Smile And Wave

Sew with Us eCourse is Here!

Sew with Us is finally available to share! Katie Shelton and I have been developing this sewing eCourse with A Beautiful Mess for months to make sure we were able to offer you a sewing basics eCourse that really got students excited to dust off their machines!

We've designed it for beginners who are needing to learn the basics and work their way up from simple projects such as pillowcases and fabric garlands and leave you feeling confident enough to sew your own dress! There are twenty new to this class projects that you can work through that will not only fill your home and closet with one-of-a-kind items, you'll be able to use your skills on a hundred other things you've always wanted to make!

We walk you through how to thread your machine with a detailed video and share what to look for when you get stuck. We also offer tips on other ways to customize many of the projects that we've shared in case you want to get a little fancy and take it a step further! We share how learning to sew has been such a valuable tool for our own personal growth and even our businesses with plenty of encouragement to stick with it no matter how your first project turns out! 

Since we can't come over and craft together, we're hoping this course is a close second to sharing a new hobby with someone else that gets your excitement over scratching the creative itch with a new pair of scissors and maybe some beautiful fabrics. There was so much love and excitement poured into the projects shared in Sew with Us and I am thrilled it is finally ready to share with you! 

Head over to A Beautiful Mess for the full project list and other details. 

NOTE: For the first two weeks (until April 8th), ABM is offering the course at $30 USD—so you can save $15 just by purchasing now. Don't miss out on this discount if you're interested in taking your skills to the next level. 

Thank you for sharing in our excitement over this newest eCourse! Katie and I are going out to coffee soon to celebrate the launch but we also want to thank the team at ABM for all of their hard work in getting it to look good on the back end! High five, team!

-Rachel

Awesome With Bing in Denver!

So, WAY back in June I co-hosted a special event that Alison Faulkner of The Alison Show put on with Bing. It was one of a handful of parties across America that this fancy lady was organizing, along with local creatives and vendors in each city, to share a bit about her story and message to embrace your talents and potential and share it with the world.

It was not only one of the most fun evenings I've had since moving to Colorado, it was a bit dreamy to get to hug Alison's neck. I've been a fangirl of hers for a few years and have been so inspired by her ability to make things happen for herself whilst encouraging other women along the way!

The event was held at a beautiful venue in downtown Denver and Melanie of You Are My Fave added her magic with all of the beautiful decor and styling. I was so thrilled to have the chance to hang out with both Rebecca Caridad and Heather Grey throughout the evening as they were both able to contribute with florals and photography. I also got to meet a few lovely ladies I'd only known through Instagram and blogs!

We had dinner from a taco truck followed by gourmet ice cream and popsicles from local artisans whilst chatting about blogging, motherhood, shopping, etc. We each had our photo taken by Mountain vs. Plains and were turned into illustrations that we were later able to take home as favors. 

We had a lovely session with Alison and learned a bit more about Bing's tools for bloggers before I took the figurative stage and walked everyone through warping their looms and adding fringe before getting their weave on. It was my first time doing a teaching event in awhile and I found myself thinking in blog tutorial mode. Everyone was gracious when I gave them the wrong instructions on doubling their fringe length and we managed to get things figured out in the end. It was lovely watching their woven pieces take shape and knowing a few had found their new favorite hobby!

At the time Smith was about three months old and sweet Brett had him and the big kids downtown at our hotel with a bottle of my milk-a bottle that he decidedly refused to take so that he had more time to cry. Brett handled it like a champ so that I could have this four hour stretch with some fantastic gals doing what I love. It left me feeling so refreshed and a bit more connected to something that gets a little lost between diaper changes and midnight feedings. Let's all clap for Brett. 

I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to do something a little outside my 'I have a new baby and don't get out much anymore' comfort zone because it was so, so fun and I would've missed out on hugging that sweet Alison's neck!

Moral of the Story: If you're invited to share about something you're still learning how to do yourself and you're pretty nervous about how it might all come together, but your heart beats a little faster at the possibility of how exciting it might also be, go ahead and commit.

You won't be sorry.

Even if you have a slight wardrobe malfunction all night and your seemingly modest dress no longer covers that nursing cleavage. It'll all still be great. 

See for yourself below.

