toddler dress up storage- amy+mayd

If you are a mom of a little girl then you may understand this pressing need I have to share. How do you find toddler dress up storage? Where do you put wands, crowns, purses and all of those TUTU’s??? I didn’t know that little girls accumulate so much dress up gear by age two! As part of my series on organization I am going to tell you what I decided to do.

After my daughter turned about 18 months I noticed dress up attire starting to spill out of her closet, like literally tutu’s were falling on my head from her top shelf. I finally decided I had to put all of this somewhere. Caveat-  I do daydream of a glorious empty space with a big dress up trunk  in the middle of an empty room full of windows with awesome daylight, kinda like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but right now we just don’t have the space, so what’s a momma to do???

toddler dress up storage- amy+mayd

Well, I’ve learned that a lot of dilemmas can be solved with a quick trip to target and that is where I found the answer to my tutu avalanche. It just so happens that this storage bin was only $10 bucks and fits perfectly under my daughter’s toddler bed. Serendipitous? For. Sure. Here is how I organized our dress up frenzy into a neat and (somewhat) orderly storage miracle.

toddler dress up storage- amy+mayd

This toddler dress up storage bin can work for many other toddler storage needs as well like off season clothing, rotating toys, seasonal wear (jackets hats and scarves) and helps save space if things are tight. And bonus, now your toddler can’t stuff a bunch of junk under their bed! What do you need organized? Would a toddler storage bin help?

{P.S. I’m pretty sure this can work for grown up dress up storage under your bed as well… I’m thinking shoes, off season clothes, maternity wear, purses, scarves and hats… etc. }

The post toddler dress up storage solution appeared first on amy+mayd.

nursery- amy+mayd

Well, here it is!! Here is the new shared nursery room for my girls! I did it, finally finished it and took photos!!! The baby is coming and we are starting to feel ready (note giant baby in the crib.. her new favorite play place) . Here is a sneak peek into our toddler and baby shared nursery! Most of the art I made and my favorite piece Gemma made. The whole room is very full of love, and very full in general because it is super small but hey, it can work, don’t be discouraged by small spaces. Note, the funny shadows like that floating on the left side of Gemma on the wall is my photoshopping out baby sister’s name. So no hints family!! You still have to wait for the big day!

nursery- amy+mayd

The ABC art I made and you can make your own following my tutorial here.

nursery- amy+mayd

nursery- amy+mayd

Here is the “All you need is love” sign I made for the nursery, you can follow my tutorial here to make one for yourself.

nursery- amy+mayd

My favorite piece is this drawing Gemma did of a girl w/a crown, I had her color it in a bit and we scanned it and printed it for her sister’s side of the room.

nursery- amy+mayd

nursery- amy+mayd

Gemma’s side has a Scorpio sign that I made (tutorial here) and a “Gemma” sign I made (tutorial here)

nursery- amy+mayd

I love this wall, my photo’s probably don’t do it justice but it turned out so calming and comforting, I think the all white frames gave it that soothing feeling. The “sister’s” sign I made and the “W” string art I made as well.

nursery- amy+mayd

nursery- amy+mayd

This is my special mom shelf. I love this figure my mother in law gave me it is so special and then this is one of my favorite memories with Gemma.

nursery- amy+mayd

Yes! Organized “underwear” drawers for the girls… look at the teeny tiny diapers!! The left side of the whole baby bureau has Gemma’s pants, skirts and shorts organized in the bins and the right side has sissy’s new pants/bottoms and some infant toys. This bureau has really been a lifesaver these past few years. Read all about this special project here.

nursery- amy+mayd

And lastly, the essentials, lotions, hair ties, sunglasses, thermometers, etc.

So what do you think of our shared nursery???

The post shared nursery makeover for my girls appeared first on amy+mayd.

second pregnancy 35 wks/ first pregnancy 33 wks

Last Saturday, we decided to go on an impromptu picnic at a nearby lake in the mountains and as we were headed out the door I grabbed this green hat and it stuck me, I remembered our camping trip when I was very pregnant for the first time, I was wearing this hat.  Deciding it was fate that I picked up this hat in my second pregnancy, I grabbed the sweater that I knew I had also worn while pregnant and decided to take some duplicate pics while we were up there.

