THRIFTY

Many of you know that I consider myself thrifty. I love a very unique and warm look for my home, but I HATE spending a lot of money (there never seems to be enough anyways). I want people to feel welcome, calm, and loved despite the chaos that might be going on in our home with two little ones. So when I needed wall art for our upstairs bedroom, I had a limited budget. I looked through SEVERAL magazines for inspiration, and came up with the follow for the walls. It provides something very custom and expensive looking... but its really is not. My mom found these frames at a DEEP discount and we removed the prints and glass. We went to our local fabric store and they just happened to have just enough on the precut sale aisle and away I went (there are actually 4 frames in total. One is on the opposite wall with a family portrait that was taken when we had Doodles.) I must say that I LOVE these. This design could be replicated for any room and would be GREAT in a nursery. You could do all first initials, all three initials, the possibilities are endless.

See all of those market totes, I will explain more in my next post... I cannot wait.

I Have Not Disappeared

I promise, I have not disappeared. In the next couple of days I will be updating the blog like CRAZY so that you all can see what has been going on... but here is just a taste...

One minute they just love each other and then the next...

Bow Head?

This is SweetPea, and yes I know that the bow on her head is about the size of a dinner plate, my husband gives me such a hard time ;). In this picture SweetPea is approximately nine months old, and she has little to no hair. When Doodles was this age, he had beautiful curls. So when I was pregnant with SweetPea, I was so excited, curls and a bow... YEAH!!! Well no, not so much... Many people mistake her for a boy, even when she was is dressed in all pink... GRRR!!! So I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands, and this is what I came up with, a BIG beautiful bow. And now there is no way that someone could call my SweetPea a boy anymore.

These bows are great and the monogram button is a perfect touch of personalization. I got the band from a friend who has a GREAT site www.avaclaires.com (she also writes an incredile blog, www.spitupandheels.com). She is so sweet, she allowed me to list a couple of things on her site, and she used my sweet little girl as a model, thanks S.

I also posted below a picture of Doodles and SweetPea that I think is too sweet, and I always laugh out loud everytime I see it. SweetPeas face is the "tell all" of the situation.

Sophistication with a Touch of Whimsy

My neighbor has the SWEETEST little man... he has such a little personality, he laughs, smiles and is SO CUTE. Right after Little C was born, she wanted to do something extra special for his bathroom. Their house has the same layout as our house. There are two bedrooms downstairs, and one upstairs, and each bedroom has its own bathroom. C's bathroom is also the one that company uses, so she wanted something that was cute and would look nice for company. So after a lot of thinking, and many ideas swimming in my head, we came up with an incredible plan. We went to our local craft/fabric store and found thread, buttons, and fabric that would tie into the colors in his room. Look at the finished product...

Okay... don't you love it... sophistication and whimsy all rolled into one. But the next part will make you laugh. We are running a little behind at our house. So when I delivered the curtain, I also delivered their Christmas gift, yes it is a little late. But someday, I will be all caught up, at least that is my goal over the next couple of weeks. I created these three hand towels for their company to use. The applique is created out to the same fabric, the same font was used (their last name starts with an A) and thread that was used on the curtain so that they match. I think that it provides a bit of sophistication, but still VERY fun... just like their family. THANKS so much for being such GREAT neighbors.

Cabin Fever

Okay... I am getting Cabin Fever. I am ready for the days to warm up, for sundresses and sandals... bare feet, and children's feet running in the grass. This spring and summer, we will have two little ones with bare feet running in the grass, and I am so excited that Sweetpea will be able to experience the world in a new way this year. I have great visions of the two of them, Sweetpea running after Doodles... How incredible these new memories will be.

With this, I dream of Sweetpea playing in this dress, running in the grass. This is a varation of a pillowcase dress. The dress is fully lined and is created out of a small pink dot on white fabric with deep brown ribbon embellishment, a deep brown classic monogram, and large floppy brown bows on her sholders, she will be so cute I could eat her up. But what I must admit to you is that I love the most about this dress is the fact that she will be able to wear it for years to come all year long. As she grows, we will be able to add leggings and when it becomes too short to wear as a dress, we can then wear it for a season or two as a shirt. The shoulders are completely adjustable, and can be layered with a long sleeved shirt under allowing it to be worn even when the weather is cool. So despite the fact that it may cost slightly more than you normally might pay for a dress, if you are cheap like me.. it is well worth EVERY penny you spend.

This beautiful picture was taken at Sweetpeas 9 month photo session. This is one of the few shots that we got without her on the move. It's hard to believe how much she has grown.

Here is the dress off of Sweetpea. This will be one that we treasure for years.

P.S. I started this post yesterday, and now we have 4 inches of snow in our backyard...can't wait for those warm days!

Six is such a BIG number

We have long time friends who have the smartest little man. T is so good to play with Doodles when we get together. We recently went to his sixth birthday and had a fabulous time. T's mom and dad have decided to take on the same idea that we have for future birthday parties... smaller is better. So this was his last BIG party, and it was fun. T's mom contacted me a couple of days before the party and asked if I could create a special t-shirt for him. She gave me FULL creative rights, but wanted to use the fabric that was used in his nursery. After a couple of days, and a lot of prayers, the creative process was off and going. I love the large path of blue fabric attached to the shirt with a zig zag stitch allowing it to age and create depth. And the Six is super cute in the classic applique, especially with the frog peeking from around the edge of the six drumming a little drum. I just love the way that it turned out...

Four of a Kind

My husband and I have friends who have their hands FULL, really full. J and I share a common bond with them, it was a little harder for them, okay, a lot harder for them to have a family than it is for many. But with LOTS of prayer, God has blessed them with four miracles within three years, all four boys, what an incredible miracle... I love to give all the boys a personal gift for the first birthday of the year so that they can enjoy them all year long. Mom and Dad are huge Auburn Fans, just as we are, so this year I designed the following shirts for "the boys." I just love them. Hopefully Mom will allow me to share a picture of the boys in their matching shirts...