MIA Since October 2012

Friends and followers, I am so sorry I have been MIA for 4 months. I seem to be on and off with my blog posting. Lots has happened since my last post.
I think I will tell the story with pictures...that sounds more fun! Don't worry, I'm still kind of sticking with the theme of my blog and including photos of creations (crafts/decor/food)

So first comes Halloween:

This is my little display area on top of our bookshelf in our living room.

Aren't we cute little kitties?! Answer: at least one of us is :)

Next comes early November: Elise had her first birthday! I had so much fun planning her little party and decor. Despite the fact that my husband thought it was a little over the top...but HELLO, she only turns 1 one time! And, it definitely wasn't over the top in comparison to some of the party ideas I was looking at on Pinterest! Here are a few pictures from her party...

Someone was a little sleepy during cake time, but she still enjoyed the frosting.  I made the little cake which was a boxed spice cake mix and homemade cream cheese frosting. I bought the little roses that are along the botton of the cake. The banner is something the I only assembled since I didn't have my Silhouette yet. I went to a store called Pebbles In My Pocket in Orem and bought the banner pieces, cupcake pieces and letters. I then hole punched the banner pennants and strung it onto jutte. Next I tied gold, cream and pink tulle in between each piece. 

The theme was Sugar and Spice. I made a little subway sign which you can kind of see in the back left corner of the table.  I wrapped forks and straws in a brown napkin then tied them with jutte. I placed those in a shoebox I recovered with just some brown wrapping paper and decorated with flowers. I also made strawberry cupcakes with the same cream cheese frosting. In the front are mini cinnamon rolls from Costco. For the kids that were there I made PB&J star shaped sandwiches and ham and cheese crescent shaped sandwiches. For favors I ordered these amazing sugar cookies from The Sweet Tooth Fairy and had them write the letter "E" on them. I had to bag these up in cellophane bags and tied them up with ribbon. Not Shown are crackers and a couple of dips. Sticking with the spice part I made some Cheesey Buffalo Chicken Dip (you can find the recipe on the back of a regular sized Frank's hot sauce bottle) and the other dip was an Artichoke Jalapeño dip from Costco. Also not shown, b/c it was on the kitchen counter, is an Italian Soda station. We had both vanilla and strawberry flavored syrups and club soda. 

Here is a little better shot of the banner which I also embellished with tissue poms I made. They covered the push pins nicely :)

Phew...ok next comes the big holidays... We drove to Canada for both Thanksgiving and Christmas to visit my husband's side of the family. The first trip was mostly so that the hubby could go elk hunting with his uncle. And of course, we had to take the trip up for Christmas so Elise and I could spend our first Christmas up there. Overall, it was fun to be with family for almost 3 weeks. I know not everyone is as fortunate as I to have married into such a great family. I feel pretty lucky. 

Here's just a little of December:

Again, this is my bookshelf display. 

We discovered this adorable children's store called Three Little Monkeys. This was outside of their store. We just got a kick out of how Santa had crashed into the tree and he was barely hanging on.

Someone is NOT a fan of Santa! lol. This was at Jorden's Campbell grandparent's house. 

Shoot, let's rewind a little bit... just before we left for our trip... actually, at approximately 6am December 8th we found out some big news!   

Wahoo!

Alrighty, back to the timeline... so we're up in Canada and basically the whole trip I am cursed with morning sickness pretty much all throughout the day. I still managed to finish Jorden's Christmas present:

I thought this fabric was just fitting since he was on this kick to get an Elk! The front is flannel and the back is minky. What a cozy quilt! This is my first so it was a pretty simple pattern. 

Ok, so my "morning sickness" and all the throwing up lasted on and off until I hit 15 weeks.

I'm finally feeling 100% and able to craft and cook my little heart out again. And let's just say, I've been trying to take full advantage.

A few things you will see in the posts to come (not in this order):

• Pictures and tutorial from a baby shower that I threw for my dear friend Tori
• Recipes for homemade marinara and meatballs
• Greek Souvlaki wraps
• My Italian Flag inspired pasta- This is one of my besty's faves!
• Homemade burp cloths, a baby quilt, swaddle blankets, and a couple other baby items (along with links to their tutorials)
• My attempt at making a nursing cover

I know, lots of baby related crafts right now.  What can I say though, I have 5 friends that are pregnant right now. This does not include my own baby to come.  3 of my friends are actually due next month, so I really have to get down to business with my sewing machine! I've got some great fabric coming in for a quilt I am making for one of these girl's baby boy. I am just ecstatic about making this quilt and am hoping to have it done in time to mail it to my mother-in-law to quilt for me. I can't wait to show you all! 

I hope you all are just as excited as I am for these fun and delicious posts to come.