Thanks, Bing, for sponsoring our evening of fun and thanks, Alison, for bringing me along!

 

-Rachel 

 

Co-Host: Melanie Blodgett of You Are My Fave @youaremyfave and

Rachel Denbow of Smile and Wave @smileandwave

Florist: Rebecca Caridad @rebeccacaridad

Photographer: Heather Gray @heatherthegray

Popsicles: Aiko Pops

Portrait artist: Paul Michel of Mountain vs Plains

Venue: Blanc Denver @blancdenver

Videographer: Modern Atelier @modern_atelier

Let's Sew Together!

I'm incredibly proud to share with you the beautiful and inspiring work of my lovely friend, Rubyellen Bratcher. She's recently published Let's Sew Together: Simple Projects the Whole Family Can Make and it's perfect for any moms looking for a few projects to make their child's life more fun this summer!

There are wearables, home decor items, play things, games, recipes, and a few non-sewing gems tucked in between the rest. They're all darling but most of all they inspire creative play and a few may even teach some great habits!

My Ruby poured over the pages and pointed out at least six projects she wanted me to make for her and a few for her brothers. We decided to start with the Full & Fun Skirt project. I let Ruby choose from a few solids in my stash and got her set up to paint on top of a piece of cardboard using fabric friendly paints. 

I left her to it while I finished a project of my own and twenty minutes later she'd done a little abstract painting that she told me was a picture of our alley.

I was totally going to guess that's what it was. 

This really was an easy project for us to work on together and I hope that it gets her excited to see just how creative and capable she is! 

Actually, she is probably very aware of her capabilities from the looks of her temporary tattoo spree. 

She's not afraid of a little color, that's for certain. 

Rubyellen is an incredibly creative homeschoolin' mama to four sweet little beauties with a background in early childhood education. It's evident in the way so many of these projects are geared towards learning. There are fabric fruits and vegetables to reinforce healthful eating habits through play and plush silverware and plates to teach them how to set the table for family meals. The wearables are easy enough to make for beginning sewists and her instructions and sewing vocabulary section are quite helpful if you're just starting out. 

I think this book would be a great resource for any moms that are interested in sharing the gift of sewing with their kids and the perfect way to fill those long summer afternoons with teaching moments disguised as play.

-Rachel

Life.Love.Paper Giveaway

Tina Aszmus has always inspired me with her aesthetic but her prints are exceptional. I first purchased one of her calendars way back when (2010 maybe?) and then cut off the calendar parts and used the photos above in art journals, utilized them as thank you cards, etc. There's something dreamy and soulful about her prints and I was so happy to know she'd been working on something new. 

Tina is a scrapbooker/art journaler/Project Lifeist and has been providing the paper world more recently with screenprints as well as her photo prints, art prints, and digital downloads.

She's offering both screenprints shown here to one lucky winner. To enter to win, head to her shop, Life.Love.Paper, and share your favorite thing in the comments below. I'll choose a winner on Monday, May 19th. Be sure to leave a way to contact you!

I've got both of these prints and they're lovely in real life. I'm putting one in the kids' shared space and one in my studio space (the inside of a white cabinet for the moment) to keep me inspired. They're kind of perfect, aren't they!

-Rachel

 

 

Blog Life E-Course by A Beautiful Mess

My darling friends, Elsie and Emma, have just released their latest e-course, Blog Life. It's a thorough and inspiring review of all the ways you can take blogging to the next level. As a mom of three with little time for figuring it all out on my own, I'm more than thrilled to spend my next few days digging in and learning a few ways I can refresh things in this space and reorganize my current routine!

You can watch the trailer and learn more about the contents of this e-course here. I'm so proud of these girls and all the ways they're sharing their successes!

-Rachel

 

 

Nursing Covers That Do Double Duty

I had the privilege of having Rachel of Busy Spinning Thread as a sponsor recently and after looking through her Etsy shop I was sold on the idea of using a nursing cover that looks more like a roomy scarf when not in use. She offered to send me some to welcome this new baby and I quickly sent her my favorite patterns. 

They came in the mail this week on one of the coldest days we've had this winter so I wrapped myself up in the striped cover, tied the two corners together to turn it into an infinity scarf and kept myself cozy for the rest of the day!

