Nikon lens cup!!!

My gift for today!! ;) isn't it awesome!!! I love it! My mom got it for me to match my camera!!! Yeah!!! Anyway thought I'd share :) have a fabulous day!!!

Double delight rose bush!!!!

Last time I went to Ableys and the double delight rose bushes (bare root) were $40!!!! I was gonna have to save up money for it!!

But I went back today to buy a bunch of vegetable plants and such and I wanted to just look at it and they only had 1 left and it was $20!!!! Twenty bucks! :) I was over the moon! Anyway :) they're the most fragrant beautiful roses ever! Seriously! Go smell one!

Anyway have a fabulous day :)

Mock G diapers

So I've been sewing like crazy!!! And I've been practicing my "mock gDiaper" skills I think I'm making them in a way that will work well! :)

I just need someone to be a guinea pig for me :) lol :) I don't have any friends with newborns... And the only one with a baby around 3 months or so is in California... Not gonna work out too well... lol :)

But these are some creations I've come up with :)

(these were taken with my iPhone)

 inside...

 outside

mock gdiaper all folded up...

this is another gdiaper (for a girl tho I think :) lol)

 And this is a Michi Bag Cover I made for my mom :) She sent me this old purse a while ago so I could experiment with it and just finally last night I made this one :) It's one of her gifts for when I go to Cali!

Idk If you can see it but it has pleats on the front :)

this is the back - just plain

 another cover for her :) both sides are the same on this one :)

Anyway, just thought I'd share :) I think I'm gonna do a tutorial on both of these. Just lemme know if you're interested :)

Have a fabulous day! :)

Chocolate Chip Swirl Cake!

Chocolate Chip Swirl Cake!!!!

O my doesn't that look amazing!!!! I might even eat it! (I'm not a huge fan of chocolate)

It's pretty simple :)

The original recipe calls for a cake mix, but I didn't have one, so I made it from scratch :) turned out pretty good I might add :)

 Doesn't that look good? wow! :)

So I just made a normal cake mix and then added the syrup and chocolate chips :)

2 sticks of butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

 So first we cream the butter and sugar together for 4 min.

 then add eggs one at a time

 In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients

 Add it all at once

 Tada! doesn't that look succulent?!

 Makes me wanna eat the whole bowl!

 Now take a scoop or so (I did a mounding 2/3 cup) and set it aside

 Grease your pan. I use a Miracle Pan Release recipe that I found on Pinterest and it works amazingly well!!! Try it! super easy! and you'll never go back!

 I'm making a tiny one for my hubby cause he's so wonderful :)

 I just put a plop or 2 :)

 Spread it all out to the corners :)

 Remember that scoop we set aside? Good, now were gonna add 1/4 cup of chocolate syrup! :) Mix it up real good...

 And spread it over the top of the prepared pan.

 Drizzle more syrup in an"S" shape all over it and take a knife and swirl in the opposite direction that you drizzled the syrup... was that confusing? :) lol :) If you drizzled side to side, take the knife and slide it up and down to create the swirl pattern and then go side to side after... ya that was confusing...

 Add some more chocolate chips :) If you so desire that is... And stick it in the oven for 35 min or til the tooth pick comes out of the center clean :) O and in the mean time, we should wash the dishes we just used... lol :)

 The little one for my hubby... 

And the big one :) I'm still debating on frosting it... It looks so pretty I don't wanna cover it up, but half the fun of cake is the frosting!! Idk I'll decide later :)

Anyway I hope you have a fabulous day! :) Go make your own! And pray the calories to someone else! Other than me of course! :)

Softball, Program Update & Mock Gdiapers (O my!)

Hey!!! :)

It's been a busy couple days! :) I've been sewing like crazy!!

Yesterday my hubby had a softball game with the guys and I wanted to go (just cause he was playing, not because I enjoy softball) and when we got to the meeting place before carpooling to the field, the team captain asked if I could do stats! I've never watched softball or baseball and I've never done stats either! For any sport! But I was willing to learn, so he briefly showed me the basics and then we started on our hour long trip to the field.

Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out what all the abbreviations mean in the book and how to work this thing! Every 2 seconds I was asking my husband "heyy, what does this mean?" Poor guy! He was so patient with me tho!

The first game was definitely trial and error! Mostly error, but with a dash of trial in it! :)

The second game I did significantly better! :) Still didn't understand which column everything was supposed to be in and accidentally started off the second team batting in the second inning column instead of still in the first column...

I'm still a tiny bit confused, but definitely getting better! :)

So Onto the program...

so there where a few changes, as you can see... the damask symbol I drew in Illustrator, and the background damask print is a bunch of those that I pieced into a background and arranged... Ya that did take a ton of time! Thanks for asking :) lol!

We moved the Parents and such to the back and were putting the order of service in the middle where the parents where. I love it in this black and white, but unfortunately the fiance wants it in the wedding colors... Orange and Blue. Which are beautiful I must say! (they were in my own wedding!) But idk how they are gonna look with this style program... So we shall see! Lol :)

Alrighty, last but not least... Drum roll please!!!!

