Merry Christmas!!!!

Our Christmas card for 2012

Christmas Projects!

Cards!
Stockings!

A coat!

We are sending out Christmas cards this year and I am really excited!  I have been gathering addresses and labeling envelopes and someday I will actually send them.  We printed our cards through Sam's Club because we were able to get the best deal and they aren't too shabby looking.  Ideally I would love to use a site like Tinyprints or Paper Coterie because their cards are beautiful but they are expensive. I'll post a picture of our Christmas card a little later. 

Appliqued felt stockings are kind of a tradition in our family.  My Gramma Keller made stockings for all of her grandkids and I carried on the tradition for Josh, Avery, James, Parker and Lindsey.  It's a little bit more work to make a stocking, especially since I like to personalize the stocking.  For Mina's stocking I wanted to incorporate the Nutcracker because I have so many fond memories of performing in that ballet.  I started out the process with some thumbnail sketches:

This helps to solidify ideas and pinpoint what works and what does not.  After that I picked the design I liked the best and started cutting out the felt pieces.  I used straight pins to experiment with the layout.  It is kind of daunting at this point because it makes me realize just how much work there is to do!

Then the sewing and embroidery starts.  I decided to start with the Mouse King toy in the lower lefthand corner.  I cut the rest of the pieces and started to sew.  I like to use a little bit of stuffing to give the stockings more dimension.  I'm also going to use beads and sequins to make it look even better.

All he needs is his sword!

The last project is to make a coat for Mina.  I love the look of a tailored coat but I don't want to spend that much on a coat that will only be worn for a short time.  I really like the lines of this swing coat from BabyGap.  I have an old sweater that I am going to transform into a coat.  Stay tuned...



Happy Thanksgiving!

Missing!

The following items are currently missing:
Mina's white hat with bear ears on top
My long sleeved white tee shirt
Mina's rose headband
My mini Fresh rose lip balm
Mina's bow headband (found!)
Mina's grey striped shoe socks
My mind
My car keys, luckily I have a spare set


I think that is about it.

Dress rehearsals are this week for Five Carols and JingleJacks. I'm thankful we have Thanksgiving off!

Busy, busy, BUSY!

Somehow November is almost half over.  I'm not sure how this has happened.  Maybe the fact that I have been really busy is to blame.  Here are some things that have been taking up my time...

Day light savings time.

  Okay, technically this has added time but when you are feeding a baby at 2 AM, early is early.

Being politically involved

Luckily I didn't have to drive up to Providence to vote even though I missed the deadline for registration.  Something about moving a week after giving birth will lead to oversights, like, updating your address on your drivers license.  I managed to update our Netflix and my InStyle subscription but NOT my license.  I know where my priorities lie...

Mina is becoming slightly more mobile.  Watch out!

I've made a couple of trips up to Weber State's Costume Shop, check out their serger area.  It is so pretty and well organized.

The reason for visiting the Weber costume shop?  I'm in the middle of designing a show.  It's a pair of one act Christmas musicals called "Five Carols for Christmas" and "JingleJacks."  Jim Christian is directing his show at CenterPoint Theatre in Centerville and I'm the lucky one who gets to design the costumes. 



Four of the five Carols



The JingleJacks

The show opens a week from next Monday November 26th closes Saturday December 22nd. Tickets are available at the Box Office and on-line (click here.)  The show is double cast so you can see it twice!  

And a funny picture I found while looking for a pencil:

Early 90's at its finest. I was so blonde and my teeth were so tiny.  I can't remember when I started losing my baby teeth, obviously after this picture was taken.

Happy Halloween!

We had two Halloween parties on Saturday so I hurried and finished Mina's costume Friday night.
I am pretty happy with the final result!

Progress

Mina's Halloween costume is moving right along.  I posted some pictures on Facebook of the costume and of Mina's second costume fitting.  Here is my process of making a little costume.

