Giant Tree Craft ~ Nature Craft for Kids

If you're looking for a simple and fun craft to do with your kids, look no further! This Giant Tree craft involves exploring nature, gathering leaves, exploring textures, crayon rubbing, creating mixed media art, and of course, the end result is a giant tree!

We had a lot of fun making this nature craft - My three-and-a-half year old loved it the most, whereas my 18-month old probably didn't get quite as much out of it, but he had fun scribbling and stepping on it at any rate... An older kid could probably get a lot more creative with the rubbings and make it look amazing! I wrote up a quick how-to guide below, and tried to note some of the ways it could be modified to suit your needs. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Location, Location, Location

As the name suggests, this is a GIANT tree, so you'll need a big area to lay down your paper. A deck is the ideal location, because you can use the wood grain texture to do your tree trunk crayon rubbing, but any hard ground will do (driveway, patio, sidewalk). I preferred to do this outside because toddlers + glue + leaves, but you could also do this in a garage, or any place inside that has hard floors. 

Materials

• Big roll of paper (we use newspaper end rolls, check with your local newspaper print shops) 
• Scissors
• Tape
• Crayons
• Leaves (enough to fill up a small basket or pail)
• Glue 

Steps

1. Gather leaves and craft materials. We used maple leaves from the little saplings we have springing up all over our yard.

2. Tape down a long sheet of paper for the tree trunk. Draw a trunk outline with crayon. Use the side of the crayon to rub a wood texture into the trunk. If you aren't doing this on a deck, you could try laying down some bark or a board under the paper to rub, or have your kids study the pattern of bark and try to draw it on the trunk. 

Laying down the trunk paper.

Check out that wood grain!

3. Arrange half the leaves (we saved the other half to glue on top at the end) around the top and upper sides of the tree trunk. Tape down sections of paper on top. I used three panels: one on each side of the trunk and a long one across the top. Rub with crayons. The downside to the deck is the wood grain will come through a bit here too! 

Arranging the leaves.

Leaf rubbing with green crayons.

4. Use a glue stick to attach the remaining leaves to the top of the paper. Of course, if you want to simplify you can always skip this step and call it a day with just the rubbing textures. Or vice versa, if you want to focus entirely on drawing and gluing, you could ditch the rubbing elements. Or you could make it more elaborate, practice tracing leaves, incorporate blossoms, or make it a specific type of tree... the world is your oyster, or something.

Gluing leaves.

That’s it! If you try this giant tree craft, drop a comment, I’d love to hear how it turns out!

Maternity & Nursing Wardrobe Staples

The soft fabrics, the stretchy waistbands... what's not to love about maternity and nursing clothes?!? Well, aside from that annoying bit where nothing fits and you have to buy a whole new potato-sack-style wardrobe!

Latched Mama Shirt
& Motherhood Leggings

So I just had a baby in September, and I wanted to share a few of the wardrobe staples that have gotten me through pregnancy and into nursing. I chose not to include a few favorite dresses and shirts that I didn't consider "staples" - more unique pieces, clothes I can't find for sale anymore, etc. And many of the staples I picked work for both maternity and nursing.

A little bit about me that is relevant to my clothing selection:

• I dress business casual most of the week, so I looked for pieces that I could wear casual or dress up for work
• I was due in September, so most of my maternity clothes were needed in spring and summer. Nursing clothes have (so far) been needed in fall and winter
• A more unique challenge I faced was fitting my boobs into clothes - it was bit of a problem for maternity clothes and is now an even bigger problem with nursing wear. All these items seemed to work *reasonably* well in that area
• I am currently 5 months postpartum and definitely still have a little baby belly! I had diastasis recti after labor which I have been rehabbing. So, most of my nursingwear hides the belly

ZUMIY Tank, Free to Live Cardigan
& Talbots Pants

Both Maternity & Nursing:

ZUMIY Tanks
These tanks are AMAZING, and I wish I found them earlier - I actually didn't find until a couple months postpartum. The fabric is nice and thick (not see-through) and the neckline is a nice cut that you can dress up and wear to work. I can't get away with those thin-strapped, built in bra camis so this was a really great option. Great basic colors too, I ended up getting them all (black, white, gray, blue)

Motherhood Leggings
Gotta have a basic black maternity legging! Goes with everything. I didn't really try out other brands, I borrowed these from a friend and was very happy so I stuck with them.

