diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

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Running Through the Fields

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Hello and happy Memorial Day! I had an awesome weekend spending lots of time with family and getting a pretty rad track burn at the Indy 500. We also spent Saturday morning running through the fields at a park. Saturday was definitely a ‘I wish I could freeze time’ moment because of the cotton candy clouds, bright blue sky, butterflies fluttering in the wind and my daughter’s laughter as she chased them around the park.
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Today is another picture perfect day but I’m not playing outside with my family because I’m doing a re-design for this blog! Bear with me if things seem fishy. I hope to get this redesign done today so tomorrow I will be celebrating with some sprinkler fun!

PS. Still working on the site this week but I’d love to know what you think! I’ll be doing a full post on how I did the re-design but if you’re interested, I used an Angie Makes theme called Jasmine.

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November Goals

november goalsHappy November! I know, it’s been November for a couple days, we’ve even changed the clocks already to fall back, but I’m just getting around to my November goals. This weekend was a whirlwind, literally, with the crazy weather we had here in IL.
We were able to Trick or Treat at a few houses, then came back to share chili with some friends. We also got the house childproofed (more on that later)! We took it easy though, knowing the next few months ahead are pretty crazy with travel, by playing a few board games and watching some new movies.
IMG_6960Let’s see how I did for my October goals. I did fairly well with accomplishing my October goals, in my opinion! This was a huge month for our family. Sophie had her first Birthday, complete with awesome Sprinkle & Confetti party, she started walking, we had a vacation where we went to Medieval Times and watched our 90 year old Grandma fly a plane! I really focused on being present and putting my family first in regards to managing my time. If there was a choice between cleaning up the kitchen, writing a post or just playing chase with Soph and Jeffrey, I chose my family every time. I’m pretty sure the kitchen was never fully clean the entire month of October, but I’m ok with that.

I took Soph to every Babies Love Books but one, because she was still snoozing (you never wake a sleeping baby!) I found a couple people that volunteered to watch Sophie but I’d still like to have an emergency sitter on hand. We also did TERRIBLE at family walks. We took once/week which was 90% due to the cold weather, rain or it being dark by the time Jeffrey got home. I swam 2-3 times/week, read Eleanor & Park (not as good as Fangirl in my opinion) and did not do laundry on the weekends! My biggest disappointment of goal achieving this month was finishing Blog Life, but I worked on it a lot and it’s freaking huge (which is a good thing!) I did, however, make three new pinnable images and revamped 20 Date Ideas and Nail Polish Organization!
pinnable-imagesNow for the good stuff! My November goals are going to be more manageable since there are a lot of things already planned for this month.

Family

  • Continue Babies Love Books (even if it’s raining or snowing)
  • Teach Sophie 2 sign language signs
  • 1 night/week ‘couch dates’

Life

  •  1 Project Life spread
  • Swim 2 times/week & swim lesson
  • Meal plan every week & 1 freezer meal/week

Blog

  • Photos for TOP SECRET project coming in January
  • Blog Life
  • 2 pinnable images and revamp 1 post
  • Reach 1,000 followers on Pinterest

What are your goals for this month? Will you be taking it a bit easy on yourself knowing the madness that is to come, paired with cold/rainy weather and possible sickness? I encourage you to make at least 3 goals for this month that can be measured. It really does help me to stay focused on what I want to accomplish, helping my mind stay on track. I’ll leave you with the best photo taken this month:

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Creative Summer Crafts

TGIF! I hope you’re all doing well and gearing up for a fun filled weekend! I was super inspired by the sheer number of creativity I saw on my fellow blogger’s sites this week! TONS of great summer crafts! It was actually really tough to choose only five that I wanted to do/share with you all! Anyone want to come babysit so I can just create all weekend?!

craftyMy top favorite crafts that I saw were projects that I’d like to make for myself or someone else. I like how some of them are things I’ve never done or thought to do but are simple to do and are inexpensive.

  1. The first project I fell in love with is trending all over the blogsphere right now! Weaving! I really like the thought of putting something textural on a gallery wall in whatever shape/pattern I choose. Rachel at A Beautiful Mess wove this darling pink and green piece with a loom but shows how to make your own with a board and nails!
  2. Ashley from Sugar and Cloth guest posted at Julep this week the most adorable way to liven up some simple candy jars! You could really do this with any container. She painted the bottom and added feet for just a few dollars to make them one of a kind.
  3. I spotted this summer outdoor sign painted by Ariean at One Krieger Chick! Ariean did a great job of writing the tutorial and showing how to do a great ombre effect with paint. I love how it livened up their outdoor space to make it more fun and personable to their family!
  4. Amy at Delineate Your Dwelling, once again, created something that I fell in love with. Stamping cocktail napkins as a gift using wine corks! The design possibilities are endless and it’s a great way to re-use something you already have!
  5. Kristy, from Diary of Dave’s Wife, posted this totes adorbs tote at Eighteen25 this week! I love it for so many reasons. 1. You can’t have enough totes. 2. I abrev ev. 3. I love stripes and the heart on the back!! Looks like a great tote to take to the beach or farmer’s market this summer!

Was I right or what?! Awesome job ladies! Lovin’ the creativity going on this summer! I think I’ll save weaving for this winter because I’ll get too restless doing it while it’s nice out, although I really want one for my gallery wall..hmmm… tough problems today. 😉 I also want to throw a party so I can make some cute jars, and instal a pool so I can make that sweet splash sign. 😉 Anyone throwing a party that I can make these cocktail napkins for? I’ll bring the wine in my totes adorbs bag! Now that I’ve got it all planned out…what are you going to try to make? Any fun crafts you’re going to try your hand at soon?

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