Popsicles (Of The Homemade Variety)

Because Emmett's birthday falls in the Summer, and we live in Arizona, and we're in the middle of the world's hottest heat wave, I thought it would be fun (read: necessary) to serve popsicles at his party. And as I am super crafty and really know my way around the kitchen and everything I do is Pinterest-worthy, I decided to make my own. So you know, go ahead with the praise.

I started with Pinterest, of course. I found a few recipes that looked good, bought this adorable popsicle kit from Crate & Barrel (there are cheaper kits, but I'm a sucker for everything C&B), and filled my fridge with fruit and juice.

I made a few different kinds, starting with an easy one- lemonade layered with strawberry lemonade with tiny bits of strawberries. Pretty hard to mess up that recipe.

Then I did this awesome recipe for chili lime watermelon popsicles, minus the chili. These might have been my favorite! So yum and I'm a sucker for watermelon with sea salt. I also made these, and my mom made some really similar to these but miniature for the kiddos.

But the biggest hit were these watermelon mojito popsicles my mom made. My mom loves a good mojito, so when she got to town a few days before Emmett's party, she made a batch of mojitos with plenty extra to freeze for popsicles. So yum!

All in all the popsicles were a hit, and a great way to keep everyone cool in the 118 degree weather!

DIY Painted Twine Garland

I'm not crafty y'all. Not at all.

But Emmett's first birthday party is coming up (my baby boy will be ONE in 11 days!), and I'm trying to plan a Pin-worthy party for like no money, so I decided to craft.

I've been eyeing Confetti System's gorgeous tassel garlands for years now, so when I found these babies on Pinterest the other day, I decided it was time to make my own.

Inspiration garland taken from theminimalist.com.au

I invited my friend (and super-crafter) Rachel over on Saturday to help me, and I love how they turned out! Here's how we did it:

We made the tassels out of regular (and cheap!) garden twine from Ace Hardware by cutting tons of twine into similar lengths, bunching them together, and wrapping the top bits in more twine. We left one piece of twine in a loop over the top to hang them.

I had some leftover sea blue/turqoise paint from our kitchen remodel, so we used that rather than trying to dye the twine. We painted each strand, leaving a few inches at the top just like the yellow inspiration garland. I left the tassels outside over night to dry, and then pulled them apart and reshaped them in the morning.

To hang them, I strung them on a long piece of twine, tying a knot around each tassel so they don't slide around, and hung them in the playroom/dining room/hallway/living room under our Happy Birthday banner!

Before re-shaping the twine. Ignore the mess on the floor. This room is multipurpose.

And a couple of close-ups of the finished garland:

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them (and myself for being so creative!). I might even hang them somewhere in the house permanently after the birthday party is over. 

I still can't believe my baby boy is about to be a year old. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital like it was just yesterday. I sure do love that little guy!

Instagram Photo Wall Tutorial

I love Instagram. I'm pretty sure everyone who knows me knows that. And I love taking photos with my iPhone, but it's frustrating having all of these photos on my phone with nowhere to display them. So when I came across this tutorial, I knew I had to give it a try!

I used the iPhone app PostalPix to print 50 of my Instagram photos. I chose the 4x4 Pro Luster Prints (perfect for square Instagram photos), which range from $.29-$.33 a piece. For 50 prints plus shipping, I only spent $18.42. Not bad!
My prints arrived in the mail four days later, and I was so pleased with how they turned out! They are printed on high quality archival paper, and the colors came out perfectly. Yay!

Here is everything I used to complete this project:

Photo Prints
Painter's Tape
Tape Measure (I used a yard stick)
Level

I began by measuring the wall to decide exactly where I would place my photo collage. I had 50 prints, at 4 inches by 4 inches a piece. I knew that I wanted to place them in 5 rows of 10 photos, so my collage would measure 40 inches by 20 inches.

I decided on a position on the wall (centered and at eye-level), and began to place my painter's tape around the edges to map out my collage. I used the level to make sure my horizontal lines were perfect.

I realize now that my tape is crooked. I was able to figure it out pretty quickly and compensate.

Because I don't want this collage to be permanent, I decided to use painter's tape to adhere the photos to the wall. My husband was kind enough to assist me in tearing 250 tiny strips of tape- 5 per photo. We placed 5 pieces of rolled tape on the back of each photo- one in each corner and one in the center.

