Amelia's 5 month update
Friday, June 27, 2014
I thought I would start doing updates on Amelia to capture how much she changes.
Amelia was 5 months on the 25th June. It has gone fast and I am trying to make sure I enjoy the moments with her as it's so easy to get caught up with life.
She was weighed on Monday and weighs 16lbs 7oz and is still on the 75th centile.
We give her 5 7oz bottles a day but she drinks about 3 1/2 to 4 of them.
She hasn't started weaning yet but I can't see it being long before she will. I am aiming for 6 months as they can eat mashed food rather than puréed food at that age. I am going to start putting her in her high chair (well, Hollie's high chair) to get used to it.
She is still in 3-6 months clothes but I don't think it will be long before she is in 6-9 months.
She loves to smile and laugh especially with her sister and has begun to cry when I leave the room.
Amelia isn't interested in crawling or turning over etc. yet but would like to sit up rather than leaning on a cushion although she doesn't have the strength to stay sitting up yet.
She also loves to take her socks off.
Her latest trick is to shake her head and it tends to be just at the right time like when we are asking a question!
Amelia still has reflux but it is slightly better at the moment and she doesn't get pain with it and she dribbles a lot with teething as I mentioned in this post.
She sleeps through the night and has done since she was 8 weeks old which was the same with Hollie. I definitely don't take this for granted as I know this can change at any moment especially as she is teething and does wake maybe once or twice in the night due to teething but settles herself quite quickly.
We are beginning to see Amelia's character coming out (look at the cheeky smile!) and look forward to seeing what she gets up to next.
Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you soon.
Altering bibs with the snap poppers
Thursday, June 26, 2014
For a long time now, Amelia has had reflux and brings up a lot of milk after her feeds and also with teething, she dribbles a lot too.
Luckily, the reflux doesn't seem to give her any problems but obviously the teething givers her some trouble.
The problem I have is that the bibs that I saved from Hollie and even some of the bibs Amelia got new, were too big around the neck and wouldn't catch the sick or dribble (nice!).
So I did think about buying new bibs but I just couldn't justify buying news bibs and trying to find ones that were smaller, if that was even possible. So I decided to add a snap popper using the Kam pliers to each of the bibs to make them smaller. All I did was measure where the snap popper needed to be when the bib was on and then added one.
Such a simple thing has helped me solve a problem that was annoying me and helps me if the bibs stretch a bit in the future.
Have a lovely day. See you soon.
Linked up to: A Bowlful of Lemons, Glued to my crafts, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Live Laugh Rowe,
Card Feature Wednesday 5
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Today's cards are a couple of masculine birthday cards that I made a while ago.
For the first card, I decided to use 3 circles as the main focus of the card. I went with some bright orange patterned paper for the background and layered it on some kraft card so that it would balance the orange out a bit.
Paper - My Minds Eye Out of the Blue and Fly a kite | Stamp - Clearly Besotted Tag Along | Circles - Spellbinders circles large | Stars - Sizzix | Twine - The Ribbon Girl | Buttons - Papermania | White gel pen - Uni ball Signo gel pen.
I chose the the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted Stamps Tag Along stamp set and stamped it on one of the circles. On the other circles, I added some stars.
For the embellishments, I added some small green buttons at the top and some brown twine around the bottom. I also added some faux stitching around the outside of the card with a white gel pen.
For the second card, I went with a numbered patterned paper for the background which I love the colours of. I added some stripey orange paper for the back layer of the centre label and I added some kraft card to the front of the orange layer. I stamped the larger star and added a smaller star on a foam square, on top, to add some dimension.
For the sentiment, I stamped a sentiment from the Clearly Besotted Stamps A Little Sentimental on a label from the Clearly Besotted Stamps Tag Along dies.
Paper - My Minds Eye Fly a kite and Out of the blue | Stamp - Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental and Banana Frog Super Stars | Dies - Clearly Besotted Tag Along and Spellbinders Nestabilities Label one.
