and then smeared it down to keep all of the cording in place.

I didn’t get a picture of this step, but all you need to do is attach the 2 chains to the bottom jump ring and then slide the entire thing onto the kidney wire earring. These seriously took me about 25 minutes and I am seriously so in love! I was so excited to wear them that my special occasion ended up being at my mom’s for dinner after conference. But that’s what I love about these. I can wear them anytime. They’re just

so fun!

So, are you going to give them a try?

I hope you do!

Sammy

First Emergency Trip to the Doc (for Carson)

We headed out to my parents today for my dad's birthday dinner and I was getting ready to make my dad a hot water cake when Declan grabbed a knife out of their kitchen drawer and whacked Carson in the head with it. Sweet.

So one trip to community care later, he comes out with 4 staples, and a pretty good story. He was super tough though. Didn't even ever cry, I'm sure I would have been bawling!

I'm sure that it won't be our last trip!

Conversation Heart Frames

This was a fun little project that I whipped up last night. It's not actually what I was planning on doing (I'll get that one up later) but this idea popped into my head and I just had to get them done! Welcome to the

Conversation Heart Frames

{for V-Day}

So to start out, cut a heart pattern out of some card stock (easy-peasy)

Next take 3 different fabrics and cut squares large enough to fit your heart. Apply some Heat-n-Bond to the wrong side of all pieces.

Now flip those babies over and trace your heart pattern onto the back

and cut the suckers out.

Next I cut off a long strip of a canvas drop cloth and ironed the hearts onto it in a row, leaving enough space in between each heart that I can cut them apart and fit them into an 8x8 frame.

Then cut in between each one and sew the hearts down. I did a zig-zag stitch at less than a 1 length and at a 5 width and went all the way around each one.

Then I took my 8x8 frames, taped the canvases down around the cardboard on the inside and placed them inside.

When that was done, I cut out the words SWAK, LOVE, and KISS ME out of vinyl and applied them to the glass on the outside of the frame and that is it!

Super easy, and a really cute, fun, Valentines decoration that you can vary to fit any scheme you want!

Prairie Princess Headpiece

This was my last little finishing touch for the outfit. This was a pretty simple little project and took about a minute to whip up. I started with a rectangle of left-over fabric from the skirt. Mine was about 6X20", feel free to adjust the size for however large you would like the flower. Fold the rectangle over hamburger way and sew the ends together to form a loop.

Then fold the loop in half hotdog way.

No take a needle and thread and sew a large basting stitch around the open end of the loop.

When you've sewn all the way around pull the thread tight to bunch it into a flower shape.

And sew through the bunched area to secure.

And attach a bling button to the center of the flower.

Now take some Russian netting and cut a piece that is 2" longer and 2" wider than the flower. Find the middle point on the netting and tie a knot on the end of the row.

Then weave back and forth throught the row of netting

and pull the thread taut to bunch the netting.

And sew it down to the bottom middle of the flower.

From there, sew the loose edges down across the flower.

I found this cute little fray of feathers at Michaels for a couple of bucks.

Just hot glue it onto the headpiece, in-between the flower and netting. I also hot glued the button down to secure it.

To finish it off, I just hot glued the entire thing onto a thick headband, and there you go!

**Disclaimer** This headpiece is rather large and would be great for like, a wedding or a special occassion, or a photo prop, but I would probably not wear it to like, Walmart. But I suppose that is the great thing about Walmart, if you felt like wearing it there then I suppose you can, but again, I, personally, wouldn't :)