2012 Review: The Happiness Project

Today is the last day of 2012. Overall, I can't complain; it was a good year. It had its ups and downs, as does any year, and as I was looking through all of my photos from the last 12 months I was reminded of how many happy moments there were. I always welcome the promise of a new year and I'm excited about 2013 and moving into a new year and new adventures. Here's a glance back at my 2012 and the things that made it special. And yes, about 90% of these are of my girl. Every moment with her is reason to celebrate.

I wish you all the best that life can bring in 2013! Thank you for taking the time to read my little blog.

~Stacy

Camera Love

I'm starting 2013 off with a new best friend. Check her out:

Yep. Chad gave me this beauty for Christmas, my first big girl camera! I've been reading about DSLRs for over a year now and trying to learn more about photography in general. My digital point-and-shoot that I've been using for about two years is one of the best cameras of its kind and has given me tons of great photos (literally: I shot over 30,000 photos with it. Of those, I probably discarded close to 25,000. Thank goodness for digital!). I still love it and am keeping it for times when it's more convenient to use, but I had outgrown it. I've read and studied enough about photography at this point to know what kinds of pictures I want to take and what equipment and skills I need to do that. I reached the end of the road with my old camera and needed to graduate to a DSLR. This one is a Canon EOS Rebel T3i and, if all of the dozens of reviews I read are correct, either the best or second best choice for an entry level DSLR. 

A year ago I had no idea what kind of DSLR I would want, since the options can be overwhelming and I didn't even understand enough about photography and camera functionality to narrow it down and know what I was looking for. I took my time reading photography articles, blogs, books, etc. and came up with a pretty straightforward list of what I wanted:

• Either a Canon or Nikon; 
• Something entry level but that would be able to grow with me, so I don't need to replace it anytime soon;
• Something with interchangeable lenses AND where the lenses are universally fit to the brand (all Canon lenses fit all Canon DSLRs, it doesn't matter if you have different models);
• Nothing overly complicated to use, since DSLRs are complicated enough;
• Something highly rated by reputable photographers and photography publications.

It was worth taking the time to pick this out since I wanted to be absolutely sure I was making the best choice for what I wanted/needed in a camera. Also, DSLRs are not cheap. This is a pretty significant investment, especially if additional lenses are factored in. I've been using this camera for a week now and so far I absolutely love it. It's incredibly easy to use (again, relatively speaking) and I have found out how to do a lot of different things just by experimenting. The manual is really straightforward, the camera itself is sturdy, the battery lasts a very long time, and the pictures (even if you never switch out of "Auto") are crisp and gorgeous.

So while I'm on the topic of this pictures and photography, I guess I'll get to the real point of this post--my favorite photos of 2012. Photography has grown from something I used to wish I could do, to something I took an active interest in, to now something I am passionate about as a hobby and can't wait to learn more about. My goal for 2013 is to keep building on the skills I have and learn new ones along the way. Practice makes perfect, so I expect to be looking through another 15,000+ shots this year. Don't worry, I won't post them all :)

Here are my favorite photos (from a strictly photography standpoint) of 2012:

I realized after creating these collages that one photos shows up twice...it's not because I'm so wild about it I had to include it again, I just accidentally added it twice and didn't want to go through the hassle of recreating the frame with a new picture. Oh well.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! Are you ready for New Year's Eve??

~Stacy

2012 Year in Review: What I Made

This week is all about prepping for the new year but also revisiting all of the things that made 2012 special. I've been having fun looking through my photos from the past twelve months and reliving the highlights and remembering some of the smaller moments that I had forgotten about. Today's post is all about the stuff I made. I've been really eager to get back to making things again since it has been several weeks since I've had the opportunity to do much besides cook, clean, entertain, repeat.

Here's a summary of everything I created with the help of a sewing machine/glue gun/paint/lots of patience.

There's few other things that I never photographed, but these represent the majority. I did not include my failed attempts at lip gloss, a gathered knit skirt with a yoga waistband, and a stuffed elephant. It's for the best.

