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IHF - Orange

So hard to decide which adorable picture of my little man to use from his first Halloween for this I Heart Faces photo competition titled Orange.... this one is for sure Orange!

Check out more orange photos at 

CRAFT's June Package Pal Fun!!

I am so excited I was able to participate in C.R.A.F.T.'s Package Pal trade. I've seen these types of activities before, but was never fast enough to get in on one until now!! 


I was lucky enough to be package pals with a lovely lady named Angie who has a great blog and etsy shop that you should check out! Her blog is Desperate Houselife and her Etsy shop is the same. 


I got my package from her yesterday and wanted to quickly show you what she sent! (I shared with her that I was expecting a little boy... so you'll see her inspiration right away!) 

I received a lovely blue scarf for a little one and these cute buttons that will go on something terrific for my little guy at some point (they were not attached to the scarf, I just put them there to show how cute they were!).

Thanks Angie! I sure hope you enjoyed my package to you!! 

(I have posted a small photo below of my entire package for her!)

I'll go into further detail about what I added to her package 

after I'm sure she got it all! :-) 

If you think you'd enjoy something like this keep an eye on C.R.A.F.T. to see when they do another Package Pal exchange! 

Craft Wars Review

I am currently watching

and so far it's very interesting!

I've always liked the competition reality shows, like Chopped, Cupcake Wars, etc. and to finally have one that truly matches a passion of mine is AMAZING! 

First off - The Judges:
Stephen Brown of Glitterville Studios - Wonderful! His opinions were right up the alley of mine and professionally stated. 
Erica Domesek of P.S. -I made this - She's spunky... at first I thought she was going to be the Simon Cowell of Craft Wars, but it turns out she just needs to work on her constructive criticism. 
Jo Pearson of creative expert from Michaels - She seemed pretty quiet a first, but by the end of the episode she seemed to see to be heard she needed to talk louder than Erica, and had great things to say! 


Then there is Tori Spelling - I wasn't sure what to expect because I've always kinda been a little iffy about her, but her love of crafts is shown in hosting this show. They also brought out her kids at one point in the first episode and they are adorable! 


It's slightly different than other challenge shows by only having 2 rounds... something to get use to. But due to only having 3 contestants to start with, it helps with the break down, and gives more focus on the final 2 and the big project. 


At times it also seems like they are trying to fit too much into a short time by the way they cut to commercial. But I guess I won't complain, because they did fit more in that way! I kinda felt like I was there and wanted to help!


I'm really looking forward to the types of challenges they have in future episodes. The challenges for this episode were very interesting, to say the least! Now, if only I could be a crafty competitor on there! 

Check it out, or if you did, let me know what you thought of it! 

Tissue box redo! (with Mod Podge)

As I said in a previous post, I have been nesting and crafting. 

One project I started to add a little fun color to the nursery was to take this tissue box holder and spice it up a bit with Mod Podge! 

I love Mod Podge! 

Supplies:

Tissue box holder

Scrap Book paper

Sponge Brush

Paper Mod Podge

News Paper or surface you don't care if it gets icky

-Clean off the surface you are Mod Podging. Mine had vinyl stickers on it. 

-Take your scrap book papers and rip them into smaller pieces, approx. 2in. x 2in. 

-Get your Mod Podge and brush ready. I also have a mod podge squeegee and roller, but you can use any flat hard card like thing to push out air bubbles. 

-Add a good layer of Mod Podge to the surface you are attaching to. 

-Place the piece of paper over the wet Mod Podge and brush over the paper.

-Push out any air bubbles.

-Cover the rest of the area with paper and one last layer of Mod Podge.

-Let dry. 

-Add tissue box and enjoy! 

Check out other great Mod Podge projects at Mod Podge Rocks! 

Mod Podge Challenge

The baby shower - Food!

The baby shower food table (aka. Callie's Cravings): 


Menu
Asian Salad
Cheesy Whales (or gold fish, but we actually found whales!)
Chips and Dip
Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon/Sugar Pita Chips
Pickles
Cupcakes
Ice Creams Sundaes

Theme: (just like the nursery) Whales 

& My food cravings! 