PinkBlush Draped Maternity/Nursing Dress
Beautiful dresses that come in short and maxi styles, I pretty much lived in these throughout the spring and summer of my pregnancy. Perfect for work and everyday wear.

Baby Be Mine Ultrasoft Nightgown/Dress
TREAT YO SELF, for real. This dress is SO soft. Especially if you're nursing in the summer, it is the ideal sleep/loungewear. Mostly I wore it to bed, but it was also great loungewear during the day in my first couple weeks after baby's arrival.

Motherhood Maternity Panties
These high waisted beauties are super comfy. Great for accommodating a big pregnant belly as well as perfect for cradling postpartum wreckage. Had two pairs of these packed in my go bag and wore them home after delivery!

Nursing Specific:

Kindred Bravely Nursing Racerback Sleep Bra
For me, this definitely only works as a sleep bra, though others might be able to get away with daytime wear. It's very comfy, and I was impressed with the fit. Normally S, M, L bras don't work for me because I need an L to fit my bust and S to fit my underbust. KB offers busty sizes and the SB (small busty) fit me perfectly.

Latched Mama Scoop Neck Nursing Top
This comes in a 3/4 sleeve and a tee version. Love the slouchy fit, nice and long over leggings. Super soft, comes in some great colors.

Latched Mama Petal Tank
& Talbots Pants

Free to Live Lightweight Criss Cross Cardigans
Paired with a ZUMIY tank, these have been my go to for work! Comes in long sleeve and short sleeve - I've got some of each. The criss cross style dresses it up while also hiding the belly. They are definitely lightweight though, it is more like wearing a long-sleeved shirt than a sweater.

Cupshe Fashion Wrap Sweater
This is about the only sweater I found that works for nursing. It'll keep you warm on a cold day, but the sleeves roll up and it can be worn open, so you don't die of heatstroke when your hormones kick in and/or you're running around holding a baby.

Latched Mama Petal Front Nursing Lounge Tank
Umm, why does this "lounge tank" fit me better than any regular nursing tank I've tried?! Very comfortable, but also looks good as an everyday or even dress shirt. I 100% plan to dress this up for work with a cardigan and my fake "slacks" that you'll hear about next.

Talbots Everyday Straight Leg Yoga Pant
I'll be honest, if I just saw the picture of these on Talbots' website, I would not in a million years have bought them. They look like pants one might wear to the country club to play bridge with their retired friends. The yoga pants name is equally misleading. Who is doing yoga in these? They are designed for more of a strolling through the park activity level. But anyway, my mom saw them in the store and got them for me knowing I'd want some stretchy waistband pants postpartum, and they really look and feel great! They are slightly stretchy but look like actual work pants, not leggings/yoga pants. They've become my go-to work pants and I have 3 pairs.

Husband took this behind the back
while messing around taking my photos,
just thought it looked cool!

And the clothing item that was impossible for me to find was *drum roll please* a bathing suit! First of all, OMG, how are maternity tankinis so unsupportive? I ended up having to buy a regular bra-sized bikini top (non-maternity) and some maternity bottoms and just let the bump fly free in all its glory.

I'm currently exploring options to rent nursing clothes through Le Tote and other subscription services - I'll keep you posted on how that works out! I'm also still looking for recommendations on great items! What were your maternity & nursing wardrobe staples??

