LauraBell and Lisa Bob

Back to School!

2010-10-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

The kids started back at school a couple weeks ago. They go to a pre-school at a church down the street from their Nana. I'm lucky enough to be able to take them in the mornings and she picks them up in the afternoons. Here's a couple pics from their first day...

They LOVE going to school!

(And, I'll get pictures of Petra's birthday party up soon, promise!!! My camera battery died, so I had to borrow my mil's and I keep forgetting to get the pics off her camera!!!)

~lisa

Birthday presents and STL art fair

2010-09-12T20:52:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm sure Lisa will be posting soon about Little Miss Petra's birthday, which was last weekend. Sadly, L and I were unable to go down for the festivities, but I have been working on some very special gifts for a special girl!

First, I made Petra her own Princess Bean Bags!

But the big gift is this fun poodle skirt! Petra's party was Fancy Nancy themed. I had never heard of Fancy Nancy ... but the sticker on her invitation showed her in a poodle skirt ... with a pink bow and pink tulle underneath. I thought, "I can make that!" Lisa pointed out later that Petra's nickname is Petra Poodle ... so it's perfect!

I followed the directions I found online (at a number of blogs), but it looks really huge. I hope it fits!

Finally, L and I went to an art fair today, Art Outside at Schlafly Bottleworks, and we came home with these two beauties, the first items in Louisa's art collection:

They were made by friends of ours, Carmelita Nunez and Daniel Shown, a wonderful couple who do amazing art. They are known as Kung Fu Chicken. Carmelita's ceramics are To Die For, and Dan's mixed media pieces are so interesting and beautiful. The art fair was wonderful; I feel so lucky to be in a city where local and regional artists are embraced!

Hope your weekend was filled with everyday beauty.

Love,
LauraBell

Kids' Rooms

2010-08-11T19:56:00.001-05:00

OK, I tried this the other day and messed up... so here we go again!

Gia's Bee-utiful Nursery...

Dax and Petra didn't have "themed" rooms,

but I found this bedding on Ebay and thought it was totally adorable!!!

The crib was Dax's, we're probably going to move Petra's white crib in here someday.

Gia has a closet, but we use it for storage, so I had to bring in a plastic dresser.

I don't mind it, it serves it's purpose!

The rocker is from Dax's nursery. I was going to slipcover it, but I kind of like the blue, it breaks up all the yellow, black, and white. Still need to get a lamp, too.

Bulletin board I made for her.

Here's the before. $0.50 at a garage sale!!

A cute sign I painted. I cut out the letters using my Cricut, they're vinyl.

Sign before. Also from the same garage sale and only $0.25!!

My sweet girl's loooong name!

I made the letters using wooden circles from Hobby Lobby that I painted white. I cut the black and white paper out using my Cricut and mod-podged them onto the circles. The letters are also from Hobby Lobby, I painted them the same yellow as the walls. Then I just hot glued the ribbon and bumblebees on. I think the bumblebees are from Michael's.

The chair is from my mother, as well as the glass bee hive... love it!!

Just in case you didn't know... it's Gia's Room!!

And now for Petra's Princess Room...

Her new "big girl" bed. I may finish painting those doors one day... then again, I may not :)

They love her bed!!

I made Petra and Dax tents.

Petra picked LPS... I think she just liked the colors, I'm not sure she even knows what LPS is!

Laura and I painted that dresser when Petra was a baby :)

This is where her crib used to be.

*before*

Petra's crib

{one day when they decided to throw all of Petra's toys in her crib... fun!}

The other corner of her room.

{Yes, her crib is still in there... I'm *patiently* waiting for John to get it out!}

Her toys, all nice and neat!!

{That probably lasted for 2.2 seconds...}

And finally... the Boy's Room...

As I've mentioned before... he LOVES dinosaurs!! I found this bedding on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond and I had a 20% off coupon. I think it was about $35... sweet!!

Dax picked out Toy Story 3 for his tent. Here is the link of how to make them... very easy!!

Dax's closet, toys, and such.

There are Gia's clothes, since she has no room in her closet!

Drop cloth curtains.

I mod-podged the letters for his name and got the dinosaurs at Hobby Lobby.

The cords are for his fish tank. Probably not the safest way to do it... probably should fix that...

I love the cute little pillow it came with!

THE END!

~LisaBob

catching up...

2010-08-05T18:51:00.001-05:00

Those of you who are ~~crazy~~ blessed like me to have three babies in four years knows that keeping up with milestones on the third one is almost impossible, but I'm trying my best!!!

And as of yesterday...

