Week 14: Holiday Step and Repeat Banner

We're back on with celebrating the holidays with an annual ugly sweater party. This year with all of my Pinspiration, I wanted to make sure our home was all decked out as well. In addition to plastic candy canes lining the driveway, the pictures of ugly sweaters in our entryway and a hot chocolate bar, I wanted to make an area that we could immortalize our ugly sweaters in a photobooth-type fashion.

Our large windows in our dining room provided the area and some wrapping paper taped together provided the backdrop. First, I measured the width and height of the window, planning on being able to tape the final product on the window frame. Then I placed various pieces of wrapping paper on the floor, attaching them together with blue tape. I took a plain piece of brown paper and wrote "Happy Holidays 2012" at the top so when we took pictures, it said that at the top. The final touch was the bows that taped up after I taped my creation to the window frame.

For the party, we had a camera with a tripod set-up so we could take individual and group pictures. It's definitely something we'll do again for next year's party.

Next year I'll have to challenge myself to find uglier Christmas wrapping paper and make the "Happy Holidays" part a lot bigger.

(Thanks to my model, Schooner, in the photo!)

Week 13: Angry Birds Pumpkin for Halloween

It's been many years since I've carved a pumpkin so I wanted to make sure that the pumpkin my husband and I carved was awesome. Since we're still on an angry birds kick, we decided on that. It was a last minute decision so I pulled up what I could on Pinterest and found a picture with an angry bird outline photoshopped on a pumpkin. Shouldn't be too hard to freehand, I thought. And it wasn't!!

I had this picture displayed on my phone and sketched with a pencil first. Next came the punching to outline cuts and then came the actual cutting. The hardest part was cutting the lines thick enough that we could see light from a candle inside the pumpkin. That's where my husband's expertise came in. I think it turned out pretty well considering it was freehanded. It definitely made me miss carving pumpkins - I'm looking forward to next Halloween!

Week 12: Hard Copy of Daily Baby Record

As we were packing up our things in the hospital to take our baby boy home, the multiple nurses who came through each mentioned to us that we needed to keep track of how often (and how long) he was nursing,  hen he had a wet diaper, when he had a BM diaper, etc. They each said that the pediatrician would be asking for that information at the first doctor's appointment. 

I had seen a post on Pinterest about great apps for mom's and one of them was Baby Connect ($4.99 for your iPhone). Once you download the app you can track all of these things and more! It's awesome because you can designate others to login to the application (like your spouse, grandparents or other caregivers) so they can input the information into the same place as well. Even though you have to pay the $4.99 for each device the app is used on, you can login for free from any computer. 

Fantastic if all of your caregivers have smart phones or access to a computer 24/7 while watching your little one, but what if they don't? It's still important to me to have that information tracked, so I created a hard copy document that I can print off as I need to. I even put instructions at the top so each new caregiver knows how much to feed (or not feed) the baby and what other expectations you have as far as activities are concerned. You can download an example document here that you can customize to your child's name and criteria. (Simply click Ctrl + S when the preview pops up to download the original word file.)

This may seem like a more manual process, since you'll have to log the information back into the Baby Connect interface yourself, but at least you'll have the information logged and you don't have caregivers trying to remember how many wet diapers there were and how many ounces the little guy or gal has had since early that morning.

Week 11: Crib Dust Ruffle

I saw this tutorial for making a crib dust ruffle on Pinterest and wanted to make an Angry Birds dust ruffle for my baby's crib. First I purchased the smallest sheet set I could find (twin) and was going to cut it up and follow the instructions.

However, I felt like it was an ambitious task I was about to undertake considering how tired I was in the third trimester. So I improvised.

The sheet set was completely useful in its twin set state so before we put the mattress down, we just used the flat sheet as the dust ruffle. Not only was it a heck of a lot easier than sewing a dust ruffle (like the one pictured top left), but now we can reuse the twin sheet. Some may call it cheating or a short-cut... I call it efficient and achievable. :)

Week 10: Hospital Goody Bag for Dad

Once my bag was packed in preparation for going to the hospital, I put together a special bag for my husband based on something I saw on Pinterest. Yes, it's true that once you go into labor you are limited on what you can eat and drink, but I didn't think my husband should be punished and starve because I couldn't eat.

On Pinterest I saw a "Daddy Hospital Survival Kit" filled with some candy, magazines, homemade bread, soda and some magazines. Although the packaging was very nice and included some cute printables, I knew my husband wouldn't really care about how nice it looked. I did package my version like a present (gift bag with tissue paper) so he wouldn't look through it before I went into labor.

I let him open his "Survival Kit" when we arrived at the hospital and were unpacking our hospital bag. My goal was to give him some snacks and something to do during the first night where I anticipated being in labor all night long. Once the baby arrived he would have plenty to do!

Here's what I included in my version of the "Daddy Hospital Survival Kit:"

• Two magazines (fantasy football guide and a guide to phone apps)
• Two Snickers bars (his favorite candy)
• Peanut butter crackers (peanut butter for some energy)
• Mountain Dew (for a lot of energy)
• Angry Birds Cheese Nips (our nursery theme is Angry Birds)

No matter what you put in your "Daddy Hospital Survival Kit," make sure that you pack some snacks for yourself in your regular hospital bag for when you're done delivering your bundle of joy. Daddy will likely be happy with whatever you pack for him, but making it personal will make him feel special as well.

Week Nine: Make-Up Brush Holder

With our bathroom remodel, I've been looking for organization ideas for storage to keep the counter tops looking classy. I saw this photo on the left on Pinterest where make-up brushes are stored in a glass container with flat marbles.

I really liked the idea, but wanted to use whole coffee beans instead of flat marbles. It's turned out to be a fragrant pick-me-up in the morning when I'm putting my make-up on. My make-up brush collection isn't very large so I used a smaller container that I purchased for a dollar at the local Deals. I chose the cheapest hazelnut flavored coffee beans from Walmart for about $5. When the coffee beans stop smelling fragrant, I have a reserve to replace the whole beans as necessary.

This organization can be used for other items too! I'm using the same idea for my eyeliners as well.

Week Eight: Final Pinterest Project, Maternity Photos

Alright, so it's not really week eight - I'm a little behind. But it's time for maternity photos, yay! Pinterest offered a variety of good ideas... and some (ahem) interesting photos. I had my brother and sister-in-law come over to take the photos loosely based off the ideas I showed them from Pinterest. We didn't research online, but here's a post about flattering maternity pics if you want some other ideas. Here's some of the inspirational photos from Pinterest.

Here's some of the more interesting photos I came across. (Note: I personally not a big fan of showing my stretch-marked belly, but it works for some women... and the husbands/boyfriends apparently.)

Through all the inspiration on Pinterest, here's some of the photos we saw, I liked the ones that were a little quirky, ones that included the family dog, and ones that included some portion of the nursery. We had two locations for the photo shoot: a trail with a lot of greenery and the nursery.

Our dog wasn't too interested in cooperating and the inspirational poses I found on Pinterest looked really awkward so we just winged it. My favorite photo is the one taken with a point and shot at a tilted angle (middle photo at left).