Monday, April 11, 2011

The Homemade 1st Birthday Bash!

Well hello to all my friends, I am yet again finding myself apologizing to you all for not keeping up with my blog! Life has be chaotic and hectic between work, illnesses, birthday prep and of course the usual family day to day stuff! Phew. But I am here now I hope you enjoy my post tonight.

 So TDMM turned one!!!! It is a bittersweet moment for me, as much as I am loving all the new stages and watching her explore her little world. At the same time, my little baby girl is growing up all to quickly and I'm afraid I will miss something or I will forget these wonderful moments! I digress....
This birthday has been months in the making. I knew my theme would be Ladybugs, I have scoured the web for crafty little ideas, fabric, foods and how-to's. In the end I succeeded!

I started with her little birthday dress. I used a tutorial from 7LayerStudio, it had the perfect amount of ruffles and the challenge of learning how to shirr for the first time, a skill I will forever overuse and adore! I purchased my adorable fabrics from bugfabric.com. Oh, am I talking too much? Where's this dress you ask?? Okay, okay, you twisted my arm, I'll show you!
I heart ruffles!


From the dress I found a tutorial for a fabric party hat that was to die for!!!
Here is my translation:
And because I couldn't leave well enough alone, I made a hair clip! Unfortunately, TDMM never wore it during her party, but it will work for an everyday barrette! (I must apologize that I cannot find the barrette tutorial!!)
with marabou fur!
So my little princess was dressed to the nines! I added a pair of red sequined ballet flats and she was adorable!




 So what was next?? Well she had to have a cake smash shirt, because I'll be damned if she destroys the cute little dress I slaved over with frosting and cake! SOOOOOO.....thanks to a white $1 Garanimals turtle neck and some iron-on letters and rhinestones from a local craft store we have a smash shirt I'm okay with tossing:
Ladybug overload?? =)


 What is a birthday without food? I mean really, no one ever accused this Diva of missing a meal or a slice of cake so I again put finger to keys and found some snacks fit for a Ladybug Picnic!


You wanna see the inside of my hugely tall cake? That was a rhetorical question. Just sayin.
Rainbows & Ladybugs go hand in hand!
Do you want to make your own rainbow cake,  chocolate dipped oreos or pretzels? Well check out those links too! (I had to wing the Oreos, because I didn't have a tutorial, just a picture. I wouldn't be terribly upset if you copied mine!)

The smash cake & cupcakes were also rainbow cake but were more tye-dyed:
My dainty smasher!

I hope I haven't bored you with all my fabulous craftiness! I just have to show off my Mini Diva's big day! I will leave you with a photo montage of some of the highlights of the day as I see them! 
Thanks so much for coming to our Ladybug Picnic post!

Isn't she a beauty!





The End!








Friday, March 25, 2011

Win a Free Breast Milk Baby

Win a Free Breast Milk Baby
I haven't been around much due to illness after illness in my house! So please excuse my absence, yet help me win this amazing doll for "TDMM"!!!
Thank you all and I hope to have a real post for you all very soon!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Becoming an adult and a better mommy?

So I've been missing in action and I apologize, I even slacked off on my "Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon" last week! I feel like a failure of craft....
But alas, I am here and I am taking a moment to share my musings with you for the day.

So, I guess a little back story of the Diva Family is in order.
The Domestic dude is currently the main bread winner in the family and has been for the past year while I was trying my hand as a stay-at-home Diva. Until just recently where I am working part-time and trying to figure out how to juggle family, work and me, with my hobbies and crafts.
Well, let me tell you, it ain't easy!
Up until almost a year ago, we were a family of 3. We swiftly became a family of 6, and by swiftly I mean in 3 months.
"The Divine Miss M" was born on March 2nd '10, "SBD" moved in on Easter '10, and our oldest "The Teen" moved in around the middle of May '10. So "Beanpole" had the brothers he asked for and the sister he never wanted!
So to say the least I have been, at times, struggling to figure out how to be a mom to an infant, a wife to "The dude", mom to "beanpole" and step-diva to the teen and SBD. I will not say it has been easy, and we have had moments where I thought the wheels were falling off completely, somehow we have made it almost 1 whole year and everyone is still alive and mostly intact!

 Through this growing and learning period, I have become a very different parent to TDMM than I was with Beanpole. When I had him I was a very young and inexperienced 19, I relied primarily on my parents to raise him and he was a sad, confused little boy. There are days when I wish I could have been the mom to him I am to TDMM. I just hope that he still loves me when he is grown and I didn't completely mess him up!
Now, I am a mature seasoned mom and I have found a parenting style I never knew existed. Its called Attachment Parenting.
Essentially its parenting by instinct. I follow her cues and do what my heart and body tell me is right. I don't follow the "rules" or someones Pediatrician.
I wear my little girl.
Our "Faux-by"
I breastfeed.

I feed her table foods and have since she was 6 months, following somewhat of the baby-led weaning style of feeding.
I cloth diaper, for what I feel is best for her, our family finances and for the environment. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat of an addiction.....
Is that not the cutest damn diaper you've ever seen?