I made a tiny sketch of the finished costume.  I think this is really helpful because sometimes it is really hard to keep a handle on the final product.  I usually make a few notes of how long certain measurements are or other logistical things.  

After that I draft a pattern based on the costume piece.  Here is a picture of the skirt pattern piece traced on to the interfacing fused to the gold fabric.  The fabric wasn't very sturdy so I added a layer of interfacing for integrity without making it uncomfortable for Mina.  Even though it is a robot costume it is still a baby's costume.

All of the triangular skirt pieces came together to form the skirt.  I'm glad I always understood fractions in school because I use them a lot!

Mina's first costume fitting!

This was a shot of the costume around the time of the fitting.  I was trying to figure out if the spacing for the pom poms would effectively mimic the hemispheres on the Dalek.  I think it worked even though the color is a little jarring.  I remedied that with a few layers of gold spray paint.

After I sprayed the pom poms I hot glued them on to the skirt.  I only burned my fingers a little bit.

And another fitting!  Sorry the picture is blurry.  2 month old babies don't have the best leg control.  Or anything control.

All that is left is the hat and a few last embellishments on the onesie.  It's going to be great!

Hello October!

October marks the official start of fall, for me at least. I think the actual official start of fall was a week or so in September but it doesn't matter. October is a wonderful month, it starts with General Conference and ends with Halloween. It gets the holiday ball rolling, the leaves continue to change, the weather cools down and I get to break out the cute fall clothes.

I have some big plans for October...

• I'm going to make Mina's Halloween costume
• We're going to have family pictures taken
• I'm going to get my butt in gear and exercise for reals and not for fakes.
• I want to make a coat for Mina

While James and I were shopping for fabric for Mina's blessing dress he had an idea for Mina's Halloween costume.  We decided then and there that we would decide every other year for costumes until she's old enough to choose her own.  James' choice?

 A dalek.

Yes, a dalek.

It's an alien from Doctor Who.

We brainstormed it out and I'm going to make it into a dress and a hat.  I'll use stuffing so it will be soft instead of rigid.  She's a baby, after all. I think I'll make the dress more of jumper so if she gets too hot (or annoyed) we can take it off without having to totally change her clothes.  I think she has some plain long sleeved onesies...

In honor of a new addition to our family and employment, we are having family pictures taken.  I am so excited but also a little nervous.  My body is different now and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.  I'm incredibly grateful that I was able to deliver a healthy baby but it would be nice if my old clothes fit again.  Maybe I just need someone to dress us for our pictures...Ugh.

I got my butt off the couch this morning and took Mina on an hour walk.  She slept through a good chunk of it and only cried once.  I thought it would be a lot colder so I wore my windbreaker.  I was so sweaty by the time we got home.  It was gross.  But, sweat is a good thing.  I should do it more often.  I figure if I document my progress I'll be more likely to stick with it. I figure I'm already off to a good start because I remembered to wear my track pants and not my scary stretchy pants.

Last up, Mina's coat.

I realize she will grow fast and won't get much use out of it but I still want to make a cute coat.  Here are some of my inspirational images:

Baby Gap

J. Crew

J. Crew

baby Dior

baby Dior

My plan is to combine all the coats into one cute, classy coat.  I'm going to follow lead of my friend Delia and use an old sweater for the coat.  She is amazing...Maybe I can finish it for our family pictures...

FYI, these coats retail for  $49.99, $188 and $845!

The lining of the baby Dior coat, I love the fabric and pleats:

A New Direction

When I started this blog four years ago my life was very different. I was in my last year at Weber State with the possibility of grad school in my future. I had a job I liked with people I loved, it was a pretty good set up. Fast forward to now and I have two degrees (BA and MFA) as well as a wonderful family with my husband and daughter. I could not have imagined a better life and I am grateful.

This blog was about the happenings in my life but now that I have another blog for my family. I've decided that this blog will be for my projects and thoughts on pop culture. Our family blog can be found at jamesandlindsaybeardall.blogspot.com

I don't know if anyone reads this blog any more but I am going to keep writing anyway.