From there, I began adding photos. I didn't think too much about which photos I was putting where- I just started building the collage, knowing I could move photos here and there to find the best place for each one.

Once I had all the photos up where I wanted them, I ran my hands over each one to make sure they were all firmly adhered to the wall. Then I removed the painter's tape around the edges, and admired the finished product!!

The whole project took under an hour. We were able to knock it out during Emmett's notoriously short afternoon nap! Did I mention I spent less than $20?? I know that made my husband happy.
It's not perfect, but I love it. We managed to fill a conspicuously blank, hard-to-fill wall space, and display so many of our favorite photos all at once. And yes, I know I take tons of pics of Emmett! I just can't get enough. :)

***Because I loved using the PostalPix app so much, I reached out to them, and they have generously offered a $10 credit towards prints in their app! To enter to win this prize:

1. Follow this blog.
2. Visit the PostalPix website, and download the PostalPix app.
3. Leave a comment below telling me how you would use your prints!
4. For an extra entry, follow me on Instagram for instructions!

Good luck!!! I will announce the winner on Friday, 5/24.

*Available to US readers only. 
You can enter to win once a day through Thursday, 5/24!

Update:

And the winner is.... Jenna Guizar! Thanks Jenna!
 

18 Weeks and Counting!

I've been meaning to post for some time now, but sometimes I feel like I have so much to share, I don't even know where to start! So today I thought I'd write a quick post to let you know what's been going on these last few weeks.

1. I'm 18 weeks along now! Baby is the size of a bell pepper- pretty big, right? These last couple weeks have been really wonderful. I've started to feel like my old self again. My energy is back and I'm not as achey or tired as I have been before. I'm still starving though, pretty much all the time, and I've definitely started to gain some weight the past couple weeks. 

Belly pics of 4 months! (16 weeks)

2. My cravings are getting stronger. I mostly crave a few specific things- Thai food, Chinese food (mostly Pei Wei), PIZZA, and cheeseburgers. Give me cheeseburgers all day long. When I crave a cheeseburger though, not just any will do. I always want a specific burger- either In & Out, 5 guys, or sometimes a Habit burger. It's silly, but this girl (and apparently this baby) really loves her burgers!

Micah and I at the airport!

3. I had a birthday this week. I turned 28 on Monday, and it was definitely a mixed emotions sort of day. Ray and I had plans to spend the weekend before my bday up north in Flagstaff, which is a sweet little mountain college town. I just love the idea of being snowed in in the mountains, I think it is just so romantic. But then Friday morning I found out that my sweet brother Micah was coming to visit as a surprise! We picked him up from the airport Friday afternoon and it was just such a happy day. Micah is just a year younger than me, and he has always had my heart, so it was the sweetest gift having him for the weekend. I wish he could come and live with us here- it was just so nice having him around and I miss him so much. So when he left Monday morning, I was pretty sad and homesick. I had a great birthday, but it was tinged with a little sadness. Days when my family leaves after a visit are always a little bit rough.

A few pics of Ray playing volleyball over the weekend.

4. Baby has started moving! Or at least I've started to feel him. I've been feeling his little movements for a couple weeks, but I wasn't really sure until this week that what I was feeling was actually baby. But the last few days his little kicks have become so much stronger! I love feeling him move- it's like I'm finally getting to know him and his personality, at least a little bit. Ray and I love to imagine him jumping and twirling and flexing his little muscles in there. I can tell he's a happy little thing and he seems to have plenty of energy.

5. Tomorrow, we have a sonogram! We are so excited, we've been waiting for this for weeks! We can't wait to see our little baby, his little nose and fingers and his sweet little bum- I don't know how I'm gonna sleep tonight! If he cooperates, we'll also get to find out if he's a girl or a boy. It's gonna be so nice to know! Then we'll be able to start really picturing our life with our sweet little one, and I can start thinking of the nursery! SO MANY EXCITING THINGS.

6. Rachel and I are planning a little gender-reveal party for tomorrow evening. We've been working on a little craft to help us tell our friends what kind of baby we're having. I'll post again really soon to show you pics and let you know how it turned out!

7. Just a little gush about my sweet husband- One day I'll do a whole post devoted just to him, but for now, I just want you all to know that Ray is the sweetest husband. I love him more every day, and I'm so so grateful for him. I pray every day that my sisters and single friends find men who love them as well as Ray loves me. I'm so very blessed!