Mock Gdiapers!!! :)

I've been reading a lot about cloth diapers and I just never got the point of having the liner inside of the pocket cause then you still have the poopy-ness all over the inside! Why bother having a pocket? except of course for extra absorbency, I get that, but didn't think it was super practical... Just my opinion tho so don't crucify me lol :)

I came across the Gdiaper concept and thought it was brilliant!!! The liner is water proof and it's easily wiped off when its just wet. And if it does get poop on the liner, you just snap it out and put a new one in! tada! Angels are singing! :) And they have 2 different kind of insert that you can choose from :) cloth or disposable.

Now this sounds like a great deal, right? Well it would be, but the diapers themselves can be anywhere from $20ish to $30ish! Thats a lot for a single diaper! And the cloth inserts can run $5 per insert! Not the kinda cash I got laying around in my sock drawer! And the disposable ones can add up too. If you break down the cost and you only buy the cloth ones, in the long run they yes for sure you will save money! Cause you're not buying a new set everytime he gets stinky! But if you use the disposable, then its still not as much but still, can add up. You only have to have like 7-8 of the diapers themselves, and then just have a bunch of inserts. Which would be great! But they don't have 1 size fits all so you have to buy the different sizes as your baby grows... and the inserts are obviously different sizes too... So unless you wanna buy everything every time your baby grows a diaper size, then its kinda sad :(

So I started thinking how I could make this work...

 Now I would probably mostly use the cloth cause its something I can make myself and I'm a cheapo so perfect right?! But what about my little man being in the nursery? Most ladies (and my hubby) aren't gonna wanna deal with having to take it out, dump the poop, and put it in the wet bag. So they have disposable ones that decompose in 50 days! :) so they just take it out and either flush it or throw it away! That would be much better for nurseries and hubbys!

 The only problem is, the "Flushies" as they're called, can get pretty expensive. So in my ever cheapo mind, I figured I could make the cloth ones for home and when it's just me *Now let's face it, I'll probably be the one doing most of the diaper changes considering I'm a stay at home wifey!* and then get a box of the disposables for when he's in the nursery and when were traveling or something :) I can make my own wet bag too! :) See! I'm a money saving machine!

And I've also searched to the ends of the earth (well at least googles ends! ha!) and found different "mock Gdiaper patterns"

I tried 2 different ones and just didn't like the exposed seams and all that so I made my own versions! :) the first one I made was following the tutorial and it totally looked like a cave man had made it!

Even though it is homemade I want it to still look professional! Ya know? So I tried it again, sorta the same tutorial, just changed a few things, and I still wasn't happy with it....

So I tried again! (they can't say I'm not persistent!)

This time I was pleased with it! Things went much better! I was getting an idea of how it should look and all that :) But I think my sizing was off... the diaper looked like it was too wide for how tall it was... kind like they were fat but short? But I still was very pleased with it :) yeah!!! :)

So the last one I made just now turned out really well! I think I've got most of the kinks worked out! :) I think I will just use interfacing or something to make the waistband a little more stiff and sturdy :) So wanna see pics?

(sorry I know this has been mostly talking/typing/reading)

 ok, so this is the inside front strap. In this one I put elastic between the tabs so it would hold to the baby better.

this is the back... again with elastic

 this is it just laid out without the liner in it.

 this it the outside back

 outside front

 folded all up :)

 I was trying to show the length of it :)

 I accidentally sewed the snaps on the liner upside down so thats why they're bent back like that.,, oops!

 Since it has elastic and its stretchy, it curls when the liner is in and especially when the insert is in! (haven't made those yet)

 Compared to my hand...

 again...

So this is the last one I made with a few changes to it. As you can see this one is significantly smaller and its sitting next to a newborn diaper (see the N?)  

I didn't put elastic in the waist band and I sewed in the velcro differently. 

 This is the outside...

 I didn't want to spend $6 per yard on snap tape so I made my own! I bought twill tape for 79 cents a yard and just folded it over and applied my own snaps that way! :) tada!!! :)

(I was trying to show how stretchy it was)

 these are the 2 next to each other. The one on the left I think is definitely a newborn-ish size and the one on the left I'm thinking it's a large... like maybe an 18 months to 24 months? Maybe? Ish? :) lol :)

 Close up of the front :) Isn't it adorable?!

 And close up from the front... (I love this fabric too!)

SO tell me what you think! I want to buy a real Gdiaper, but can't justify spending $25 bucks just to see if my sizing is right... Maybe when I am pregnant I can, or if I just save up my money... thoughts? Even on Ebay the diapers are still at least $15... so we shall see :) I don't wanna make a whole bunch of mock Gdiapers and then them be totally the wrong size! I plan on hopefully maybe selling these here on my blog, or Etsy or Ebay or something! :) lol so I want them to be accurate sizes! :)

So anyway I  know this was a long post, and I apologize, but that's what happens in my world! :) lol :) 

Let me now if you have any thoughts or opinions or any experience you've had with the Gdiapers :) cloth or disposable inserts too! :)

Have a fabulous day!