And so it begins....

I have been going back and forth on the idea of opening up my own little shop for the things I make and finally decided to take that leap! That's right, I'm now the proud operator of Twice As Nice Boutique. I've always enjoyed being crafty and since having kids that has only increased. I have made my son blankets, sheets for his bed a few outfits for holidays and now that I have girls I have branched out to hair bows. I have been enjoying myself making cute little hair accessories for my little girls and am now going to share them with anyone else who likes them! Today I went to Hobby Lobby for the first time and I can tell you it will NOT be the last. I went to JoAnns first because they are local but wasn't happy with much that I saw there and I'm glad I wasn't. My husband looks for any opportunity to take a day or half day trip somewhere so he offered to take me to the new Hobby Lobby in Fredericksburg which is about an hour away. Not only did they have an amazing selection of ribbons (and everything else in the store that I just wanted to buy right up) but they were ALL 50% off! I had a blast picking out ribbons for my new business and couldn't wait to get home to make some into korker ribbon. I saw a tutorial video online about how to make grosgrain ribbon into korker ribbon and the do-it-yourselfer in me just had to try it out. I am really happy with how they turned out and can't wait to make more tomorrow!

Here is how I did it:

*Take 3/8 in grosgrain ribbon and wrap it around a 1/4 in wooden dowel rod using wooden clothes pins at the beginning and end to hold them into place.
- I also used 5/8 in grosgrain ribbon wrapped around a 5/16 in wooden dowel rod.



*You can wrap them as close together or spaced apart as you want. The close together the tighter it will turn out once it's done. (I did mine leaving no gaps all the way down)



*Place them on a foiled covered cookie sheet and bake in oven at 275 degrees for 25 minutes. (You can also place them in an aluminum lasagna style pan) The foil is to protect the ribbon.



*When you take them out let them cool off for a few minutes. It doesn't take long, then unclip the close pins and take them off the dowel rods.

THAT'S IT! Now you have korker ribbon ready for hair bows or any other project you have in mind!

A Wonderful Christmas

I feel truely blessed this Christmas season. I have 3 beautiful kids and a wonderful husband, who could ask for more? Seeing Nathan's face Christmas morning was great and feels so nice to know how much he enjoys all his new things. He was so satisfied with the things that were set out unwrapped he didn't care about the things that were. All he wanted to do was play and we felt bad having to pull him away from his new toys to go spend time with family. Of course he forgot by the time we got to my Aunt and Uncle's house and he had a blast there as well. The girls didn't know much about what was going on all day but when we came down in the morning we put them right in their new play mat and they loved it. They laid in there together while we opened gifts with Nathan and he emptied his stocking and patiently awaited their turn to do their gifts. They have spent quite a bit of time in it since Christmas also and are all smiles. Because they enjoy the toys hanging from it so much I finally hooked some of their toys onto their car seat and they love it. When they were in the car yesterday I could hear the jingling of one of their toys and couldn't help but smile. I feel so blessed to have such happy and healthy kids.

4am we meet again...

Since I am up for the girls' 4am feeding I figure now is as good a time as any to update on my recent projects. I finished Caitlyn's checkered blanket to match Christin's and made them matching mini blankets for loveys. They are both cute little cuddlers so I think they'll get some good use from them. I've also sewn together a secret Santa gift and just need to sew the trim around it and make the other secret Santa gift. I also plan to make The girls soft sole shoes out of some great finds I found in the remnats bin the other day. I also made them each a new hair clip yesterday. I think I know how the elves feel! :)



















Also, the girls had another weight check today and they have both gained even more! I am so thrilled and even more so that we don't have to go back for a month now. I still can't believe my baby girls are 3 months old already! Christin weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and Caitlyn a whopping 8lbs 12oz. My cute tiny girls are getting bigger slowly but surely!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Ok it's been a while since I've posted but its been busy with Christmas coming up! I have been in last minute Christmas mode the past few days. I've had most of the gifts done since black Friday but still needed a few more things for the girls and stocking stuffers. I decided to make the girls blankets for Christmas as a special gift for them they could use and save so I went to Joanns today and if course I got myself in trouble. They had the cutest cuddle fabric so they are now going to get 2 blankets each and probably matching loveys. I still have several projects left to accomplish in the next week (4 more blankets at least) and I'm thinking about making them soft sole shoes also. I finished Christin's quilted blanket today though and plan to start on Caitlyn's tonight. Here is Christin's....






