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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
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
The past couple days I’ve found myself not quite ready to say goodbye to my baby bump. I know some of you reading this think I am beyond crazy-but it’s true. Besides the first half of pregnancy when I literally want to die. By the second half I actually love being pregnant. It’s funny though how this whole creating a baby thing works. Because suddenly things get progressively more uncomfortable and painful replacing the nervous delivery thoughts with c’mon baby let’s do this! That’s when you start to do crazy things like jumping on the trampoline and drinking castor oil.
Even with the aches and pains. Even with the acid reflex that I’ve slept sitting up. Even with the growing belly and my shrinking wardrobe. (Yes, I wear this shirt every other day… and I will burn it once the baby is born.) Even with the insomnia that leaves me laying awake at night with the soft kicks of my baby. With each movement of his I am reminded of this tiny miracle inside me. I take all the good and the bad and am encircled with such love for being a mother that it’s hard to say goodbye to this baby-bumpalicious chapter. But then begins a new one. With even more hard moments and even more rewarding ones.
The other night in a warm bubble bath with my newly pedicured toes & belly poking out of the bubbles my eyes filled with tears thinking that this could be the last couple days of being pregnant. Possibly ever. Maybe. ; ) I don’t know why this is weighing so heavy on my heart. I told Collin how I can’t believe I am one of those people who enjoys being pregnant. (To the point that my doctor said he would induce me last week but I wanted to wait… he literally thought I was crazy turning that down.) Then that night I had the absolute worst night sleep… a combination of a bad, lingering cold plus pregnancy congestion that I finally fell asleep when the sun was rising on the couch with my head between a couple cushions while sitting straight up. And you enjoy this Liz?! That was a mean trick. But hey, we have to get so uncomfortable that the delivery begins to sound like a dream. ; )
The past couple weeks or even months feel like a blur to me… I guess even though I’ve been blabbering about this time not ending, in a way, I am also eager for this new chapter to begin. And again you can see how I am indecisive in all areas of my life. haha!
xo, Lizzy
I have shown Lola pictures from my pregnancy app of the baby in a mommy’s tummy but I still think she has no idea what is about to rock her world. Lola will love him, of course!
She is my independent girl. I will ask all the girls to get ready… yelling, “We need to go!” across the house. And Lola is the first one dressed, shoes and even a coat and hat. The coat is upside down and the pants are backwards, but still. She even (pretty much) potty trained herself, such a gift for me! I’m serious too-I can’t take much credit. She just wanted to be like her big sisters. She would have been trained sooner but 3 trips to the potty at Target is a shopping buzz-kill 
so I would put a diaper on her when we went out. I guess I was the one who wasn’t ready to be potty trained. But now we are. And we are crossing our fingers that she keeps moving forward.
I apologize for the MIA! Last week I had all the intentions in the world to schedule some posts for while we were gone but obvi that didn’t happen.
Since we are getting down to the last few weeks before our baby boy arrives we wanted one last hurrah with our girls! This included a road trip to Disneyland and the beach! Yes, I waddled around the happiest place on earth and actually had fun! I’m not kidding… I didn’t want to come home and not just because it was snowing at home. Snowing. Not cool.
Though when we did finally get home I couldn’t move and laid in bed allllll night. haha I guess the Disney adrenaline and sunshine was keeping me going… Disney adrenaline? Is that a thing?
Some of my favorite photos of the beach… thanks for letting me share! You’d think we live in a dark cave and had never seen the sun by how excited we were to bask in its rays.
The water was freezing though… nice to not worry about the kids Baywatching it out and diving into the waves. But they could run around, roll in the sand and just be kids…
Since sitting around has become my new hobby I became the official lounge chair at the beach. I didn’t mind at all.
To edit all the above photos I used Totally Rad Actions. Including Yin/Yang and the brush tool to lighten any dark areas, Oh Snap!, and Flare Up presets. I also like to implement some of the sharpening actions in my editing process.
They also have a new photo editing app Pic Tap Go for your phone that’s, well, totally rad!
On the twelfth day of March we were so stinkin lazy… we were all feeling under the weather. Nothing too crazy to complain about but just enough to want to spend the day cuddling… which really is nothing to complain about at all.
Almost everyday I make us green smoothies with my Ninja blender. I laugh an evil laugh watching them unknowingly chug down their spinach! ah-haha!
This place needs to be cleaned up-stat!
Lots of time in the car… school, preschool, dance class, store, pick up, piano, etc etc
A quick stop to the store and some more cuddling.