I have nursed her to sleep and we have co-slept. I feel that if she needs it then it's what is right, for us.
I give much thanks to the Babycenter community for many of my parenting choices and changes.
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
I feel like TDMM is and will be a more confident and independent baby/child/adult than she would have been otherwise. She loves new things, she likes to be "scared", she knows I will always be there for her, and she knows I will always come back if I leave her.
Does she tend to be "clingy"? Sure, but what baby doesn't. Do I mind? Not really, some days when I'm trying to get things done it makes it a bit harder, but I do let her fuss for me a bit, I don't just pick her up with every whimper and whine. Sometimes she has to work things out for herself, don't we all?

Anyway, I just felt like telling you a bit about us, hopefully it gives you something mildly interesting to read while i try to figure out when and what I'll be making next!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

OAMC At its best!

I know what your thinking, "She's been gone for a week or more and now we get two posts in one day?? What the heck is going on??"
Well my friends I finally got a minute to breathe today and did some fun things!! And you get to read all about it.....

In case your not in the know there is a whole underworld society on the web of Once A Month Cooking, I admire anyone who can plan ahead enough to do this! Well I decided, since rejoining the world of the working, I needed to attempt to make "TDMM" something I can quickly reheat and feed her for breakfast.
I am proud to say, it was a success! And on our limited, no time for grocery shopping, pantry!
I thought pancakes were a great idea for an easily frozen/reheated meal, but also sounded wonderful for this lazy Sunday morning. Sadly, though, my usual recipe called for eggs! Whats a diva to do? Well this diva went on the search for an alternative! 
I clicked on over to my favorite recipe website, and typed in "egg-less pancakes". The Domestic Dude was skeptical, at best, but this Domestic Diva KNEW her website wouldn't let her family down! Well I was right! The first recipe to come up sounded perfect. Also, because of the awesome features on food.com I was able to change the servings on the recipe and double it without thinking about it! Oh how I love mindless cooking!



The beautiful result? Stacks and stacks of delicious, fluffy pancakes, and a dozen or more in the freezer for later!

So you want the magical recipe?
I will share!


Eggless Pancakes

Serves 4-6

2 1/2 c Flour
3 tbs Sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 c Milk
2 tbs Milk (As egg substitute)
1 tsp Lemon juice (or vinegar)
4 tbs Vegetable Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla

1. Add lemon juice to the 2 cups of milk and set aside.

2. Mix together all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add wet ingredients to the dry, and mix well.

If the batter is too thick/dry you can add more milk or water. I added some unsweetened apple sauce to mine just for some added yum.

I also add a good dose of cinnamon and nutmeg to my batter because we like things spiced up here! Feel free to add your own twist to this recipe, its a great blank slate and is a super hearty way to start your day. I won't tell you that we added chocolate chips to the big kids pancakes....YUMMO!


Well I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon!! Week 2


So here I am! Have you all missed me? I have completely slacked off on my blog this week. I started working outside of the home again, and I am slowly trying to catch up and figure out how to continue doing what I love, care for my home and family and work! Whoooo am I tired.
Any way, here is week two of the Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon, we decided to do something for Valentine's day or pajama's. My sewing project started out as pajama's but I think that I have created a shirt for "TDMM"
to wear tomorrow for Valentine's day!
I chose the fabric because I LOVE it! So Valentine's day is about love, right? Its not hearts and flowers but it's pink and adorable!
You wanna see?


Here ya go!


Its an adorable little 3/4 length tunic with a Yo-Yo flower on top. The fabric is paper dolls!!!! I used to play with them as a child and had to buy this so "TDMM" could sport a little nostalgia for her momma!
I can't wait to get her into it tomorrow!


Friday, February 4, 2011

Sew-a-long Blog-a-thon!!

So I'm a member of the Babycenter online community and through one of my favorite groups a bunch of us, thanks to Angie, have decided to start a Sew-a-long and then blog about it, primarily so we all stay motivated to sew and so we don't neglect our blogs!
Anyway, the first project was a choice between a crochet hook roll-up or a sewing machine cover. Since the wonderful Domestic dude purchased me a rolling sewing machine case, I didn't need the cover! I do however have a sister who crochets, does this mean I can finally call her a "hooker"? Hmmm, I'm not sure she would like that so much!
It is my pleasure to share with you, without further ado, my crochet hook clutch:

And there it is. In all its wonky glory!
She didn't know I was making this for her, but if she is reading this then she knows now that I've stitched her a little something.
Fortunately this will also double as a submission for another motivational blog project I'm involved it! The 12 Month Sewing Challenge! So head on over there and take a look, I'll be submitting this for the February "Make something for someone you love" challenge! Don't forget to vote for me!!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Under Construction......

This is most definitely a blog in progress....you will have to excuse the ever changing state of it for a few days. I believe I have blog style ADD, and cannot leave the damn thing alone!
That being said, I'd love your feedback!
What do you think of the current look?? Is everything easy to read/see?

Thanks a bunch!
Now back to our previously scheduled programming.......