These cards were not too difficult to make but have a lot going on to make the cards full of colour.
Hope you are having a lovely week. See you soon.
The Nitty Gritty Comb Review
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Ever since Hollie started Nursery, she keeps getting head lice.
It's so frustrating as a mum to keep the lice away. I have tried the medicated treatments to banish the lice but they wouldn't get rid of the actual white eggs, so the lice would always hatch.
I was getting to my wits end and felt defeated by these annoying little bugs, until recently I decided to try the Nitty Gritty comb.
I had tried the basic nit combs but they were getting rid of some of the live lice but not the eggs.
When looking at buying the Nitty Gritty comb, I noticed it had was award-wining and had a lifetime guarantee, which made me decide to try it as well as it seemed to have rave reviews.
The comb itself is stainless steel and has little grooves which spiral down the comb. These grooves are what catch the eggs and the teeth are tight together to catch the lice.
When looking at buying the Nitty Gritty comb, I noticed it had was award-wining and had a lifetime guarantee, which made me decide to try it as well as it seemed to have rave reviews.
The comb itself is stainless steel and has little grooves which spiral down the comb. These grooves are what catch the eggs and the teeth are tight together to catch the lice.
I was sceptical about this product after trying everything else but this is my saviour when it comes to fighting head lice and would not be without it now.
It works so well and I haven't used any other treatments since buying the comb.
I would completely recommend trying this comb out if you are fighting against head lice.
I wanted to tell you about the Nitty Gritty comb as it can be heart breaking watching your child constantly scratching their hair let alone embarrassing!
You can find out more about the Nitty Gritty comb here.
This is not a sponsored post, I bought this in desperation!
Sophie the Giraffe Strap
Thursday, June 19, 2014
While researching the KAM pliers on Ebay, I came across straps for Sophie the Giraffe teether toy. I thought this would be great to try to make with the the pliers as I had bought as Sophie the giraffe recently and it isn't cheap and so a strap to keep it secure would be a good idea.
I also came across a tutorial on how to make them on Leanne's blog. She gives you all the measurements and where to put the snap poppers.
The tools that I used were:
- The KAM pliers and parts.
- Snap poppers.
- Scissors.
- Ribbon e.g. grosgrain.
You will need some ribbon that measures 56 cm/ 22 inches in length and turn the ends over 1 cm and add a snap popper. I did make mine slightly longer so that it would hang longer. As long as you keep the outside measurements the same it will work if you would like it longer or shorter. You then need to measure 22 cm/ 8 1/2 inches and add another popper. This is the larger end which you attach to Sophie the Giraffe. From the other end you need to measure 14 cm/ 5 1/2 inches and add another popper. This end is where you tie it to the stroller. Make sure you keep all the poppers facing the same way too. Also you can add a bit of glue like I mentioned in this post to the ends before turning over to stop them fraying.
This what the strap will look like when it is made. It will have a large loop on one end and a smaller loop on the other.
When it comes to attaching the giraffe to the strap, it is quite simple.
You place the strap under the giraffes neck.
Then fold the strap over the neck.
Wrap the strap behind and under the legs.
and up over to attach the snap poppers together.
You just simply attach the other end to the stroller and it's secure.
I think the straps could be very handy. What do you think?
I'm having great fun with the KAM pliers and still have a few more things to make with them.
See you soon.
Card Feature Wednesday 4
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
My sister asked me recently if I would make her a couple of cards for her friends birthdays. One was going to be 20 and one was going to be 21.
For the one that was going to be 20, I used a piece of patterned paper that had some pretty flowers on already so didn't need to do to much to the card. I just added some butterflies that I added some Stickles glitter to and stamped a sentiment from Clearly Besotted.
I decided to put the butterflies on some foam dimensionals so that they pop up a bit.
Paper - My Minds Eye Follow your heart | Stamp - Clearly Besotted - Fabulous Fuchsias | Butterfly - Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch | Glitter - Stickles.
