2012 in Review

My best friend gave me a planner for my birthday last year with space to write in every day, and I decided to use it like a journal. I wrote something that happened every day as well as anything big we had going on, like church meetings. I was consistent enough that there are only a few days with question marks for the whole year. I was reading through it today and wrote down some of the big events. I also counted 70 churches that we were in this year for meetings or conferences. Here are our highlights from 2012!

1/1 - Dedicated The Dida to the Lord at church

1/12 - The Dida's first zoo trip (My mom has worked here for 6 years)

1/14 - The Dida's first table food

2/13 - Toured the USS North Carolina

2/21 - Visited Washington DC - Air and Space Museum, Botanical Gardens, Capitol Building, and the Library of Congress (my favorite!)

2/28 - Busch Gardens in Tampa

3/13-14 - Philadelphia, PA - Walked downtown, Chinatown, Liberty Bell, had real philly cheesesteakes, and ran the "Rocky Steps"

 3/17 - Wore a Saree for the first time

3/19 - New York - Ground Zero, Times Square, the subway, The FAO Swartz store, and Tiffany's

3/24 - Lookout Mountain, Chatanooga, TN

4/2 - Zoo in Columbia, SC

4/8 - Easter

4/26 - The Dida's first trip to the beach

5/11 - "Princess" Mother's Day Banquet (my first as an official Mama!)

5/25 - Concord, MA

5/28 - First trip to the ER with the Dida

6/16-17 - Lost my wedding ring in SC and found it 24 hours later in GA - a real "God Moment" in my life

7/24 - Zoo with my Aunt and Cousin

8/31 - Started this blog! First Post!

9/5 - The Dida started walking!

9/8 - Downtown Disney 

9/12 - The Dida turned 1! - How to make that hair flower

9/13 - The Hubs turned 28!

9/15 - The Dida's first birthday party - Party Details

 9/22 - Lake Erie

 9/25 - Hershey's World of Chocolate

 10/6 - Sight and Sound - Jonah
10/28-30 - Rode out Hurricane Sandy in a "haunted" historic hotel
11/12 - Dropped Jeremy off at the airport to fly to Nicaragua and had another "God Moment" on the drive back to my grandparent's house - The full story
11/22 - Thanksgiving and my Grandma's 75th birthday

 12/8 - I turn 26!

 12/19 - The Dida gets the chicken pox :(
12/25 - Christmas at home

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Style: DIY Peter Pan Collar

I have really been liking Peter Pan collars lately so I decided to try making my own. Once I got the size and shape of my collar down, this came together pretty easily!

What you need:
Pen and Paper for pattern
Felt
Ribbon
Hot Glue or Needle and Thread
Scissors
Embellishments (optional)

I started by making a pattern. I ended up tracing the neck hole of one of my husbands undershirts and then tracing a collar from another shirt. I had to play around with it until I had it how I liked it, but that is the beauty of starting with a paper pattern. It ended up looking like this:

Next, I pinned it to my felt and cut it out.

I have a bag of vintage gems picked up from a yard sale so I spread them out on the counter and laid out my pattern. You could also use lace or ribbon around the edges or nothing at all. Once you have your pattern laid out, carefully slide the gems off and then glue them in place, starting in the middle and working your way out. You may want to sew them in place instead. My daughter got hold of my finished project and now all my beads are being sewn down.

Once the gems are in place, cut two pieces of ribbon 6-8 inches long, and glue them to the the back of both sides of your necklace. I also cut two triangles of felt which I used to cover the glue and help secure the ribbon.

Done! Time to style it!

Granted, I felt a little like I was channeling my inner Trekie for this outfit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least my shirt wasn't red!

Top: A'gaci
Belt: JC Penny
Skirt: Gift
Shoes: Payless
Necklace: DIY!

DIY Felt Initial Decorations

I made these as Christmas ornaments for my grandparents and my aunt and uncle this year. I would have made more but time got away from me. They would also make a great house warming gift if made in non-Christmas colors. Maybe something to match the new home-owners decor?

What you need:

Felt
Scissors
Needle and Thread
Hot Glue (optional)
Twine or Ribbon
Embellishments
Pen and Paper
Stuffing/Batting

Start by drawing out your letter. You will want to make it fairly thick. Mine was about 6 inches tall and about an inch thick all around.

Cut out your pattern and pin it to your felt. I decided to trace the middle sections to make it easier to be more accurate with my cutting.

The easiest way to cut out the middle is to pinch a little section and make a cut and then use that opening to cut out the rest.

Cut two pieces for each ornament.

Next, hot glue a loop of twine, ribbon or yarn to the inside of the top of one piece. I prefer to glue it to the back piece so that you won't be able to see a hard spot from the glue.

Next, stitch you two pieces together, leaving an opening for your stuffing. Because of the way this was shaped I kind of had to stuff a little and sew a little as I went.

Lastly, add some embellishments if desired. I cut the leaves and circles out of more felt and add some gems to my grandma's. You could add just about anything!

These would be great for a new baby, newly-weds, a family moving into a new house, etc. Be sure to comment if you make one!

Style - DIY Infinity Scarf

When I FINALLY fixed this dress, I was more than ready to wear it! It was just a tad too short but it had a really long sash so I shortened the sash and added the extra to the bottom of the dress with my new mad sewing skills! Also, sometimes I want a scarf to stay put a certain way without moving. My fix? Safety pins! To make a temporary infinity scarf just pin the two ends together. Put this part at the back of your neck for the first layer and then cover it up with your second scarf layer. It should stay put just right!

Dress - Target

Sweater - Cold Water Creek Outlet

Scarf - DIY (tutorial here)

Shoes - Rack Room Shoes

Felt Bow Hair Bow Pin Test

I saw this darling picture tutorial on Pinterest and pinned it, but when I went to check it out, there was no link. I tried looking up what was written on the pictures, "finn's table", but nothing came of it. Sooo, here's how I made them, following the pictures of course.

First, I made my pattern. I folded a piece of card stock in half and drew what best resembled what was in the picture to me.

When I cut them out they reminded me of mustaches! You will only need half as much of the bottom one.

Next, pin your patterns to your felt and cut out your pieces, one of each for each bow. Starting with the top one, fold both side in to the middle so that they slightly over lap and hot-glue or sew in place.

Next, glue/sew this side down onto the next piece that looks like a rainbow.

Next, take the rectangle piece and wrap it around the middle. If you wish to attach a hair tie, glue it to the back before you wrap the piece around. Glue/sew the rectangle piece down.

Lastly, I chose to glue alligator clips onto the back instead of hair ties, more versatile in my opinion. Make them in every color! Two would be cute on pig tails!

These were my Christmas presents for my cousins. I hope they liked them!