Saturday, December 29, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Tucker and Bo doing a great job keeping the new family member a secret

Being one of the most difficult secrets to keep, our dogs did a great job during Christmas when we went home. I took this photo because I plan on doing the weekly chalkboard photos and thought a great way to start our pregnancy off is to make the secret announcement from the excited big brothers Tucker and Bo. They are They are a little unsure of how it is going to work with mom and dad giving all the attention to a little baby, but I'm sure we can figure out how to make our family of four grow into a family of five!

As a side note, it was hilarious to have people actually ask if I was pregnant while we were home or how cute I looked holding a baby. The best one was when we showed a baby outfit to my grandma and she was like is there something your not telling me? My dad rubbed my stomach and said oh didn't you see on Facebook Amy's pregnant. Jeff and I about lost it laughing. We had to explain that the outfit was for Jeff's cousin who just had a baby and we would let her know before anything was posted on the interwebs.

Me and my little sister on Christmas Eve at our  PJ Party!
Me and my hubby keeping our Christmas Present a secret!


Friday, December 21, 2012

Guess What???

We're expecting!

After being about a week late I decided to use the one test I had in the house on December 18th and see if my dream of being a mom was about to come true. Almost instantly I knew we had a winner. At that point I did a little hmm is this really happening? Am I ready for this...well it's too late it's happening. How do I tell my hubby? What is he going to say? Do I do something cute and tell him or... Oh let's just go tell him! So I quietly walked into our bedroom with the lights still off where he was still sleeping, crawled into bed and said hey so umm we're pregnant. He said congrats and I knew he needed some time to process everything so I got up and continued to do my morning routine of getting ready for work. When he came upstairs after his shower and I was like well we did it and he responded with my favorite line ever I'm A Man!





















Now the part about keeping this pregnancy a secret is going to be tough. I called our doctors office hoping to get an appointment, you can't get in until 8 weeks ugh seriously? So if you remember we found out on December 18...right before Christmas. So now the hard part is do we tell our parents or wait? It could be the best Christmas present ever, but being worried that something could happen we decided to keep it to ourselves until we get to see this little bundle of joy and get confirmation from our doctor that everything is ok and we are in the clear.

We are so excited for this next chapter in our lives. Stay tuned for updates on our little one!






Monday, September 17, 2012

9 Months of Laundry Soap? Yes, Please!

So I've been noticing all the pins on Pinterest for homemade laundry soap and after my friend and bridesmaid, Megan said it was amazing, I went out and bought the ingredients to make it. She said she added the Downy Unstopables to make it smell even better and have the fabric softener. Here is what I used tonight to make it... it took me a little over an hour to make it because I kept running in the living room to watch the CMA's.
homemade laundry powder soap

Supplies:

  • A mop bucket or large container
  • Plastic bag to line the bucket
  • Grader
  • 4lb box of Borax (12 oz)
  • 4 lbs of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
  • Oxi Clean 4lbs (I bought the 5lb tub and have 1 lb left over)
  • 3lb 7 oz box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
  • 3 bars of Fels-Naptha
  • 2 (13.2 oz) containers of Downy Unstopables (I used Fresh Scent-teal lid)
I found everything in the laundry section except the baking soda, I had to go to the baking aisle for that and bought 2 2lb boxes
Line your bucket with plastic bag

Open up the Fels-Naptha bars and grate them in a large bowl, it will look like shredded cheese. I cut them in half to grate easier, note to self buy a grater. I had to use the grater on my salad spinner :) Don't even bother trying a blender FAIL! I saw some people used food processors to grate the Fels-Naptha, but I don't have one of those.

Layer all ingredients in the bucket and mix as you go. This helped keep the ingredients proportioned properly. (I used one container of Downy Unstopables during this first mix)

I bought the large apothecary jar at Walmart for $10 and a 2 tablespoon coffee scoop for $1.67, however you could use the cap from the Downy Unstopables.

I mixed and transferred the mix from the bucket into my jar, I added my second container of Downy Unstopables as it went into to the jar.

They say you only need to use 2 tablespoons per load. We went with 4 tablespoons to be on the safe and clean side.

Here is my final product, I had chalk and chalk labels left over from the wedding so I added it to the front and wrote Soap on it. Jeff is in there doing laundry now...yes, my husband does laundry! I'm a lucky lady ;) I'll let you know how it works!

Cost from Walmart:
  • Borax $3.38
  • Arm & Hammer Baking Soda $2.48
  • Oxi Clean $9.47
  • Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda $3.24
  • Fels-Naptha (3 bars @ .97 each) $2.91
  • 2 Downy Unstopables ($6.97 each) $13.94
  • Total Cost without coupons: $35.42
make your own laundry soap


















*UPDATE- We have been using it and actually used 2 scoops (4 tbs) because we weren't sure the 2 tbs would cut it and I must admit the laundry smells really good and looks the same as it did before when we did laundry...clean! The fresh smell actually went through our house and it was like an instant air freshener. I think we will be doing laundry a lot to keep our house smelling so fresh and good. Happy Laundry Day!



