His First Text Message

The other day I was texting someone and Noah was in my lap and was trying to help me. So when I finished, I asked him if he wanted to send a text message to Daddy. Of course, he said yes. I helped him type his very first message to his Daddy who was oh-so-far-away in the living room.

It says, "Daddy will you come sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to me? Love, Nono"

And Daddy responded with "Of course, son. Love, Daddy." 

Linked to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

Create Letters Re-Done

You may remember this post from awhile back in which I showed you my "create" letters that hang above the door in my creative studio. 

They looked like this:

Cute, but it doesn't exactly go with my new color scheme.

So I ripped off the existing paper, sanded the letters down and then painted some black and some teal. Then I decopauged black and white or teal scrapbook papers onto the letters and accent with ribbon and satin flowers and this is the end result.

Much better and much more ME! 

Now just need to get hubby to hang them.....

(Linking to the crafty parties listed listed in my sidebar)

Quote of the Week: Walking with a Friend

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." 

- Helen Keller

Photo: Me and my BFF taken by the fab Monika in April in Charlotte

Weekend Wonders: The One with Phone Book Flowers

Crafts

Personalized Dry Erase Calendar

I seem to be drawn to dry erase and perpetual calendars lately. This personalized one over at SAS Interiors is great.

Storage Container Makeover

Do you have one of those boring, basic (and probably black) drawer storage containers? While very functional, they are an eye sore. I love this storage makeover from Day and Age Design. What a great way to incorporate the storage container into your decor!

Embellished Photo Boxes

I love these embellished photo boxes from Craftzine. They'd make a great gift!

Recycled Phonebook Hydrangeas 

Would you believe those flowers are made from recycled phone book pages? Well, they are! The Mad Recycler shows us how to make them. 

Circle Punch Photo Collage

The gals at Eighteen Twenty Five share how to make this adorable photo collage using a circle punch. 

Magnetic Memo Board

I love this magnetic memo board created with chalkboard paint by Tonia over at The Gunny Sack. 

Cooking

25 Slow Cooker Recipes

The gals at Six Sisters Stuff share a list of 25 different slow cooker recipes. 

Healthy Breaded Shrimp

This recipe by Gina at Gina's Skinny Recipes gives you the taste and crunch of fried shrimp without all the calories. It's definitely on my "to try" list. 

Five Minute Friday: Older

It’s Friday – the day where I join other bloggers and take five short minutes to just write from the heart. Five Minute Friday is hosted by Gypsy Mama and this week’s prompt is older. 


My birthday is less than a month away and I will be growing another year older. So far, growing older hasn't bothered me that much. I mean, it's just a natural part of life and not much I can do about it so I try not to grumble about it too much. Besides, as I grow older I feel like I just grow into "me" more.

But with Noah, it's different. My big fear is him growing older. It's scary and it's unknown territory, uncharted waters. I am sure some of it is the normal feelings that every Mother has when their baby is growing up. They fondly remember the days when their "baby" was actually a baby and may long for them again. But for the most part, for me, I don't think it's that.

Asa my friend's children get older, they will worry about college, their children moving out, career paths, their child getting married and eventually they will celebrate becoming grandparents. My worries won't be exactly the same. As Noah gets older, he gets heavier. There is going to come a time in which I can no longer lift him, what then? He won't go to college, instead we are already discussing vocational centers for disabled adults. He will go to one on those. And he'll always remain with us.

On the bright side, I won't have some of the same headaches that some of my friends will as their children grow older. I won't have to worry about how to pay for college or if he is behaving in his first apartment. My worries will be different.

But for now, I will continue to try not to worry too much about the future because I want to cherish today.

Photo: One of my favorite pictures from Noah's birthday last year.

From Drab to Fab: Teal and Damask Tray

So I had a plain wooden tray lying around in my stash and decided to fix it up and use it to hold some of my supplies in my creative studio.

I started off with a plain wooden tray. Pretty Drab!

I painted it the same shade of teal as my dresser. Then I covered the bottom of the tray with the same black and white damask wrapping paper that I used on the back of my bookshelves.

Love the end result!

(Linking up to the parties listed in my sidebar)

Quote of the Week: Kind Words

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless." 

- Mother Teresa

Weekend Wonders: The One with the Team Wreath

I've seen so many great porjects in the blog-o-sphere this week. Below are some of my faves.

Crafty Stuff
Team Wreath

How cute is this team inspired wreath from She's Kinda Crafty! Perfect for the upcoming football season. My husband would love if I made one of these with a few minor changes - switch out the blue for purple and change the F to a C. I might just have to make one for football Saturdays! 

Paint Chip Moving Announcements

You know my love of paint chips, right? So it's no doubt that I adore these paint chip moving announcements from Oh So Beautiful. What a cute, unique, and inexpensive way to share your new address! I wish I had seen them a year ago when we moved in our new house! 

