Spring Fling Skirt Tutorial

I have a board on Pinterest labeled "Future Craft Projects." This board is full of fun and creative craft projects -- most of them I've never had the chance to do.
My daughter LOVES wearing skirts and dresses. In fact, she insists on wearing one or the other on a daily basis.
I decided to go ahead and attempt one of the numerous skirt tutorials I have pinned to my board.
And let me just tell you -- I have absolutely fallen in love with this tutorial. It's called the Spring Fling Skirt. This blogger does a wonderful job of explaining how to make this skirt, including posting several pictures. A nice thing about this tutorial is that it's a very simple project to do, even for the novice seamstress.

And one of the best parts about this skirt is: it's reversible!

The two pictures above are of the exact same 4 skirts!

Picking out the coordinating fabrics & binding was a lot of fun!

On this one I broke the rule of no directional fabrics.

I just love this material so much that I didn't care if some of the cupcakes ended up hanging upside down or sideways.

And here's the other side of the same skirt! I let my daughter pick out this material today from the patriotic section at JoAnn. 

Tada!

I love the color combination of green and turquoise. 

Here's the other side of the floral skirt. This material is Marvel Comics super heros! I happened to find a yard of this in the remnants section so with the extra discount it ended up only being $3.50 -- score!

I'm loving this combination of super girly flowers and tomboy superheros!

This black and white material is from Hobby Lobby and is very soft!

And the other side of the same skirt is Mickey Mouse -- so fun!

Tada {again}!

And last but not least: this beautiful blue floral print....

... paired with a dainty heart-flower material.

Soft and feminine!

And the neat thing about this material is that it is the same fabric my mom used for my daughter's coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit!

Now the only problem I'll run into is how will my daughter decide which one to wear each day!

She had a blast today wearing her "princess skirt."

It's perfect for twirling and jumping and running!

You may be wondering, which skirt did she pick to wear the first day she had all 8 {4} to choose from? 

Mickey Mouse, of course! I wasn't surprised at all.

Thank you so much for joining me on this skirt adventure.

Rest assured that if you are my friend and you have a daughter, you will receive a skirt like this at the next event we attend. It is so precious.

Please go check out the original tutorial at This Heart of Mine and show her some extra love!

Do you have a favorite tutorial or blog that you found on Pinterest?

Mother's Day Out

I know, I know -- it's been a while! Things have gotten busy in real estate and I'm not disciplined enough yet with my blogging to make time to write posts amidst the chaos. I'm so sorry!
But I'm back & ready to share with you all!

My daughter has been in a Mother's Day Out program since she was 15 months old. She attends school at a little Baptist church near us, two days a week for a few hours each day. It's been so wonderful for both of us, and we love the teachers & curriculum, so my husband and I decided to enroll our son, as well. He will be 15 months old in a few weeks so he's about to start!

My friend Mandy made my daughter a nap mat one year for Christmas and it's been great at school. And now that my son is about to start, I need to make one for him! I have seen several different tutorials for nap mats on Pinterest but have picked out the one I'm going to use to make his.
So now I have the pattern and the supplies -- all I have left to do is block out the time so I can sit down & sew!

I promise I'll share the tutorial with you all after I'm done (and I'll give my thoughts & opinions on it, too).

Have you ever attempted to make a nap mat for your child(ren) or anyone else before?

Were you successful? 

Did you use a tutorial/pattern or did you just guess as you went along?

Weight Loss -- Really Real

So for quite a while now, I have needed to get serious about losing weight. To be specific, approximately 50lbs. And I can give you a laundry list of excuses as to why I haven't done much anything about it but that's not what this post is about. I had two children within 18 months of each other, and gained over 50lbs during each pregnancy. It is high time I get myself in shape for many important reasons:
{overall health, longevity of life for my husband and children, my body is a temple, brothers wedding fast approaching, etc}

A few months ago I signed up for The Color Run, my first 5K. I thought I'd get motivated and start training for the run. I ran some, but not nearly as much as I should have been running.

