Crafts, crafts, & more crafts!!

Okay, brace yourselves - there's been a lot of crafting around here these days so that means there's a lot of pictures.

A pincushion I made off a tutorial somewhere on the web.

These are the wide leg pants out of Amy Butler's InStitches book. They are definitely wide legs. I really like them. They are very comfortable. Fabric is Heather Bailey (she has one of my favorite websites!) and came straight from the sister-in-law in S.Korea!

These are Amy Butler's Stash & Dash bags. I absolutely love these! I did give these away. When I told Matt that I was going to make one for myself he gave me a eye roll! : ) He thinks I have too many bags. I just giggle, smile and say "Umm, sure thing!"

Okay, these birds are my own pattern and I think I'm going to put them in my Etsy shop in a few days.

Do you see this cat?!? This is during my photo shoot of the birds.

Here's my little owl hiding in my thread. I don't know what got me to make this little guy. He is my own pattern too. I don't know why I keep making bird things either. It's just a phase.

Back to patterns & Amy Butler. Here's her Frenchy bag pattern. I did change it up and added the ruffle to the top. This is going to be given away too. See, I don't keep all my bags! : )

Whew! All done! Hope you enjoyed my goodies. I sure did enjoy making all of them. Don't worry, Syd is well fed, bathed & dressed. I usually do all my crafting while she sleeps. And yes, she does sleep a lot. She's an excellent sleeper. No complaints here.

Have a good day.

Here's some new pictures of Sydney.

Here she is talking on the phone. She doesn't hold it to her ear just her mouth. I guess she likes to do all the talking. She will go around the house holding the phone saying "Hi Nonny."

I've been up to some major crafting. That'll probably be the next post. So brace yourselves! : )

Texas - Part I

We went to Texas this past week. We stayed mostly at Nonny & Pa's house. They are Matt's grandparents. We were so nervous about flying with her but she did great on both flights there & back. Whew! We did lots while we were there. We went to Gattitown and ate pizza. We went to the Gymboree there. We got together with the rest of the family too. A big congratulations to Kyle who graduated college and Hillary & Heather who graduated from high school.

She took to Nonny and Pa very quick. Who doesn't love great-grandparents? Here's Pa swinging Sydney. Look at their faces. Priceless!

Here's Nonny reading to Syd.

Here's a few pics of Sydney swinging at Matt's parent's house. All she wanted to do while we were in Texas was swing. She loves it. I guess you must know that already because how many pictures of her do I have on the blog with her in a swing?! The face in the third picture - I'm sure I'll get a lot more of those looks as she gets older!

Overall, we had a great time. I have to say though, it's good to be home. I sleep so much better in my own bed and geez, was I exhausted! Sydney was so excited to see all of her toys again. It was pretty funny. She'd just go around the house yelling at her toy that she was looking at, just so excited about playing with it again.

Texas - Part II

I always enjoy seeing my best friends. We reminisce about old times and funny things we did back in college. It still feels like I just graduated college yesterday and not 6 years ago. Rachel and I realized how back our memories are getting. It took 2 of us to remember 1 story! We did finally get that story right too! Ah, good times. : )

Rachel & I went out to eat at Moonshine. It was very delicious. It's in the part of downtown Austin for more "mature" adults not that college crowd on 6th street. You know, since we're so "mature" and everything! Haha.

Here's Kimbra and I.

Matt, Sydney and I went to meet Joey & Susan (Lauren's parents) for lunch on Tuesday for some good Tex-Mex food. It was so good to see them and talking to them about becoming grandparents! No picture - I don't know what I was thinking!
Joey & Susan - thanks again for lunch!

Texas - Part III

There is a pond near Nonny & Pa's house that we would walk to in the morning and feed the ducks and turtles. The animals were pretty aggressive. Especially the goose, he wasn't afraid to come up and take the bread from your hand. The turtles even came out of the water and chased me down to get some bread. I never experienced that before. They would take the bread (from your hand) and run back to the water to eat it. I wish I would have videotaped it. It was pretty crazy. Sydney just sat there watching everything. We gave her some bread to throw at the ducks but she decided to eat it instead! That girl never turns down food.

Syd's new shirt

Here's a new top I made for Sydney. The pattern is from McCall or Simplicity. If someone really wants to know, let me know and I'll make sure I give you the right info. Anyway, the pattern was for a dress but I shortened it so it would be a longer shirt. Here's pictures of the front and back. The last one is a really bad picture of the shirt but I thought the rest was cute so I added it.

Signs of Summer

This has been a perfect summer weekend. We went to the pool on Saturday and ate watermelon. We went on the boat on Sunday and ate watermelon. Sydney and I just love watermelon. I ate tons of watermelon when I was pregnant so I guess it carried over to her. Anyway, here she is with the empty watermelon container. I said it was a hat and this is her putting it on her head.

