It's been awhile....But I have a surprise so read to the end!

I've been neglecting my poor blog. I'll admit, it's laziness and a lack of documenting the things that I've been making lately. Honestly, I haven't made nearly enough in my absence here; I wish I had a better reason.

There are a few things that I've been obsessing over lately, though, that might surprise y'all. Tutorials like this one from Make it-Love it!

Or pinning things like this:

I actually made one of these:

Maybe, by now, you're starting to see a reoccurring theme with these things? Well that's because of something extra special that I've been keeping under wraps for the past 6 months!

I'm having a brand new baby boy this July!!!!!

It's so exciting to be able to share with y'all finally. My husband and I couldn't be more thrilled to have another son and are anxious to welcome him this summer :)! There's going to be another little firecracker in our family!!

Some Pumpkin Patch goodness!

My kids love Halloween, the costumes, the candy, and all of the excitement leading up to the main event is cause for major mayhem at home.

They're all crazy excited for the trick or treating that will happen tomorrow and can hardly contain themselves. Both younger kids put their costumes on anytime they find them and walk around the house expectantly lol.

To help them let off some Halloween steam, their daddy and I took recently took them all to a church pumpkin patch and they each picked out their very own.

They even had stickers to give to each child for decorating! You better believe that every single one of those stickers made it's way onto those pumpkins.

We have the pumpkins proudly displayed on the mantel; they're small so they fit perfectly up there with everything else.

~Allison

P.S. I got a job outside of the home at a fabric store, this could be dangerous!

Women's Clearance Shirt Refashion!

Finally, a post about women's clothing! I know I've been more inclined to post about babies and kids clothes, they're just so much cuter and easier to work with (less fabric).

The other day I actually went shopping for myself, this doesn't happen very often, but I had a really great coupon and it was kind of part of my mother's day gift. I found this really cute shirt, it had a high low hem on the bottom, was modest up top, 3 quarter length sleeves, and pretty neutral, PLUS it was on clearance for $7 and with my coupon it was only about $3!! Holy moly, how could I pass up a shirt that's cute and only $3!?

Well, I wasn't paying very much attention to the back of the shirt and found out, when I was already home from the VERY busy store, that the back had this huge gaping hole. Not a cute little cut out or keyhole, not a low back or even just a peek-a-boo, an intentional draped hole. It was hideous, it might've been cute if I were a young girl, but for this momma it wasn't working.

My solution to the problem was very simple, find a way to close the hole that looks intentional, so I pleated in the fabric and at each pleat sewed on bright pink accent button.

sorry about the blue undershirt

It turned out great! I wore the shirt to church on mother's day and my aunt commented on how much she loved it, especially the back with the buttons! When I told her that those were my addition she was very pleasantly surprised. It's such a compliment when the things that you make are noticed without people knowing it was you, until you tell them and then they're shocked.

ignore the spotty mirror :p

 I love my new shirt, and I know this doesn't help much, as far as people wanting to make things from scratch, but it does show you another way to add interest to a top that you're making for yourself or your child!


~Allison

Good Gracious

It's really easy to not blog. When you're just living life and not documenting everything, it's easy. I'll be honest, I've been really lazy lately with my shop and the blog and Facebook and pinterest and twitter. It's been a break that I really shouldn't have taken because I'm not an established blogger or shop owner and that's not something you can just stop and start without looking unreliable.

So, I'm here to say that I'll be here every week at least a couple times a week. I'm not going to commit to every day just for the simple fact that I have to be there for my kids more than my blog or business right now while they're still young.

 
Another thing I've been thinking in is starting to take my merchandise to craft fairs and shows. It's been a real leap for me to even get my etsy up and running, but now that I'm there branching out to the real world doesn't seem so intimidating.

My kids have been growing like weeds. The boy is finally starting to say words other than just bah, gah, mama and dada. He's been saying hi and no and yay, even Addy :) and of course grandma which isn't surprising considering what a big grandma's boy he's becoming.

The girls are so fun right now, they like to put on concerts and dance recitals for us. Popular songs include Mary had a little lamb, twinkle twinkle, ABC song, and old Mac Donald. And of course every dance recital is entirely ballet, because they're both ballerina princesses.

~Allison

Updates!

I took the weekend off, and Monday. There was an uncharacteristically grouchy bunch of kiddos around here that kept me very busy, so I decided to spend all of my time getting them back in order. They're straightened out now and I've got some things to share!

New items in my Etsy shop!!

Super Cute projects that I want to try and share!

Love it!

Very cute!

Washi Tape is wonderful, isn't it?

I'll be adding another post later today and I'll be doing two tomorrow as well to make up for the lost day's. OOPS again!

~Allison

Covered in Babies

Today has been rough...just one of those days when everything seems to be a little bit harder for no apparent reason. I have two fussy babies because of allergies that are currently kicking the butts of myself, the hubs and the kiddos, and which have been the cause of extreme frustration. Like trying to get some fresh air and pick up the mail from the mailbox around the corner and ending up throwing a BIG pile of mail all over the neighbors yard in a not so graceful attempt to chase after my almost 2yr old with my 6m old in my arms. Not one of my better moments in motherhood, or trying out big girl panties today and ending up having not 1 but 2 wet messes both of which were on the carpet (of course). All in all, it's been a drive me crazy day and I can honestly say I can't wait for it to be over. As far as tutorials go, they will have to wait until tomorrow or maybe the next day. I need peace time to recover and regroup, wish me luck on getting my baby to sleep tonight! lol Sorry for all the moaning, I promise there will be something really interesting and good in the coming days.

~Allison~