This little sweetie is definitely keeping us on our toes!

She's rolling over, talking up a storm, and making us laugh everyday.

Can't get enough of her!!!

~LisaBob

Shhhh...

2010-07-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

~LisaBob

Why reinvent the wheel?

2010-07-18T21:38:00.008-05:00

I've been planning a baby quilt for my niece, Gia. Planning in a very passive kind of way. More like, planning to plan. I've made patchwork tied quilts for Dax and Petra and Louisa. Each one is a little bit different, and for Gia's I wanted to do an appliqued "G" in the center, kind of based off of the quilt pattern in V & Co's shop.

Isn't it adorable? But, like I said, my quilts are tied, not quilted, and my pieces were larger. Really, I was just inspired to do the center applique, but I loved the overall look of this quilt.

When I was in Texas, Lisa and I went out and bought the material, a beautiful collection of soft rose prints, with some blue and yellow accents. Just gorgeous. And this weekend I finally decided to start the quilt.

After about an hour I had gotten to this point:

Note the extensive scribbling, and the sheer confusion, as well as super obvious things like "5.5" writen umpteen times. I am not so good at things like remembering seam allowances and the like. The truth is, Petra's and Louisa's quilts are each successively smaller than Dax's because I meaured the squares but forgot seam allowances! Twice!!!

So, after an hour of this, I had put Louisa down for her nap and decided to go to the V & Co blog to see if I could figure anything out from looking at the picture. I went to the shop and found the pattern. $6. Seriously? I had just wasted a lot of time and mental energy getting nowhere. So I bought it! And then I picked up my book and plopped on my bed feeling very satistied with myself!

Can't wait to get the pattern and start working on it! I'll post about it when I'm done.

Hope you're taking the opportunity to relax this weekend and this summer, too!

xoxo,
LauraBell

4th of July Decor... and More!

2010-07-05T21:51:00.002-05:00

Since my family doesn't get to travel down to Texas that often, I thought I would post some pictures of my house, particularly my 4th of July decorations. I REALLY love Americana decor. I put it out for Memorial Day and leave it up all summer until Labor Day. I just love the colors and stars are my most favorite shape.

(Am I the only one who has a favorite shape??? Is that weird??)

Anyhoo... here is one side of my living room. This is my most favorite area of my house. John told me one day he wanted to buy a fish tank and put it on the black dresser. I about died!!!

Some stories behind some of my stuff...

The big clock was a surprise gift from my hubby. For some reason it stopped keeping time. I've changed the batteries like 10 times and it still doesn't work. I think it's about 5 hours behind at this point. Oh well, it still looks good!

I got the chair and large chalkboard from my mother-in-law and spray painted them red.

The dresser was my husband's when he was younger. He painted it black for me and I changed out the pulls and stenciled the numbers...LOVE IT!!

I also spray painted the red picture frame and mod-podged the small chalk board.

And for the big elephant in the room... the popcorn machine. It was my father-in-law's and my husband brought it home one day. I didn't like it at first, but once I incorporated it into my decor it's one of my favorite things. {And, it helps that John makes awesome popcorn from it!!}

Oh... and that obscenely large lamp? Hate it... I'm just waiting to find one that I love that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

And now on to my mantle, which is also in my living room...

I painted the picture frame and the big circle thing and mod-podged the star.

I got the circle plate with the bow from my mother-in-law {she gives me lots of cool stuff!} You write on it with dry-erase markers, LOVE IT!!

The blue plate is from my Fiesta collection and I just cut out the letters from white contact paper using my Cricut.

And the Home Sweet Home sign I got from Hobby Lobby in the clearance section.

And now for my most favorite decorations of all....

My Cutie-Pies!!! I made all of their outfits. It's becomming sort of an obsession of mine, to make them matching outfits. I also made one like Petra's for Louisa.

Eventhough we're far apart, cousins need to match, too!!

Here's a close-up of the girls clothes.

I'm going to do a tutorial soon on the skirt and onesie dress. I have to make more because I didn't take pictures while I was making these. I know, GASP!!!

I told John the other day that I dread the day my kids tell me they don't want to wear my home-made matching outfits anymore...

it will be a sad, sad day for this Mommy!!

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful Independence Day!!!

~LisaBob

Easy summer skirt tutorial

2010-07-02T21:10:00.007-05:00

I hesitate to call this a tutorial, because it really is so simple. It's more of "how I made a skirt."