In the past I've used swaddle blankets or the kind of nursing cover that ties around your neck and looks like a huge bib but got tired of always keeping up with them on outings. The bibs would get pulled aside by curious hands and the blankets would usually get shoved into the top of the diaper bag and eventually fall out. What I love about this nursing cover above is how soft and light it is so that baby will be able to breathe easily and that when it's untied it is like a large poncho so that it can't be raised up by busy little hands and feet without a lot of work. Plus, I know have another really fantastic scarf to add to my wardrobe both now and post-baby when I may want to distract from my shrinking mid-section!

Rachel and Molly's brand offers a variety of lovely things for mamas and kids alike such as swaddling blankets, infinity and fringe scarves, nursing necklaces, teething rings, pocket tanks, etc. using on trend prints and soft jersey fabrics. I

After doing this baby thing twice already it's become more apparent to me what's going to be useful and what's going to sit on a shelf.  I can't wait for this baby to get here so I can put these pieces to work!

-Rachel

In the Works: Crocheted Cross Baby Blanket

I started crocheting squares using up some citron and cream yarn a few months ago and then set it aside after losing motivation. I picked it up again to work on while we drove to Missouri for Christmas but was too distracted to really make any progress. Last week I picked things up again as a way to decompress after spending three weeks straight working on my art journaling e-course. I needed something to do with my hands that was not only totally different but that I could do while resting. 

I made Ruby a granny square afghan in those last few months and remembered it taking forever to join all of those little squares but I think these kinds of projects are great distractions from the discomfort and nerves that can show up while you realize how close you are and how far you still have to go before a baby arrives. 

I crocheted a ton of squares in these two colors and then started setting them down to figure out exactly how my pattern would look. Above is my first attempt but it felt like it was too crowded to appreciate the pattern. 

Then I took it apart and tried something else and was much happier with the extra white space. It meant I had plenty of citron squares but needed more cream so I spent a few hours on Tuesday in bed with Netflix and a cold crocheting away with Ruby coloring and playing games on PBSkids next to me. Then I ran out of cream yarn.

I made enough progress to have crocheted 77 squares so far and once the temperatures get out of the single digits we may venture out to pick up some more yarn and possibly some muslin and jersey cotton for receiving blankets. 

Speaking of receiving blankets, I have a story to share. Sometime last week I shared some muslin blankets I purchased on Etsy with a gift card and touched on them being another reason I needed a serger in my life. It's a machine that's been on my wish list for years but there's always been something else we needed a little bit more so on the wish list it's remained.

Imagine my shock and surprise when the VERY NEXT DAY the FedEx guy stopped by with a large, heavy box that had me stumped. We order toilet paper and paper towels in bulk from Amazon so I figured it could be our monthly order but it was much too heavy. I stood on the freezing cold porch because I couldn't really carry it inside without giving myself a contraction and opened the flaps. I pulled out the packaging and literally teared up instantly when I saw that it was a brand new Brother serger. I looked for a note or a gift receipt telling me who it was from and found something at the bottom with a name I didn't recognize. 

I let a wave of emotion roll over me and had a moment before getting online to google the name and then remembered the only place I'd shared about wanting one was on Instagram. I ended up figuring out who it was and have since let them know how much their thoughtfulness and generosity lifted my spirits and am happy to honor their wish to remain anonymous.

I wanted to share this with you all because it's acts like this one that can make such a strong impact on a person's heart. It's one of those gestures that will always stay with me and help me appreciate how important it is for our family to be generous where we can be as well. Whether it's with our time, our attention, our abilities, etc, there are always ways we can serve and bless someone in our lives whether we know them well or not. 

I'm really eager to spend some time getting to know it this weekend in hopes of cranking out a few fun things before this baby shows up! My heart is thankful. So, so thankful.

Have you ever had someone surprise you in such a fantastic way? Have you ever done that to someone else? I want to hear.

-Rachel

p.s. For anyone who may be curious, the crochet squares are just a basic chain stitch for 10 and then single stitch for 16 rows. I'm hoping to share how I get them put together but I imagine it's going to be one of those things you could probably figure out by searching YouTube. Basic, basic. To be continued.

