If you remember my Dear Summer post with those pics of my Avery girl I mentioned that I was putting together a mini book slash journal for her this summer. And I got a bit carried away with turning the journal into a scrapbook as well but it only adds to her creative writing.
Dear Summer is a place for her to record her adventures and for me to add photos plus cuteify. Best of both worlds.
I used a lot of my Dear Lizzy products: the polka dot vellum, patterned paper, badges etc
Face painting photo from her birthday party the end of May… Definitely a great way to kick off turning seven and summer! Collin was lighting her birthday candles on her fairy house cake (need to post pics of it!) and all her friends scurried and played around her while she was deep in thought. I wish I could know what she was thinking…
From me to you. This is a book to record your adventures, dreams and all the fun things you’ll experience the summer you were seven years old. So many magical things can happen if you are looking. Love, your momma
Flowers she picked for me…
My diecut cards are so fun for mini albums to see through to the next page…
A little bag for keepsakes…
The back has the pages for her writing. Each one starts “Dear Summer” I have a clip holding the pages for now but I am going to sew them all down to the back of the book once she is finished. The paper I used is really thin so I am hoping my plan still works in the end. Otherwise I will just punch holes and add the pages to the ring.
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I instagrammed this pic as well… I really wanted a pic of these two together because Quincey is still my biggest helper. Always wanting to hold him, kiss him and sing him songs. When he cries from his bassinet or crib she races me so she can hold him first. She’s knows how delicate his head is and is very careful… which she had to learn. But I had to bribe her to take this pic… Fruit-By-The-Foot has given me more power as a mom than ever!
Just wanted to pop in and say hi! Happy Monday!
He blinks his eyes open and makes sure I am there until he falls asleep. Yesterday he literally had his eyes barely opened and kept looking over to make sure I was still there. The sweetest!!
A secret to getting pictures of your baby sleeping… have the blanket on your bed with the window open and the light all ready then when he falls asleep lay him down there and snap away. I try to move him to a place when he falls asleep and he always wakes up. 
OK, I have seven minutes to write something and make sense of my new love for documenting our life.
For the first time of momhood I had that heavy guilt for not doing something to get our photos off the computer and our stories on paper. Not to mention the urge to ‘get caught up.’ Until now I was anti trying to be caught up…
Today I will do my best to not make this sound like an infomercial for Project Life but seriously I am obsessed. Over a year ago I started doing it but I for some reason I didn’t dive in. Well, last week I got a strike of energy and inspiration and started again. Now I am so excited because I am actually getting our memories off my hard drive. The reason I love it right now is because my time is limited. So this is perfect because I can seriously whip this out in an hour. The design is pretty simple but I focused on the photos and memories.
A month before the baby was born when we were in California for Disneyland. We walked up to the gate and our passes were blacked out. Which was odd because they are never blacked out on a Friday. But it was the first day of Spring Break. Buses and buses of kids from schools were arriving so I actually was relieved to not try and battle that crowd. Instead we went to Balboa Island… one of my favorite places to visit whenever we are there. Hippos cookies, ferry rides, ice cream, Bluth Bananas, and ferris wheel rides… perfect!
Kelly and Simon Says Stamp sent me an awesome kit!!! I am huge fan and it definitely jump started my process for these pages.
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The day before Myles was born I begged Collin to come home early and snap some photos. There was a small chance that I would be induced the next day and I didn’t want to miss my chance of capturing our last day with the baby bump. While we were taking them the nurse called and said that I would be induced the next morning. We were excited… I would have waited but Collin was going to be out of town the next week for two days.
Even looking at these photos now brings a lump to my throat. All the anticipation and love and unknown…
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Project Life is a form of scrapbooking with a twist. It can be as simple or detailed as you want. There are all sorts of page protectors, cards and envelopes… you add your photos and own touch.
Gotta jet! More on Project Life coming up…
Dear Summer,
So far it’s started off great with snow cones, two birthday parties, swim time and a little trespassing. (To get these pics!) Which backfired with the worst allergies ever from trekking through waist high weeds. But if you forgive me for trespassing I will forgive you for the sneezing attacks all. day.
We’ve got big plans for you, summer. Thanks for bringing the sunshine and late sun sets. We are ready for lots of new adventures! Love, Lizzy
The trespassing was justified because I needed some pics of Avery for a little project I am putting together for her journal this summer. For the next 20 days she has a Reading Camp and we really want to keep her learning and excelling the next few months.