Today I went to this big fabric store, Jackman Fabrics, near where I work. I've been wanting to check it out for awhile. I was browsing around, and I saw this material in the remnants bin. Jackman's is a bit more pricy than, say JoAnn's, because they have really nice materials. This was 3/4 of a yard, for $3.66! I picked it up and decided it would make a very cute skirt for me.

The width of the material was only 45 inches, so it didn't make a particularly full skirt. If you wanted it fuller, you would get 2+ yards and then cut it long-ways to the length you want.

The only other supply I needed was 1 yard of 2-inch elastic. Of course, if your waist size is larger than 34 inches or so, you'll need a bit more.

The beginning is so simple I didn't document it. First, even up your fabric. I ended up having to take off about 2 inches because it was cut a bit crooked. Then sew your material together so you have a big tube. Finish the inside seam, if you want.

Next, create the casing for the elastic. As I said, my elastic was 2 inches wide. I folded down 1/4 inch and pressed, then did 2 1/4 over again. It's a VERY good idea to measure this as you go. If you get it too small, it can be very frustrating.

Then edgestitch your casing. Here's a secret of mine: I never pin unless absolutely necessary. I detest pinning and having them lying around with my cat and daughter just makes me nervous. But I've found that if you spray your material with spray starch before you iron your casing, it stays really well & pins are unnecessary.

When you sew your casing down, remember to leave open several inches for inserting the elastic!

Next, cut your elastic. Figure out where you'll wear the skirt. I decided to measure my natural waist, even though I'll probably wear it a bit down on my hips. Leave about 1 in overhang for sewing.

Grab a safety pin, and pull your elastic through the casing. I recommend safety pinning the two edges together and fully inserting it into the casing, then trying it on. I do this with my daughter too. I have a tendency to overestimate the elastic, which was the case tonight as well. After trying it on, I decided to cut off another inch or so.

When you sew the elastic, use a zig-zag stitch for strength. I usually do a straight stitch first to stabilize it.

Insert the elastic and sew closed the opening you left. Then try it on again & determine your hem. My material was plenty short, so I just pressed over a 1/2 inch an then another inch and sewed.

All done!

I can't wait to wear it! And I made no errors while making it, so I was really happy! Total cost of this project was only $3.66 for the material and $1.89 for the elastic: Total = $5.55!

I bought another yard of elastic for another skirt sometime soon. These are so nice for summer: cute, cool, and casual!

I need to do another round-up post soon. I've been sewing LOTS for Lousia and a few things for myself as well. I plan to get a few more things done over the holiday weekend too!

Best wishes for a happy 4th!

xoxo,

LauraBell

Potty training at its finest...

2010-07-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

Petra: Mommy! I went pee-pee and poo-poo on the potty!!

Me: Great Job! Did you flush?

P: Yes!

M: Did you wipe?

P: Ummm... kinda. I couldn't reach the toilet paper, so I used a towel. Is that ok?

M: Which towel did you use?

P: Uh...I can't remember.

Guess I'll be washing a load of towels this evening...

~LisaBob

Summer Checklist

2010-06-22T17:47:00.001-05:00

I've been seeing these 'Summer Checklists' all over blogland, so I thought well, we'll just make one, too! I mean, they're right up my alley...

a list - LOVE IT!

teaching my kids about accomplishing goals - LOVE IT!

getting to use my cute black & white polka-dot clipboard - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!

As you can see, before I was able to take a picture of our checklist the kids already wanted to do some of the activities, so off we went!

One of the first things we did was...

Dax and Petra like to watch me sew. Well, most of the time they don't have a choice since my sewing machine table is in the kitchen, but they still enjoy it! They always want to "help" me, so I thought I would teach them some basics about sewing. Dax really took a liking to it, Petra... not so much, but she did do a little bit.

Using my Cricut, I cut out a bunch of shapes from old boxes and punched holes along the sides.

We talked about the shapes and wrote the names of each shape on the back.

We went to our favorite store, Hobby Lobby, and each kiddo got to pick their favorite color of yarn and needles. Dax picked green and Petra picked purple.

We came back home and got to work!

They really enjoyed it and we've done it a few more times since then. I promise, Dax liked it eventhough his face looks like he doesn't. He's just at this phase where he can't smile for the camera... I'm trying to be patient :)

Stay tuned for more Summer Checklist Items to come!!!!

~LisaBob

VBS

2010-06-20T13:31:00.001-05:00

Dax and Petra went to Vacation Bible School for the first time this summer.

They had a lot of fun!!

They danced...

posed for pictures...

did a little sleeping...

(it was from 6-8pm, which was kind of late for my kiddos!!!)

Gia came too, and just looked adorable...

danced some more...

