Fingerprint Noah's Ark

Our good friends are having a baby boy! They've decided to name him Noah and run with the theme of Noah's ark, so for the baby shower we made him a thumbprint "Noah's Ark" in place of a guest book.

How cute is that?

Everyone on Pinterest has probably seen the thumbprint trees people are doing in place of guest books at weddings, so I had my highly artistic friend Nola draw an empty ark for us and I picked up some ink pads for the shower. Next to the empty ark I left this note:

Help us make some art for baby Noah’s wall.

Add a thumbprint animal to the ark and sign your name. Get creative with any animal you’d like.

(But please try to keep it to no more than two of each)

And below that we made a few example animals for people to see. 

Here's our empty-ish ark (sorry, I forgot to take a picture before people started)

 

Maternity Wrap T-shirt Tutorial

Maternity clothes are just too expensive. Last week I found this Isabella Oliver top online, but I just can't bring myself to spend $125 plus tax and shipping on a shirt that is meant for me to wear for only a few more months. So I decided that I would take a few yards of jersey material I had laying around and see if I could make something myself. 

 I think I did pretty good compared to the original.

See how to make your own after the jump.

Honey Oat Bread

Doesn't this look delicious?

I'm working on stocking my freezer right now so that as we get closer to baby #2's arrival I will have less and less to do. With that I have also been trying to save some money and make a lot of things at home since we'll be down to 1 income once I go on maternity leave. With that said, my family LOVES bread (notice 1/2 of one of the loaves is already gone). I've made bread before, but usually it's banana or zucchini bread. I also make biscuits and muffins as quick breakfast or additions to meals, but never something for sandwiches.

While browsing Pinterest I found a blog by a woman who, like me, likes having a stocked freezer but hates having to plan the day before for something to be defrosted in the fridge. She posted this recipe for whole wheat honey oat bread that is dense enough for sandwiches and is delicious. Once it's cooled it can be sliced for sandwiches and frozen. It thaws quickly and tastes just as good after being frozen.

Get the recipe here.

Fair warning... This makes a lot of bread. The recipe on her site stated that it would make one large loaf. So I figured "I'll just double it. That way I have a loaf for now, and one for the freezer." After I let it rise the first time it was obvious that my "double batch" would not be fitting in my 2 loaf pans. I ended up with four loaves.

So now I think I'm going to go have a slice of toast with home made pomegranate jelly. Happy Baking!

DIY Diaper Wreath

I've been working on a baby shower for a friend of mine and decided that we should have a diaper wreath for the door. After seeing a few on Pinterest, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

See how to make it after the jump.

Animal Finger Puppets

While working on an animal themed baby shower for a friend I decided that we needed some cute finger puppets to be part of the decorations. Unfortunately for me, everywhere I looked, all I could find for patterns were ones that you had to purchase. I knew that I could design some myself. So after looking at lots of pictures of finger puppets online, I started drawing and cutting.

Attached are the patterns that I designed for these cute little guys. See full instructions after the jump.

Big Girl Quilt

Since Turbo is such a climber, I knew that we'd be moving out of the crib and into a big girl bed before too long. With that in mind, I started working on a quilt for her new big girl bed in April. It's a good thing I started then, because at just 15 months old, we've needed to upgrade to a twin size. It's a good thing though since # 2 is coming in December. This gives Turbo plenty of time to adjust and not think that the baby is stealing her bed. The quilt just came back from the quilter and I finished the border so we're all set.

 
The pattern is "Flim Flam" by Pressed for Time Quiltworks. It's meant to be a throw quilt made from fat quarters, but with an added column and row in addition to the borders it makes for a perfect twin size.

The pattern can be purchased at The Pincushion Boutique for anyone interested in trying their hand at a very simple, but beautiful quilt. Check back later to see the tutu bedskirt and Tangled theme room.

Laundry Room Hanging Photos

Now that the family is moved and I finally have a laundry room that isn't the garage, I've been wanting to use some pinterest inspiration to do some decorating. Unfortunately since we're renting, my options for remodeling and decorating are sadly limited. So with that in mind I decided to keep it simple with some pictures of my daughter (Turbo) hanging from pants hangers and a quote from Mary Poppins.