Lucky Kitty

Junior Hygienist Tool Kit...

Hi Friends,

Been a long time, but it's good to see you all again!  Today, I wanted to share a fun and easy craft that I managed to whip up during a nap time. 

You see, The Hubs is a few short months away from becoming a dental hygienist - a dream he's had for many years now - and I thought that Mr. Toddler Pants might want to join in the fun and help Daddy practice for his last big licensing test.

Problem is, they don't make dental hygiene play sets for toddlers.  Guess it's not what all the toddlers in the focus group were asking for...

I found a plastic set of dentist tools - kinda lame and over-priced, then found the Play Doh Dentist Drill and Fill - this one looked fun, but a little mature for Mr. Pants and more focused on dentist, not hygienists...

SO... once Little Man rested his little head this afternoon, I quickly went to the supply stash in the garage...

Felt scraps... check, pipe cleaners... yes, craft glue... duh... flattened out bottle cap... why yes, I do have a few of those... perfect! 

This couldn't have been easier - glue felt around pipe cleaner for the handle, then fashion the ends to look like the crazy instruments in Daddy's kit.  Even more fun - since they're pipe cleaners, Mr. Man can twist and turn them any way he wants whenever he wants. 

For the mirror, cause you gotta have a mirror, I glued the bottle cap at one end of a pipe cleaner, then wrapped the other end with felt...

Let the pretend teeth cleaning begin!

Now we can all have a good time and a cleaner mouth... win win! 

*pretend dental hygiene kit is for pretend cleaning only - you should still see your hygienist at least twice a year for regular cleanings and check-ups*

 

{this moment}

{this moment} 

 

A Friday ritual started by SouleMama that I discovered on Curious Bird. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy Weekend!

 

{this moment}

  {this moment}

 

A Friday ritual started by SouleMama that I discovered on Curious Bird. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy Weekend!

xoxo

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year!  Can you believe that it's 2011 already?  It's kind of blowing my mind today.  The last decade has blown by so quickly and yet, it was really the decade that I became so many new things - a wife, a mom, a crafty business owner... I even managed to switch jobs three times - from Marketing Director at a indie record store, to office manager of a commercial real estate office, to my current job of being the Mr. Wolf of a start-up orthepedic implant sales, design, and distribution company... crazy, right?

 

So, what will 2011 have in store for us?  I'm pretty darn excited to find out.  My Little Man will be turning two this year, The Hubs will finally be graduating from school and starting his career - 8 years in the making, we will hopefully be able to find and purchase a new house - maybe even one that has two bathrooms... what?  I know, crazy...

 

What about resolutions for the New Year?  I always try to make resolutions that are simple and that I might be able to keep.  In 2007, I resolved to eat more mint.  Yep, mint.  It was my biggest failed resolution ever.  I don't think I've touched anything minty in years.  2008 was to take more pictures.  I didn't realize this resolution until the birth of my son in 2009, but thankfully, I'm better about keeping this resolution nowadays.

 

So, for 2011, I resolve to try and do the following:

1.  Take more pictures - always need to keep this one on the list.

2.  Blog more - My blogging took a nose dive this year and that's a shame because I enjoy it, so, I am going to try to commit myself to keeping a better eye on it this year.

3.  Find time to be creative - with a Little Man around, my crafty business has fallen by the wayside, which is okay, I'd rather hang out with him, but I still need to have creativity in my life, so, this year, I resolve to creatively find ways to be more creative and crafty.

4.  Stop being a stress ball - this last year of my husband's schooling has been the most challenging yet - financially, emotionally, pretty much every aspect of our lives has been affected by school and not necessarily in a good way.  I need to resolve to go with the flow more and find solutions to situations instead of freaking out about them.

5.  Continue to try and be the best mommy I can be - not that this even needs to be a 'resolution' - it's just good to have it on the list... as reference...

...and that's it... for now!  I hope each and every one of you has a happy and healthy New Year!

 

xoxo

Turkey Day Bibs for Tots!

We were oh so lucky this past Thanksgiving when our dear family friends invited us out to Fredericksburg, TX to spend the holiday at a ranch house. 

Last year, when every holiday was 'baby's first', it was easy to find accessories and outfits to mark all of our special occasions.  This year, however, being 'baby's second' holiday season, has been a bit of a challenge.

Not one to give up so easily, I decided to make Quinn and his baby buddy Clover some special bibs - just for Thanksgiving.

Instead of trying to find the perfect pattern, I thought I would just wing it, so, I drew an outline around an existing bib...

 

Freehanded my embroidery design...

 

and voila! Baby's Second Thanksgiving bib.

 

Had to add the pockets - our little ones tend to drop lots of things and if it lands in the pocket, well, that's what we call 'seconds' at our house...

I think the babies were pleased...

 

 

...or maybe just distracted by all the delicious choices we had at our dinner...

I am so glad we were able to spend Thanksgiving with such good friends and that our babies got to dine in style!

P.S. Homemade cranberry sauce is the total baby jam...

 

 

...and now it's time to DANCE!

 

Yes, it's true.  For Halloween this year, we decided to be an entire family of DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba.  Why have only one, when you can have the power of three!

It was really fun creating our costumes this year, and not all that difficult either...

I started with white shirts, pants, and a skirt for me from American Apparel.  They had a couple of the items in orange, but not everything - so, I would have been trying to dye pieces to match other pieces which sounded difficult and not cool.  Instead, I just threw everything into one big orange bath...