(Dax was still sleeping here :)

did some crafts...

(I'm not sure why they tried to get little kids who can't even tie their shoes to try to tie blankets, but whatever)

ran some relay races...

and played in the nursery while big brother and sister were in their classrooms...

They all had a great time, it was a nice break from being home with mommy all day!!

~LisaBob

Family Visit

2010-06-15T14:01:00.002-05:00

Great-Grandma Gernentz, Grandma Reum, Auntie Laura, & Louisa came down for a visit a few weeks ago. It was so much fun, but like all visits, it was way too short!

Here are some pictures from their trip...

We tried to get a group picture of all the grandkids, this was the best we could do! Don't you love their outfits??? They're from Gma & Gpa Reum... so cute!!

Swim time! The kids couldn't figure out how to slide down the Slip 'N Slide, so John just threw them down!

Louisa was soooooo funny with the water!

We had to do some painting!

And now it's bath time!

I always like to do something educational, so we went to the Aquarium.

Of course, we had to go to Kemah!

Laura and Louisa had already flown back to STL at this point :(

We love you guys and can't wait to see you again!!!!

~LisaBob

Happy Birthday Dax!

2010-05-23T22:17:00.004-05:00

This goofy boy turned 4 on Saturday.

We took cupcakes to school last week because his last day of school was the 13th.

Dax loves to help in the kitchen. He requested green cupcakes, his favorite color.

The dinosaur cupcakes, in all their home-made glory!

I love Dax's school. His teacher is so nice and all the kids are little sweeties!

We did presents and cake on Saturday...

Opening gifts from Mommy, Daddy, Petra, & Gia.

The white soccer ball and red uniform shirt were gifts from my step-brother and his family. They are living in Germany right now and were so sweet to send Dax a gift.

He loved the uniform and wore it all day.

Blowing out his birthday candles.

He stuck the candles in the cake himself, he wanted them close together for maximum "blow-out-all-at-once" potential.

On Sunday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's...

Apparently when you turn 4 you are too cool to look at the camera and give your momma a nice smile.

HA! Got one! Although I'm pretty sure he was smiling at the game and not me, but I'll take it!

His birthday party will be this Saturday. We waited a week for my family to get here. My mom, Grandma, sister and niece are driving down. We can hardly wait for them to get here!!!!

Dax at 4...

is the best big brother to two lucky girls,

loves all animals, especially dinosaurs, (as evidenced by his massive toy dino collection, his bedroom decor, and 80% of his wardrobe)

is obsessed with letters and numbers and can already read a handful of words,

is very polite and respectful, but knows how to be a total goof-ball, too,

loves to tell made-up knock-knock jokes (that we rarely get, but laugh at anyway)

has gotten very good at talking on the phone, especially to Grandma Reum,

and is the most wonderful son that any two parents could ask for :)

I love you, buddy!! Happy Birthday!!

~LisaBob

A yummy evening ...

2010-05-17T21:57:00.006-05:00

I had a very good evening.

Louisa went to bed, without crying, at 7:30.

Then I worked on this project, which I've been planning for weeks:

This is Dana's shirt dress tutorial from MADE. I had always wanted to try it, but it seemed over my ability. Inspired by Rhiannon, I got a hold of this awesome man's shirt in 2x. Seriously, I made a dress for an 18-month-old, I have SO much leftover fabric. I decided to skip the waist band since L really doesn't have a "waist" yet, just a huge baby belly. Actually, I don't even know if it will fit her, but it's so cute, I don't care. :)

Now I'm having a Newcastle and enjoying something else I made tonight:

YUM. A friend at work brought in some frozen blackberries from last summer, enough for a mini-cobbler. Yes, this is my third bowl. Yes, I will probably eat the whole thing myself, although I should probably share with my daughter and said friend who donated the berries. I suppose ...

Hope you had a delicious evening too!

xoxo
LauraBell

First LBB dress and other stuff ...

2010-05-13T20:41:00.006-05:00

Well, I finally broke down and ordered the Sienna dress pattern. I've been eyeballing it for months, and envying the dresses Rhiannon was making. I just couldn't take it any longer!

Here's my first attempt:

I kinda forgot that the bottom was meant to be open ended, so I cut off my material at the bottom of the pattern piece, and then needed to add some length, but I LOVE the pink trim! I thought the collar turned out great!

The pattern was SO easy and fun to do. I can't wait to experiment with different patterns and colors. I made this one as simple as possible for my first attempt.