Next up: Halloween costumes.

Fuzzy

One thing that people frequently comment on is Mina's dark hair.  All of her nurses mentioned it in the hospital and most of her family has said something about it.  I love how fuzzy and crazy it is after a bath.

After a few hours it calms down and flattens to her head

There has also been some discussion on who she looks the most like.

Mina and a baby picture of James

A baby picture of me with my Mom

I think she is a good combination of both of us, she managed to get all the cute parts.

Catching up

We moved into my parent's house this weekend, a week after Mina's birth.  James did all the work plus he had a pre-defense presentation to give the day after we came home from the hospital.  He is amazing!  Did mention he started his new job on Monday?  We've had a lot changes in the past two weeks.

As promised, here are some pictures of our anniversary date.  We ate dinner at Cafe Sabor (it was disappointing) and then went to Willow Park Zoo.  I had never been and I wanted to walk around in an attempt to bring on labor. James was really excited to see this animal:

I think it is an albino...something.  I can't remember.

It's just chilling out.

Not to be outdone is the racoon, looking really lazy.

We took a picture of ourselves to document two years of marriage.

I was secretly hoping that it would be the last picture of us before we became parents.

Joke was on me, Mina didn't arrive for three more days after that.

Here is the super unflattering picture of me and James right before we went to the hospital.  I wanted to document how massive I got.  Mission accomplished.

And a picture of us from Sunday.  Our little family.

The weekend we became parents....

http://jamesandlindsaybeardall.blogspot.com/2012/08/birth-story-lots-of-pictures.html
Here is the link to my other blog with Mina's birth story. I'm too tired to write it out again.

She is so loveable, I almost don't care she is practically nocturnal. How could someone get mad at that cute face?

Holy cow! We're parents!

This lovely lady arrived Saturday morning. We love her SO much!

I'll write more about her when we are home and not in the hospital.

Randomness

Also known as a phone dump.

I've had a few pictures on my phone that I have meant to write about.  I also recently learned how to take a picture of the screen, it only took eight months to learn how to use my iPhone.  Oh well.

First up, this gem.

What: A slightly threatening text

When: Memorial Day Weekend (refer to my recently acquired photo taking skill)

Who: It's a mystery

We were out visiting graves for Memorial Day when I received this weird text.  I opted not to respond because I didn't know the number nor do I owe anyone money.  I finally figured out how to take a picture of the screen when Lauren wanted to see what my texts looked like (phone update issues) so James showed me.  He's nice like that.

Picture #2

What: A self portrait by James

When: Last weekend? Sometime he hadn't shaved?  Basically, it wasn't Sunday, he shaves that day.

Who: James

This is what I find when I leave my phone unattended.  Nice.

Picture #3

What: Our "living" butter lettuce

When: Last week or the week before

Who: I took this because I thought it was funny in a science experiment kind of way

We get Bountiful Baskets once or twice a month, depending on when we remember to order.  I thought this was slightly disturbing for the "Absolutely Fresh Because It's Still Alive!" label.  I half expected the lettuce to scream when I cut it apart.  Despite that creepiness, it was a very good head of lettuce and it DID taste very fresh.

Picture #4

What: My quilting sampler

When: A couple of weeks ago, packing up some boxes

Who: Another picture by me

I made this sampler when I took a quilting class with my Mom and ladies from our ward.  I can't remember when exactly theses classes took place but I know it was at least 15 years ago.  I should finish it but I don't know what I would do with it once it's done.  

I plan on blogging about our 2nd anniversary.  We went to dinner at Cafe Sabor, visited the Willow Park Zoo (my first time) and we went on two walks.  I would blog about it now but I actually used my camera to take some pictures and my camera cord is at my parent's house.  I had left my phone at home.

2 years!

Two years ago James and I got married. It was the easiest and best decision I made. I love you James!

Beautiful Photography, courtesy of Ravenberg Photography