Autumn Love

"I love NY in the fall... makes me want to buy school supplies..." -You've Got Mail

 (My hubs and I went camping/hiking in the mountains.... lovely.)

 I live in the south, but I'm a NY girl at heart. And there's a very VERY special place in my heart for the sound of crunching leaves, cozy coffee shops, spiced drinks, sweater weather and the glorious colors of fall! My mom always refers to how people have seasons according to their hair and skin coloring and according to her, fall is my season. Auburn hair, freckles, brown eyes... yep. I'm all fall. Perhaps it's in my blood. So here's a few ways our family's been enjoying one of my favorite seasons ever!

My little corner of heaven... pumkin spice candle, 3 pumpkins for my kiddos, a mason jar of leaves and pretty mums (from my mum :) Oh and it's hard to see but there's a pile of leaves that we made with melted crayons and wax paper in there too. 

 Speaking of cafts, we've done every fall inspired craft my little brain can come up with (with help from pinterest.) Here's a few that "made the fridge".

This one was my favorite fall craft. It's our family tree filled with our cutout hands placed one-by-one by Hudson. I think I might make it into a "Thanksgiving tree" in a few weeks and write things we're thankful for on the leaves. I just love the shot of color it ads to our grey walled house!

 

And we went to the pumpkin patch, of course!

 

 Hudson was pretty excited about our first ever JackOLantern!

Airplane Birthday Party

 I've taken a long break from blogging, but that doesn't mean I've taken a break from being creative! One of my biggest projects this summer was pulling together a DUAL birthday party for my boys turning 3 & 1. After stumbling upon some adorable birthday party themes on pinterest (of course!) I eventually landed (no pun intended) on an airplane theme! Hudson's been kinda obsessed, and well... it just seemed like the ultimate little boy dream. I gotta enjoy this fun stuff while I can, right?

 I was most excited about the projects Hudson and I could work on together. These are little popsicle/clothespin airplanes that I made for hudson to paint and eventually put into his buddies goodie bags for the big day!

Look at that concentration!

 Meanwhile, I worked on some fun boarding pass invites. I put them together in Word and printed them on my home computer. All I had to pay for was stamps!

 We also included these little paper airplanes in the invites to give the little ones something to play with and get excited about the airplane party!

 Hudson even got to help with the invites by hand stamping each envelope before it shipped out. This is a custom made potato stamp. Pinterest, I tell ya...

I also printed out some signs via Word processor. 

A sign welcoming people to the airport... riding toys waiting by the runway. ;)

 Luggage favor decorating! The suitcases were made from almond milk containers and shopping bags! High in labor. low in cost! (Thanks for your help Julia!)

 I also cut out poster board clouds and a "Short Airlines" airplane with "Happy Birthday!" fluttering behind it.

Baggage claim goodie bags!

Airplane and balloon mobile. Those balloons were dangling "just so" until Hudson accidentally turned the fan on and made a big knot. Never got around to untangling. Oh well!

"Re-fueling Station"

And last but certainly not least was our passport photo booth. Airplanes were made by mommy and daddy (we actually had a blast making them one night!) Just diaper boxes covered in paper and duct tape! The birthday boys loved them and are still getting tons of playtime miles out of them. ;)

Pictures from the actual birthday party headed your way in Part 2!

DIY Reversible Toolbelt/Apron Tutorial (To sew or not to sew)

So, it's winter. Winter meaning I have been in hibernation mode for the past few months (READ: sweatpants, Netflix, chocolate) and the creative juices have slowed to a bit of a trickle... 

Is it a coincidence that ever since deciding to give up my (um, gulp... 10) TV shows for lent... my house is clean, the fridge is stocked, Hudson has new activities I've set up for him around the house and I've even sewn something!?

I think not. ;)

Here's what I whipped up during a naptime this week. I've been wanting to make my 2 1/2 yr. old a tool belt, and while digging thru my fabric bin came across these old corduroys and I got to thinking...

Pockets... toolbelt... lightbulb!

Granted, someone's probably already thought of this, and done it much more brilliantly... but for now I am blissfully unaware and claim this original project and tutorial as my very own. Believe me, even I'm shocked it's not inspired by pinterest (my slightly ridiculous obsession of late).

OKAY, "to sew or not to sew" means... if your sewing machine makes you a little nervous and you want to keep all your fingers, there's a no-sew phase of this tutorial that still produces a tool belt. Just no reversible apron or bells and whistles. So if that's you, stick to phase ONE. Phase TWO will take you thru the sewing portion of the project which is still super simple and I truly believe anyone could do.

PHASE 1 
"CUT. IT. OUT."

 Start cutting the waist band at the front zipper and make your way around to back of pants.

 Stop cutting once you've reached side belt loops. Remove front belt loops carefully.

 Cut down side seams of pants and across under back pockets.

 Not sure why I flipped it over but but trim up edges giving yourself an inch or so outside pockets. TA-DA! You've reached the end of phase 1 and cut yourself a simple little tool belt. (Which also, by the way, fits adults -via button. For children tie waist strings)

PHASE 2 
"SEW. IT. UP."

 Next, grab a piece of scrap fabric about the same size as the tool belt. This will be the apron side so pick something fun, or girly if you have a daughter too.  Fold over and pin long side of rectangular fabric and pin then straight stitch to hem.

 I added this cool scrap (actually the inner layer of front pants pocket!) to create another pocket on the apron side. Just fold over and stitch to hem top of pocket and I just raw cut the other 3 sides with zigzag scissors and sewed them to the yellow fabric.

