Sharon is walking!

I've been making stuff

Sharon's room has been sadly blank for awhile. Actually, it kind of had boxes of clothes, laundry baskets & items without a home scattered throughout it. Last week I finally got it organized & clean so that she can actually play in there without getting into anything she shouldn't. This week I decided I should probably do something to decorate it. Things like decorating the "nursery" tend to get left in the dust when you have a baby 3 months earlier than expected. Go figure.
So, I've been making stuff. Here's a peek at what I've been doing:

{1} For some cheap & easy "art" above her crib I bought art canvas & just covered them with some fun fabric. I just stretched the fabric around & used a staple gun to attach it. Super easy, & fairly lightweight for hanging above her bed.

{2} I've been wanting to display Sharon's first footprints in a frame for awhile, & I finally did it this morning. I scanned in the prints from the card that they did at the hospital, made sure they were the same size as the actual ones, & printed them out on some white cardstock. Then I just cut scrapbook paper to fit my frame & put it all together. Just so you get an idea of how small those feet are, the prints measure 1 7/8 inches from the heel to the longest toe.

{3} & {4} I made some quick & easy bunting to hang in Sharon's room. I used coordinating scrapbook paper & pages from an old dictionary that I picked up at the thrift store for 50 cents. I used white seam binding and my sewing machine to assemble them. I also made two other strands of bunting using pink papers to decorate for Valentine's Day. They are hanging in the dining & living room.

So, that's a little bit of what I've been up to lately. They are all super easy crafts that can be done in under an hour for sure!

Digital Family Tree

Awhile ago I created a paper family tree with some brown cardstock & a maple leaf punch. I added the names of my family & their birthdates & it now resides in my entryway. I love it! I love keeping every day reminders of my family in my home.

Well, I've now surpassed even my own genius (though how that works I'm not quite sure). This morning I got the amazing idea that I should digitalize my family tree pattern. I scanned in my leafless tree shape & then created a new family tree in Photoshop Elements using my digital scrapbook papers & computer fonts. I made this one to hang in Sharon's room so that she can have some pretty, but sentimental art, too. I'm going to make these trees available for purchase in my Etsy store early next week, so check back then! I just love these colors!

I now have custom digital family trees available for sale in my Etsy shop! Check it out {here}!

Random Pages

Christmas Scrapbook Pages

Family Pictures Pages

I know I already posted most of these pictures, but I just did the scrapbook pages & wanted to post them as well. Just so you know, if you live in Kingman & want to have your family pictures taken, I would love to do them! My rates are really great, since I'm just starting out! So, if you want your family pictures taken, or individuals of your kids, feel free to leave a comment with some contact info, or email me.

Bread in 5 minutes a day

Wendy Dewitt posted a link to a video about how to make Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day and I checked it out. I wanted to share the links with you because I am definitely in love with this bread! The link she gave was just to the video that shows the basics of how to mix the bread, but I wanted the actual recipe, so I did a little looking & was able to find it on the blog for the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. So, here is the link to the recipe. Now, let me tell you about my experience making the bread. I found a rectangle container that is large enough to hold the dough as it rises, and then I mixed up my first batch of dough. I left in on the counter for a little over two hours, & I can assure you that my yeast was definitely working. I pulled off a chunk so I could make a loaf right then and I put the rest in the fridge. The first few times I made it, I let it rise on some cornmeal on a cookie sheet. After the first couple loaves, I decided to buy some parchment paper (not sure where the stuff I had went) because I was having some trouble getting the loaf off the cookie sheet without squishing it. With the parchment paper I won't have to do that, I can just put the whole thing on the baking stone.

So, what's the bread like? So good. It has a nice crust on the outside, but the inside is so moist & fluffy (it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!). Sorry, I couldn't pass up that chance for a movie quote. But the best part about the bread is that while it is so tasty, there is practically no effort involved. You don't have to knead it, & the rising time doesn't have to be exact at all. I will say that I will probably make my regular bread recipe sometimes, too, because I do like to knead on occasion. It gets the stress out. But, I'm going to keep a batch of this bread dough mixed up in the fridge from now on, because I can just decide to bake bread when I get a craving for it, and have it just about an hour later! I am definitely going to be getting the book so I can see what other recipes they have using this basic dough.

So check it out! And if you do end up buying the book, it would be great if you could get it through the link here in this post, because then I get a little bit for advertising! =) Thanks!

From behind the lens

New listings on Etsy

I finally got around to reopening my Etsy shop & have some brand new art prints for sale. They are all created by me & I absolutely love each of them. Take a look & buy something while you're there. Here is a preview of just a few of the prints that I have for sale.

What I've been up to

We had a wonderful visit down with my family for Christmas. We enjoyed some wonderful homemade Indian cuisine for our Christmas Eve dinner, played too many games to count & only made my little sister cry a couple of times. It was wonderful to be with the family for such a long visit!

While we were there, my mom wanted to do our family pictures as this was the last time we would all be able to be together for at least a year. Mom wanted to go a park in town where we've taken family pictures in years past & recreate a picture on this old tractor that we did about 10 years ago. I would post the picture to show the time lapse, but I lost it when my external harddrive crashed. I'll have to ask my mom to email me a copy of it so I can post it here on the blog. Anyway, on to the pictures.

If you know my family at all, you probaly know that we are quite the group of goofballs. With so many people trying to be funny all at the same time, it tends to get a little rowdy, & I would definitely have felt bad if we'd hired a professional photographer to do these shots, because they probably would have been pulling their hair out after the first pose. Thankfully, we were able to get some shots with everyone smiling (somewhat) and looking pretty good.

After taking the picture like the one from ten years ago, we added in the spouses & our daughter.

Then we got one with everyone in more comfortable positions. We also took individual pictures, but were only able to get half of the siblings done before my sister came up & told us that three of our vehicles had been broken into, including our car. The thief snatched purses, my diaper bag & a camera bag. We were pretty quick to get any debit/credit cards cancelled & I had to suspend my phone service, so there was only minimal loss.  

So, my 2010 ended with this lovely picture of our car window smashed. I hope your old year ended a little better. We're definitely looking forward to a new year!