Then a few weeks ago I decided I'd start the workout DVD set, Insanity. April 1st rolled around (my startup day) and I of course have had a laundry list of excuses why I couldn't start each day since then.

So here I am, for all of the blog world to see. I am looking toward my lovely readers as the encouragement and accountability that I need. I WILL start the Insanity DVD's tomorrow. I WILL make a strong effort to make better food choices.

I'm looking forward to taking this journey with each and every one of you!

What's your favorite weightloss DVD or show or program?

Are you a disciplined eater?

Photographers

These days, every time you open your facebook page you see an ad for a friend or a friend's friend who has decided to try their hand at photography. Some actually have great talent and do a great job. But so very many really aren't great at all.
I was fortunate enough to find an awesome photographer for my kids right from the beginning. You can see in this post she did both of my childrens' newborn pictures. She also did my son's 6 month pictures & my daughter's 2 year pictures. And our most recent venture with her was my son's 1 year pictures. And as usual, she didn't let us down. Her name is Jacqueline Childress of Tiny Impressions Photography. You can see her website HERE and her facebook page HERE.

My son's birthday party was sock monkey themed {check back later for a post about the party} so for his pictures we used some props from the party decor.

The best smile we got from him all morning was when the photographer's son came in to say hi....

And this particular morning my son was obsessed with this toy....

And his precious face in black and white...

And then there was my favorite part of the shoot -- his smash cake!

At this point the photographer and I laughed when she said "I don't think it's physically possible for him to have anymore cake on his hands right now."

As always, balloons are a must...

Oh his sweet, sweet face....

And now I'll finish this post with one more gem...

Do you have professional pictures taken of your children? Your family? Your significant other?

What was your child's reaction after tasting cake for the first time?

{party hat, tie, and bunting were made by Blessed Creations by B}

Change of Plans

My plan for this evening was to write a wonderful post about my recent garage sale experience. That plan quickly changed when I happened to check in on my one-year old son. He felt very warm to me so I got him up to give him Advil and take his temperature. It definitely caught me by surprise to see the number -- 105.7!
We called the after hours number for our pediatrician and they recommended we take him to the ER or another urgent care facility that was equipped for babies.
I took him and the place was great. The doctor ended up diagnosing him with what he kept referring to as Slap Cheek.
I was given some tips on how to manage his fever and sent on my merry little way.
On the way home we stopped for Advil and Tylenol. I let my son play with the boxes and it seriously made him the happiest baby ever.



Have you ever had a late night scare with your child(ren)?
Becky Brooks

One Half

My children are 18 months apart, almost to the day. Which means their birthdays fall almost exactly 6 months apart each year. Tomorrow my daughter will be 2 1/2 and on Thursday my son will be 1. I saw a cute idea on Pinterest (where most of my ideas my inspiration comes from) that I decided to start.
Unfortunately I cannot find the original pin to give them credit, but it was adorable!
We aren't having a party or giving presents. But my daughter will wake up to this:

It's definitely not my fanciest work.... 

But I think she'll get a kick out of it! 

Yummy!

I went with strawberry cake & strawberry icing.

Why?

Because they're pink!

I hope you have a blessed day!

What's your favorite way to celebrate little milestones in life?

Had you ever heard of a half birthday celebration before?

Just Checking In

So... life has been super busy the last few weeks. Sorry I've been absent. Real estate has picked up, my daughter had pneumonia, and I'm in the middle of planning my son's first birthday party so my days have been full.

This morning we had my son's 1 year pictures done by one of my favorite photographers, Jacqueline of Tiny Impressions Photography. I'm so excited to see how they turn out. She took both of my childrens' newborn pictures:

 Reagan

Chandler

 and their 2 year/6 month pictures:

Reagan

Chandler

Here's a peek of today's fun (she didn't take this one -- I did with my phone -- so don't judge her by this one). My son didn't want to smile all morning but Jacqueline was so patient and worked hard to get great pictures.

I'll share some of hers when they're ready.

Have a blessed weekend!

Becky Brooks