granny stripe blanket + some other things

I finished my blanket a couple of weeks ago, and although I've been dying to brag about it, it hasn't been possible. 

Turns out that being pregnant in your third trimester and having an 18 month old makes things HARD. I mean, I always knew it was going to be tricky but in the back of my mind I also thought I could handle it. Yes, I have been able to handle it... that is when I'm not about to have a meltdown. 

The poor hubs just looks at me and tells me "we can do this, don't worry, it CAN be done." I sure hope so. I'm putting all my faith in him.

But not everything is that bad, we have also embraced fall (my favorite season of the year!) and we have been out and about enjoying all the colors of the landscape and also all the yummy baked treats that come with fall weather (pumpkin spice lattes and lots of baking!)

We celebrated Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving that is), and the hubs really wanted to start a new family tradition where we prepared turkey, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. So there has been lots of leftovers for dinner lately. But it was really nice. 

Santiago and I really enjoy cooking together, and little S is learning to help out with little things around the kitchen (and mostly eating everything his little hands can reach).

Oh yes! back to the blanket topic... It took me around 2 months of crocheting. My goal from the beginning was to crochet at least one line a day, obviously some days I didn't, and some other days I had to stop because my hands started to hurt. 

I was determined to finish before October started, and I manged to do it! Yay for me!

I followed two tutorials for the blanket, one by Lucy at Attic24 and another one by Easy Crochet Pattern.

The edging of the blanket is also from Lucy at Attic24. (I love her blog and all of her projects! if you like to crochet I'm sure you will find her blog to be very useful)

I'll be posting about the creative swapping with Lindsey from The Joyful Owl soon! And I will also post about our baby shower soon!

ps. I've also been working on knitting hats for newborns (surprisingly it is not that hard!!)

Little S's Elmo's first birthday party

Although Santi's bday party was three months ago... I'm posting some pictures of all the food and decor we (the hubs and I) made for him and his little friends.

I got many ideas from Pinterest, and I'm adding the links here.

Elmo Cake Pops 

Food and table setting 

Birthday Hat

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Hope you enjoy!

Red and white polka dots... oh! and Elmo

This week little S turns one!!!! I can't believe it... it's been so fast. He is no longer a little baby!

We have been crazy busy planning his birthday, of course it is an ELMO themed party! What else could it be?

Since I want to do everything myself, there are some things that need practice like cake pops... so here is pic of our first try at Elmo Cake Pops!  

I followed bakerella's instructions. You can find them here. She has the most AWESOME ideas ever!!!!

Oh!!! and I also did this little hat for the birthday boy! It still needs some work done, when everything is ready I'll share more pics!

I found a super cute tutorial on how to make your own birthday hat! You can find it here.

Have an awesome week!!!

(I can't believe he is turning 1 on Wednesday!)

spring is here!!!

We went to Ikea on Saturday to buy some shelves, but it just seems impossible to stick to my budget when I go there... we bought the shelves, and got a little something for S's room!

We had some friends over on Sunday. It was Renee's birthday and they brought a yummy carrot cake...

There's still some left, I might just go get a little piece and a cup of tea! 

It's been so nice, sunny and warm the last couple of days and that makes me very happy!

a dino-hat for S

Life can definitely get a bit crazy with a wee one around the house... specially when he starts crawling!! But we have managed to survive and also have some "free" time to crochet a bit.

I saw a super cute "dino spike crochet pattern" on Pinterest and of course I had repin it to my never ending lists of things I want for the little one. 

The pattern was only for the spikes, so I started looking for a baby hat with ear flaps and ended up finding this amazing baby crochet monkey hat (which is next on my baby to-do list).

I added a bit of my own to the patterns, specially since I had my little model around. It was way easier this way, I tried the hay on him several times until I was completely happy with the results and then went on to crocheting the spikes! They were easy and I decided to make a little one and three of the same size, just because I thought it looked cute!

So here are the pics

Here are the links to the spikes and the baby hat patterns.

So, what do you think?  (I think he looks adorable! the hubs thinks he looks like a little hooligan... hahaha)

welcome to S's room

I have finally managed to take some pictures of the nursery… It has been lots of fun to start working on his room, specially trying to display all the special things I got for him from my friends and family!

a little bumble bee hanging above his crib... my sister did this cutie (and the rest of the mobiles creatures)

S doesn’t know it but his room has a lot of “hand-made” things made especially for him, which is what I like most about his room! All those owls, mobiles and little details that remind me of my friends back in Vancouver (I miss you a lot guys!).

Here are some pictures I've been working on. I will post more pictures when the room is completely ready… it is still missing a couple of things… I want to print some family pictures, frame them and hang them over his crib… and I’m also working on a garland I want to put on his closet doors… and lots of other things that I will eventually do.

I love the colors of the bedding... what I like the most is that owl's hair!

my sister and I worked on this mobile... she did the stuffed animals... I did the display! (she's awesome!)

we found this amazing rug 2 weeks ago.. the colors work perfect with Cheryl's  painting!

