The Bundle of Joy

Since I have not been around as much lately, I thought I should give my few readers an update as to what was going on in my world......

As I announced before, my husband and I are expecting our first child. These past few months have been amazing......although there was some nausea involved in the beginning it hasn't been bad since I started taking my prenatal vitamins. I actually haven't felt this great in a long time....really.

About four months ago we found out that we are having a little boy. I really thought it was going to be a girl just because both my husbands brother and sister have girls and my sister just had a girl as well, but it seems we broke that trend. I am so excited and cannot wait to meet our little boy. My due date is April 1st but I guess we will have to wait and see if he will play any tricks on us as to when he will arrive in the world. As the weeks go by and we get closer to meeting our little man things seem to get more and more real for us.....of course, seeing my belly move from something other than me is out of this world but it makes us realize that we have just two short weeks until he should be here!

I also wanted to show off his room....or at least part of it.....mainly his crib, I just LOVE his bedset! Here it is, enchanted forest!

I was lucky enough to have gotten almost everything that I needed for my little man's arrival at my baby shower. We are truly blessed with all the love and support that we have gotten from friends and family. I really cannot wait to meet my little boy and have our own little family! I can only hope that my he will grow up to be strong and healthy and have a good heart. Of course, that's really what any parent wants for their child.

Just wanted to give a little update as to where I have been and what I have been going through....I hope to post some more soon but we will see exactly what the future brings. I plan on doing online schooling once the baby gets here and with juggling everything my time may be cut back....but we will see. I will try to post again before he gets here otherwise, I will definitely post something once he gets here. Wish me luck! :)

♥kayla

Wintry Wreath

I decided after seeing some amazing wreaths online that I had to make one.....this is what I came up with....

All I did was purchase a styrofoam wreath from my local JoAnn Fabrics Store, wrapped some white yarn around it, then added a few lines of blue yarn. I didn't think that was quite enough so I decided to make some flowers. I tinkered around for a little while and decided that circles of felt would make some cute flowers when glued together.....until I made my first one. Don't get me wrong, I think it turned out beautifully, but it stuck out waaaaay too far for my liking. I ended up cutting the circles in half and then gluing the pieces together and got much smaller flowers that I thought looked perfect on my wreath. I think I will have to do a tutorial on them :)

Anyway, once I got my flowers together I wanted to see what they looked like on the wreath without gluing them - just in case I didn't like the layout (this is how much of a perfectionist I am). I have TONS of needles with pearl white balls on the end from my wedding and just pushed those through the hole in the middle of the felt flowers and ended up loving it so much I just kept it like that! What's great is that if I decide to rearrange the flowers it will be easy peasy! And the little !POP! of white in the middle looks gorgeous!

I wasn't sure what to do to hang it up but I had bought some sheer white ribbon for about fifty cents and decided that would look good with it.....so I cut off enough ribbon for it to hang just right, looped it through my wreath, and zig zag stitched the ends of it together and tacked it up to my wall. Conspicuous enough, right? I thought it turned out pretty well :)

♥kayla

Waffles Topped with Cinnamon-Sugar Apples

Not sure what got into me, but I decided I wanted to make some Cinnamon-Sugar Apples......but what to put them on? Well, my hubby loves waffles so I figured, why not? It was definitely the right decision. My tummy was happy!

 We just cut the apples into tiny pieces, then coated them with cinnamon and sugar. The hubby added a little water, although I thought it would have been fine without.

The recipe was almost too simple. I just used some waffle mix from a box and then the above cinnamon-sugar apple 'recipe'.....if you want to call it that. Not a bad weekend breakfast! Om nom nom....

♥kayla

This Is Coming To You From A Cellular Device

Silly me, I've been checking my blog on my phone through the website and just now decided to see if there was an app......guess what? There is! The posting seems good so far, and I just really wanted to test it out. Hoping this looks good! Until tomorrow.....



EDIT: After looking at this online I see my picture needs to be flipped. Now I know to take the pictures length-wise :)

A Little Update

What a grand little update I have! My husband and I, who just celebrated our one year wedding anniversary October 1st (6 1/2 years since we first started dating), are expecting our first child! I am currently 14 weeks along and we could NOT be happier! Since the arrival of my niece on May 7th I have had major baby fever (although I had it before then) and my hubby finally felt he was ready...so here we are! Our little bundle of joy is expected around April 1st, which will be our 7th year together! What a great anniversary gift :)

I have had so many baby things running rampant around my mind, along with so many ideas for the little one to be. We will find out if it is a boy or girl in November, which of course we will....I have to plan too much to not know.


Found on pinterest



Found on pinterest



I just had to share that news real quick, so definitely be expecting a lot more baby items and baby themed posts soon!

♥kayla

Amazing Make-up Artist!