Birth Center Packing List

Before my baby's arrival, I wondered what I would need to pack in my "go bag" for the big day. I Googled packing lists and scoured Pinterest - though I did find a few good birth center bag lists, I mostly found hospital bag lists which didn't quite fit the bill. I wouldn't need three days worth of clothes, for example, since most birth center moms go home 6-8 hours after delivery. Now that my baby has arrived, I thought I'd share a quick list of what I ended up using. Hopefully someone else will find it helpful!

**Super important thing I didn't do but wish I did** 

I wish I had walked my husband through what was in the bag!!! I remember being frustrated having to explain to him what compartment to look in to find what I was asking for. Also, if he knew everything that was in there he may have offered some of the items without being asked.

And without further ado, here is my Birth Center packing list. I managed to cram it all into the diaper bag!

Birth Center Bag Items

• Baby supplies
• 1 Swaddle
• 1 Hat
• 3-4 Diapers
• Baby wipes
• 2 Outfits for going home - one newborn size, one 0-3 months in case I had a big baby (thankfully for my body she was newborn size!)

• Mom supplies
• Labor clothes - I had packed a comfy sleep bra and soft t-shirt, which I ended up changing in to before we even left for the birth center. I unfortunately had like a billion hours of warning to get ready at home
• 1 Robe - wore this robe while still at the birth center after delivery, while family was in the room visiting
• 1 Going home outfit - I chose a comfy maternity dress with leggings in case it was cold out. I was due at the end of September so I figured it could be pretty warm or a bit chilly... it ended up being over 80 degrees that day so no leggings for me!
• 1 Sweater in case it was cold, did not end up using
• 2 Pairs comfy granny panties
• 1 Nursing bra - I brought nursing pads too but did not use. Not enough milk on day one to need them!
• 1 Hairbrush - also did not use but probably should have before pictures, lol
• Hair ties - I also thought I'd use a soft headband to keep the hair out of my face during labor, but I ended up not caring
• Toiletry bag - mine included deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste and chapstick. I checked with the birth center ahead of time to make sure there was shampoo and body wash for my shower after delivery - much needed after Baby pooped meconium all over me!
• Check with the birth center ahead of time to see if you need to pack pads or a peri bottle, but most places provide these for you (mine did so I did not pack). You'll want to get some pads for home though!
• 1 Phone charger
• Dad supplies
• 1 Change of clothes - we packed a pair of shorts and t-shirt
• Toiletries - just deodorant and toothbrush
• 1 Phone charger (or not, if you have the same phone)
• SNACKS - this is what I was most glad I packed!! Exactly which snacks I ate is a bit of a blur, but I know I ate a bunch of them. Just things I could have little bites of helped - I sure needed the energy after 30 hours of early labor contractions! Don't forget to include some snacks for hubs too!
• Vitamin water/Gatorade/other electrolyte drinks
• Peanuts
• Protein bars/granola bars
• Dried fruit
• Chex Mix
• Apple slices
• Ice pops (these weren't packed in the diaper bag - we had them in a small cooler with the post-delivery meal, more on that later)

• Soothing stuff for labor - I packed rose-scented lotion and made special playlists, but I didn't use them! I played Pandora on my phone for a bit early on and after that I was too distracted to care! If you have a favorite pillow or something you may want that, though
• Last but not least, a couple plastic grocery bags - we ended up throwing dirty clothes in these to take home

Finally, here are a few non-bag items that we prepared:

• Carseat in car!
• Post-delivery meal - this may be unique to the birth center we went to, but we were told to plan ahead for what meal I'd want to eat post-delivery, in case it was the middle of the night with not much open. I prepped and froze meat sauce in advance to reheat and brought spaghetti to cook - there was a kitchen with pots and pans was available for our use
• I kept a trash bag and towel in my trunk in case my water broke in the car, did not end up using

And there you have it! I tried to keep it minimal because I hate schlepping stuff around that I don't need, but it still ends up being a pretty long list. What did you bring or wish you brought??

