Sneak Peek....

Want to see a sneak peek of a little Halloween project I've been working on???

 

Painted baby feet...and glitter spider webs. Looks good to me!!

I'll be guest posting this super-fun project at See Vanessa Craft next week as part of her 10 days of Halloween series! I can't wait to see all of the cute projects, and share mine too!

Stay tuned...

Glitter Shoes... Craft Fail?

While reading through one of my favorite blogs, I found This project over at Sweet Verbena. She took some boring, plain flats and made them fabulous. While I don't have too many places to wear fabulous shoes (I wear Crocs to work....) I DID have an old pair of flats that could use some revamping. I decided to try out this new "Glitter Shoe" project!

Here is my end result. They're pretty. They're sparkly....but that's not how they were supposed to turn out.

 

This is how they started. Kind of a weird goldish-greyish color. They've been in my closet for a couple of years now, unworn. I decided they needed to be ORANGE for gameday shoes!!

 

I whipped out my Mod Podge and bought some orange, super-fine glitter to make my shoes orange and sparkly.

I followed the directions, mixing the Mod Podge and glitter, and painted my shoes in several coats of the glittery goo. 

 

And this is what I got. This is NOT orange. Sure... in sunlight they "appear" orange, for a second. They're mostly a goldish, greenish, orange-ish color. While pretty, it's definitely not the "Go Tigers" shoes I had in mind.

 

Either way, I wore them with my purple dress on game day, and while they didn't scream ORANGE, they did match and looked pretty cute.

 Color fail aside, at least I DO have a pair of shiny, glitter shoes. Gray loves them, because they sparkle, and match her "party shoes" as she likes to call them. 

I have learned my lesson about glitter. Even the slightest bit of iridescence will completely change your intended color. 

Lesson Learned.

Baby Doll Quilt

Have you missed me?? I've missed being here!!

Thanks to some Internet Explorer issues, I haven't been able to upload pictures to the good old blog for 2 weeks!! YIKES!

That little hiccup seems to be out of the way for now, and I have LOTS of fun things to share with you.

This little project has been in my folder for a while. Gray is obsessed with her babydoll. She got a new one for her birthday and loves to "take care" of it. It came with a tiny, tiny little baby blanket, but I knew it needed something more cushy and loving to be wrapped in!

Thanks to a little bit of insomnia, I had lots of sewing time on my hands the last few months. One morning I woke up SUPER early (think....3:00am) and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to make a doll quilt for Grayson's baby. 

Using some of the pinks in my stash, along with some fun chocolate dots, I whipped up this quilt in no time.

 It's not too big, measuring about 18" x 18", perfect for her baby.

It's good practice for her, for when baby BROTHER comes in February!!

I realized I need to make little projects like this for her more often! She loves them, and I love seeing her carry it around the house. It makes us both smile...and there's nothing better than that!

Baby Update: 19 weeks

Baby is now 19 weeks and growing fast! These pictures are from 18 weeks...I'm a little late posting.

I feel a LOT bigger than I did with Gray, and this one is definitely a lot lower than she was. I'm starting to feel little kicks and movements, definitely the best part of being pregnant!!

Low, LOW bump!

My little basketball. Though, with our DNA, he probably won't be a basketball player. Hubby and I were skipped with the height gene.

Love, Love Love this picture.

Gray is giving her brother a hug. She won't let anyone else touch my bump but her! She pitches quite a little tantrum if her Nana or Daddy try to touch the bump.

She's going to be a great big sister. Just a few more months to find out.

Tigers Football: Clemson vs Furman

Another home game, and another WIN for my Tigers. They played Furman this weekend in an upstate South Carolina show down. Hubby was able to pull a few strings and get off work early for this one...and Kaileigh wasn't sick this time! It's nice to have the whole family together.

(It's absolutely terrifying how much Hubby and Deddy look alike. Yes...I married my dad. I guess the saying is true...)

My wonderful neighbor from across the street saw me taking pictures of Gray in the front yard, and ran over to take some of the both of us. She takes beautiful pictures so we were blessed to have her over!

I very rarely make it into any pictures anymore....always behind the camera.

This shot melts my heart. All babies should be this happy.

Go Go Tigers!!! That's all she said all morning. She told me about going to the game, and riding in her stroller, and touchdowns....and on and on.

Adam and Kaileigh at the tailgate....

One more shot of the family. They're keepers.

{Tutorial} Mesh Wreath

After Hubby informed me that he didn't like my moss wreath, I decided to make one that he would definitely love. He loves anything orange and purple, and with football season in full swing, it was time for a Tiger-themed door decoration. I've seen them with footballs and little helmets in them too, but I didn't want to take it that far.

Here's the new wreath!!

And here's how to put together your own.

Materials:

Wire wreath form (mine is 15")

Decor Mesh, medium width

floral wire

wired ribbon (I changed ribbon after taking my materials picture)

Start by cutting 2" to 3" long pieces of your floral ribbon. You'll need lots of these, maybe 30-40. Wire cutters make this easy, but you can use an old pair of scissors too.

Scrunch up the very end of your mesh. Poke a piece of wire through a few layers, and twist the wire to the back of the wreath form.

Every few inches, bunch up the mesh width-wise and thread a piece of wire through it, attaching it to the wreath.

Once you've gone all the way around your wreath....start over! Wrap it over and over, bunching, and filling in blank spots with more mesh. I went around my wreath a total of 3 times to get the fullness I wanted.

