Baby Photography and ShootFLYShoot: How I finally Learned to Use my DSLR and You Can Too

Hey kids. I've been way too busy Christmasing to post recently, but I took some pictures this week that were just too freaking adorable to keep to myself.

Isn't that just the cutest little sock monkey hat you've ever seen? It's even cuter when the two of us where them at the same time, but I don't have that documented.

Austin really wanted to get some pictures of her with he light saber, but really good ones haven't quite happened yet. For some reason they turned out pretty well with her new paint brush toy though.

And then yesterday I took some pictures of Norie practicing her almost crawl while I was working on some other stuff. 

I am so happy I decided to take the shootFLYshoot Photography 101 course and learned how to use my camera.

It only took me 7 years. Yep, seven whole years. Not the actual learning. That only took a couple of hours thanks to Kevin and Josh, but it took me seven years to do something about the fact that I didn't know how to use my camera. Sound familiar?

My husband bought me an amazing Cannon EOS Rebel DSLR as a graduation gift circa 2005. I had never used anything but a point and shoot before, but had a lot of fun with the program settings. They worked pretty well and I liked the pictures I took on vacations of landscapes and flowers and other pretty outside stuff.

Then I started a blog and wanted to take pictures inside. It was a whole new ballgame and my pictures were okay at best. Mostly they looked like were amateur shots taken with the flash in poorish lighting. I knew they weren't great, but I didn't know how to do any better.

One day Layla over at The Lettered Cottage linked to a series of posts by Centsational Girl about blog photography. I read them and got motivated to try my hand at shooting in manual mode. I busted out my camera's manual and figured out how to adjust the settings she mentioned to the ones she used, but since I had no idea what they did I couldn't adjust them to the picture I was trying to take. I was lost.

Then Layla's husband Kevin started a photography website called ShootFLYShoot.
I liked the facebook page and added the RSS feed for their blog to my Google Reader, but I didn't actually sign up and pay for their Photography 101 course. I wasn't quite ready to commit. I mean, it was $69 whole dollars.

The conversation in my head went something like this.

$69? That's kind of a lot of money. Like more than half a week of day care. Can I really justify spending that much?


Then I realized that I wasn't able to use my several hundred dollar camera the way I wanted to because I was too cheap to spend 69 bucks.

I bit the proverbial bullet an paid for their Photography 101 course. It was totally worth it. probably the single best $69 I have ever spent. Kevin and Josh are amazing and I actually understand what all those setting do.

I feel like my own personal photo taking super hero. Not that I'm suddenly a professional photographer. I'm not, but I do know how to take a great blog or baby scrapbook pic.I''m sure it helps that my baby is ridiculously adorable, but I take credit fir that too.

What to do...

I don't know if you've noticed, but I use this blog as a place to sort out my thinking about as much as I use it to tell you about cool stuff or post tutorials. That's just how it is. At the moment there is one big thing I need to sort out, that I haven't really thought out. That's not good since that One Big Thing happens in six days.

We're hosting Christmas and to be honest I haven't thought it out the way I should have. I asked my sister, the planner, if she could share any helpful spreadsheets from when she hosted and to my dismay she claims they don't exist. I'm pretty sure that's not the case or is only the case because she lost the files somewhere, but she did share a helpful nugget of wisdom: Planning Christmas can pretty much be broken down into Food, Gifts, and Decorations. I think I need to add Experiences (like finding a church with carol/hymn heavy  service to attend on Christmas Eve - if you know of a good one in Wamego, KS let me know. Otherwise we might head to Manhattan to the closest ELCA church).

So, Food, Gifts, and Decorations....

Food - I have this under control I think. Thanks entirely to being forced to sort it out at Thanksgiving.

Gifts - Yeah, not so much, but since the people I'm buying them for read this blog I shouldn't really get into them.

Decorating - This is where Steve, my ever rational office mate laughed and said, "You can't do it in the last six days." He's right. I can't do everything I ever hoped to get done in the last six days especially since I really need to clean the house. Or at least the guestroom/office/craft room. My siblings-in-law and their kids are staying with us and right now that room is well, terrifying.

