Work In Progess Wednesday #2

Is it really Wednesday again already???  Wow!  The past week sure has gone by fast!  Well if it really IS Wednesday again, it's time again to link up to Work In Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Sadly, I don't really have much to report on :-(  BUT here are a few things I'll mention.

You can check out my new thread holder post HERE.  It's all done and being used, just waiting to find a permanent place for it.

Dylan helped me get started on my pallet planter that I will be using to grow some herbs in.  Here's what it looks like right now.  I have some other decorative touches to make before planting my herbs.  The camera lens fogged up when I walked outside to take this picture but it actually makes it look neat.

I have a handful of sewing projects that I need to get working on....like now!!  I like to take advantage of the nice weather and get outside when I can, but I really need to get moving on these other projects.  And Dylan is helping me with another project that I can not reveal anything about until it is finished!  Wow, I have a lot to do!

Here's what all I have going on...

In Progress:

• Pallet Planter
• Cow Print Fabric Project
• Girl Baby Blanket
• Boy Baby Blanket
• Red & Blue/Green Fabrics
• Mystery Project

I LOVE This Thread Holder!

Dylan sure surprised me with this one!  I showed him this tutorial for a really neat thread holder I found that Katie at CRAPTASTIC made. We talked about it a few more times over the weeks but never really got around to getting it going.  Well lo and behold!  He was working on our pantry and there were some pieces of wood left so I asked him to cut me a piece so we could make the thread holder.  So instead of just cutting me a piece of wood, he did the whole stinking project for me!


I am so in love with this thread holder that I feel the need to go buy a bunch of thread just to fill it up!  If you are a sewing kinda person and your thread is very unorganized (as in thrown in a bin somewhere like mine was)...I suggest you make this fancy schmancy thread holder to help keep it organized.  


It's super easy and here's how we decided to make mine, although if you have a lot of thread you should go over and make Katie's version HERE.

My Version

Katie's Version

Here's what you will need:
Piece of wood (whatever size you would like, mine is approx. 18" high by 11" wide)
Wood Stain
Paint (I used a Valspar paint sample I got from an online giveaway...the color is Sea Swell)
Nails


Dylan cut the wood to size and then stained it with a walnut stain.

When the stain is good and dry tape off any design you want.  I loved the look of the chevron but I only wanted one V because of the size of the wood.  I also liked Katie's idea of keeping the outer edge as the stain to make it look framed.

Once you have it taped off good, paint away!

When the paint is dry take off your tape to reveal your wonderful design skills (which I forgot to get a picture of before the next step...doh!).


Then put your nails in the board in a design you want.  I decided to have Dylan stagger the nail rows so that you can still see the design behind the nails and spools of thread.  I just love this! The best part is I only asked Dylan to cut the wood for me and I was gonna do the rest, but he took over and did it ALL!  I have such a wonderful husband!  Here are some more shots of the finished project.

The only thing left to do is find the perfect place on the wall for it!  Thank you Katie for this wonderful idea!

Work In Progress Wednesday #1

I'm so excited to be participating in my very first Work In Progress Wednesday hosted by Lee over at Freshly Pieced.  Each week on Wednesday I will be linking up to W.I.P Wednesday and posting projects that I have finished over the past week as well as those that are in the works.

You can head over to Freshly Pieced and see what others have been working on and completed over the past week.  Don't be shy, go have a peek!

We (as in Dylan and I....well mostly Dylan...I just gave instructions) finished this awesome thread holder!  I'm so in love with it and I will have a full post on this project in the next few days.

I'm still working with the cow print fabric I found on clearance at Wal-Mart but I can't reveal much more until I'm done :-)

And I have two more faux chenielle baby blankets to make using these adorable top fabrics!  You can see my original post on the faux chenielle blankets HERE.

And I'm still not entirely sure what I want to do with these fabrics yet.  I have a few ideas but I just can't commit to one yet.  Hopefully I'll decide for next week (ha!).

Recap of what's going on around here!

Finished Projects:

• Thread Holder

In Progress:

• Cow Print Fabric Project
• Girl Baby Blanket
• Boy Baby Blanket
• Red & Blue/Green Fabrics

Can't wait til next week to see what everyone has accomplished!

First Anniversary: Part 2

Since our First Anniversary was on Monday the 14th we planned to celebrate on Saturday the 19th.  I started the day off by running in the Mustang Gallop 5K event at West Perry High School.  Dylan (being the GREAT husband that he is) came along to support me.  Thank goodness he was there because this race was a tough one.  It was two laps around part of the cross country course and it had two large hills in each lap.  One of the hills was brutal (especially the second time around) and Dylan said everyone calls that hill "cardiac hill" because it is so tough.  I finished the 5K in 32:02 which is a pretty good time for me considering the course had four hills total and I didn't really prepare for that!

