It's all her fault :)

At the beginning of October my Grandma graduated to heaven and officially became our newest guardian angel. I was very lucky in my life to have two fabulous grandmas that were both really crafty and talented in many ways. I like to think that I got some of their talents. :)

When I was 8 years old, my Grandma started me on scrapbooking. She talked to me a lot about how important it is to keep journals and records to give to our children. I started scrapbooking that day and never looked back! Whenever Steven would laugh and joke about how many scrapbooks and journals I have, I would just tell him that it's my Grandma's fault! :) In fact, that is part of the reason I started this blog. I wanted to be able to have a record of all the fun things that I have made and since it is online, I could hopefully reach some of my family that isn't close by.

For her funeral I was put in charge of pictures. I love pictures, probably too much. When they say that a picture is worth one thousand words, I say that a picture is worth one thousand gold bars. The amount of pictures I have on my computer will proove it!

I didn't want to do just some plain old frames for my Grandma. She was a sweet, fun lady. She couldn't have just plain frames! But another issue was that there were too many pictures that I wanted to share. Being the problem-solver that my husband is, he suggested that I get a board and "cutesy is up" (those are actually his exact words, he is adorable!). I went to Walmart and got a plain cork board and covered it with yellow fabric. Easy!

I added a few rosettes and a bow and called it a day! We had her scrapbooks out and her high school year book. We displayed her blankets that she made. I'm telling you, she was an amazing crafter!

Ironically, I had found this quote on Pinterest just a couple of days before she left us. I think that it fits perfectly with all our loved ones. Pooh Bear comes through again!

Recipe Apron

Last week was my sister Alexa's 16th birthday! Seriously, I can't believe she is driving and dating already. Alexa loves to cook and bake and she is dang good at it. One thing that I love about Alexa is that she is all about the homemade kind of gifts. That's my kind of girl! :) So I decided that she needed her own apron, but I wanted to add something special for it.

Here it is! Cute, right? (Her and the apron!) I wish I could give you a pattern. I am new to the sewing world so following a pattern is still a work-in-progress, let alone making a pattern! I just eye-balled it. I would sew a part and try it on and fix it. (And repeat!)

I got this cool pattern on ebay. There are cute cooking fabrics in a lot of stores, but I wanted something that looked vintage-y to go along with the next part that I did. I thought the fabric worked perfect.

I took recipes from my mom, grandma, and abuela. I scanned them into my computer and printed them out on fabric paper. I wanted to make this a generation apron, so hopefully she can add a recipe and maybe give it to her daughter one day.

One of my favorite parts is that my grandma had written a note to Alexa on this recipe. I think that it makes this more special to her.

I had a recipe from my abuela that I had done on the right side of the apron. Well, I'm not sure if the paper was too dark or what, but it didn't show up on the fabric. I spent some time taking it off and when my hand started cramping, Steven took a turn for me. :) Crafting involves a lot of mistakes and retakes! A good crafter also is quite skilled at covering up their mistakes!

And that is why there is a heart on the side now. :) But actually, I thought it was pretty cute with the apron. So I just have to get another recipe from abuela so that I can add that to the apron.

Happy Birthday Lexie-Lou! We love you!