Madeleine - Week 35

To fairly document something, you have to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. This week is a combination of the latter two. Today is Miss Madeleine's 8 month birthday, but she is one sick sweet girl. She has been enduring congestion and coughing since the weekend and a fever the last two days. Her doctor wants us to treat it at home until she has three days of fever, so we may be paying one of Madeleine's favorite people a visit tomorrow or Friday if things don't shape up quickly. 

In the development realm, Madeleine made big progress toward crawling on Monday when she figured out how to get her knees properly under her and move them. She is really just a wink away from moving forward! 

Note to mamas, mamas-to-be, and those shopping for the aforementioned people: In addition to the best nose sucker out there (also referenced here), consider treating your wee one to some Hanna Andersson pajamas. Because they're footless, they fit well for a long time. (Looks like they're having a sale at the moment, too!) We're lucky to have an outlet nearby, but (at least here) they are also plentiful on the secondhand market because they hold up really well. In fact, the ones M is wearing in the photo came from a secondhand store, have been worn by her for months, and still look brand new. 

And, no, I was not asked or compensated for my honest opinion about these two great products. :-)

Painted Fireplace

I (finally) returned to DIY projects this past week. If you thought my DIY days were behind me now that we're in our new house, you're mistaken. I have a (long) list of projects to make our new house a little more home for us.

George and I decided to focus on our family room and kitchen areas first because we spend so much time in the space, and I'm going to share the projects as we tick through them. I don't know when it hit me, but at some point in the last few months, I realized that the original red brick in the family room had to go. We first imagined resurfacing the fireplace with a more modern stone, similar to what we have in the living room. Given the expense and inconvenience of such a project, I convinced George to let me paint the brick as a first step to improving the fireplace. If we hated the paint, I argued, then we could consider a more involved fireplace facelift.

A little guidance from these (1, 2) tutorials and three and half coats of Natura berkshire beige later, we are both really happy with the state of our brick. So happy, in fact, that we've forgotten about tile. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Don't worry: changing the wall paint color is on the list.

So, what do you think? I know that painting brick is controversial. Which team do you support?

Madeleine - Week 34.5

Yep, I'm a half a week late on Madeleine's weekly photo. Instead of making excuses, I'll just give you the cuteness.

Preserving Baby Cards...or Organized Card Hoarding

This project was a long time in the making. I started it during my first post-baby crafternoon with Misha back in July and just corrected/completed the project this weekend.

My mom saved all of my baby cards, and I want to do the same for our children. (Yep, hoarding runs in the family.) For my project, I was inspired by this post and Misha's wedding card collection.

Here is my version:

I didn't take photos along the way, but let me tell you about my process as it was a bit different than the inspiration tutorials. 

The front and back covers are scrap pieces of cardboard that I had stashed in my craft cupboard. Good sources of scrap cardboard include cereal boxes, books that are shipped with protective cardboard, calendars, sheets, picture frames, and undershirts. My scraps happened to be the right size for my project, just an 1/8 of an inch or so taller than the tallest card and about two inches wider than the widest card. I cut four pieces of scrapbook paper to the same size (7"x8.5") and adhered it to the cardboard with scrapbooking mounting squares. I decorated the front and used the same technique as Misha for my "m" embellishment. The colors I chose reflect Madeleine's nursery.

The heavy lifting in this project is the hole punching. I used the Crop-A-Dile recommended in the inspiration post, and it made easy work of the cardboard covers and of a stack of cards at a time. (I really, really, really wish I would have had this when I made our wedding programs and killed several regular hole punches in the process.)

I made this handy dandy template so that the holes would be uniform distance apart and distance from the edge of the card. Note that I originally thought I'd need four holes, but the outer holes only applied to a couple of cards, so I scrapped them.

I used the template to punch the holes in the cover, too, but I did so about an inch and a half from the edge. Make sense?

Once it all came together, the book seemed like it could use some extra structure, so I added a hole in the front and back covers for a ribbon. I know that the ribbon is going to fray with use, but I don't plan to open and close this book of cards very often.

Ta - da!




Do you hoard save cards? How do you keep them organized?

Madeleine - Week 33

It's a two-photo week - lucky you! Just think of it as my way of passing along a little of the joy we get from our sweet Madeleine.

Seriously, she is so fun right now. (I know. I know. I always say that.) This morning we had a splashing good time at the pool, and right now she's covered in sweet potato and baby yogurt while shoving little puff treats in the direction of her mouth. Her food world is really opening up. In Vegas, we fed her some naan, and she's currently my taste tester as I develop a recipe for baby banana bread. On the mobility front, she is doing a lot of planking and getting less frustrated as she inches closer and closer to officially crawling. She continues to do well with signing, today adding "more" to her repertoire. To top it off, she has become a rock star sleeper, typically clocking 11 hours at night and at least two 2+ hour naps during the day. (She says, knocking on the nearest piece of wood.) Really, I just want to soak in every moment of our sweet girl. 

And now for some photos...