Before I knew that this little guy would be a boy, I was excited about the prospect of ruffles, bows, lace, and other types of adornment. And when I found out I was going to have a little boy, I also found out that...

there's not much cute stuff out there for little boys.

So now that I have a little girl and have started making things for babies and little children, I am trying to take little boys into consideration (or rather, I'm taking the mommies of little boys into consideration). I recently posted a bunch of new items to my Etsy shop and I'm even giving ebay a try. We'll see how it goes. Here are some photos of my handsome baby boy burp cloths:

Sometimes David feels a little left out with all the Keeley hair bow excitement, so I told him I'd make him something. I'm thinking that bowties are at the top of my list for this reason. So, hopefully I'll have some of those added to the shop before long too. I have already made a bunch more items, but I'm trying to pace myself for posting things to Etsy.

Also, I may have posted a link to this blog once before, but I just checked out the shop associated with the blog today and I LOVE it! Such unique and CUTE stuff! Check it out for yourself: {pretty little things}.

New York and Staying Busy

So, after that last post, I decided to get busy. I figured out how to make a couple of new types of flowers, and also made some ruffly/appliqued burp cloths. Two of the cloths are for Keeley, and I'm thinking I will use some as gifts, but I also plan to sell some in my shop. I made some for both boys and girls. In the last couple of days, I made 11 of these flowers:

9 burp cloths like this, but 6 still need embellishment:

I finished a bunch of satin flowers and made some headbands like this one:

Also made this type of flower and put them on headbands/clips:

So all in all, a decent amount got done... and I had fun doing it!

We just got back from vacationing in Breckenridge, Colorado this past week and now, I just found out that I get to go to Boston and New York the first part of July!!! Mike has to visit Boston for work stuff, and so we plan to extend the stay and make a mini sight-seeing tour of it. I am super excited because I've never been to either place. Boston is supposed to have a really cool sailing culture, which I love (I think), and New York... do I even have to explain? Food, music, shows, shopping, history, and much, much more. I'm gonna get to see how part of the rest of the world lives, and that always excites me! I hope I come back with inspiration from that part of the world.

More items to be posted to my Etsy shop soon! Over and out for now!

Losing

Each morning, I look at myself in the mirror and smile a little satisfied smile... But by evening, I am kicking myself. When I got pregnant, I planned to workout constantly during the pregnancy, so I wouldn't have as much to work off this time (second baby). Not so much... pregnancy is hard... and working out while I am pregnant is even harder. So that leaves me with a 50+ pound gain during pregnancy. Granted, I lost some of it in the form of a baby (yay! she is such cute weight loss!), but I still have a lot to go. A couple of months after Keeley was born, I realized (for certain) that the weight wasn't going to go away on its own... at least not on my timetable, so I decided to work out. The problem is, when you have two kids (one breastfeeding), working out isn't very practical (unless you are uber-rich and can afford to have a live-in nanny). I tried Zumba at a local church for a while, but it was just so stressful to try to get there at a certain time and make sure that Mike was home in time to watch the kids. So, instead of the gym, or even jogging, I decided to give the ol' workout video a try. And guess what? It works. I started with a set of four DVD's from Target called "Dancercise" and progressed to this:

I have never loved working out, but I LOVE dancing. This gives me that feel of dancing, along with the sweating and sore muscles (that I don't love). I have also been using a workout on Hulu for some strength training (from Self magazine... something about getting a bikini ready body). I had lost 20+ pounds at my 6 week check-up, and I've lost about 20 since then. I guess it's going.

My method is not quite as dramatic as the HCG diet that a lot of people I know have tried, but I can't do that while I'm breastfeeding anyway. That HCG diet is super effective! I hear it's based on a homeopathic recipe (take some drops along with some method of lowering calories/eating certain types of food), and my friends have lost dozens of pounds each. Crazy! Perhaps I'll give it a try one of these days.

Sorry I've been out of touch lately. We went on vacation for a week (last week), and I haven't been able to get myself into a routine for getting creative things done. Grrr! I have to pull myself together so I can feel like I am using my time well!

Over and out for now. I'll report back again soon with some crafty or creative thing I've worked on (hopefully!).

Autumn & Kevin Engagement Photos

This past weekend, I took engagement photos for some friends. I am still learning, but I am pretty happy with how they turned out. Of course, as soon as I think I'm doing alright, I go look at some other blog (like this one) and see ahh-mazing photos that blow me away. I'll just have to keep in mind that there is always so much higher to aspire. The session was really fun. The couple are super laid back and we just enjoyed the day. The plan was to get out in the morning light, but we got started a bit later than what would have been ideal, so we were battling the *too-bright* sun. Those contrasts between shadow and bright sun are hard to deal with. We just stayed in the shade for the most part and used a reflector to get some light on their faces. Here are some of my favorite photos:

This weekend, we did a garage sale. I failed to take photos, but suffice it to say that I am GLAD it is over. It was worth it, but it was a LOT of work. No more garage sales at our house until at least next year! One of the awesome things about it is that I got to clean out my house. We actually have space to walk now and everything seems bigger. Yay big, clean house!

Over and out for now!

Baby in a Bag

My mom had this great idea to put my baby girl in her bag and let me take some photos. Here's how they turned out:

I also had the opportunity to make a headband for the birthday of a friend of my sister's. Here it is:

I love it! I think I'm going to do something similar and put it in my shop.

Recently, I also had the opportunity to take some engagement photos for friends. I hope to post a few before long... but have to let the bride take a look first!

Over and out for now.