You can call me "Mama Lolo".....

Taken the morning after she came home, I bought this outfit for her 8 months ago and it was so exciting to finally see her in it!! 

Yes you read that right, I am a Mother! 

Let's all take a minute and just scream with joy okay? EEEEEK!!!

Remember I told you that I was going on a long vacation in March? Well I thought that I was. 

3 days before I was going to leave for 2 1/2 weeks I got a call that I had pretty much given up on. 

It was asking if we were still interested in taking a little girl named Cheyenne (age 22 months) out of foster care. I had a really bad fever at the time and I thought I was hallucinating. I mean really, I just sat there and went "Uh huh....".  

We have been fighting for this child for MONTHS in court to be placed with us. We are distant family members and the birth mother wanted her with us too. We would go to court once a month and nothing would get accomplished and we would get more and more discouraged. Getting this phone call was a miracle, pure and simple. While still internally freaking out (but trying not to act like it)

 I learned that she could be placed with us in a week!! I called people screaming and could hardly even tell them that Cheyenne was finally coming home! One person literally thought that my house was on fire or some other horrifying thing had happened. :) 

Her first moments home were spent rocking with Mom. She took a little nap on my shoulder and woke up happy! I was in heaven.

So after having one week to get our house together for our insta-toddler, we were as ready as we were ever going to be! She came on a Monday at 3:35 and has been here for one month now. Without a doubt it has been the best month of our lives. We are so happy we walk around with perma-grins on our faces! 

A lot of people ask us how she adjusted to coming to live with us, so I thought ya'll might be wondering too. She has adjusted more wonderfully than we could have ever dreamed!! I fully expected her to cry for weeks and just be very sad (totally understandable) but she was not at all! She is the happiest little girl I have ever met! She very very rarely cries and when she does it's for a good reason. She sleeps through the night perfectly, goes down for a nap without a fuss, eats anything you give her and says "Thank You" every.single.time. you give her something. She speaks REALLY well for her age which is great because we can communicate! I could go on and on about her. She is just so much fun! 

Here are some more fun photos!

First night home in adorable Elmo PJ's after bath! 

Playing dress up, what a pretty princess she is! 

This little girl LOVES her Daddy! 

Easter. So adorable!

Our Family on Easter Sunday

First day with pigtails was last week, so cute!!

I kiss her all day long, wouldn't you?!

After seeing how adorable she is, I think you can understand why I haven't been on my blog at all since she came home. 

And I have to be honest with you. I have zero desire to do anything but love on her right now. I waited for her for so long and I'm going to soak it all in! So it will be a while until I'm back to blogging, but I will be back every now and then to post an update or a cute craft I make. Deal? :) 

Craftwell eCraft Bunny Blog Hop!

Welcome to the eCraft Bunny Blog Hop! 

I am so excited to show what I made with my fabulous pink eCraft for spring! 

One of my favorite things to do is buy an ugly picture and then turn it into something cute! 

I purchased the frame below for less than a dollar after the 4th of July at Joann's....

With a little help from my eCraft (ok a lot of help!) I turned it into this....

Here is a side by side so that you don't have to keep scrolling up and down :)

I wanted this cute bird to have a friend so that I could put them in a grouping on a wall. 

So I went into my stash of frames and found this....

I picked some super cute bird art from my eCraft library and turned it into this...

Again, here is a side by side....

I love the birds for spring and the bright colors! The eCraft cut my scallop circle and birds so cleanly I couldn't believe it! 

Here are a few up close photos so that you can see how clean the cuts are! 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and checking out my Spring project made with my eCraft! 

You are headed here next:

http://gingerpiedesigns.blogspot.com/

Be sure to leave comments all along the way because I hear that Craftwell is giving away 2 toolkits! Yippy!! 