Chalkboard Lunch Box

I highlighted a lot of back to school projects and ideas last week but I had to include this one from Scissors and Spatulas when I saw it. This looks like a normal lunch box until you open it up and the top inside is a chalkboard. Such a fun way to write a note to your child!

Window Frame

I really need to find some old windows - love this old window turned frame at Michelle Paige.

Fridge Gallery

I love this fridge gallery complete with a perpetual calendar over at A Diamond in the Stuff. It's a great way to make your fridge more functional decor wise. I might just have to do this on my own fridge!

101 Handmade Gifts List

This is a super fabulous list compiled by Everything Etsy of 101 Handmade Gift Ideas. Christmas is just around the corner (eek!) so it's perfect for ideas of gifts you could make.

Home Decor

DIY Rain Gutter Shelves

Would you believe these bookshelves over at Sweet Cheeks are made from rain gutters? They look fab and certainly don't look like rain gutters!

Food
Skinny Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting

I think these meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting would be a fun and different item for a dinner party.

Misc.
Oxygen Stat!
This post by Heather at The Idea Room is a great reminder that we need to stop and breathe during the hustle and bustle of everyday life and take care of ourselves in order to take care of our families. 

Five Minute Friday: New Baby, New Mom

It’s Friday – the day where I join other bloggers and take five short minutes to just write from the heart. Five Minute Friday is hosted by Gypsy Mama and this week’s prompt is new. 

When I think of the word new, one of my first thoughts is of a new baby. More importantly, MY new baby. With Noah technically starting high school this week, I've been thinking a lot of those early days; the days where I where he was a new baby and I was a brand new Mom.....

I was young (19) and scared but I also fell head over heels in love with my brand new baby the moment I saw him. Noah was born early and with lots of complications which later resulted in his Cerebral Palsy diagnosis and I only got to see him (but not hold him) for a quick second (which is when my Mom snapped the photo above) before he was whisked off to the NICU. Hours later, I was able to see him in the NICU and I remember just staring at this brand new little person - the brand new little person I had helped create. I was in awe and I was head over heels in love. 

Over the next few days, I visited my new baby in the NICU as much as they'd let me and as he struggled medically, I struggled with the overwhelming feelings of being a new Mother. I remember thinking at that moment, that I would do anything for that child, I'd die for him if need be and I remember being startled by those thoughts of a little person I'd just met! But that is the love of a Mother. When a child is a born, a Mother is also born. 

Years later, my feelings for my son aren't new and I'm certainly not a new Mom. I've had nearly fifteen years (ack!) to grow into this role but my feelings are just the same! I'm still head over heels for that little boy (ok, he's not so little anymore but he will ALWAYS be MY little boy!) and I'd still do anything for him. 

Writing this has brought this quote, by Maureen Hawkins to mind....

"Before you were conceived, I wanted you.

Before you were born, I loved you, 

Before you were here an hour, I'd die for you. 

This is the miracle of love." 

Chandelier Canvas Art

I am in the process of creating a few pieces for the walls of my creative studio and will be sharing those as I complete them.

I fell in love with this chandelier art I saw over at Craft-O-Maniac and pinned it on Pinterest to save for future inspiration. I had a spare 10 x 10 canvas sitting around and remembered the chandelier art. I had purchased a similar chandelier file from the Silhouette store months ago for a different project. So, I decided to paint the canvas teal. It took about two coats. Then, I cut the chandelier out of black vinyl and put it on the painted canvas.

I liked it but felt it needed something else to help it "pop" so I decided to bling it out and glued rhinestones on to it.

Then to finish it off, I glued black and white houndstooth ribbon to the edges of the canvas.

Love it!

Now I just need hubby to hang it!

(Linking up to the parties listed in my sidebar)

Wordless Wednesday: First Day of School

Noah was thrilled to start school on Monday. He wasn't overly thrilled with the pictures, but he obliged and let me take them anyway. He's technically a 9th grader now!

Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

and 5 Minutes for Moms

Bookcase Makeover

I'm so excited to finally share my bookcase makeover for my creative studio! Instead of holding books, this bookcase houses a lot of my craft supplies in an organized fashion. 

I've actually had this bookcase for years and it's been all sorts of colors (white, blue, brown) but it was starting to look kind of bad and definitely time for a fresh coat of paint. I'm almost embarrassed to show you the before - it was MESSY! (I promise, it wasn't always THAT messy!) But I think to fully appreciate the new and improved bookcase, you must see the before.

So, once I cleaned off the bookcase, I sanded the bookcase down and then I painted it with two coats of flat black paint. It looked a million times better at that point - but I wanted to do something different - I wanted to add paper to the back of the bookcase. (Like this pretty cabinet!)

I'm using different black and white prints in my creative studio and I found a big roll of black and white damask printed wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby that ended up being three bucks for 50 square feet with my coupon.