For the purple accents, just pinch the centers of pieces of ribbon, or make tiny bows like in THIS tutorial. Attach them to the wreath using the floral wire, spacing them as you wish.

And DONE!!! A fun and festive wreath for football, or any season. Just change up the colors for your favorite team, or your current holiday.

Hubby likes this one.....YES!

Try it with burlap and mesh too!!

*Happy Crafting*

It's Football Time!!

It's my favorite time of year again! Time for college football! Specifically...time to watch my Clemson Tigers play ball. Don't get me wrong though...if it's a college game, I will watch it. I may not like either team, I may not even know where some of them are from, but I will watch it.

My favorite fall activity is heading to Death Valley to see the sea of orange and purple. Clemson got a fancy new screen this year, which is a big improvement over the old one. I can see this thing from across the field like I'm watching the TV in my living room.

After an exciting season opener in Atlanta, beating Auburn, we had our first home game versus Ball State. It was a little bit of a blow out, but fun to watch. Except....for the HEAT. I have never felt so close to melting in my life. No amount of snow cones or frozen water bottles were going to help the heat last Saturday afternoon.

Prepping for tailgating is always fun as we pack up the chairs, tent, and tables and coolers. Grayson rarely likes to leave her Papa's side if he's anywhere around.

She perked up long enough for us to get some gorgeous pictures. She's ready to cheer for her Tigers!

Oh....that face. I would give that face anything in the world.

Mama and Adam were cozy at the tailgate. We were missing our "Married-Ins" this time around. One was sick, and the other was working. Hopefully next time they can join us.

No football game day is complete without at least one trip to Chick-fil-a. This time...it was breakfast!

Gray of course has her monogrammed Clemson cup to too.

Dancing to the band and cheering "Go Go Tigers". So precious.

This weekend we play Furman in an afternoon game. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and give us a little bit of a cooldown!

It's a....

*BOY*

 

 

We are so excited to be completing our family with a little brother for Grayson. If he's born when expected, they will be 2 1/2 years apart.

 

She is excited about the "Baby in Mommy's belly" and is going to be such a great big sister. She loves to take care of her baby dolls, feeding them, tucking them in, and changing their diapers.

 

I thought this might be a boy from the beginning because I've felt soooo completely different than I did the first time around. I've been much more tired and nauseated. Thankfully, some of those horrible 1st trimester symptoms are starting to fade and I'm feeling more like a bigger version of me!

 

More updates to come....

Zebra Chex Mix {Tutorial}

When party planning for a 2 year old...everything has to be bright, colorful, and fun! The party favors were no exception. I didn't want to do "Goodie-bags" because we only had 2 other kids coming, and one of them is an infant, so I did something everyone could take home with them.

Our Hot Pink and Zebra party was finished off with Zebra Chex Mix!

Here's how to make your own...

Materials:

Rice Chex

Candy Melts (in your party colors)

Ziplock Bag

Wax Paper

 

Spread your Chex Mix evenly on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

Microwave your candy melts, one color at a time according to package directions. I do mine 30 seconds at a time until it's nice and gooey. Put the melted candy into a Ziplock bag.

Snip off the very tip of the bag's corner.

Now go wild and spread the candy over the Chex Mix!! If you had an older child, they would LOVE this. Do one color at a time, making sure you get some stripes on each little cereal square. I did black (chocolate) and pink first, then went back an added some white for fun.

Allow your Chex to dry completely, then place in little bags for giving! I added "Thank You" tags from Cupcake Express to finish off my bags. Aren't those tags adorable??

Crunchy.....sweet....and yummy. A perfect ending.

I just realized it's been almost a month since Gray's party. Talk about procrastination with posting!!

Coming soon will be a super-fun announcement about our new little  bundle of joy.....

Summer Moss Wreath {Tutorial}

We needed a summer wreath. Nothing to flowery or overdone. I wanted simple, plain.

A moss-wreath is was!

(I have since been told by Hubby that he doesn't like this wreath. It's too plain. Ugh. Time for a Hobby Lobby trip!)

I got a little bit of a headache while putting it together. Even though it's simple, here's a quick how-to with a very useful tip on moss cutting.

Materials:

Foam wreath form

packaged dry moss

hot glue gun

ribbon

letter for embellishment

(I ended up not using the jute twine)

Here's a super-helpful tip when covering a wreath with moss...

Cut a trapezoid!!

Meaning, make one side shorter than the other when cutting your strips.

The inside diameter of your wreath is smaller than the outside, so this gives you less bunching and more coverage, with LESS cutting.

I used little dots of hot glue to hold the moss to the wreath form. It's pretty messy when cutting and placing, so do it in your kitchen or on an easy-to-clean surface. You can press the moss in and see where you need to add little pieces for filler.

Add a pretty ribbon through the wreath and hang as is for a natural, pretty summer wreath!

That texture is just gorgeous.

I decided to add a monogram to our wreath to give it a little color. Our house is yellow, so I painted the letter, added some floral wire to the back, and attached it to the wreath. This makes it less permanent so I can add other things next year.

 Warning....crappy cell phone pictures ahead.

I still love how it makes our door look, adding just enough decoration.

I had a little spy while taking pictures. She wasn't too happy that I was outside and SHE wasn't.

*Happy Crafting*

You can find other wreath ideas and tutorials HERE, HERE, HERE.