I then started thinking about all of the things that felt different being pregnant the second time around and got inspired to write this post. This is what I came up with, and obviously this is just my experience, I am sure that all women have slightly different experiences.

1. The second pregnancy goes by faster: This is true even though at times I feel like I’ve been pregnant for two years, in general, it has gone by much faster than my first pregnancy.

2. The second pregnancy is more exhausting and harder on the body: I cannot tell you how true this one is for me. This second pregnancy has been very fatiguing for me and I am able to feel the changes in my body much more drastically, maybe because I am more in tune with them, maybe because I am older or maybe because I have a very active toddler… I’m not sure.

3. The second pregnancy naturally changes the family: This was the hardest for me. I had to accept that in order to grow our family and give Gemma a sibling, there would be a natural growth of our relationship too. This has been a bittersweet experience for me. I have had to realize my own limitations while being pregnant. For instance, after many months of being sick from morning sickness and a bout with the flu; I realized I had to wean Gemma from nursing because I couldn’t keep up with my fatigued body. Likewise, I have to rely on my husband to take over some activities that Gemma loves, like running around the yard and jumping because I simply don’t have the energy right now. It makes me sad that my body is a bit limited because I am normally so active but at the same time I know it is just a natural growth in our family and pretty soon I’ll get my gusto back.

4. The second pregnancy shows faster: I “popped” out about a month sooner this pregnancy, I guess my body has a good memory.

5. “Nothing is as different as the first and second pregnancies”: This is something my doctor told me and I think it is very true. This pregnancy has had many similarities to my first with Gemma but there are also some striking differences. Namely, my symptoms are much stronger this time. Is this indicative of my two little ones’ different personalities? We shall see!

6. The second pregnancy is more relaxed: Thank goodness for this! I still read all the weekly milestones through this pregnancy and I still fear birth a little bit, but this time, having gone through it already, I am much more relaxed and don’t have to google every goofy symptom or odd body pain.

7. The second pregnancy has different symptoms: I touched on this one already but it is definitely true and I am hearing it from many moms that I know that are pregnant right now with their second child. It seems like the opposite shows itself in the subsequent pregnancy. I had no morning sickness with Gemma and this time I actually had bouts of throwing up.

8. The second pregnancy is carried lower: I cannot believe how much lower my daughter is this time around compared to Gemma who carried very high. Also, I would note that my second daughter has stayed in a head down position the entire pregnancy while Gemma was head up until the very end. It is just so fascinating how different they can be!

So there you have it my striking differences. For those of you contemplating a second pregnancy I hope this sheds some light. And for those of you that have multiple children, what was your experience?

The post Second pregnancy, 8 things that are different appeared first on amy+mayd.

“All you need is Love” sign- amy+mayd

I love signs with text and cute quotes. I was inspired to make this piece by this post from little miss momma on choosing a family motto. I started thinking about what our family motto might be and this is what I came up with: “All you need is love”. It is so us. It is simple, it is pure and it is true. So I made this for baby sister’s side of the room over the crib. Here’s how I did it!

Supplies:

• square canvas 12″x12″
• paint brushes (large and small)
• paint (background color and text)
• stencils
• paint tray
• pencil
• white eraser
• straight edge
• mod podge

Directions:

• Paint canvas background color with large brush, let dry.
• Practice word arrangements, choose favorite.
• Measure letter spacing and word spacing, this is the hardest part. Make small marks where words begin and a faint dashed line to paint on.

• Carefully press stencil flat and paint each letter. Wipe excess paint off of each letter used and be careful not to smear your letters with your stencils. Let dry.
• Erase pencil marks
• Add a coat of mod podge over entire surface for a finished look. Let dry.
• Hang it and enjoy!

What would your family motto be?

The post how to make signs with text appeared first on amy+mayd.

it’s the little things- amy+mayd

Capturing the little things each week and sharing them Monday as a weekly inspiration for noticing your smiles.