For the friend that was going to be 21, I decided to put a large number 21 in the centre as it's a special birthday.
I added some butterflies and flowers and added some gems and pearls to the centre of them.
I put the flowers on some small glue dots so they could stand up a bit and decided to stick the large butterflies flat and the small ones on dimensionals.
Paper - My Minds Eye Follow Your Heart | Stamp - Clearly Besotted Fabulous Fuchsias | Butterflies - Clearly Besotted | Flowers - Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch | Label - Clearly Besotted Lovely Labels | Gems and pearls - Hobbycraft.
Hope you are having a lovely week. See you soon.
The Summer Tag
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
I saw Lulu from A Mummas Time Out do the summer tag recently and I thought I would have ago at it and give you a little more insight into me! Here are my answers.
What's your favourite thing about summer?
My favourite thing is being able to escape the house more and the lighter evenings.
Do you have a favourite summer drink?
I would say that I drink more fruit juice and a lot more water in the summer.
Is there a location you like to go to each summer?
We love going to Bournemouth / Poole area. We love the beaches and the scenery around that area and we have family down that way too.
Favourite make-up look for summer?
I just go for light make up in the summer including a light foundation, cream eye shadow and a little bit of blusher.
Dresses or skirts?
Hmm, I would say skirts as I think I only have one dress but I rarely wear skirts either. Can't even remember the last time I did.
Sandals or ballet pumps?
Sandals. I live in them in the summer but wear ballet pumps a lot too. Oh and I wear flip flops a lot too.
Do you prefer to wear your hair up or down for summer?
I wear my hair down most of the time unless it is really hot and sticky.
Deep smokey eyes or bold lips?
Deep smokey eyes. I wear mainly neutral lipsticks and lip glosses.
Favourite perfume for the summer?
I love the Lily perfume by Stella McCartney at the moment which is quite a deep perfume. Usually I wear Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle or Narciso Rodriguez. Love them all year round.
Last but not least, favourite music for the summer?
I love listening to all sorts of music and you know there are songs that just remind you of summer but might not for others? Those songs. They just bring a smile to my face straight away.
Love the summer. My favourite time of the year (hence why it is in my blog title!). If you fancy doing the summer tag, leave a link to your answers and I would love to see them.
Pacifier Clip Holder
Friday, June 13, 2014
When looking online recently for dummy or pacifier holders, I came across a lot of varieties on Ebay as well as elsewhere. They were all so nice and pretty with characters like Minnie mouse and beads and letter beads to spell the babies name but I just wanted plain simple holders.
All these pacifier holders were made from simple ribbon and if you have seen my ribbon organisation, I have plenty of ribbon! I thought I would see how much it would cost to buy the tools. I managed to buy one of the Kam pliers for about £10 and it came with the screwdriver etc and press snaps in 2 sizes. I will be explaining more about the Kam pliers in another post soon. I also picked up some of the clips to attach to pushchair or clothes etc.
To make the pacifier holder, you need the following:
-Kam pliers and the accessories to fit the size of press snaps you are using.
-Screwdriver that came with the kit to change the accessories.
-Clips.
Scissors.
Liquid glue or lighter.
Liquid glue or lighter.
-Hole piercer ( I used Tim Holtz craft pick).
-Ribbon of your choice.
You need to decide how long you want the holder to be and add a couple of centimetres to allow you to fold over the ribbon before adding the press snaps, approx 7cms to create loop to attach pacifier and the same if you want the other end to be able to attach to a stroller as well as use the clip.
On one side make sure you add the clip on before add the second press snap as it won't go on afterwards. I made that mistake a few times!
On the other end you need to just add to press snaps to create the loop to hold the dummy. Also after I had finished making the holder, I added some liquid glue ( I used Ranger Glossy Accents from my craft stash but you could use others) to the end of the ribbons to stop them from fraying. You could do this before you put it together and also could heat set the ends with a lighter too.
These are some of the pacifier clip holder I have made as well. I could make so many with all the coloured ribbon I have!
