modeling debut

Today, Bella had a fashion show and Jennifer was in need of some baby models. So, Owen had his modeling debut. Aubrey and Mataya were there too, so we had fun hanging out. I think my favorite quote from the day was:

Me - why am I a little nervous about walking my kid down a short runway?
Aubs - because these women have more money than either of us will in our lifetime.

So true! :) Here's a few pictures from the morning:
getting set up:
in the "dressing room" (ie, the closet) getting ready. I did love his little airplane outfit!almost ready:
Loving the flower:
Getting ready to head on the runway:

Bella decorations

Here are all my crafts put into use at Bella. I know it looks busy, but it looks better when you're actually in the store. I forgot to mention in the first post that I also did a cute bunting flag banner. Simply cut triangles out of fun paper, decorate, and hot glue (or sew) on a ribbon.

candy corn wreath

I saw this wreath gracing the front page of Women's Day Magazine. Isn't it pretty:

I was on a limited budget, time and money wise, so I knew mine wouldn't be quite as pretty, but here goes. I gathered my supplies. Instead of black duct tape, I just used orange paint which I already had. I also would've used thicker black ribbon, but again I had some of the thin stuff stashed in my craft box, so I used that.
First, I laid out my candy corn to dry out. Don't really know why, but they suggested it and I'm assuming it's to get some of the moisture and sugar out of it in case you were hanging it outside where animals might want to eat it. Who knows, but I'm a direction follower, so I let them dry out for a few days:
Then, I gave my styrofoam wreath, from Hobby Lobby, a few coats of orange craft paint. Then I started hot gluing! I did one whole row facing one way, then started the next row, etc. I wrapped it with the black ribbon and hung it up. Not too bad if I don't say so myself:

fall crafts

Well, hello blogger world. Sorry it's been such a long time since I visited you. :) We're trying to figure out a lot of big choices for our lives, so any prayers (especially for wisdom for William) would be much appreciated!

So, anywhoo, Jennifer (my boss at Bella) asked me to decorate the space for Halloween. So this has inspired a crafting kick lately and thought I'd share a few of the things I've done. This will probably take a few entries so I don't log down one post with a million pictures. Since I don't love Halloween (unlike my sister who has her Halloween costumes planned out a year in advance), so I decided to go with the more fallish look with pumpkins and candy corn. I follow tons of crafting blogs and cannot for the life of me remember where I saw some candy corn pillows. And I thought, I could make those (well, with a little help from my master seamstress of a mom). I found some super cheap fabric in the clearance section in different shades of orange, yellow, and white. Did you know that on real candy corn, the orange is twice as long as the yellow and white space? So it made for easy measuring. We cut the fabric into strips and then sewed them together. I must admit that for as long as I've held out learning how to sew, I can see how addicting this could get. I may even have to ask for a cheap sewing machine for Christmas. My mom (and my friend Anne) would be proud.
The next step, I don't have a picture of, but we just cut out triangles (about 1/2 in bigger all the way around for the seam). Then my mom sewed them up leaving a little space for the stuffing.Then, I stuffed them with cheap stuffing from Walmart. To sew them up, you use what's called a blind stitch. My mom's looks much better than mine, but I'm learning. This video helped. And viola, pillows that look good enough to eat:
Then, I whipped up a couple bats to be hung on clear fishing wire and gave them some white eyes with my paint pen:
And lastly, I needed some fake pumpkins to go along with my real ones. I took 12x12 scrapbooking paper and cut it into 1" strips. Then I glued 8 strips together to make the large pumpkin, and 4 together to make the small one. You could also use a brad to hold all the pieces together, but my glue gun was already plugged in, ready to go.
Then you just fold the pieces up and glue again! Easy peasy!To finish, add a little circle of brown paper for the stem. For the green vine, I simply twisted paper around a pencil to curl it and then glued it in place.
Stay tuned for more. . .

first day on the job!

Today (Wednesday) was my first real day at Bella! I cried pretty hard last night and on my way to work. I had to keep telling myself that it was good for him and me (and Grammy)! All in all, it was an ok day. I put out some new adorable clothes, redressed mannequins, rearranged a table or two, sold a few things, and did lots of cleaning.

Many people have said that I might enjoy the adult interaction from a job. But on the whole I will say that I much prefer baby talk at home with Owen. But I'm definitely giving it through September and then I'll see how I (and our budget) feel at that point.