Also, I went to go see Hairspray (the movie) with Crystal. It was really good. We both enjoyed it. Matt and I haven't been to any movies in a year (since Sydney was born) and now in the past month we have seen Die Hard and Transformers (very good - highly recommend it). I've seen Waitress and now Hairspray. Matt did some movies on his last business trip too. I guess it's just another sign of summer with all the good releases.

Hope everyones having a good day.

Warning: super cuteness ahead!

Yep, that's right, it is a pigtail!

Isn't she cute with those pigtails. I have to get better rubberbands though. They don't stay in too well since her hair is so fine. My next effort is pigtails with a headband or a barrette to keep the bangs back. I really do love having a girl!

This crazy kid!

This is her new stunt. I don't know where on earth she learned this. She does it all the time now. She also rests her head on the ground and lifts her arms up. Crazy, I tell ya, crazy.

I'm in trouble!

The pink barrette

Sydney loves to carry this barrette around. I try to put it in her hair but it not thick enough to keep the barrette in so it falls out. So instead she plays with it. Fine by me. It's big enough where she can't eat it!

Here's Syd trying to put the barrette in her own hair. An "A" for effort.

Dad's such a good sport. She's already trying to do his hair. Notice the barrette is on his head!

Warning - All Crafting!

Okay, I warned you! : )

Talk about a great mail day! My fabulous mother-in-law and sister-in-law bought me so many goodies (straight from Korea). A huge thanks to them! I couldn't even contain myself. I was absolutely giddy when I found my box sitting on the doorstep. I got tons of ribbon, 13 yards of fabric, lots flowers, and a bunch of other goodies. They did send Matt a t-shirt that had "Beat Box Champ" printed on it. I really like it. So I think it just might shrink in the wash and be too small for him to wear! Oops. : ) Sydney got some barrettes that she rather carry around the house then wear in her hair. I do have pictures of that - next post, I promise. I already made a pair of lounge pants with some of the fabric - that will be coming soon too.

Here's a birthday present for a friend. I thought the packaging turned out nice so I took a picture.

I also did some decorations a cake for a good friend's baby shower. Here's a diaper cake I made. It's 3 tiers of wrapped diapers.

And the Chocolate Italian Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! Yum-O! As Rachael Ray would say.

I've also been up to some other things - embroidery, scrapbooking, and sewing some toys for Sydney. Now, I've off to make Jenn's twin boy announcements.

Matt, Sydney...Who?...Oh yeah, I better get back to them too! : )

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Here's a few pictures of from the visit with my parents. Again, we took Syd out on the boat. This was the first time with her new life jacket. She had a great time and did so well.

Who needs all those toys when you've got dad's flip flop to play with! : )

Bobby Slam

Sydney loves to be tossed onto the couch. It's known, in our house, as a "bobby slam." It's "bobby" rather than "body" because that's what is sounds like when Syd says it. It's pretty cute when she walks around saying "bobby, bobby!" Here's some pictures of her high flying antics!

What you can't see is the smiles and giggles when it's all over!

Sewing Right Along

Okay, here's another project for the sewing challenge that I am participating in. I made this skirt using Amy Butler fabric and the book Sew What Skirts. It's really great book. I even put in the invisible zipper. Watch out sewing world! : )

Swim lessons

Matt has the day off today so he was able to attend Syd's swim lessons. That means I was able to take a couple pictures. These were taken at the end of the class in the baby part of the pool. She loves getting tossed in the air - no matter where we are. She enjoys the lessons. I have a feeling she's going to become a little fish.

Lauren & I in Tampa

So here's a picture of us in Tampa on the beach. It was nice weather. Good people watching also! Lauren's 16 weeks pregnant. She looks good, huh?! : )

Whew! We have been busy. Sorry I've neglected you faithful readers. A couple weekends ago my best friend came in town and we went to Tampa for the weekend. It was super fun girls' weekend with shopping and relaxing on the beach. This past weekend, my parents came in town. It was a lot of fun too. We finally went on the boat again. She did so well and a lot easier with extra hands (like my dad helping with boat stuff and Jean helping with Syd). It was a great boating excursion. All the pictures of the past weekends are not on my camera! I know, I know. So I'll have to share those pics with you later. We also went on a double date with my parents to a nice restaurant and then to Die Hard IV! It has lots of unrealistic action scenes and comedic lines. I really liked the movie and would definitely recommend it.

Today was Sydney's first day of swim lessons. She loved it and did great. It's just me & Syd and a friend & her daughter in the class - it's like private lessons! Can't beat that.

Anyway, here's a picture of Sydney from today. She's got a Gymbo stamp on her hand from our Gymboree class today.

She's talking a lot more these days. Well, I guess she's always talked a lot but now she's starting to make sense! : ) The picture below is of her favorite toy these days. She can say Noah, rhino, and lion. She can play with this set for hours! She puts them in and out, in and out...

And in crafting news, here's a wrislet I made for my friend's birthday. I can't believe I can do zippers now! I conquered my fear! : )

It's official!

She's walking!

Here's something funny! One of her fits. And yes, she sprawls out every time.

No worries, it only lasts 30 seconds.

Just for Karalyn!