seven months.

Amelia turned 7 months old yesterday!!

I seriously can't believe that she is already 7 months!

Time is flying by.
It has been the best 7 months of my life :)

Amelia is:

*  sitting by herself

*  flipping over both ways

*  eating all kinds of new foods

*  waving "hi" and "bye"

* saying "da da" like it's going out of style and Adam just LOVES it so much

*  scooting around.

*  Im sure she will be crawling in no time.

*  she loves to pick things up and examine them

*  she loves toys

* she loves to suck on teething toys

*  Catalina is her best friend

*  the pediatrician says that by our next appointment (at 9 months) Amelia will definitely have some bottom teeth and maybe a couple of top teeth!

* she is the most loving, smart, and beautiful little girl in the whole wide world and we are soooo blessed that she is our daughter.

xo
janel

party planning

Amelia's "Gotcha Day" is coming up in November!! We will have waited 9 LONG months for this business to be legit so we think a party is in order.

I have been going crazy looking up themes and color schemes and deciding on decorations and food.

Tonight, at Target, I stumbled onto the most PERFECT banner ever. Im pretty sure it's for a birthday but it doesn't matter to me.  I have looked all over online for a photo but I can't find one and I am too lazy to get up and take a photo. 

In a nutshell: it's a pennant style banner with the triangles in neon colors.  Each triangle has a cut out of the phrase "Best Party Ever."  It's so cute and so perfect because it will seriously be the best day ever which will make it the best party ever.  They also had black and white striped paper straws there.  Did I mention both the banner and the straws were .98 each :) Score!

So the theme:  Best Party Ever

Color Scheme:  Neon and black and white.

So, here are some inspiration photos that I have found to help me get everything ready:

Love these invites from Hello Lucky

Some gorgeous paper fans:

This sign

and I LOVE these utensil holders (but in my color scheme of course)

and I love everything about these next photos.

Perfection!!  I can't wait to get started on the party planning.  The dreaming up phase is always fun but the actual putting it all together phase in my favorite.  I would love to know of any cute online party favor sites that you all have used in the past or any other cute ideas that you might have!! 

I can NOT wait until Gotcha Day!!!

xo

janel

little clothes

Seriously, I am spending all of my time buying and selling little clothes on Instagram.  It's crazy and I love it.

I have scored Amelia some of the most beautiful clothes.

Being on there, and seeing so many things that I LOVE, made me want to narrow down my list of "must have" brands for my little one.

I love clothes that are made by small companies.  I love bold prints and unique designs.  I also love a complete mix and match of fabrics too.  Here are my current list of favorite brands for Amelia right now.

1.  My heart will always belong to Misha Lulu.  Always.

2.  and do not get me started on the cuteness that is Bobo Choses.

3.  I just scored a Matilda Jane dress from my friend's Trunk Show that she hosted and I am officially hooked on their dresses now too!

4. Winter Water Factory has the most amazing prints, plus their fabric is so incredibly soft :)

5.  Polarn y Pyret is quickly making it's way to the top of my list.  I love their prints so much :)

6.  Mini Boden is another line that just pays attention to the details and I love that!!  They are adorable!

The best thing about shopping these Instagram closets, is that I can get these great brands at a GREAT price.  Amelia has scored a lot of great pieces from these closets.  I love the little community of mommas that I have "met" through them.

You can shop Amelia's closet on Instagram at @shop4amelia.

You can also check out all of the cute closets that I follow too!!

AND if you are looking for cute little boy clothes, my sister has Jack's clothes for sale there as well @jackmankscloset.

xo

janel

It's almost October!!

Which means it's almost time for "Sparkle With Love!!," my new art journal class! If you haven't signed up yet, you better get in quickly.  There are only 6 more days until class starts!  

For more information on the class click here and here.

To sign up for the class, click HERE!

xo

janel

Guest Blogger: Kim Smith

Hello everyone! My name is Kim and it's a pleasure to be guest blogging for Janel today. 

One of my favourite hobbies is collecting vintage craft books (see collections of all my hobbies on Hobzy). 

I love looking through second hand shops, and finding gems hidden in-between all the patterns for fluffy 80's mohair jumpers. I collect a whole bunch of different types of craft books from patterns to instruction manuals to big books that were supposed to all a 'good housewife' needed. But my favourite by far are the ones with impeccable design inside & creative layouts!

This one, 'The Collins Complete Book of Needlecraft' is probably my all time favourite example. I thought I'd share a little section about sewing kid's toys (seeing as Janel has a little one).

I am completely in love with the use of colour & simple shapes in all these projects- and how the book encourages us to be creative & think of new things to make- not just to follow the pattern (although they do give great directions).

And those cute dolly faces! So sweet. And you'd only have to learn how to do one shape- and just add different accessories for different personalities. And even though this book was made in the 70's, all the designs are completely adaptable for modern day life.

