and it all begins...

Should I be more worried that she can get into ANYTHING if unsupervised for 5 seconds or that my 2 year old can already apply mascara correctly??

gettin dirty

Paige and Laynie collaborated on a science fair project this year. No award, but they can both tell you what permeable means!!

knifty knitter

Hi. My name is Alexandra. It's been 2 weeks since my last blog post. I blame Facebook. And exercise. And my kids. And knitting. (yup, you read correctly)

I'm trying to counteract my teenage tendancies with an elderly activity. And I'm pretty good. And I overuse the word and.

Here's my first creation.

It only took a couple hours. And, wow it's addictive.

Here's my next project: a prop for a newborn session I have coming up in the next week.


I've been coveting the baby cocoons on etsy, but not so much the price. So, I headed over to the WalMartz and picked up a knifty knitter. It's totally knitting for dummies, but I rarely do things the hard way. WM is pretty limited on yarn selection, so I picked the best of the bunch and went to work. The next day I was at JoAnn's with my handy coupon and got the cool rainbow yarn for the cocoon.

While at JoAnn's P and I found these cool heart glasses and decided they would be perfect for her class valentine's card. This isn't the photo I used (you'll have to wait for that one!) but I thought it was cute anyway!

and the stockings were hung...

outtakes or what-will-not-be-seen-on-our-christmas-card

Lest you think I have some magic fairy wand that I wave over small children to get them to pose for photographs, I submit into evidence the following from my attempt at a Christmas card photo shoot yesterday.



A shot of the elusive, phantom husband. Yes, Margie, he does exist!!








So, it's back to the drawing board for photo ideas.

On another note, I scored some AWESOME Black Friday deals online AND had PF Changs for lunch. It was pretty perfect.

little lady

Brooke will no longer look at the camera. Please, please let this be a phase. I chased her around the yard tonight to get these. It's REALLY hard to get good focus & exposure when your subject runs from you with her head down. Sigh.

it's fall ya'll

at least it feels like it. We dipped into the 80s this week. WooHoo!!

I decided to start bringing out the autumnal decorations before we go back up into the 100s.

I've been collecting the supplies from Hobby Lobby to make a new wreath. If you're patient, eventually everything ends up 50% off.

Yesterday during nap time, I started with this.


Normal people would stop at this point.


But gaudy is GOOD!


I also updated my Nester-inspired candle arrangement with some cute punkins.


Happy Fall Ya'll!!

idhtbptbb

I came across The Nester about 3 months ago. I immediately fell in love with her style and straight-forward approach to decorating. No complicated patterns or long lists of supplies. She is the ultimate McGyver of crafts. Her "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" mantra is something I need to apply to more than just decorating.

I knew I wanted to attempt one of her window mistreatments, so I started with my kitchen window.



She was right! It was easy AND beautiful!!!! (did I mention cheap???)

Note: Please be careful when mistreating your windows. It is very addicting. Trust me, you'll be looking for naked windows everywhere. Even in other people's homes. It's a sickness, I know.

So, a few weeks ago I went to JoAnn's during their 4th of July sale. I was looking in the decorator fabric section for some fabric to use on my living room windows. That's when I found this:



In the clearance section.

And it had a red dot.

This thick, gorgeous designer fabric was marked down from $27 a yard to...wait for it...$4.50!!!! Wheee!!

I snatched up all that was left. Unfortunately there was not as much as I had hoped, so they don't reach all the way to the floor, but idhtbptbb.

I would still like to eventually add a fringe to the edge, but I had them put together in about 10 minutes. Justin hung the curtain rods for me (cuz he's handy like that) and TADA!







And do you know what the best part is?? I finally get to add this to my blog!!!





Thanks Nester for all of your inspiration and generosity! If you're ever in Texas, we'll make a run to Hobby Lobby together!

My next Nester project is going to be this. I just have to work up the courage to cut up the girls' old baby clothes first.