I also wanted to post a couple pics from this past weekend. Louisa and I were up home visiting family for Mother's Day. Rhiannon and I took our kids to the local DQ for lunch and when we got in her car, I spotted this pin (I think it was in her cup holder):

I promptly snatched it and told her I was going to borrow it for our trip to DQ, when she said "Just take it!" YES!!! I'm not sure if it's clear from her blog 2 Many Ideas, but Rhiannon has GREAT style. I could make 40 of these suckers and none would turn out as cute, but she just whips one up, lickety-split, and it's the cutest thing you've ever seen.

THEN, she hands me another little cutie:

She just had a Ziploc bag full of these lovelies in her car! She randomly pulled out an orange one, which I thought was perfect with L's red hair.

Thanks, Rhi! You made my Mother's Day! :)

xoxo,

LauraBell

Grandpa Roger

2010-05-12T11:02:00.009-05:00

I love this guy.

He loves farming. And he's pretty good at it, I think.

He was in the paper this week. Kinda exciting! Read about farmer Roger Reum HERE.

(He will think I'm extremely silly for posting this!)

xoxo,

LauraBell

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T19:41:00.001-05:00

Me and the Goobers, Mother's Day morning

Mother's Day gift from Petra. Soooo sweet!!!

Mother's Day gifts from Dax, he planted the flower himself at school, love it!

Also from Dax I got a Mother's Day Cookbook from his class.

The teacher asked each child what their favorite meal was that their mom cooked,

where she got the food, how she cooked it, etc.

She recorded their answers in an adorable cookbook.

Here is Dax's recipe for Macaroni and Cheese...

I can just picture him telling his teacher about 100 Macaroni
(btw... I have no idea what that is, I buy Kraft!)

His three favorite passions in life are dinosaurs, letters, and numbers, so this is no surprise!
Love that kid!!!

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful day today!!!

LisaBob

Summer Sewing Roundup

2010-05-02T16:09:00.019-05:00

Believe it or not, I have not dropped off the face of the Earth this spring. I've just been chasing around a 16-month-old nonstop! Actually, I've managed to do quite a bit of sewing as well, but taking decent photographs has been a lot harder to accomplish. This weekend I photographed a few things I've done in the past 6 weeks or so and I'm rounding them all up in this post!

First, I made this skirt after my cousin, Megan, blogged about the tutorial. I love this fabric, which I got at Hobby Lobby. It's perfect with my spring sweaters! I goofed up the directions ... um, I mean ... made some alterations to the pattern. In the end it turned out great!

These are just some easy t-shirt pants I made for L from some old baggy shirts I had lying around. Grey = old boyfriend shirt. Purple = ugly shirt from a 5k I ran a few years back. Pink = old family reunion T. All three are much cuter and more useful as play pants for Louisa! Check out the little applique on her bum ...

I made this apron after seeing a similar one at 3 Sweet P's. The red and white polka dot material was just TOO me. That ruffle around the edge? That was an 84 inch piece of material ruffled down to less than half that length. UGH, took forever, but I love those ruffles!

Speaking of adorable ruffles, I HAD to make these ruffle scarves when I saw the tutorial on MADE. TOO cute, and just my style. Perfect for when you're freezing in the AC, as I always am. My coworkers think I'm nuts because I have to keep a space heater on under my desk during the summer. The striped one is seersucker, and I just zig-zagged the edges to leave it kind of unfinished looking. The white one has a beautiful red and pink embroidery on it. I actually took the time to hem the edges. I love it with a black t-shirt or cardigan.

For several months, I've been wanting new curtains for L's room. The pattern is a bit hard to see with the light shining in, but it's a green and pink paisley. I have some extra materials so I'm debating adding a ruffle to the top. I need to make some tie-backs too. Next on my list for her room is to cover the rocking chair cushions and paint her dresser pink!

And using the OLD curtain material, I made this! My mom sent me the link to this adorable handbag from Martha Stewart's website. Totally easy and fun. I made the interior red, which is my favorite part. In retrospect, I wish I would have added a cell phone pocket and a button closure. Next one I make will have those. Also, the pattern called for assymetrical handles; I made them both long, but they're kind of an awkward length. Not long enough to go over my shoulder. May have to continue to experiment with that also.

Also planned for the old curtains is another skirt for me!

Note how I was running out of energy for "good" photos!