I don’t know if it’s the sunshine or Myles sleeping through the night. (Goodbye 2am zombie life!) But I am feeling inspired and actually want to create… and I really really like this feeling!
Happy F R I D A Y!
My favorite part as we were walking through the weeds, Avery asked, “Why do we always do this?” “It’s fun!” hahaha I really don’t know. ; )
Collin emailed me this video this morning and I needed the laugh. “… and all my sweaters are snagged… I mean all of them.”
Even though I immediately replied saying, “whatever this is not me!” ; )
I don’t think I have ever gotten bugged at Collin trying to “fix” things but I definitely don’t stop until I feel validated… ! haha
Enjoy!
We took advantage of the golden hour at sunset and took some pictures with our babe. He wasn’t very happy about my photo op plans. The thing is, his golden hour is about 3:18 am. Too bad it’s completely dark outside and I can hardly see straight at that hour. Thank goodness we can adapt… even to the hardest situations. Even when yesterday I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed momentarily and shedding some tears alone in the bathroom… there’s still nothing I would rather be doing. Well, sitting on a beach in Mexico sounds heavenly… but taking care of a baby boy that’s entrusted to me is pretty spectacular.
I’m glad to know that my one-handed skills are still very intact since my last baby. The other day Collin had something at night and I made dinner with one hand (grilled cheese sandwiches with a side of blueberries and baby carrots) while bouncing our sweet, yet fussy, Myles in my other arm. Have you ever buttered bread with one hand? Serious talent right there. ; )
I’ve taken a lot of pictures of Myles on his own but I wanted to capture how tiny he is. Whenever Collin is holding him I am startled at how bitty he looks in his arms. Such a little peanut.
I like this journey so far. It’s stretching and thrilling and each day we are learning from each other… figuring this out together. Love you Myles
Do you die at that sleepy babe?!! xoxox0, Lizzy
These days have been a blur… what day is it anyway? My main goal in life right now is teaching Myles when it is day & night. He was completely opposite a couple nights ago and I could’ve sworn I got hit by a train in the blissful hour sleep I got. But despite the zombie-esque swagger in my walk there’s definitely something wonderful about having a baby in our home. Just the overall peace and love he brings… I mean I literally stare at him all day. How is that possible?! He’ll smile when you graze his cheeks or he grasps my finger or hair. He’s very alert and loves to eat… like all day. I’ve gone off dairy since his tummy was really hurting a couple days ago. I’ve done this with all my kids for the first few months. It’s worth it to avoid crying where you can tell it’s their tummy hurting. And seriously that is true love right there… because this girl loves her cheese and cereal. But my girls drink enriched rice milk so I use that. Has anyone else gone on a special diet while nursing? Please share…
Today I wanted to share how to make some of your own chevron and triangle print baby leggings and baby blanket. The baby blanket above was made using a maxi dress that I didn’t want anymore. I cut it to the size that I wanted and then folded and ironed the unfinished edge then sewed a quick seam. It was super easy and I love the bold stripe.
The red and green striped pants below I made using one of his pants as a pattern and sewed two pieces together and added elastic at the waistband. The grey with triangles are leggings I picked up at Target. I sewed the legs to fit 2 inches smaller (they were super wide). The red chevron pants I share the steps of how to make them below.
I made these chevron leggings by starting with the 5 minute leggings steps on Small Fry blog. It started as a skirt from Forever 21 I got on clearance for a few bucks. Since he is so tiny I could get 2 pairs out of the one knit skirt. Then I used my Silhoutte and diecut a pattern from freezer paper. Next, I ironed the shiny side to the pants and painted it white. Last peel off the pants and enjoy your one of a kind pants.
Follow the same steps to make a triangle template for the grey pants below.
If you missed the KNOTTED BABY HAT TUTORIAL click here.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day…! xo, Lizzy
Despite my 5th grade level sewing skills, thanks to Mrs. Thompson for teaching me all I know in Home Ec., there were a couple reason as to why I decided to make some cute stuff for our baby Myles. For one, I had absolutely no baby boy clothes and unless I dressed him up in pink I had to get everything brand new. Yes, I love shopping but not that much shopping… especially for things he’d grow out of quickly.
