Valentine Craft Fail

Happy Valentine's Day!

Over the weekend we tried a little valentine craft. I enjoy thinking up these little crafts for Jude. Hopefully someday he might spend longer than 5 minutes actually doing them, but nevertheless I get a kick out of it.

We sent valentines to our grandparents and great-grandmothers this year. My little craft idea was pretty simple - print hearts (4.25" x 5.5"), outline in white crayon, let Jude paint with watercolor and cut them out.

It was pretty successful for a toddler project. Well, minus the fact that he kept choosing black paint over and over again! How are you supposed to wish someone a Happy Valentine's Day with a black heart?!

Oh well. You can't micromanage the creative process, right?

After the watercolors we also tried some potato stamping.

As you can see I cut the heart stamp a little too short and fat. Unfortunately it looked more like a butt when you stamped it on the paper. Bummer.

Black hearts and butts. Welcome to valentine's day at the Tinks.

Jude smeared it all around anyway. Course, when you think about it, smearing red paint on cards is not exactly a great solution. Turns out smeared red paint looks like blood. (You would think I would have learned my lesson last year?)

Wow, I am just now realizing in this very second, we reached a whole new low with this project - black hearts, butts AND blood.

Official Valentine FAIL.

Yes, we did actually send them.

Hmmm ... how do I redeem valentine's day after such a craft fail?  Oh, I know, how 'bout an adorable picture of our 3 month old . . .

Yes, those are heart sweater tights. Phew ... valentine's day is saved by sweater tights. Thank God for little girls.

Clothespins and Twine

While feeding Ellie sometime last week I came up with an easy idea for adding one more element to her room.

I had originally planned to hang the poppies here, but decided against it at the last minute because I didn't want to hang something so heavy above the changing table - made me a little nervous. So, this wall was left empty and it felt that way. 

I already had the twine and clothespins on hand, so this project came together quickly and free! I printed out the letters of her name on half sheets of paper. Then put some nails in the wall (measured and leveled, of course), tied the string and added the clothespins. Easy peasy.

I like it!

Twiggy Starburst

I found this post in my queue and, although it's from Christmas, I thought I would post it. I have no shame. Hey, things move slowly around here with two littles in my midst and I'm not afraid to admit that!

Before Christmas I made this twig wreath and hung it in my dining room. Cost me nothing and I think it's quite fun.

I saw this picture through pinterest and thought it would be a fun project to tackle. I found the twigs while walking with the kids through the neighborhood. Took a couple of trips to the park to collect enough.

I felt rather sheepish being the crazy lady with the sticks in her stroller, but I try to convince myself that when I'm eliciting judgmental stares it's usually worth it. (The chalkboard for Jude's room is a perfect example.) Sometimes you just have to be the crazy lady, you know?

It came together rather easily with some cardboard, twine and lots of hot glue. The hardest part was cutting the twigs to the right length. Part of my problem, though, was not having the right kind of shears on hand. I made do with a handsaw. Is that one word or two? Hmm.

With a few scraps I created a couple twig stars too and stuck them in the the Christmas tree.

I think it looks good in the dining room right now because it fills the wall nicely. But, I'll probably move it to the eat-in area of my kitchen for the rest of the year. Merry Christmas! (errr . . . February?)

A Little of This and a Little of That

Ahh! Here I am back at my computer with uploaded pictures and enough energy to write a little. Feels good. As of last week little miss is sleeping through the night! What?! I know. I know. I didn't think it was possible at 2 months either, but it's happening and I am a better person because of it! She's doing a solid 8-10 hours. Crazy!

She started smiling about two weeks ago. What a joy! There's nothing like that first smile that helps get you through the sleep depravity, screaming and poopy diapers.

Yesterday we were just talking about what a good baby she is.  That was a mistake because today she gave us a run for our money. Wow. Lots of screaming around here. Hopefully we get back to "good baby" before we travel for Christmas. We'll see.

I've been fitting in a little bit of crafting/sewing here and there during the last month - mostly because it helps to keep my head on straight. It tends to be my little escape from the more responsible things in life (i.e. dishes and laundry)

Two weeks ago I designed Christmas cards/birth announcements. I sent them off to moxicopy.com to get color printed. The price was fantastic and the quality was just what I hoped for! I cut and folded them this week and finally got them sent on Thursday. Hopefully they will arrive to their destinations by Christmas.

We had a blizzard roll through on Wednesday night. So, we got a couple of days with Jesse home from work. Yay! With a little extra help with the kids I spent a bit of time putting Ellie's memory book together. My mother-in-law purchased a book from the same etsy shop where I purchased Jude's. The books is a perfect combination of scrapbooking and journaling - not too much of either. I love writing down my thoughts about pregnancy, anticipation, arrival, etc. I look forward to the day when I get to read through them with the kids too.

Lastly, I have to share one of the coolest gifts ever! A gal from our church gave us this gift:

snowman accessories! How cute is that? It came in this adorable bag:

We tried to go outside today to put our new gift to use, but the snow was a little too dry. Plus Ellie was screaming, so the timing wasn't quite right. Hopefully we can use it soon!

I totally recommend this gift if you still need a creative idea for a family. The contents of the bag include a scarf, a hat (not pictured), two buttons for eyes, five buttons for a mouth, a carrot, a pipe and a heart. The buttons and the heart are attached to short dowels that can be poked into the snowman so they stay in place. I might be late to the party, but I have to say I've never seen this idea before. It's SO cute!

She's Here!

