Photobucket        Photobucket       Photobucket       Photobucket

Thursday, June 27, 2013

{wedding flashback} flower pomander

rbrown pics
I have a good friend and my brother getting married this summer, so I have weddings on the brain a bit, which hasn’t been the case for the last 6 years or so.   This is sometimes how I feel about my wedding:Haha.  My mom is actually pretty thankful Pinterest wasn’t around during my wedding planning because I already had quite a few projects that I came up with on my own.  Since I didn’t have a blog back then (I did have a wedding website that some of you will remember), I thought I’d do a few posts over the next couple months titled “wedding flashback” and share a few of the craft projects that made my wedding mine.  026-001 The first one I’ll share is my flower girl’s pomander.  Even though I used real flowers everywhere else in my wedding, when my florist quoted me about $75 for a real pomander, I decided to make her one she could keep.  And this was a very simple project.  So here are the supplies you need to gather:
  • 2-3 bunches of the flowers you want to use (I normally am very opposed to carnations in any form, but when they’re in mass like this, they’re not too bad) :)
  • 5” Styrofoam ball (not pictured) 
  • craft paint in the color of your flowers
  • cheap craft paint brush
  • hot glue gun
  • coordinating ribbon
  • straight pins (optional)HPIM0003
Step 1
Paint the Styrofoam ball with the paint.  While this seems unnecessary since you are covering the ball with flowers, trust me and do it.  It will mean that if there are any areas not covered by flowers, you won’t be able to tell.  I painted 2 coats and let it dry overnight before adding the flowers.  I used a little dish to keep it from rolling all over. HPIM0005Step 2
Heat up your glue gun.  Decide where you want your ribbon handle and how long you want it.  I think mine was about 6-8” total.  I pinned it in place and also secured it with hot glue just to be sure it stayed!HPIM0006Step 3
Take the flowers off the stems and remove any leaves.  Poke one flower down into the Styrofoam ball.   HPIM0009Step 5
Remove the flower and fill the little hole with hot glue.  Put the flower back into the hole and let it set for a minute to cool.  Whew, sorry for the blurry picture.HPIM0011
Step 5
Repeat the process over and over until your entire ball is covered with flowers.  I put them pretty close together as I wanted a dense looking pomander.  But it will also depend on the size of the flowers you choose.  And ta-da a cute pomander.HPIM0017Here’s a few pictures of it in action on the big day: 026402291 301
blog-signature-1

more crafty fun

I had a fun order a while back that finally got in the mail this week.  K ordered 13 plastic tumblers and vinyl on them for all different things.  A couple for her girls, 6 for her kitchen/deck, and some for friends.  They were super fun to design.  There was a train, monogram, fairies, baseballs, robot, flags, and more. 

I have lots of these guys left "in stock" so let me know if you'd like to order one!They are 16 oz tumblers and I have them in acrylic or a more plastic material and both are BPA free.  I can pretty much make any design you want! :)  PS - see through cups are hard to photograph.
And she also had another challenge for me.  She sent me a picture and I recreated this little hat for her daughter's coming home outfit.  My first little baseball hat.  Cannot wait to see it all together!!
 

Photobucket

Coloring Portfolios

Our dear friends, Bill and Summer  just recently moved away from us to start a new church in Valparaiso.  (Check the Rolling Hills Vineyard out here!)  Before they left, I wanted to make something special for their 4 girls.  Here's what I came up with: coloring portfolios!  I thought they'd be great for the road trip there.  I used this tutorial and her measurements were perfect.  This was an awesome fabric stash buster as I didn't allow myself to by any new fabric for the girl's books.
for Lillian, Isabell, Olivia, and Magdalen
Of course, while I was at it. . .I had to make one for Owen.  I did have to buy him some new fabric. :)
They took a little longer that I anticipated, but I was so happy with the end product.  Of course, after I got the first two done, I realized I should have put a piece of velcro to close the little book.  But I didn't want two of the girls to have that, and not the other two.  So I just added the closure to Owen's book.  It perfectly fits a box of 8 crayons and a composition book.  It will be perfect for him to take on our long road trip to Iowa this summer!
 
For I's and M's books, I used fabric left over from a set of big sister/big brother shirts I made for Dawn.

And for L's and O's books, I used fabric my mom gave me that was leftover from the gorgeous quilt she made me.
IMG_0196
All in all, a very fun project to do.  Although I would maybe recommend not sewing 5 at once.  It got a little tedious towards the end.  Of course, that could just be because I have project ADD and get bored doing the same thing over and over.
Photobucket

Prairie Fruits Farm

I have lived in C/U most of my life, but have never been out to Prairie Fruits Farm on North Lincoln Ave.   It’s a farmstead with TONS of goats and they make their own goat and sheep milk cheeses, goat milk gelato, and have lots of organic fruits and veggies.  They do special breakfasts and dinners on the farm.

My dear friend and her two girls made one last stop to see us before moving to Glasgow, Scotland.  Sara and her hubby have been to the farm for a dinner before and she suggested we go out there with the kiddos.  There were lots of goats and pigs to look at!Love this picture of her oldest, Liana.Owen and a goat.I loved how all the goats were all lined up in the doorway.After checking out the animals, we ate some yummy gelato.  While a bit pricey, it was amazing.  We sampled vanilla, strawberry, pistachio, and rhubarb swirl.It was Ellie approved!Owen devoured his own cup!While I still think I prefer Prairie Farms for the kiddos, it’s a neat place and we definitely may look into one of their special dinners on the farm for a date night!
Photobucket

Owen is 3!