I guess that's my answer: Clean.

JOY Sign Transformation

Guess what? I finally started Christmas decorating and I can't resist a close up of anything shiny. 

I made this JOY sign last year. I was never really happy with it was so meh about it I never even finished it. When I pulled it out of the basement it looked like this.

Meh, right? A couple of night ago I revamped it.

First, I pulled off the pine cones and holly stuff. Meh.

Then I gave it a brush down with a brighter green.

Better already, right?

I thought so, but I wanted some bling. Cue tiny Christmas balls my mom picked up while thrifting and some I bought off Craigslist. I also painted over the off white on the J and Y with gesso. I didn't have any white paint.

Just two short hours of hemming and hawing over the placement of every single individual ball (and one serious hot glue burn) later I had this.

It makes me super happy. it's so shiny.

Now, if I can just get up some other decorations so he doesn't seem so lonely.

Happenings...

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been feeling more like pinning than posting lately. I'm an ideas person and I've been getting a LOT of ideas lately. I've also been spending quite a bit of time Christmasing (yes, Christmasing is a word. The gerund form of Christmas to be exact). As a result, not so much on the actual post front.

There are, however, a couple of interesting happens I'm sure you want to know about.

First, Norie has two front teeth. Lower central incisors to be specific. They both showed up above the gum this week. :)

Apparently sucking on cold aluminum cans helps.

In other news, we went shopping and found plenty of fun hats.

I think they were a little more fun for me than Norie. We settled on the owl hat to go with her poncho.

AND got our picture taken with Santa. She was more interested in his watch than his face and he looks like he's asleep in the photo, but she didn't freak out so I'm calling it a win.

No wonder I haven't felt like I had time to post.

He just gets me

It's been a week since my last post. There have been some stomach virus and/or food allergy issues in my household that have put all nonessential activities on the back burner.

Luckily, last night Norie ate nothing but wheat cereal (rice is on the list of potential food allergies) and breast milk and slept for 7 solid hours. I'm refreshed and awake and ready to do productive things like post to my blog.

That counts as productivity, right?

Anyways, the point of my post is that my husband just gets me. He understands exactly who I am and must love me for it. I don't give him enough credit for that. Don't get me wrong, he loves to get me all riled up and generally does at least once a day, but I think that's because he realizes I need to be challenged. I would get bored otherwise.

So what brought on this heightened sense of  appreciation for my mate?

He bought me multi-colored Christmas lights.

He bought them several years ago, before I had important realizations about what my style really is.

He bought them when I responded with a, "Thanks, babe" that made it clear that while I appreciated the effort I thought white lights were better. I didn't even put them on the tree. I got white ones instead and pretended the boxes of multi-colored ones weren't there. Ouch, right? What can I say, directness about stuff like this is not my strong suit. (Sidenote: my brain just made a portmanteau of "strong suit" and "forte" which lead to me originally typing "forsuit.")

So now that I know what I actually like and I'm going with it those same lights are on the tree soon to be followed by some sweet rainbow colored ornaments I got off Craigslist. If Norie decides to sleep again tonight I just might have the tree decorated by the end of the night. 

My birthday in pictures

Austin complained that since he doesn't have an Instagram account (the horror) he couldn't follow my adventure yesterday. Here it is for those I you who missed out.

Happy birthday to me!!!

Instead of blogging over lunch I'm going on an authentic excursion. You can follow along on Instagram. @amberhibbs

Swan Song

There are four hours left in my twenties.

What am I doing?

Eating homemade Bacon Macaroni and Cheese with peas and plotting a Christmas decor craft project.

:)

Flea Market Polka Dot Rainbow Farmhouse Style

I had a rather important realization this weekend.

I can like a style without it being my style.

Some background is probably in order so you can understand why this is such an ephiphany.

I've been working of figuring out what I want to do with our kitchen for a while since before we bought the house. I've google searched and pinned and I just can't make any decisions. I think I've made them and then I change my mind. And then I change it back.