Cheryl's mobile close-up

All kinds of owls for Santi! (thanks Cheryl... he loves the painting)

Cheryl sent me some pics of the process for the owls! How amazing!!! (she's so talented)

Cheryl's mobile and owls for the baby!

  

The baby shower owls and a special little guy Cailin made for Santi and I! (thanks Cailin!)

 For now I hope you like what I've been doing with his room!

** special thanks to everyone who has made Santi's room possible... thanks for taking the time to do such lovely things for him! I truly appreciate all your talent and hard work! xoxo** 

I've been entertained...

I don’t blog much during summers. I kind of prefer being outside, enjoying the sun and blue skies. But this summer has been quite different, now that the baby is here; I have been home a lot!!

I spend most of my days enjoying him, playing, trying to make him laugh and just having an amazing time as I get to know my little one!

I've been promising some pictures of his room, which I’ll post next week… but for now I want to share with you my sewing endeavors (if you can actually call them that!)

I don’t know how to sew but I’m trying to learn and do simple projects I can use around the house as I learn. My first project was a tag blankie for the baby inspired by my Simple Sewing for Baby (by Lotta Jansdotter) book and I also dared to do a little embroidery…

I think the results are quite good… it really helped that it is such a simple project that makes any beginner feel secure behind a sewing machine (they can be scary… I least I thought so). The thing I love most about this blankie is that it has become the baby’s favorite! He loves staring at the ribbons and putting them in his mouth… we carry it everywhere!

So this is my first completed sewing project so far!

(I know it is very simple but I’m learning… so yes, I’m proud of it!)

back to blogging

So… the baby is finally here!

On March 28 we welcomed a gorgeous little boy to our family, and since that day it has been non-stop activity for me!

We had our baby in Vancouver, B.C. and 15 days later moved to Mississauga, ON. (my husband got a job here so we had to leave Vancouver which has been really hard!) and let me tell you this: being a first time mom and trying to decorate/arrange a new household is not as easy as I thought it would be… specially with all the sleep deprivation going on!

Between motherhood and our home, I had to give up blogging and crafting and pretty much everything else (which I happily did… I love to have “nothing” to do but stare at our little boy!)  but now that the baby and I have established a routine, and my house isn’t packed with boxes anymore, I decided it was time to get back to blogging.

For my back-to-blogging post I decided to share with all of you (assuming there is someone reading this!) a ripple blanket I did for the baby!

Here are some pics of the process and the final results! 

as always Pekka was my supporter all the way through the end!

I loved working on this pattern… it was a little hard to get started because I kept getting distracted and didn’t keep the count… but once I had the two first rows ready it was actually very nice and relaxing! As for the colors, I went with teal and white since we chose not to know the sex of the baby… those 2 colors work great for a girl or a boy.

Oh well, I hope you enjoy! I’m very happy to be back!

Cheryl made a mobile for the baby!

As you know… a couple of weeks ago I had a baby shower! and got lots of beautiful, nice, cute little things for the baby!

One of the gifts was a mobile my friend Cheryl did. With all my handmade, craftiness loving I asked her if it would be ok for me to post something on the blog about her creation! She sent me some pictures of the process and pictures of the baby’s view and everything!

She also did a super cute origami tag for the gift with a paper full of owls! I loved it!!

So thanks Cher for taking the time and creating this amazing mobile!!!

baby shower crafts

I sent my friend Maya the little owls I drew for the shower and she designed the invites!!

It’s been a long long time since I last blogged… and I have missed blogging like crazy! But I guess that when you’re about to have a baby, leave your job, start getting everything together to move to another city and just try to survive it all it is hard to find time, sit down and well, blog.

So, having said that… I had my baby shower last weekend and decided to embrace the “handmade” and designed, cut and sewed the favors for my guests! (I must confess I got LOTS of help from my mom!)

I also did some pom poms… which I must confess were really simple but only if you have very and I mean VERY good scissors!! If you don’t have a good pair of scissors I would suggest buying them… just for peace of mind!

The theme I’ve chosen for the baby’s nursery is OWLS, so the baby shower was all about owls as well.

They seem to be everywhere lately but I must confess I do not like birds… I don’t know why but I’ve never liked them… until I got pregnant and became totally fascinated by this cute little creatures!

I took some pictures of the “handmade” process and finalized products… I hope you like them! I truly enjoyed being so crafty!! It made me smile!

I'm not a pastel person so the baby shower stuff had to be bright and bold!

We found this cute little ribbon for the favor bags!

Loved how they looked on their little baskets!

Owls and pom poms.

Oh!!! And Marga (my cousin) did some owl pop cakes… they were a success!!! Hmmm… I think there’s still one left!

Owl pop cakes and favor bags!

Thank you notes I did for my friends!
(Maya, Marga and my mom (Leonor) were the ones who organized the whole thing! so they deserve to have their thank you notes on the blog!!)