Not perfect but cute and definately usable! :)

Sharing the Christmas spirit one Shutterfly card at a time

This will be our first year ordering our Christmas cards from Shutterfly but I am extremely excited! I have ordered things from them in the past such as photo books and calendars, but never Christmas cards. For those not familiar with Shutterfly, they help you take your photographs and turn them into wonderful things. We ordered a book for our son, Nathan, after taking a trip to Disney and included all the pictures from our trip so he can always look back at it and see how much fun he had. I have also ordered calendars through Shutterfly which turned out amazing. Not only can you have all the birthdays and anniversaries you want, you can also choose photos to put for each month. I am so excited to send out our Christmas cards this year and am already thinking we need to have a Christmas party next year just so I can order some of the great Christmas invitations they offer as well.

Here is what our Christmas cards look like this year...

Candy Cane Wishes Christmas

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Want to earn 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? See how you can here!

Pictures

I decided in efforts to save money, this year I'd take our Christmas pictures instead of going to a studio. I have a great DSLR camera, tripod and remote so I figured, "Why not?" They may not be the most professional pictures but I think they came out pretty well and with a little bit of editing they should turn out really nice.

Blog Hop

The ALMOST Friday blog hop is Co-Hosted by Caterpillar Family and Rouge Poags! Please join in the fun! The linky will be posted each Thursday morning at 8am, EST and will be open until Friday at 11pm, EST. Questions? Concerns? Suggestions? They love feedback! Feel free to contact either co-host :)

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://www.caterpillarfamily.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/kaleysalene/ThursdayHop.jpg" /></a>

Rules:

1. Follow the Co-Hosts of this hop AND the featured blog. We are listed in the #1, #2, and #3 spots of the Linky. (Leave us a comment and we will follow you back!)

2. Include this button in a blog post or somewhere else on the main page of your blog.

3. Enter your linky below. (please link to the main page of your blog. links to advertisements, facebook or twitter will be deleted.)

4. Check out the other blogs you see here and follow the ones you like!

5. Leave a comment here if you'd like to be considered for our "Featured Blog" #3 spot next week.

This week's featured blogger is Kathy @ Bwak Bwak Blog!  Kathy is also my go-to girl for Scentsy.  She has a lot of great stuff for the holidays so be sure to check her out at https://kathsscents.scentsy.us/home.  Welcome Kathy :)

Disappointed...

Today my girls had their 2 month check up and usually I'm really excited about check ups to see how well they have been growing and how big they are getting, but today's was not good. Fortunately they are healthy little girls, unfortunately it left me feeling like I've been failing them. Although they are healthy, they've lost almost a pound since last month and are now around their birth weight. I knew they were thinning out but they were also longer so I assumed they were stretching up not out. I feel so disappointed in myself. It's my job to make sure they have everything they need to grow properly and I have failed them, and to think I was excited that I'd been Breastfeeding them and things seemed to be going well. I'm so glad this was caught before it caused the more issues than being really thin, but wish it wasn't the case. I now have to alternate between formula and nursing for each feeding since they aren't getting enough "fatty milk" and I also have to contact a lactation specialist and work with her to make sure things get and stay on the right track. The goal is to get them off formula completely again but we have to assure they are getting enough calories from my milk to do that. I'm hoping and praying we can get back to only Breastfeeding and them having adequate nutrition. Here are a few pictures of my sweet little girls from our trip to the doctor.