Halloween Candy Deployment to Operation Gratitude

Are you looking for somthing to do with all of that Halloween candy??

There is a wonderful organization called Opperation Gratitiude that takes candy (as well as, other donations) and sends it to our troops! How great is that! 

I know for me on a rough day my favorite candy can really do the soul good. Imagine that for our soldiers, being able to open a box full of candy from the States. 

My daughter kept some lollipops and she put the rest in a box and mailed it off with a "picture" she drew (aka scribbles on a page). 

You include a donation form that you can find HERE. We donated a pound and it put it in a small durable cardboard box. If you are donating more it's probably smartest to send it in a small flat rate box thru USPS to keep the shipping cost low. 

We decided to take our daughter to the toy store and let her pick out a toy for sending off her candy. My daughter is only 2 and had never experienced the toy store wonder before. I think she walked around the store for an hour before deciding on a Doc Mc Stuffins little medical kit. I may have guided her to that decision... She was seriously just happy walking around and didn't care to pick one out. 

I enjoy teaching my daughter to think of others. Even if the concept is hard for her to grasp now, my hope is that it will become second nature for my family. 

Team Red White and Blue

Hey guys!

I wanted to stop in and fill you in on a little something I've been cooking up (actually sewing up)! 

As apart of the Feathers on 1st mission statement we are community driven and give back in many different ways. We have made donations to non-profits, helped raise funds for foster care families, and donate to Instagram auctions for multiple causes. We believe in a support system model. And while we do not yet have the funds to make huge donations to charitable programs, we do what we can now. 

When I name the new colorways I usual just go with my first thought when looking at the fabric. Whatever that color/fabric brings to mind. With our new dark green hexagon leggings, the 1st thing that came to mind was "Fatigue", as in military fatigues. The color is very similar to an army green. 

With choosing the name of "Fatigue" it got me thinking this would be a great opportunity to donate a portion of profits of sales to a US military non-profit organization! So that's exactly what we are going to do!

With each sale of anything in the Fatigue print a donation will be made to Team Red, White & Blue. 

Team Red, White & Blue is an organization that reconnects veterans into their local community through physical and social activities. They have a great mission statement video if you would like to learn more. This organization touched me because I find so much strength & inspiration thru being connected to my local and social media community. 

Let's help out our veterans because they have given so much for us!

Here is a link to our Fatigue Hexagon Leggings! 

Pink, Pearls & Tulle

Pink, pearls & tulle... every thing you need for a sweet little girls 1st Birthday! 

This dress was custom made for a client, who has the best style and, I loved all her ideas!

The dress came out beautiful! 

The bodice is all hand beaded, which was a labor of love! I had never done such an intense hand beading on an project before and, I love the final results! The different style & size of beading really gives the dress a couture look. Doing adjustable straps and an invisible zipper were a must. There is nothing worse than having to squeeze a dress over your child's head or to continuously fix a falling sleeve. 

But please can we all just take a second and admire how adorable this sweet little lady is?!?!?

Custom Window Treatments

No worries the Babies is almost a one and half and I am just now finishing her window treatments...

Sadly if you are in my family your sewing requests are alwsys the last ones done.

Hubbers has a stack of shorts that need repair.. maybe in a year, or so..

But non the less they are done now! So lets take a look!

Baby loves her room dark, like I trip on things on the way out because its blackout. So we got these great black out vinyl shade at Home Depot. I wish it was a little wider, because light peaks out the side but, it was the widest shade they made. 

Nonetheless it does a great job at blocking the majority of the light. 

I used some leftover tassel garland from her birthday party to hang on her wall. 

I love it in her room. 

The Hubbers isn't too fond of bold print, obviously this has affected out marriage- not really, but I won him over on this one. With her grey walls and white furniture it gives the room just the right

amount of texture and liveliness. 

Showing 2014 who is boss... Hopefully

 

Now that Butter is a little older and I am slowly becoming less controlling... I am going to try and start blogging again, posting all my creations and custom orders. Also, I am going to be putting more effort into my Etsy and sewing, which above all is my greatest passion! 

So I think 2014 is the year of non stop barf, or thats at least how its going so far... 

I think I have already been barfed on 5-6 times. The joys of motherhood! 

