Happy Happy New Year!

Source: youtube.com via Courtney on Pinterest

6 months

Happy 6 months Lily Belle!

16 lb 5 oz (58%)

27 3/4 inches (98%)

You love to smile, eat (peas, carrots & rice cereal!), roll and giggle.

You have 2 bottom teeth and more on the way!

You're so close to crawling already. It seems so soon, but girl when you set your mind to something, you get it done. I hope you stay that way forever :)

You are by far the most beautiful thing I have ever had a part in creating.

The past 6 months have been challenging, stressful, precious, amazing and FAST.

I can't wait for the rest of this incredible first year!

I love you more than I ever thought possible.

Merry Christmas!

So our Christmas card just didn't happen this year. I thought about it. Then I got stressed out thinking about gathering everyone's addresses again because I didn't keep good track of them last time. I thought about addressing and stamping and licking envelopes (so sick). Then I decided to play the "I'm a new mom" card :) I don't believe it's a season for stress, so I'm just making a Christmas blog post instead... at 11:30 on Christmas eve... while my husband sleeps and my baby eats. See, I am a new mom.

So a very Merry Christmas to you & yours.

From me & mine.

I hope it's full of shortbread cookies,

precious family,

gingerbread cupcakes,

and wonderful memories .

Love, Ashley

Baby Dedication

Sunday December 11, 2011

We dedicated miss Lily Belle at church a couple weeks ago. It was such a sweet reminder that we are committed to raising our blessing to know and love Jesus.

d

You can be my new best friend.

So I entered a recipe contest!!! I decided to share my very favorite cookie recipe. It's the first gluten free & vegan recipe I created, it inspired me to start a business and it's even the Sugar Mama namesake :) PLEASE go to the the Gluten-Free Cookie Swap and "like" my recipe. I could win a kitchen aid mixer! Oh, and you'll be my new best friend. Thanks!

Field Trip Friday {Canvas & Cupcakes)

Ok so it's Saturday, but I didn't get this posted yesterday. LAST Friday I had a Canvas & Cupcakes birthday party for Hunter's sister, Hayley. It was SO fun!

Nichole and Nina were my co hosts :) Nichole actually taught the painting part and brought tons of supplies so that was a life saver. Nina did snacks and last minute setup when Lil decided to have a meltdown (and I was still hot gluing party favors) with a half hour til party time!

The party favors were teeny little canvasses that I made into ornaments. Plus, they doubled as place settings when hung from the easels!


And the pinterest inspired paint palette cupcake display that I'm super proud of :)

This party was such a fun way to get to know new people because it's so interactive! I loved getting to know Hayley's friends.


And here are a couple finished projects. Beautiful!

Happy Birthday Hayley :)

CRAFTS!!!!!!!!

Hello!! So who's ready to get their craft on!?! Jamie is so sweet and has a super cute blog. She is here to inspire us all to DIY some perfect gifts :)

Hi friends of Ashley! I'm Jamie from Snow In December, and I'm here today to share with you some inexpensive, DIY ideas for your all Christmas gift-giving needs! To me, hand-made gifts always leave a lasting impression.



Most of the pins I've chosen to share today take no special skills. I encourage you to dust off your craft supplies and get to work, putting a little love (and glue) into each hand-made gift! Your friends and family will thank you for it.



**Each of these ideas came from my pin-boards. There's lots more inspiration where that came from if you want to check me out on Pinterest. I'm kind of a big deal. (Nooooooo, Not really!) ;0)
For Your Artsy Friend:

Source: westermanfam.blogspot.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For Your Fashion-Savvy Friend:

Source: iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For Your Bestie:

Source: u-createcrafts.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For Your Hubs:

Source: thedatingdivas.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For Your Little Man:

Source: followinginmyshoes.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

Source: mineforthemaking.blogspot.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

And Your Little Woman:

Source: etsy.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

Source: jamieespo.blogspot.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For the Couple You Double Date With:

Source: google.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For the Grandparents:

Source: lilluna.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

Source: somewhatsimple.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

For the cute baby in your life:

Source: meggyolks.tumblr.com via Jamaymay on Pinterest

HAPPY Crafting!

Field trip Friday {parade of lights}

Last Friday night (12.2.11) we ventured downtown in the snow and cold for the Parade of Lights! Hunter got grand stand tickets for free at work so we got to sit in the bleachers right at the start of the parade. So fun! I've never had actual seats to a parade and the news anchor was only a few seats away. We definitely felt VIP :)

(Oh, and Lily came because this is what she looks like when we try and give her a bottle... so we can't leave her with anyone for longer than about 3 hours.)

Dang it, we really dropped the ball on the bottle thing. I swore my baby would get used to a bottle so that Hunter and I could always have enough alone time... but we gave her one a couple time when she was brand new and she didn't even bat an eye so I thought we were good to go... turns out she forgot. Also turns out she's real picky and perhaps even a bit stubborn. But that's neither here not there.

Look how sleepy she is. This is right before the parade started and she fell asleep all snuggle up to daddy :) What a cutie.