Thanks for letting me share! Have a good day, Kimxo 

a special gift

Amelia's adoption finalization is coming up so SOON!  Obviously it's not soon enough but it is soon.  I want to make Amelia a little book full of love letters from all of the people who's lives she has touched.  So many of you have played HUGE roles in bringing Amelia to our family and I would LOVE to have some love letters from you all to add into her book.

If this is something that you would like to do, please email me janel(dot)maclean(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send you the address where you can send it!!

Again, you all mean so much to our family and I would love for you all to be a part of this little "Gotcha Day" present for my sweet girl.

Thank you!

xo

janel

ears pierced.

At Amelia's last check-up, we were told that now would be a great time to pierce  her ears if that was something that we were considering. 

we were.

We made an appointment to come back to the pediatrician's office when their "ear piercer" was working the following week.

Amelia was awesome (as usual) during the whole experience.  She cried, HARD, for about a minute after the first hole was pierced.  After that, she was all smiles and laughs showing off her new bling.

My dad was sweet enough to come along and document it all for us :)

She looks adorable.

I am really glad that we did it when we did, she is so great about letting us turn them and clean them.  Plus, she hasn't really discovered her ears yet so we don't have to worry about her pulling on them or anything.

Yay Amelia!

xo

janel

DIY geometric baby leggings.

I had a pair of Amelia's leggings in my purse the other day (not sure how they got there).

I was at school and planning a mono-printing lesson so I decided to do a little stamping on the leggings!

Materials Needed:

* scissors

* eraser

* fabric paint

* leggings

Besides the fabric paint, all of these items are more than likely in your house somewhere which makes this project super easy and super cheap.

1.  Cut your eraser to the shape that you want.

2.  squirt a bit of fabric paint and practice stamping your stamp.

3.  Create your design on your leggings!

4.  Put them on your cutie!

I love them!!

I can't wait to see Amelia rock these :)

xo

janel

it's happening...

Amelia's room makeover is in full swing.  I am learning how to do a makeover VERY cheaply. 

I have been shopping closets like crazy on Instagram and selling things like crazy as well.

You can "shop our goodies" over at @shop4amelia on Instagram and check out the closets that I am following as well.

It's such a great thing!!

All of the money that I am making through that is going right towards new items for Amelia's room makeover.

The above little board is small snapshot of where my inspiration is coming from. 

(You can see the sources for all of these and more makeover inspiration pics right here)

In other news:

*  I need more time in my days

*  I still haven't started this past week in my Project Life album (which is soooo unlike me)

*  Amelia's court date is coming up in a few months so we are getting everything together that we need for that.

*  My online art journal class starts October 1 and I seriously can not wait to dive into that journal!!

* Amelia got her ears pierced today!! ( a whole post on that later).

*  Have a great weekend friends.

xo

janel

in the works...

Here is a little peek at a couple of projects I have been working on this week...

*  pen pal badges for my sweet pen pals (tutorial from Mer Mag for Gap)

*  cute little jars for Amelia's nursery makeover (now I just need to spray paint the tops)

*  and Amelia's Halloween costume

and here is a little bit of happiness that a co-worker friend brought to me this morning :)

yay!!

Happy Tuesday friends.

xo

janel

ONLINE GARAGE SALE!

Alright friends!  You asked for it so I am having my first little online garage sale :)  I love the way a lot of people have been selling their clothes and such over on Instagram so that is where I decided to host my first little sale :)  I will be posting items later tonight and all you will have to do is leave your email address, and I will shoot you an invoice through Paypal.  Super easy for me, super easy for you!!  

Here is  a little peek at some of the cuteness that will be going for sale tonight:

All of my stuff is in amazing condition and ready for a cute new home!!!

you can find the sale on Instagram @shop4amelia

If you don't have Instagram or if you have any questions, please feel free to email me through my contact button!

xo

janel

Inside Sparkle With Love: What's Your Season?

Well, I am so excited about the response that I have gotten so far about my newest online journal class:  Sparkle With Love: What's Your Season?

I thought it would be fun to share a few peaks inside my journal, the cover and tell you a little more about the class!

This class is all about documenting the new seasons in our lives.  This could simply be the actual season (fall, winter, spring, etc.) or it could be a new season for you.

My journal is going to focus mostly on the new season of motherhood and this season of adoption for me.  The prompts and techniques that you will learn will fit in with whatever season you are journeying through.

This class is perfect for delving into yourself and documenting your journey. It's a perfect little legacy to leave behind.  I can't wait for Amelia to get older and be able to read back through my art journals!!

This class will also come with free printables, a list of journal prompts for you to use (if you would like) after the class is over, and giveaways too!!

The absolute best part about these classes are the people you meet through them.  As I mentioned a million times, I have met some of my very best friends from taking online classes.  The community of fellow art journalers is amazing and it's so much fun to take the class together and communicate with each other through class chats, and our Flickr Group.

To sign up for this class, you just need to click right over to THIS POST and scroll to the bottom!!  I can't wait for October 1!!

xo

janel