This weekend I finally realized the problem.

I pin kitchens like this (by the way Di, I think this might meet the criteria for Georgia Plantation Meets Kansas Farmhouse)

                                                                       Source: georgianadesign.tumblr.com via Amber on Pinterest

and this

                                                                                         Source: instyle.com via Amber on Pinterest

and this

                                                                                            Source: bhg.com via Amber on Pinterest

but what makes my heart smile is things like this

Source: Real Simple, www.realsimple.com

and this

                                                                                             Source: etsy.com via Amber on Pinterest

The reason I keep feeling meh about kitchen ideas is that they are beautiful kitchens for someone who is not me. I had this idea that I was elegant and timeless, but in reality I'm just way more fun than that (not unlike my realization about my blog name).

I tried to come up with a way to describe what I actually style is and "Flea Market Polka Dot Rainbow Farmhouse Style" was the most suscint thing I could come up with.

So I googled "polka dot kitchen" and found a ton of hideously over the top stuff, and this one lovely image

                                                                                                    Source: flickr.com via Amber on Pinterest

It's not quite what I'm going for, but it's a hell of a lot closer to matching who I am than my previous attempts. We'll stick with it for now.

Finally. Or Who Knew Buying Blind Brackets Could be so Hard

That's right. It took way longer than expected but I finally put up the blinds in our bedroom. Who knew such a little thing could take so freaking long to get done. 

I'm pretty sure they've been down since before I gave birth. I was so excited I took a picture and sent it to my mom. If she wasn't as obsessed with house stuff as I am she would think I'm nuts.

I tried to cross this one off the list the very first day of my Projects rampage. I stopped into Home Depot over lunch the very next day. They didn't carry the fancy smancy bracket I needed for my pleated blinds. The guy I talked to suggested I find out the brand of the blinds and contact them. Good thinking, right?

I went home and looked at the blinds that night. They didn't list a brand, but they did have a sticker that said "www.decoratetoday.com." The site automatically forwards you to www.americanblinds.com. I think they bought out decorate today or maybe they just changed their name. I don't really know. I tried searching for replacement parts on the website. After a while I gave up and just called them.

Guess what the lovely woman who answered my call told me?

They don't sell replacement parts.They have the parts and they will send them to you if your order was missing them or they broke, but you can't just give them money in exchange for them if the blinds came with your house.

Great.

She did give me the names of a couple of websites I could try. If you end up in this situation just go to www.fixmyblinds.com.

That was on October 15th. All I had to do was figure out which bracket was the one I needed and order it.

It only took me 33 days to measure the brackets I had. I placed the order on November 17th and they came in the mail while we were in Denver for Thanksgiving. I installed them first thing Saturday morning. 

Rehang blinds: check!

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Kansas Agriculture and Health Summit

I'm having a hard time verbalizing everything I want to express about my experience yesterday, so bear with me. It was just so awesome and I got so excited that I'm having a hard time organizing it into a coherent set of thoughts. I tried last night, but I couldn't make it work so I'm up early this morning having another go at it.

Deep breaths. Lets start with the context.

Yesterday I went to the Kansas Agriculture and HealthSummit. I got an email early this week promoting it as an event to

 "kick off the conversation in Kansas about the intersection of food, farming, health care and public health" 

If you've read by blog for a while I'm sure you've noticed that food and gardening are two of my passions,but what you probably don't know is that my CV lists my "Research Interests" as

"Human interaction with the environment through agriculture as it relates to the experience of health and disease..."

Are you starting to see why I got all excited yesterday?

I was very interested in talking about agricultural policy and health in Kansas, but it really got me thinking about things a little closer to home.

Like growing food for my family and feeding them the way I want to feed them instead of the default which seems to be eating whatever we can scrap together in the half hour between when I get home and when Norie needs to be fed and put to bed. Don't get me wrong. It's generally been pretty tasty, but it hasn't exactly been produce heavy.

I also got reinspired to help other people with traditional skills like growing food and cooking it and canning and home dairying and sewing and all those things our grandparents know or knew exactly how to do but are incredibly rare skills in my generation.

