Crafty Girls Weekend Coming Up

I have been wrapped up in Christmas activities over the past few weekends but this weekend I have zero parties to attend and I get the whole weekend with Bailey. Tonight we may get messy with some paint and work with glitter! I have been seeing lots of fun projects done in glitter and as much as I loathe glitter mess...I want to use it on my wooden and canvas projects. Also, Bailey and I will be going to see "Tangled" this weekend together...I'm so excited to see it. I love Disney Princesses. She has no idea we are going...I told her it would be something special so she is excited about the surprise. Also we are going to see my best friend in Birmingham this weekend and will be going to my two favorite stores: Old Time Pottery & Home Goods! Ahh! I'm so pumped to get good deals and spend time with my best friend. After we get back from shopping we are going to etch up some glass for Christmas gifts. I'm such a craft dork! Here is what I made the two past Tuesday Craft Nights. I love the 5 point crown for Zeta!

Bailey's Gymnastics Room

Well we finally had the carpet installed and the room is completed! It turned out really cute. We decided to put a TV in her room since she loves to watch her "mobies" or have it on in the background while playing. It has a dvd player attached to it and it was just sitting in the office so we figured it would get more use in her room and she practically knows how to operate it. I feel so blessed to be able to give her a room she truly loves - it was a lot of work on Blake's part and mine but to see her face light up when she saw all the details and things she loves in one room was worth it. Although when we asked her what her favorite part of the room was she said, "my toys!" Not the new bedding, new pillows, the TV, the cute knobs on her dresser, her toy bucket, her ballet barre, balance beam, her name on the wall, the ballet dancer on the wall, the hanging flowers...nope, she liked her toys the best and she didn't get any new toys so she liked what she already had the best. Oh well!

I was trying to think of ways to make it more about gymnastics than a dance theme. I found a few really cute rugs or thought about the puzzle tiles but since her room is carpet I knew they would come apart so after much looking I found a reasonable priced gymnastics mat! She loves it and now I have a great spot to do my ab workouts :)

These are the flowers I worked forever on. I found the idea from a blogger who posted the Martha Stuart pom pom kits and how easy they are to make. The balance beam was a yard sale find from a friend. I didn't know what we would do with it but I figured it would come handy in the future :) It was a maroon color so I covered it in pink felt and Blake pained the wood black to match the furniture.

She loves it!

I put the flowers in the two opposite corners of the room. We put the TV on her toy bench instead of the dresser since she likes it more eye level.

Bailey helped me paint these knobs. They are her favorite colors: pink and purple. We did them in 2 shades of each and did a flower pattern and polka dots on them.

I saw these done at craft fairs last year but people are charging $30 for these! I made this for about $5. Yes it took some time but it turned out so cute and matches her room perfectly. It was suppose to be a hair bow holder but it is so cute that I didn't want to clutter it with hair bows.

This is her new bedding that I found at BB&B. It has pink and purple flowers and it looks great with her black furniture. It is a bit "grown up" looking but it is so pretty! The picture above was actually my idea...didn't steal this one :) I wanted to do a gymnastics picture and could not find anything that would work for her room...oops I did steal the saying "Gymnast in Training". I also wanted to add a little Zeta in the mix so I put the fabulous 5 point crown on the tu-tu.

So I had envisioned the room to look just like this but with a free standing ballet barre made out of PVC pipe when my fabulous husband said he could mount the bar from her crib on the wall! Isn't he the best daddy! It looks so good with the bar mounted! We did end up destroying her "baby to toddler to adult" crib because he sawed down the headboard to fit a twin and then used the foot board pole to make the ballet barre...oh well I probably would have wanted a different crib for the next child anyway...that is if there will ever be another one.

