Just Some Pictures...

These are just some of my favorite pictures I took during my blog break and some I took recently...

Chilly mornings...

A fun day at the park...

Sunday morning pictures before church...

Matchy-matchy...

A little boy in overalls...

Our water baby...

Giving kisses...

Liam's Color Book & A Cricut Tutorial!

It's time for a tutorial! 

After a lot of trial and error figuring out how to cut fabric with a Cricut machine, I finally came across an amazing blog with all the answers! Everday Celebrations is the tutorial I used and will show you, and if you have a newer Cricut (I have the Expressions 2) you can follow along with my screen shots! 

First thing first, you HAVE to use Heat-n-Bond ULTRAHOLD. When I first ran to the store, I grabbed Heat-n-Bond Lite and it didn't work at all. So look for the RED package. I just don't want you to get two letters in and start screaming and threatening to throw your Cricut out the window. Not that that would happen...but it might. 

The second most important thing is having your settings right. 

First, type in what you want to cut.

Hit "cut" and this screen should come up. These are the automatic settings, but you will be changing three things.

First, change the blade to the number 5 blade. You change it on the screen and then manually twist the blade to 5. 

Second, change the depth of the blade to the deepest it will go. Mine is 5.

Third, change the speed to slow. It's the first circle, I didn't get an action shot. Mine goes down to 1, but I just did 2 for this. So you've changed the blade, the blade depth, and the blade speed. 

Now iron the creases out of your fabric, iron the Heat-n-Bond to the wrong side of the fabric, stick it on to your Cricut board, and hit cut! 

Once it's done cutting, you just peel off the excess fabric and you're left with the letters. Sometimes there will be small edges that don't completely cut through, so have a pair of scissors handy for snipping. And then you're finished!

Now I just need to come up with something to use these for before a little hand hides them! 

Now onto Liam's Color Book!

I used the above tutorial to cut out all the letters for Liam's color book. I used the same site to come up with a layout for the color book. She has a full-on tutorial and I think maybe a template for each page, but I just looked at the pictures and  used whatever scraps I already had. I love the way it turned out and Liam likes flipping through it. He especially loves the tags! 

There you go! Enjoy!

Fall Sensory Bin

Yesterday I made Liam his first sensory bin. I've been pinning different ideas and themes for them on Pinterest for months, but never got around to getting the supplies. Finally yesterday I just did it. A quick stroll through Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, and Liam had a lovely fall sensory bin in under 30 minutes and for about $10. 

I don't know how much people usually spend on sensory bins, probably nothing as you're supposed to be able to just use found objects and whatnot, but this girl likes a good theme so I went shopping. Everything came from Hobby Lobby (40% off!) except the popcorn kernels.

I got "real" fake leaves, foam leaves which some have glitter, felt pumpkins, acorn jingle bells, and popcorn kernels as filler. 

Liam started out really slow, picking through the objects and showing them to me one by one. 

But then he saw me getting excited telling him about everything in the bin, so he started really digging in. 

Liam loved the acorn jingle bells the best which I knew would be his favorite. This kid loves music.

I showed him how to rub the glitter leaves together to make a scratchy, sandpaper sound. 

We threw the leaves and watched them float to the ground, and I rubbed his cheeks with the soft felt pumpkins. 

He also loved digging his hands down into the kernels. As always, monitor your kiddos when little pieces are present. Liam only tried to put a kernel in his mouth once, but he listened when I said no and didn't try again after that. 

I got a cup out to scoop and pour the kernels, but he wasn't quite ready for that and just threw them all over the kitchen. The dogs were outside so I didn't really mind, but he preferred to just use his hands. 

After he was finished - I think he played with it for 20 minutes or so which is good for him, he's usually bouncing from one thing to another at warp speed - I just swept up the corn kernels and put the lid back on! 

Liam was intrigued by my sweeping which led to this for another 10 minutes or so. 

He's sweeping cheerios. 

Then he dropped the broom on his foot and it was game over. 

I'm so glad I finally made a sensory bin for Liam!. He loved it, and they are seriously so easy to throw together. This will not be our last! 

Weekend Recap!

Here's a recap of our relaxing, football filled, weekend!

Friday 

I love sneaking in on Liam while he's sleeping. I'm well aware of the creepy factor, but I love his sleepy little self so much that I'm over it. 

It's finally chilly! I know it's temporary, don't remind me. We celebrated by busting out one of the cute new hoodies I got Liam recently. 

I think he knew he looked good, ha!

On Saturday we got up early and ran all of our errands before Liam's morning nap. 

Will spotted a giant Mickey and Costco and Liam fell in love with him. I seriously hope he doesn't end up under our Christmas tree. 

Saturday now means FOOTBALL all day! (Which I'm cool with now. Ask me again mid-October.)

We celebrated our Bears VICTORY over SHSU!

Then Liam got down to business on my computer. 

I turned off the mouse and keyboard and he had a blast clicking away.

Liam let me bounce him on my legs for a little while that evening. I used to lay him like this when he was an infant, and his whole body would fit on my lap. Now his legs and head hang off :(

On Sunday we went to church and lunch at Will's parents house, and I took WAY too many pictures of Liam's outfit. It was the first Sunday for sweaters! 

Don't you just love Liam's little grandpa cardigan? It's actually a 9-12 month that I got from H&M last winter and it finally fits at 17 months old! I think it's safe to say their stuff runs a little big. 

I'm thinking about making Liam's Halloween costume, but I've never sewn clothes before. I wanted to practice first so I decided to whip up a pair of pants for Liam. I used this tutorial to make them, and I think they turned out pretty cute! 

Mine have some beginner mistakes, but the tutorial is easy to follow and she even has a free pattern you can use. I decided to make my own pattern this time, but I think I'll try hers next because that's where I messed up a bit. 

Liam seems to like them enough, he gave me a big kiss! 

Happy Monday!