And here is the whole line up for today: 

www.craftypinkanchor.blogspot.com

Kim Gaughan

http://kreationsbykimberlyrae.com/blog/

KimberlyRae Forde

http://auntielolocrafts.blogspot.com/

Lois Hale

http://gingerpiedesigns.blogspot.com/

Claire Hamer

http://jazmin-rose.blogspot.com/

Jazmin Gibbons

http://enjayscraftpages.blogspot.com

Nicola Jolliffe

http://fabric-ecraft.blogspot.com/

Debi Tullier

http://www.purplepaperparadise.blogspot.com/

Denise O’Connor

http://blog.craftwellusa.com/

Craftwell

Guest Post: Handy Helper Tutorial with Lacey!

Hi y’all! I am thrilled to be guest-hosting again for Auntie Lolo’s Crafts today. I am Lacey Camp, a life-long crafter, who has now become a blog and Pinterest addict! I love to do all kinds of needlework. I use this handy helper just about every day. Not only does this keep my embroidery scissors in sight and close by but I use the pouch to catch snippets from the thread that I am constantly cutting. I have also been known to pack my floss and other embroidery aids inside the pouch when going on a trip.

Emily, my daughter, is wearing the finished product here. You can shorten your ribbon; however, I like it this long so that I can easily grab my scissors while sewing.

Supplies:

one sheet of embossed felt (you can make two handy helpers with this!)

some Velcro

38” of ribbon

Scissors

This is a very easy craft. You can glue everything together or you can sew it together. If you will cut the embossed felt in two length-wise, you will have enough left to make another helper! Let’s begin by cutting your felt in two. Now cut 2-1/2” off the end. When you fold the felt piece in half, the folded part will be the bottom of your helper. All you need to do now is sew the sides and attach the ribbon.

I sew the Velcro to the end of the ribbon first. Begin by folding your ribbon back just a tiny bit (to keep it from fraying). You will do this on the unprinted side of the ribbon. Now attach the soft part of Velcro over the folded ribbon (the Velcro should overlap the fold of the ribbon). Position the tacky end of the Velcro 1” down the ribbon from the soft end of the Velcro. You need that inch so that your scissors’ handle will easily hang between these two pieces of Velcro.

Taking the other end of the ribbon, fold your ribbon back again at the very top to keep it from fraying. Attach that end of the ribbon to the back inside of the pouch. Since my ribbon is only printed on one side, it is important here to have the pretty side facing you as you sew it onto the inside of the pouch. If you choose a regular grosgrain ribbon without a print, you won’t have to worry about how it hangs. Emily and I fell in love with this giraffe ribbon once we saw how it matched the giraffe-y pattern on the embossed felt. We found them both at Michael’s. This is how your ribbon should look once it’s attached to the pouch. Note that the ribbon on the pouch has been attached to the back inside of the pouch.

Once your ribbon is attached, you are ready to finish the pouch. Sew both sides together with the felt wrong sides out. Once you are finished with that, turn the felt right side out and iron the pouch so that your pouch is flat. Be sure to put another cloth on top of the felt when ironing. If you have any edges sticking out of the top of the pouch, trim them at an angle and they will lie flat.

Attach some embroidery scissors and you are ready to go! You could embellish the outside of the pouch if desired. I thread my spare needles through the outside front of mine so that I can always find something to sew with.

Thanks for reading! If you loved this project, please pin it! Should you have any questions or comments, please leave them here and I will respond through Auntie Lolo. Thank you to Lois for allowing me the opportunity to guest host this month. I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have!

Guest Post: Treat Bag Tutorial with Cynthia from Dream Quilt Create with GIVEAWAY!

Hi, I'm Cynthia from Dream Quilt Create. 

 Today, I'm sharing a tutorial with you and one viewer will be chosen to win one of my Small Treat Totes.  

Just two fat quarters will make four of these little treat totes.  I say little, because they measure 4" X 4".  

I decided to make 8 little treat totes, so I used four coordinating fat quarters.  (A fat quarter measures 18" X 22".  It is really a quarter of a yard, but doubled so it is called a fat quarter)

I made mine for Easter, but they aren't pastel.  I chose pink because I am giving them to some cute little girls for Easter.  Also, I didn't have any pastel shades on hand :)

You can fill these little totes with chocolate bunnies!

