Home At Eight: June 2013

June 27, 2013

Let Me Introduce You to a Friend

I was invited by a great friend, Shannon, to join a group of Silhouette crafters. Every month I will be doing a challenge and creating something new with my Cameo and will share it right here. I hope to share and inspire the craft bug in all of you! First of all, if you don't know what a Silhouette is, let me show you the most wonderful product I have ever owned. Really, the most wonderful.

Silhouette Cameo

Isn't it just beautiful? Anywho, this gadget does all sorts of things for the not so crafty to the glitter and sequin covered super crafter. It can cut paper into just about any shape you can imagine as well as fabric, vinyl, chipboard, magnets, and the list goes on. As well there are tons of products to go with it, such as paper to make your own temporary tattoos, rhinestone template for those cute outfits you see everywhere, screen print stencils. You see, there is so much you can do with the Silhouette. I own the Cameo version, which has the 12 inch wide cutting field, one of the widest in its crafting product category. This means you can really get the most out of your paper or medium of choice.

As well there are no cartridges to buy, none! There is an online store connected to software that comes with the Silhouette. In this store you can choose out of thousands of designs to purchase and add to your library, forever. It is always yours once you purchase it. As well the software pulls all of your fonts into the program so you don't need to buy fonts to use in the program. How wonderful is that?

Personally I have made quite a bit of personalized cards and wall vinyl decals. Even 250 wedding invites and save the dates at one point. The Silhouette is a trusted friend now, I don't really know what I would do without it now. Honestly to fully understand the machine and it's greatness you should check out Silhouette yourself!

Soon I will be showing off some skills that the Cameo really helps me succeed in. I hope you fall in love with it just as much as I have. I promise you will never look back.

Here's my board of Silhouette ideas and things it can actually help you do!

Happy Crafting - Alisha

June 23, 2013

Care Bear and Cloth, Among Other Things

First things first, here is our little Caroline at three months old. How has it already been three months? Excuse the iPhone photo for now please. :)

Gosh, do I ever love that face! I think we are going to be in trouble down the road, daddy's ready to fight off the boys. She is bursting with personality and quite a bit of both us is shining through. Especially the stubbornness with either of us. She really, REALLY, lets us know when she absolutely is over something or does not want to even attempt it. We have discovered her tickle spots this week by accident, and her laugh is the most heart warming laugh I've ever heard. We learn something new every day with her.

As many of you know we are using cloth diapers, which has now got me obsessed. Who knew diapers could be so much fun? It is the one thing the hubs and I both love to buy, especially so we can see how cute she is in them. They are a little bit of work, but we are already reaping the rewards. It on'y took a few weeks for the initial investment to start paying us back. As well it is not as hard to do, even with us both working. It only takes a few seconds to throw everything into the washer and a little bit of planning to know how many we need on hand while everything else is being cleaned.

She has never had a diaper rash. Here and there she might have a tiny red spot, but that is cleared up with some cloth friendly cream made with all natural ingredients. But never more than the one spot. It has been one of the best decisions we have made by far for her. I know though it is not for everyone, maybe I can convince a few of you out there though with reviews and tutorials over the next few weeks. Here is a quick stash photo though in the meantime.

Missing 2 diapers here. Brands from left to right, Charlie Banana, Sweetpea, & Bumkins pockets. Flips, Rumparooz, & Sweetpea Covers. Inserts, prefolds, and a Snappi at the bottom.

Over the next few weeks I will go over the different kinds I use, what I love or hate, all the fun stuff. Also, how fun are all the colors and patterns?!

Now in other news, which I think we have told almost all family and friends, we will be putting our house up for sale shortly. We have had dreams to move out of state for years now. Finally, it looks like it will become a reality. So I will not be updating projects on the house anymore, I will however show it staged before we list it. I really wish I could have kept up with all the projects we have done over the years and shown you everything, life just got in the way in really big ways a few times. From now on it will be the adventures of us being new parents, selling our home, moving, and settling in. We will buy a house in the future and start from the beginning on here with projects as we go. The hubs even wants to get in on the action of writing posts! I hope you all can forgive me for changing direction and continue to follow us on this journey, we are so excited to share it with you. - Alisha

June 11, 2013

Keeping the Tradition Alive

Well, I accidentally took a small hiatus from this baby to have my little one. I am sorry I didn't keep up my end of the deal. Being very pregnant, and working on top of that, with a very prolonged morning sickness can make just getting out of bed hard enough.

Three months ago, on the 18th (!), we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. Meet Caroline! Born March 18th 2013 at 12:45 pm. 20.5 inches long and only a whopping 7 lbs 9 oz. Much nicer than the 10 pound baby they told me to expect!

This photo is owned by Alisha Leigh Photography and the use of it anywhere else is prohibited.
Copyright Alisha Leigh Photography 2013

While pregnancy seems like the slowest moving snail, these last three months have really flown by. It makes me sad to think she already has passed her first few days and weeks of life. That she is on her way to a big, bold world, and I cannot slow it down. Becoming a parent has really opened my eyes in a way I never thought possible. There is a love for life that has never been known, I appreciate every day I get to spend with her. Every smile is one that I hold near and dear to me. Not only do I need to worry about caring for her, but I need to make sure I take care of myself for her.

Now that we have successfully moved her to her own bed, I am hoping to use my alone time in the evenings to write this blog up much more. Big things are happening and I want to share them with all of you! Also I will get to share photos of my chunky little butt! (<<