I'm excited to make more things this year and branch out a bit in what I make. I have an irrational fear of sewing a zipper onto anything and therefore have avoided any pattern that calls for one, when possible. I vow to be brave and attempt a zipper this year. Oh, and ruffles. I'd like to try out more clothing patterns and finally attempt machine quilting something beyond just stitching inside the seams. Also, I need to figure out the right way finish off binding.

I'll be back later with more year in review posts and more goals for 2013!

~Stacy

Christmas Fun

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We sure did, especially since it was spread out over three days. We decided that the best way to tackle all the present opening and celebrations with a little one was to break it up into smaller events so she wouldn't lose her mind (and so we wouldn't either :)). So grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable; this is a long one!

On the 23rd we set out all of her presents from her Grandma C. and Aunt C. who live in Maine. We video chatted with them in the morning so they could watch Charlotte open everything, which Charlotte loved because she can "talk" to their cats.

The highlights? A "choo choo" and a snazzy pair of sneakers. The girl loves shoes. I have no idea where she gets that...

Christmas Eve was just the three of us. We let Charlotte open her presents from us and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with her and playing in the snow. She loves her kitchen! I set it up in the dining room so she can "cook" whenever we're in there or the real kitchen. She also loves her new stuffed Elmo (aka "Melmo") and her very first sled. Here's a look at how Christmas Eve went down:

And finally, Christmas Day. We had my parents and brother & sister-in-law over earlier in the day and the rest of the family came over later. Charlotte got another shipment of goodies under the tree and was not disappointed...though I wonder if this morning she expected to open presents again, since that's pretty much been what we've been doing all week.

Right now we are watching the blizzard unfold and enjoying the fact that we have nowhere to be all week long. Now that's what I call a Merry Christmas!

~Stacy

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright...

We had a bit of a snowstorm a few days ago and the temperatures have been cold enough ever since that most of the snow stuck around. It wasn't much, but enough to cover the ground and make a small snowman. As I sat down to write this though I noticed that it just started snowing again, which means we will have our first white Christmas in awhile!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of peace, good health, and happiness.

~Stacy

Project Pinterest: Fabric Lunch Bag

I've actually made a few things from Pinterest lately, but unfortunately they've ended up scarfed down in a fit of dessert eating frenzy before I could get a good picture. For the record, you should definitely try the Confetti Cake Batter Cookies and the Oreo White Chocolate Pudding Cookies :)

Several months ago I pinned this:

Click to see the original pin

The site that this pin came from is a wonderful sewing blog called Bee in My Bonnet. It has lots of great pictures, ideas, tutorials and fantastic sewing patterns--check it out! The tutorial I used for the lunch bag was found on another fabulous sewing blog called Pink Penguin. Click here to go straight to her step-by-step tutorial!

I started with some fabric that may look familiar:

I can't believe I still have scraps of this fabric left--it's been used on Charlotte's bedroom decor, a pillowcase dress I made her last summer, her rocking chair cover, a sewing machine cover, and now this. And I still have enough scraps left over to make one more pillowcase dress and something else small...maybe doll clothes?

Anyhow, I cut all of my pieces according to the measurements given in the tutorial. The only thing I did differently here was to make each piece of the lining, cover, and outer bag different fabrics so that there's a different color/pattern from every viewpoint.

Here are a few pictures of how it looked as it was coming together:

Here's where I altered my bag a bit...though it wasn't my intention to do so. According to the original pattern, the finished bag has a smaller bag within it with a drawstring. This bag is connected to the bottom of the outer bag so the whole thing is still one unit. I messed mine up at some point and made it impossible to attach the smaller drawstring bag to the outer cover, so I ended up just keeping them separate to avoid having to rip everything out and basically start all over again. No big deal, and I kind of prefer it that way after all since the drawstring bag is quite a bit smaller. Happy accident.

The finished outer bag measures about 10" wide, 7" tall and 4.5" deep. It's a cute size and perfect for storing small toy pieces (which is my plan for it, even though its original intention was a lunch bag). I have it on good authority that Charlotte might be getting a Little People Zoo for Christmas. Now she'll have a place to keep all the animals and zookeepers when not in use, which will keep them from getting lost in her toy box, under the couch, in Howard's bed, etc.

~Stacy