Adventure Is Out There!

Monday, September 10, 2012

I have been bugging Jeff for over a year about how I "NEED" a sewing machine.
It usually comes up after I have been on Pinterest.
I can't help it! I just always seem to see so many wonderful projects that I NEED to do.

Well, when my SIL found out she was having a boy and decided that the theme of her nursery would be pirates we started searching for cute crib bedding. Unfortunately, the only pirate stuff we found was either ugly or custom....And custom=expensive.

So, I started researching how hard it would be to make our own. :-)

I found some adorable fabric from the Blake Riley collection and convinced Amber that we could make some of it ourselves...like the bumper.

I went ahead and bought the fabric deciding that I could use my moms old sewing machine. Unfortunately when we pulled it out it was all jammed up. We took it in to the repair shop to see if we could fix it and in the end it was a lost cause.

SO.........
I HAD to get a sewing machine...for reals!!

Wooohoooo!!!

My MIL and SIL Trisha suggested I go to Floyd and Lizzies and look at their Pfaff sewing machines. They were so helpful! Daniel (Floyd and Lizzies sales guy...actually he said is sister was the Lizzie in the name...) sat with me and showed me everything I wanted to see then went ahead and gave me a KILLER deal on this beaut.
I haven't done much sewing in my life...ok so I did one quilt for YW way back when and my mom did most of it. But I can honestly say that I LOVE sewing now and this machine is so fun.

**AMBER DAHL SPOILER ALERT**
(There will be some pictures of things made for baby Miles that will be given to you at a later date...like the shower...Proceed at your own risk!!!)

I went ahead and made the crib bumper for Amber using this tutorial. It was very easy to follow, even by a novice like me, and it turned out great. She knows I was making this but hasn't seen it yet. Here is a sneak peak of how it turned out.

Then, once I finished that, I couldn't stop!
I was hooked.
I ended up following this minky blanket tutorial and made 2 blankets then followed this tutorial and made a stack of burp cloths with all the left over fabric.

I can safely say I broke in my new machine. :-)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Up-cycling Addict

Over the summer I took on the task of refinishing some furniture for my SIL.

It all started when my mom bought a tall, solid wood dresser from a yard sale for ten bucks. It was in pretty rough shape but I saw the potential and offered to refinish it.

I wish I had a before picture.

I always get so carried away with the projects that I forget.

Any way, it had been spray painted black, it was beat up (all the dings filled in with putty), only two of the drawers had holes drilled in for handles, and the sides ended up being particle board. Good times!

I started by striping the whole thing then sanding it down.

I convinced my niece and nephew to help... Mwahhahaha!

After stripping the dresser I dug out all the putty from the dents.

Putty doesn't stain and I wanted to stain this piece.

After digging out all the putty, I beat the crap out of the dresser with a big chain, a sock full of bolts and a crow bar.

So much fun!

I then, with the help of Rylie, stained it with a beautiful dark walnut that I have had sitting around the house.

Now, as I said before, the sides were particle board and I couldn't just stain them, so I covered them in fabric. My mom actually gave me the idea by saying we should put wallpaper on them. Well, it turns out that pirate wallpaper is expensive and hard to find and since the theme of the nursery was pirates I really wanted to either stick with that or maps.

I just wasn't having much luck in the wallpaper department so I turned to fabric. I found just what I wanted and pulled out my dear old friend mod podge. Hurrah for mod podge!

It turned out amazing! I think it is one of my favorite pieces I've done so far.

Now, after that dresser turned out so well, I couldn't just leave the old white changing table from my infancy alone. I had to match it. So I striped that and sanded it as well. It had some heavy paint layers in some pretty awesome colors... Like guacamole green.

Unfortunately for me, the dresser was barely wood. The sides and top were made out of some strange material that took forever to strip and didn't want to stain. I ended up spray painting them an espresso brown then glazing over them with the dark walnut to match the front and the drawers.

It gave me a bit of a challenge but it turned out fine in the end.

As usual I forgot to get a before picture BUT like I said this changing table was used for both myself and my brother. So......I did one better. I found an original picture of the changing table...in my brothers baby book!! :-D

This was the front, flowers and all. Look at those chunky legs on my brother. BAH!

