The Flu=Lots of Blog Reading

  I woke up with the flu today. Yuck!!! I had felt it coming but tried to ignore it. The worse thing is I just had surgery not even a week ago and have had to remain still. Now the FLU!!! Are you kidding me! Well the only great thing about having the flu is all the time it gives you to read BLOGS!!!!! (an addiction)

So, I came across a really great tutorial today that is a must have for all you mommies who have girls. So super simple yet so chic. It's right on time to with Fall weather arriving. So look below and get ready to craft away on this rainy day. At least here in Long Beach, CA anyway. I will be making some for sure as soon as I kick this nasty flu!

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/11/re-purposing-long-sleeved-tee-into.html

Trash to Treasure

To say life has been crazy would be an understatement. My little one Audrey cut two teeth in the last two weeks, went from sleeping just fine to not at all! She started crawling, sitting up and learned to pull herself up to a standing position. She is mobile to say the least. Meanwhile I have to hold my eyes open with toothpicks from the sleep deprivation.

A moma has to stay sane in between the lack of sleep, showers and personal space; So I crafted:))))))
I have a gem to show you. One night my hubby went out to get us dinner at a late hour ( I won't share how late just in case I have the healthy eaters reading) and he spots this table. He comes inside and asks
"do you want another piece of junk?" I looked at him with questioning eyes, knowing he would only ask if he really had a treasure. I tried to hide my excitement and shrugged my shoulders and said "Ya".  He proceeds to go out to our back alley and in he brings me this:

Before

Okay so I know your thinking it is a piece of junk. I however see nothing but potential:) All she needed was a little love and kindness and she could be restored to her beauty. Kinda like us if you know what I mean. So I went to the stores to pick up all my supplies and started peeling back the layers she had of tagging from our local artists in the alley. They really do waste their talent. I pulled out the busted drawers and sanded her down to bare bones. After a few hours of prep, she was ready. Are you ready to see her?????

After

Here she is:


I lately have had an addiction to Pintrest (which you can now follow me at) and loved this color I chose. I than decided to distress her and glaze her with a coffee stain glaze (thanks Martha Stewart).
I think the end result is lovely. I am taking her to a craft booth I have this weekend. If she doesn't sell I will be making her into a bench with a chic fabric top. She is up for sale for $75 as is. When I put the fabric on she will be $125.


Hope you had fun reading my adventures~

Bumps and Bruises

As quickly as the stick turned blue, I knew I would love you.
My heart burst with excitement at the thought of your eyes, lips, checks and nose.
Would you be a brother or sister? A Judah or Merci?

I often lay awake at the possibility of how your life would serve my King.
How would he charge me to help form you to His destiny.
I prayed for your life in my womb everyday and counted the days till your arrival.

Your brothers and sisters wondered at who you would look like.
Would you love them the way they already loved you?

As quickly as we started to know you, there was a different plan for you.
You fluttered away to heaven yesterday and as sad as mommy was to say goodbye
I knew it a better place to be with my King.

Kiss my baby for me Lord.
I pray I get to see your beautiful face upon my arrival to heaven.

Remember that Mommy, Daddy, Brother and Sisters loved you before we even met you.

Till I see you

Mommy

A Mothers Love

A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional, and forever. ~ Unknown

I came across this quote this week
and thought how true this is.
Even on the worst of days,
when you feel your at the end of the rope,
your love for your children shines through.

So how is it that our love fails to
be instinctual at times?
The past few weeks my third child,
Audrey Grace, has been super fussy.
Nothing I did worked. We both were
so tired and in need of our routine again.
By the time you have a third child, you feel like
you should have all the tricks.
Well nothing, I mean nothing worked.
My instincts were failing me. Quite frankly
my frustration was replacing it. The love of my life
could see I was at the end and gave me a breather.
I walked away thought through the different things that might
have changed in her routine and the light went on!

I had switched her to a new formula for Acid Reflux. It was made
by the same maker of her normal formula but had a major texture difference.
So I went to the kitchen cut the amount in half added some rice cereal and she became
a much more content baby.

Sometimes our instincts leave us just because we are tired, pressed, filled with lack of sleep
but it doesn't mean our love for our children is any less. It just takes digging deep outside of the
situation to find the solution sometimes.
Mommyhood is a journey traveled with lots of bumps and bruises. Without it we wouldn't be the
mothers we are today!