Other than that I am really stoaked for 2014! My husband is really into setting goals this year, I love his zeal. I have never been a "New Year New You" type person. I am more of a, if you want to change or set goals-anytime is the best time to start. But this year I think I will indulge my husband and make some goals, it will probably help keep my ADD brain focused. 

Here is some of the work I did in 2013! 

I do have this giddy feeling when I think of 2014... It has a lot of hope and excitement. 

So I am going to do my best and accomplish all my goals, that I haven't set yet, and be a great wife & mother. 

I am going to show 2014 who is boss!  

Hopefully

Heaven For Your Bottom...

I am now realizing that the title I have chosen may not have been the most appropriate, but thats what I imagine as I sit upon one of these chairs or gold.

I really really want a set of chairs for my living room. Really really BAD!

I have been lusting over some of these lookers...

Crate & Barrel

World Market

Target

Did You Know...

So this is going to sound like I am very crazed to some people, or maybe it will sound normal. But the average reaction I get is that I am crazed.  

At my house we don't have a microwave. 

I know it really isn't that big of a deal but when you think about it, an average person uses a microwave everyday. Most likely multiple times a day. We have been microwave-less for over two years! We are a microwave-less family because we had moved into a new apartment and it did not come with a microwave and at first we planned on getting one, but then I kind of enjoyed the idea of not cooking my food in a minute. 

At first it was so hard and difficult, now I don't even think twice about it. Why am I sharing the fact that we are microwave-less?? Because now I kind of want one... but I really don't want one, but I do.... See the problem! 

I am not worried about microwave radiation, even tho that does sound so scary as I type it. My thought behind it is, most of the food you cook in a microwave is food you really should not be eating anyways. Also, you can heat all your food up in the oven or stove top, yes it takes longer but its really not that much longer. Food tastes so much better when its not reheated in the microwave too! 

So why do I want one? Well the Hubbers will some times complain about wanting to reheat a cup of coffee and I some times will complain about softening butter in the over. On average I don't mind it at all and he really doesn't either. One of the most annoying things about not having a microwave is allot of foods only have microwave heating instructions! 

Baby Buttercup will be here in just a short time and some are saying I will need a microwave to heat up her bottles. I always thought you can run them under hot water to heat up as well. Yes, it will not be as fast as a zap in the microwave but it will be just as warm.

So its really not a big issue but I feel like if I get a microwave I am like going to become one of those lazy people that eats microwave dinners and cops out for dinner and lunches.  Hubbres will be eating all things frozen. EEWWWWW!!

The Great Rug Debacle

I know this is going to seem very shallow that a great debacle I am currently having is over a rug but, I stress over the little details.

We, but that I mean I, have finally decided on colors for Baby Buttercups nursery! I was originally thinking a Tiffany blue with pink and I purchased this rug from Urban Outfitters. It was on back order until June. 

Then I decided the Tiffany blue is not my color and I was just seeing it all over Pinterest and was captivated by Tiffany blue. That Tiffany blue has captivating powers and gets you sucked in. When we thought Baby Buttercup was a boy I had picked out this navy herringbone rug from Urban Outfitters

I then became very fickle and wend back and forth from Tiffany blue to navy. I was asking everyone I know which color they liked best. That turned out to be no hope because everyone was split. 

Back to the drawling board. I began the search all over for new inspiration. And then I found this:

source

And this too:

source

And then it was decided, a grey, pink and yellow nursery it will be. 

I always knew I wanted the walls painted gray, and that was done before we even moved into the new place. 

So now that I am 100% decided on colors, I have to go back to finding a new rug. Then out of the depths of my rug despair {saying in a very overly dramatic tone}, I found a great yellow rug on Overstock! It was perfection. Chenille. Shag. Perfection. 

 Ordered it  and it came in and it was not even close to perfection. It was a beige/pale yellow, very nice but not what I wanted. I was crushed and was even trying to talk myself into liking it for the room-but it was so not going to work. 

So back to square one- completely rug-less. 

I can tell you all feel such pity for me and my Great Rug Debacle. 

To be continued...

Fresh and New

So this is what I have been dealing with lately..