I was actually nervous to paper the inside of the bookshelf. I was scared I'd mess up or it wouldn't be straight or something. But, I decided to go for it - if I did one shelf and didn't like it, I knew I could just rip it off, sand the heck out of it, and repaint it.

The wrapping paper had a grid on the back of it. This made it SO much easier! I used spray glue to adhere the wrapping paper to the back of the bookcase. I liberally sprayed where I needed the paper to go then I started at the top of that particular shelf and worked my way down, smoothing it straight as I went. It was so much easier than I thought it would be and I LOVE the outcome and am seriously having to restrain myself from running around and papering all the bookcases in my house.

Ok, enough teasing.... Ready to see the end result?

Ta-da!

Here's some closer looks.....

Everything is sorted and in different baskets an all organize now! Boy, does it feel good to have it all organized! I have the ribbon all sorted by color - I even rolled up all the ribbons and secured them with straight pins. My Momma would be so proud!  All the baskets actually came from the Dollar Tree. I wasn't looking for baskets there but when I saw them I knew they'd be perfect and you can't beat the price. 

I made the labels using my Silhouette machine and adhered them to the baskets with glue dots. 

The large shelf houses my paper storage boxes. (Go here to see how I made them.)

I sorted some of my embellishments into little jars that I already had. 

More miscellaneous crafting supplies sorted into baskets. 

And the very bottom shelf holds my large paper trimmer, crop-o-dile, and other necessities. It's not as pretty as the other shelves so I may try putting those things in the closet. 

Love it! 

Pretty and organized!

Linking up to the linky parties listed in my sidebar 

and 

Technically a High Schooler

Today my baby (technically) became a high schooler......

Technically, Noah is in the 9th grade and technically that’s high school. But since he goes to a special needs school and it’s not really sorted by grades, he is much more technically a 9th grader than a typical 9th grader in the local high school.

It’s been bittersweet for me. I’m aware of what his life is like and what the life of a typical 9th grader is like and sometimes those differences punch me in the gut. But ya know what? It’s OK for me to admit that!  For the longest time, I felt like if I got sad about the things Noah couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to do because of his disabilities that I was in some way being a bad Mother or dishonoring him, but I have learned that I’m just being real. It doesn’t make me a bad Mother or make me love Noah any less to acknowledge that there are experiences that he is missing out on. I don’t dwell on them but now I do at least acknowledge them and realize it’s OK to feel that way.

But in my usual fashion, I tend to play Pollyanna and try to find the positives in life. There are some definite positives for me as a doting Mom of having a special needs 9th grader versus a typical one.....

1. I can still put a note in his lunch box. (That would be so un-cool if he were a typical 9th grader.)
2. He still rides the bus and loves it and even blows me kisses from the bus! (When I was in high school, it was not cool to ride the bus.)
3. I can still make treats for his class and give his teachers gifts.
4. I still pick out his clothes.
5. He still wants me involved and at school functions.

Maybe those are just trivial things to some, but to my Momma heart they are special and I’m gonna cherish these moments and be glad that I have the extra ones.

Happy House-versary!

We have lived in our cute little house one year today! 


Happy House Anniversary to us! 

Quote of the Week: Be Yourself

"Be yourself. 

Everyone is already taken."

- Oscar Wilde

Weekend Wonders: The One with Lots of School Stuff

It seems like just yesterday summer was just starting; it really has flown by but it's almost time for the kids to board the bright yellow bus and head back to school. There are some really great back to school projects out there in the blogosphere so today I'll share some of my favorites. 

Chalkboard Notebook

Laura at Come Together Kids took a plain boring composition notebook, mixed up a fun color of chalkboard paint, and painted the notebook. How fun! And an inexpensive way to dress up a cheap notebook.

Backpack ID Tag

Tonia at The Gunny Sack shares how to make this super cute back pack tag. 

Wise Owl Snack

I'm a sucker for owls and fell in love with this little wise owl snack that Kim at The Celebration Shoppe created. What a cute and fun snack!

Back to School Snack

Crissy at Crissy's Crafts shares this adorable first day of school snack using a few ingredients.

Printable Lunch Box Notes

Lori at Fresh Picked Whimsy created these adorable (and free) printable lunch box notes. Just download, print, and cut them and put them in your child's lunch box!

For the Mamarazzi Mommas like me.....

Back to School Photo Checklist

Simple as That shares a free printable back to school photo checklist. Tons of photo opp ideas!

First Day of School Photo Signs

The girls at How Does She? came up with these awesome free printable signs for your kids to hold while you snap their photos.

Frame for Back to School Photos

Living Locurto shares a tutorial on how to make a frame perfect for framing one of the 99 photos you are sure to take on the first day of school.

Do you do anything fun or make anything to celebrate the first day of school?