Promise Phan is a very talented make-up artist...I found her while watching Kaelah's video about her pretty pink hair. I was drawn in because she looked just like Jessica Rabbit and found out that she is very talented and definitely seems to have a future in this! She has made herself look like a pin up girl, Michael Jackson, Nikki Minaj, Katy Perry, Fairy Barbie, Neytiri from Avatar, Antoine Dodson (search his name on youtube....lol), and even Lil' Wayne! Check out her youtube channel here.

Found via weheartit

I haven't really been too much into makeup until here recently, so something like this is nothing I could attempt but I thought it was very interesting. I just find it amazing how she uses foundation to cover her eyebrows and get them the same color as her skin, then creates new brows - or a whole new skin color and look! The part I found the most amazing was when she used a little bit of eyeshadow and lined part of her nose to create a whole different shadow and make her nose look completely different! You should really check her out......she's awesome.

I have also been following Courtney over at You Will......Wont You and she has done some awesome Face Charts (see her August posts). They are pretty inspiring...just to see what someone can create with just a brush (or finger.....or whatever) and some shadow, liner, and mascara.

I hope you all were inspired too......What are some of your favorite makeup products?

♥kayla

Without The Net

I have been with the internet for about a month now.....it seems as though my bills have conquered us this month. But it's alright, I'm not gonna worry myself about it. I've had SO many things going on and haven't even had time to worry about the internet, let alone blogging. I hope my wonderful readers - all 9 of them! - are still with me, because I will definitely try to post more soon. I feel like I have said that about twenty-bajillion times now but I'm for real :)

Please, bear with me as I try to get my internet back (I'm posting this from my work computer in case you were wondering) because I do plan on doing some more blogging once I get things back to where they need to be.

Thank you lovelies!

♥kayla

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 7

30 Day Journal Challenge - Prompt 7, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Journal Prompt 7: Write a love letter to someone special! This letter can be to anyone. Share your love with someone today and let them know that you care :) As bonus, share this letter with the person it's directed too.

♥kayla

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 6

30 Day Journal Challenge (2001) - Prompt 6, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Journal Prompt 6: Write a love letter to YOURSELF! This one is pretty self-explanatory. You are amazing, now tell yourself you are :)

♥kayla

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 5

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 5, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Journal Prompt 5: What are your summer traditions. We all have different traditions for each and every season right? What are some things that you do as a tradition each summer? If you don't have any traditions, maybe you can create some this summer!!

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 4

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 4, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Journal Prompt 4: What I Wish I Wore... I wish I had the money to be super cute and wear all of the clothes that I see in catalogs and online, but I don't :) Plus, it's summer break so my wardrobe mostly consists of my swimsuit and my cover-up and flip-flops :) So, today's prompt is all about what you wish you would have worn!! This prompt gives you the freedom to describe your perfect outfit for today.

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 3

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 3, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

June's To Do List

30 Day Journal Challenge - Prompt 2

30 Day Journal Challenge (2011) - Prompt 2, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Here is my second journal page, Goals for this art journal. I wanted to keep this page fairly simple.

♥kayla

30 Day Journal Challenge - Prompt 1

30 Day Journal Challenge - Day 1, a photo by kaylasoukie on Flickr.

Last year when Janel at Run With Scissors hosted the 30 Day Journal Challenge I decided to join in, and I loved it! So when I saw she was doing it again this year I was stoked (I know.....stoked, totally 90's lol)! I posted some of my journal pages last year and thought I would do it again this year. I'm posting them through flickr so they will be posted one at a time :)

♥kayla

Welcome To The World Emma Nicole

My beautiful niece was born Saturday, May 7th at 2:41 pm. She weighs 6.8 pounds and is 19 3/4 inches long and has a head full of black hair :) She stole my heart the moment I saw her.

I can't wait to see her grow up and to spoil her rotten, of course! It's an aunts job to help spoil ;)

"Only an Aunt...

can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend."

♥kayla

Forest Inspiration

I was just searching some forest pictures on weheartit and just had to share some I found. These pictures are so magical and inspiring.....and there is a great outdoor bed! ♥ it!



All images found via weheartit

It seemed that a lot of my time spent as a child was in the forest exploring, either at my grandparents farm, a friends pasture out in the country, or around my grandmas cabin in Michigan. The forest has always been a magical place to me where your imagination can go crazy. I hope one day to own a plot of land large enough to have plenty of forest to explore...I would love for my children to be able to explore the land and make their own stories and "areas" one day. (We used to have a nice little 'fort' - just a gathering of trees in the cow pasture - we always went to at my grandparents farm in Missouri)

I can't wait to go camping and hopefully floating this summer! Is there anything that YOU are looking forward to doing this summer??

♥kayla

Earth Day

I love the earth.....as I imagine most people do :) Some people may not treat mother earth as nicely as others but I still believe we should all do our part. I recycle everything I possibly can (which it makes a HUGE difference on trash day) and I even got my place of work to recycle paper, cans, and plastic bottles. How great it is to feel like I am making a difference.

