Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Simple Succulent Diaper Cake

My sister chose to accent her baby girl's nursery with succulents and cactus. So for her baby shower, we hopped on that theme and made her a simple diaper cake with accents she could use in the nursery. I made a simple diaper cake and accented it with fake succulents I found at Target. So very simple, but so very cute!!! 

And don't you LOVE the cupcakes my mom and sister made!!!!

Monday, July 23, 2018

My Favorite Tote Bag Pattern

This Caravan Tote & Pouch Pattern from Noodlehead is my favorite tote bag pattern! These two totes I made probably two years ago, but if I need to make a cute tote bag for a gift, this is my go-to pattern!

When I made this, I only had one zipper, so only one tote got the front zippered pocket! 

One of my favorite features of this tote, is the front snapped pocket. This pattern also includes one of my favorite pouch patterns! The pouch also has this front snapped pocket!

My first tote I made using this patter was probably 5 years ago and it quickly became my sewing tote! Don't you love a good tote bag!!!!


Saturday, July 21, 2018

DIY Sew Your Own Baby Moccasins!


One of my absolute favorite go-to Baby Shower Gifts are Handmade Baby Moccasins!

They are so adorable and actually not all that hard to make. They are a bit time consuming because you have to sew slowly, but the end result is SO worth it!


These three pairs I made for my niece! I tried a free pattern I found online, but ended up buying a pattern from Etsy. For your first pair, you might want to try using Suede first. It's a lot easier to work with than the leather. The leather I used, is also from Etsy!



Thursday, July 12, 2018

Quilt Number Eleven!

Quilt Number Eleven!

I need to start changing up my quilts a bit, but I love the look of the Jelly Roll Race Quilts and seem to sew a lot of them.

I don't remember why I bought this fabric, but once I was half way done with it, I decided it was the perfect quilt to sew for my mom's upcoming birthday. I have made a lot of quilts for family members, but this is the first I made for my mom.


Don't you just LOVE this backing fabric!!!! I love the color and the print! The fabric is by Moda - Big Sky Montana!



Tuesday, June 26, 2018

50 States Before They Graduate


Last summer after we took our first plane ride with both kids and after we checked off three more states on my son's scratch off US State Map, we decided that we should officially try to see all 50 States before the kids graduate high school!

Currently, our 8 year old son has been to 15 states and our 5 year old daughter has been to 11 states.

We are very relaxed with what counts as a state visit. We just have to walk around in it.

Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin 2010. When Little Man was 3 weeks old. We did this trip several times before we finally moved back to Wisconsin when Little Man was 11 months old. We often drove this, and also took Amtrak several times. 

Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana 2011. When Little Man was a year and a half we took an Amtrak trip to Montana. 

Arizona. 2012. Little Man's first plane ride. He turned two while on this trip! 

Illinois, (Ava's first state) Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 2016. Ava's first trip. We spent a few days in St. Louis, and then traveled to Kansas for our nephews High School graduation. We also drove to the spot where Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma all met. 


Iowa. 2016. A random day trip to see a museum. 

Florida. 2017. Our first plane ride as a family of 4. And our first trip to Disney World

Kentucky and Tennessee. 2017. An epic road trip to Nashville to watch the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017. Plus who doesn't love Nashville!!! 

Indiana and Michigan. 2017. Ava's first time to these states. We drove to visit friends and to see where Little Man was born! 

Tennessee. 2018. We loved Nashville so much we decided to go back again! We flew in for a short visit to watch our favorite Professional Hockey teams, the Nashville Predators and the Los Vegas Knights. 

We currently have flights booked for states 16 and 17!! And are finalizing the details for 18 and 19! We have a lot of states to visit in the next ten years. I am not sure if we will actually accomplish this, but we will sure have fun trying! 

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Walt Disney World in June


It was one year ago this week we made our first family trip to Walt Disney World. Yes Walt Disney World in JUNE!! It is currently 95 degrees in Wisconsin and this weather slightly reminded us about how insanely hot it was last summer on our amazing week in Florida. It was over 100 degrees every day, and it was HOT!!!

While we had an absolutely amazing time, and I can't wait to go back, next time I will do everything in my power not to go over the summer months. In all of our pictures you can tell we are covered in sweat.

Disney World being so amazing, you often only see the fabulous pictures, because for the most part it is amazing and fabulous. Below are four of my favorite pictures from our trip. They didn't make Facebook but they show the other side of Disney. The tired, exhausted, hot kids side! Which you will have any time of year.




If you want to survive Disney World in the insane heat here are things we couldn't survive without.
1. Stroller - we brought our UppaBaby G-Lite but rent one, if you don't bring one. Our 7 year old ended up riding most of the time while our 4 year old had to be carried, we could have easily used a double and we don't use strollers any more.
2. A Cooling towel 
3. Money for Water - we brought water bottles in every morning, but we ended up buying bottled water from the stands all over the park. It was just so hot and we just desperately wanted ice cold water.
4. A Fan spray bottle combo. I debated buying one from Amazon before we left and I didn't. The first morning we walked 5 feet into The Magic Kingdom and paid $20 for one. But it was so worth it. And our original one stopped working and my husband exchanged the broken one for a working one!

Disney World is truly an amazing trip. And our kids being 4 and 7 were a perfect age for it. The best part was seeing the magic through their eyes. For months before our daughter was talking about how she was going to dance with the beast. And she did, and that made it so worth it!








