4.26.2016

Smash Cake Session with Elizabeth Cavagnaro Photograpy


In the past two months, the last two of my college roommates got married. As I've said before, these girls were, and still are, my family during college. I had a 3 entire kiddo free days to see one get married {and shower more that being a mommy has ever allowed}. The second was a big family vacation filled with seeing Papa, Uncles, wonderful friends, and Auntie Photographer {I've decided that's what I'm going to teach Wesley to call you, Liz}.


 Our trip was one week shy of Wesley's first birthday. I have yet to find the right words to describe what its like to have my last baby pass this threshold into toddlerhood. Its heart wrenching and beautiful and all the other emotions of being a parent.


Thankfully Auntie Photographer was able to capture some beautiful moments with my sweet little boy and his smash cake.


I figured Wesley would dive face first into his smash cake. Being the second child, this wasn't his first trip to the rodeo. Between a daddy who has been sharing his ice cream since before Wesley could sit up and a sister who is always willing to do something to make him smile, Wesley is well versed in the gloriousness that is desserts.


Turns out Wesley had two ear infections and a raging sinus infection at the time of this shoot. Most of the pictures have tears in his eyes and snot on his face. Best parent ever! As a result, Wesley mostly colored his legs {and hurting ears} with frosting.


If you're in San Diego and looking to capture your kiddos' personalities, I can't say enough about how wonderful Elizabeth Cavagnaro Photography is. You can see some of her other beautiful work for our family here and here.


The smash cake was from Edelweiss Bakery in Rancho Bernardo. He's wearing a bowtie from Amazon {blue with light blue dots}. The tie part was way too small {it's a 6-18 month and he wears 18month clothes}. We had a shipping fiasco, which Amazon helped make right, that left no time for realizing his bowtie was too small before the shoot. The diaper is a Freetime from BumGenius in Hummingbird.

4.05.2016

Five Surprising Places to Buy Fabric


As a fabric addict, I'm always looking for new places to score my next fix. While my local quilt shop is a favorite, it doesn't always have the selection I need. Here are five surprising places I check when my fabric needs arise:

Most in the DIY community have a soft spot for Ikea. Honestly, I crave Ikea. When we first got married, my husband and I literally lived 1/2 mile down the road from an Ikea. When we were bored and it was too cold or rainy to walk outside, we'd walk Ikea. Living in a tiny one bedroom apartment {and on an even tinier budget}, we weren't too big on buying things. I curse the old me now. The nearest Ikea is more than an hour drive {and like $7 in tolls} away. And oh how I always seem to "need" something from Ikea. 

Enough about my Ikea obsession...let's talk fabric. Ikea has a variety of home decor weight and quilting cotton fabrics. The selection pretty much stays the same for the year. They're also affordable. Plus, the fabrics tend to be between 52 and 59 inches wide. More bang for your buck!


West Elm sells a beautiful collection of home decor fabrics. They are a bit more expensive than Joann's with a coupon. But, they are infinitely better quality. Oh how I wish I was brave enough to reupholster something! I mean...look at that print.

Amazon


Yep..that's right. Amazon sells fabric. They actually own Fabric.com. But I'm currently mad at Fabric.com. Did you see they now charge more if you only buy a 1/2 yard of fabric. Come on no! Until they deal with that and embrace my wonderful idea to allow for free Prime shipping on Fabric.com, I'm pretending like Fabric.com doesn't exist. We'll see how long that lasts! I digress...
Many of the fabrics listed on Amazon are Prime eligible. Shipping costs are always the downfall of me buying fabric online. Really, it just makes me buy whatever the minimum for free shipping is. It's better for my wallet to find something I like on Amazon.

Etsy


Etsy is perhaps the most obvious place on this list. I include Etsy because its a great place to look for out of print fabric. Oh Flea Market Fancy, how beautiful you are. I really picked up sewing again about four years ago. I spent most of that time at Joann getting the cheapest fabric possible. Then, I discovered designer fabric. Ah the quality. Oh the beautiful colors. I'm still all about a deal, but man of man give me a deal on the good stuff! Flea Market Fancy was just leaving stores as I discovered the beauty of designer fabric. And I love it. So from time to time I drool over the beauties still available through Etsy. Long story short; if there's an out of print fabric you just have to have, check Etsy!

Ebay


I have a love/hate relationship with Ebay. I think many people do. However, it's always worth checking out Ebay when you're searching for out of print fabrics or random deals. Scrap bags are easy to find and fun to use. Need ideas as to what to do with all these scraps? Check out my Pinterest board for ideas galore.

What unusual spots do you score great fabric?