The {24 hour} Christmas Cards

This is what you get when you design, print out, and mail your Christmas cards in 24 hours.  I was enjoying doing everyone's Christmas pictures this year so much,  we completely forgot to do our own!  No fear though,  I'm hear to tell you it can get done... with a few cut corners!  Here is how it was done:

• Take the picture.  It definitely helps to be a professional photographer, but if your not... just a picture from your digital camera is fine!  This was actually our 3 attempt for a picture,  the little one was not to thrilled about posing for us,  or even being put down in the cold weather.  :-)
• Put you picture in the computer and design the card.  This was done using Illustrator and Photoshop... but it could work using Microsoft Word or similar as well.
• Print them out at Kinkos... I know,  but it's your only option!  As you can see,  this card has a lot more to it than actually got mailed out.  That's because the quality of the pictures was just awful when prints and I couldn't put my name on them!  So now you know what they were suppose to look like!  Hey,  that's what you get when you have 24 hours.
• Cut them down to size and put them in the envelopes, put on stamps, and send off.
• For an extra little touch,  you can make your own envelope labels!  The ones above were designed in Illustrator off of some cute ones I spotted on minted.  Just print them on label paper and wrap them around the envelope for a unique touch!

SO,  there ya go.  Christmas cards in 24 hours.  I didn't say they would be amazing,  or beautifully printed,  but sometimes you have to do what you have to do!  Hope you enjoy!

It's superman {and he's 2}

Well,  our little Jackson turned 2 this November!  He is so adorable and we can't imagine life without him.  (Incase anyone's confused,  he's Pepper Mae's cousin!)  These pictures were actually punctually taken a day after his birthday,  hence the balloons being slightly deflated!  That just meant he had to run faster to get them going,  which he had no problem doing!  The last series is so sweet,  he had ran ahead leaving miss Pepper Mae behind (so pitiful),  and he actually ran back to get her, leading her the whole way back to us holding her hand.  Enjoy the pics!

the {snow globes}

Okay here is a holiday craft I've been working on.  I'm sure you've seen the homemade snow globes floating around Pinterest,  so here is my take on them!  I literally have been trying to get these done for weeks,  and still need to spraypaint the lids... but they are so cool!  Pepper Mae makes me walk along the line of them shaking each one and telling her what's in it.  So cute.  I found most of the little figurines at the toy store and found the trees at a hobby store.  Then I just added some Martha gold glitter and there ya go!  They are just something fun and festive to display on the mantel.  Enjoy!  

{i love... Fall}

Here are some fun fall pictures we took today of Pepper Mae and Cousin Jackson.  We just took them around the lake here and they turned out beautifully!  I just love this time of the year!  In the last picture,  I asked Pepper Mae to give Jackson a kiss.  It's only fitting to do a series because it's just so cute!  As you can see in fig.5, Jackson totally denied her kiss... but it wasn't for lack of trying on Pepper Mae's part!  It also melts my heart when they hold hands,  sometimes they will walk down the street like that!  I also love the ones of them together on the stone,  we will have to get some family pictures in that spot sometime in the next week or so!  

The headband Miss Pepper Mae is wearing is just braided jersey (an old t-shirt.. or in this case an old jersey dress of mine).  The tutorial can be found here.  Enjoy!

{the Play Kitchen}

So,  this is what you get when you take almost-too-dark-to-take decent pictures and you use the wrong lens, pictures.  We literally had minutes before dark and threw a dress {I made months ago} on her... but I wanted to get pictures of her play kitchen because I just keep forgetting to!  This is what I made for Miss Pepper Mae's first Birthday.  You can see the tutorial here.  If you remember,  I did a post on my inspiration... well mine's not far from it!  I used the mint green for the kitchen and Liberty fabric for the sink curtain.  It was such a fun project!   It allows you to put your own flair into it and have something special you made!  I want to add on a refrigerator, etc. later on when she gets older.  

Also,  you can see how to make the flower for the headband here {LOVE Pinterest!}.  I am literally typing this with a 14 month old needing my attention so if you have any questions about the kitchen just ask... I'm happy to share all my tips and tricks on how to do everything!  

Little Red {the cape}

Okay so this is what I've been working on the last couple weeks!  I'm not going to lie this is just about the 3rd attempt,  but I'm loving it now!  I ended up intertwining a Simplicity cape pattern I bought for the hood and a Martha Stewart tutorial on her website for the body.  The seem ripper would have been my best friend... if I had one!  The tips of fingers still tingle when I touch things because of how many times I had to rip out entire seems with my exact-o knife, haha.  

The outside is red wool (thank you Joann's Fabrics for the 50% off coupon!) and then I did a beautiful Liberty print for the inner lining.  Then what's not better than a pair of red boots to top it off?  You won't be able to see this beauty on her until I take the pictures for halloween (with cousin Jackson in his Pottery Barn Wolf costume)!  Stay tuned!

