Happy Holidays!

The tree is up. The cards have been sent. Cookies have been made. Presents bought. I think I'm ready!! Are you?

My parents arrive tomorrow for the holidays. Everyone is excited to participate in Shea's first Christmas. I am sure it will be filled with lots of fun and Christmas spirit.

We hope that everyone has an amazing holiday season! I am pretty sure I won't be making anything new until 2011. So thanks for the great year Blog world and see you in the New Year!

I am biased, but isn't he just so adorable??


Merry Christmas!!
<3 Ariane

Christmas Stocking

Some of my friends and I got together and made Christmas Stockings. I used the stocking from Purl Bee for the pattern. I did enlarge it to make a larger stocking and I wanted my seams on the inside, so I accounted for the seam allowance. I used a zig zag stitch to sew on the rick rack and the letters.

My sister helped me figure out how to sew on the cuff as I wanted a folded cuff.

I think it turned out great!

Playing Around...

My maternity leave is going by so quickly! I made a list of things I want to accomplish while Shea is napping and one item is to update my blog. I have been playing around with different formats, header pictures, etc. I am really liking my Christmas header!

So, be patient with me! You may see a different blog each time you visit :)

Happy December - Annual Wreath

Welcome to December everyone! Do you all have your Christmas shopping done? I will admit - I am almost done. I only have my dad to buy for and he is definitely the most difficult to find the perfect gift for. Any suggestions??

One quick side note - Shea went to see Santa! He was so cute! I know I am biased though :)

My Wreath for 2010

Today my friend and I went to the annual wreath making class. This year I had no real inspiration like I usually do and you can tell! I used all sorts of different materials and I now call it the "Spastic Wreath". Hahahaa...

PK's Wreath for 2010

PK's wreath turned out FABULOUS! She used cedar this year with some fantastic accents. I really like the cones in the middle.

Hard to believe last year we were both pregnant and sick during the class! Now we have amazing little people to enjoy this time of year with.

Here are our previous wreaths:
2007: no picture taken - boo hoo
2008: http://arianephillips.blogspot.com/2008/12/wreath-making-class.html
2009: http://arianephillips.blogspot.com/2009/12/yearly-wreath-making.html

Eight Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

He is standing folks! Pulling himself up onto furniture and people. He is so busy. Crazy little dude :)

Happy Halloween (a little late)

We had such a fun Halloween! We took Shea trick r' treating to a couple of family and friend's houses and then we hit the fireworks and bomb fire in our community. Shea fell asleep on the way to the fire, but woke up for the end of the fireworks. I thought the noise would scare him, but he didn't seemed to be bothered by it at all.





I did carve a pumpkin - though not as elaborate as my previous pumpkins (last years pumpkin and the year before pumpkin). Again, we had no kids come to our house. Maybe next year :)





I also sewed a friend some floor cushions. I will take a picture of them this week and post a small "how to". They were super simple and they look better than I thought they would!

Seven Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

He can sit. He can crawl. He eats everything! He is the joy of our lives :) I can't believe he is now 7 months old!

Fun Halloween Craft

I LOVE halloween! I am so excited to dress Shea up and go celebrate this year. I want to put some decorations around the house and I found this easy peasy craft! I am going to go make some right now :)

For instructions how to make your own - visit Our Best Bites.

Six Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

Six months - time is sure flying!!

Day 2 & 3 of Sew Kids Clothes Challenge

So, I didn't get to sew a whole hour on either Day 2 or Day 3. With db being away in Boston for work, I am finding getting everything done in a day challenging. I really don't know how single parents do it all the time! I am exhausted and it has only been 4 days.

However, I did get some sewing done and finished one bib! It took me 3 days to finish one bib... yikes! I just have to put the snaps on it and it is ready to go! The next bib I make I will make some adjustments.

I have left my camera in the car, so I don't have a picture of the bib yet, but I will take one tonight! Also, today is Shea's 6 months and it is my birthday! I can't believe he is 6 months old - where does the time go?

I will post his 6 months photos soon :)

Day 1 of Sew Kids Clothes Challenge = DISASTER!

I am laughing about this now because I have fixed all my blunders :)

I was so pumped to start this challenge. I started drawing out the bib pattern on some tissue paper with my dark blue sharpie and when I picked up the tissue paper I realized that the sharpie leaked through the tissue paper right onto my desk. Whoa - of course it would right?

Panic struck. I started to sweat. I ran for the bathroom and grabbed some soap and a cloth. It didn't help. Panic stuck again. I googled "how to get sharpie off of wood" and voila millions of tips at my finger tips. So, I tried the first tip which was to use toothpaste with a baby wipe. Lucky for me I had both of those items on hand. And guess what?? IT WORKED! No more sharpie on the desk and the finish isn't ruined. It looks like nothing EVER happened. I <3 google. I don't know what would I have done without it.

Anyways, I decided that was enough for day 1. Hopefully day 2 will go better today!

Kids Clothes Challenge

On Elsie Marley's blog, she is having a kids clothes challenge this week. I have been meaning to make Shea a whole bunch of bibs since he started eating solid food this week. Here is my chance! The guidelines say that I should sew an hour everyday for 7 days :) I am not really going to post my pictures on their flickr site because I don't think bibs constitute as clothes. BUT - I will post pictures here!

So, starting real foods has many challenges, but we are slowly working through them. He likes pears, applesauce, banana, warm carrots and rice cereal. We are going to stick with these food for about a week and then maybe try some more veggies. Any suggestions?

Here is the video of Shea eating his rice cereal for the first time - so funny!

Five Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

5 months already! Wow!

HELP!

So, I have been making Shea a custom onesie each month and taking pictures of him. I just realized I don't have very many "boyish" fabric scraps - so if you have any and would like to donate them to me, please email me at ariane.phillips@gmail.com! They don't have to be very big and would fit in a regular sized envelope :D

Another "G" Bag - For Gabrielle

Not too long ago, I made our friend Gina a "G" bag (check it out here). I liked it so much, I made one for my little friend Gabrielle's second birthday. This time I added butterfly applique on the back of the bag. And I did remember to use cotton to line it. I made it the exact same size. I added some colouring books, books and crayons inside. I hope she likes it!

Giveaway from V & Company

Okay, I usually don't promote other blog giveaways on my blog, but this giveaway is too special to not spread the news (plus then I get an extra entry).

V & Company is giving away a Sihouette machine - go right now to the giveaway and the Sihouette website to see all this machine can do. I would really like to have one.

I would make Shea onesies... I would make some art for my bedroom... I would maybe scrap book? Okay probably not scrapbook, but you get the drift!

Good luck and wish me luck too!

Four Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

Sorry for the lateness of this post! Shea turned 4 months last week - he is such a happy little guy (I can hear him talking to his mobile as I type this).

Back from Vacation... Ahhhh...

Well, we had 2 glorious weeks spent with friends and family in Radium, British Columbia. The food, weather and company was wonderful! I thought I would share a couple of my favourite pictures!

And I plan on making a memory book for my nephew Matthew (who turns 2 at the end of August) using this spectacular tutorial by guest blogger on V and Co. Too cute! Now I just have to pick my favourite photos from the trip... yikes!

The cousins!

Anna chatting with Shea

Shea at the beach

Three Months Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

My baby is now 3 months old. I can't believe it has been 3 months already! Look at how much he changed this past month! He is getting to be a big guy!

The Gina "G" Book Bag

This past weekend we went to our little friend Gina's birthday party. I wanted to make her something special, so I made her a "G" book bag. I am getting much better at appliqueing. I have learned a couple things now. I did make another friend a Madisyn bag - but I forgot to take pictures of it. The bag measures 14" tall and 10" wide. I really liked how it turned out. I used jean material to line it too, but next time I would just use cotton.

Final Pictures of Shea's Room

I don't think I ever shared the final pictures of Shea's room! Silly me! I took some pictures other day for my sister, so she could add them to her portfolio. So, here it is in all it's glory! I am thinking of submitting them to Ohdedoh, but am sort of chicken to do it :)

Two Month Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

Here is baby Shea's 2 month old picture! He is getting so big and now loves to smile.

Closet Challenge

My blog friend Mel over at Mel Makes Pretty wrote a post the other day explaining that she wanted to clean out her closets. I agree! My closets are horrid, but I never have the motivation to start cleaning them out.

Then I had an idea...

I challenged Mel to clean one closet a week with me. That got me motivated because then I have to report back how I am doing. Now the tough part was where to start! I decided to work myself from the bottom up and back to front. Lucky for me the downstairs closets are not in too bad of shape.

This is the first closet BEFORE picture... I have already started taking out old shoes and jackets and have encouraged db to do the same. I am hoping to be done on Friday and will report back here with the after photo (my guess is that it won't look too much different in a picture, but I will show it anyways).


Shea has been invited to his friend's first birthday party this coming weekend. For a gift, I decided to make the birthday girl a small tote bag filled with books and colouring books. On the tote bag, I wanted to applique her name to the front. I have never appliqued before and I have been doing a lot of practicing this week! I think I am almost ready to try to put the real tote together and hopefully it goes well so I can show you the finished product. If anybody has any tips, I sure would appreciate them!

One Month Old - Shea's Monthly Photo

Happy one month birthday Shea! I can’t believe how fast the time is going by and how big you are already.
I’ll be taking a photo of Shea wearing a custom onesie each month until he is one.

Monthly Photo of Shea

Nicole from Making it Lovely had a great idea to take a monthly photo of her daughter Eleanor sitting in her Eames rocking chair and donning a felt pin.

I decided to do a similar idea - minus the Eames rocker and the felt pin. Instead, I decided to make a onesie for each month. I was given a bunch of plain used onesies - so I thought it would be a great to applique them with the month. Now you just have to wait until after Thursday (Shea's official one month birthday) to see what he looks like in it!


Here is the number template that I used to create the applique. To apply the applique to the onesie - I just followed the instructions on the package of fusible webbing that I bought. There are a bunch of tutorials out on the interweb that are all equally good that describes how to applique.

Life as a Mom

Well, it has almost been a month since the little man was born. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly! We have been pretty busy with visitors and trying to get a grip on the whole parenting thing. Lucky for us, Shea is a great guy and allows us to sleep.

We received many gifts from lovely friends and family and we wanted to do something special to thank them. Originally, I wanted to create personalized thank you cards like these ones featured on Ohdeedoh, but when I attempted to create a nice card - it didn't turn out as nice as the ones featured. Instead, I kept with the same idea and included a picture of Shea with a thank you card with the items the person gave us. This way they have a picture of Shea. I was going to put all the clothes on him and then take pictures, but that was way too cruel - I would still be dressing him up and taking photos! Check out this cute picture of Shea with items from a good friend... I do like him so much :)


Things that I have come to realize - I will not get more than one thing crossed off my weekly to do list in a day. Including towels that I haven't completed for friends and a travel change pad that I need for my own diaper bag. I was thinking of creating something similar to the one below which is from Sew Fun. Except I don't think the pattern is worth spending $12 USD, so I will create my own and make some modifications, like adding a few pockets for change and a cell phone.


This week it is db's birthday and I am struggling to find him the perfect gift. I have run out of ideas! Anybody have a good idea for me? HELP!

Welcome Baby Shea

Baby Shea was born on Monday March 22 at 1850. He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 ounces, and is 51 cm tall! He is the love of my life...
We have been home from the hospital since Thursday, but have had a steady stream of visitors. Lucky for me, Shea is a wonderful tempered little guy and just takes it all in.

db and I are doing fairly well and getting SOME sleep :) Though it looks like tonight might be a tough one. Maybe I should start drinking coffee!

More to come I am sure :)

The Grass is Green

The painting is done in the room now and it looks amazing! Steph used a stencil and some low tack adhesive to get the grass on most of the wall, but did have to free hand paint some of the grass around the corners of the room. It didn't take her as long as I thought and she now has the room cleaned up and ready to go! We will take some better pictures of the whole room in the next couple days, but I wanted to show you the animals with the grass. Don't they look great?






In other news, still no sign of this baby deciding it wants to make it's grand entrance. So, I have been put on the wait list to be induced. The wait list is based on priority, staffing and available beds at the hospital. This means I am basically on-call! It could be any time! Very exciting!

To keep my mind off the wait - I have been cleaning. I hand washed the kitchen floors, washed all the stairs and now am starting on the bathroom floors. My floors have never looked nicer! Soon I am going to run out of cleaning to do.

Hope you are all having a great week!
.::. Ariane .::.

No Baby Yet... But the Room is Coming Along!

Steph and I made it through the Olympics without any problems or complications. Attending the games was amazing! Some of my favourite moments were (in no particular order):

Joannie Rochette skating her short program. The atmosphere in the arena was spectacular and nothing like I have ever felt before.

The Women's Gold Medal Hockey game!!! WOO HOOO! It was so great seeing the ladies play so well against their USA rivals!

Curling preliminary games - What a great party to be at! So much fun!

Steph took most of the pictures, but has forgotten her cable for her camera, so I will post pictures of the Olympics later.

Well, I am patiently awaiting the arrival of the baby - though, those who are close to me are probably questioning the "patiently" comment. I started acupuncture a couple weeks ago to help induce labour and I believe it has helped prepare my body and baby for the delivery. Now if only it could speed it up! There is no more room for this child to grow! :) Hopefully it will happen any day now.

Steph is working away at finishing the painting today. Tomorrow is her birthday, so we will give her the day off and take her to Alice in Wonderland and then for some gluten free pizza! Happy Birthday Auntie Stephie!!!

Auntie Steph painting the birdies

Here are some pictures of the other animals:

Weekend Update

This weekend was all about resting and getting organized. On Saturday, I sewed for the first time since... I don't know how long it has been! But it felt good and I completed 2 hooded bath towels. Sorry for the crappy pictures, but I wanted to prove that I actually sewed them. Thanks to Mel for giving me a little nudge to get going! I have approximately 6 friends that are pregnant and I want to make sure I have all their gifts sewn before our little person comes along. 2 down, only 4 more to go!


I also found this cute Handmade For You tags by Amy Cluck aka Peptogirl.


Now that the baby room is all painted and the dresser was setup, it was time to move onto the office. db woke up early on Sunday and started putting the bookcase we bought from Ikea. It didn't take long before it was all done and ready to go into the office. One small problem, the office wasn't ready for the bookcase. Adding a bookcase to our already small office space required some shuffling around furniture, including my dear sewing machine. Luckily we found a home for all the furniture and it looks not too bad - cramped - but not too bad.

I really wanted to organize our books like this:

Image from Apartment Therapy

or like this:

Image from High Fashion Home Blog

But db wouldn't let me because he thought it would be too difficult to find an actual book he was looking for (boo-hoo), so currently the books and bookcase looks like this:


Hope everyone has a great week!
~ariane