 Put right sides of fabric together/kissing with hemmed fabric lined up to waist band. Then straight stitch down the outside of a pocket, across the bottom and up the other side of a pocket. Cut around edges of tool belt fabric so yellow fabric is the same shape. You can do this before or after you sew.

Last, turn inside out and sew straight up the middle of apron side to create two nice deep pockets. It helped to do this with the tool belt side facing up to keep yourself sewing straight in line with the middle pants seam.

 Button and, voila! a nifty little shoulder bag for your little one.

And here's my little man, who could barely hold still 

long enough to "model" his new tool belt!

This project took about an hour to make and required the following materials:

-Adult sized pants with back pockets (for tool belt side)

-Small rectangular scrap of fabric (for apron side)

-Sewing machine

-Fabric scissors

-Thread

-Pins

6 months... already?

Dear Noble,

When you were inside my belly, I remember wondering 

if I could ever love another baby as much as my first. 

Sweet boy, I fell in love at first sight 

and I will never be the same again.

I don't love you more or less... 

we just have our own special brand of love.

I love you from the top of your perfectly shaped fuzzy head 

to the very bottom of your little sausage toes.

Your sweet smile, big blue eyes, marshmallow rolls, 

and irresistibly kissable cheeks don't hurt either.

Noble's Lifetime Accomplishments: (So far...)

BEING RIDICULOUSLY CUTE, check!

Mischief... (you can't act on it yet, but I see 

what's going on behind those sparkly blue eyes of yours)

Rolling around on the floor

Lip smacking, so silly!

Flirting with the ladies at Daddy's work

Smiles that melt 

Sucking on your toes

"Talking"

2 teef

Hitting your brother (yes, already)

Putting anything and everything in your mouth

Laughing at Hudson

Eating (obviously)

Being HAPPY 99% of the time

Oh! And most recently, sitting up!

Quite the resume for such a little guy :)

People always ask me who you look like, 

since you don't look as much like your daddy 

as your big brother does. 

I usually answer with, "He looks like NOBLE, of course!" 

But to be honest, I do think you favor my side of the family.

Noble James, you have captured my heart.

I love you.

Love, Mommy

crafty craziness

 One of my favorite things in the whole world is being creative... 

So naturally, it is also one of my favorite things to teach my kids 

to express themselves creatively. 

This particular day, Hudson was asking to paint...

I gathered a few things from around the house that would be fun to paint with... 

Bet you can guess what his favorite was!

Materials: Paint, paper (or grocery bags :), toilet paper tube, paint brush, cork, car, fork

Hudson always enjoys practicing his fine motor skills 

and thankfully has an attention span (just barely) long enough 

to do fun little projects like these. 

Since we were already messy, I figured, why not? 

Let's break out the glue! 

I scavenged a handful from a super colorful "25 bean medley" 

(from Trader Joe's -made yummy soup later!) 

in the pantry and we went crazy...

Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my little one's face light up when he 

figures it out/tries his best/learns something new/discovers he can do it/creates something beautiful!

I'm learning that in order to experience all that art can give to a child,

there's two things moms like me need to remember...

1. It's gonna get crazy. A mess is GOING TO HAPPEN. Get over it.

2. Don't stress about the final product. It's the process that's important.

3. Oh, and have fun with your kiddo, of course! (Sorry, that was more than two :)

*** Stay tuned for more fun projects with Hudson! ***

(I'll keep them under the "craftycraziness" tag if you want to check in again later.)

mini monsters

A fun and simple little birthday gift I put together for one of Hudson's lil buddies. 

I think Huddy was a little jealous! :)

Materials: felt scraps, needle&thread, glue gun

DINO hoodie DIY tuorial

This is a fun little gift idea I found on pinterest. 

My son loves wearing hoodies, so I knew he'd love this "dino hoodie"!

 

Step 1: Collect supplies

-Hooded sweatshirt from Walmart $7.50 (make sure to pre-wash)

-Felt, also from Walmart

-Basic sewing supplies (machine, thread, scissors, pins)

Step 2: Measure what size spikes you want and figure out how many you'll need. It's gonna depend on what size sweatshirt you buy. No exact science, I just kind of eyeballed it and I guarantee they didn't all come out the same in the end, but it's not that big of a deal. 

Step 3: Fold felt in half (double layer) and cut triangles (bottom of the triangle) on the fold. Then when you open them they'll look like diamonds (see above photo). 

Step 4: Place or pin diamonds up the back of the sweatshirt and hood and sew straight up the middle! I found it was easier to just pin them on one at a time as I went after I took this picture, because the sewing process would stretch the sweatshirt fabric a bit. The hardest part is the hood because it's more layers of fabric and also curved instead of flat. Don't stress, doesn't have to be perfect!

Step 5: Fold and pin the two side points of diamonds together to create your dino spikes. No worries if the edges don't match up exactly if the cutting or sewing process altered them a little. You can trim them later.

 Step 6: Sew the edges with a zig-zag stitch, like this! (Tip: bright colored nail polish is more than just cute, it's like the bright orange safety vest of sewing! Keep track of where those fingers are at all times! *hem ;)

Step 7: Put it on and run around the house roaring like a stegosaurus! 

...or let your kid wear it and run around like a stegosaurus... hehe.

Here's the site I found this idea on... if my rough directions don't cut it. :)

Have fun and let me know if you try this fun project!