{miss cabinet dweller... and updates}

checking out my first band-aid.... hello kitty of course

I can't believe our little Pepper Mae is already 13 and a half months!  She has changed so much even since her first birthday I can't remember it all.  Recently,  she has been hanging out in our kitchen cabinets during her leisure time, haha!  She just crawled in one day and loves exploring the inside.  Tonight,  she found an old bottle and a spoon and started making a "concoction" by dipping the spoon into Dakotas water then back into the bottle.  She even let me taste it!  Here are some more updates on our angel:

• She is completely weaned off the bottle.  How did we do this you might ask?  To tell you the truth I just stopped giving them to her one day and she hasn't looked back since, haha!  She had one rough night wanting one but that was it.  We are now bottle free.  If we could only get her to like whole milk we will be doing good!
• She is still really into walking Dakota.  Up and down the street,  to the lake, where ever we go... all day.  It's the cutest thing you've ever seen.
• She waves at everyone.  She even waves when she's inside and hears a car drive by the house.  She also loves to point out birds and planes.  
• She loves to "sit".  There is a concrete bench at the lake and she'll get me to put her up on it,  and she will just sit there with her sippy cup and watch the ducks and geese.  Laughing away and dangling her feet.
• She has started dancing... it's the most hilarious thing you've ever seen!  This girl puts ALL she has into it, too.  She has turned the "booty" dance into the all out "squatting" dance.  She does a FULL squat up and down to the music.  She also has a stand in place and spin around move that's pretty amazing as well.  Her favorite thing to dance to is the Sunday night football opening and Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD.  
• She found her belly button and will point it out when asked,  as well as mine and Joe's.  She also thinks her nose is her ear.  We are working on that, hehe.

We are loving every minute with this girl!  Tomorrow I'll be doing a post on her Little Red Riding hood I made... I know the anticipation is killing you!  

A {tiny} Birthday Party

So,  here are the pictures I took of all the goodies at Miss Pepper Mae's First Birthday Party.  Malinda did such an amazing job,  we will be getting all our cakes and desserts from "The Atomic Bakery" from now on!  Most desserts went with our "tiny" theme,  including tiny tarts, tiny sugar cookies, tiny cupcakes, etc.   Enjoy the pics!

{make a wish}

Handmade felt birthday cake from Grandma CC

So this is a bit late but it's better than never!  Miss Pepper is 1 year old and showing more and more of her personality every day.  Her 1st b-day was wonderful,  thank you everyone who was apart of it!  Honestly,  I'm having withdrawals from the leftover cake!  It was to-die-for, seriously!  Now for some updates on our little angel on earth :-)

• She started walking literally on her 1st Birthday,  and hasn't stopped since!  
• When she walks,  she prefers to be holding something... 3 times her size.  I think she likes the challenge.  This might be a big pillow, watering can, football, etc.
• She has discovered dropping things behind her head.  I don't know why she's so amused by this,  but she will grab objects and drop them behind her head like it's second nature... then goes about her business.
• She not only says "dada" and "mama" but "uh oh"... so cute!
• She puts herself to work,  literally.  This includes taking clothes out of the clothes hamper and putting them back in,  or taking all her toys and throwing them in the bathtub.  
• She still loves to cuddle.
• Currently the funniest thing to date is her getting to "walk" Dakota.  She holds the leash and belly laughs the whole time,  especially when she drops it on the ground.  I have never heard this girl laugh so hard!
• Her highlight of the day is taking a wagon ride around the lake with cousin Jackson.  
• She is slightly obsessed with her headbands.  She will point to them for me to put one on her then wear it the entire day.  I think she figures thats what girls are suppose to do,  so she wants to do it!
• She loves to play outside,  and stands at the door crying until we go!
• She has stolen our hearts and won't give them back!  Love you my precious 1 year old!

We are excited about this weather,  and can't wait to get some fall-time activities on the way!  This includes going to the pumpkin patch and zoo... and lots and lots of pictures of course.  Stay Tuned!

little red {and the big bad wolf}

So,  couldn't you guess this is what's on my mind?  Halloween is just around the corner and my thoughts have gone straight from Pepper Mae's first birthday to her "first" halloween costume.  Now that she's walking,  what's better and more adorable than Little Red Riding Hood?  Nothing I can think of.  And the big bad wolf... that's going to be no other than Jackson {although,  we have Dakota our 2 lb. yorkie as backup... we are going to try to spare her the torture}.  Of course I can't wait to start figuring out this costume!  She will have more of a cape than the picture shown.... but isn't that image to die for?  Stay tuned for the 1 year post for our precious girl!

{more ruffles, please?}

She is doing a new "smirky" smile... love it.

