My First Cricut Project

So once I received my Cricut, I of course couldn't wait to test it out and start making something. I decided to send my little sister a "happy" and make her a card using card-stock I had sitting around the house and my new machine. Here's the result:

Fun, right? It's pretty awesome that the Cricut actually cut out the pattern for the envelope too. All I had to do was fold it down and glue it together. LOVE!

Overall I think it was a good practice project and my little sis already said she loved receiving it. (Although, the "S" was missing when it arrived at her door. Oh, well. It's the thought that counts, right?)

Until next time...

Fisher is 3 Months!

It's true! This little guy is now three months old which is completely nuts. He is changing everyday and it is so much fun to watch. We don't have another doctor's appointment until he hits four months so I'm not sure on his weight, but I'm thinking he's in the 14 pound range. He surely feels heavier.

Look at those chunky little legs!

Here's what's been going on the past month:

• He is giggling, cooing, smiling and screeching more than ever which we love.
• He is much more alert and observant.
• He likes to stand up. He sometimes even pitches a fit when we try to lay him back down. Stubborn.
• He likes to sit up. He can't sit up on his own yet, but his head control is getting better and better.
• He likes when we make him "fly".
• He started drooling and making spit bubbles with his mouth. It's quite adorable.
• He likes to check himself out in the mirror. Who can blame him?
• He loves his hands. He chews on his fingers and is now starting to grab on to toys around him.
• His tummy-time skills are seriously improving. He can hold himself up for minutes at a time rather than just bringing his head up and dropping it down over and over again.
• He is losing his hair in front, but seems to be keeping the hair in back. I'm thinking there is a mullet in our future.
• He is getting to be a little more fussy when he is overly tired. He arches his back and can make some serious noise. Mommy and Daddy don't enjoy that new element.
• He still sleeps quite a bit during the day and we are up (on average) once a night to feed around 4 am.



• We took our first trip with Fisher this month. We made a visit to Memphis and he did great. He was a little off his schedule, but was a good sport overall and slept the whole way there and back.
• Fisher has been away from mommy and daddy 4 times now. Once with Momma C & Pops, twice with Gran & Pap and once with a friend. It is getting easier each time for me to trust him with someone other than myself or Brent. (Fisher doesn't care either way.)
• Fisher and I now go to the library once or twice a week for "Mother Goose Time". We meet up with some of our friends to hear stories and sing nursery rhymes. Sometimes Fisher is awake, other times he's fussy or sleeping, but today he did great! He looked around at all the kids and even gave a few grins to the baby next to us. So fun!
• Next Sunday we plan to put him in "Kids World" at church for the first time. He's been sleeping through the service so there hasn't been a need to drop him off, but we figured that now is as good of time as any to get him into childcare.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Cuddle time with Pap.

Karate Kid.

Rocking some tummy-time.

Loving on Aunt Cray-Cray.

Tuckered out on his playmat.

Spending time with Momma C and Glenda in Memphis.

Chilling with Alex (and probably pooping.)

Nap time with Daddy and Mak.

The "Dad" and the "Son.

For a few extra, super sweet photos, check out my hubby's blog @ snapfisher.blogspot.com. 

Until next time...

Momma's New Toy

My awesome hubby hooked me up with an AMAZING birthday gift and he gave it to me early! Even better, right? We are really bad about waiting til the actual day to give each other birthday gifts which probably has something to do with the fact that I'm constantly asking for clues to what the gift might be. (I'm basically a small child when it comes to gifts...so impatient.)

Alright, hold your breath because here it is:

Isn't she beautiful? For those of you who don't know, this is the machine of all craft machines. It's like a printer, but it cuts things out of the paper rather than printing on it. It can tackle cardstock, vinyl, poster board, basically everything a happy little crafter might want to use. I'm thrilled!

Be prepared for all sorts of crafty projects in the near future. Woop, Woop!

Until next time...

Kitchen Redesign

My mom-in-law was wanting to make some changes to freshen up her kitchen and asked for my assistance. She wasn't looking to do anything major so all that was needed was a bit of painting and styling of the bookshelves, counters and above the cabinets. 

She took care of the painting (I just assisted with the color choice) and I handled the styling/decorating. I added a few new items, some purchased and some made, and reused items she already had around the house. The combination resulted in a brighter, more current kitchen design with very little money spent. 

Keep in mind it wasn't a bad looking kitchen to begin with. It just needed a new set of eyes to help update it a bit. It's easy to get stuck with the "that goes there because it has always gone there" mentality in your own home. Get someone else in there to shake things up and you'll be surprised how different your stuff can look.

Here are some quick shots of the before. (Note: I didn't give her a chance to clean up before I took these photos.)

And here's our after results:

I probably should have taken a few more photos that gave a full view of the kitchen, but I was in a rush to take them all before my MIL got home. I'm sure you get the point. Every thing is a little brighter, a little less cluttered and just a bit more updated.

It was a fun project and I got to throw in a few of my photo plaques! Not only do they show off her lovely family, but they also pull the wall color down into the bookcase and break up the wood tones.

Here's what I was trying to achieve in this kitchen redo:

1. Clear the clutter on the counters. 
• If you don't need it and don't love it, toss it. I eliminated the unnecessary items and added some cute containers to house the "keeps". 
2. Simplify and freshen up the bookcase displays. 
• I tried to keep the displays minimal so your eye can focus on just a few interesting things rather than getting lost in a large grouping.
3. Brighten up the items in the bookcase with the glass doors so you can actually see the items inside. 
• The original items were just in the cabinet for storage purposes and therefore didn't contribute much to the beauty of the kitchen. I added a few things to bring in more color (like the green bird) to help pull your eye over to that area as well. I also tried to make her existing patterned mugs more prominent by setting them closer to the doors, making them more visible.
4. Add a bit more personality to the space with the items I chose to keep and eliminate some of the "dated" looking items. I did this in a few ways: 
• My MIL loves her family, but had very few family photos in the kitchen (she has tons in the connecting living room) so I added a handful around the space to better represent her personality. 
• I also chose to keep items that were a bit playful like the ceramic cow in the bookcase. There's really no need to be too serious. :)
• Finally, I tried to incorporate something that she likes throughout the room. I chose to use the birds since she already had quite a few pieces of art featuring birds. I just added a couple ceramic birds to the mix as well. 
5. Make the MIL happy. :) I think I succeeded. 

The main tip here is to shop your house when you want to "redo" a room on the cheap. 90% or more of this was done using items already in her kitchen, in other rooms or in storage. Not bad.

Until next time...