Don't worry. I'm still really excited about decorating and building and you'll see tons of posts about that you'll just also start seeing more about gardening and food. They all work together in making a family and a home and that's just the stuff that I love to share here.

On my to do list for today:

• Take the puppies and Norie for a walk
• Read this week's entry in my Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook and actually do the things it says I should do this week
• Measure for the bracket for those blinds
• Love on Norie
• Work on my Birthday Desk
• Clean the kitchen
• Fold and put away laundry
• Add things to my birthday/Christmas wishlist on Pinterest

I better get started.

Projects Update

I bet you thought I didn't get that owl up, huh? 

You were wrong.

I did it! 

I didn't do it the night I promised myself I would. It got down at about 7:17am the next morning, between collecting the trash and brushing my teeth, but I did do it. The owl now resides on the wall like a respectable piece of art.

 

Now, if I can just get him some buddies and finish the wall art compositions in the nursery.

I'm giving a lecture on my dissertation research to the Anthropology Club at KSU tonight (Hale Library Room 401 if you're interested) so I'm planning any major project progress for the evening. I did just ask Austin if he would measure the bracket so I can order it and rehang that blind. It remains to be seen if Norie will allow it.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Introducing Norie to Solid Food

When Norie was born I planned on exclusively breastfeeding her until she was six months old. That's what the American Pediatric Association recommends and you know how I like to follow the directions. When I did start her on solid food I planned to make sure it was mostly pureed fruits and vegetables I made myself like smushed up sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas and peas.

Then we hit 23 weeks and Norie was waking up every 45 minutes all night long and wanting to nurse every single time. I was worried she had developed a nursing crutch and just couldn't go to sleep unless she nursed. I don't remember exactly how the decision process went (sleep deprivation had some negative effects on my memory), but we started giving Norie infant cereal a couple of weeks ago. 

It is the most amazing thing ever. For both of us.

The first time I tried it she practically lunged out of the bumbo trying to get it in her mouth and ate like she had been starving to death. That night she only woke up three times. It was glorious. Lately she wakes up once, maybe twice a night to nurse, but otherwise is a full and happy camper. She's also drinking more milk than I seem to be able to produce, but that's another issue. 

I've been giving her fruits and veggies too. She's tried bananas, and apple sauce and peas (don't worry Mom, they were all on different days), but so far at least she's not really a fan. She sticks out her tongue to try to get them out of her mouth and makes a horrible face. As a result, the vast majority of her diet consists of breastmilk and infant cereal. She loves it.

 

Solid food is a misnomer. It's more like soquid food. She is a mess. Good thing she eats right before bath time.

UPDATE: Austin just sent me this picture of her response to carrots. I guess she doesn't like them either. 

There is no House Fairy

I attended a webinar a couple of weeks ago by Laura Roeder of LKR Social Media. She made a great point about how you're either going to have to make the time to work on your website or pay someone else to do it. While there is a Graphics Fairy, there is no website fairy that is going to come make it happen without you putting in the money or the time.

It made sense in terms of a website, but I've been noticing that it really applies to just about every aspect of life. You either need to put in the time to do something yourself or pay someone to do it.

There is not generally a no money, no time required option.

Then it hit me yesterday while I was reading a post by my blog bestie, Crystal. It was about the wall art she made from a Restore find and a frame from IKEA.

Source: 29 Rue House, http://29ruehouse.blogspot.com

She made that for $14 bucks in forty minutes. Impressive, right?

Here's the thing though. It still cost $14 and took 40 minutes. I've been lollygagging on my house because I haven't been willing to spend any money to make it into our home. I haven't exactly been putting in the time lately either. Instead of realizing that we are going to have to pay someone to do it or DIY it I've been waiting around like if I waited long enough the House Fairy would come visit and it would just magically happen without me putting in a dime.That's why I haven't made any forward progress on my 25 projects; they all require time and/or money. Most of them both and in what are actually pretty small quantities.