I had the awesome opportunity to give a talk at Women of the Word Live on Tuesday night at our church.   So my evenings the last couple weeks have been filled with prepping my talk.  So now it's time for some much overdue blogging!

My little man turned 3 on June 10th.  What?!  Wasn't this picture just yesterday?
Nope, he really is 3. My attempts at stopping time have all failed.
 
Before I get to some of the details of age 3, here's the stats from the doc.  He did awesome at his checkup and was relieved he didn't have to get a shot.  He enjoyed looking at the fish.
For the first time, he had to have his blood pressure checked.  I'm thankful he got a little doctor's kit from Grandma and this part is always included in our pretend checkups.  The nurse did a great job explaining it like his arm getting a big hug.

He also had his hearing and eyesight tested for the first time.  He passed everything with flying colors.
He's weighing in at 33 lbs which is the 67th percentile and he is 3ft, 2.5" which is the 70th percentile for height. It was a super fast appointment as I only had 1 question, which I'll get to later.  He's a perfectly healthy little guy.
Eating: I would say that as we've gotten closer to 3, Owen has definitely become more of a picky eater.  Although maybe it's just that he can now voice what he wants and doesn't want.  The kid hasn't met a fruit he doesn't love.  Well, except watermelon.  But top favorites are raspberries, cantaloupe, and apples.  He does ok in the veggie category and enjoys carrots, broccoli, and corn.  But that's about it.  Oh, and he enjoys salad when it's all mixed together.  As far as meat goes, he's hit or miss with chicken, loves steak and beef, and doesn't care for fish at all.  Goldfish crackers are still a #1 favorite as are all forms of dairy: milk, yogurt and cheese!
 
Sleeping: I can finally say that after 3 years, Owen (mostly) sleeps through the night.  Once or twice a week, he may get up once but William can usually get him back down pretty easily.  He still needs us to lay with him until he falls asleep and the boy can drag out his bedtime routine like no other.  For about 6 months, we've been working on cutting this time way back and he's finally able to fall asleep on his own of course after a few tears.  His current favorite thing to do is sleep on the floor.  So we lay out a waterproof sheet and blankets and camps out on the floor surrounded by his cars and 3 favorite stuffed animals.  His favorite lion, Leo is starting to become less and less important which makes me a bit sad.
Potty training:  I sure hope Ellie is as easy as Owen was.  I think he had a total of a handful of accidents and one in public.  He wears underwear all day and for naps, but still does a pull-up for bedtime.  Most of the time it's dry, but I really have no interest in pushing him to wear undies at night knowing it could possibly make him wake up more, something we're just feeling good about.  He loves that he can pee outside since it's summer. :)
Play:  Hands down favorite thing to do it play cars and trucks.  It varies from playing with his Cars movie characters or just hot wheels.  He loves trailers or tow trucks, anything that can pull or haul other cars.  We make roads out of anything and spend many an hour crashing cars, taking them to the shop, and hauling things all over the house.  He plays with trains occasionally.   He loves to play outside and would swing all day.  He’s getting more comfortable in the water thanks to swim lessons and pool pass that has got us to the pool a lot this summer.  He loves to paint and draw or do any craft project I set out for him.  Here’s the latest in his ability to write his name.  Pretty proud of my 3 year old.
Picture 777
Language:  Despite what you might see in public, Owen is quite the talker at home.  He doesn’t love talking about letter identification, but I’m sure that will come with some preschool this fall (more on that in a later post).  He doesn’t say the letter v or s very well.  And a few months ago, I noticed that he was starting to stutter a little bit.  It was largely when he was tired or excited and often when trying to start a sentence with a “what, when, why” type of word.  I mentioned it to the doctor 2 weeks ago and he didn’t seem too worried.  And of course, since mentioning it, I haven’t noticed it at all.  I’m hoping it was a short time of his mouth not being able to keep up with his brain!  This kid loves to sing.  It’s one of our favorite activities to put on music, and makes fools of ourselves dancing and singing.  Here’s  a little taste of my man dressed up in who knows what singing Twinkle Twinkle.
Discipline:  I know we had it pretty easy with the 2’s, so it wasn’t a shocker to me that as we approached age 3, he started to test the waters a bit more.  This kid is classic first born and wants things a certain way.  Don’t move that truck an inch or you’ll get a blood curling scream out of him.  Don’t even think about starting to eat without his bib.  And only mom can put it on, not dad.  He knows that if dad does bath time, mom’s putting him to bed (we switch off those duties every night).  The kid is regimented like nothing I’ve seen before.  While I am so so thankful that for the most part, he’s very well behaved a sweet, we still have many a moments throughout the day where he needs correcting.  The biggest areas he seems to get time out for is screaming when something doesn’t go right and keeping his hands off his sister.  He runs after he, falls on her, and in general is kind of rough with her.  The problem is she loves it so her laughs encourage him to keep going.  So we’re still working on that one.  Friends: I love that he understands what friends are now.  He and Sam can entertain themselves quite well together and actually often play better without me hovering over them.  Sam is definitely his best friend and he talks about him on an hourly basis sometimes.  He loves Alex and Ben (and their awesome sandbox) and talks a lot about Caleb C, and Grace & Caleb.  He loves making videos for Aunt Jenna and talks about his Grandma/Grandpa and MeMaw/Papaw all the time.His gentle spirit still melts me.  He loves to cuddle and give kisses and is quick to cry or be shy.He loves to pray and knows that Jesus lives in his heart.He loves to climb in and buckle his own car seat and is becoming more independent everyday.Owen, we love you more than words can ever say.  It is a delight being your mommy! Happy 3rd birthday little man!
Photobucket
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...