Now, due to the gestational diabetes (which sucks!), I can't have a bunch of anything that I want, but I try to keep my cravings in check with moderation. 

Then at the other end of the table was the true dessert! 

And the stuff I really have to moderate! 

The cupcakes all have a cute sparkly X's on them for Xavier! 

My sister made these and they rocked! 

In addition to the cupcakes, everyone was able to make their own ice cream sundae. 

I am really bummed I never got a pic of the ice cream in the large pail because we kept it cold with frozen water balloons! It was sooo cute and worked pretty well! 

Here are the toppings and the personalized labels I made for each thing! I felt like it pulled everything together! 

Last but not least, beverages. 
Just simple Ice Water on the left, then my sister found a great recipe on Pinterest for (what she called) Sparkling Pineapple Lemonade. 


Then I found the straws on Pick Your Plum a great daily discount for fun crafty type things. I also got red and white to mix and match with the leftovers from the shower for my nieces 4th of July birthday! 


Next up will be decor details! 

Baby Update and what's up!

Where to start?!? 

I'm nesting... and doing a lot of it! 

I'm also doing some a lot of crafting! 

And... My baby shower was this past Saturday!

I'll start off with a quick baby update! 

Went back to the high risk doctor at the hospital for my "non-stress test" and ultra-sound. The test went well, the doctor looked at my blood sugar levels and said they looked very good and to keep doing what I'm doing (not sure exactly what that is, but glad it's working!) and the ultra-sound was amazing. I almost cried to see my little Xavier so well! He's getting big! 3lbs. 11oz. and moving away... he even tried to talk to me! Okay, it was just his mouth moving, but I can pretend, right?! 

The nesting is going well! After the shower I feel like we have just about everything we need. Tomorrow we head to my mom's to pick up the dresser and changing table that my cousin gave me and my mom painted to match the crib! I'm so excited to get those in the room and start putting things away! I also plan on decorating the knobs of both to match the room theme! 

The crafting could very easily be linked to the nesting, as most of the things I've made are either for his room or for the shower. My sister didn't have a ton of help, and I love that sort of thing, so I helped with decor! 

I will be shortly posting my recovering of a swivel rocker from my late grandma. We knew we needed a rocker for the nursery, but they are sooo expensive. We had two of these swivel rockers in our basement, and I thought to myself (as I try to often) I can make that look how I want it to. So we'll see what you think! 

Until next time... feeling Xavier kick my bladder, fun! 

Mark Montano made me a winner!

Wooohooo!

So excited!

Several years ago I made my first trip to Urban Outfitters, and due to not really fitting in their clothing, I was instantly drawn to their collection of books for sale. I found a book that has been one of my favorite craft books ever since!

The Big A** Book of Crafts!   

Awesome!

He's also put together more Big A** books!! Check them out at his blog! 

Then just a few weeks ago I began following Mark Montano's blog... again... Awesome! 

He has some wonderful giveaways and I got an email this morning saying I won his Tuesday Glitter Blast giveaway!

I'm sooo excited. This means not only do I win some great glitter spray from Krylon, but I also win another one of Mark Montano's books!! 

What a great start to today! 

Can't wait to get my goodies and share all of the wonderful things I will do with them! :-) 

Thanks Mark Montano and Krylon! 

Camera Bag 2 entry

There is is this great new app out there that lets you play around with photos and make them look spectacular. They are doing a giveaway of an amazing camera. This is my entry! 

My entry to win a free Canon 5D Mk III via @CameraBag 2 (http://bit.ly/cb2-5d) #cb2giveaway

Check out more entries on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/nevercenter/camerabag-canon-5d-giveaway-entries/ 

or enter yourself or download a trial of the app here: 

http://nevercenter.com/camerabag/desktop/?section=sweepstake 

It's been a while - Update #2

To the hospital:

I ran home to pack up a bag and say bye to my dog Stevie, then hopped in the car with my husband and headed to my first hospital stay. 

In my time there we went from, "I want you to stay 2-3 days," to "You'll need to stay through the weekend" (which would have been 5 days) to "I heard a rumor, you are probably getting out today" (after being there for just 3 days). Thankfully, the rumor the nurse heard was correct and I was able to get out on Saturday, after only 3 days in! 