Be Blessed!

Teaching Moments and Vintage Love

One of our biggest challenges as mommies is taking the opportunity to teach our child rather than just be the authority in their life. I know this to be true for myself anyways.

I have a very very very strong willed child named Abigail. She is incredibly smart but takes that to an advantage that gets her into trouble. There has been this stand off with her and on lately and I have grown tried of it. I decided I needed to change my method and instead of demanding her to behave; I would show her why it is important to listen to her mommy.

The other day she was in one of her "I am not going to listen to you no matter what" moods. Normally I would engage in a tug a war that ended up in tears or frustration. I decided I would teach her logic. This battle is often over what she is going to wear for the day. She is the middle child and has grown up with a big brother and older male cousins. She wants to be just like them. This looks like her wearing her brothers shirts, shorts, shoes, and even underwear. When it first started happening I thought it was cute. Cuteness wore off quickly because to leave the house to go somewhere always ended in a screaming fit because I would have her wear her own shorts and shirts. Seriously, I am not even making her wear the cute skirts and headbands that she has in her wardrobe.

So, I sensed the battle ensuing and decided to talk with her about the special parts of being a girl. (No I didn't teach her anything crazy) I just showed her how it's fun to be a girl and dress like a girl. I swear just because I didn't engage in a fight with her. She promptly put on her outfit. Let me  do her hair and away we went to grocery shop.

Sometimes mommyhood is just taking a moment to encourage our little one in the place they are at rather than thinking they just need to obey. I don't know if this lesson was for any of you, but I know it was for me:)


So I did get some new items made this week for the boutique, La Bella Petite. Check out this vintage piece.

Vintage Rolled Rosette

 

Madness and Crafting

This week has been pure madness! Between my already crazy house of 2 year old fits and "mom she won't stop touching me", I had a million doctors appointments. Oh ya, did I mention my six year old started 1st grade! We school at home using a great program called K-12. We LOVE it.

In the midst of that, all I could think about was getting ready for my grand opening in September and how much stuff I had to get done. All this while trying to obey doctors orders and remain on bedrest.
So I decided to take a breather and get some crafting done.

I tried my hand at kids aprons. I won't be posting a picture as it didn't turn out the way I thought. So I learned, took notes and will try again this weekend on another apron. Instead I reverted to making some stuff for my shop. My favorite item I made is a Teal Satin & Organza Flower Headband. I used the technique of melting the edges and had all sorts of fun. Take a look:

Isn't she pretty:) I love feathers and especially saddleback feathers. I attached this beauty of a flower to a black satin metal headband. I think the piece kinda looks like something from the 1940's. I think I will expand this line into the bridal arena with some bird cage veil. Oooo maybe even a top hat to wear to a horse race or something. Is it just me or dressing up in fancy attire to go to a horse race just seems right. Maybe it's because last family night we watched Secretariat and I love love loved that movie. I will be setting up a tutorial soon for these flowers so keep watching:))))

Until next time........

The Stick Turned Blue

Have you ever had one of those days when you just wanted to start all over. Nothing went the way you thought. Every conversation ended in a way not intended; you just should have gone right back to bed. I had one of those days a week ago Monday. I found myself emotional,  filled with nausea and misunderstood at every turn. In my head I was trying to give myself the 123 pep talk. You know where you tell yourself to take a deep breath and count to 3. In the midst of that pep talk I had a revelation. Could it be? No! It can't be!

I got off work and drove directly to the store. I walked down the aisle and found it. The test that would tell me everything. I drove home said hello to my husband. Walked right into the bathroom and took the test. I closed my eyes, flipped the test over and saw the result. I proceeded to march myself right out of that bathroom and threw the test at my husband. He looked at it, looked at me and said REALLY?

If you haven't figured it out the test told me I was pregnant with our 4th child. Now some of you might not think it to be such a big deal, however I just had our 3rd child four months ago! We weren't even sure we wanted to expand our family any further.  After the immediate shock wore off and we received confirmation from the doctor, we were excited and ready to welcome this little one as an addition to our family.

I pray for full nights rest and two year old meltdowns to be avoided. Until that season comes, I am blessed to be a mother balancing the craziness of life.