Mustache Printable

Look what I made today!  I told you all last week that I love Picnic.  And now even more because I was able to create this for free!  I already have a ton more printables in the works! And you can print one out too!  I found this quote and knew exactly what I wanted!

I wouldn't go over a 5x7.  The background isn't the greatest resolution.  But I took mine to Walgreens and printed it out on their instant machine.  I LOVE IT!

So it only cost me about $2.50 to print it out and I put it in a frame I already had!

I am really getting into the mustache thing for Brother.  It is so cute and classy!  Does anyone else have cute mustache projects that I can do for the baby?

This little baby is participating in these Link Parties this week!  Thanks for hosting ladies!
Tute Tuesday @ Little Birdie Blog
Mad Skills Monday @ Super Stinky Boys
We Did It Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado
Inspiring Creativity @ Dragonfly Designs Heather also FEATURED my chick shirt today! Thanks again!
DIY Under 5 @ A Little Tipsy
Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple
Get Your Brag On @ Gluesticks
What are Little Boys Made Of? @ 733blog

Easter Recap

We had such a wonderful weekend!  I loved all the family time and I loved celebrating Lotte's first Easter as a big girl walking!

On Friday we bought our new table and chairs/bench!  After we set it all up in the dining room we died eggs.  We used the box the table came in on the floor.  I figured it would be a messy experience. 

On Saturday we had my family over for deserts.  I made cookies earlier in the week and each of the women in our family brought a pie or cake.  Here was my springy set up.

I used the free printable from The Pink Ink Doodle in my blue frame, and I basically copied Sweet Sugar Belle for my cookies.  They turned out better than I expected, but if you look at her amazing work you will never be 100% pleased with yours.  This picture doesn't show all my mini cookies, but there were 70 minis and 3.5 dozen regular cookies.  I had a blast decorating them.  My family really enjoyed eating them!

That's my mom admiring them in the background!

On Sunday morning we got up early to have breakfast, hunt eggs and get ready for church.

Little girl's breakfast...Bunny shaped toast, her name Easter egg, plain yogurt with her special holiday topping (bunny pastel marshmallows).  The most fun was the pink milk with a silly straw! 

Here she is hunting eggs in the living room because it has been raining for a week!

The Easter Bunny hid their baskets in the bathroom!  Silly Bunny! 

Last year I convinced my husband to allow me to order Lotte a Pottery Barn basket.  But it was too late and they were out of the ones that I wanted.  So I found this basket at Michael's for $13.00.  A friend at work has an embroidery machine and was nice enough to put her name on it for me.

I found a matching basket this year for Brother!  It was 50% off when I bought it.

Things were a little different this year and we couldn't have Easter Dinner at my aunt's house like normal so we had brunch up at the country club.

 Lotte and one of her favorite cousins.

 LOVE this picture

 Here is a picture of her full dress.  So perfect.

And just so you know...Brother was there too!

After brunch we spent time with my husband's family and we came home much earlier than normal.  We just hung out the four of us all evening.  It was a perfect weekend.  I hope everyone's was as nice as ours!

So Excited!

My Little Chick Shirt is getting a warm welcome out in blog land!

I was soooooo very excited when Steph from Somewhat Simple left me a comment!  o.m.gosh. SHE has been to MY blog!  I love Somewhat Simple.  It was one of the first blogs that I started to read even before I had a blog...when I was just stalking cute creative sites.

Not only that, but she held the first giveaway I ever entered, and coincidentally the only giveaway I have ever won!  (It was a $25 gift card to Michael's via Whoop d Whoop)  Boy did I get a BUNCH of stuff with that gift card to start working on Lotte's second birthday!

Anyway...back to the comment!  She said that she was going to feature my shirt!  SQUEAL!

So the next morning I wake up to find THIS!<----click on it!!!

I linked my shirt up to her Easter Link Party (along with 400 other people's amazing projects) and it was one of her favorites!

Oh and her new site design is to die for! She has a slideshow banner under her header that shows her recent posts...and if you sit and look you will see my sweet daughter pop up...well, not her face, but that is her wearing the shirt!

I absolutely love getting comments, it makes my day! (I love giving them too!)  I got another comment this morning that Eva from Couturier Mommy was featuring my shirt in her to do list!

Yay! I'm so thankful for everyone's comments and features...it makes me smile ear to ear...and then I call everyone I know and tell them I've been featured! When I told my 83 year old grandma she had a blank look on her face and said, "That's great honey! What's a blog?"