Finally, I decided to brighten up my bedroom with some fun red fabric on my bed-side table, which might be the ugliest bed-side table ever. Beggars can't be choosers, right mom? :) My old cover was pink, but I'm planning to use it in L's room. I needed a coaster so I decided to try out Cheryl's quilted coaster tutorial at a pretty cool life. And I LOVE it! I am a sucker for quilting. The tutorial called for thin fusible batting, which I didn't have, so I used felt and it worked great. Super fun. :)

That photo was taken by Rhiannon!! It's my favorite of me with baby L. :)

Close up of the quiling:

Whew! That's a lot of sewing! I have some more fun items planned: the blue floral skirt for me and some fun things for L. I bought two girl's dress patterns and I also really, really, really want to try the girl's dress from a man's dress shirt that Rhiannon is so fond of (also from MADE).

Stay tuned!

Love,

LauraBell

Finally... A Baby Post!!

2010-04-24T18:51:00.000-05:00

Giavanna Lorraine arrived on Easter Sunday at 7:49pm, weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 inches long. I had scheduled an induction date for April 8th, but she didn't want to wait that long! We were actually on our way to John's mom's house for Easter lunch when we had to make a detour to the hospital. I was just going to get checked out because I had a little bleeding that morning, but at about 1:00 I started getting contractions and about 7 hours later she arrived!!!

This was right after Gia was born. I think we were still in shock at how everything went that day!!!

The past three weeks have been fun and exhausting at the same time. Dax and Petra are loving Baby Gia... sometimes a little too much, but they are adjusting well.

I love this picture of Gia and Petra at the hospital. This is exactly how Petra is all the time with her. She wants to hold her, feed her, change her diaper, everything... she's quite the little Mommy!!!

All three kiddos in their brother/sister shirts. This was my first attempt at freezer paper stenciling. I love it! It's sooooo easy! I'll post a tutorial soon (ya know...when I'm not making a bottle, changing a diaper, doing the laundry, washing dishes, etc, etc, etc...)

Hopefully once things settle down around here and I get into some sort of routine I'll be able to post more. I have one more week of maternity leave and then back to work. I'll only be there for about 5 weeks until school is out, though, so it shouldn't be too bad.

I hear someone calling me... gotta go!!!

:)lisa

Easter Weekend in Illinois

2010-04-05T21:17:00.004-05:00

I thought I better get my Easter weekend pictures up before Lisa gets home from the hospital and starts monopolizing the blog with her baby pics. :) Here are some of my favorite snapshots of my favorite girl.

Visiting the new calves at the farm:

Playing with Lily and Nolan at Grandpa and Grandma Slown's house:

Easter finery:

So excited to be in the driver's seat! I made L's Peep Dress from a t-shirt I had on hand. I used the peep image found here. Megan made a shirt for little A as well!

My beautiful girl. We were at Rhiannon and Jason's farm and it was great weather. Lucky us. :)

I hope your weekend was as lovely.

xoxo

LauraBell

Welcome Baby Gia!

2010-04-04T21:36:00.003-05:00

Hurray!

Lisa had her little baby this evening, Giavanna Lorraine. At least I think that's the name; I forgot to ask! She was 7 lb, 6 oz, 20 inches. And she looks great! I'll let Lisa post her pics. I only saw a couple camera shots tonight, but I'm sure she'll be snapping away tomorrow.

Louisa and I just got back from spending the long weekend in Illinois with my family. It was really nice and beautiful weather for such an early Easter weekend! I'll post some highlights in the next day or two. For now, I'm wiped out and have a ton of organizing and unpacking to do before bed!

Welcome spring!

2010-03-31T20:53:00.003-05:00

I was so happy to take off from work an hour early and head to the park with Louisa today. It was beautiful ... warm and breezy ... and our local park is exploding with just stunning flowers. I do not consider myself a very good photographer, but I wanted to share the beauty of our afternoon.

I hope you are all enjoying warmer weather and nature's beauty as well.

LauraBell

When all else fails, sew ...

2010-03-23T21:25:00.005-05:00

I received an email from my cousin Megan recently. She and I have both gone through difficult and somewhat similar experiences over the past year and we are both struggling to hang on to our sanity at times. I told her I was really struggling the last couple of weeks, and she said she's been sewing more. I think I may have been doing that over the past year, but not really realizing it. Sometimes when I'm just overwhelmed and depressed and feel like my burdens will never be lightened, it just feels good to make something, even if it's nothing special.

Normally I wouldn't call this blog worthy, but given the past couple weeks it's kind of a miracle I got this finished at all. Heck, I consider it a small miracle getting out of bed some days. So, here it is. A little St. Pat's bandana-style dress I made for Louisa. I took a half yard of cute fabric, cut it in half and sewed up the sides. I hemmed the arm holes and the bottom, and made a channel for some ribbon to create a neckline.