July 4th weekend

It feels like the past two weeks have flown by. July 4th weekend was a three day weekend. I could have had plans but decided to make it very low key. To start it off on the perfect note I went to the library and grabbed a couple of FREE movies for the weekend then we went with Blake's little sister to see Toy Story 3. Now what I did not know is that it was going to cost $12 a ticket because it was in 3D. I would have waited for the 4:00 showing to watch it the regular way but since we were already there with my purse crammed with 2 Share & Tear bags of M&M's (peanut and regular) along with 3 bottled drinks: diet coke, mountain dew, and sprite (don't judge me...so I like to save money. I still bought their buttered $7 large popcorn!) there was no turning around. It was such a good movie but I do not prefer the 3D because Bailey didn't like wearing the glasses and it made the movie have a dark tint and the 3D effect wasn't enough to pay $5 extra a ticket. Also kitty cat came with us (see picture) and they did not charge for her to enter...thank goodness! And Yes we did take home the bottom two inches of that popcorn bucket - I spent $7 on that thing we were not going to waste that high cholesterol goodness.

The rest of the day we stayed at home in play clothes playing with legos, dolls, and markers while I finished sewing Bailey's new dress! I had a hard time deciding on the color to accent the hot pink but the paisley turquoise pattern turned out great. I also made Bailey a zebra pillow to match her curtains with the left over material - pillows are like the easiest things to make in the sewing world.

On Saturday we took a mini-trip to see Blake's family down in Brewton for a pool party. On Sunday I met up with my shopping gal Robyn to hit the 4th of July sales where I bought some princess fabric that was already smocked at the top. I thought it was on sale but it wasn't! Thank goodness I had a coupon. I didn't realize it was .50 cents an inch (total was $17 but I had a 40% coupon)! I said "make it a yard" without looking...that would have cut the cost by $4.00...oh well. At Dillard's they ALWAYS have a fabulous 4th of July shoe sale. While other people are at cookouts - I am at Dillard's finding my beloved shoes. I was beginning to think I wouldn't find my "special" shoes but then on the top rack in box marked size 9 I opened it and there they were...if only they were my size instead of a 9 AND THEY WERE! (who's getting chills!!) They were size 8's in the wrong box - the heavens opened up and the angles were singing "hallelujah, hallelujah...." I put them on and felt like the "hot" girl (this doesn't happen often). I looked in the mirror and it was like they were destined to be mine! They were Nina's with a 5 point crown marked down from $60 to $40 with 30% off making my total $32.00! Mission Accomplished!

On Monday I made Bailey her princess dress with the fabric I purchased - wow! It took all of 3 minutes to make the actual dress and maybe 20 minutes total to do the straps. What's perfect about this material is that it is stretchy and I can adjust the straps or take them off and she could wear it as a skirt. I still have to make my sister-in-law her scrubs that I started on in January...they are coming! Sometimes I get an itch for sewing and this weekend was perfect for it.

Bailey's Flower Girl Bows

Bailey will be a flower girl in only TEN days! She is wearing a family heirloom dress at the wedding and changing into another dress for the reception - which is why there are two bows needed. I made these for .40 cents each...they would have cost at least $5 each at a boutique. I learned how to make bows by watching the tutorials on youtube.com.

Bows, Bows, & More Bows

I have been wanting to learn to make Bailey some hair bows instead of paying $3 - $5 for one that she will get dirty or loose. I have around 8 different ribbons at home left over from different projects or for decorating a gift. There is this place in Wetumpka that offers a hair bow making class but it is during the week day and only once a month so I haven't been able to go. So yesterday I youtubed "hair bow tutorial" and there were over 10 good videos teaching you how to make a "boutique" hair bow along with many other styles. So these are my first two that I did last night. On the football one I could add a crimson ribbon(RTR), but I have a cute houndstooth pin with "M" embroidered on it to place in the middle for Bailey to wear this year. The black bow with the pink and black flowers is really cute - that ribbon is left over from the picture board I did a few months ago. I had just enough to made 1 bow with it. I'm excited because now I can make Bailey bows to match all her outfits plus there will be lots of extra ribbon for me to make for my friends little girls or to sale if I ever do a boutique. While I was making them Bailey was coloring with crayons and getting into all the ribbon spools (AKA: helping mommy).