And the other reason is that there’s not a huge selection of stripes and solids for boys. I’m okay with the occasional truck or dog “I ruff you” but it’s nice to have some basics too.
I started collecting some striped knit fabric & during all the nesting that went down before the baby arrived, I found some clothes I was going to get rid of but would be perfect to reuse.
While this sweet babe is sleeping I wanted to post an easy tutorial for making some knotted baby hats.
For this hat, I used fabric for a maxi skirt that I never wore. I got it on clearance at Forever 21 but it just fit weird so I never wore it. In the end, it was cheaper than buying that color knit at the fabric store. It also has a finished edge so I use that for the bottom of the hat.
I used this knotted hat template for the hat but cut off the bottom dotted line portion because I didn’t want it to fold over. Then sized it down quite a bit to fit an infant. If you use a hat you already have as a template then just add the top part for the knot. That would work just as well.
To get the triangle print:
I used the triangle background Silhouette cut by Loni Stevens and cut it out of Freezer Paper. Next you iron the shiny side onto your fabric. Then paint with fabric or sometimes I use acrylic paint… and peel the paper off. It works like a charm!
Tomorrow I will share the pants and blankets… Thanks to my babelicious model… kisses…
Hey there! Just wanted to pop in and share some of my most recent, favorite photo editing apps you can use on your smart phones, ipads etc. I use them specifically for photos I post to Instagram. Since that’s my social media drug of choice. And, yes, I am addicted.
I shared Part 1 of my fave photo editing tips last summer and thought I would add some to the mix.
AFTERGLOW: (.99) Afterglow has some awesome filters and is super easy to use. But I mainly downloaded it for the shaped frames. There are a bunch to choose from including the above heart, circle, triangle, and geometric shapes. Super fun and much easier then opening up something in photoshop to get the same effect. You can also adjust the size of the frame and have a bit of space to move the photo around inside.
PIC TAP GO: (.99) Pic Tap Go is an app from the masterminds behind Totally Rad Actions that I have been using for… ever. They recently developed a photo editing system in app form which made me think… why didn’t they do this sooner?! But it’s here and that’s all that matters for a photo junkie like myself.
PHOSTER: ($1.99) This is a recent one I found and I love it. The name of the app is Phoster (poster + photo) where they have some cool, modern templates for making your own photos into posters. There are square and portrait options and you change the text in all the posters to customize it to say what you want. Can we also just say how cute my Myles is here!!! sigh…
I mentioned this app last time: PICFX ($1.99) but they have some new, interesting lens flares and light leaks so I thought I’d share.
OTHER FAVORITES:
FOR VIDEO: 8mm is such a rad video app with cool filters that make it look like you’re using an old school 8mm camera.
Rhonna Designs: My spunky friend and amazing designer has some gorgeous and inspiring quotes and phrases. Also, all sorts of overlays and graphics to jazz up your photos! Plus, she’s the best!
Square Ready: Is a great little free app for when you want to share for of the photo then a square and still have a white background or you can change the background to any color.
Bokehful: Another app to add some lens flares and bokeh effects to your pics.
Bubbleframe: A whimsical app where your photo looks like it’s a scrapbook page in a few seconds. Just cute circle frames and chevron and other patterned backgrounds.
View the FAVE PHOTO APPS VOLUME 1 HERE
Connect on Instagram @DearLizzy
xo, Lizzy
He arrived on April 24th at 3:55 pm. Weighing 8 lbs 9 oz and 21″ long.
For each pregnancy in my family we text our guesses for the weight of the baby. I won, of course. Nice to know I still have some mother’s intuition left. ; )
Myles Cassan Kartchner
Cassan- named after my dad who’s in heaven… Myles was probably with him just a few short days ago.
So much to tell you about our little guy’s journey, for now, I just wanted to share his sweet face. I can’t believe he’s here… my angel boy.
Myles latin meaning is soldier… that sealed the deal for Collin as we were debating between a couple options. That… and the fact that it’s a great name to cheer while he’s playing baseball.
Above photos I took a couple days ago when he was 3 days old. It was the first time he was really content and calm so I jumped on that. Look at him. Already such a poser… haha
Thanks so much to everyone comments and wishes on Facebook and Instagram the past few days! Means so much to us!
XO, Lizzy
