Category Archives: random
Quilt… Check!
I’m happy to report that I’ve checked off “Make a Quilt” from my list of things to do someday. It’s not perfect by any means and I ended up spending more than I wanted and changing up my game plan a few dozen times. But, overall, I really like it and I’m mostly just happy to have it off my to do list! Pretty sure I won’t be making another one anytime soon. But if I do I already know that it will be on a much smaller scale! So, here it is!
Liv is quite happy with her “big blankie”. I meant to have it done when we switched her to the big girl bed, but it took me a bit longer to finish. Thankfully she didn’t freeze in the meantime. On the day that I did get it done I promptly picked out a coordinating outfit for Liv and hauled her and the quilt up to the loft to get some fun pictures.
In case you’re wondering, I got my main fabrics from etsy.com. It’s amazing how much stuff you can find on that site… Anyways, I ordered a Layer Cake which is 10″ pre-cut squares, and then some extra yardage of my favorite prints. It’s a line designed by Liz Scott for Moda Fabrics called Sugar Pop (visit her blog here and etsy shop here). When I first came across these fabrics online I knew I wanted to use them. I LOVE the color combos and the cute sorta retro yet organic patterns. For the back fabric I completely lucked out and found a nice match at JoAnn’s. It wasn’t my original intent to hand tie the quilt but it was sort of my only option and it does add a bit of a vintage touch.
Liv was in a fantastically cooperative mood this day and I was able to get so many awesome shots. Here’s a few more of her silly faces.
I have a quite a few cute sessions to get up on the blog soon, so please stop back soon!
back to the daily grind
Whew! Is it just me or does the holiday season seem to get busier every year? Between shopping, Christmas parties and traveling we are pooped! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families, I know we did! Now today we are back to the daily grind…well my hubby and I are back to the daily grind. The kids got to stay snuggled in their warm beds this morning as we got up and headed off to work! Now we are home and I am going to hit the couch. Good thing I was motivated enough yesterday to take down all of our Christmas decor so I can do just that! Well before I sign off I just thought I’d share the back of our Christmas card (yes, I got this great idea from the fabulous Ria!! hehe). This picture doesn’t really do our card justice since it was printed in a ornate shape, not just 5×7, but you get the idea! Now I am off to hit the couch for real. Have a great rest of the night!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Just thought I’d blog today to make sure all of you knew about the snow outside! Ha, as if you didn’t know! I know many of you are not liking this much at all, but I have to admit I love winter and so does my family, even the dog! Ok, I hate that winter is cold but I love the coziness of it! Anyone with me on this one?! Probably not…but I just had to share a picture of my kids outside in the first snowfall of the year…I love how Cooper is throwin snow up in the air and Kobey is standing there thinking “why am I outside with him right now??”!
Here’s to a short work week and safe travels! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Embrace yourself
If you’ve read my ”about me” page on the Tiny Sprout website then you probably already know that one of my favorite blogs lately is Ashley Ann’s Under the Sycamore. Earlier this month she had a guest blogger who touched on a topic that I feel pretty strongly about… And that is taking pictures WITH your kids… Yup, putting yourself in front of the camera instead of behind it. GULP! right??! So many mom’s just aren’t comfortable with this, they tell me they want to lose some weight first, or they’re worried about double chins, or that they just don’t like the way they look in photos. End of story… but that shouldn’t be the end of the story. Think of this from a different point of view, your child’s. Or think of this in regards to your own parents. Do you have many pictures of you growing up with your mom? Do you know what she looked like when you were just learning to walk? Or how happy she was when you would “help” her make cookies when you were 2? Or how you made her laugh by making silly faces when you were 3? Do you see what I’m getting at? I don’t think your babies are going to care about your double chin when they look back on their childhood photos 30 years from now. They are simply going to want a glimpse of day to day life with you, their mama.
So I urge you to embrace the camera! Follow that link and get inspired by Emily’s pictures with all of her cute kiddos. Join her every Thursday to see other mom’s also embracing the camera. If you have a blog and feel like sharing then you can add your photos to the mix! Here are a few of my favorite pictures with my baby. Although I already wish that I had more simply showing us just being together, laughing, tickling, coloring, chasing…
I love these ones that Ria took of us. Liv will randomly give me kisses on the cheek and it always melts my heart. And I know she won’t always be so willing to run into my open arms.
And here’s a picture of another lovely mama with her baby! You’ve probably already seen this one in On The Minds of Mom’s, but I just love it…
So, it’s time to get over your insecurities and get comfortable being in front of the lens. I don’t care if you take 458 pictures and only like one of them. At least you’ll be de-sensitizing yourself 
. We have no excuses! Our cameras are digital! At least our own moms can get away with the excuse of film. Remember, memory cards are cheap, memories of you with your kids are priceless.