While there I learned how to poke myself many different ways! I knew how to take my blood sugar, but I was taught how to shoot myself with a pen needle (easy) and also with a syringe (not so easy). In my time there I was able to hear the baby's heart beat many times, and even got another ultra sound... and the coolest part of that, is they had 3D!! 

It was so neat, and kinda creepy! My husband thinks the baby looks like an alien, I just had to blink a few times to figure it all out! 


The rest of the time in the hospital was fairly boring. I had a few terrific visitors and my sister and husband attempted to keep me company as much as possible, which was great! 
By the time I left I was feeling pretty confident about my blood sugar levels and being able to give myself insulin, so I was ready to go home! Since getting out a week ago, I have been actually doing really well with my insulin and my eating all the right stuff. I went to see my OB on Tuesday and she praised me for doing so well. They also weighed me and I had lost 4 pounds since getting admitted! For most pregnant women that wouldn't be a good thing, but for me, it's not so bad! Now, do I feel any smaller...no way! Here is me a few weeks ago... 

I've only gotten bigger! 

Oh, now back to the paranoia about not being able to get a job... ah!! 

Due to the joblessness, I've decided I can try to blog more and restart my Etsy shop!! Fingers crossed it can pull in a few extra bucks! 

Stay tuned to more baby info, being pregnant with diabetes and nursery decor! 

It's been a while - Update #1

Well, it's officially been over 6 months since I wrote last. 

What a bum... or really busy! Yes, that's what we'll say! 

About a month after my last post I found out I was pregnant! 

Talk about exciting, scary, real, nerve racking, joyous, did I say scary?! 

Well, timing is always fun....

I figured out that my approx. due date would be the beginning of August.

Now, normally one wouldn't think anything of it, but I hadn't mentioned yet that I was finishing up my licensure program by May and would ideally be starting a new teaching job just weeks after I'd have the baby. Ugh! 

Needless to say, I went ahead with my student teaching that started in January, and just finished it up last week. Boy is that a whole other story! 

I'm currently jobless, 6 months pregnant and having a tiny pity party for myself and my husband who is working 3 jobs (because he didn't want me to get a job while student teaching)! I'm just not sure who's going to hire me in my current state. So at this point everything that I can cross is crossed, hoping I can find some sort of job soon! 

But, back to the being pregnant and it being scary thing. May 2nd I went to my OB to discuss my blood sugar levels, which have been an issue for many years, but prior to being pregnant had been handled with a pill or two each day. On that day, I showed her my "numbers" and she gave me a look and said in as sympathetic voice as she could, "I want to admit you to the hospital." 

Hospital?! What?! 

She went on to explain that due to my levels she wanted to get me set up on insulin, and admitting me to the hospital would be the easiest way to regulate it quickly. I shook my head and agreed with everything she told me. She then went on to say that if we didn't get this figured out my chances of a "still birth" were very high. 

The tears then started. Granted, tears come so very easily in my pregnancy, but still! I'd never been in the hospital before, and the chances that this precious baby I am carrying making it to 9 months moving around inside me, then nothing.... I couldn't even think of it. 

She wanted me to go in that night, the night before my last two days of student teaching! So on top of being horribly scared about the whole situation, I loaded on the stress about how this would affect my student teaching. But, in leaving out all of my student teaching details, I didn't mention that my cooperating teaching (my "supervisor" while at the school) was the coolest lady ever! She has 3 kids of her own, 2 of which were born in the last two years. Understanding didn't even start to explain how she was with me and my pregnancy. Thankfully, my call to her put my mind at ease and let me have a little celebration that I was finished with my student teaching that very day!! :-)

(Details about hospital stay and how the baby and I are doing now to come tomorrow.) 

I got a SMASH BOOK!

I have seen these on blogs and web sites then a few weeks ago at the grocery store when I didn't have extra cash.... Then today... I saw them again and got one of my own! Google them and check out how fun they can be and how much fun I'm going to have with mine!

