current obsession > a nursery made from love

I was so head over heals for lucy's room that it was hard to wrap my head around a room perfect for theo.  What ended up is a little of each family members personality wrapped into one.  I got the bold white and gray geometric walls (not to mention my little corner nook for feeding), daddy got his love for vintage robots and star wars.  Lucy helped donate toys, and daily she leaves a little of her mess :)  I see a future for this room - add ons here and there...an evolution into his teen years.  I hope he loves it just as much as we do!

(we did find a sultry princess leia poster, and thought it would be funny to put on the ceiling over his crib... could you imagine a nursery with teen throb posters everywhere?! It got me to laugh!)

in the moment > team effort

We still have a lot of work to do... I want this baby to come so bad, although I feel like I need as much time as possible! 35 weeks....

[Full Disclosure: Anyone in the mood to do laundry, vacuum, mop, or clean my bathrooms is more than welcome to stop on over and do just that. >no food or special treatment will be served<]

my lucy > a valentine's heart bouquet

 A Very Soon Happy Valentine's Day!

XO-The Garrett's

sneak peak > i see hearts

holiday > happy valentine's day

A Valentine from the past...To me, this day is just a reason to get creative or try a new project.  Hope you get a chance to show your love to the light of your life on this very day :)

let's do this > baby carriers for esther and penny

I conquered this project - with the help of my awesome sister-in-law.  Sewing 101.  These two were the perfect kiddos to make them for!  Merry Christmas!!

order up > taco salad! with a let's do this clean up

 Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I came across a slew of easy recipes to try and all of them tasted great! I actually said after the beef stew that I truly feel like a "mom".  I hated beef stew growing up, and here I was making it for my own family.  Lucky for me, everyone liked it...even Lucy.

But my favorite was the taco salad.  I ended up making it for the family, then again the following weekend when my brother's family came to visit.  I highly recommend it, not only for the ease of preparation, but for the yummy taste!!  So here is my finished product - visit the Pioneer Woman's blog for full recipe and how to.  

(I swear I don't remember my brother not liking his corn touching other foods...This was a slight issue until his wifey told him to shut his eyes and eat it)!  Thanks Casey! The grilled corn was the best part!!

But.....To my dismay, I looked in the mirror later that evening and saw (da, da, daaaa)! Oil Spots all over my shirt!  Not only was it just a shirt, but it was a shirt I received in the mail that very day and Had to wear! Now ruined.  So I did what most people would do and washed it praying the oil comes out. I dried it too.  And the stains stuck.  You can see the stains better here in black and white (kinda):

So I Googled it - and found that even after washing and drying dish soap would get it out...So I tried it.  Rubbed dish soap on the shirt, then threw it in the washer once again.  To my surprise, it worked!!!!

So if you happen to fall upon an awesome recipe that may squirt oil...don't fret! Use dish soap! Maybe wear an art smock too?!

let's do this > thank you cards

This weekend I am going back to Wisconsin for a Double Baby Shower! My two cousins are expecting!  With a large group expected to attend, the family has taken on different rolls to help out.  I was put in charge of Thank You Cards.  As a mom-to-be, who wants to be hunched over writing out all the addresses on thank you cards?? I thought this would be easy.  Buy Thank You cards, put on return addresses, and have the guests write their address on the card at the shower.  Easy.  But then realizing the 45 guests (Doubled)! would be quite an expensive thank you... So handy dandy Michael's (shout out) has thank you cards for $1.50 for a pack of 8.  A 50% discount made it even better! But they needed some sprucing up - So why not some bunting!!

let's do this > felt bat costume for lucy

My first costume made by Me.  Since Halloween is this week, and some of you may need a last minute costume...this was very easy, and can be made for any age or size!  I'm very happy with the way it turned out. 

The How To Shirt:

Get a black shirt - turtleneck, hoodie, or any longsleeve

Put over a sheet of felt and trace the under arm along the seam with a white pencil

I eyed out a bat silhouette, cut, flipped over and made a second for the opposite side 

Here are the two pieces before I pinned directly to the outsie of shirt seam

I sewed right to the shirt with a little worry it would look funny not being actually sewn in directly

But it turned out looking just fine

The Mask:

I hand sketched this out.  Adjustments were made for her eyes to see through

Pin to black felt, cut and lay over orange felt to do all over again

All cut, now hand sew or put through machine. 

 I put through machine, but I think a hand stitch would look pretty cool

 Felt is so awesome to work with!

Now we need to put some elastic on.  I thought I could needle it through, but the string wouldn't fit through the dang needle hole! Instead I just poked a hole in the felt with the needle and stretched it around to make a bigger hole.  Did I tell you how much I like Felt?!!  Then I hand fed the string and tied a nice knot

For measurements I used a headband that currently fits Lucy well

...and the Final Product!

I added an extra bat on the shirt with the same method.  It needed a little something.

I did use a couple of sites for reference.  Click here for bat sleeves, and here for mask.

Stay tuned for Lucy in costume! We can't wait to go Trick-or-Treating with her for the first time!

let's do this > spider web frame

let's preface this with: Yes, I saw this on pinterest. Then I will tell you I did this off memory - which goes to show must not be good...You will see why.  Although I still like the final product. 
....It's more "artsy" as my mom would say.

Pinterest:

Click here to see the 'How To', Which I obviously didn't.

How I did it:

Grabbed an old frame, a white paint sample I had lying around, and paint thinner.. to loosen up the incredibly old paint sample I had lying around.  Thank goodness the painted frame isn't a close up shot, the paint was kinda chunky.  Then grab some twine, yarn, rope, anything you may have and start at it!

This is what I ended up with.  I hung it on the door and realized I forgot to add a spider.  I don't have spiders anywhere I can think, so I glued on a puff! Works for me and Lucy :)

What do you think?!  It's kinda close...I guess..... It looks more like a spider web from the 80's vs an actual spider web... oh boy! Oh, and notice the lovely curtain in the window?!

move me > dance lucy dance

let's do this > a disco house

We just need a disco ball...