 

Next, I made our hats.  A little bit of orange faux fur goes a long way - I'm still finding tufts of it around the house...

 

Then, it was belt time.  I decided to put our names on our belts - instead of all of us having the same 'ROCK' belt.  I mean, that's DJ Lance Rock's name, not ours... so...

 

Note to self on gluing belt pieces together - next time, use the fabric glue first.  The regular tacky glue doesn't work so good on the vinyl... lesson learned...

Finally, it was time to sew on the yellow and white stripes onto our shirts, find some big square framed glasses (thanks EBay), and we were good to go! 

 

Little Man was not a fan of the glasses, but he kept his hat on for a remarkably long time... Mommy's little trooper!

So, since our costumes were so awesome this year, I simply had to enter them into the Spook-A-Look Halloween Photo Contest over at Giveaway Blogs... wish me luck!

Giveaway Blogs

UPrinting

 

Only 44 more days til Halloween!

Halloween has always been a big deal at our house, but once our Little Man came along, it became one of the single most important holidays of our entire year.

Last year, also known as 'Baby's First Halloween' I went a little bit... well... okay fine, I went overboard... big time...

It all started with my friend Vickie's blog post and an eyeliner pencil...

 
I mean, seriously, this kid is lucky I refrain from painting a moustache on him every day, not just for costumes.

Then it progressed to the pumpkin patch...

 
Check out those sweet handmade candy corn shoes he's wearin!

...and by the time Halloween rolled along, we were a full blown family of werewolves...

 

So, as you can see, I have a lot to live up to for 'Baby's Second Halloween' this year. 

I know my days of getting to pick my son's costume myself are numbered.  I might have one more year before he wants to be a puppy ninja pirate from Mars - or maybe that's what he wants to be for 'Baby's Third Halloween' - but that's a whole year away...

I've decided to stick with a whole family theme for our costumes - I find it hilarious when people all dress in themes. 

This year's theme has been chosen.  It is still a secret, but I will give you a hint... some clothes were dyed at my house this past weekend...

 

Hmmm... interesting... now, just gotta figure out what Q's second and third costumes will be and we'll be all set!  I kid, I kid... kinda...

... six months later...

Yep, it's true - it has almost been six months to the day since I left my poor little blog for dead. Didn't even come back to check on it, didn't leave an extra bowl of water out - none of it.

I did keep my sad lonely little blog in my thoughts - always hoping that I would return to it someday. 

You see, not to make excuses, but things got crazy. 

I became a mommy.  Not just a mommy, but a mommy with a full time job.  Not just a mommy with a full time job, but a mommy with a full time job and a full time student husband. 

I moved all of my sewing and crafting supplies out to the garage to make room for the high chair in my kitchen.  Now, whenever I want to make something, I have to sneak stuff in the house and make out with it while no one is looking... I'm like the bad babysitter keeping my boyfriend in the shower until the parents leave...

I got a new job - which is amazing - not only because it's the type of job that will grow with me and that I can depend on, but I'm pretty sure nobody wants to fire me because I have to pick my kid up from school... so, that's an improvement...

Needless to say, all of this has quickly and effeciently made sure that I don't have much free time for making stuff, and since my blog is about stuff that I make... well, you know the rest.

So, this afternoon, after lunch I was hanging some pictures up in my new office and it dawned on me that I had created something crafty, fun, and super easy to do... oh, and cheap too!

It's so good - I had to share it with you guys... which I think means that I just might be blogging again...

Alright - to my project... it all started with some cheap Ikea frames - $2.99 a piece to be exact.  I think they're called The Ribba...

Next, I went over to the Snapfish, picked out some pics, made them all Sepia tone, and ordered them for a mere $ .79 a piece.

Finally, I wanted to have more than family photos on my wall - I wanted to have some color and texture too.

I've always dreamed of having awesome vintage wallpaper on a wall, but have always been too scared (or lazy) to ever attempt it. Not to mention, rolls of awesome vintage wallpaper come with equally awesome price tags... but samples of rolls of awesome vintage wallpaper are super dupes cheap - $1.00 for an 8x10 sample to be exact.

Go check out Bradbury & Bradbury to get your wallpaper lovin on!

...and voila!  I present to you a totally awesome homage to my family (and awesome vintage wallpaper) for my office wall for only $34.65 total!

Next project? Making this side of my new office look more like an actual human inhabits it... Stay tuned (I promise I'll be back before it's been six more months)

 
 

One and only...

My Husband has 42 first cousins.

I have one.


Her name is Regina and she lives in Los Angeles with her husband Charles and their fur babies.

We don't get to see each other very often, which is a shame, since we each only have one first cousin (each other), but thanks to the magic that is Facebook, we keep in touch much more frequently lately.

Regina and Charles came to Austin for the first time for our wedding back in 2004.

It was that day that my friends decided that she was my "fancy" cousin.

I couldn't agree more!

So, it makes complete sense that she's started her own video blog - it's called Glamour 24-7, and it's all about the many ways to add glamour to your life - in all price ranges.

Check it out here and add a little glamour to your life!

Four years ago today...

I officially became Mrs. Canacorn!

I can't believe that it's already been four years - how the time zips past as you get older...

Happy Anniversary to my dear sweet Husband...

Four more years! Yes we can!