Christmas Decorating

I LOVE Christmas time!  My birthday is in December and so is Audrey's.  With Christmas and New Years thrown in there, too, it makes for a very busy, but super fun month.  I dragged about half of the Christmas rubbermaid containers down from the attic today to start decorating.  With Audrey's first birthday party on the 18th, I didn't want the house full of Christmas stuff and I also wouldn't have room for a tree.  We are going to Sunriver for Christmas this year, so we're planning on bringing lights and ornaments with us and just getting a tree then.
I found this cute and FREE holiday banner today on Second Street's blog.  She had lots of really cute projects and ideas that I just loved!

Don't you think this banner would look so cute on my mantle?  I was thinking I can just trade it out for Audrey's birthday with one to match her party theme - owls!
Have you ever decorated only a little for Christmas?  Or do you always go all out?  I'd love to hear about some of your decorating ideas and traditions!

New wall hanging for the nursery

I finally finished Audrey's new wall hanging in her room:

The room used to look like this, with the crib bedding quilt hanging above the crib, the ladybug mobile on the right side of the crib, then Nathan and Audrey's 4 month hand-prints hanging to the right of the crib:

I took down the quilt, added the bumper back inside the crib, moved the ladybug mobile to the left side, and added this beautiful butterfly mobile to the right of the crib.  The handprints were moved to the corkboard I have next to the door to showcase Nate's artwork from preschool.

Here is Audrey's side of the room with the changes:

 

Here is how I made Audrey's hanging name.  I started with wood letters from Michael's, some sand paper, and glossy white spray paint.  I lightly sanded each letter smooth, then sprayed them with a couple coats of spray paint.  Make sure to allow for drying time.

Then I bought some pink and green ribbon at JoAnn Fabrics and got out the trusty staple gun.  I stapled the ribbon to the back of the A, then hung it from the curtain rod that was left over from the hanging quilt.  I just eyeballed how long I wanted the letter to hang, cut the ribbon and stapled the second piece to the back of the letter.  I measured out the rest of the ribbon using the first one as a guide and stapled them to the rest of the letters, alternating from green to pink with each letter. 

 

I then looped each ribbon over the curtain rod and pulled it through to hang.  Here's another angle of the room, with the dresser and diaper changer in the background.

Break down of cost:
6 wood letters - $12.54
Sandpaper - already had
Spray Paint - $5.59
2 spools of ribbon - $5.58
Staple gun & staples - already had

Total cost: $23.71


 What do you think?  What else does it need? I thought about lowering the curtain rod so the letters hang a bit lower.  But I didn't want Audrey to be able to reach them and pull on them and I don't want to put more holes in the walls!

Crafty Christmas

We're all feeling the effects of the recession.  With that in mind, I am planning on making most, if not all, of my holiday gifts this year.  I just perused the internet for free tutorials (can't even afford patterns!) and came up with a list of perfect gifts for my closest friends and family.  I'll be posting projects and where I got the tutes as soon as I actually start!

Happy crafting!

Clown Costume

My friend Kristin asked me to sew her daughter Noelle a clown costume a couple of months ago.  I said yes, even though I've never done a sewing project that big before.  Kristin picked out and bought all the fabric and the pattern and sent it down to me from the Seattle area.

When I got started, I knew I would need some help.  So, I enlisted my mother-in-law Patsy.  She is a master seamstress and quilter.  I knew this project would be a cake-walk for her.  She helped me for quite awhile on the first day and we got everything cut out, attached my first zipper (yay!), and got the sleeves and pant leg all finished on the pink side of the costume.  The next day I did the other half of the costume and the neck line.  Doing this part by myself was hard and I let out a few choice words as I ripped out seam after seam of mistakes.  However, I prevailed, and the blue side looks pretty darn close to the pink side. 

The third day I made the yarn pom poms and the neck collar.  On the last day I made the hat, boxed it up, and sent it off back to Mill Creek, WA.  Kristin got it in the mail a couple days later and voila!  Here's the costume hanging in my dining room after I had finished adding the pom poms.

 And here's Noelle showing it off!  She may need to wear it next year too, because I'm sure it will still fit! :)

I'm pretty happy with my first big sewing project.  Have you sewed a Halloween costume before?  What did you make?  Maybe I'll get some inspiration for my next project! :)

Another Mill Park baby shower

Here are some fun pics from Laura's baby shower that I helped throw.  We wanted a woodland theme, so notice the pine cones, brown, blue and green colors, and the cute baby food jar favors filled with seeds.  Of course Carla and I made another diaper cake.  Details at the bottom!

 

Mama Martinez

 

Yummy cake from the Johnson Creek Fred Meyer.  Apparently they have an amazing bakery!

 Friends on maternity leave came to visit: Katie & Baby Nash

 

 Abby & Baby James

                        Carrie & Baby Ella

 Playing a game: Creating baby Grayson's first ABC book!

 

  

Game winners: Laura's favorite pages!

 Baby gifts!

 Diaper cake!  Laura's baby bedding has little lambs on it, so naturally we needed a lamb for the top of the cake.  It is decorated with rolled up washcloths, a handmade crinkle toy (I forgot to take a picture of it, but you can see a similar one here).  Inside the cake is a really soft blue and white star blanket and this super cute onesie I made.  I've never done the tie before, but I've really been wanting to.  I think it turned out so cute!

Living room is coming along

Remember that I'm in the process of re-arranging my living room?  Here's the low-down on what I've accomplished so far:
1. Painted 3 of the walls a lighter color
2. Moved the baker's rack tv stand to the garage
3. Moved the ladder bookcases to each side of the fireplace
4. Traded the blue chair for the brown chair that was in our bedroom.  Since I'm not nursing as much and Audrey sleeps in Nate's room now, there's no need to have the rocker in our room and it will get more use in the living room.
5. Went to Ikea yesterday and bought the white 5x5 Expedit shelf that I wanted.  So excited to put it together!

6. Hung curtains
7. Removed the large rug (part of it will be added later)
8. Took apart and sanded the new coffee table.  Just need to paint it and upholster the top.

That's about it!  I'm excited to be done!  I hope it turns out like the vision in my head.  Probably not, that never happens! :)

TOOO Cute Dollhouse

Alright, who's going to help me??  I found a super easy and totally adorable dollhouse tutorial over at Nicegirlnotes.com.  It's made out of an old nightstand, some scrapbook paper, and mod podge.  It's so my kind of project: easy and doesn't take long!  I just might have to make one of these puppies for Audrey to play with in a couple years!