honeybuns Cloth Diaper Giveaway WINNER!

Hello! Thank you all for visiting my facebook fanpage and my cloth diaper shop. If you ever have any requests for specific print themes for cloth diapers, feel free to send me a message so I can look for a fabric you will like!

And now.... watch the video below to see if you're the winner of my 1st FREE DIAPER giveaway!

Thank you!!!

My Relaxing Bath Time as a Momma

Sometimes I'm feeling achy and I like to take a hot bath. This is usually during the day when my husband is at work. So I leave the bathroom door open and my 2 year old comes and goes with her toys.

Today she brought in her butterfly. *sigh* The butterfly that has wonderful buttons on it that say the letters of the alphabet when you push them. My daughter likes to push the same button over and over...and over again. It's really helped her with her letters, I like the toy.

But when I'm in the bath, trying to get into my relaxed zone, and keep hearing, "E! E! E! E!" as she pushes the same button repeatedly, it's kind of hard.

Did you know that when you put your ears under water the sounds outside are significantly decreased in volume?

It's a beautiful thing.

Things I Wish I Hadn't Taught my Toddler

One day, Molly was showing me her blocks. She would say, "What's this?" and I would reply with what shape it was. We've played this game before. But this particular day I got the brainy idea to show her that when you press the different shaped blocks down on your skin, you can see the shape it leaves behind when your skin changes color for a few seconds.

 I shouldn't have done that.

Now she runs up to me and slams the blocks onto my leg when I'm washing the dishes or sewing diapers.

Oops.

Life is an Amazing Experience

Wow! I guess I fell away from blogging for a few months. I never was good at posting daily, or even weekly for that matter! I guess I'm not a blogger at heart.
Since my last post about not being able to get pregnant, I did get pregnant! I'm in my 15th week, due at the end of July sometime. My estimated due date is actually my 30th birthday haha. We'll be having a homebirth this time, with a midwife. I already plan to have a photographer there because I think this is going to be one of the most amazing highlights of my lifetime. Every birth is, I wish I'd gotten the first moments of our daughter Molly's life on film. I'll breastfeed and cloth diaper of course. If we have a boy we will not be circumcising him. We will also not be vaccinating unless for some unseen reason in the future we see a need to go ahead with one or two. We don't really need anything for this baby, we have Molly's clothes if it's a girl, and if it's a boy it doesn't take long to get showered with cute baby clothes! Besides, we will be in the thick of a Texas summer, who wants to wear clothes anyway right?? Lol, Baby will be wrapped up on me most of the time anyway - kangaroo style!

I've also been busy making cloth diapers and trying to market them. I started making cloth diapers last summer after using BumGenius on Molly since she was 2 months old. I quickly realized I enjoyed making cloth diapers more than my other hobbies I made for my orginal shop, so I made a new shop just for diapers! My production slowed down in my 1st trimester but it is slowly picking back up now that I feel better.

Molly is growing like a weed, she's 2 now. She loves to shovel dirt into her bucket in the backyard. She loves running up to me and giving me hugs and kisses. Loves talking. My midwife says she has a very large vocabulary for a 2 year old. I cannot imagine my life without her light...she fills my heart with warm joy and love. I've never felt that kind of love before. I feel like I could grab her up squeeze her forever. I am in love with that child.

My life is beautiful. I think about my past sometimes, when I was depressed and lost. When I didn't want to go on. I thank God every day for opening my eyes to the shadows around me, to the darkness I lived in, to the sins I thought nothing of. I am eternally grateful to have the chance to show God I can live a better life, for Him. I can be the woman He created me to be. I know I'm not a perfect example of a Godly woman, but He knows that I try. He knows my heart is His.

Life is an amazing experience. I am grateful to have the chance to be here.

(listening to Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong and her cover of River)

My Missing Tile

I'm having a bad day. I took another negative pregnancy test. It seems like everywhere I look women are pregnant and having babies. Some are on their 4th, some have 12! What is wrong with me? Is it something I'm doing wrong. I feel sometimes like I'm being punished. I try really hard to be a good mother and wife. I see people who don't pay any attention to their kids who only have to look at a man and they're pregnant again. People who don't want to have children who accidentally get "knocked up." It hurts my heart so much. Am I being selfish? Am I asking for too much to have lots of kids? We want a full house. We pray for sons and more daughters. We want to have big family gatherings when they're all grown up and bringing over all the grandchildren to visit. It just seems like so many people have it so easy having children, while month after month goes by for us and I'm still empty. Empty. I sound so melodramatic. I love our daughter, and am not trying to fill an emptiness that she cannot fill. I just...I just wish we could have more. I don't see what's wrong with that. Our daughter is a joy sent from God, I will continue to pray that we are blessed with more joy.

If you're wondering about the title, I watched a video on YouTube a while back that said if you want something bad you will see it everywhere in other people. It was an inspirational video to overcome your missing tile. My missing tile is obviously, having more children. This is the video:

the making of...my Crocheted Slouch Hat

I crocheted my first adult sized hat!

Here is a video of it's progression:

You can learn how to make one the same place I did HERE!

~Nikki

Working with Charcoal

I took a custom request for a charcoal portrait of this sweet little girl watching a bonfire:

First, I spread on a dark layer of charcoal. Then I used my fingers to smudge the proportions of her face and body.

 Next, I drew in some definition and shadow.

 Then, I used my fingers to blend that in.

 Then I molded my eraser to a tip and made a few highlights in her hair, made her eyes brighter, etc. I also added another layer of shadows, more definition to her hair and face including eyelashes.

 I did a final layer of shadow and signed it!

 Here's a close up of her gorgeous eyes!

 

Feel free to contact me for a custom portrait!