Happy Happy Spring from all the Watsons!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! We spent most of the time outside in the beautiful Arizona springtime eating delicious food, playing yard games, and finding Easter eggs. I hope everyone's Easter was just as wonderful as ours.

And don't all these girls look absolutely FABULOUS in their dresses my mom sewed for them? Of course doing a small little photoshoot is so crazy hard with your own kids, but I managed to snap some sweet little photos of all my crazies before they were covered in chocolate and bubble soap. 

Recap of the Twins birthday

I know it's a tad, but you know what they say, "Better late than never", right? My girls had the time of their lives at their ballerina birthday party. My mom made each girl a tutu, I made gumball necklaces, we had pinatas, and it was an all around fabulous time

Thanks to all our sweet family members who shared Evie & Georgie's big day with us!

What Three Looks Like

Remember before when I said One Year Olds were the hardest to photograph? I retract my previous statement. 

This is my Evelyn- she turned three on Monday. 

And this is my Georgia. She turned three on Tuesday. 

They have different birthdays. Evie was born at 11:59 on the 11th and Georgie was born at 12:05 on the 12th. It's a fun little quirk that we enjoy- you can read their birth story on my old blog.

They are cray cray bananas, but oh so much fun to have around. Evie is sweet and Georgie is spicy and I wouldn't trade them for all the pennies in the wishing wells.

Creative Team Tuesday: A Procrastinator's Prayers Answered

So, the twins are turning three on the 11th & 12th of this month. They decided on a Ballerina Party, and I noticed that Sunday was two weeks before the date of their party. AHHHHHHH!!!! I obviously don't have invites out. Or a design. Or anything.

I suck.

But, wait! Rhonna Designs to the rescue!

I remembered Rhonna's Party Pack Kit and loved the palette for a modern ballerina party!

Here is the fabulous digital invite I used on the Facebook Event since I wanted to let people know about it asap. I've ordered the paper invites from Persnickety Prints for those family members that don't have Facebook.

It's going to be a simple little family party since March is a crazy busy month for us, but it will be filled with the twins most favorite things: tutus, ballet slippers, and sugar. What else could a three year old ask for?

Clementine's Newborn Album

I recently found some fabulous mini accordian albums for my photography clients and I decided I definitely needed one for my sweet little Clementine's newborn photos I took. So, I whipped up this darling little album using Paislee Press's Meant to Be Kit. 

I love these little close ups of her face and hands. I can't wait to see this all printed up on a little accordian album; I may go accordian album happy for christmas gifts!

Clementine's Birth Story

I am baffled by the fact that Clementine is now one month old. Time has literally flown by like Dorothy's house in that twister, and it's like we've always had six kids. Between the kids and Braden's school, my photography, potty training the twins, preparing for Halloween, Bunco, preparing for my sister's wedding & bridal shower, and I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting- I've barely had time to breathe. But, during the times that I do, I make extra sure to say an extra special thank you prayer for getting to be so lucky. If you've never had the experience of taking a nap with a brand new baby sleeping on your chest, then let me tell you; you're in for a treat my friend. There is truly nothing better.


Eryn made me a treasure of a video of Clementine's Birth Story, and I am pleased as punch to share it with everyone. Happy Monday!

Yes, I'm alive. But barely.

It's been two and a half weeks since Clementine arrived and because we apparently lost our marbles, we decided to potty train Evelyn & Georgia since Teeny Tiny was such a piece of cake. It's been a week and a half now and I'm just now barely able to come up for air. I'll tell you right now, potty training is hell and I hate it; but now that they've gotten the hang of it I can tell it will definitely make our lives easier.

We were all a hot mess all last week, so obviously I was less present in my "online life" to be more present in my "real life".  But I have so much to share with everyone! It's been stockpiling, so be prepared for some blog awesomeness- woot woot! I have my maternity album to share, Clementine's Newborn portraits, our birth story video coming up, lots of Halloween fun, and more so get excited.