Saturday, June 16, 2018

Adorable Maxi Dress Pattern

My five year old is Maxi Dress Obsessed!!! And maybe that is because I only wear Maxi dresses. Stores have a few child sized maxi dresses but not a lot, so I decided to seek out a cute pattern and make her one myself. 

After some debating on which pattern, I purchased this awesome pattern from Etsy. It's called the Bella's Dress and Maxi by SimpleLifePatternCo.


I made a size 6 for my very tall daughter and being a maxi dress, this calls for close to 3 yards of fabric for a size 6. I did not have 3 yards of the same fabric on hand and before ordering fabric just for a dress I decided to make a "practice" dress. I did not want to waste 3 yards of fabric and not have a dress turn out. So I picked 3 different random prints I had on hand to come up with the best combination to make a "practice" dress.


I LOVE this little practice dress!!!! The combo came together nicely and my daughter LOVES it as well. She tries to wear it every day! The pattern was so easy to follow and the dress was very easy to make! I was very impressed with this pattern and I can't wait to make it again.

I accidentally messed up cutting the skirt fabric so it ended up being a little shorter than it was supposed to be, but I like this length on her. I also did not have enough of the navy ruffle fabric, so I purposely made that layer shorter.


This is a fabulous pattern if you are looking to make a maxi dress!! (And it twirls, because every 5 year old needs a good twirl dress!!!)

Monday, June 4, 2018

Quilt Number Ten!


Quilt Ten!!!! This is probably the second quilt I ever started. I can't even tell you when I started this. I made the blocks for this at a local quilt shop in a block of the month club. The quilt shop is no longer in business and has been for a while. So this has been sitting in my closet unfinished FOREVER!!!

I quilted it right before Christmas this past year on my first ever experience using a long arm machine. I rented one from a different local quilting shop. I also quilted quilt seven and quilt eight at the same time. It just again took me forever to actually bind the quilt and finish it.


I had a lot of fun using the long arm machine. I was so intimidated by it, but it was so easy! I can't wait to use it again. But for the small throw quilts I usually sew, I can just do those on my machine at home.


I like the start quilting pattern I picked. It was completely different than what I would normally go for.


Again this is probably a quilt that will end up on my daughters bed. Simply because she loves blankets!! And she is a five year old hoarder!



Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Quilt Number Nine!


Quilt number nine is a throw quilt I made for absolutely no reason, so it means it's a quilt for me!! Until my blanket loving 5 year old steals it from me and it appears on her bed!


I made this using a Jelly Roll from Gingiber by Moda  called Savannah. I love the colors of it!


You can almost see, but the backing is a light yellow color. It took me a little longer to finish because I forgot to put my walking foot on my machine, and broke my machine. So I am currently borrowing my sisters sewing machine until I figure out a new one!


Friday, May 25, 2018

Quilt Number Eight

Quilt number eight I started three years ago before we moved into our current house. I knew which colors I wanted to put in my then 2 year old's room. Pinks and mint!


I gave it to her for Christmas this past year. And because she loves blankets, she was very excited about it. I quilted it at a local quilting shop, using their long arm. I love the heart quilting pattern!



I absolutely love the colors on this quilt. And I think it's safe to say this is my absolute favorite quilt! 


Sunday, May 20, 2018

Fireplace Built In Remodel


We recently had our fireplace redone! We have been in our house almost three years and I have been dreaming of these built-ins for my fireplace since day one!

I can't even believe my before picture any more!! This has been finished for about a month now, and I simply can't believe the change! My before! Can you believe it???


To the right of our old sad fireplace, was all of our internet boxes. After we tried to move them to a different room, I decided that instead of buying a cabinet to hide them in, I would just put in the extra money to have built-ins made. And since I was having built-ins built, I decided it was the perfect time to beef up the actual fireplace as well!!


When we were picking out everything for our new house, the fireplace options were seriously lacking. I hated the tile from day one. It wasn't what I wanted. I also did not like how the mantle was so small. There was dry wall on the sides of the fireplace. It just seemed small.

My husband and I are not blessed with the talent to build something like this, but luckily my mom has a cousin who does AMAZING work!! The only problem with hiring him is he is SO BUSY!!!! (I joked and told him to put me on his schedule for 2020 for something, I don't know what, but I want him to do something!!!) He has built custom mudroom shelving for us as well! And the other nice thing is he lets me paint the cabinets before he installs them. It saves me a bit of money by doing that myself and then I feel like I helped!

A couple in progress shots! It took him 3 days to install it with putting in the new tile, and letting everything dry before grouting! But it was SO worth it!!

 

Figuring out what to have him build was the fun part! I spent hours on Pinterest looking at different ideas. I ended up using this pin as inspiration. We have a very similar layout, so this pin was a great inspiration. Another big debate was what to put in for tile. I originally got a quote for porcelain tile to look like marble and then marble. After thinking about it for about an hour, I decided in this fireplace I was changing everything I didn't like about the current one So it was an easy decision to put in Marble, and I am SOOO glad I did. It made a HUGE difference and looks amazing!!! 

I am SO happy with how these turned out!!! I seriously can't believe this is my house!!! 

Decorating the shelves was also so much fun! I also had him add in an extra electrical outlet on each side of the fireplace so I could put a lamp on the top shelf. Our room is so dark at night that this has made a huge difference! 


A few more pictures, just because!