Getting crafty!!

     Jake's bday is upon us. He picked his one birthday gift, so he'd get the right headphones. It's not a real birthday unless there's a surprise.
     I have had The Daddy Massage Shirt pinned for a while and this was the perfect reason to make it.
     I printed out the the template and then added my own details, like bushes, bird, flowers, bday cake and a cat up a tree.
I used fabric markers and they have a learning curve. It's best to colour along the grain of the shirt (duh).

     The cost of the markers & 2 shirts from Michael's, with 40% one item coupon, came to $24something. Why 2 shirts? I'm going to make a tracing shirt for myself.

Pinterest Perfect

     My Pinterest is full of friends and family pinning perfect things. Pinterest seems to be a place where thumbs are more ambitious than actual motivation. Sometimes, I get inspired and attempt to make things. Sometimes, they turn out and other times, they don't. However; I sometimes get depressed.
    
     The prefectly decorated rooms. The sparse magazine look, that is not me. I have no idea what my decorating style is, but I feel like sometimes, if my house looked magazine quality that I would have hit the "grown up" milestone.

     Living in a magazine is not the proper environment for a toddler that loves to touch. We love to craft. We love to pull out all the toys and make messes. We love glitter, paint, and paper scraps.

     To me, a happy home is lived and loved in. Everyone is alive and the sound of toddler laughter bounces off the non-immaculately decorated walls. There are leftover toys on the floor come bed time, crayons stashed away so she can secretly colour and dirty dishes can wait til after baby bed time.

     As much as a perfectly clean, decorated, white house would be..heaven forbid someone finger paints with the free reign of happiness.

Pinterest Problems

    Friday is my partner's birthday. Within the household, we've all split on a gift for him. I wanted to do something special for him, from just us. For the past 8 years, I've either made or bought his cake. This year, there was Pinterest.

     Carrot cake is his favourite, so I looked up "carrot cake". I found a carrot cheesecake. Done! Yesterday, I grated carrots, assembled ingredients and baked. And re-baked. I had it in for 70 min & there was still a large jiggling center. After dinner, it went back in for 45 minutes.
     Today, I made cream cheese icing and DIY fondant.I've heard bad things about marshmallow fondant. I think I did good. I was able to work with it (my sculpting leaves something to be desired). I also found our that trying to make cute little rosettes with cream cheese icing isn't easy.
     Tomorrow, we eat cake!!
    

Pinch to grow an inch

     With Kaelynn's birthday 11 days away, I got my butt in gear and worked on her growth chart. I already have a keepsake of her feet, with the cedar plank piece cut.off from my chart I am planning on making a hand print each year.

     A piece of cedar fence plank-$7
     A can of mis-mixed paint - $3
     Dollar store stickers and paints- $3
     Keeping track of growth - Priceless

     The day of her family birthday dinner, when everyone is around, I will record her height.

     I plan on adding to it: underneath the 1 ft I am going to put her birth stats (since she is taller than a foot).
     I got the idea from Pinterest, but of course I feel like it's not as good as the ones I saw online. I am hoping that she grows up to love it still. <3