He's going to be THREE?!

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I honestly can't believe Micah is going to be three already. It feels like just yesterday I was holding him in one arm, and now it takes both arms and a lot of back and leg strength because he's huge. He does put away the food nowadays...I see a very empty fridge in his teenage years.



Last year I had a bunch of cutesy ideas for his birthday party, but I think this year I am going to focus on cake. Since I am a slacker and never get half of the things I want done, done. Hah. So I have been browsing some some cake ideas that would be a possibility for his little party, that would also be easy for me to make. (I'm not much of a baker!)

Micah is all about volcanoes. So when I spotted these, I knew I just had to try and find a pan that I could make these with. If anyone finds this kind of pan, let me know - I am coming up dry.



This is super cute, and doesn't look hard at all, though it is bigger than I'd like considering it will just be family coming for the party. Maybe I can just try it smaller.


This is all about the decoration, and looks simple enough, but I would have to special-order the M&M's. Boo.


This is another similar option, but I think it might work better for a girl.


Micah is also into trains (though not as much as volcanoes and bowling), and this looks really easy. Plus I can make enough for each guest to have their own.


I also need to get to work on his birthday shirt. My attempt last year ended up being sort of sad, because the iron-on sheets I bought were the wrong kind and they ended up peeling off. So I want to try applique this time.


Source: etsy.com via Aimee on Pinterest


Source: etsy.com via Heather on Pinterest

Well...that was a quick bust.

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Last week, I decided I was going all out on Sunshine Stars. I'm sure you remember my my post about it.

So where should I start on how badly that idea went?

My mom got what she thought was strep throat on Friday, so I grabbed Micah and kept him as far away as possible. He had strep last year and that was enough for me, I didn't want him exposed to it again. Her doctor put her on antibiotics but told her he wasn't sure it was even strep, and did not feel the need to do a culture. Thanks, doc. So I spent the whole weekend lounging around the house with Micah, staying inside as it was way too cold to be out and about and watching a lot of cartoons. I got absolutely nothing done. It was nice, and I got a ridiculous amount of sweet toddler cuddles, but no progress on my shop at all.

Then yesterday at work, the water was unceremoniously shut off. From 8:30 on we did our best not to drink water, and finally they let us leave, because really. No water for that many hours was ridiculous. So I went straight home for a tall glass and some sewing. I wanted to make a baby circle skirt like Dana from MADE did for a friends baby, and I sat down really excited.

The first one I cut out, I cut wrong. I tried again, cut it right, and tried to hem the outer edge. If I had a serger, this part wouldn't have been a problem at all. But since I don't have one yet, I tried two different edging stitches - a modified zig-zag, and a regular zig-zag - and it just...didn't work. I'm not really sure what went wrong, but the modified one left frayed cotton sticking out, and the other bunched up the fabric. I tried everything, I even left the skirt and tried to make it work on scraps. No dice. At one point I had fought with it for so long, I put my head down on the table and tried to breath it out.

When a project nearly brings you to tears, that means it either isn't going to work, or you need to take a break. I opted for the latter, and tried again that night once I had calmed down. I would show you what it looked like, but...yeah. It's really bad. It's almost as bad as the Epic Fail Suit I just couldn't bring myself to post photos of, either.

Since the circle skirt was going to be my main product for Sunshine Stars...I'm now stuck and feeling sad. I am behind a week on my To-Do list I started for my shop, and I just barely got started. All I have is a ton of supplies, and no products. Maybe I need to sit on this idea for awhile, after all...

Sunshine Stars in the works!

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From the moment I laid my eyes on my first sewing machine, I knew I wanted to make things for my son. And once I had a few successful projects, I knew I wanted to start making them for other people, too. There was no one I admired more than Dana from MADE and Ashley of Lil Blue Boo. I read their blogs for months before I even started sewing, and every time one of them posted a new project, my creative little heart went pitter-patter. They were my new heroes, and they both ran their own business from home on the internet. That's what I wanted to do.

I've made a handful of things, all but one project (the unfortunate little boy suit) turned out well enough that I have become fairly confident. I have had enough people request things from me or suggest that I open an Etsy shop that I figured my work must be decent. After a stint on Etsy in the past trying to sell my photography prints - which was a rather dismal failure - I've decided it's time to give it another shot. Except this time, I am giving baby clothes a try.

After a long time of wishing that I had the funds/the gumption/the time, I decided to just jump in. I contacted a few friends with baby girls and arranged for them to model the clothes for me, and now I will be spending the next few weeks whipping up the initial pieces for photographing and formulating prices. I have quite a to-do list, and hopefully this weekend I can get most of it out of the way.

I'm not hoping to be the Next Big Thing - in the saturated blog market, that would be folly - but I would enjoy being able to do something I liked to do in my free time and make a few dollars while I'm at it. I think it sounds like an adventure, and I can't wait to get started!

Next up - Sunshine Stars begins!

Bento!

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If any of you have gone through the two year old phase of "I hate all food!" then you'll commiserate with this post. Micah is fully immersed in this phase right now. I have tried everything, including giving in to his random, horribly unhealthy whims. Cookies at 7am? They're calories, sure. (Please don't judge me.) Pizza for breakfast? Ok.

I've even tried bribing with food, which was suggested to me when he wouldn't eat. "If you are a good boy for this entire grocery store trip, then you can pick something you want out." It usually ended up being Oreos or blueberries. One is bad, one is good, but if he eats the entire container of blueberries in one sitting (when he's in the mood to even eat them by the time we get home), then his poor tummy freaks out and it isn't worth it.

It's sad, and it's probably all my fault because I used to be happy and tell people he would eat literally anything we gave him when he started with solids at around 6 months. That's what you get, bragger.

Anyway, I recently discovered Bento boxes, and I thought it might be a good way to get him to eat and actually like it. Fun shapes, little creatures, those animal-shaped picks. Anybody tried them out? I figured we could start small and just do veggies and fruit - stuff that will keep so I can make the whole weeks worth at one time - and then if he likes them we can go crazy and get more creative.

So of course, now I have a Pinterest board of Bento awesomeness.



Source: ivillage.ca via Aimee on Pinterest