1. this helmet
2. this love
3. this funny shadow
4. this happy birthday auntie
5. this Broccoli, Grape & Pasta Salad Recipe
6. this drawing of a girl w/a crown
7. this girl deciding to walk into the lake with pants on
8. this gaze

What are the little things that made you smile last week? Happy Monday!

The post It’s the little things no.2 appeared first on amy+mayd.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

A lot of my friends have been interested in raising their own chickens in their suburban areas so I thought I would write a post on the realities of this age-old venture. Many of you know that my dad is a farmer and has many hobbies including raising chickens. I thought it would be great to get some insight as to how doable and how much work it is to raise chickens in a restricted space setting so I asked my dad for some advice.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

1. What is the best thing about having chickens? It is fun to gather the eggs each morning and there is something about fresh eggs that tastes a lot better than store-bought.

2. How many eggs does a typical chicken lay per week? If the chicken is happy and well fed, it will usually lay one egg a day. Currently, we have 15 chickens so we gather about 7 dozen eggs per week. (Note the fake eggs that help the chickens learn where to lay their eggs in the photo below)

3. What is the hardest thing about raising chickens? Surprisingly, it is keeping predators away. There are many predators of chickens but some of the most tenacious ones have been domesticated dogs. Other predators that raise a risk to chickens include possums and raccoons  who will even tunnel under the chicken enclosure.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

4. What do you wish you knew before starting to raise chickens? It is definitely an everyday chore, chickens need a lot of attention; you can’t just up and leave for the weekend, you have to keep your eye on them, they need plenty of food and water.

5. What has surprised you about raising chickens? They need gravel in their gizzards to help them grind their food. Chickens have no teeth so you need to throw a bit of gravel in their pinned area so that they can collect it. Also, an interesting fact is that you can tell the color of the eggs by the color of their ears. Brown eared hens lay brown eggs, white ears produce white eggs.

6. What advice can you give about raising chickens? Roosters are probably not suitable for the city or a suburban area because they make a lot of noise, but if there is no rooster, one hen will take on the rooster role becoming dominant and protective over all the others. While in this role, the hen doesn’t lay eggs.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

7. What would you need to start raising chickens if you had very limited space in your yard? How much space is the minimum you would need? A movable coop is best for limited space; there are many plans for them and you can purchase them online, some weighing as little as a wheelbarrow. You need at least 1.5 sq ft per chicken, if you had a 7-10 sq ft space you could have about 5 chickens in a movable coop. I would start out with a minimum of 3 chickens as they are quite sociable and are happier in a group. The concept of a movable coop is that it is light, portable, and can be transferred easily around your yard. The issue is that any grass chickens are in will turn to dirt within a few days because chickens like to search for bugs, therefore, it is best to rotate the chickens around your yard if you do not have a dedicated coop area. Chickens also prefer to be rotated around and are happier with the change in environment as opposed to the traditional fixed coop.

8. Are chickens safe around children? Chickens are generally safe around children but they become aggressive and could peck if left unfed.

9. How much do chickens eat? Ten chickens will go through a 50lb bag of feed along with grass and bugs in one month. You can supplement some feed with vegetable trimmings and scraps even introducing omega 3′s into the eggs by adding fish to their diet. They also need a calcium supplement which can be found in the form of oyster shells to help make their egg shells thicker. Chickens cannot eat potatoes or rice.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

10. Anything else you would like to add about chickens?

• You can keep eggs for up to 3 months at 44 degrees. To help eggs last longer, don’t wash them completely because they have a natural protective coating.
• You can use an LED flashlight as a candler, what you are looking for is a blood spot within the egg. If you crack an egg and find one it needs to be discarded and is not edible.
• They sleep up high on a roost, you can use a branch or dowel within your coop and they love it!
• Twice a year, chickens molt, or lose all of their feathers and during this time they do not lay eggs.
• They are very comical animals.

raising chickens- amy+mayd

Would you consider having your own hens? Anything else anyone is interested in about raising chickens? Feel free to send in questions!

