Wednesday, July 30, 2014


A few years before Dutch was born I bought an adorable pair of chambray overalls at the thrift store.  They were so precious and I just needed a little baby to fill those overalls.  I washed them then ironed them and set them in the guest room closet.  I would get those overalls out from time to time and just stare at them and pray that I would have a little baby to fill them one day.  Those $1 overalls meant so much to me.  When I found out I was pregnant I immediately thought of those overalls.  

Years later they are filled in the most perfect way.

Exactly one year before I had embroidered some shirts for Dutch to wear in the hospital so I wanted to do the same for his overalls.  

I used the font Little Days for the overalls embroidery and used this handy tip for transferring onto darker fabrics.  I usually just use a pencil trace method.

On Dutch's birthday we had some photo made in those special overalls. Amy Leigh Thomas did a great job of documenting his first year.  

As you can see he was much too interested in his dorse to take a photo!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Towels for Dayssss

Summer 2014 - the summer of the letter towel.  
Really it has been the perfect gift.  It all started when I was trying to come up with a good party favor for Dutch's party.  What better favor for a pool party than a towel?!

Because someone will wonder - the B$ is my nephew's nickname on his baseball team.  I wasn't sure how excited an 11 year old would be about a towel so I had to make it somewhat appealing.  

 So it began and about 12 towels later everyone that has had a summer birthday has gotten a letter towel.  

They are so simple to make.  Alls ya do is type the letter on word, trace it out, iron, sew.
I use to download interesting fonts.  The best fonts to use are ones that have thick letters.  I also like ones that don't have a lot of curve because that sucks trying to sew but the ones I always use have a lot of curve so don't listen to me.  The font that I'm using for instruction is KB Reindeer Games enlarged to 700 pt and bolded.
Some of my other favorite fonts for hand applique are tequila sunrise, grutch shaded, sketch serif, bonebastic (glutton for punishment), watermelon is really pretty for girls.

Ok so type out your letter and get to the size you want.  You can print it off or if you want to save ink either trace from the computer screen onto wax paper or your heat n' bond paper.  BUT make sure you cut it out BACKWARDS since it will be iron onto the wrong side of the fabric.  Iron your heat n' bond to the wrong side of your fabric.  Cut out your letter and iron onto the towel.

All ironed on and ready to sew.

I use a zig zag stitch and set it on a length and width of 3.  I'm not sure what that will be on your machine but I'm sure you can figure out something.
And zig zag all around those letters.  I always go over my start and stop zig zag stitches with a straight stitch.  Keeps it from unraveling.

In the end you will have this!

Cute baby can't be guaranteed with finished product.

camden font - sketch block  maggie font - sketch serif

My favorite towels to use are like the "Maggie" towel.  They are from TJ Maxx.  All of the other ones are RE from Target.  They don't have any type of "band" about 3" from the bottom like most towels have.  The RE brand only have the bottom band and come in lots of cute colors.  They aren't huge or really thick but for a kid they are just right.  Tie a ribbon around the towels and you've got yourself the perfect gift!

So there ya go.  I'm going to make a few for Dutch's bathroom with his monogram on them.  Oh and talking about towels I got in my clearance Horchow towels and they are divine and so beautiful.  So happy I ordered them.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Dutch's Birthday

Still catching up on the birthday..

June 30, 2013 11:24am


June 30, 2014 11:24am

Dutch's BIRTHday party.

Dutch's 1st birthday was pretty low key.  We started the day with family photos.  While he took a nap I rushed to the party store to get him some balloons.  I made it back by 11:24am for his exact birthday.  We ended the day with homemade ice cream and I made him a homemade cake.  Just perfect.

Dutch's 1st Birthday cake

There was even a rainbow on Dutch's birthday!

 One year of perfect days.  A year of smiles!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Dutch's 1st Birthday Party

Last Monday my little Dutch boy turned 1!  Yeah yeah time flies and all that stuff but really it does.  I'm not a big birthday blowout party kind of person.  I love all of the details but sometimes I have unrealistic expectations of events and if they don't go exactally as I see in my head then the whole thing is ruined for me. I couldn't take that chance with my babe's 1st b'day so something smaller was in order.  Family party.
Since all of our family lives out of town they would have to stay in a hotel anyway.  So we chose the most fun hotel in town, Grand National Marriott.  It was pretty much perfect.  Tons of photos to follow.

Party plans - swim, have fun, and swim some more!  We spent Saturday afternoon at the pool and for supper ordered pizza.  Super easy.

I promise that I'm not doing an ad for the hotel but it was really perfect.  There was a guy playing the guitar and singing around the pool.  And they were really good songs.  Plus the pool was amazing and it had a slide.  If you aren't into swimming with kids there was an adult only pool and it was totally empty.  If you didn't want to be in the sun there was a ton of shade and several cabanas.
After we ate and the kids were all swimmed out, the boys also went fishing in one of the hotel's ponds. There was tons of room for the littles to run around in the grass and practice their new walking skills. After the sun went down the hotel set up a smores' bar which was so delicious and fun.

Before we left Saturday to head to the hotel I made muffins and fruit skewers for breakfast on Sunday morning.  I ordered the little cardboard trays from etsy and the liners are from the $1 spot at Target

All of Dutch's cousins live in the same town and are all friends so that works out really well.  Everyone had a playmate.  We spent a few minutes on Sunday morning to get a few photos.  Trying to corral and make 6 kids smile is pretty hard!

ok impossible

After the photos we headed up to the room for a birthday nap and then met everyone down at the pool for Dutch's "party".

We couldn't really have any decorations but since it was summer and I ate eleventy million popsicles while I was pregnant with Dutch we went with a popsicle theme.  I use that term lightly since the only thing popsicle was the cake.  But seriously how cute is that cake?!

Dutch isn't the biggest fan of sweets so he didn't go crazy with his cake.  Who's child is this?!?!  He enjoyed the fondant stick most of all.    

S'rously boy just go crazy on that cake.  

Nah I'll just eat the stick.  

Group photo.  Now everyone smile!  ok perfect

I made cupcakes for everyone else but forgot to take a photo.  My SIL helped me make the toppers that looked like this

They were really cute but I was so afraid one of the kids would eat one of those popsicles.  In the end guess who ended up eating one.  yep me.  

It was all over after he opened the soccer ball.

Since we couldn't bring outside food to the party we ordered lunch from the hotel for everyone and ate around the pool. I forgot to take a photo but it was really yummy and I still think we came out cheaper than if we had done a big friend party.
Lots more playing.  Check out was at 12 but we could stay and swim until 5.  The pool had a tunnel slide and a splash pad near the zero entry.  This area was really shallow and had lounge chairs.

See I was there!  

And that was Dutch's first birthday party.  Like I said it was awesome and  kids refusing to leave is a sign of a good time.  There may have been some tears involved.  Special thanks to our families for making the party so special!

More birthday updates to come this week.  I know y'all are so excited right?

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