The world is so beautiful and gives us so many great things, why not help it out and treat it right? After all, we take and take from it and just give it trash back until we join earth after our long lives....do something today! Even something as small as recycling plastic helps.....reduce, reuse, recycle. It's a wonderful feeling.

Now, some pretty pictures!

 

All images found via weheartit, searching earth day, earth, and recycle.

 Sorry about the picture overload, I just loved the images I found! Happy Earth Day everyone!
 
♥kayla

A Mobile for my Niece

I have been looking at some wonderful  mobiles on the internet lately and decided I would make my own for little miss Emma.....who should be here within the month. Her room is going to be pink, purple, and PRINCESS! I got my inspiration from the mobile below ↓↓


Found Here

 Isn't that just precious?? I love it! I wanted to do something like it but decided to go with wire hangers. My idea for it changed a few times.....I wanted to use one hanger and then create small triangles out of another and hang those from the first hanger, yarn wrap them, and then make a chain of felt leaves.....then I just decided to go with this.....

I am in the process of creating a tutorial for this if you would like to do it as well.....just watch my blog for that post soon!

♥kayla

Marshmallow Fondant

I first made marshmallow fondant about 3 years ago....when I decided randomly that I wanted to make a fondant cake. I had heard that the fondant you buy out of a box tastes horrible and I really wanted to make something that was edible and people could enjoy it if they wanted. So, I did some research and found marshmallow fondant! It was fairly easy to make and actually kind of fun! It did end up being sticky but it was great! And all it consists of is marshmallow, water, and powdered sugar!

When it came time for my sisters baby shower we decided to make cupcakes.....and of course I volunteered to make about 50 of them!! I thought it would be a great way to practice with cupcakes, frosting them prettily (is that even a word?), and also practice making pretties with marshmallow fondant.....here is what happened......

The melted marshmallows.....very goopy :)



Adding powdered sugar to the melted marshmallows....



After adding the powdered sugar the marshmallow mixture started to thicken up...it looks kind of pretty like this :)



I wanted to make two different colors so I separated the marshmallow fondant into two balls and colored them with food coloring gel



The cutouts of the hearts and flowers.....my husband told me that he thought the flowers looked like stars....what do you think?



Vanilla cupcake with cream cheese frosting and purple flower marshmallow fondant....yum



Chocolate cupcake with cream cheese icing and pink heart marshmallow fondant.....yum again :)



The finished product, too bad I didn't get a picture of them out of the box!

Needless to say, I was - and am - pretty proud of myself for what I accomplished. Unfortunately I didn't get to make either the cupcakes or icing from scratch but I think they turned out well. For me, there is just something extra when things are made from scratch. Also, looking back I think I should have made the icing for the chocolate cupcakes purple but that really wouldn't have made a difference, it just would have been more asthetically pleasing :) Ah, being a perfectionist definitely has its downfalls.

Oh yeah, if you would like to try to make this wonderful fondant yourself, click here. Enjoy!

♥kayla

The Animal...

If you don't know, I am an avid lover of Dyson vacuums. I have never had the chance (read: money) to own a Dyson, but my husbands sister and brother both own one and they love theirs! I have had the chance to used theirs - thankfully - since we moved out in June since we do not currently have one. It has just made me want to get one more....and I have been telling Eli since we moved that my tax return this year will be going towards buying a Dyson. For our wedding, we ended up getting quite a bit of cash and we had just enough to buy a refurbished Animal that is available on Overstock.com.

I had been researching and reading review after review of the refurbished vacuums since I was a little leery of buying something like that used, and most of the feedback was good! There were a few bad ones but there are bound to be a few like that. I do believe most of them got things straightened out though. I ended up deciding on one of the newer models of the Animal, the DC17 - and it was on Overstock for $299.24 down from $314.99. I also chose to buy an additional 4 year warranty for $60 just to be safe. The day that I decided exactly what model I wanted wasn't the day I ordered the vacuum though, I had to deposit the money in the bank. I ended up doing that a few days later and then ordered it that night. I even got a drop in the price - it went down to $275.00! I also found an online coupon that gave my $12 off the total price! I was SO excited.

The day finally came - about 6 days later - and the vacuum showed up.....I put it together and then Eli pointed out that it wasn't the right one, that it was one of the earlier models. I checked to make sure I ordered the right vacuum and damn if he wasn't right....I ordered the wrong one. :( Luckily, Overstock.com made it easy for me by giving me a free postal label to send the package back. I repackaged it and then sent it off from work the next day. I received it in ten days, although it would have been seven if Thanksgiving hadn't fallen on that Thursday. Oh well, I just have to make sure to double check when I order again! Don't get too gung-ho and such.

I love this thing.....



This post was supposed to happen months ago but due to my computer getting a little cranky with me I am just getting around to posting it now.....