A very new and empty apartment...I want a completely new house full of new furniture to go with it but we all know I am not a millionaire. So little things at a time. 

By the way--- check out those hard wood floors! SCORE! 

This is what you would call "Red-Neck". But we only went 7 blocks, so it worked perfectly. 

Here is Jack. Enjoying his new place. {He really needs an updated bed for the new place..I will jump right on that-in a year}

Yes it is Apartment Front- not A or 1- just Front. The pizza guy even said it was the first time he had heard of an "apartment front".

Family has been asking for an updated belly shot.. Here we go! 21 weeks pregnant! 

Curve Ball

Has life ever sent you a curve ball? Or it seems like life takes a huge u-turn? 

Hubbers and I experienced one of these big u-turns the other day.

Baby Buttercup, who we thought was a boy....

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

At my 18 week appointment the Doc asked me if I have already found out the sex and I said yes its a boy. He said lets just double check. The Doc froze an in-between the leg shot. I blurted out- "THATS A GIRL!!". {I had looked up online a couple of months ago the difference between male & female ultrasound photos. Why? Because I am just that crazed} My Doc said he did not see any boy parts that the baby is ALL girl. 

I then began to feel so at peace. I had always felt like Buttercup was a girl, and I was so shocked at the gender reveal party that the cupcakes were blue. Then I began to feel so stupid. I had this big party to celebrate that Buttercup was a boy- not a girl. I knew that having an ultrasound done at 13 weeks was so early, but I wanted to believe that I could find out that early. The technician did tell me she was 99% sure the baby was  a boy too. You can ready all about my boy gender reveal here. 

I joked with my mom on the way to the appointment that the Doc would say it was a girl. I guess my "mothers instinct" was right after all!

Most have been asking if we are upset about the change, but we are so so happy. We have always said- girl or boy it doesn't matter, we just want a healthy baby. 

Am I still hesitant to go out a buy a closet full of pink clothes?? Yes a little. Even tho I know in my heart Buttercup is a girl. I have another appointment in 2 weeks so I can just verify.

So heres to our family of 3!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As you might have noticed a couple of changes around here.

Freshened up the page a tad. I feel it's easier to read from a white background. I want to eventually get a new blog header but that might take me 6 months so these little change are good for now.

So, besides the bright white background, we also have some new links to check out on the side tool bar area. New ways to stay updated on blog posts by direct email or following via Bloglovin'. 

Also, you can follow my personal Instagram & Pinterest

Just the little things that I am working on slowly, I'm not much of a computer wiz.

Ok so I will leave you with a photo of my dearest love bug, Jack, who was cuddling in bed with mommy when she had very bad morning sickness. Isn't he the cutest! 

Have a wonderful Friday! 

Gender Reveal Party & Video Reaction

So I went to one of those early gender ultra sound places and was able to find out the sex of Baby Buttercup at 13 weeks exactly. Are you a little skeptical..?? SO WAS I! But they say it 99% accuracy.... 

My sister Savannah was the only one who knew the gender of the baby, I had the technician write it down and hand the pictures to her. It was killing me that I had to wait a day to find out, but I wanted to find out with the rest of my family. It turned out to be a really special moment that we all shared together. 

We went with a mustaches vs bows instead of a typical girls vs boys. The colors, grey for boy and yellow for girl. I am not fan of the baby blue and bright pink thing.

****Please watch the video at the very bottom! 

Invitation that my amazing brother made

We all had a lot of fun with name ideas!

The food was all of my pregnancy cravings

 Savannah had put a blue or pink chocolate in the center of the cupcakes, so when we all took a bite...GENDER REVEAL!!! 

As you can see I was gender neutral-boy or girl I do not care, I am just happy with a baby! 

 We made these fun chocolate lollipops

Here is the vide of us all finding out together. I look upset but that is my shocked face. Finding out the gender of the baby made my pregnancy become very real, it was like I was finding out I was pregnant again. 

To be honest I wanted to cry and throw up all at the same time. I was so nervous and excited to find out the sex of our baby! 

I did not take a bite of the cupcake because 1. I was so nervous and I knew I was being recorded & 

2. sweets at that time made me a little nauseous.  

 Colour Her Hope is where we got some inspiration.