So this isn't a picture-less post.  Here is my grandma, or Buddy as we call her, with her Great-Grandson at her 63rd wedding anniversary dinner party.

Easter Goodies for a Healthier Eater

I have been a busy busy little Easter Bunny Mommy.

But first I have a confession to make...I am completely NUTz about what my daughter eats.  She has had some weird weight issues since she was 3 months old.  She was VERY little her first year of life (less than the 5th percentile).  She weaned herself from nursing at 11 months and the doctor requested we put her on formula until she was 15 months.  During that time frame she went from the 5th percentile to the 75 percentile.  She isn't FAT or OVERWEIGHT, but she is a bit bigger than she should be for her height.  We went through a big ordeal with the doctor about 3 months ago where we had to keep a food log of her everyday diet.  The doctor looked at it and I quote, "Wow, she wouldn't have a better diet if June Cleaver where her mother."  We want our daughter to be getting as much nutrition from her food as she needs, and we don't want her filling up on the things she doesn't need to grow the right way.

That's not to say that she has NEVER had a treat.  But the poor little thing has only had chocolate twice in her 21 month old life (once without my permission).  Her first processed sugary treat was literally her birthday cake.  She cried when we took it away!

I do this because I want to give her the best start I can.  I want her to have a healthy relationship with food because it is delicious and nutritious, not because it is covered in sugar to make it taste awesome.

Enough rant, this brings me to my dilemma.  Holidays and events are difficult to buy for.

Every Easter basket and plastic egg is usually filled with m&ms or peanut butter eggs.  What do you do if you don't feed your child jelly beans?

Well here is what I am doing this year.

Some of the eggs won't be eggs.  I found these Capri Suns that are 100% juice.  So I wrapped a ribbon around for a fun find!

I also have put several small toys in her eggs.  I love these little stuffed animals.  She has a few horses already, but she will love these additions.

For the treats I used a technique I have seen all over the blogworld.  You take two pieces of wax paper and sew it together (leaving a filling hole), fill it with goodies and then finish sewing it up!  Super easy.  Not only does it keep the snacks from getting wet from dew or popping out in the grass, but because they are sewn together I can monitor how fast Little Lotte is snacking on her snacks.

They fit nicely in the regular sized plastic eggs.

The various treats I have sewn up are...
Animal Crackers
Annie's Bunnies (like goldfish crackers only organic and bunny shaped :)
Annie's Bunnies Fruit Snacks
Gerber Melt Aways
Raisins (I bought mini boxes and they will fit into large eggs)

This is just some of her haul!

So there are my healthier Easter goody ideas for you.  Sorry such a long post!

Linking up to:

Lotte's Ruffle Chickie Shirt

So there is still a week until Easter and if you are like me then you still have 100 things to do or that you want to do.  Here is one thing checked off my list!

A local photographer offered a mini-session at her studio for spring.  It was a GREAT deal...and the background was a cute little wooden dock with a duck pond and BABY DUCKIES!!! So I had to have a cute outfit for Lotte to wear.

I had to go with the chick/duckie theme...so here is what I came up with!

Amy at Positively Splendid made THIS adorable egg shirt!  Lately I've been obsessed with ruffles and so I decided on a variation of this for our photo shoot!

Amy's tutorial is very well done and I'm going to ship you over there if you need to learn how to make and assemble the ruffles.  I did make my ruffles a little "rufflier", so my stripes were a little longer.

Here are my ruffles.  I alternated solid yellow with a patterned yellow.

I used my biggest egg shaped cookie cutter as a stencil.

I didn't have any interfacing on hand, so I sewed my ruffles onto felt.

I just did a lot of pinning to make sure there wasn't any movement.

I used orange ric rac for legs.  They were pinned under the ruffles before I started sewing.

I left them dangly, but you could hot glue the on.

Finally, I sewed on some button eyes and a felt beak.

Here is the finished product coupled with a cute yellow tutu!

I love this girl!

And everyone loves a tutu bottom!

Here is one last look at the close up!  It was fabulous for pictures...the photographer loved it, and so did the duckies!  Thanks Amy for the inspiration!

These AWESOME blogs are hosting parties with this little cutie this week! Thanks ladies!

Easter Link Party @ Somewhat Simple

Sundae Scoop @ I <3 Naptime

Just Something I Whipped Up @ Girl Creative

Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple

Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog

Tute Tuesday @ Little Birdie Blog

We Did It Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado

Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design

Inspirering Creativity @ Dragonfly Designs

Sugar and Spice @ 733

Get Your Brag On @ Gluesticks

Friday Funday Finds

Today I want to list the things I have found from around the internet that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and desperately wish I had the time to make...maybe one day my son will start to sleep.

