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!