You can fill them with fluffy bunnies!

A fluffy bunny for each bag :)

Here is the link for the tutorial.  

These small treat totes are so fun and really easy to make.

For a chance to win one of these bags,

 go to my facebook page,

 dream quilt create

and click LIKE and  leave me a comment  too!

If you don't have a facebook account, go to my blog

dream quilt create and say that Auntie Lolo sent you :)

The winner will be announced next week.  Good luck!!!

Guest Post: The Winthrop Chronicles favorite projects!

Hey guys! I'm Sarah from The Winthrop Chronicles and I'm so happy to be guest blogging here while Auntie Lolo is on vacation. She has so many amazing ideas and projects, so I am so glad she asked me to write up a little post about some of my favorite projects.

Here are some of the most viewed projects from my blog I hope you enjoy!

Diy tulip skirt. I wanted a skirt this color, but just couldn't find one, so I braved the sewing machine and decided to make one. 

I love making scarves. This is an infinity scarf tutorial, it was pretty easy to make, so easy that I started selling them at my esty shop. Now I just have to get some lighter scarf material for the summer weather. 

As I went through my clothes boxes in the attic, I found a lot of t-shirts. Instead of donating them all, I used some to make these little baby hats. It's a really easy way to up cycle some of your old clothing.

While perusing Michael's I found these darling wood frames. I knew I had to have one. Here is a hair bow holder that I made with the frame, some chicken wire and a piece of ribbon. 

This is a really easy way to personalize some art work in your home, by using a thrifted picture frame, some left over scrap book paper, scrap material and wooden letters. 

I love baking cakes, and wanted some more cake plates. Instead of buying them, I made some. I used {mostly} thrifted items to make them.

When I was making over my daughter's room, I wanted to put up a picture of her on the wall. I printed off a picture of her and glued it to a piece of wood and then sanded it down a little to make this photo on wood wall hanging.

This is one of the first things I made for my baby girl. I needed a shirt to match some black leggings I bought her and so I came up with the pleated peasant shirt. It's so fun seeing her in clothes that I actually made.

I love buying cute clothes for my kids, but sometimes can't get myself to buy expensive things that I know will just end up stained or ripped. I decided to up grade some of their clothing by making simple changes like adding a leather patch on the elbows and new buttons. Now they can look like J Crew clothes at the price of Old Navy.

These flower pins are some of my new favorite things. I make them to attach to a headband, also as a sweater pin and also as a scarf pin. They are such a cute accessory and I seriously can't have enough!




Happy crafting!


Come stop by my blog and say hello!

Guest Post: Monogram Pillow Tutorial from The Winthrop Chronicles

Hi, I'm Sarah from The Winthrop Chronicles so happy to be here on Auntie Lolo's. I am in the process of changing my baby's nursery into a little girls room. So I am happy to share one of my projects for that room with all of you!

This is the first of two pillows I made, it is a monogram pillow. It was pretty easy and quick. 

To make:

first. I bought a pillow from Jo Ann's they were on sale so I stocked up. I got it for about $4. Also, you need some felt (just enough to cover the pillow) and the pom pom ribbon (enough to go around the outside).

second. Cut the back two panels, I like to make my pillows this way because it's super easy and you can just pull off the pillowcase when ever you want. Make sure that there is about 2 to 3 inches of overlay, meaning that they are 2 to 3 inches wider than you actually need, so that when the pillow is in it, you still don't see the pillow.

{this is what the back will look like done, you leave the middle seam un sewn so that you can take out the pillow if you need to}

third. Cut your front panel and your letter. I just free handed the letter and cut it out.

fourth. Using a top stitch, sew the letter on to the front panel.

fifth. To sew the pillow together and sew the pom pom ribbon on, pin the fabric right side to the right side, with the pom pom ribbon on the inside. You can kind of see in the picture below that the pom pom ribbon is inside the pillow and the pillow is inside out. Just sew it then flip it right side out and you're done!

Thanks guys! Stop by my blog some time and say hi! :)