2017 Goals

Yikes, looks like my last post was my 2015 goals, so I'm a little behind on this blogging thing to say the least. I'm pretty sure I did write down 2016 goals somewhere, but apparently not here. Well, I've made some progress on my goals from 2015 and 2016, which I'll take a moment to brag about:

• I did a dead hang chinup!!! Super proud of this one. I even did it on more than one occasion! 
• I did four writing prompts in 2016, which is way more writing than I ever do so... baby steps. Very, very small, baby steps. 
• I updated my Etsy shop photos, banner and logo, and made a bunch of new crocheted items. Maybe more posts on that later.

And now, a moment of silence to commemorate the fallen goals of the last few years:

• I was doing so well with Duolingo (every day for almost a year) - but I fell off the wagon. I don't really have a specific reason to speak another language so am losing my drive to continue with the lessons. 
• Have not been regularly doing anything musical. I should probably just accept that this is no longer a priority for me. 
• Did not improve at keeping in touch! Hard fail on this one.

And finally, new goals for 2017. I'm really throwing down this year:

• Fitness Goals:
• Do two dead hang chinups in a row.
• Move more regularly - I do pretty intense workouts 3x per week, but I feel like I barely move the rest of the day due to sitting at my desk for work. For this one I'm aiming to just do short (10-15 min) daily exercises or dance breaks. I already started a mini-workout calendar for January.
• Etsy Goals:
• Find five favorite crochet patterns to sell in multiple colors. Basically I want to hone in on my favorites and offer more color selection rather than just having a bunch of random stuff.
• Sell 10 items on Etsy.
• Reading/Writing Goals:
• Read 10 books.
• Write 4 blog posts. Yes, this counts as one! #progress
• Do 6 writing prompts. This may overlap with the blog posts if I decide to post any short stories here. 

And with that, I promise my next post will not be 2018 Goals...

Happy 2015?

Well, it's nearly the end of February and I've sure been slacking on this whole blogging thing.

Since I don't subscribe to making excuses, and do subscribe to the motto "better late than never," I'm going to go ahead and post my goals for 2015. I've always had too many ideas of things I want to do,  so I need to do a better job at narrowing them down and laying them out in smaller steps. Last year the only goal I wrote down was to be able to do a dead-hang pull-up. While I still can't do one, I am definitely closer than ever (and it's hard to break a pull-up down into smaller goals), so I won't chalk that up to a total loss.

I will continue to push myself on the dead-hang pull-up front, but my goals for this year are a bit more detailed:

1. Keep in Touch 

Reconnect with at least one person each month. Facebook and texting don't count.

2. Write

Schedule 30 mins of writing each week. Could be for this blog, a writing prompt or a larger project.

3. Keep the Music Alive

Ideally the goal would be to do a 10 minute singing, dancing or instrument-practicing warmup before work each day. But since my schedule varies a lot depending on meeting times, I'll just be boring and say spend 30 mins per week singing, dancing or playing an instrument. 

I have a few work goals too, which are to improve my presentation skills and contribute to a company project win.

Now time to accomplish things! 

DIY Photo Lantern Centerpieces

Photo by Dexter Davis

And now for my favorite DIY wedding project, my photo lantern centerpieces! I decided to do lanterns because I wanted something I could personalize and thought they went perfectly with the lodge-y style of my venue. I got a ton of compliments on these and they were a great conversation starter during dinner.

Instead of using table numbers, I named the tables after important places in our lives. For example, we had a "Linden" table (the street I grew up on), a "Russell" table (the dorm where we met) and a "Bellevue" table (the park where he proposed). There were a few a few cases where I had to get a little creative to keep the names elegant - rather than name a table "Jackson Hole" to commemorate our Wyoming vacation, I decided to go with "The Granary," which is an amazing restaurant we went to on the trip. Each lantern had text explaining the meaning behind the table name on two sides and a photo from that location on the other two sides.

