My Best Friend

People say that if you only have one good friend in this world then you should consider yourself lucky. I consider myself beyond lucky to have mine. We didn't grow up together, we were not childhood friends, and we weren't college roommates. In fact we did not run in the same circles at all before we met, but in the short 7 years of knowing her I feel so blessed that for some reason God placed her into my life. We have so much in common that at times I feel as if we could have been separated at birth. We have the same name, our husbands are both from Brazil, we have the same hobbies and interests (which by the way can make us both a little OCD at times), our 5 yr. olds were born a day apart, we both know what it is like to grow up without our fathers present in our lives, we also know what it's like to grow up with the most amazing grandmothers in the world and they are our biggest heroes, we both struggle with our weight-and we have tried every diet out there together as well..lol. We get each others corny sense of humor and no one in this world makes me laugh like she does. Most friendships will have ups and downs and it's the valuable friendships that are worth working through, but I can honestly say it's been the difficult parts of our journey together that make me realize how much she really means to me and how grateful I am to call her "friend".

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."

-Oprah Winfrey

YOU ARE MY GAYLE AND I LOVE YOU!!!

Cruz's First Birthday!

It was a HOT, but beautiful day at the park to celebrate my baby boy's birthday. Cruz had no idea why all of his friends and family were gathered together, but he had a great time.

The robot cake turned out pretty good and thankfully there was enough for everyone.

Me and my little angel.

I had a hard time finding any party decorations with a robot theme, so I had to improvise by making my own.

Cruz and daddy.

Cruz and Aunt Britney

Cruz's personal cake.

Cruz and Aunt Sandy.

Cruz had so many presents to open...

but his favorite was from mommy and daddy! We have many gender neutral baby toys around the house, but this is his first "big boy" toy.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy, mommy and daddy love you!

Window Fashion

I am in love with the new curtains I just made for my breakfast area and living room...and I am even more in love with how much I spent on them.

I have blogged in the past about using sheets and other textiles instead of always buying off of the bolts from fabric stores to make things around your home. In most cases it is cheaper and you can expand your choices of patterns and textures to choose from. These curtains were made from Dwell TABLECLOTHS that I found at Target.

Each tablecloth cost me $20 and I only needed 1 per window. So I ended up spending $80 for these custom made, beautiful curtains. I just cut the tablecloth straight down the middle and then hemmed the raw edges. I did not even need to hem the bottoms-I love the puddled look.

Something I learned through the process of making these curtains is that sheets and light cotton materials are great for roman shades, quilts, etc. but for drapes and long panels a heavier material looks much better. This tablecloth fabric was perfect, it was heavy and had just the right weight to make full, beautiful drapery.

I finally began work on the roman shades in my dining room that I have been putting off as well. This fabric was made from a sheet set I found at Marshall's. Because roman shades need lining on the back the lighter cotton material worked great for this project.

HAPPY SEWING!!

That's Just Cruel

My daughter is always keeping me on my toes when it comes to my diet by bringing tempting treats into the house. She had talked me into buying cookie dough yesterday in order to make some treats after dinner. I knew it was in the fridge and it was calling my name, so I broke down today and thought to myself- "I'll just have a little bite of cookie dough". As I was lifting the package from the fridge I was taken back to see this printed across the front :DO NOT CONSUME RAW COOKIE DOUGH....seriously???? Everyone loves raw cookie dough, right? Has this "warning" always been there? How can this be...how will I ever go on?????

Riley's Room

Riley is jumping on the redecorating train and since I am already doing Cruz's room I might as well fit her room in too.
It's been a while since she had an update and she has never had much of a theme. She has requested a butterfly room this time around.
I am not the type to go out and just buy butterflies, that would be too easy. I am going to try to make most of the details by hand and also repurpose things to keep the budget within reason.
I am using this Pottery Barn room as inspiration.

I had a hard time finding bird cages and the ones I did find cost a small fortune. I had to think outside of the box for this one. The first "bird cage" was actually a lantern I bought at a discount. I removed the glass panels, glued in craft sticks to create bars, and then painted it a pale pink.

This cage was a decorative cover for a tissue box that I found at Goodwill for $2 and it was UGLY...until I worked some magic on it.
I wish I would have thought to take a before picture so you could really appreciate the difference.
I sprayed painted it and used an old hardware piece for a handle.

I was rather pleased with the results.

In the end I was able to repurpose several items and ended up with some really cute bird cages to hang.

I thought I would incorporate butterflies by randomly attaching them to the cages.

Thanks to the Cricut I don't need to hand-cut each one!

I found this mushroom on clearance at Lowe's and decided to spray paint it and use it as decoration as well.

Other items I am using for inspiration...

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Robot Update

So, I have been working on ideas for Cruz's robot room and came up with some pretty cool stuff.
My 12 yr. old found these robot cut-outs while we were strolling around the craft store the other day. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I knew I could think of something.

After some brain storming this is the finished product.

I decoupaged some scrapbook paper onto the little guy and used some embellishments to give him some cool detail. So glad my scrapbook materials are getting some use!

My daughter also spotted these gears in the scrapbook section of the store-she has a great eye for what her momma likes. Tim Holtz has some great materials to work with.

I spray painted them to match the colors I plan on using in his room.

The Three Amigos!

I am thinking of making some sort of banner with the robots...something like below.

Of course I need to get busy on making some more robots if I follow through with that plan.

Oh, yeah...I am also attemping this cake for Cruz's birthday. I found it on the Betty Crocker website, I hope it's as easy as the tutorial looks!

Riley Gets Her Ears Pierced

Riley has been wanting this for a while and I finally gave in. She handled it like a champ!

Robot Ready

If anyone has been around me for even a small amount of time it would not take long to figure out I have a sick obsession with crafting and decorating. I LOVE to change, rearrange, and find ANY excuse to redecorate! My sweet baby boy, Cruz will soon be turning 1 and I am already thinking of redecorating his room. I have been doing a lot of internet research and thinking on this subject and I decided on ROBOTS!

This is Cruz's official invitation for his 1st birthday...cute, right???

I found these on awesome etsy!

Here are some ideas that I found that I thought I would incorporate into the room.

I'm not sure how I will pull off these gears on the wall, but I will give it my best shot!

Isn't this stuffed robot so neat-I can't wait to try my hand at this one.

These "robots" I found on etsy as well really excited me. I can't wait to search antique and thrift shops for items to make these little critters. I thought they would be so cute on display.

I have a few other tricks up my sleeve to bring into the room as well. I will be posting on my progress along the way....wish me luck!

Things I Love Right Now...

My newly organized craft room (more pics to come as I put on some finishing touches).

This chair I just bought for Cruz's room....so modern.

My new Canon 50D camera. Now all I need is to take some photography classes so I can use it to it's full ability.

The fact that Teghan did not make vollyball, but she made the cheer squad!!!

Vintage cameras...I would like to start a collection for display.

And of course my boys.....

and girls!