I've been working on

The bumper for the baby's crib. I'm binding it right now (who needs piping? Not me!) and wow is hand sewing that seriously long edge tedious! I'd say I'm more than half way done though. So hopefully tomorrow I can post a picture of it up in her bed. Don't hold me to that, though, as I do have a baby shower happening this weekend.



Speaking of the shower, I mentioned in my post last week that I was looking for favor inspiration. This is what I decided on. It would have been way better in a sugar cookie with royal icing, but I really didn't have the time to learn a new skill before the party. So chocolate covered Rice Krispy Treats it is. They didn't turn out as cute as I thought. It's hard piping features on such a bumpy surface! Still though, I think at least the kids will be delighted with them.

Hmmm...

My next baby shower is coming up really soon. Unlike the first one, that was held in a cozy family home with plenty of other decor, this one is being held in a white walled conference type room. No personality what-so-ever.

I saw these little paper mache animals in Michael's awhile ago, but walked away. The other night I went there looking for favor inspiration (and I may have found it) and saw them again for $0.40. So I bought one for each table, maybe...or maybe I will scatter them on the food table...or maybe I won't use them at all.

The ducks I think look a little shabby, which goes great with my banner. The elephants look retro. They both look weird to me when I think about pairing them with the monkey tags I am putting on favors. Does it all match just because it's pale pink, hot pink and green? Or does it need to be more defined than that?

Monday Moments: Retro Edition

Shutterfly sent me a coupon for a free photo book. I told my husband that I wanted to try and accomplish in the six days the coupon was good for, something I had not been able to do for nearly four years. Finish a scrap book for my son.

I have about five pages finished in My Memories Suite, but I'm not sure I'm keeping all of them, and I'm not doing them in order. As I find inspirational layouts in magazines that fit the photos I want to include, I'm making a page. I really love these simple ones with just a few photos and a lot of blank space. This is definitely my favorite so far!



P.S. If you want to order your own copy of My Memories Suite my coupon code never expires! Just enter STMMMS79028 for $10 off the software and a $10 coupon good for downloadable goodies in the My Memories store.

A little peek

I have this list of things that I have to do before the baby comes. It's handy, but I've discovered that I haven't really put half of the things I need to do on it. For example, after three trips to my sister's place since becoming pregnant, I finally remembered to bring home my son's infant car seat (she had borrowed it for my nephew). I was so excited to cross that off of my list! I then realized that washing it was not on my list. Nor was washing the stroller. I somehow imagined that these things would be in wonderful condition after 18 months in storage.

I did get to scratch one thing off. One thing, that did not add three or four more things to the supposed-to-be-shrinking list, thank goodness!



I finished my painting! It is now hung nearly exactly centered over the completely built crib in the kids' room. I am so excited to do the big reveal with all of her Care Bears things...I just have to get them off of my list first.

Huge catch-up post

We have a lot to discuss today. Ready?

I had one of my baby showers (there will be two) on Saturday. Last week, I did a ton of prep. I wanted to schedule a post for all of it on Saturday, but I never ended up having the time to type it out.

The first project I tackled was relatively small, but still cute. I was in charge of one game for the baby shower and I wanted super-simple, but not something everyone had played before. I found a printable Old Wives Tale game, but I didn't so much like the clip art granny in the corner. I decided to take the scraps from my banner and glue them to a "string" I had drawn on plain cardstock. Then, I drew stitching, made copies and printed the game (after some small tweaks to the wording) onto them.



Much improved!

I bookmarked this post from Scissors and Spatulas back in April, when I had barely known I was pregnant for a month. (Something about a baby just makes you plan!) I set out to put my own spin on these favors Friday morning.



I think mine turned out a little more like a gooey mess than the picture perfect favors that Jen made. They were a tasty, gooey mess, though.



And how cute are those tags? I got them from SimplyBabyStuff.com when there was a half off sale. I loved how perfect the pink and green were for my shower, especially when paired with a darker pink bow. The adorable monkey didn't hurt, either!



I took no pictures at the shower until the guests left and all of the kids completely ruined themselves in the sand. I wish I would have, now, but at the time I was having too much fun to stop and get out the camera.



Last, but not least, as if I didn't have enough projects to finish up in the next eight-ish weeks, my mom found me a bookshelf at an antique store. It's solid wood with gold spray paint faux inlay. I wanted something small enough to fit in the room the baby will share with my son. I have an idea of what I want to do with this, but I may just paint it red and tackle the details sometime later, after the baby stuff is done, maybe even after she is born.

Speaking of winners

I won Sarah from Fairy Face Designs blogiversary giveaway. The prize was this bunch of not-quite-fat-quarters of Amy Butler. LOVE them! Sarah also sent along this beautiful post card of a castle that I can't believe exists anywhere, let alone in the city where she lives!

I have an idea for these, but still a multitude of projects to get done before the baby gets here. Sadly, they will have to be shelved for a bit.

And the winner is...

A big congratulations to Karen!

I know you're going to love it! My Memories sent along this really great introductory video that you (and everyone else) may want to check out for a screen tour of the software, a tour of the My Memories website and introductory information on album creation and tools.

Welcome to the Family! from Lisa Jurrens on Vimeo.

If watching this video makes you absolutely desperate for a copy of your own, don't forget that my coupon code is still good! For $10 off the My Memories Suite software AND a $10 coupon code to the My Memories store enter STMMMS79028 here.