Thursday, July 5, 2012

My hanger and a few choice words

I have made all the hangers for the gifts except for mine. I had every hopes of it saying Mrs. Earl...however no matter how many times I tried I couldn't get the E to look right so after scratching myself up, throwing wire on the ground and muttering a few choice words I was about to give up until I decided to write Mrs. Squirrel. Good thing my husband to be has a nickname, because I now have a hanger!
wooden hanger, galvanized wire, burlap rose, wedding hanger for bride

bride personalized hanger for wedding day


*photos courtesy of our fabulous photograher Stephen's Photography

Wedding Party Gifts

After weeks of rolling fabric and burlap into roses, bending wire into names and gluing everything together, the bridesmaids gifts are complete. I had my mom embroider everyone's names onto a tote bag which held their hanger and clutch. I made these for all 10 bridesmaids, my 2 flower girls, my mom, mother-in-law and myself.
diy embroidered tote, personalized hanger, jute clutch with fabric roses

We ordered initial belt buckles for the guys through Larry's Boots in Columbia, MO. We ordered them for our 10 groomsman, 2 ushers, my dad, 2 grandpa's, uncle and officiant. I forgot to take a picture of them before Jeff wrapped them up along with a plain white handkerchief to help with the heat.

For the flower girls I found these cute Barbie bags to put their coloring books and crayons, Barbie toothbrush, snack container, mirror, brush and embroidered bag with the personalized hanger.

For the ring bearer we gave him his belt, vest, coloring book, crayons, little trucks and an army guy.

I had handkerchiefs embroidered for my mom, dad, Jeff's mom and Jeff. Designs by Gloria on Etsy was wonderful to work with, she even shipped me a handkerchief with my name and wedding date in blue so I would have one. I'm planning on framing mine and Jeff's after the wedding. Here are my proofs... I didn't get to take pictures before wrapping these either. I did Jeff and my dad's in brown wording with pink design and for my mom and Fran's I did pink wording with brown design.

personalized handkerchief for mother of the groom from bride

handkerchief from bride to dad

embroidered handkerchief for mom from daughter

embroidered handkerchief to groom from bride


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

I love drinking out of Mason Jars!

My glass of choice? ...sorry I just took a sip of lemonade out of my mason jar ;)
Yes, a mason jar and that is what I wanted to have everyone drink out of at our wedding reception. Who seriously orders 400 mason jars? Oh we do! ...and they aren't the tiny ones either. They are the 32 oz Quart sized.

My labels are all cut and ready to be stuck on... here we go. Oh but there's more, not only are we putting the chalkboard label, but my mom has cut out pink and brown fabric squares to put on the lids to embrace my pink and brown color scheme.

I think they look great and everyone will enjoy filling these bad boys up to the brim and not have to worry about making quick trips to the bar or bringing back to cups of beer to last them for a few minutes. After attending all these weddings, I'm starting to pay attention to people's comments and concerns.

We ordered chalk and pink and white striped straws to help decorate the mason jars.

chalk for mason jar labels













  pink and white striped straws for mason jars

chalkboard labels with fabric on mason jars




*Here are some photo's taken by our guests from the wedding

Full mason jar at wedding reception


Friday, June 22, 2012

Too cute to not be the Ring bearer

Like I mentioned in my flower girl post, after seeing Daniel standing next to Addison, I knew he had to be the ring bearer. We originally weren't going to have one, but he is just too precious to pass up.


I found this adorable little boys vintage vest to match Jeff's suede vest he will be wearing. The vest was rush shipped to arrive before the wedding as we are getting close to the wire Amy from Rootsdown was extremely helpful and very sweet to help us ship quickly.

I found a belt on Cavender's website to go along with the theme of the groomsman's gifts belt buckles. I couldn't find an intial one like the other guys, but we found a cut cowboy one.

Daniel's mom, Mallory, who I also have to give a major THANK YOU to, found him brown cowboy boots, a cream shirt and jeans to wear. Mallory has been my liaison when we needed info on the flower girls.

He is going to be adorable. This is his first wedding he is in, and he's 2 so we can only hope he puts on a good show. If he's anything like my brother was when he was a ring bearer, he won't even make it down the aisle. I think the kids are adorable especially when they do the unpredictable in the ceremony.












