Happy 2011

Wishing you ALL a Safe, Happy & Healthy 2011!

Heidi

Rob

 & soon to arrive...

Baby Maximus

Are they related?

Could this be one of Kooky's long lost relatives?

Happy day!

hi-d

Merry Christmas

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2:11-14 (King James Version)

I am being featured...

Check it out. Go on over to Polly Want a Crafter. This is a fun little blog site that encourages their readers to submit projects that they've done.

Today, they are featuring my Styrofoam Christmas Tree that I made last year.

Polly Want a Crafter has all sorts of DIY projects that you'll be sure to enjoy. It's an extension of Remodelaholic, their home design and remodeling blog. I recently stumbled across both sites and am now following them - I hope you do the same.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

hi-d

Baby Rag Quilt & Room

I was excited to find some cute fabric to make a little rag quilt for Maximus.

 rag side

smooth side

I've been wanting to make a quilt for some time, so I searched online and got some ideas and came across a super cool tutorial to show me how it's done. You can check out the video below:

These are great instructions. There were a couple things that I omitted however. I didn't sew around each individual square like she did. I simply laid out the pieces in the order that I wanted and sewed the squares together. If you're comfortable, you don't need to pin the squares to stitch them together; although, pinning is important once you have rows that you're sewing together.

This would be a great project for a beginner. It's way easier than it looks. The hardest, or most tedious part was snipping the seams to get the rag look. After I finished the quilt, I threw it in the washing machine with 3 tennis balls and then proceeded to dry it, using the tennis balls again to give it something to fluff up the quilt. During the drying process, I stopped often to shake the strings from the quilt and remove the lint from the screen. I repeated the wash and dry cycle a second time. It's quite linty and fuzzy after you've finished laundering the quilt. I found that running some packing tape along the fabric helped removed the excess...

So, does this look like something you could tackle? I promise you, it's a fun and easy project. If you follow the instructions, it should turn out great.

I thought I'd include some pictures of the room. As always, there are a few finishing touches that we need to do, but the majority of the work has been done. Again, we didn't really go with a theme. We thought that we'd keep it more neutral and just use colors & textures that we liked. When Maximus is old enough to decide for himself then he can choose if he wants to have a Spiderman, Nascar, or other themed room. :)

We are waiting for a vinyl decal to arrive with Maximus' name. This will go above the verse. 

I love my glider. It has a footstool, which I didn't get in the photo. This chair is SO comfortable! The room divider screen is hiding the treadmill that we didn't want to part with, along with a storage cabinet of Rob's extra computer parts.

Simple curtains that I made.

I will probably end up putting books or other stuff on the dresser...

I'm not a real big fan of "changing tables." Originally I was hoping to find a dresser that could be be doubled as a changing station, but we got an amazing package deal on a crib, small dresser & this table, so I couldn't pass up that great bargain. I got these baskets, that will be used to store diapers, ointments, extra clothes, etc. Also, a sweet friend, from North Carolina made that little blanket you see for Maximus. Thank you, Cindy!

 We purchased a shaggy area rug. I love how soft it is to walk on, in bare feet!

I decided to make the crib skirt and purchased a fitted sheet. We didn't go with any baby bumpers. When I started doing some research online, I came across some reports of Sid's - where babies can roll up against the bumper and if they get nestled into the cushion face first, it could block their breathing. I decided, along with discussing with my hubby & a couple of bloggy friends, that it wasn't worth my peace of mind if I felt uncomfortable. So, no bumpers.

 Space is limited in our place...so I found these perfectly sized Rubbermaid containers  that fit underneath the crib. I'm using them for all the clothes that Rob recieved from someone at his work. Plus, I still have more clothes, hanging in our bedroom closet. Needless to say, this was a huge blessing and we are definitely set on clothes for about a year!

I picked up this little side table at Salvation Army for $10. What a steal!

Thanks for letting me share everything with you. We are filled with excitement & anticipation. Only 7 more weeks to go!

Happy day!

hi-d

Oh Christmas Tree...

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...How Lovely Are Thy Branches."

♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ 

I think Kooky is taking this song a little too literally...

Happy day!

hi-d

Christmas Decorations

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away. Are you ready? Last year, after Christmas, we got a tree & a bunch of new decorations that were on clearance for a screaming deal. So needless to say, I've been itching for a year to finally use them.

The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.
Luke 19:10 (New Century Version)

Happy day!

hi-d

Bird Mobile

Only 8 more weeks to go. I am growing (literally) with excitement. Maximus has been active, kicking and punching/kickboxing. Since there's not much time left before he arrives, I've been trying to finish up some projects. Recently I made a bird mobile, to go over his crib.

I have to tell you that I had SO much fun doing this project, but I can't take credit for the idea. It came from Martha Stewart. I'm including the link to the "how to" video here.

For the branches, instead of regular wire on a roll like Martha used, I found 6 pieces of wire wrapped with brown paper measuring about 18" each. Then I used brown floral tape and wrapped each wire individually. After that, I took all six wires and wrapped about a 6-8" section in the middle to secure them all together. I found both of these items in the floral section at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I loved how easy it was to manipulate these wires in the direction that I wanted.

As far as the little birdies go. The link to the template is here. Using craft paper, I printed the template directly onto the paper or traced it out. There are 3 parts to the bird. Since most of the paper only had a print on one side, I glued two pieces together. I used a razor blade or box cutter to make a slit in the body, for the wings. The tail was having trouble staying on, so I used a bit of glue around the slit. That did the trick. And instead of buying a tiny hole punch, I simply took a heavy duty sewing needle to poke a hole in the body of the bird, in order to hang it by string. The gold looking string that I used was in the same section as embroidery thread. It's a fancier thread though. I cut long pieces separating the thread to just one strand. And in order to make sure the birds didn't come untied, I hot glued the hole and knot as well as wrapped the thread around the branches several times and then knotted it twice.

The flowers were made using a flower craft punch by Martha Stewart, purchased at Michael's. To make the leaves, I just punched out a flower and cut a petal or two off and shaped it to look like a leaf. Then I hot glued this to the back of the flower.

Each flower was then threaded with some of that gold, fancy-ish embroidery thread. I separated the thread in half and cut pieces about 2-3 inches long. Then, ran the thread through some glue, twisting it to make little stems. Once dried, I tied two knots on one end, hole punched the flower in the middle (with my needle) and threaded the flower. The knotted part shows on the top, making it look more like a flower.

I also hot glued the underside of the flower to secure the thread from moving. Then, I just kind of pulled the petals together in order to make the flower look like a flower and not a flat piece of paper. After that, I was ready to wrap the thread around the wires (branches), using more floral tape to secure and hide the stems.

A ribbon was added to the middle of the branch and Rob hung it by a hook in the ceiling. I did some finishing touches of bending the branches and straightening out the birds.

And there you have it. I figured if we ever have a little girl, I could use the same mobile...maybe change out the birds and flowers, to make it a little more girlie girl. Although, I think this one would work for either gender.

Happy day!

hi-d

Kooky's Christmas Wish

From the looks of it, I'm guessing that Kooky asked Santa for a dog this Christmas.

Happy day!

hi-d

Happy Friday

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Matthew 6:26 (NIV)

Happy day!

hi-d

Christmas Lights

I was goofing around with my camera & the settings and got some abstract looking photos of our Christmas Tree...

 

 

Happy day!

hi-d