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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Nella's Easter Basket

With each new day we have our "firsts".  It is so exciting.  We are about to celebrate our first Easter with baby Nella.  I know she is too little to understand any of it, but she'll have photo's to look back on.  She won't really know at the time about God's love for us as we sit in church on Sunday morning and she won't understand all the hulabaloo behind an egg hunt.  She won't know why there is a man dressed like a giant bunny (let's hope there are no tears) and she won't taste any of the delicious food that we'll eat.  But gosh darnit, she'll have an ADORABLE EASTER BASKET! 

I was browsing online trying to find an Easter photo I wanted to replicate for her 3 month photos.  I still cannot find it, but I did find this.  It was actually a picture of the basket that I found.  I had to hunt down the original page, but what a treat it was.  I will show you my rendition now.

I started with a Jelly Roll purchased from Joann's.  I tried to buy one from the original site, but there were none for sale.  Luckily, I still had my 25% off coupon and Joann's is just down the road.  There were only a few Jelly Roll's left and only ONE cute one. 

Enter exhibit A.
A Pocket full of Posies Jelly Roll.

Unroll the Jelly Roll.  Seperate all strips by color.  This particular one had 10 different fabrics, 2 of each.  I cut the strips in half lengthwise, so I was left with 40 strips.  They were approximately 2.5" x 20" after cutting.  I then stacked them into one pile in alternating colors/fabrics. 

Now I had to get all intimate with the glue gun.  The original tutorial calls for sewing, but it's midnight.  I have a 3 month old.  I don't want to sew.  You'll need two packages of filler cord piping.  I used Wrights brand 12/32" for the basket and 6/32" for the handle. Wrap and glue, wrap and glue.  Make sure to alternate the fabrics! You'll wrap the entire length of the thicker cord (6 yards) and about 39" of the smaller one, for the handle.


Begin coiling the bottom.  You'll coil until you have 7 rows from inner to end. You can be an overachiever and sew if you want, but really, just glue it as you go.  Don't be sloppy though.   Let the dog check it out.  He knows his crafts!

Now let the baby check it out.  She doesn't know her crafts (yet) but the photos tell you otherwise. Once the dog and the baby give you the thumbs up, you'll need to begin your coiling for the basket.  I used to own a pottery shop.  I'm no stranger to the coil pot.  This was very similar.  Just keep going, and gluing, until you reach the top.  I tucked the end inside the basket and glued it down.  It was later covered by the handle.

To do the handle, you'll leave it in one 39" piece.  Fold it into thirds and glue...or sew.  Then anchor that bad boy into your basket with glue...or sewing.  Although I did glue it for now, I will reinforce it with a needle and thread because I do want this basket to last for a long time.  It's too cute not to.  And hey, the baby is pretty darn cute too!


A close up for your viewing pleasures.


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Monday, February 13, 2012

Love Overload

Today is February 13th, 2012.  This date is stamped forever in my memory, in my timeline of life, in my heart.  Today marks 7 years since Jerry asked me to be his girlfriend.  Today marks 2 years since Jerry asked me to be his wife.  Today marks 8 weeks since our beautiful baby girl was born.  Holy wow.  My heart is full.  My life is blessed.  I want to shout out a big praise to God for it all right now.
Life has it's ups and downs, the good and the bad, the lemons and the lemonade.  Thankfully, when it's good, it is OH.SO.GOOD and when it's been bad, it's been just ehh.  Nothing that we couldn't handle.  When I choose to focus on the good, things seem storybook.  We dated for five wonderful years.  He took me back to the same place he asked me to be his girlfriend and he proposed to me.  On a horse and carriage ride, y'all.  (That is kind of storybook!)  We were married on the beach 7.5 months later.  About five months later we were expecting a miracle - a precious little baby.  Here we sit now, full of sweet flippin' joy!  Some days I am exhausted to the core and some days I laugh and think that the only thing missing is a white picket fence. 

I loved our engagement.  It was perfect.  In every sense of the word perfect - it was just that.  This man may not always show affection,  and romance may not play a big part in our relationship, but this man, he did it right.  He swept me off my feet.  He surprised me.  He gave me the perfect engagement.

Our wedding?  Perfect too.  No, really.  It was.  I don't have a single thing to complain about it.  The weather was perfect. We were surrounded by friends and family.  People we love and people who love us.  One of my favorite bands was playing as we set out on our catamaran cruise.  We danced. We laughed.  We made some memories.

I was diagnosed with a tumor a few years back.  See, the lemons do exist.  I was told that it would be difficult to get pregnant.  Well, God had other plans because 5 months later, I felt pukey.  I was tired.  I couldn't fight off a cold.  I fell asleep in the car on the ride home.  I was moody and sensitive (surprise!)  I.was.pregnant!  It was an amazing 9 months.  I loved every bit of being pregnant.  Being pukey was a blessing.  I thanked God as I puked in my bathroom sink. (Sorry, Jer!)  I knew that I had a tiny little baby growing inside of me and that, my friends, was amazing! 

After 42 weeks of what I considered a "perfect pregnancy", we met her.  This tiny little piece of perfection that immediately stared into my eyes and stole my heart.  She is daddy's baby girl and mommy's greatest treasure.

I can't wait to see what the future holds.  I'm not planning on hitting the fast forward button anytime soon though.  I have some sweet, sweet lovin' to savor and enjoy!




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