West Wing Swap

I did it! I love swapping crafts on Craftster.org & I finally decided to organize my a swap on there. It's a West Wing themed swap because, well, it's the best tv show of all time. You can check out my swap here.

I drank the kool-aid

My mom hosted a "crafty weekend" for my family (well, the girls in the family) a few weeks ago & I didn't take any pictures at all, but you can see my mom's blog post, my cousin Karen's blog post, & my aunt Colleen's blog post for some pictures & details. Karen even made us some goodie bags, including "Creative Juice" (bottled water). Thanks Karen! Anyway, I think being around those quilters (my mom & Karen) got to me 'cause I'm planning to make a quilt now. I'd like to make a fun kid's quilt with lots of textures & fun fabrics. I've asked for creative quilt blocks in some of my swaps on Craftster & this is what I got:

If I ever get the time I'll be making a few of my own & I'm going to keep asking for them in swaps 'cause it's fun seeing what other people come up with.

My little angel

Look at my little angel! Another swap from Craftster... someone made me these awesome angel wings that are attached to my Moby wrap carrier with velcro. Even though John's official stance is that they are girly & silly, I'm pretty sure even he thinks they're cute. Now I'm trying to think of other things I can attach since I have the velcro there anyway. Hmm... maybe a superhero cape? Or a big superhero emblem for his chest when he's facing forward?

Christmas crafts

I had lots & lots of crafting to do for Christmas so I had to put Cooper to work. He painted birdhouses for Grandpa & Papa, & frame mats for both Grandma's & Daddy (and we framed a picture of Dexter & Cooper of course).




I made cloth doll diapers for my friend Joslyn's daughter (so she'd stop stealing her sister's disposable diapers),


a towel wrap for my dad,


a laptop case for John's sister's laptop,


a t-shirt for Pat (our future brother-in-law), who loves his van,


and a family tree wall hanging for my mom.


And since I know you've been holding your breath to see what this was (or you've completely forgotten about it), I made a card table felt playhouse for Cooper. There's felt mail for the mailbox & the fruit, vegetables, & birds are all attached with velcro so they can be moved around. (It's a really impressive idea that I completely stole from here.)

Halloween (just in time for New Year's)

Dexter's first Halloween! He was a pea pod (& thrilled, as you can see),

so we decided Cooper should be a veggie too. Since corn on the cob is his favorite, that's what he dressed up as. Mommy sewed some felt on green pants for a stalk & husks & Daddy painted the shirt. (The robot hoodie doesn't exactly match, but it was a bit chilly.)

Cooper went trick-or-treating, but after encountering some motion sensor ghoolies, he decided he didn't like it so much. We went to two houses before turning around & coming home.

Cooper discovered "brown candy" (chocolate) & was on a sugar high for the night.

He definitely preferred handing out candy to trick-or-treating, and made sure to tell everyone, "Happy Ho'ween!"

Catching up a bit...

Alright, so I'm really far behind in my blogging. Where did I leave off? Just before Cooper's birthday. So I finished these for a swap on Craftster:

Then the weekend before Cooper's birthday we took him out shopping (Build A Bear & the Lego Store) & he rode on a mall train for the first time. He was a big fan, especially because he had to have a ticket.

On Cooper's actual birthday, John was working so Cooper & I went to the zoo. We walked around quite a bit & I started having contractions. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for quite a while, but at some point they got more regular & I realized labor was starting. My contractions stayed about 10 minutes about for at least 24 hours before they started to pick up. In that time I walked around the zoo, slept all night, went shopping with John & Cooper, & we all took the dogs for a walk, so I was obviously not feeling too bad.
Wonderful cousin Karen (a nurse who does home births) came out to our house to check on me (after her bedtime even! & she lives an hour away!) so I could postpone the hospital as long as possible. (Thanks Karen!) A few hours after she left my contractions were 3 minutes apart & even though I was sure we had a long time, John insisted we head to the hospital. My mom (who lives an hour & a half away) was able to meet us at the hospital (and I'm sure she didn't break any traffic laws doing it). As I suspected, we had plenty of time. I was only 5-6 cm. Unfortunately, the hospital insisted I lay flat on the bed so they could monitor the baby, making the contractions much worse & me much more tense. Three hours later when I was still at 5-6 cm I gave up & asked for the epidural. Not the natural birth I'd been hoping for, but it all worked out in the end. Dexter was born after only 3 pushes & he was healthy & beautiful.


We came home from the hospital a couple days later & a swap package was waiting for me. This was probably the best one I've gotten so far - a rocket zipper pouch:

And a personalized toddler busy book:

Shapes that snap on, velcroed finger puppet animals,

velcroed finger puppet space characters,

a magnetic tic tac "toad" game, and buttoned flowers. Just in time too. Cooper got these as soon as he came home from spending a few days with Grandma & Papa Fred & it kept him busy as we adjusted to having the baby home.

The day after we got home we got to see Adam! His training was done & he had a weekend break before leaving for Afghanistan. He has a condo with basically four rooms (living room, bedroom, office, & kitchen/dining room) & we filled it with screaming kids: Zak, Caycee, Cooper, Lynzee, & Dexter. We're getting close to being outnumbered by the kids which is pretty scary, but we had a great time (although Adam's neighbors probably hated us for being so loud; good thing he won't be living there for almost a year). Here's Uncle Adam with Cooper & Dexter (in green eggs & ham shirts mommy made them!):

BBD (before baby Dexter): Cooper's birthday party

Since I was due on Cooper's 2nd birthday, we scheduled his party for a week & a half before. Cooper didn't seem to mind. I must have been crazy though, because I hosted a birthday play date on Friday, then a birthday party on Saturday while 38 weeks pregnant. Not something I'd recommend if you can avoid it.

It was a Blue's Clues party, so we had the paw print cake:

... and treat bags for the kids (sewn by me) with a paw print on them (stenciled & painted by John) with lots of goodies inside, including a "handy dandy notebook" (made by my mom):

Cooper enjoyed cake,

and presents.

And continued to enjoy his presents after the party:

Coolest swap..

Okay, I know I babble & post about swaps a lot. I just can't resist. And here's why! I participated in a "wist" swap. If you're unfamiliar with a wist, check this out. A wist is basically a wish list you create on the www.wists.com website. You can include any picture you find on the internet, even if it's not a store or item for sale. So for this swap we were supposed to check out the other person's wist & craft items they had included on there or items inspired by things they included on there. That way, you're surprised at what you're getting, but guaranteed to like it! Perfect!
Here's just some of what I got:

A sign for my perpetually-messy/noisy house

Onesies for the new baby & a shirt for Cooper

And a 2-piece painting.

Not pictured here is a robot keychain, a fabric embroidered family tree wall hanging, and matching ironing board cover & pin cushion with thread catcher.
How awesome is that?

Recent swaps

I recently made a couple gifts for my friend Becca's daughter Samantha's 3rd birthday: a monster hooded towel (by request!) and a Abby shirt:


And I sent out some stuff for a few more swaps on Craftster.org. For one recipient, four onesies,

and an owl shirt and baby leg warmers for another.


For a larger swap, a baking set with apron & felt cookies, a pillowcase dress, headbands, flower garland party lights, and a doorway puppet theatre.






I've also gotten some swap packages recently (not for the big swap above yet). Some reusable Swiffer covers along with some fabric, velcro, elastic, & candy:

And some hand-dyed playsilks for Cooper with some fabric and a polymer clay rolling pin (I've been wanting to dabble in some polymer clay crafting):

And more swap packages are on their way in & out! :)