Coming up to the finish!

We had a little down time between my 5K and our date night so we watched some of his little sister's softball game and then we worked in the garden for a little before getting ready.

Dylan didn't tell me anything that we were doing except that we would be outside most of the afternoon/evening so I might want to take something warm in case it cooled off.  I tried to get him to spill what we were doing so I could dress better but he wouldn't so I just wore a black sundress and flip-flops.  We ended up going to one of our favorite places to eat Duke's Riverside Grill.  The food there is outrageously delicious and I can't go there without ordering one of their famous Crab Pretzels...they are sooooooooooo yummy!  It was such a nice day out so we sat out on the deck to eat.  While we were waiting Dylan pulled some paper out of his wallet and told me this is what we were doing after dinner.  I opened the paper and it was tickets to the local minor league baseball team the Harrisburg Senators.  The last time we went to a Senators game together was in 2008!  We had to park in the city and walk across to City Island but it was a beautiful day so it was a nice walk across the Walnut Street Bridge (and it was a lot easier to walk across than when I ran across it for the Running for Rachel 5K!).  We had great seats and it was such a perfect evening for a baseball game.

Here I am outside the stadium

Dylan and I during the game

We were enjoying the game and then between the 6th and 7th innings a Senators staff member came up to our seats and asked us if we wanted to participate in a couples game at the end of the 7th inning.  I looked at Dylan then looked at the staff member and was like "Ummmmm I'm wearing a dress!"  She told me it's okay that I would just be sitting down and Dylan would have to push me.  So of course I'm like "YEAH! We will do it!"  Dylan was less than thrilled but too late I already told her we would do it.  So we got to go down on the field for the couples game in which we had to run down the field to a toilet that was bolted onto a cart...yes you read that right..and I was wearing a dress!  Once we got to the cart I had to sit on the toilet and Dylan had to push the cart.  We didn't win the race but it was still fun and something to remember!  The Senators ended up losing the game 2-1 but it was a great game, and the opposing team's coach got thrown out!


All in all we had a great first anniversary and here's to many many more!

First Anniversary: Part 1

Today is Dylan and I's First Wedding Anniversary!  I can't believe it has been a WHOLE year already!!! Seriously, it feels like we JUST got married a few weeks ago, not 365 days ago.  So here's how today went...

We got up early this morning to spend some time together since we work different shifts and we won't see each other until Dylan get's home from work around 11:30pm (that is if I'm not already sleeping on the couch with Bella!).  We exchanged cards first (always with something extra special wrote in each one) and then Dylan said he had something else for me.  He went into the bedroom and came out with some folded paper.  I opened it up and the first thing I saw on the page was MIRANDA LAMBERT! He bought us tickets to go see Miranda Lambert in July!!  I'm so excited!  I love her music and I can't wait to see her live (she always performs so well at awards shows I'm sure she will blow me away in concert!).  ANNNNND Miranda and her husband Blake Shelton are ALSO celebrating their First Wedding Anniversary today!  Happy Anniversary to them!  I just think it's so cool that two of my favorite country artists share the same wedding date (yes, I am corny like that) as we do!

Then we cut our cake and had some for breakfast.  Oh my it was delicious!  It tasted just like the cupcakes did the day of the wedding!!  I'm so glad we had my former co-worker Marie Elena at Cupcakes by M.E. make our wedding cupcakes & cake.  She sure knows what she's doing if the cake tastes so DELICIOUS after spending the year in a freezer!   Yummmmmmmmy!  If you live in Central PA and need some cupcakes for an event be sure to give her a call, you won't regret it and you will be craving those cupcakes when they are all gone!

Photo Courtesy of CMorrow Photography

Sadly, after our breakfast I had to head to work :-(  But that's not the end....

When I got back to my desk after a morning meeting I had an email that there was a package for me down at the front desk.  As soon as I read the email I KNEW what Dylan had done.  Yep, he sent me flowers at work!  We have been together for over 10 years now and he still knows how to melt my heart <3.

BUT this still isn't the end!!  Since our anniversary is today and we both have full-time jobs on different shifts, we are going out Saturday to do some more anniversary celebrating...but I have no idea what we are doing!  He's keeping that a secret too!  There IS a good thing about a weekday anniversary....you get two days of celebration!!  Yippeeee!