Our attempt at a family photo. Dang, it was cold.

Or seats were right in front of the City and County building and we got to go inside to warm up and eat free cookies whenever we wanted. See, VIP. Here is what it looked like when we got there.

And this is it after the official lighting that kicked off the parade. So pretty!

This is the CSU drumline. I just always take pictures of the drummers because they remind me of Travi :) Again, Lil just slept right on through.

Even though it was stinkin' cold, and we had to keep our baby out way past bedtime like bad parents, we had such a fun (and much needed) date night! (Don't worry, Lily forgave us and only cried a little on the way home.) We're even getting somewhat of a nap schedule figure out. It's a Christmas miracle!

Sweet Baby

My sweet baby is 5 1/2 months old already. It is so fun watching her grow and learn more every single day, but it's killing me how fast she is changing! My brother's gf Beth took these amazing pictures the other day. I'm in love :) Beth has her own photography business, Yellow Feather Photography. She is so talented! Thank you Beth :)

Sweet baby has a tooth already!

As you can see, she's also sitting up like a pro!

Love this sweet booty :)

This one is my very favorite. I bought this getup on after-Christmas clearance last year when I was pregnant! I was SO excited to snuggle a little baby in this year and holy cow, here she is! I could have never imagined how perfect my little reindeer would be :)

Another DIY Christmas gift {Happy Find}

Hello there. I'm back with more Christmas gift ideas! Happy Find is one of the first blogs I fell in love with. Venus is so sweet and fun and her crafts are always so bright and cheerful! Today she is here to share a great DIY gift idea... but if you're not in the mood to make it yourself then definitely check out her shop. She has the most adorable aprons and pincushions. I treated myself to a sweet little mini pincushion that I LOVE and I bought an apron as a gift and had a REALLY hard time letting it go :)

Hello sweets!

My name is Venus and I'm the happy craftin' gal from Happy Find. Crafting is my drug. When the babes are tended to and the chores are done, you'll find me in my little craft space making pretty things. And speaking of pretty things... boy do I have a tutorial for you!

Ashley has invited me to share with you a tutorial that I actually posted several years back, but this time, it's with a twist. I had this vision in my head. I wanted to make a little wooden doll, reminiscent of a Matroyshka if you will, but I didn't want to paint a face on it. I wanted to have Lala (my wee one's) face instead.

I have been tinkering with several different transfer techniques, (HERE, HERE and HERE) none came close to the clarity and quality of what I was envisioning, especially when you're working with a curved surface. So after a few tries - a few failures, I came up with this:

Cute, right?

So let's take it to another level...

Let's make a greeting spool!

A perfect little gift for the special peeps in your life. A treasure to keep forever!

So enough of my jibba-jabba and let's get craftin'!

***

SUPPLIES:

As shown above:

-hot glue gun.

-iron on sheets.

-fabric (preferably lightweight white cotton).

-mod podge.

-scissors.

-acrylic paint and paint brushes.

-wooden thread spool.

-wooden ball with a flat bottom (or a wooden bead or wooden doll head will work).

NOT shown ( I just plum forgot to add in the pic):

-varnish.

-an iron & ironing board.

-ribbon, felt, paper and/or fabric to use for your actual greeting.

***

First, measure your wooden ball to determine the size of face to print out.

***I printed out several different sizes on a piece of paper first to figure out the right size.***

Once you figure that out, then print the picture onto your iron on transfer sheet. Don't forget to "mirror" your image if you want your image to face in a certain direction.

Next, follow manufacturer's directions and transfer the photo onto your fabric. I highly recommend lightweight cotton fabric in white. It's easier to work with.

Cut out your child's face.

Place photo on wooden ball for placement and decoupage using Mod Podge.

Once you decoupaged (such a fancy word), it should look something like this.

Now paint around the face. I painted a little bit on the photo along the edge.

Once you're done painting and the paint is all nice and dry, it's going to look a little "rough" or dull.

Paint a thin coat of varnish and set aside to dry. It's going to look all shiny and prrretty!

While that's drying, you can start dressing up your spool. For ideas, tips and just plain know how, hop over to my ol' tutorial (click on the photos below to take you there).

Go on... I'll be here waiting.

Okie-dokie...

Once you have your spool all done and pretty, your doll head should be dry and ready. Using your hot glue gun, attach the head to the spool and...

drum roll, please...

You're done! Now all you have to do is admire your handy-dandy work and wrap it up. Easy, right?

Now if making little greeting spools isn't your cup o'tea, than how about making an awesome chess set using photos of friends and family? How's that for a cool handmade gift for Christmas?! Or how about making one into a necklace? Or even a set of dolls of the family for a special little girl to play house with? Or for boys, making them into mini super heroes? AH! The possibilities!

The wooden balls and spools I got from Michaels and JoAnn's. I'm thinking of buying some of these next time:

Photo via: I Used To Be A Tree

photo via: Goose Grease Undone

***

Oh my dear friends, it's time I mosey on outta here. Thank you, Ashley for having me over! It was fun.

Have a blessed magical holiday season

&

Keep craftin'!!!