First off is the bed.

We are 100% doing THIS for Lotte.  We (meaning my husband while I yell out directions, give the stink eye to anything that doesn't look right, and take pictures of his progress) MUST build this as Lotte's big girl bed.  Lotte and Brother will be sharing a room as soon as she is able to move into a big girl bed.  We are hoping to make the move a little after her 2nd birthday.  But because space is limited we love this "loft" bed.  The best part is the stairs.  Lotte can do stairs, but I wouldn't feel comfortable if it were a ladder.  PLUS the under part will be perfect to put her play stuff in...and look at the stairs, they are actually storage containers!

I freakin' LOVE Ana White.  She makes furniture (which is a big deal for some people) seem so easy to do.  She has the shopping list, the cut list, and clear concise directions.  She even gives you an estimated price for the total project.  There are a million things I want to do from her site, and I have could spend hours gawking at the amazingness.

I also want to make THESE from Ten Cow Chick.

I really like sculpture bows and her tutorial makes it too easy not to do!

I also can't wait to make THIS from Me Sew Crazy!

The other day I bought the perfect summery lemon fabric for one and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I'm also currently working on a variation of THIS from one of my many favorite bloggers, Amy from Positively Splendid!  It should be done this afternoon so I can post it tomorrow.

There is so much inspiration to glean from such amazing blogging women!  Hopefully I can start inspiring others too.  Life is good

Little Miss Dirty Knees

No craft to show off today.  Instead I'm going to show you one of the greatest things God and I have ever created...

Lately whenever I am with her or whenever I think of her I just GASP!  She is literally THE cutest thing EVER!  I know all mommies feel this way about their little ones (nature's way of insuring that we protect them fiercely) but mine is particularly cute!

I love her so much it HURTS!  Have you ever felt that way?  She is so stinkin' cute it HURTS!

Now that the weather is nice she has become an outdoorsy little girl!  She actually woke up last weekend and stood at the back door in nothing but her diaper and cried "iiiisiiidde!" *that is outside for normal speaking adults*

She runs, slides down stairs on her bottom, climbs up in lawn chairs, throws things for the doggies, plays with side walk chalk and bubbles!  Oh the bubbles!  It is so cute when she says bubbles because she doesn't just ask for them she BEGS!  "Bubbelsh"  Here are some of the sweetest pictures of the dirtiest and happiest girl on the block!

Look at that dirty bottom, and how happy she makes her daddy!

We fill this tub up for our crazy dog.  He paddles in the water and as it splashes up he chomps at it.  Lotte spent the better part of an hour taking rocks out of my landscaping and throwing them in for the dog.  He actually dunks his head under the water and pulls them out so she can throw them back in!

She was very proud of her scraped knees.  

She walked around all week saying "Boo-boo" as she pointed to them.

FAVORITE. PICTURE. OF. ALL. TIME.

And here she is resting for 5.3 seconds at the park after a long day of playing.

I can't wait for the weekend to start so we can have some more family fun.

PS. Brother was there too!

Picnik is my friend

I really like Picnik.  I mean I really like Picnik.  Hubby, you better watch out!

I love that it is FREE!  And after a little playing around you can really make a difference in your pictures.  Most pictures if you hit the Auto button it just makes the color a little better.  But I have a few pictures that are my favorites that I really wanted to punch it up and make it pop!

The 3 pictures on my side bar I edited with Picnik, and I thought I would share a few more of my before and after pictures.

Before:

 

After:

Cropped in, straightened out a bit, and played with colors and exposure.

Here are a few more:

This one is one of their effects.  Very fun.

They have lots of fonts to play with:

I took Brother for a little photo shoot out at a warehouse near our place the other day.  I thought that the blue building would be a neat back drop and the pictures turned out really cute.  But it was a really sunny day and the pictures didn't turn out as "blue" as the building really looks in real life.

Oh and I opened an Etsy shop.  I'm just going to take it slow without many expectations.  I do plan on stocking up a few banners and party items over the next few weeks, but no pressure.......yet.  I really would love to eventually have a fully stocked store and be selling multiple orders a week, but I'm going to work my way up to that.  The only thing in there now is the ruffles and rainbows burp cloth gift sets ;)

I used Picnik to create my avatar and banner.  I really really LOVE it.  And I hope to incorporate it to my blog...when I take the initiative to redo my template and design.