Happy First Anniversary to my amazingly wonderful husband Dylan!  I love you to the end and here's to many, many more!

What To Do, What To Do

I found these beautiful matching fabrics on clearance at Wal-Mart (gotta love that clearance area!!) a few weeks ago and I am just stumped as to what to do with them.

My dilemma is that each piece is only 1 yard each.  So do I do a small project with each piece or do I stretch the pieces by doing a bigger project and using some coordinating fabrics?  Hmmmmmm, decisions decisions.  Suggestions are definitely welcome :-)

Wedding Card Display

My first wedding anniversary is in a week and I am FINALLY starting to go through all of our stuff!  I saved every card we received from the two Bridal Showers and the Wedding and luckily they were easily found when I started rummaging around in all our boxes and bins for them.  I saw this very cute way to keep and display your favorite cards using loose binder rings, but there were no real directions for how it was done (not that it looks that hard to do).  So I decided to figure it out for myself with our wedding cards, and honestly it's really super easy.  Like I could have had my 9-year-old niece or my 9-year-old sister-in-law do this for me :-).  And yes you did read that right...Dylan has a 9-year-old sister! Anywho here's how I did it.


First off, we had sooooo many cards from the bridal showers and the wedding that I decided to seperate them.  I'm working with the Bridal Shower cards in the pictures (the pile was MUCH smaller!).

Here is what you will need:
Your stack of cards
2 loose binder rings
Hole Puncher

I sorted the cards by size, putting the largest card on the bottom and the shortest card on top.

I wanted the cards to pile up and flip easily on the rings so I took the smallest card and centered it on the largest card, then chose where to put the holes for the rings.

I punched out the holes in the largest and smallest card and then continued the process with each card along the way.  I repeated with each card one by one but you could just eyeball it with each card.  I wanted the cards to all line up centered so that's why I took my time with it.

After I had all the holes punched in the cards I put them in order on the 2 loose binder rings, closed em up, and TA DA! A nice pretty way to display those wonderful cards.  I love how easily you can flip through the cards, and you can even open them and read each one!

We had sooooo many cards I ended up with three stacks!  One for the Bridal Shower cards and two for the wedding cards.

Lily's Quilts Small Blog Meet

Lynne over at Lily's Quilts hosts a Small Blog Meet each month for bloggers with less than 50 followers.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for my new blogging adventure not only by getting my blog out there but also by finding more blogs to follow myself.  I really liked finding and reading other blogs, and that's what inspired me to start my own.  So do what I'm doing and head on over to the Small Blog Meet over at Lily's Quilts!

Faux Chenille Baby Blankets

I found this AMAZING tutorial on how to make a Faux Chenille Baby Blanket on Pinterest (what a wonderfully addicting site!).  Now when I found this project I had not sewn anything since my Home Economics class in high school, and I didn't even own a sewing machine!!  Well thanks to the great site I found the tutorial on and my MIL (she had the sewing machine), I decided to dive in head first and attempt to make this blanket for some friends who were expecting their baby girl in December 2011 (she decided to come early!).  Since then I have finished 3 of these blankets.

You can follow the pin I have on Pinterest HERE or you can find the complete tutorial over here at Dana-Made-It.  I followed Dana's directions but she also referenced the tutorial over at Aesthetic Nest.  Both tutorials are great to follow!

One of the best things about these blankets is that you are sewing straight lines the whole time.  Seriously that's it!  I think it was a great beginner project for me and these blankets are such a huge hit for baby showers and newborn/toddler gifts. I must warn you though, this is not a one day project (unless you are into sewing for like 10 hours straight!) but more like a week or so, depending on how long you like to sew for.  I also love how the back fabric frays even more each time you wash it and it continues to stay soft and cuddly.  

Here are the three blankets I have created so far...


Blanket #1--Made for little Miss Emma Maclay :-)  I found the fabric at Joann's.


Front of Blanket

Back of Blanket



 

Finished!



Little Miss Emma napping on her blanket!



Blanket #2:  Made for the little stud Ryder Gibble! I found this top fabric on sale at fabrics.com.

I just love this fabric!!




Isn't he adorable?!



Blanket #3:  Made for Bryce Packer (hence the Green Bay fabric).  Since we are in Pennsylvania, I had to order this Green Bay fabric online.

Finished Product

I just love the way the back of these blankets look!

**Just want to say a special THANK YOU to Mary Gray (mommy to Emma) and Katie Gibble (mommy to Ryder) for letting me use their precious little ones as models**