Baby Shower Gifts and Decorations

This was FOREVER ago, but I still wanted to share it with you, and my mom and sisters have asked me about the diaper cakes so enjoy!

I made this crib quilt from this book that I have, Denise Schmidt Quilts. I really like the quilts in this book because they look a little more modern in their design- and she uses some pretty funky fabrics and colors in her stuff. It gets you thinking about how you can make something look just by the fabrics you pick. For this one, I just used scraps and fabrics that I already had in my stash- make what I had on hand work for me.

And here's the back.

I sewed some ric rac along the seam on the back.

I also dyed a onesie brown and added some butt ruffles. And I also added some yo-yos to the front. It's hard to tell, but they're just stitched randomly on there.

Of course, one of Kim's famous tag blankets needed to be given as well!

So I made all this for a girl I used to work with, and I was also in charge of decorating and putting together a prize for a diaper raffle at her shower. I decided on a cupcake theme for the prize and then just went from there.

These are some cupcake toppers that I made:

I used modge podge to glue some tissue paper to card stock and some paper doilies to card stock as well. After that dried, I used a small circle punch and then glued one of each together with a toothpick in the middle.

But it just wasn't enough! So I brushed modge podge on the doily side and sprinkled with glitter. I let that dry and then glued a rhinestone to each one on the flower side.

I also embellished a kitchen towel.

Then put it all together with some cupcake-y things I found and a cake stand.

And here are the diaper cakes! I prefer to roll mine all together, rather than each individual diaper, as you can kinda see here. Then I decorated each with some scraps of whatever I could find.

I wrapped a very large rubber band around all the diapers in one tier and that's it! I used pins to secure the tiers together. I've also seen people use chopsticks or straws to keep the levels from shifting. Super easy and a fun way of giving someone a pack of diapers at their shower.

Artist or Scientist?

Brighton was coloring the other day on her doodle pad. She came to show me her drawing and I asked her what it was. She then told me, "it's my DNA." Really? I think she did a great job. And who says Spiderman isn't educational?

Airport Run For Hope

I ran the Airport Run For Hope again this year on September 17th, put on by the Arlington Runner's Club. They have a 5k and 10k race- I did the 10k race again : ) Really, it's longer, but there's less people who do the 10k so there's a greater chance of me placing well in this small of a race (really, that's my selfish reason for doing this race that's supposed to be for charity!)

There were 121 runners this year- the goal of the club was to break 100 this year- so yay! for ARC. Only 36 of those were 10k racers. (See? Smaller group, higher chance of winning!) Here we all are getting a course description (follow the trail, chalk arrows and the people pointing you in the right direction). I'm at the front- the only race where I feel confident being up at the front and not the middle of the pack. : )

It's not a bad trail around the airport. There's some "nature" to run through but there are a few spots where you come out and run next to the road. Here's where Dale could finally come and see me. He missed me coming at mile 4 so he had to speed ahead to take a picture.

Another spot where we go off the trail and run on the road/parking lot. Brighton was really sad that morning, even crying, that she wasn't running this race with me. I'm thinking I've got to find her a little fun run, like 1 mile or something because she wants to run in a race so badly. She was a great cheerleader though!

There I go! I was all by myself almost the entire run. I kept up with all the men until they hit mile 2 and everyone took the fork in the trail because they were doing the 5k. There were 2 more men I could see way ahead of me who were doing the 10k, but I wasn't really sure how many people were ahead of me.

Sprinting to the finish (the runner behind me in the white shirt is a 5k racer).

Finished! I finished in 46:08. My goal was to beat my time from last year which was 50:59, so almost 5 minutes better.

Race Stats:

36 10k runners

18 men and 18 women

I took 6th place overall

I won FIRST PLACE for the WOMEN!

Yes, I just won my very first trophy. Brighton kept telling me how she was so proud of me. Man, I love my children.

A picture with my kids. I'm so glad that they get excited about going to my races and cheering me on. Mason gets in the car and says, "Run... Race... Run... Race..." And I love how B is getting excited and asks me if she can be in a race, too.

Then, I was tired, so we fell over. What a great way to start my day!

Brighton's First Day of Preschool

Brighton started preschool two weeks ago. We're doing it with some moms around here, so we all take turns teaching and bringing snacks and being a helper, but it's free! And we all go to one house where a mom does daycare, so she has everything set up already! Pretty awesome.

Here's B all ready to go!

Mason is pretty sad each day that he doesn't get to go to school with Brighton, but we have fun at home babysitting a little 4 month old.

My two little ones are getting so big!

I stayed the first day just to see how it went, the structure and everything, so I could get an idea of how to do it when it was my turn to teach. Brighton kept telling me, "Go hide mom, go hide." The next day she told me she just wanted me to drop her off and go home. I guess I should be happy there's no separation anxiety, but she doesn't need me? At 4?

Labor Day 1/2 Marathon

I ran the Labor Day 1/2 Marathon again this year. I'd been sick for the two weeks before with a wonderful cold- runny nose, lost my voice, and coughed all day and night. I decided to give up running for those two weeks so I could just let me body rest. My one goal was to beat my time from last year: 1:50:49. I wasn't going to worry about anything else, just had to come in under that time.