Hunting and Gathering: Preparing for Baby #3

Things have been busy behind the scenes over here! This third pregnancy has been so much harder than my last two in ways I wasn't expecting in the third trimester. Every night this month as soon as I'm done eating dinner my body waves the white flag of surrender and I need to lay down and take a nap. AT 7:00pm. It's only ever about 30-45 minutes and then I'm able to rejoin the world while Brett puts the kids to bed but it makes it tricky to fit in those regular hours of night work that I've always relied on since Sebastian was born. Brett is only up about an hour after the kids go down due to early morning Army PT so I do my best to focus on that time with him to catch up on the day and discuss the next. If I happen to lay down at all while we catch up I'm a goner. It would take a house fire to get me back out of bed. Oh, and that almost happened last week!

I've been spending most of my time and energy working on my first e-course for 2014 that will hopefully be launching in February! Our dining room table has been covered in papers, paint, photos, and all manner of sundry items since we've come home from our holiday adventure to the Midwest and has been a work in progress for a few months prior. I'm excited to share more soon! 

Other than that I've been spending a lot of time cooking healthful dinners, running carpool, tracking down a few special items online for this baby, cleaning out my wardrobe to make room for baby things, and making lists of all of the things I wish I had more energy to tackle.

At 34 weeks the contractions throughout the day continue, baby seems to have had a growth spurt and is now able to kick up into my ribs, I'm itchy all over at night, my feet are just starting to hurt when I stand for too long, my hands are usually swollen, my eyes are puffy no matter how much or little sleep I get, the number of shirts that still completely cover my belly have been reduced to a handful, and even getting my socks and boots on is quite the chore.

Most times when I get up from a seated position I feel like this baby is going to fall out. I can't exercise or I'll start having contractions so I've been much more focused on a healthy diet post-holidays. I had a slightly concerning glucose test the first week of January but retook it two weeks later and passed. HOORAY! I'm drinking water like a fish and resting on my left side when it feels like I need to take a break and thankfully the contractions haven't been as hot and heavy as they were right after Christmas.

With things feeling uncomfortable all the time so much earlier than the last two I've been a little bit of a cranky prego. It's helped to hear from other mamas with more than two kids that each pregnancy is unique and that they've had both easy and hard ones and that they chalk it up to hormones. Hormones can take a hike. 

Regardless, and as I mentioned on Instagram over the weekend, I'm so thankful for this little life growing inside. All the discomfort can make a girl cranky but it is bringing a new family member into our story - one that will forever change us again and one that we'd been hoping for for so long. I'd like to say six weeks left but one never knows and with a history of going past my due date I'm holding the middle of March as a loose estimate. Sometime after February is lived and sometime before April is upon us.

With only 6-8 weeks left to prepare for this sweet baby I'm starting to feel like I've got a lot of work left to do. I have been collecting things I love and receiving the sweetest gifts from friends and family the past few months so this baby won't be wearing the same outfit every day but we're still needing to make some decisions on a car seat and stroller, stock up on burp cloths and swaddlers, buy bottles and a pump so the rest of the family can take turns feeding this baby at some point, buy some disposable diapers for the first few weeks and then decide if we want to try cloth diapers again, start doubling and freezing meals, make plans for family visiting, etc.

We're so close to the end of this pregnancy that at least once a day it blows my mind. I turned to Brett last Saturday and reminded him we only had a few more weekends as a family of four left! We need to take the kids to the movies, make one last trip to Ikea, fit in one more date night (hello, Valentine's Day), and remember what it's like to have offspring that can use the bathroom all by themselves because all of that will be put on hold for awhile soon!

Pregnancy is funny like that. It seems to last forever and then sneaks up on you in the end. In the meantime I'll be staring at all of the lovely things we've gathered and received for this mystery gender baby while I rest on my side of the bed. 

-Rachel

First Photo: Merona Chevron blanket gifted from my friend Jessa. Sweater, BabyGap. Star pajamas gifted from BumpNest from BabyGap. Freshly Picked moccs gifted by Susan of Freshly Picked. 

Second Photo: Abstract Baby quilt, made by me. Cloud pillow by Juniper Wilde. Handmade hoodie by ChildHoods. Black and white hat by KidsCreationsOz. Cream hat handmade and gifted by my friend, Mindy.