I have a few more projects to use the Kam pliers for and will post them in the next few weeks.
Have a lovely weekend and see you soon!
Linked up to Diana Rambles, A Bowlful of Lemons, The Shabby Nest, Chic on a Shoestring, Live Love Rowe, The 36th Avenue, Artsy Farsty Mama, Glued to my Crafts.
Card Feature Wednesday 3 - Baby cards
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
I bought some really pretty die-cuts from Grace Taylor recently and decided to use some of them to make some baby cards.
First I made two baby cards with a die-cuts of a pram, one boy and one girl. I used some patterned paper that matched the colours in the prams and some ribbon and twine that matched too.
I embossed that background with some Cuttlebug embossing folder, to make the background less plain.
For the sentiment I used the Clearly Besotted stamp set A Little Sentiment and kept it simple by using the congratulations sentiment.
For the last two cards, I used the cute onsie die-cuts.
Again I used some patterned paper that matched the colours in the die-cuts and used an embossing folder on the background to make it less plain.
The sentiment is from the Clearly Besotted stamp set Tag it.
Paper - My Minds Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue and Fly a Kite and American Crafts My Girl | Stamps - Clearly Besotted A Little Sentiment and Tag It | Image die-cuts - Grace Taylor | Embossing Folders - Cuttlebug Candy Stripe, Swiss Dots, Stars and Craft Concepts Wings | Ribbon - American Crafts and Hobbycraft | Twine - Sew Sweet | Border Punch - Fiskars Upper Crest and Martha Stewart Lace doily.
Using the die-cuts made these cards really easy to make as I didn't have to stamp an image or use an embellishment but they make the cards so cute!
Hope you are having a lovely week. See you soon.
Heart Word Art Frames
Friday, June 06, 2014
After Amelia was born I wanted to make some artwork that had her name, date of birth, weight etc. on but wasn't sure what kind to make.
I liked the idea of the artwork that has all the words mixed up but still looks pretty.
I came across a website called Tagxedo that makes word clouds which are shapes filled with words. There are so many shapes, colours and fonts to choose from and it's free!
You just load all the words you want to include and change the layout etc. of the words and when you are done, you can print them out.
I made one for Amelia and one for Hollie. I kept the fonts the same and stuck with heart shapes but change the colours.
I think they look really pretty.
They sit nicely on the mantle and are a little reminder of the time and weight etc. of the girls.
Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you soon.
Linked up to Diana Rambles, The Shabby Nest, Sew Can Do, A Bowlful of Lemons, Live Love Rowe, The 36th Avenue, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Glued to my Crafts.
Trip to Gullivers Land
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Recently we decided to take a trip to Gulliver's land at Milton Keynes. It's like a theme park for kids and although we only live half an hour away, we had never been before.
Hollie has only been to one other theme park and that was Drayton Manor and that was a couple of years ago, so was still quite young to enjoy the rides.
One of the first rides she went on was one of the rollercoasters and she hadn't been on one that big before and said it was the best ride ever! She did go another one too and loved it.
She wasn't too keen on the log flume but did go on it in the end.
Her favourite ride at the fair is the dodgems, so made sure she went on them.
One of the rides that she hadn't been on before and she had no idea what it did was the ride (not sure what it's called) that goes up slowly and goes down fast.
The photo below shows Hollie smiling before the ride started.
Then this photo shows her during the ride! She was terrified, even her dad said it was worse than he expected! However, she did want to go on it again though but couldn't as it some safety issues!
There were plenty of rides that adults can go on and even I went on quite a few which I didn't think I would.
Here a some more pictures of some of the rides.
While walking around the park, we came across an abandoned car for toddlers that you can push them around in and Hollie decided she wanted to be pushed around in it. She enjoyed it.
We didn't manage to go on the train as the queue was over an hour long and it wouldn't have been easy entertaining a 6 year let alone a 3 month old.
We had a great day out and would go back in the future. We did take my mum and step dad and they really enjoyed it too!
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