New to the blog today is my first "Workout Wednesday" post which features what I've been doing lately workin' on my fitness. People always ask others what they do to try and get in shape, especially after having a baby so I thought I'd share what I'm doing in case others don't know where to start.

I don't really have the time to get a gym membership (although once most of my bitties are in school, I'd LOVE to get one), so I have to do as much as I can from home. I found this awesome website, bodyrock.tv, awhile ago- they have a TON of great, fast workout that make a big impact in a short amount of time, which I like. This morning I did the Diamonds Workout, but modified since I'm so stinkin out of shape.

Also, I've been trying to do yoga every morning. You can find free podcasts on Itunes- I use 20 minute Yoga Sessions and switch it up every time so I don't get bored. This morning I did the 20 minute Power Yoga before the kids woke up at 5:00 am, and I already feel like today is going to be a good day. So, I spent less than 45 minutes to get a decent workout in. If I can do it, you can too!

Our Darling Clementine Has Arrived

In case you missed the big announcement on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram- Clementine arrived last week! She is the most lovely thing around town, and we are head over heels smitten with her.

Last week was spent getting into the groove of life with 6 kids, but I think we've gotten acclimated and I even snuck in her first photo session- more of those photos to come! 

Wordless Wednesday: Olivia & Penelope's 1st Day of Ballet

Favorite Baby Bow Idea Round Up

I've been dragging my feet a little getting Clementine's pretties and wardrobe ready. We were all so sick last week and now that I'm back to my non-zombie self I really want to make some cute things for her in case she decides to arrive extra early. Of course, Pinterest had a ton of good ideas for baby headbands and bows so I made a little collage of my favorites to make for our new itty bitty.

1//Lou & Lee Newborn Baby Bows & Flowers 2//Posh Bowtique Crazy Bow

1//Easter Bonnet Headband 2//Pinwheel & Flower Headband 3//Rainbow Flower Headband 4//Peacock Headband

1//Soft grey & yellow felt flower headband 2//Purple, silver, & emerald rosette headband 3//Bunting Headband 4//Turquoise & yellow rosette headband

Now the hardest part is to choose which one I want to start with! I am planning on doing a tutorial next week for one- which one would you like to learn how to make?

Sweet Baby Onesies Round Up & Tutorial

As Clementine's premiere gets closer and closer, I keep realizing how completely unprepared I am. I don't really stress about it because babies really are super low key if you make them that way, but I really should have something for her to wear when she gets here. If you haven't discovered already, newborn babies do not fit into ANYTHING for the first couple of weeks, so all those cute newborn outfits you have stashed are going to look ridiculous for at least a little while. I like to stock up on basic newborn or preemie white onesies for those first days, and they are super easy to customize and jzooge up to give your itty bitty some personality. Here is a round up of my favorite fancy onsie ideas from pinterest: 

1// Finley & Oliver Chevron onesie 2// Lou & Lee Orange onesie 3// Popsicle Onesie 4// Lou & Lee Vintage Yellow Onesie 5// Lou & Lee Cameo Onesie 6// Painted Chevron Onesies 7// State Onesie 8// Lou  & Lee Green Cameo Onesie 9// Moda Applique Onesies

The very first image of the chevron felt applique from Finely & Oliver is my most favorite, and she has a super sweet tutorial about how to make it on her blog. I feel like making a whole slew of newborn onesies for Clementine, now just to choose what designs to make....

Penelope's Fancy Day

Being so crazy busy and having so many kids sometimes takes a toll on my sanity- so I have to conciously make an effort to slow down sometimes and give my kids the extra attention they crave and stop "working". My mind is constantly moving and creating and planning for all my projects I am juggling right now so it is really hard for me to completely stop and disconnect from the world and web and just be present in my life.