1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom - like $7 and the time to measure the bracket)
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art - $2 for hangers and maybe 1/2 an hour
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch - this one has some serious time needed, but I can pick up pallets for free
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room - $2 to buy a hoop from my neighbor if she still has them and a hour or so
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year - I've spent a year thinking on it so who knows
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers - a good hour
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower - Long enough to find a nail and a hammer
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table - This could be free and take a couple hours if I can convince my daddy to give me the wood
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space - 3 hours, maybe?
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations - I could spend my whole life planning Christmas :)
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge - I finished the last one from this stage in roughly 6 hours. It will probably take $5 in glue, paint, and scrapbook paper.
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.- Buy glue ($8?), thrift for candlesticks
25. Make map mats for vacation photos - $5 for mats and some spray glue.

Tonight, come hell or high water, I am going to hang that owl latch hook in the nursery. Yes, that is the one that requires the least amount of effort, but at least it's something. I've got some other irons in the fire and I'm trying to be realistic

I Had Five Hours of Continuous Sleep

If you really know me you know I can, and will, sleep just about anywhere at any time.

Under a row of seats in an airport? No problem.

On a couch during a party? Absolutely.

In a bar while I'm trying to have a conversation with you? At least once a month back when I went out.

Having a baby has been really hard on my sleep needs. I think my sleep debt was near crisis level a couple of weeks ago when Norie had a cold and was teething and waking up just about every 45 minutes all. night. long.

It was painful. I shouted at my husband. I was a wreck.

I'm not sure if it was getting over the cold, her new sleep sack pajamas or the introduction of solid foods. I'm leaning towards solid foods since she wanted to nurse every single time she woke up, but they all happened at the same time so it's really hard to tell what caused this miraculous change.

The first night she only woke up around 10pm, 1am, and 4am. My mom was a bit distressed when I told her the next morning that she had "only" been up three times the night before. It sounds like a lot if you don't have a kid, but compared to the 9-10 times a night we had been dealing with it was AMAZING. The first time was before I even went to bed. I can totally handle that. I felt super well rested.
 
The next night she did it again and the one after that she only woke up twice. Last night she woke up three or four times before 9pm and I fell sleep nursing her in a chair, but when I woke up around 12:15am I put her to bed in her crib and she didn't wake up again until I was out of the shower this morning. I stayed up watching election coverage and didn't go to bed until 1 so I missed out on almost an hour of sleep, but I still got in 5 whole hours in a row. I don't remember the last time I slept that long, but I'm pretty sure it was in March.

Speaking of election coverage, I'm very happy to know that I wasn't the only person fixated on Flag Head Lady. If you didn't notice her originally, please, please go look. If you don't you'll be late to discover an entire internet meme.

So this whole sleep thing is still a pretty recent development and I've spent the last week recovering rather than working super hard on projects after I put Norie to bed. I am happy to report that at least a couple of projects are off the list. I finished the tablescape in time to have dinner although I didn't take any pictures, cleaned up the porch with the help of my family before everyone arrived and delegated the fixing and painting of the coffee table to my parents. Check, check, and check.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Suffrage

Has everyone you know been saying something they are thankful for every day in November?

Maybe I just have a super grateful group of friends. I've thought about it, but I'm torn. I love gratitude journaling and expressing my appreciation for all the wonderful things in my life, but I'm generally not one for hopping on bandwagons.

I think Gratitude will win out in the end.

Today I'm thankful that I live in a country where I can vote as a woman.

And on that note



I'm also thankful for Lady Gaga. Feel free to think whatever you want about that.

I finally wrote something on the DIY Chalkboard

Norie is pretty well over her cough and only woke up two or three times Saturday night. It was so amazing I woke up Sunday morning with the post communion canticle from the Lutheran Book of Worship in my head.

What, you're not Lutheran?

It starts, "Thank the Lord and sing his praise."

Now imagine me as a child singing with glee because the end of communion is pretty much the end of a Lutheran church service. Thank the Lord indeed.

That's pretty much the level of excitement that was occurring in my head.

I had the energy to take on a project and I wrote on the DIY Chalkboard.