Third Photo: Black and White pocket organizer from Land of Nod gifted by Elsie and Emma. Citron hat found at Wal-Mart. White kimono shirts, thrifted. Pants gifted by my friend Kelle. Wooden rattle gifted from Shauna and Stephen of Forage. 

Boo at the Zoo: Colorado Springs

We joined the Nichols family again this year for Boo at the Zoo here in Colorado Springs last weekend because walking up a large hill in the cold is just more fun with friends. Both of our husbands are away with the Army at the moment so it was another way to make a special memory with the kids. Everyone recognized my little Harry Potter and we even had a little Hermione taking a similar route. Batgirl got shy at the comic book stand and wouldn't get anywhere near the adult Batman. She couldn't even be bribed with candy. After finding an easy to wear, vintage maxi with a horse shoe print and then a peasant looking blouse in the same Halloween section at the thrift store, I decided to go as a barefoot and pregnant prairie girl whose husband is off at war. 

My friend, Mindy, made her girls' costumes and came up with the fun idea of being a lion tamer along with her baby lion in tow. Her oldest went as a California raisin and received plenty of comments in passing-mostly from adults. Suzy Bishop was recognized by another adult and got her picture taken. They were so busy facebooking it as we left they didn't hear her say goodbye. 

The kids enjoyed running around the zoo as it got dark and bumping into their favorite characters and we ended the night with as many kids as we started with so it was a successful trip. Also, there was a Thriller flash mob. I know those aren't quite as trendy as they used to be but a flash mob in real life is always going to be exciting.

We still have Halloween ahead of us despite feeling like we've already done it. I'm thinking I may try to find an old wedding dress in the same Halloween section of our local thrift store, alter the corset area, and go as one half of a shotgun wedding. We'll see how much energy this growing baby offers up before Thursday evening.

-Rachel

P.S. Look how much smaller they looked last year!

My Girls Came To See Me

This last weekend was one I'd been looking forward to for a few months. Some of my best girlfriends from Missouri and my favorite Candian made the trip out to Colorado Springs for a few days to spend some time with us while Brett was away. It was another great distraction to help us get through the last stretch but more than that it was refreshing to spend some time with those girls I've known for between four and twelve years. They are some of my favorite girls because they make me feel like I'm twenty five again. There's always more color, more laughing, and more fun in my life when we get together and I always come away from our time together recharged creatively with the kind of motivation that can get lost under the weight of every day life.

Sebastian was on the mend but Ruby was still in the midst of her strep throat when they arrived. She was feeling pretty shy and didn't want to come out to visit but then Katie snuck in and worked her magic and Elsie brought in the LaLaLoopsy gift they brought and she finally decided they were pretty nice girls. In fact, she decided to adopt Katie as her surrogate mom for the time they were here so there was lots of hand holding, hugging, sitting on her lap, and asking her for help instead of me. It was sweet to see her get so attached and everyone was great about not worrying too much about them being sick. 

Holly and Emma made themselves at home in our kitchen and Holly taught Emma how to make macarons. I'd tried macarons from a handful of places before and decided I didn't get the hype but Holly's were absolutely incredible. She made (eggless) cookie dough macarons so it was kind of a double treat. She was sweet to let Ruby help and we all got to taste things along the way. I expect Emma will be sharing the experience on A Beautiful Mess in the near future because she had her camera on her the whole time.

I sent them off to some of my favorite restaurants that first day while the kids and I stayed at home so they could rest and then we sent Sebastian off to school on Monday and drove up to Denver. Ruby had her first big girl shopping experience and enjoyed smelling every single candle in Anthropologie and picking out a few early birthday presents at Urban Outfitters and H&M. We then headed back to get S from school and left the girls in Denver a bit longer before meeting back up for dinner at everyone's new favorite restaurant, Shuga's. Then it was back to their hotel to let the kids go swimming before having to say goodbye. 

It was a great visit despite the kids being sick and I was so thankful for their flexibility and willingness to fly out here for the weekend. We made some fun memories and got to catch up on life in between the blog posts. I've been lucky enough to see Elsie, Emma, and Katie a handful of times since we've moved out here but I hadn't seen Holly since Elsie's wedding. It's another reminder just how special those friendships are and how valuable that time spent together face to face can be - even if it only happens every now and then. 

Now, let's do Halloween and then get Brett back home!

-Rachel