The post the realities of raising chickens appeared first on amy+mayd.

maxi dress- amy+mayd

I’ve been looking at a tutorial for sewing a maxi dress for a few months now and wanting to try it so when I saw this green chevron fabric I knew I had to try it for my sister’s birthday.  I got motivated and tweaked the original tutorial a bit so that I could make an a-line maxi.

Sewing is one of my favorite hobbies but it is Hard. My love of sewing comes from my mom who is an excellent seamstress and I so wish I had her talent of whipping out clothes from scratch but I’ll need a few more years of practice for that. I found this amazing tutorial though and I have to share it with you because I think even a novice seamstress like myself, could pull it off. The tutorial I used for this maxi dress is from a small snippet and it uses a regular ribbed tanktop that you can purchase at target! I love it.

maxi dress- amy+mayd

What do you think? Next I want to try this tutorial from the Winthrop Chronicles on how to sew maxi skirts, I’m plotting to live in them after the baby arrives and its 100+ degrees everyday!

What is your hobby? How do you find the time?

The post sewing a maxi dress appeared first on amy+mayd.

Gemma

Little sister is due in just about a month and I started thinking back to my first night with Gemma and how exhilarating it is to cross the threshold into motherhood. I wrote this and some other memories when she was about 6 months old  just so I could remember them someday. I thought I would share some of my memories with you but please note, these are sort of rambling and casual writings that are unedited. This one I like to call burrito baby.

Gemma

Burrito Baby:

After I had finished delivering my daughter and everyone was asked to leave the hospital, since it was already very late, my nurse handed me my little burrito baby swaddled tight and I held her in my arms as her and my husband wheeled me to my recovery room. He had to leave because I had to share a room with another mom and baby duo. So we said our little goodbye’s, all three of us exhausted and exhilarated from the days events. And we put our little burrito in the little box beside my bed and my husband went home. Luckily, he was only about a mile away, our house is really close to the hospital which was comforting.

I was scared though, immediately as the nurse helped me get into bed and told me what I should do to take care of myself, my little burrito had a big messy poop. It was the first diaper I changed for her. It was thick and black; I wasn’t too scared of  it, I was scared because I had never seen anything so fragile, so beautiful, so tiny… and she was mine! I loved her so much.

I was exhausted though, I had been in labor for thirty hours so the past few days seemed like a blur of pain and excitement and now just peace. They told me I could give her to the nurse to watch her overnight so I could rest— yeah right!! I’ve seen enough “we mixed up your baby” lifetime movies in my time and that was a risk I was not willing to take.

She slept a little bit and I ate a small sandwich from the cafeteria, I was still hungry but I decided maybe I should try to sleep. I was in some sort of a very odd haze though, I felt extreme love and excitement that I could not really wind down from it,  I wished I had someone to talk to and share it with. It was so so weird that my husband wasn’t there. We had so much to talk about and at least if he was there I could sleep a little bit. But just as I began to lay my head down my little burrito started to hiccup.

She had hiccupped in my belly so I was accustomed to the fact that she was probably okay, but I was still scared. Can you choke from a hiccup? Could she stop breathing from a hiccup? Did it hurt her to have newborn hiccups? I had so many thoughts. I decided to call the nurse. She came quickly as her station was actually right outside of my room. “Is everything okay?” she said. “Well she is hiccupping, is that okay? Should I re-swaddle her? Can you help me swaddle her?” she said sure and that hiccups were very normal in newborns and that their cause was unknown and not a worry. Okay I thought.

After the nurse left it was getting quite late… I sort of realized that sleep was going to be very little that night. I just wanted to stare at this little box, but at the same time since she was settled again I decided I should try to rest. I looked at my blackberry, and decided to blackberry message my best friend who was usually around her phone, I said something like “oh my God I am so in love and in shock”. 

So there I was, staring at my little baby in her little burrito blanket with a pink knitted hat that an older lady in the hospital had made the day before (she knits for all the newborns).  I didn’t know it was possible to love something so instantaneously or to think something was so beautiful until I looked at her. I loved just looking at her. She woke up intermittently, especially because my roommate was making a lot of racket and waking her own baby up and a curtain does not a wall make.