Our sweet girl arrived on Thursday, October 18 t 8:32 a.m. She was 7 lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long. It took us about a half hour of staring at her to decide on her name - Ellie Ann.  We chose Ellie just because we like the sound of it. We think it's perfect for her. We chose Ann because it's special to us on both sides of the family. Ann (with no "e") is Jesse's Grandma's first name and my twin sister Emily's middle name.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. to prep for c-section and we were in the operating room by 8:00 a.m. The anaesthesiologist was fabulous and kept my nausea to a minimum. I felt good (well ... as good as you can) and alert throughout the surgery.

At 8:32 a.m. the doctor pulled her out and we heard her cry for the first time. The beauty of that sound made me cry. She is such a blessing to us!

My recovery is going really well - even better than last time.  I have my Mom in town for the next two weeks helping to keep some level of organization and normalcy to the household.  She is so good at playing with Jude, cracking jokes, driving us around and keeping the laundry and the dishes going. It's really nice to have her here.

I took a few pictures of miss Ellie today. I'm definitely no photographer, but I enjoyed snapping pictures of a new little model. (Jude is probably enjoying the break too.)

Speaking of Jude . . . he is adjusting pretty well so far. He is mostly oblivious to Ellie's presence in our home.  He has at least learned her name, which is a step in the right direction. At first, he was calling her "Bennett", which is Emily's new baby's name.  Apparently all babies are named "Bennett". In a rare moment yesterday I did spy him make a brief stop near the swing where she was sleeping (while he thought no one else was looking) and gently pat her on the chest. Made my heart melt.

The rest of us can't stop snuggling her and kissing her. We're thoroughly enjoying our new little addition.

Room is Ready

Today I finally feel ready to show off little girl's room. There are probably little details here and there that I'll be adding, but it's as ready as it will ever be to hold and comfort a new little life.

This is the view from the door. The color scheme is coral, orange and yellow and the main fabric in the room is a dark coral linen. I'm kind of obsessed with this fabric. If I wasn't using yards of it for the crib skirt, glider and changing pad I would be draping myself with it and wearing it everyday. The depth of the color is fabulous. And, of course, you can't go wrong with linen.

The crib is a recent craigslist purchase - I really love the style.

We're borrowing the glider from our fabulous neighbors. I just need to recover those cushions. (Good thing Mom comes into town tomorrow!)

I made the crib skirt using this tutorial. The crib bumper is the same one I made for Jude (so classic - I knew I would love it just as much the second time around). The knitted blanket was a lucky garage sale find - it's so cozy and cute.

This is the view our little one will wake up to every morning. I think I should hang them over my own bed. They're so cheerful and happy. I purchased the Martha Stewart coral pom poms on sale at Hancock. Then, I made the yellow and orange in the same dimensions to match.

This is just a funny idea I had in my head around the same time I was spending time in my garage painting poppies. Essentially it's a combination of a 1x6, 5 beer bottles and some coffee filter flowers. I like what it adds to the room - makes me smile.

We got lucky and got this lovely dresser on craigslist.  It even came with a mirror that we'll be using to replace the one in the bathroom. Two birds with one stone - love that! I painted the dresser yellow and added the new hardware.

This is the same mobile I hung in Jude's room. I found some paint chips in my color scheme and changed the mobile to match the room. After I completed it I wasn't so sure about it - the ombre effect I was going for didn't turn out like the vision I had in my head.  When Mom was in town, though, she convinced me to hang it, and she was totally right. Plus, the changing table is the perfect place for it.

The other side of the room houses a whole bunch of books and my favorite piece - the poppies painting. The painting is rather heavy so it makes the most sense to hang it over the bookshelf (rather than the crib or changing table).

On the bookshelf is a series of Childcraft books given to us by Jesse's Grandma. They are fabulous! Not only are they beautiful they also have vintage-y cool stuff inside.  They're kind of like encyclopedias for kids. I really love flipping through them. I hope little girl will find them fun to read someday too.

And the rest is just a hodge podge of pregnancy/parenting books, children's books and a tiny little "love" print I made last week.

We're so excited to welcome our new little girl. I can't wait to snuggle her, kiss her and tell her how beautiful she is. Only 3 more sleeps!

Super Why

I'm so excited to show off the Halloween costume I made for Jude recently. This year we were deciding between Cat in the Hat, Curious George and Super Why, which are all of his PBS favorites right now. Although, Super Why is the less commonly known of the three characters he truly is Jude's #1 favorite right now - he calls him "Tu-Wa Why" - so, we're going with it.  Only parents of other preschoolers will know the character, but that's okay.

He makes a good superhero, doesn't he?

I'm proud to say I made this little outfit for $7.50. Pretty good for a Halloween costume, right? I started by printing out the logo and then traced the main shapes onto blue and white felt. I top-stitched them onto the front of the shirt and then added yellow stitching for the "star" effect.

I used my homemade long sleeve tee pattern for the top and the "everyday leggings" pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated.  What I like about this costume is that minus the eye mask, cape and underwear it's really just a pair of pajamas that he can wear all winter long.

The eye mask is just two pieces of felt top-stitched together. He refuses to wear it so far - we'll see if he comes around by the time Halloween is here. I'm not banking on it.

Can you tell we've already got a lot of raking to do? This is only just the beginning. And, lucky Jesse, I'll be of zero help this year. Poor thing.

Jude's enjoying the leaves in the meantime. What a sweet, funny boy.

The cape is my modification of this tutorial. I don't really like the collar to the tutorial's cape, so I just made some binding out of the blue knit and sewed it to the top. Easy peasy.

The "underwear" didn't come out exactly as planned - it's a little poochy. But, I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. I tried to follow the guidelines of an online tutorial, but it didn't totally work out. Seems like the sizing is just off. Oh well. He's still rocking the superhero-ness of it all.

"Who’s got the power?
The power to read.
Who answers the call for friends in need?
Super WHY!
Super WHY!"
He’s the guy, he’s Super WHY!