I got inspired after finding this quote by Henry David Thoreau

I'd rather sit alone on a pumpkin

and have it all to myself

than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

Only thing is I wouldn't rather sit on a pumpkin by myself.

Hence,

I'd rather sit on a pumpkin with you.

I'm pretty sure Austin thinks it's cheesy.

I'd rather sit with him on a pumpkin anyway.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

DIY Quilting Hoop Frame Wall Art

I love a "how to" post. This one isn't super complicated, but I love how it adds some interest and personality to a word print.

This is where a picture of the finished product would make sense.

Notice it's not there. That's because I haven't actually taken a picture of it hanging up. I assure you it is. I just don't have any photographic proof.

I got the print months ago for donating to Love Without Boundaries after Ashley of Under the Sycamore started the Incubator Project. The print was designed by her sister Lesley of Recipe for Crazy. Then I gave birth and it just sort of hung out in our spare bedroom with some other prints I need to frame.

I finally got motivated when I saw some quilting hoops at a nieghbor's garage sale not two days after I saw this picture from the Whatever Craft Weekend House. http://megduerksen.typepad.com/craft/2012/08/always-awesome.html

First I mounted it on a sheet of scrapbooking paper with these dots that I'm just totally in love with. It has the same super bright orange as the small lettering and really brings it out.


See those little words? They say

a bird doesn't sing

because it has an answer,

it sings because it has a

I'm so in love with the paper that I cut out the part that would be entirely behind the print with an Exact-O knife so I could save it for something else. They have matching fabric at Hobby Lobby. It makes me smile.

 

Isn't it lovely?

Anywho, I started with this big ol' hoop. You should go ahead an ignore the fact that I obviously forgot to document the print with paper until after this step. :)

That's the paper I saved to the left. :)

I cut a piece of some fabric I've had lying around for a while big enough to leave some excess and stretched it in the hoop.



Then I realized I needed the ribbon under the hoop too. Or at least I wanted it that way. I measured some ribbon I had leftover from some another project and re-stretched the fabric. Then I trimmed the edges so I had just an inch or so of fabric left all the way around.

Yes, those are baby feet in footie pajamas. I was working on this little project while home alone with Norie. Note to self: baby plus scissors is probably a bad idea.

After that I just taped down the fabric around the inside rim and used a couple of clothespins to hang the print from the ribbon.

It was done-ish, but I thought it needed something. This is the state it's been in the whole time that "Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries" has been on my list.

Then it hit me.

I used the bird silhouette from way back when Layla put a bird on it.

I managed to grab a blurry shot with my phone while it was still on the dining table.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Teething

I hate it. This adorable child has become an hourly (if not more) nighttime alarm. She's in pain and so am I. I hope it's through soon.

I slept so little Monday night that I went to bed right after I put her down last night. No project time. Just sleepy time. I was really glad I did too. It was the best half hour of sleep I got all night.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Faith

When I was in high school I had this book. I called it "Book." Not "my book," not "the book I write everything in," but "Book." It was it's name. It had everything in it. It had my schedule, my assignments, my thoughts on life. It was one of those composition books you could buy for like 97 cents back in the day. It was covered in stickers and drawings and had the dates written in French. I still have it somewhere. On the back it said,

Faith is not belief without proof,

but trust without reservation.

That's the kind of faith I have. I know it sounds a little crazy, but here's the thing. When you trust without reservation that there is some higher order to the world and that power is beneficent, life is your proof.

Some major stuff has been happening in my life this week. Some people would call it bad, but I've had this consistent and overwhelming sense that it's moving me in the right direction. Things are just falling into place. I'm randomly running into people at just the right time. I need a newspaper and a friend of mine randomly gets an extra copy on the same day. There is a path to the whole thing and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

And no. I didn't do jack on my 25 Things plan last night. I spent it working on some other, more important projects that came up. I have big plans for this weekend though.

The Best One

Here's the deal. I've been working each night, but I haven't actually been able to cross anything off the list. I've made tiny bits of progress though.

