BECAUSE IM NOT BUSY ENOUGH

It seems like since Aubrey started school I have been busier than I've ever been before, which has been shocking since I now have all this new free time to myself!

Aubrey's Closet has been getting busier online and in the 3 shops locally along with photography picking up with a lot of newborns due to arrive which has kept me pretty busy. 

But to make things just a little more busy I have a new freelance job through one of the kids boutique that sells my shoes! They are renting out their garden space for parties and she's asked me to decorate for them. My first party will be an American Girl Doll Tea Party which is at the end of next month. 

After that I have to plan the decorations for 5 other themes that he store can offer people. I think I'll like shopping for someone else! We will see house the first one goes!

Here's a quick photo of what the space looks like. I have yet to take proper photos of it!

THE WIND BLEW ON UPDATE

I finally got a recording of Aubrey reading her story she made, so I tried to make it into a video.

Of course she wanted it to be in color too - it was a big project!

1ST DAY OF SCHOOL!

 This is how she poses these days!

This past Wednesday was Aubrey's first day of Transitional Kindergarten. For those of you who haven't heard of this, it's a newly created class for all the kids born in Sept-November that just miss the normal school year cut off. (There will be lots of birthdays all together in this class!). It's something between preschool and Kindergarten and I believe that they will evaluate her at the end of the year to see if she goes to regular Kindergarten or 1st grade (grade 1 in Canadian).

She was very excited to go and had no problems. As they lined up to go into their classroom she said "bye mom, you can go now!" and so we did! Now that it's Friday she's a bit sad that she can't go again tomorrow and she's counting down the days until she can go back!

While she has been at school (only half days for the first 8 days) I've been trying to get some projects done. I had a bunch of shoes, hair clips and headbands to get made to take to a new baby boutique today and I just got it all done in time and dropped off before I had to pick Aubrey up!

So far I have my shoes at Kool Kids Couture, EcoMonster and now at Stripes Boutique!
My best seller is still Etsy though!

Here's what I've been working on:

 I originally bought this straw dispenser to hold my ribbon spools but now I have a larger storage for that and it works perfectly to hold newborn headbands. I covered the outside with muslin and when you lift up the lid, it brings up all the extras - it's a great store display!

 Aubrey made up this story while skyping with my mom today so I wrote it down and put it into this comic strip for her to keep (click on the photo to enlarge):

BEDROOM REDO #??

I don't know how many times I've tried redecorating Aubrey's bedroom, but I think I finally have something I like! I kept seeing photos of what I liked but I somehow just couldn't make it happen in my own space.

I started by painting the bed which was just dark brown stained wood (original vintage). I found this coral color at Home Depot and somehow talked Aubrey into liking it - she didn't at first. Now she loves it. phew! I also replaced dark curtains with light white ones and it has made such a difference.

Her room faces North and is quite dark, so this makes the whole room brighter.

Now to spray paint that red lamp - maybe mint or grey?

This was my first quilt I've ever made, it was a good learning experience, but I can't say I'd do it again in a hurry! I just like doing 1 day projects much more! If I were to do it again I would pick solid colors to give it a less country look and more of a modern look, but I still like it.

I cut out the beige polka dot frame on this pillow to try and make iron on frames for the wall, but my starching skills lacked and it didn't work (maybe the wall was too bumpy) so I reused it as an applique on this pillow which worked really. I printed the cat print onto fabric using freezer paper which the largest is 8.5 x 11 and since I needed to cover a 16" pillow I added the frame around it and applied it to the same muslin fabric as the cat printed fabric.

This might be my favorite area - the wall. I finally found the right frames and prints to put together and I really like how it turned out.

SANTA CRUZ

Last Monday we went to Santa Cruz for the day so Aubrey could finally play in the sand!

My friend Erin came with us and we had fun watching Aubrey and Jared make sand castles on the beach while we sat and did some needlework and chatted.

 We even caught some free entertainment.

 Aubrey and Jared went on lots of rides.

 I only went on one - the log ride. You can only see my shoulder as I'm hunched over holding my stomach for the drop. Aubrey LOVED it!

Here's Aubrey and Jared on the roller coaster.

BIG BASIN WARD CAMP

We went on our ward family camp last weekend in the Big Basin Redwoods about an hour away from us. It was just one night but Aubrey hadn't been camping in a long time, so it was a fun short experience!

 riding with friends Liv and Mateo (Aubrey's "husband").

She sat on my lap the whole evening for mesmerized by the fire as people chatted and sang songs.

The next morning we packed up and head to Santa Cruz since it was only 20 or so minutes away.

It wasn't the nicest day and as much as Aubrey wanted to play in the sand, we just saw some sights and ended up at a little museum.

Outside the museum.

 There was a special bat exhibit going on so Aubrey made some bat crafts then we went inside to check out the bats and other stuffed animals.