This is at mile 11. I'd had a good start, but went out way too fast. I kept trying to tell myself to slow the heck down! I was feeling pretty crappy by mile 6, where they handed out some Goo and I snagged one to give it a try. I've never tried any of that stuff- I usually just eat and drink before and after a run, never during, so this was going to be interesting!

I got a really disgusting orange flavored goo, washed it down with some water and then felt a rock in my stomach for the next 20 minutes. But then! I felt a wonderful burst of energy! It was awesome. So I decided that the stomachache is definitely worth it in the end. : )

Dale hung out with the kids at the park at mile 11 until I cam running by. And then he BARELY made it to see me finish.

Here I am running across the finish!

The clock says 1:46:04, my watch said 1:46:11 and the results page says I got 1:45:49. I think I like that last one better, so I'm going to stick with that one. : )

Race Stats:

860 runners total

421 Females/439 Males

average race time 2:00:30

I got 219th place overall

Of the 421 females, I was #58

In my division of 25-29 year-olds, I was 11th out of 59

My average pace was 8:05/mile

Even with being sick, I still managed to get exactly 5 minutes better than last year! Yay!

Clothes for Mason

There really aren't too many things out there that you can make for boys. I hate that! But I do love MADE and she has a bunch of boy tutorials.

Looking at her stuff inspired me to find some solid tees for M and get painting! (made with freezer paper stencils)

I also copied her George Washington t-shirt, and made an argyle tee.

I saw a tutorial forever ago on doing this, but I don't remember where at. Luckily I filed it away in my brain! I just cut some diamond shapes from black knit, used steam-a-seam to glue it down and stitched around, and then used blue embroidery floss to stitch the accent diamonds. Easy!

But here's the sad thing: I bought this blue shirt to make it for Mason before he was even born. Cleaning out my sewing room, I found it again and saw that it was 12 month size. So, he won't be wearing it at all. Maybe it'll be gifted to someone having a boy soon? Who knows!

I also went through my scraps and found some that were big enough to use my tie pattern to make some big boys ties for my little man. He loves them and always asks for one on Sundays when he knows we're going to church.

You crafty moms with boys, what are some of your favorite things to make for them? Or what blogs have you found have cute boy stuff? Share with me please!

Face Lift for a Couch

I realized I never shared this with you! Man, I am such a slacker when it comes to the blog this year!

Dale and I found this little couch at a garage sale last year for $20. I wish I'd gotten it cheaper but I'm really OK with it now.

I know, hideous right? But I just loved all the wood detail. I feel like I never see wood trimmed furniture anymore, so I have to scoop it up where ever I can.

Way back in February I started to take it apart and the kids were my great little helpers.

Again, this was back in February, so the kids look SO extremely little!

They're really just happy to be using dad's tools!

And here's the after! I found this fabric and trim in AZ at a fabric outlet.

We bought so much fabric because we were just guessing and I didn't want to not have enough, so now I have enough to probably make curtains with at some point.

Dale did a really great job stripping the wood and repainting it. I'm just so glad he likes to do this stuff with me! This is now sitting at the foot of our bed. The Master Bedroom is my work in progress- I want it to be pretty and decorated like every other room. Once I finally settle on things and we do it, I'll let you see it!

Extreme Makeover- Wardrobe Edition

My goal this year was to go through my closet and get rid of stuff I didn't wear anymore, to try to not wear the same thing twice and to try and use what I had on hand. I've tried to breathe new life into my "oldies but goodies." Anyway, here's just some of the good stuff I've made over the past several months.

I bought this collar at an antique store in AZ over Christmas. I had a vision for it, but it took me a really long time to find just the right shirt for it.

And then there it was! I found this it the thrift store (originally from Walmart, I think). I sewed the collar to the neckline...

And then cut the fabric away so that the collar was now the new neckline. And since it's knit, I didn't have to worry about finishing the edge- yay for easy!

I really love this shirt! The sleeves were a little too baggy for me, so I made a little pleat and added a button.

I really liked this shirt from Anthropologie:

Simple, yet different. But I was NOT about to spend $60 on it.

Dug through my lace to see what I had and found these!

Dug through the closet to see what I had: a shirt I bought at the thrift store (from J. Crew!) several years ago and hadn't worn for a VERY long time.

Add a little fabric glue, and done! Now I have a shirt that I will actually wear.

(Note about the fabric glue- I love LOVE using it for quick things that seem too difficult or shaped funny to sew on. I've washed things inside out just to be safe, but haven't had any problems with lace or embellishments coming off.)

Another oldie from the closet that I hadn't worn in well over 2 years. I held onto this shirt because it's my only plain red one- but I guess it was just too plain because I never wore it!

I found these lace collars at Value Village for $1 and glued them on with the fabric glue. I added a chain and some buttons just for a little more of a punch.

Up close view.

I've really enjoyed trying to make things work in my closet and seeing how creative I can get with both embellishing stuff I don't wear any more as well as my actual outfits. I've hit up the thrift stores and consignments, as well as department stores' clearance racks, so I haven't been on my best behavior but I'm proud to say that so far this year, I've worn several things more than once, but haven't worn the same outfit twice.