I contacted the manufacturer of my blinds about a bracket since they are weird and I can't just buy the standard replacement at a hardware store. I tried on Day 1 of this project without success. Turns out they don't sell parts so I have to find them myself. They suggested I check www.blindparts.com or www.fixmyblinds.com.

I also worked on cleaning off my enormous (we're talking roughly 3 1/2'x 9') dining room table.  Since only two of us currently eat at a table, the majority of the table is commonly used for random horizontal storage. I've gotten it down to about 40 percent or so of it's typical load, but it's still not even close to tablescape-able.

And that's are far as I've gotten. No pictures to report. No projects to cross off.


1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

I have to tell you this because it touched my heart. Hopefully, my husband is okay with that. He generally isn't into people knowing just how freaking amazingly sweet and endearing he is.

The other night I was getting dinner ready and Norie got hungry so I nursed her while Austin finished it. He asked which pork chop I wanted and when I said, "Whichever" he said, "I think you should get the best one."

I think I already did. :)

Instagramming Childhood

I had this (potentially crazy) idea that I would take pictures of Norie each moth to document her babyhood. Clearly, I did not yet have a baby when I came up with this idea.

You see, the thing about taking monthly baby pictures is you have to take the time once a month to take pictures of your kid. Like, not just whip out your fun while you're doing something fun or when they do something cute, but actually set aside time to focus on taking pictures of them.

I'm not good at that. We're too busy doing stuff and snuggling. Not that you should feel bad for actually doing it. More power to you if you actually get it done. its just not our thing. I am, however, really good at whipping out my phone and Instagram-ing our adventures.

I stressed about it a bit. Then I looked at the pictures I had taken of Norie this month. 

That is totally scrapbook worthy. Four month pictures: check.

Oh, and in case you're curious last Thursday I planted the mum by friend Nancy gave me in the dark just so I could claim another day of sticking to my 25 Things plan. I didn't take a pictures (because it was dark) and I didn't find time to post about it on Friday, but I did do something. :)

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

My Fall Mantel

You thought I wasn't going to post today, didn't you? Well you were wrong. I overslept this morning and didn't have time for coffee, breakfast or blogging. Then I realized 10 miles from home and midway through my commute that I had forgotten my wallet and couldn't buy coffee. I decided to feel blessed that I sleep in such a comfortable bed and am accustomed to having access to enough money to meet my needs.

Yes, of course coffee is a need. Don't be ridiculous.

Blogging about my work from last night had to wait until Norie went to bed tonight. Don't worry, I already finished my Day 4, but I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you about that one. Technically I'm cheating a bit on my 25 Things plan, but I'm okay with that since I'm cheating by using a project I got mostly done several days ago. I'm considering it over achieving since I've been meaning to work on one for years and I finally did. It's my fall mantel.

Every year there is a series of "It's Fall Y'all" Autumn Link Parties thrown by some of my favorite bloggers and one of the parties is about fall mantels. I've never had my mantel together to share one the day of the link party, but I thought I just might make it that year.

Yeah, that one. It was on Sept. 25th. I didn't quite make it. I did, however, finish my mantel for the first time ever (well, except for the writing on the DIY Chalkboard part).

This picture from the very first Whatever Craft Weekend was my inspiration.

Source: Whatever, http://megduerksen.typepad.com

I love absolutely everything about it. It's bright, it's cheery, it's colorful, it has pumpkins, and sunflowers, and bunting. It's fabulous.

I just noticed my version is lacking the white framed mirrors and I might have to do something about that. It has all the things I loved about the original though. I arranged some of the silk flowers I still have from our wedding with a fall arrangement I got last year and put them in vases I already had around the house. Austin sent me flowers in the striped vase way back in 2005. I added some fresh pumpkins (they might just be from the farm I worked on as a teenager) and hung a strand of paper bunting on sisal rope from the same nails we used for the bunting at the baby shower.

Can you tell bunting makes me really happy?

It's too late to add it to the fall mantel link party at Centsational Girl, but it makes me super happy every time I look at it.

Day 3 of my 25 Things plan and still going strong.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos