from Leo

for Father's Day I searched online for ideas of what to do for Matt from Leo and ended up on this blog.  I loved the hand card idea and on the same post was a painted canvas - I stole used both ideas O:)

I traced Leo's left hand and used the template a bunch of times to make a few more cards to give to his Pawpaw and Papaw.

I got a canvas for Matt (that I painted turquoise) and a wood plaque thing for my dad (purple - his favorite color) and we just went layer by layer with different colors.  I tried getting Leo to paint in different spots, but he liked the middle the best.  I was getting disappointed in Matt's so to save it I decided it needed a hand print, which Matt loved.  we still haven't hung it yet, but there's a lot of things around the house that have been waiting to be done so it's just another thing to add to the list!

the secret's in the sauce

I haven't been posting much lately because all my scheduled posts ran out in the end of May when we got kinda busy going out of town and with our anniversary and my birthday stuff...  it's also about when I started feeling really crummy from morning sickness!

I'm 9 weeks and sorta in and out of feeling well, so not much has been getting done at all.  we found out on Mother's Day so I had a few weeks of feeling fine to think about what all needed to get done, but once the hormones kicked in I was out of commission for a couple of weeks.   it hasn't been as bad this time around, but having Leo to keep up with isn't really helping me take it easy when I need to - this post has even taken me about a week and a half to write!

the day after we had Leo Matt asked when we could do this again.  I don't know if he was going for a serious conversation, but I seriously answered him with "I could do this again next year", so that's when we planned on giving it another go.  this time it took almost twice as long, and just like with Leo it seemed like every month someone else was finding out they were pregnant and not me, but after 7 months of let downs we finally have our baby #2 on the way!  January 18th is the due date, but Leo was 3 weeks early so it could be a December baby.

I surprised Matt with a small bottle of "Preggo" when I told him - he was thrilled! at first he looked at the pictures and thought it was sweet, then I told him to read the label, and he just laughed at the pun.  I thought I was going to have to explain it to him for a second, but it finally clicked.

I've been trying to get back into posting things I've done (I have a lot of drafts waiting to be finished) and I'm hoping once I feel better I'll be back to making things again and posting on a regular basis, but just looking at my computer makes me sick - one of the strange morning sickness triggers I'm experiencing - so it's probably gonna be a while!

watermelon carving

 

I made a carved watermelon bowl for a beach themed party I went to recently.  I found some simple hibiscus flower clip art online to try and it worked up pretty good.

I used a small, round watermelon and drew my design on with a dry-erase marker so it would rub off later.

traced the lines with rubber stamp carving tools, then carved away the inside of the design.

I did the design before I carved the melon so it was easier to work with and I could wash it down after I was done and get rid of the marker lines.  it tends to dry up depending on how long you work on it (took me 2 hours start to finish) so washing it helped to let it soak up some moisture.

 

I cut the top off and scooped out the inside, rinsed it out, patted the outside dry and wrapped it in plastic to set in the fridge until later that night, then I filled it with fruit right before I left.

 

it was so easy to do I would definitely carve one again if I find the time!