I decided to make an effort for one of those "disconnect days" on Friday, because my little Miss Peepers got to have a whole special day just to herself. Grandma & I took her to get her very first hair cut and we chopped it into a sweet little bob that fits her charming personality just perfectly. Landen came along for moral support for his best buddy and he was so sweet when she got it cut "Oh Peepers, you look BEAUTIFUL!" (after he realized who she was- he didn't recognize her at first ;)

After her haircut, we took her to get her ears pierced, which I figured would go terribly because she is SUCH a drama queen. She of course freaked when her first ear got pierced and cried immediately, but after we oohed and ahhed over how pretty her earrings were she sucked it up and got brave for the second ear. She didn't even cry after the second one.

Then we went on a lunch date at Chick-Fil-A (which has the most delicious peach milkshakes on the planet) so it was a super fun day for my Peeper Girls. She looks like such a big girl, I can't wait to get her all fancied up with her new hair do and earrings and snap some fab photos of her to hang in our house!

Being out and about with them forced me to put down the iphone, stop planning photo shoots in my head, and just focus on not losing one of my kids as they wander around the mall. I'm thinking I may need to take one of those days at least every other week so I don't turn completely into a robot ;)

First Day of First Grade

Yesterday was a big day over at The Watson Abode. Our big 6 year old Lala went to 1st grade! The house is a lot more quiet without her, even with four other brother & sisters that miss her something dreadful.

  Music "All Smiles" by Jess Penner

A is for Apple Dress Tutorial

Although Olivia has to wear uniforms to school, I wanted to make her a special dress that she could wear for meet the teacher day. I've been planning this dress since May, looking for exactly what I wanted to do and I remembered these dresses I pinned a while ago.

They looked simple enough to construct, and with the right fabric would be adorable. Plus, with 4 girls (soon to be 5) to sew for I could tweak it a bit and make each girl their own unique dress if I find the ambition. I discovered the perfect fabric at Scrapbooks, ETC; which by the way had matching scrapbook paper so I could make a cute matching card for Olivia to give to her new 1st grade teacher.

I started out by measuring Olivia, and I constructed a "pattern" (although it's really mostly strips of fabric sewn together) based on her measurements. I'll walk you through the process so you can make a similar dress for any sized little girl- just tweak the "pattern" using your own measurements.

Olivia is 6 years old and her measurements are as follows:
BUST: 22"
GIRTH: 38.5"
WAIST: 22"
HIPS: 22"
WAIST-KNEE: 17"

From there, I sketched out just how I wanted the dress to look like (DISCLOSURE: I am not an artist nor a fashion designer, as I'm sure you can tell from my sketch) and planned what fabrics I wanted where on the dress.

DIRECTIONS:
1// Snip & rip the tops of each piece of fabric all the way across. That way you start with a nice straight line (woven fabrics will always rip straight).

2// Draw your bodice pattern using the measurements you took. Cut 2 on fold of fabric to make two separate sweetheart front pieces.

3//  Measure all your strip widths, then snip & rip to get strips of your 48" wide fabrics. For the long panels, you'll need to rip two or three strips of the same width.

4// Sew your straps together. Fold your strips in half right sides together hot dog style and press. Pin along open edge, then straight stitch together leaving ends open. Place a Safety Pin on one edge and pull through center of strap "tube" to flip the fabric right side out once sewn together. Once right side out, press flat. Repeat with other strap.

5// Place two Bodice pieces right sides together and pin straps in between in center, making sure the straps are coming down from the bottom of the bodice pieces and the strap seams are hidden.

6// Straight stitch the bodice all the way around sides and top, leaving the bottom open to flip right side out. Clip the curves of seam (don't clip the thread!), flip, then press flat.

7// Take the Back Panel piece of fabric and press a small hem for the top, then pin. Straight stitch the hem. Once hemmed, put in your elastic thread and smock the panel. I use the needle foot as a guide for my smocking lines, no need to be perfect and draw the lines before hand.