(self-timer pic)
Our day wouldn’t be complete without some drama. Lots of drama… and tears.
Avery’s loot that she carries around everywhere! She’s moved up in the world… from bag lady to the plastic container lady.
Seeing them play well together is something to document. This makes me so happy. All of their dolls are currently named Zuzu. (after our new niece)
Blue skies!!!!!!!!!!!
Really quiet around the house today. A nice change.
Bedtime craziness!
Of course dad brings home lots of excitement! There’s definitely a sense of wholeness when he arrives home for dinner. You can feel the energy shift, the girls love when we are all together. (Love you daddy!)
Next month I will give people more of a heads up so you can play along… ! Leave a comment and link to your pics if you did!
xoxo, Lizzy
Today I am working on my Daily Dozen (taking 12 photos on the 12th of March.) Seriously, February flew by like crazy! I kept checking the calendar to make sure it was really this time again.
Join in the fun and link up to your pictures in the comments!!
Some Instagrams (@dearlizzy) last week.
Quincey is always scheming up something to keep my motherhood skills in check.
Even fairies have to practice piano.
Baby bump! (32 weeks in the pic)
Making faces on a fun Saturday.
Spring made an appearance on Sunday and we soaked up every single bit of sunshine!
Instax polaroids from our day.
xo, Lizzy
We are a bit under the weather. So mean to get a cold when it’s been warmer the past couple days. Hope you are doing lovely!!!
Each month, starting in January, I’ve put together an inspiration board and use it as a jumpstart for a project. This month, I included some of the images above to inspire an ombre painting effect on foam Thickers. Having this assignment has really stretched me creatively! I have also found that instead of just diving into a project I work well when I find inspiration first.
How to put together a mood board: I look at some of my favorite blogs and Pinterest for anything that catches my eye or makes me happy. Then I start to pull images that have the same color or feeling. Last I arrange them together with other elements I have around my stash.
This month’s mood board I was inspired by the color of the dishes, the ombre effect of the gradient painting and the circles with letters inside for my title. You can see how this sparked my layout here.
What do you do to spark your creativity? Some other things that work for me…
-Choose some photos first. If it’s scrapbooking you’re working on or a gallery wall of frames. Print out your photos and then approach it. They will inspire the direction whether it’s the color, title or layout of frames.
-Pick up your favorite magazine or online magazine. This one is pretty obvious but it one of my go-to for color, design, technique inspiration.
-Pinterest. Is another obvious one but there’s so much inspiration there it can be overwhelming. Don’t spend to much time and go there with a purpose so you stay on track of what inspiration you’re looking for.
-Try something new. When I think of or see a new technique this is a great way to get me out of a rut and to start creating.
-Be in a happy place. Sure, life isn’t always hunky dory but, for me, I have the hardest time creating if I am upset or down. Is anyone else this same way? When it’s nothing too serious and I am just in a bad mood I will turn on some of my favorite music. Seriously I’ve even been known to dance a little before to get excited. Or going back to the first example: I will print out photos that bring sunshine to my life or think of a specific joyful story I want to tell. This helps me focus on the good in my life and cheerful times that even naturally encourage me to feel more grateful.
What are your creative rut solutions?
Check out how my mood board inspired this page here…
I can’t believe my sweet baby boy and I have reached 32 weeks this fast. He is really growing now and I am already waddling around.
I literally have to roll out of bed, my belly button is inside out, and he’s not quite smooshed in my tummy so there’s room for him to work on his underwater tricks. Providing endless entertainment watching him kick and move inside my tummy. Can’t wait to meet my baby boy!
My little guy is entering a world of girls! In our family there are 7 little girls and 1 boy out of his sisters and cousins, he is definitely outnumbered. Collin and Tuque will make up for in though. Tuque counts for at least two boys if he keeps growing at this rate.
On Saturday we learned the proper way to curtsey and met the fairy king while attending the annual Fairy Tea at the Provo Library. It was fancy and fun while celebrating all things girly & magical. Not sure what was actually served in the tea since these girls were pretty crazy after. Or as Avery would say, “why you acting so cray-cray?”
My mom & Ave.
My mother is one of those remarkable people that would do anything for you at any time. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her! She’s planning a time to come help me get organized for the arrival of our bebe. And clean out our garage etc. Sheesh, it’s as if my nesting is rubbing off on her.
The rest of the girls…
Also blogging at PAPER PARTY With some fun posts lined up this week.
And my new products, Lucky Charm, are shipping at online and at Two Peas. Some of my favorite from Maggie Holmes below too. Click on the image for more info.
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