What can I say, I'm a serial crafter lately... so bare with me.  This is what Pinterest will do to you.  I made this dress based off of this one, and it turned out oh so cute!  Don't get me wrong,  this is the 2nd try... the first one was not-so-great!  Miss Pepper Mae loved modeling it for me,  and I loved taking pictures of her in it!

{tiny party birthday invites}

So here are the tiny invites for Pepper Mae's "tiny" themed party this Sunday.   I was so inspired by this tiny party for her little girl about a year ago I knew that is what I had to do!  I ended up designing the simple business card sized invites in illustrator so print at home and used a bunch of colors I wanted to use in the fabrics at the actual party.  I got my wonderful talented husband involved and he actually water-colored the chevron stripes for the envelope liners and the band across the back of the invites!  He did them on watercolor paper and I scanned it into photoshop and just printed it out on 8.5 x 11 presentation paper.  He also drew out, inked, and water-colored the cupcake.  A little piece of happy tape was used to fasten the inner envelopes, and a piece of divine twine was used to tie on the mini-magnifying glass.   I used a calligraphy stamp I purchased off of Etsy a while back to stamp on the return address and it turned out beautifully!   I haven't gotten a chance to mail all these out yet... so don't fret if you haven't gotten yours yet they are on their way I promise!  I will look forward to posting more details on the "tiny" party later! Enjoy!

{button up boomers... oh my}

So,  let me start by saying that some of you probably don't know this but one of my main forms of nesting during the last part of my pregnancy was making bloomers.  Lots, and lots of bloomers.  I went out and got a pattern and went to town.  It almost would be considered obsessive,  especially considering she only wore a couple pairs for a few minutes after she was born! {see top picture}

Well,  I think I've found my replacement for the bloomers.  I saw the "Button-Up Bloomers" on a website when I was browsing for diaper covers... I had seen someone make a pair with an old antique flour sack and and oxford shirt and wanted to make them.  {still plan on it!}  The girl who did the tutorial was on project runway at one point and now enjoys making clothes for her daughter and posting tutorials on how to make them.

With all that said,  here is my first of many pairs!  I think they are adorable and were super easy to make! {took one 3 hour naptime}  Pepper Mae seems to be very comfortable crawling around in them and they are so easy to take off and on.  The possibilities are endless...  I just paired them with a grey tank from Baby Gap.  One of the next pairs will be ones I make for her 1st Birthday to wear during her smash cake,  and will be a beautiful Kokka pink striped fabric with light blue piping!

Next project?  Jackson's suspenders I found on a DIY boys accessory tutorial on Babble.  They are going to be light blue with white dots and will coordinate with Pepper Mae on her birthday.  Can't wait to show pictures of Jackson showing them off!

{11 months}

This is Miss Pepper Mae's 11 month post... on time!  I can't believe she will be a year in one month.   Here are a few things we discovered about Pepper Mae this past month:

• She has discovered a new hobby... "wallowing".  We push the ottoman up to the sectional and put her on the couch,  and she goes to town,  just rolling around without a care in the world.  This will occupy her at least 30 minutes,  which is amazing for her age. 
• She has started hugging... for real.  I will be holding her and all of the sudden she will wrap both her arms around me and squeeze as hard as her little muscles will let her,  all along with the sound of her straining she is trying to hard.  So sweet.
• She has started mimicking us... coughing, stretching, you name it.
• She is still pretty weary about "strangers", so if you say something to her expect her to burst out in tears.  She lives by the motto you can look but you can't touch.
• She has discovered the drain in the tub... and how to open it.  I stick her in the tub and 3 minutes later she's let all the water out.
• You can tell she knows what your saying,  it's so crazy.  If I say let's read a book,  she goes and gets a book.  Babies catch on way sooner than most people think they do.
• It's nearly impossible to change her diaper at this point.  If you can change a moving object that refuses to lay on it's back... call me.  This girl has more interesting things on her agenda!
• The squeaking of the front door really freaks her out... I have no idea why.  One day I spent 15 minutes with her moving it back and forth showing her it was okay,  and it didn't help.
• Yes, we got her ears pierced...  and they are blingin'. {did I just say that?}
• She crawls around with "foe" pacifiers in her mouth.  One day it was the plastic syringe we give her her Zantac with,  and another day it was a little teething "toothbrush" with a handle.  We took the poor thing's pacifier away at 3 months so she has to make do. {see picture above}
• She still has the sweet curls on the back of her head... love love love her.

{i love messes}

Every baby has their messes,  and here are a couple of Pepper Mae's lately.  Since she has become mobile,  her toys just do not seem to suffice!  The top pictures are from her playing in the freezer {yes,  I let her play in the freezer when I'm cooking}.  She pulled out a container I had made of pureed blueberries... I turned my back to clean out her highchair and she opened it up and went to town on the frozen cube.  It ended in an early bath for the day and a belly full of blueberries!  The second pictures are of her getting into the toilet paper roll... seems to be a staple of every baby at some point!  Enjoy!