I'm back!

Sorry I have been gone for the last six months! I got into a total creative rut and blogging just became too stressful. After a long time away I feel much better. I have even started to crochet again, thrown my youngest her 3rd birthday party, started making cute lunches again, and our oldest daughter has started kindergarten!

lazy, lazy, oh so lazy

The holidays have left me exhausted, unmotivated, lazy, and with a trashed house. Excuse the lack of posts while I try to get myself and house back in working order.

Snow Sensory Bin

I got a recipe for Erupting Snow from Growing a Jeweled Rose. It was so easy to make and so much fun! You use baking soda and shaving cream to make it. When your done playing with the snow you can make it fizz up with vinegar!

I dusted the top of the snow with fine silver and white glitter (it's not really showing up in the picture but sparkled in the sun). I also added some iridescent sequin and snowflake sequin.

We poured some vinegar over fake snowballs and watched them fizz! The girls were loving it!

Bubbles :)

We ended up with watery slime! It was a very fun and messy day :)

I link up at these linky parties

Little Mermaid Birthday Party

For Charlotte's 4th birthday she requested an Ariel party. My good friend Christina helped me a lot! We used the Disney Dreams Come True Cricut cartridge to make the invitations, favors, cake topper, and banner.

I was so excited when I found Little Mermaid puzzles at the Dollar Store. To dress them up I attached a piece of textured cardstock to the box. We made the tags using the charm feature on the cartridge.

I got the idea for the sea grass background from Delia Creates under the sea birthday party.

I just loved the adorable octopus dip at Denna's Ideas mermaid party. When I showed my Mother-In-Law she said she had to make it :)

The pearly bite clam cookies were a big hit and really fun to make. I used Pepperidge Farm lemon cookies because they looked like shells. For the eyes I used Wilton's candy eyes.

My Mother-In-Law makes the cutest cupcakes!

I made an ombre petal cake. I love the way it turned out! The tutorial from the Hungry Housewife is fantastic. I had some shimmer cardstock from Bazzill that we used for Ariel's dress. I glued her and Sebastian on lollipop sticks for the cake topper.

This was one very happy birthday girl!!!

The Ariel gown I made using the Simplicity pattern below. For the fabric I used Kona cotton. It is so soft and doesn't wrinkle easily. I also used the Snow White sleeves on the Ariel dress and hand sewed on the beaded trim. I planned on making long sleeves with points at the wrist that would snap in but never got around to it. We live in Florida so I didn't want to commit to a long sleeve dress. We purchased the broach from Princess Cameos.

First Birthday Photo Shoot

Pictures from her first birthday photo shoot done by Nikki McAnary. I can't believe my baby is about to turn 2!!!

Lil' Cupcake First Birthday Party

As I'm planning Evelyn's 2nd birthday party and looking back at pictures from last years, I have come to realize that I never shared her party. Really, I have barely posted anything! Even though this is from last year I'm still going to post it :) My friend Nikki McAnary took all the photos at the party for me.

I made the invitation and had it printed on glossy photo paper

The background was made using cheap crepe paper streamers and a store bought banner

We made these mini deep dish fruit pizzas using this recipe

I also made the dessert cards and printed them on heavy cardstock

Watermelon cut out with different sized heart cookie cutters

The straws were bought from DK DeleKtables on Etsy. They did a custom order for me and were really nice to buy from.

I made the highchair tutu using spools of tulle knotted on satin ribbon. I just taped it here and there around her tray to get it to stay. I bought the tulle from Deana's Crafts on Etsy. They have a lot of colors to choose from and really good prices.

The birthday girl had a blast! She really loves to party ;)

We forgot to take pictures of the party favors so instead here is a picture I had posted on my Instagram. The tags were made using the Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge.

photo post

So far this year has been great. Evelyn learned to crawl, sit up, and is now standing up while holding on to things. She tries to sing along to songs...it's adorable. Charlotte says the funniest things and is a really cool kid. We have done so many fun things; Sea World, weekly story time at the library, played in the fountain at the park, had lots of picnics, the beach, explored Rockledge Gardens, Chuck E. Cheese, kids workshop at Home Depot, the zoo, and lots of birthday parties.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone :)

Evelyn at Three Months

• enjoys watching her big sister
• has found her toes
• makes lots of cute baby noises
• is trying to roll over
• smiles and laughs a lot
• loves bath time
• enjoys getting her feet massaged
  
• sleeps 12 hours at night
• IS SUPER LOVED
  

Charlotte at Three

• is a little chatterbox
• adores her little sister
• everyone is her best friend
• she is so NOT shy
• enjoys being outside
• likes to play with play-doh
• is a little jokester
• eats like a horse
• IS SUPER LOVED

I finally made Evelyn's birth announcement

My friend Nikki McAnary took some awesome pics of Evelyn when she was about 2 weeks old. She hasn't had time to edit them all yet, but so far this is my favorite. I made this birth announcement but haven't had time to mail them. I really love how it turned out. For the border I used a brush from green-eyed-butterfly's curly brushes pack. The texture on the bottom was made using this photo. The font used for Evelyn's name is Aubrey from dafont.com and the font for her stats is Arial Bold.

Meet Evelyn Ruth

Evelyn weighed 7lbs 9oz (same as Charlotte), and was born on July 21st. Charlotte is so good with her baby sister. She always wants to hold her, sing her songs, give her kisses, and tell her how cute she is. She is also a big helper (or at least tries to be). Evelyn is a really easy going baby, and loves her eyebrow gently stroked. I'm soaking up the snugly infant stage because I know how fast it goes by.

taking a break

I have less then a week before baby Evelyn will be here. I'm such a slacker and haven't finished the nursery, packed for the hospital, or caught up on my laundry and cleaning. I also haven't done any art journaling or worked on any index cards. I'm just so tired! I probably won't be blogging much for the next few months but will try to at least post some pictures. I'm not giving up on my art journaling or index cards, but I'm also not pushing myself if I don't feel up to it.

Index-Card-A-Day ♥ 8-10

I got a baby registry catalog from Target in the mail the other day, so I thought it would be fun to make an index card from it. I was happy when I saw the notes to self list on one of the pages.

This pregnancy I get so many nosebleeds. I hate them! I will bend down to pick something up off the floor and I get a nosebleed. Charlotte starts having a tantrum and I get a nosebleed. I blow my nose and I get a nosebleed. I'm trying to do laundry and I get a nosebleed. They are so inconvenient, and I've stained 2 shirts. By the way, it's acrylic paint and not blood on this index card...lol.

Index-Card-A-Day ♥ 6 & 7

Today I'm super tired and want another lazy day! I'm behind on laundry, and the floors really need to be done, so I probably shouldn't slack too much. This morning Charlotte said "There is dog hair on the floor. Can you vacuum it?". When I told her not right now, she replied "but you need to" (yes my child really does speak that well). Is it bad when your 2 year old is telling you to clean?

Index-Card-A-Day ♥ 4 & 5

We bought Charlotte a vintage school desk. She loves to sit at it and draw us lots of pictures with her crayons. I cut the hearts out from one of the pictures she gave me on Friday.

Today I have no motivation, so I've declared it to be a lazy day. This morning after breakfast, I gessoed an index card, and got out my Prismacolor pencils. I started to doodle and Charlotte asked to help. I got her sketchbook out and let her draw with some old generic colored pencils. She is very excited to get her own pencils! They aren't washable though, so I'm a little scared to find markings in random places.