6 Months and Sitting Pretty

Sometimes I am just blown away by how fast time passes.  This week my precious baby girl turned six months old!  We are praising God for what a marvelous gift she is!!  Of course I was feeling the need to celebrate and got a little crafty to help.

It was time for us to jump into what I call Mama's Home Photo Studio again.  This month I wanted to take pics in a cute-as-a-button dress I bought for her to wear for her court date on Gotcha Day. So first I needed to make her amatching hair bow for the dress.  You've just got to have a matching hair bow!  So I got out my box of ribbon and got to work.

I was well please with the outfit!

After that I decided to work on some props for the background.  I always have my trusty white or black backdrop to hang, but I wanted to add a little coordinating punch with some hanging tulle pom poms.  I made the pom poms by wrapping tulle repeatedly around a notebook and then cut the tulle in two places to create two even stacks.  I then gathered the tulle squares and tied them off with matching ribbon.  

This is the first time I've made these, but I think I'm addicted now.  They turned out to be so fun and Olivia loves them!  I made five puffs and hung them at different heights and depths in front of my white backdrop.  Then all I had to do was wait for the sun to shine.

So the next day we got Olivia all dolled up and went to work.  The thing about taking pictures of your own kids in your own home is that she's a little more comfortable at home and with me than at the studio which means she doesn't let me pose her like the photographer does.  I tried alone at first, but had to enlist the help of my husband to help wipe up drool, keep her from pulling her socks off, get her to smile, keep her from pulling her hair bow off, look in the direction of the camera, stop pulling her dress above her head, etc....  Photographing a six month old was much more challenging than snapping the sleeping one month old, but still so much fun!  When all was said and done, these are some of the shots we got.

And there were so many more hysterical and memorable shots.  So it was a great family memory.  And having such a cute subject makes it all the more fun.  It was a big week for the little girl...six months.  And it was a fun week for me getting my hands busy with crafts and capturing this precious stage in my daughter's life.  I'm grateful for every moment we have and thanking God for His wonderful blessings.  I hope you take time to thank Him for the little blessings in your life today.

Always Say PEAS and Thank You!

My sweet baby girl is about 5 and 1/2 months old now.  Long before we started her on table food I decided I was going to give it a go at making her baby food myself.  So Jody and I loaded up and went to farmers market one Saturday morning and stocked up on peas and green beans and I went to work.  I steamed and pureed the veggies and filled up my trays and put them in the freezer ready for the day when Olivia would be ready for green veggies.

Lo and behold, this is that week.  We're enjoying a successful run with cereal and I was expected peas to be a fun addition to menu.  Much to my dismay, it doesn't seem that Olivia is enjoying peas!  As is evident from the picture, more peas made it on the face and bib than in the mouth!

So, what started as a mama proud of herself for making her own baby food ended after a couple of tries as a mama hoping it is no reflection on her baby-food-making ability.  (The photos are a little deceptive because she actually looks happy with the peas.  But it was really tears and shaking her head.  She just turned on the charm when the camera came out!)

So after a half an hour, this is what we were still left with in the bowl...

Looking forward to what the pediatrician tells us to start adding after the next appointment so we can continue with the culinary crafting adventure.  And who knows...maybe baby girl will eventually decide to like peas.

Me...a blogger?????

So this is my first post on my new blog.  I never thought I would be a blogger, but my friends have been trying to convince me.  I am a new mom and long-time crafter who has recently quit my job to stay home with my baby girl.  It's been five months of joy with her now and I'm starting to get back into the crafting mood to make things for my sweet baby.

So I have all these ADORABLE pictures of this BEAUTIFUL girl and I need a cute way to display them.  I was cleaning out my craft closet and found an unfinished frame I had bought and stored who knows when.  So I decided to put some materials I already had to good use.  Here is my process.

I painted the frame using a turquoise craft paint and let it dry

Then I went over the paint with a black glaze - you can see the can of glaze in the picture here.

Then I made a bow and glued it and glued a flower I had previously made for a hair clip.

Then to top it all off I added a picture of the cutest little baby in the entire world.  That really made it sing!  I was pretty pleased with the finished product.  I hope you think so too!    

That ended my crafting adventure today.  On to mom adventure...have an abnormally high percentage of poop covered clothes in the baby's basket this time around.  It's Spot Shot to the rescue.  Laundry is calling!