Clever Nest

Winner announced! + Andrew is 20 months

2013-05-22T15:21:00.002-07:00

Thank you everyone for participating in my birthday giveaway! It's time to announce the big winner. Ready??

Congratulations to Kim Forgey!

Yay! Kim, I'll be contacting you about how to redeem your prizes. :)

Life as I Know it
Since I'm still working on this week's post (hope to get it out tomorrow!), I thought I'd share some pics of what we've been up to around here lately. Cue the gratuitous baby pictures! :)

We decided to splurge this year and buy Disneyland passes.

It made sense since Andrew's young enough not to need a pass yet (20 months), yet old enough to understand slash maybe remember the experience. He talks about "Buhh" (Buzz), "Mimi" (Mickey), and the gorillas on the Jungle Ride all.the.time.

Sometimes I let Andrew drive.

Wise man once say, "Rocket rides look innocent from the ground, but terrify in the air". Sometimes it's hard to judge what is age appropriate. Needless to say won't be hitting the rockets again for awhile! Sorry, Bud. I'll pay for that counseling session you'll need later.

We mostly stick to the mild rides, everything in Fantasy Land, and It's a Small World. I've learned, lots of things to look at + music= good, jostling, dips, or too much spinning= bad. At least for now!

As far as appetite goes, my son is a "good eater".

Understatement of the year. I'm pretty sure he would eat half a gallon of yogurt, a box of graham crackers, and a treefull of bananas if I let him have his way. Where does this appetite come from???

This picture always cracks me up. He tried tofu for the first time, and after sticking it in his mouth, gave me this look. He loves it now!

We are big on water. Like bonkers big. Andrew freaks out for the pool, sprinklers, the hose, the bath, and public fountains. There's a fun splash zone at our local downtown area and it's always hard to fish him out when it's time to go home.

"Don't drink the wa....!" too late. Also, I get extra points if I let him go pantsless.

"Hello, ladies."

He is fastidious (read ocd like his mama) to say the least. He does things like lining up berries in a row.

We spend most days getting out and doing things in the morning, coming home for nap, and spending time with Daddy when he gets home.

He wants to do whatever Daddy does, including working on the computer.

I am blessed!!

I'll have a more DIYish post out tomorrow. For now, thanks for reading! Have a great Wendesday. :)

Birthday Bash: Fossil, Mary Kay, Scentsy Giveaway!

2013-05-15T15:25:00.005-07:00

This giveaway has ended. Scroll to the end to see who won!! :)

It's my birthday, it's my birthday! Today I turn the ripe old age of 29, and what better way to celebrate than to have the BIGGEST giveaway in Clever Nest history!?

Here are the items in my Birthday Bash prize package:

Fossil Women's Watch in Bone limited edition, $125 value

Mary Kay certificate + free shipping, $20 value

Scentsy Fragrance certificate + free shipping, $20 value

Yes, that's $165 worth in prizes!

This giveaway is for the continental US only. I hope to offer more international giveaways soon! Entering is easy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UPDATE: Congratulations to Kim Forgey, you are the winner! I will be contacting you about how to redeem your prizes! :)

That's it! You can easily find Clever Nest projects to pin here in my gallery, and here on my Pinterest board. Good luck, I can't wait to see who wins! And don't forget you can pin and tweet up to once per day!

Sharing Wednesday at We Like to Learn as we Go

Thursday My Repurposed Life, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The 36th Avenue,
The Shabby Creek Cottage

Friday French Country Cottage, Happy Hour Projects, One Artsy Mama,

The Charm of Home

Easy Fabric Flower for Mother's Day

2013-05-09T16:09:00.002-07:00

A snappy little craft to kick your Mother's Day gift up a notch! And see the new line of fabric from HGTV!

Spicing up Yo' Mama's Wrappin'
I like wrapping up presents in a special way when I have the time. I'm no Martha. I've sent off many a present thrown into a Christmas gift bag, stuffed with shredded toilet paper and packing peanuts.
But this time, thankfully I had a few extra nap minutes* to make this beautiful fabric flower to put on top of my mom's gift!

*Nap Minute: n. A duration of time half as long as a regular minute, and five thousand times as precious.

Let there be Fabric, HGTV style!
Do you ever feel like fabric stores these days have nothing modern to choose from? I could get by with the tired selection of prints if I was making a granny quilt or pioneer woman outfit, but I hardly ever see something I'd consider covering my chair cushions with! Well ladies, we are in luck, because HGTV has heard our cries and partnered up with JoAnn Fabric to bring us a line of colorful, stylish, fashion forward prints!

Check out some of the beautiful designs!

I love all of them! And I think I can trust HGTV's style sense, 'cause they sort of know what they're doing. You can see the entire line HGTV's Home collection of indoor and outdoor fabrics here!

My First Review!
The nice people at JoAnn Fabric sent me a yard of HGTV's beautiful Urban Blossom print in Berry to see what I thought of it.

I love the bright colors, and fun print! I'm glad I got to use it for such a special purpose. :)

(You hold the) Flower Power
This craft is soooooo forgiving, guys, seriously. I could have done this blindfolded, on a rollercoaster, using only my feet and I bet it would have turned out just fine (although I may have poked my eye out).

If you've never done fabric flowers before, like I hadn't, never fear! This bloom pretty much made itself. I did some Pinteresearch*, and got the gist of how these things are put together.

*Pinteresearch: n. Going on Pinterest to find out how to make a craft. Spending 30 minutes drooling over salted caramel cupcakes in a mug.

I cut out big squares of the fabric, centering on those colorful flowers, then cut them into quarters leaving four 2 1/2 inch squares. I took 3-4 squares at a time (as many as my scissors would successfully cut) and scalloped the edges, very unsymmetrically.

(Do you like how I've OCD-ly written WINE in permanent marker on my scissors? Possessive much?)

Here are rough estimates of the sizes and number of petals I used.

I confess- I didn't measure. But if you do try this, you'll see that it really doesn't matter. Just don't make the petals like the size of your face or anything. Unless you want a blossom as big as your bottom. And who knows? You might.

So I hot glued the petals into quarters and stuck them on the round base in concentric circles.

Wherever I saw any gaps, I glued in one of the smaller petals. I wrapped up one last petal like a burrito and placed it in the center of the flower as the "bud".

I am stoked by how fast this went. This is a craft that could be used for all manner of things- hair bows, purse clips, bridal bouquet, or accenting a garment. Not to mention a totally reusable present topper.

I can't wait to give it to my mom! I hope she likes her gift of Christmas gift bags and packing peanuts that I put inside!! :)

What are you up to this Mother's Day? Celebrating your Mom? being celebrated yourself? We're having my family over to our place to spend the day on Sunday. I go to get off the computer now, and go clean a toilet.

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5 ways to stalk me right now, here! :)