Photo by Dexter Davis

The whole project probably took about 5 hours, including writing table descriptions, hunting for photos, formatting, printing and assembling. Pretty quick compared to DIY invitations! I should specify that I made the lanterns only - my amazing florist was responsible for the gorgeous wreaths around the lanterns.

Photo by Dexter Davis

I started by ordering a set of ten bronze lanterns on Ebay. Then I sized my text and photo templates based on the lantern dimensions and started writing and formatting. I printed everything on cream vellum paper, made sure the ink was dry then cut all the pieces to size. The lantern actually had little flaps on the inside that held the paper in without having to secure with anything else.

Photo by Dexter Davis

I also made a seating chart go to with the lanterns, tied in using the same fonts. Just printed a poster and put in a large wooden frame.

Photo by Dexter Davis

And there you have it! Probably the most rewarding and worthwhile DIY project I did for my wedding. If you're interested in further details feel free to send a message!

Alyssa

DIY Wedding Invitations

Making your own invitations can be a great way to get a custom look and save a decent bit of money. HOWEVER, it is definitely a labor-intensive project! 

I ended up choosing to make my own invitations, mostly because I had a lot of ideas on how I wanted the invitations to look. The money saved (about $500) was an added bonus.

I spent about 10 hours designing the invitations, between researching materials, sizing the pieces and laying out text. If I'd chosen to do a simpler design, that time could have been cut down significantly. Printing and assembly probably took another 6 hours, but I had the advantages of a high quality printer, an electronic paper cutter and 2 sets of helping hands.

Envelope & Closed Pocketfold.
Pretty sweet monogram, amirite?

Unless you're truly enjoying yourself, I don't recommend breaking your back making the invitations. It can be a nice detail, but it's not nearly as memorable as the details on your actual wedding day. If you want to keep the process simple, I'd recommend checking out the invitation kits at Cards & Pockets. They also have other pre-cut pieces to mix and match if you want to make something a little different. Now if you want to know how I made these bad boys, please read on! My wedding color scheme was forest green, cream and gray/silver, so I stuck with that palette for the invitations. 

Materials

Patterned accent strip
(back of pocketfold)

• Forest Green Pocketfolds // I thought a pocketfold layout would be the best option to organize all the information I included, such as an itinerary, an RSVP postcard and a breakfast invitation. Or if you wanna get super cray, you can even make your own pocketfolds, which can get a little tricky depending on your sizing and layout. 
• Embossed Invitation Paper // To add a high-quality feel, I decided to use embossed paper for the actual wedding invitation text.
• Cream Cardstock // For the information cards and outer monogram, I used regular old cream cardstock to match the color of the invitation paper. 
• Powder Green Swirl-Patterned Paper // I wanted to add a bit more color and flair, so I ordered this awesome custom patterned paper, which I used for the monogram backing, accent strip and RSVP postcard. Another nice way to incorporate patterns is with an envelope liner.
• Silver Envelopes // The invitations ended up being mostly green and cream, with black and gray text. I thought silver envelopes were a nice compliment to the green while tying in with the text colors and overall color scheme. 

Be sure to order paper samples to make sure all the pieces and colors will work together! You'll also want to sketch up your invitations (include dimensions) and try making a prototype to check that your sizing works. 

Once you've decided on your layout, it's time to format the text for each piece. I used two different fonts: an eccentric script for major headings and an elegant but fairly normal font for body text. I won't bore you with all of my sizing, formatting and cutting details, but I'll take you on a brief photo tour of the pieces I assembled to create the final product:

Information and RSVP card inserts.

Back of Reply card, Breakfast information card.

1.5"x1.5" Monogram to be mounted using spray glue
on 2"x2" Backing.

The accent strip was a 2.5"x9.5" cut of patterned paper,
scored 1.25" in from each end to avoid crooked folds.

And there you have it, all of the things! 

Hope you enjoyed reading and/or found this helpful. Feel free to ask if you have any questions or would like to hear more details!

Alyssa