Here, if you can look past the awesome wallpaper and fabulous glasses my mom is wearing, you can see the top of the table. I'm sorry that I don't have a full picture of it but you get the idea.

AFTER:

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Today is World MS day.

I have had MS for 2 years now and have been very lucky not to have had another relaps.

The medication seems to be working out for me. For that, I am grateful.

For those of you that don't know or don't quite understand, MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord. You can have any number of symptoms and every person with MS is different.

As a matter of fact, every relaps can be different.

It is a big fat disease of unknown. It is a big fat deal.

You never know when it will strike or how hard it will hit you. You never know what is going to be affected next. I have found that I can't dwell on it too much because it can cause a lot of stress wondering when things will get worse. I prefer to hope that things never will get worse.

MS can cause muscle weakenss, pain, paralysis, blurred vision, double vision or loss of vision entirely. It can cause bladder and bowel incontenence, memorie loss, heat intolerance, fatique, vertigo, depression and a million other things. Basically every thing your brain or spinal cord controles can be affected.

That is a whole lot of possiblities.

For me, MS caused vertigo, double vision, chronic fatique, heat intolerance, random muscle pain, urinary frequency, memory issues and definitely depression.

After I went into remission all of those resolved except the chronic fatique, heat intolerance and dizzy spells. That may not sound too bad compaired to what it could be and I defintely know Ive been lucky, but there is always that dread in the back of my mind of what is going to happen next time.

Not everyone with MS is in a wheel chair nor will they necessarily ever be in a wheel chair, but the invisible part of MS is still as debilitating. I think the hardest part of having an invisible disease is looking so normal on the outside but being so unwell on the inside. To everyone else you may not look sick at all, but inside you never quite feel right.

Like with all diseases I hope for a cure, but for now I am just grateful for the treatment that is out there, the support of family and friends and the ability to spread awarenss.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Memorial Day with a Little Fresh Air

This year we did something a little different from the usual BBQ at my parent's house. We decided to go up American Fork Canyon

and picnic.

YAY MOUNTAINS!!!

It was such a perfect day and the canyon was so beautiful.

My brother suggested we head up to Silver Lake and led the way....ok he hauled a** up the road while my dad and the rest of us puttered behind. My poor mom was holding on for dear life due to how bumpy the ride to the lake was. My bladder as well as my equilibrium didn't much appreciate it either but the view was perfect to look upon while eating our picnic. Totally worth the ride.

Luck for us, my parent are so old that they were able to get a life-time membership to all the national parks for $10. Woot! Looks like there will be a lot of free camping and hiking in our future.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

2 Whole Years!!!

Time seriously flies by. Where does it all go? I swear it feels like Jeff and I have only been married 1 year.

Yeah, but its been two. Yeesh!

Well, we've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly and we still love each other... even more than when we started.

We celebrated our little anniversary in Vegas. It was a fast trip and a long drive but over all a good little getaway.

We stayed at the Encore part of the Wynn hotel and it was gorgeous!

I seriously loved these garden sections they had. So pretty with all the lights and floral balls.

We spent our time relaxing and exploring.

One of my favorite things was when we went to eat at Serendipity 3 in Caesars Palace.

Nom nom nom!

The frozen hot chocolate you always hear about it TOTALLY worth the trouble!

The AMAZING frozen hot chocolate. I really wish I had some right now!

There you have it. Here's to 5 million more great years.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

CuTe LiSa'S bRiDaLs

My cute friend Lisa flattered me greatly by asking me to shoot her Bridals for her upcoming wedding.

I immediately said yes and then excitedly told Jeff that we NEEDED to go get that camera we have been really wanting.

Jeff loves gadgets so it wasn't very hard to convince him that we should get it.

YAY!

Let me just tell you how much I love MY...I mean...our.... new camera.

L.O.V.E.

Any way, this past weekend I shot her bridals. She wanted them done at Joseph Smith Memorial building and we were lucky enough to have the rain stop long enough to get some wonderful ones outside with all the gorgeous flowers.

Also, let me just give a shout out to my amazing and wonderful assistant Amelia.

I LOVE Amelia!!!

She is like a posing guru. She is so creative and knew just the right ways to pose our little Lisa.

Here are some of my favorites.