8// Once your Back Panel is smocked, pin it to the Sweetheart Bodice piece right sides together and straight stitch the sides. Flip right sides out. Congratulations- you're half done!

9// Take your Center Panel strip and cut in half so you have two pieces to equal your center measurement. Put right sides together and straight stitch both ends, then flip. Change your machine to a larger stitch length (I sew with a 2 normally, then go up to a 4 for a gathering stitch) then stitch across top to gather the panel.

10// Pin the Center Panel to your bodice right sides together and straight stitch to connect.

11// Repeat Step 9 with your Skirt Panel piece. Stitch front & back together, gather at top, then pin to Center Panel and stitch together.

12// Now you can make it fancy with a bottom ruffle, or you can hem the Skirt Panel, or you could just serge the bottom if you're short on time or ambition. I decided on a ruffle for the bottom, so I repeated Step 9 again with my Ruffle Strip. Instead of hemming my ruffle, however, I zig zag stitched the bottom of the ruffle then trimmed the end with pinking shears.

13// I really like the pinked edges look so I did the same with the straps open end seams. You could sew the straps to the back of the dress, tie them like a halter, or do what I did and add grommets to the back to tie the straps through. I'm not great at grommets, so here's a tutorial to help you install grommets if you want to try and brave using them. I ended up having to have Braden jimmy rig them with his tools.

14// Lastly, with Olivia's dress, I felt like the skirt needed something and added simple square pockets to the front. I ripped 4 squares of fabric, placed two together right sides together, stitched around leaving one side open, then flipped right sides out. After repeating with the other two squares,  I pressed each pocket, then zig zag stitched and pinked the tops of each pocket. I topped each square with an apple I cut from leftover fabric and appliqued them onto the pockets. Then I simply pinned the apple pockets where I wanted them on the dress and stitched the bottom and sides.

** This tutorial is intended for sewers with a knowledge of smocking, and basic sewing skills. Please let me know if you have any questions and I can guide you to some great tutorials I have found online to help me learn more about sewing!

BONUS TUTORIAL: Easy Apple Headwrap

This matching headwrap is a cinch to make. Just rip a 2.5" x the width of your fabric strip (it will probably be 48" long), zag stitch the sides, then pink the frayed edges.

Stitch an apple cut out from your fabric onto a piece of red felt and cut around. Cut a green leaf from felt, arrange on headwrap, then do a skinny straight stitch to attach to wrap. Easy as Apple Pie and twice as sweet.

The Best Back to School Lunch Ideas

T minus 7 days until first grade starts, and I came to the daunting realization of having to prepare a packed school lunch every single day. On to Pinterest! 

1// Flower & Bees lunch 2// Pancake heart & melon lunch 3// Heart bagel sandwich lunch 4// Butterfly pasta lunch 5// Heart sandwich and strawberry lunch 6// Flower salad lunch 7// Rainbow Fruit Skewer lunch 8// Underwater sub lunch

I've found a TON of fabulous ideas to make Olivia's lunch not only delicous, but healthy and less we forget, super duper cute. And really, what first grader WOULDN'T love a cute packed lunch?

I found some Bento Boxes and silicone muffin cups on Amazon that I ordered to stick in her lunchbox to keep everything nice and fresh and separated. Let's hear it for happy lunches!

Team Tuesday: Baby Nook Art

It's a very happy Tuesday because I get to share some new designs using some brand spanking new kits from Rhonna Designs! More Insta Lovin designs to zjooshj up your Instagrams, photos, and digital scrapbooking- I seriously am dying over everything, I had to make up something IMMEDIATELY after downloading the kits. 

Yesterday I shared Clementine's Nursery Nook Inspiration Board, which had some custom wall art I designed for her using the new InstaQuote Kit. They were easy peasy, look clean and simple, and will look fantastic in a baby nursery space. There are dozens more quotes that can be used to make fun inspirational wall art, so grab your kit and start creating today!

kits used: Insta Quotes, Insta Banners, Insta Icons

The Planning of Clementine's Nursery Nook

We sat down and realized that Clementine is going to be here in no time, so we should probably actually figure out where the heck we are going to put her.