Of course you can always set up a fun photo session for you and your babies with Tiny Sprout! We work hard to make moms look good! And I promise that you’ll always look beautiful when you’re relaxed and simply loving on your favorite little people. Sometimes the best photos are ones where no one is even looking at the camera. Take care!!
Happy (gorgeous) Friday!
Hi everyone! It’s so amazing outside today! Hope you’re all making the most of it. I just wrapped up a fun family session and can’t wait to edit them! So I wanted to share a couple things, the new issue of On The Minds of Mom’s is out and you’ll find our ad on page 42. Isn’t she a sweetie?! And you can also find my friends baby A in the shutterbug section .
I also wanted show you guys one of my recent craft projects for Liv.
I’m so pleased with how this tent turned out! And Liv loves playing in it. When she first got a chance to explore it she told me it was “pretty neat!!”. For those of you interested I followed this tutorial. And trust me, this tent is not perfect, you can’t see the folds and safety pins at the back! And since I’m not much of a sewer I was very thankful that the fabric on the bottom had nice straight horizontal lines to cut and sew along. That totally saved me as far as making the bottom even.
Have a great weekend everyone!
DIY Birthday Hat!
Some of you might recall Ria mentioning on her blog that I made my daughter’s birthday hat, you can see it in this post. I made one for her first birthday too and hope to continue making them for every birthday until she’s embarassed by it. I should be able to make it to atleast 7 right?? wishful thinking? Anyways, I wanted to show everyone how to make their own birthday hats because it’s pretty simple and you can customize them as much as your heart desires, or as little as your heart desires. The main reason I wanted to make my own for Liv was to make sure the hat coordinated with her outfits (yes I’m THAT mom) and because it was something special just for her. All you need are some fabric scraps or scrapbook paper, maybe some felt, maybe some sticky back foam, a hot glue gun, elastic cord and an empty cereal box. It helps if the kids are in bed and you can have a cold beverage nearby, but those aren’t requirements.
Don’t ask me why the pins are in this picture, I didn’t use them, I just thought they’d give the impression that I know what I’m doing… So, first things first, you’ll need a template. I used this one for the basic shape. Cut it out, grab a snack, and turn on some tunes. Then pull apart your cereal box and trace the template, it works great to line up the straight side with a straight edge.
Cut out the cardboard and pick your favorite fabric. I couldn’t wait to cut into this cute owl fabric. Of course you wouldn’t have to use fabric, you could use felt, or just scrapbook paper too. Or just spray paint it. But if you do the fabric you’ll want to cut it out so that there is an extra half inch around the edges. Then cut the corners at an angle and cut slits in by the tab.
Did you remember to plug in the hot glue gun? Sorry, I should have mentioned that at the same time as the snacks. So now we start gluing the fabric down. It’s best to start with the bottom curve part and put down an inch of glue, fold the fabric up, wait for it to set, then make a bit of a pleat to keep the fabric smooth. Hopefully you can see what I mean below. Just keep gluing and pleating through the curve and then glue the rest of the fabric around the edges. Pause for some chocolate.
Ok, now we need to start rolling it into the cone shape. The very top is the most reluctant to comply with this, just roll it tight and don’t be afraid to fold it a bit. Looks pretty good so far huh? But it needs a little something extra…
Everyone has orange pom-pom trim right?? No? Maybe? Well I had some, so why not. My glue gun had the pom-pom’s secured in no time. You could also add buttons along the bottom, or some ric rac, or just a felt strip. Lots of options here, pick one and go for it. Now we just need to add a number! It works best to print out your number and use that as a template. I cut mine out of foam that has a sticky back. Just had to peel the paper off the back and slap it on the hat.
Final step is to add your elastic cord, mark the spots right across from each other and cut out a couple of small rectangles from your cereal box. Guesstimate the length of your cord and get that cut. Then put some glue on the marks and sandwich your cord between the rectangles and the hat. Now admire your work, test it out, or see if the dog will test it. I happened to have a very cute newly-1 year old coming in to try my hat out . Thanks for modeling it baby G!
And here’s a close up look at Liv’s hat, I got a little bit carried away, but I love the little fabric yo-yo’s and buttons.
So that’s all there is to it! Hope you’re inspired to try it for your upcoming birthdays. And be sure to bring in your birthday star to model that one of a kind hat! Be on the look out for more from baby G’s session later this week.
Have you seen it???
Ok, so have you all seen the newest issue of OTMOM? If you haven’t, you need to check it out. The feature mom is an amazing woman with such a touching story. Plus, our tiny sprout ad made its debut. Thank you to baby Grant for being our tiny sprout supermodel! Casie and I also shoot for OTMOM, so you can check out more of our work in the mag, and make sure to look for another one of our little models in the “shutterbug” section, stud-muffin Jett.