A 15 month old toddler will make anything look cute. :)

Next year I think I'll use the same material to make a skirt or a fancier dress. If I can find it. :)

I'm also working on a little t-shirt easter dress. Hope to have that done and posted this weekend.

I'm thankful for my little girl's smiles, for friends (and cousins) who will listen, and for the satisfaction of creating something. Oh, and red wine and chocolate cake. Those help too.

LauraBell

Our Art Caddy

2010-03-10T12:58:00.003-06:00

I have been seeing these art caddies all over blogland, so over Christmas break I thought I would give it a shot. It's a take on the Pottery Barn Lazy Susan with Mini Buckets that costs $49. Now, I love Pottery Barn, but that's not happening anytime soon!!

Supplies:

Lazy Susan - WalMart

White Spray Paint - WalMart

7 Buckets - Hobby Lobby (party section)

Gorilla Glue - WalMart

I spray painted the lazy susan, I think it took about 4-5 coats, and glued the buckets on with the Gorilla Glue. It was actually the first time I used Gorilla Glue, that stuff is strong!!!

The kids use it all the time, it's extremely sturdy! We keep it under our coffee table in the living room and they just grab what they need when they need it!

Here are some action shots of them using their new art caddy.

I traced their bodies and they went to town coloring them.

The finished products...

And... in case you're wondering... that's supposed to be a Brontosaurus on Dax's shirt.

I may be crafty, but an artist... not so much :)

LisaBob

BLACK???

2010-03-07T14:55:00.005-06:00

You are not going to believe this!

I took what I thought was going to be a really neat color quiz at True Value Paint. I saw it on another blog and thought I'd go see what my color is! I figured red, or maybe pink, possibly blue or aqua ... something cute and fun and bright. But apparently I am ... BLACK! I'm just shocked because I don't really wear that color much (cat hairs, baby drool, I'm just a mess most of the time), although my mother always says I look nice in it ... after she lint rolls me. I certainly don't decorate with it. I never even really considered it! Here is my description:

Nothing can stand between you and your demand for a calm environment. To be free of conflict and disagreement is the only way to live. In fact, it’s this philosophy that probably allows you to be comfortable in conditions that would normally bother others. Your ability to focus is undisputed, and while you enjoy attention, you still have problems understanding how to handle it. No other color out lives by the golden rule as much as you do.

Um, does anyone else get that? Or, much less, think "Laura" when they read it? :)

What is your color??

There's a big old owl in the tree, in the tree...

2010-03-04T19:46:00.008-06:00

Recently, I emailed Lisa that I was in love with these owls from the Pottery Barn kids catalog.

Are they not the cutest? I am seeing owls all over these days, from clothing, to jewelry, to stuffed toys. Our Grandmom loved owls and she used to sing this song:

There's a big old owl, in the tree, in the tree. And he sits quite still all the day.

And his big, brown eyes stare at you and at me, in the most surprising way.

And when all the world goes to sleep at night ...

And there isn't a single ray of light ...

Mr. Owl wakes up, spreads his wings for flight.

Who! Whoo! Says the owl, in the tree.

Of course, leave it to Lisa. A couple weeks later, she sends me this link! Emily at Toad's Treasures loved the owls too and she did the dirty work of coming up with a similar pattern. :)

I altered my owl a bit; I made the eyes smaller than the pattern, and I used my fabric differently. I wanted the owl to have a dark material on the back and a light one on the front. I wanted her to be sweet, but not too cutesy. Here are the materials I chose:

I loved this brown paisley! I made sure to fold the material on the pattern when I cut out the back. I love how it looks!

I cut out the eyes and beak from felt I had, and sewed them on, using a zig zag stich. I actually used fabric glue to attach the blue eye parts. I love the pink beak!

I cut out some felt claws and cut and sewed the wings togther. Then I pinned it all onto the front of the owl:

I pinned the back on top of this, sewed around all sides, leaving the space between the claws open, and flipped her inside out. CUTE!

Then I spent a few minutes trying to remember where I put my stuffing ... OH yeah ... in THERE! Yes, that TV is as heavy (and old) as it looks.

After much grunting and moving and putting things back, I stuffed the owl and hand stitched her closed. And here she is:

Sweetest little owl ever! I named her Lenna for Grandmom.

:)
LauraBell

Per Request...

2010-03-01T12:02:00.002-06:00

Some people have been asking to see my belly, so here you go!

34 weeks pregnant, only 6 more to go... woo hoo!!!

When I was pregnant with Dax I did all of the monthly pictures and with Petra I took a few, but with my third pregnancy taking pictures of my belly seems to be last thing on my list!