Our house is fairly small, and with just three bedrooms- the twins in one, and the other three in another, then the master - we decided the smartest thing to do while she is still waking up in the middle of the night is to make a little space for her in our room so she won't wake up any of the other kids. Once she's big enough, we can shove her in with the twins and it will be all gravy. It's funny how with the 1st baby you think you need so much stuff for this little tiny human that never really uses all that much of everything you have; then by the 6th we were like, "well, really we can pull in the metal horse trough, fill it with soft blankets and stuff and we can stick her next to the bed." Seriously, we considered doing that until I told my mom and she freaked out.

Our room is painted a deep charcoal grey (Behr's Beluga) so we wanted to keep the nursery nook neutral and utilatarian- a style I am in love with but have not been able to incorporate a lot anywhere else. It's a fun new direction to go in, and a long way from the ultra-themed nurseries I've done in the past. The twins room is very girly, so I wanted to make sure this space has girly touches while keeping an industrial edge. The juxtaposition of hard & soft will be evident throughout, mixing soft fluffy fabric on the inside of the crib with  ruffled burlap on the ottoman we are going to put in the space (not a ton of room for a chair). The barn lighting will look awesome against the faux wall out of beadboard we will create and with the custom wall art I've designed to print on metallic paper from Persnickety Prints. I can't wait until the space comes together and it's ready for her to get here! Come back tomorrow for Team Tuesday to learn more about the art I created for the space.

1// Gulliver Crib

2// Shining Cloud Rain Mobile

3// Barn Light Austin Sconces

4// Fabrics for Baby Bedding

5// Black Dresser

6// Galvanized Tray Bins

7// DIY Neutraface Letters

8// Burlap Ruffle Ottoman

9// ruffle pillow

10// Wall Art designed with Rhonna Designs InstaQuotes Kit

11// Wall Art designed with Rhonna Designs InstaQuotes Kit

12// White beadboard from Home Depot


inspired by Lay Baby Lay's AMAZING nursery boards

Countdown to Clementine: 30 weeks

Thirty down, only ten to go, people! Of course, I'm hoping she comes earlier than ten weeks, but the longest I'll be pregnant is only TEN MORE WEEKS. And then I'll never be pregnant again! It's funny how when you're not pregnant the thought of never being pregnant again kind of makes you sad, but when you are pregnant it is the most exciting thought in the whole world. I need to really focus on soaking in all the good stuff about being pregnant (I'm sure there's some good stuff I can manage to find, right?) while I still can. 

Here's the progress on the belly at 30 weeks. You're supposed to gain a pound a week until delivery so hopefully I can stick with that now that there is no more birthday cake to consume.

Happy Happy Birthday to Landen Greggory Watson

My Big Buddy Boy's birthday is today! Five years old, I can hardly believe it. To celebrate, we took him & the girls to the Sea Life Aquarium with our best friends Izzy & Diego. The kids had a ton of fun- I on the other hand about died of exhaustion afterwards. The entire Arizona Mills Mall was a circus; it was like Christmas time crazy, so trying to keep track of our 5 plus making sure we had Izzy & Diego, plus it was super stuffy in that place made me want to pull my hair out. The kids, however, thought it was the best time of their lives so it was all worth it in the end.

Happy Happy Birthday to Penelope Lily Watson!

It was my lovely little Penelope's birthday today and between my doctor appointment, her lunch date with Auntie buying new ballet shoes, playing with her musical instrument set from Grandma Beej, then hot dogs at Grandma's with her best buddies Izzy & D, I got very few photos of her super fun day- except from these gems when she opened her most favorite present of all time- her new horsey she named "Rainbow Corny" (even though it's a horse not a unicorn).