Thursday, June 14, 2012

Finally getting to test drive my Cricut with chalkboard labels

I became obsessed with seeing the chalkboard labels everywhere and decided I could cut my own if I had a Cricut. I luckily received a Cricut Expression for Christmas, so we ordered 2 rolls of chalkboard vinyl online, which is about 20 yards. I wanted to make sure we had enough to cut 400 labels for our guests to have on their mason jars at the reception. I had to cut out 12" x 12" squares by using a scrapbook paper as my guide before putting the vinyl in the Cricut to cut out the labels.
rolls of chalkboard vinyls for labels, chalkboard vinyl rolls

After cutting out the 12" x 12" squares I put the vinyl on the mat and inserted in the feeder. I selected my label option Bookplt1 Shadow to cut 10 times.

vinyl chalkboard label cut by cricut

chalkboard label cut out design cricut

cricut manual label cut out

chalkboard label cricut expression

I began a system after the starting the Cricut up. I would cut my 12" x 12" piece while the Cricut cut out 10 labels, then I would switch them out and start again. 40 pieces later I had 400 labels ready to be placed on mason jars.







Wednesday, June 13, 2012

My Adorable Flower Girls

Trying to stick with the theme of getting dresses made, I found these cute dresses on Etsy, from England, but as time passed and we didn't order them right away, I began searching for other dresses. I found them on LaParisLaur's shop We ordered the Beautifu Natural Ivory Ruffle Dress with vintage lace and Flower. I ordered them in May and had them by June, she is located in Chicago so it wasn't too far to ship to Jefferson City. I had her ship them to me and then I shipped them to the flower girls in Tennessee so I could make sure they looked ok. I think Kimber and Addison look adorable in them.










Addison's dress was a little long so we had a family member remove the bottom layer as you can see in the last photo. Next to Addison is Daniel who looked so cute next to her we decided he should be the ring bearer. Talk about a last minute addition, we're now searching for him an outfit to match Jeff.

I asked how they liked the dresses and I was told they loved them and they felt really pretty. I'm so happy they loved them and they look adorable in their pink boots to match me. I can't wait to see them in person!

I'm going to make muslin fabric roses to put in their hair the day of the wedding to match their dresses.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cotton and Wheat Boutonnieres

Wanting to stay true to our country wedding theme, I was looking for something different than the traditional flower boutonnieres. Jeff had always talked about his mom growing up in Tennessee and picking cotton when she was younger so I thought that would be a cute addition to our wedding theme. Back in April I ordered the cotton bolls from Cottonman.com a cotton farm in North Carolina. He also sold wheat bundles, so I ordered a bundle of wheat. I bought a roll of jute from Joann's.

When they arrived, I searched ideas online to see what styles I liked and decided I wanted to do 3 pieces of wheat behind the cotton boll and wrap the jute around the stem. The key is to hot glue spots while you are wrapping the jute so it stays. I also glued the stems together and started wrapping from the top. I did two layers of jute wrapping on the stem so the pins were able to stay better.

These were fairly easy and I was able to make 20 of them pretty quickly.





Saturday, June 9, 2012

Personalized Hangers for the Bridesmaids

I decided that since I'm crafty I would go ahead and give this personalized hanger thing a try.

Supplies:
  • 14 guage galvanized wire, can be found at Home Depot (OOK- 100' ft for $6)
  • wood hangers, purchased from Target
  • needle nose pliers/ wire cutter, found a 3-in-1 tool at Joann's for $4
  • drill for holes to put wire in hanger
  • hot glue gun
  • patience and practice
I did a lot of searching online to look at how people did the letters, I practiced my sister's name, Olivia first because I figured it would be the most challenging. Once you decide to bend the wire, that is where you have to go with it, or start over. It is not forgiving and does not look pretty when you try to re-straighten it to start over.

This was definitely not a one night project. I ended up doing these over the course of a few weeks. I made them for my 10 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, my mom and my mother-in-law.

For the first time doing them, I'm satisfied with the way they turned out. I added the burlap rose to the top to give them a little something extra. *We did have some issues with the hot glue not holding the wire in the drilled holes. I would either wrap the wire around the hanger or try gorilla glue.

*Photos of dresses are from our fabulous photographer Stephen's Photography

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Jute Clutches for the Bridesmaids

After making tons of pink roses during my Bachelorette Mondays... I have 10 bridesmaids, so that meant rolling and twisting one pink rose for each clutch. I hot glued a pin to the back of the rose and let the glue dry before pinning it on the clutch.

I found the jute clutches at Hobby Lobby.




Monday, May 28, 2012

On Mondays I watch Bachelorette and make my own roses.

As we are getting closer to the wedding I decided that Mondays would be my night to watch Bachelorette, drink sweet tea out of my mason jar and make tons of fabric roses. Emily is my favorite and I'm so happy she's the new Bachelorette, so I was not going to miss this season.

I found a few tutorials online and took it from there. I started out making burlap roses by cutting 2 inches wide by 20 inches long strips of burlap, folding it in half while rolling and twisting the fabric. The trick is to put hot glue dots every few twists to keep it from coming apart. When I came to the end of I am using the burlap roses on the bridesmaid name hangers.


I went to Joann's and found some pink fabric that matched the bridesmaid dresses, so that I could make the other part of their gift, jute clutches with a pink rose attached in the middle. I used the same measurements as the burlap roses 2 inches wide by 20 inches long strips of fabric.





See the next few posts on the final bridesmaid gift projects.