This day, though, Petra and I were on our way to a bridal shower, so I grabbed my hubby and had him snap a photo. Petra looked so cute in her new dress and sparkly princess shoes. She even picked out her hair bow, a giant pink flower... that's my girl!!!

And here's a shot of her at the shower...eating, of course... silly girl!!!

Gluttony

2010-02-26T14:11:00.004-06:00

So ... I have a sweet tooth. BAD. Today I've had absolutely no success at controlling my urges for these:

The humble do-si-do. Courtesy of Girl Scouts of America. And I'm about to finish my first plastic tube of cookies, which I received approximately 5 hours ago. Good thing I only ordered one box.

Thank you, Girl Scouts.

Felt heart t-shirt

2010-02-22T19:57:00.010-06:00

I love following craft blogs and trying to create some of the cute ideas I see on them. But I do sometimes get frustrated when the craft projects rely on some really awesome random purchase or when the blogger makes a project from items just lying around the house. But today, I did a cute craft using a random cheap buy and items around my house! Yes! I feel like a true blogger now. Time for you all to be jealous!

I was at Target the other day (this will be the beginning of many a post) and I saw these:

They were only $1.50!!! And L is needing long sleeved T's. So even though they were 18-24 mo, I got 3. This pink one, a purple one, and a pink/yellow/orange striped on. I figured, for $1.50 I could make a craft project out of it and not worry if I goofed it up. :)

On to the random items at my house:

A while (?) ago, my friend Winter gave me a lovely gift of some gorgeous amber-colored pearl earrings. She is simply adorable and always presents gifts in the same manner. These earrings she had put in a heart shaped box. She had cut out a piece of felt in the shape of the heart and pinned the earrings through it. Isn't that the cutest idea? Anyway, I saved the box and the felt. It was just literally lying around my living room because L likes to play with stuff like that.

Next, ages ago I purchased a stationery kit, the kind where you get blank cards and some embellishments and you're supposed to create your own cards. Yeah, not so much. I found the stickers recently and had them out. It came with several pink ribbon stickers. When Mom was visiting, she stuck one on L's hair (which is still too short and fine for real bows). It was so cute! But the sticky wore off, and it became just another item lying around the house.

OK, long story, I know. I need to learn how to sum up. Here is the summary:

A really cute t-shirt embellishment!

Here's what I did and it was really, really easy:

I cut out double-sided interfacing in the shape of my piece of felt.

I ironed on the felt and then zig-zag stitched around the heart with hot pink thread (fun!).

I pinned on the ribbon and then stitched along the sides of the middle square. I used a really small stitch and went up and back 3 times to make it secure.

All done! Isn't it cute?! I am so pleased .... Time for a photo shoot with my little boo-boo.

Hmmm. Probably not a good idea to try to take a pic of a little baby at bed time. PLUS, right after this I realized she had a huge blow-out. UGH. but isn't her shirt adorable! And not too big, either!

This would have been really cute for valentine's day. It would be really easy to make one for St. Pat's. Have fun!

LauraBell :)

Student of the Week

2010-02-19T23:14:00.001-06:00

Dax was student of the week this past week at pre-k. We had to make a poster with pictures of him on it and he was allowed to bring something for show and tell. Of course, he picked his favorite dinosaur that Santa brought him for Christmas. I was told that the class fed him pizza for lunch... how cute!!

LisaBob

2010-02-18T14:10:00.001-06:00

A collage of some of L's 1 year photos.

This was the afternoon of her 1 year party, so she was pretty wiped out, and she was also getting over a cold. So she has a serious look in most of the shots. But they're so sweet. These were taken by our very talented cousin, Rhiannon. Check out her work here.

Happy birthday, Baby Loosie!

Baby Gia's Room

2010-02-17T20:13:00.001-06:00

Baby Gia will be here in about 8 weeks! It's still hard to believe we will be a family of 5!! I've been busy working on her room, but still have a ways to go...obviously...

I'm in the process of painting her room yellow, as well as her armoire. I started by painting the panels white and then taped them off to paint the rest yellow.

It was looking soooo cute, until I took the tape off...big bummer!! I guess I should have used primer first, lesson learned! (I'll be touching that up this weekend)

I have her curtains and her bedding should be here this Friday. I got her entire bedding set for only $49.99 on Ebay, sooooo excited!!! That's actually the first item I've ever won on Ebay, so I'm completely thrilled! I don't have a picture of the bedding, but I'll post it when I get it. This is a little sneak peak of the curtains.

I love the bumblebees, so adorable!!!

LisaBob