I Heart Faces - Let them be little

I couldn't think of a better picture to share for I Heart Faces this week. My brother had his first little one 2 months ago, and I captured this amazing picture of him peering down on his little guy. I'm almost positive he was thinking about keeping his boy little (minus the crying- hehehe). 

I think he just really loves being a dad, and this little guy sure loves his dad! 

Check out other photos on the theme of Let them be little at 

www.iheartfaces.com 

I Heart Faces - Pink

This weeks theme is for Breast Cancer Awareness... and the theme is Pink! 

Check out more Pink pics at

click me for the link!

Tutorial: Gift-able Scrapbook

I've always been the type of person that looks at something I enjoy and think "how could I make that?"

Many years ago my mom, sister and I went to a local craft show. Typically I like to just look at this type of craft show, because it's a little to "Americana" for me, but I usually find a few things that strike my fancy. This particular year, we can across a booth that had what appeared to be books covered with different scrap book papers. That was until I picked one up and opened it. This accordion type unfold was mesmerizing to me, so I just had to have one. My mom said she would gladly buy it for my birthday (3-4 months away,ugh). I wanted it enough that that was fine with me. 
Sadly, since then I have not decided what to put inside, but I did decide that I could do this myself! As follows...

Supplies: 

-5 square sheets of scrapbook paper 

(any size, but all 5 must be same size, I used 12"x12" here)

-Glue dots, glue tape or picture squares tape

-Scissors

-1-2 Large shoe boxes or cereal boxes

Step One: The Folds! 

Take three of the sheets of square scrapbook paper to begin the inside of the book. 

(Put the other two to the side, with the shoebox, for the cover.) 

a.With just one sheet of the paper, make a "taco" fold, crease and open

b.  Then make a "hot dog bun" fold, crease and open

c. Then do a "hot dog bun fold" the other way, crease and open

d. Repeat steps a thru c with the other two sheets of square scrap book paper, 

leaving you with your 3 inside pages of the book. 

Step 2: Attaching!

Pull out your glue of choice. (I've used glue tape, sticky dots and all purpose glue.)

As you can see how the pages are laid out here, put one of your pages, in the middle (upside down, fold facing downwards from the two outside pages)

Put glue on the middle sheet (liberally), under the squares that lines up from the outside sheet (see the second photo below)

Then attach the top sheet, carefully lining up creases with the bottom glued sheet. 

**Please be sure to attach the top non-creased square to the bottom non-creased square, rather than the squares creased down the middle.**

Once you've glued down both outside pages to the inside page, you will want to make sure all of your folds are going the right way, so it will fold up properly! 

Look at the picture below very carefully. The creases labeled "crease folding out" should be creased away from you. The creases labeled "crease folding in" should be creased pointing in towards you. 

Once your creases are all pointing in the right direction, start and one end and push creases in correct direction, to close the accordion of paper. 

If your book closed into the shape of a square, you have almost made it! 

Push down on all of the edges to make sure your creases are there to stay. 

Step 3: Time to Cover it! 

Pull out your boxes! (and scissors) Lay your square book pages on the box and trace around it. Once traced, cut out approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch outside that trace mark, to give you the support to your cover.

Now, take the remaining two pieces of scrap book paper and wrap each side of the cover, 

almost like a gift.

Be sure to use your glue or sticky dots liberally, so everything stays in place! 

Repeat your awesome wrapping on the other cover sheet! 

Now your covers are ready to go! 

Here's where your good eyes come into place. 

Attach glue (tape, dots) to the outside of your actually pages, then place it right in the middle of the inside of your cover. 

Repeat for the other side and TAADAA!!! 

You have your very own gift-able scrapbook.

I think I did pretty good! I've even made other sizes since! 

Mine

There's 

Step 4: Decorate! 

Adorn with decorations, pictures, words, etc., 

then give to a great friend, or keep for your own! 

(Be sure to not put faces in pictures over the creases or they will not turn out so hot!)

You can even deck it out more with patterned paper inside 

like the one I purchased at the craft show. 

Make your own, let me know how it goes! 

I hope it was just the gift you were hoping to make. 

All About A Bloom Link Party