I realized my little burrito was probably hungry so I picked her up, very very carefully and unwrapped her so I could hold her close and she loved it. So there is where we remained for the rest of the night… sometimes catching a little bit of Seinfeld, her father’s favorite show, I didn’t sleep a wink but I had my little burrito and I had waited a long time to hold her.

I wrote a lot of my first memories down when I was on maternity leave because I knew it was a special time in my life, one that I would always want to remember. I’m glad I did because I remember just how in awe I was that first night with Gemma and I am so excited to share that excitement again with my husband and this time with Gemma! Life is pretty sweet as a mom.

What was your first night like as a parent? What do you recall the most about the first night with your baby?

The post My first night with my baby girl appeared first on amy+mayd.

DIY hand dyed bag- amy+mayd

I’ve never dyed any fabric in my life but I have to admit, I realized doing this project, it is really fun and pretty simple too! I just completed this bag for my sister this past week as a birthday gift for her. I think it turned out pretty cute and you know I have been obsessed with finding fun uses for felt flowers! So here are the tips and tricks of attempting this DIY hand dyed bag for yourself.

What you will need for dying:

• RIT dye, color of your choice (I used the powdered form)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• measuring cup
• bucket
• plastic spoon
• empty sink
• Plastic gloves, to protect your hands
• Canvas tote bag
• Ajax or similar powdered cleaner and scrubber brush (for quickly cleaning your sink)

What you will need for sewing:

• Dry canvas tote bag
• Felt flowers of your choice
• Felt leaves of your choice
• Thread and needle
• Scissors

From my photos above, I will outline the dyeing process. (The directions are also enclosed in every dye packet)

1. Run your tap water until it is very HOT. Measure two cups hot water, set aside.
2. Empty packet of powdered dye into the bottom of the bucket, stir in two cups hot water until dye is dissolved.
3. Set bucket in sink and fill mostly full, about 3 gallons. Add one cup white vinegar.
4. Slowly add canvas tote to dye bath and begin to stir. 
5. Continue to stir 10-30min., depending on how dark you want your color, longer in the darker it will be. (as you can see from the photos above my dye bath is MUCH darker than the bag when finished)
6. When you think you are done dyeing your tote, SLOWLY dump your dye bath water in your sink. Leave canvas tote in bucket.
7. Immediately clean your sink so that it does not get stained. 
8. Begin to fill your bucket with hot, clean, water in order to rinse your bag. (I just let my bucket overflow in my sink for about 10 minutes)
9. Continue the rinsing process without the bucket. Squeeze out excess dye and gradually cool down the temperature of your water until your tote bag runs clear.
10. When dye is no longer running from your bag, wash it in warm water, separately, in your washing machine. (Remember to run washing machine once by itself after this process so that your clothes don’t pick up any dye next time you use your machine) Here are some other tips on cleaning your washing machine.
11. Lay flat to dry, turn over after a few hours

DIY hand dyed bag- amy+mayd

I know dyeing fabric may seem a little intimidating but it really isn’t once you have tried it! After my bag was dry I simply stitched some handmade felt flowers onto my bag and some simple green leaves. This part was a sinch and I think the bag turned out pretty cute. Hopefully my sister can use it Happy birthday Sissy! LOVE you!

Have you ever dyed fabric? Any tips or tricks?

The post DIY hand dyed bag appeared first on amy+mayd.

it’s the little things- amy+mayd

“It’s the little things”, a new Monday post of the things that made me smile last week. We all need reminders of life’s little blessings so here are the things that I smiled about this past week. Thinking of these can brighten any gloomy Monday!

1. this baby frosting a lemon cake on Mother’s Day
2. this raspberry lemon cake
3. this homemade sugar scrub from a friend as a Mother’s Day gift
4. this chevron patterned fabric
5. this card from the best husband… EVER
6. this Mother’s Day drawing
7. these shoes

The post It’s the little things appeared first on amy+mayd.