DIY Varsity Letter Sweatshirt

The other day, I was sitting in the car in a mini mall parking lot, and suddenly had this great idea to create a varsity letter themed sweater. Maybe it’s because of all the back-to-school stuff or the fact that it’s fall, but suddenly I wanted nothing more than a cozy sweater with a cute fluffy letter on it. So, I bumped all the other blog posts I had out of the way so that I could show you guys this cute sweater that I made for myself! The best part is that it’s super affordable, so you can definitely make one for yourself! I was able to get everything I needed on Amazon so I didn’t even need to leave the house or go shopping at the mall for the right supplies. However, if you want to live out your back to school shopping days and go to the mall, don’t let me stop you. Shop til you drop honey!

I feel silly calling this a DIY but technically it is. Lucky for you, it’s an easy one!

You will need:

Sweatshirt (here)
Iron-on letters (here)
Vanishing ink marker or chalk (here or here)
Iron (similar here)
Piece of cotton fabric

Directions:

1. Try on your sweatshirt and mark where you want your letter to go. I used fabric chalk, but you can also use vanishing ink markers or even regular chalk if that’s all you have.

2. Place your letter on the sweater in the desired spot and place a piece of cotton fabric on top to prevent burn on the patch.

3. Iron it on, making sure to focus on the edges so it doesn’t peel. My directions said to iron on high for 30 seconds, but follow what your directions say.

4. Turn your sweatshirt inside out and iron underneath the patch for another 30 seconds.

To style your new sweater, try it with a sporty skirt or a pair of jeans and booties. It’s perfect for giving your outfit a sporty touch. There’s nothing better in the fall than a cozy sweatshirt, especially if it’s slightly oversized and therefore super duper comfortable. 

That’s all there is to it! Now you’ll have a cute and comfy sweater to tote around with you during the fall. It’s perfect for chilly nights or for wearing during fun activities like apple picking or football games! You could even match it to your team colors or school colors. I went with pink because, you know…. those are my team colors! Haha.

So, what do you think? Will you be slapping one of these bad boys on this fall? How would you style your sweatshirt? Let me know in the comments below!

DIY Tassel Halloween Pins

Halloween is coming. This is not a drill! I am SO excited since it’s one of my favorite holidays. Did you know that my husband hates Halloween? So, that means that I need to pick up the slack and celebrate twice as hard. As you’ve probably realized, I’m not a huge fan of black and spooky things, so I need to work a little harder to fulfill my Halloween desires in my chosen color palette. That results in a whole lot of DIY’s and I ain’t complaining about it! I also love love love tassels, so I figured why not bring them together? This little pin is perfect for Halloween but can also be adapted to basic fall colors! It would also be really fun to make for your child’s teacher or a coworker that loves fall. 

*This post contains affiliate links.

You will need:

Wood Halloween shapes ( here or similar here)
Acrylic paint (similar here)
Embroidery floss (similar here)
Glue gun (similar here)
Scissors (similar here)
Pin backs (similar here)

Directions:

1. Paint your wood pieces in your choice of colors. I did just one coat, then let it dry. I recommend doing the edges first, then placing it down and painting the front. For one of the pumpkins, I painted only the edge and I left another natural wood. The choice is entirely yours!

2. While the paint dries, create your tassels. I used a 7/8” piece of cardboard for mine. To learn how to make tassels, refer to this blog post. Remember, you don’t want them to be too thick/chunky so that they lay flat against your pumpkin and, therefore, your shirt. Make sure you don’t trim the little string at the top- we’ll need some length to glue it on! *In the blog post I linked, I had combed the tassels but for this one I didn’t. The choice is yours!

3. If you want to add some faces to your wood shapes, now is the time! Use a toothpick and dab the paint on. For the ghost, I keep it simple with tiny dots for eyes and cheeks, with a small smile. On the cat, I just added a pink heart for the nose. You can also add googly eyes if you prefer!

4. Decide on the order you want, then glue your tassels onto the back of your pumpkin using your glue gun. Trim down the excess floss at the top.

5. Glue your pin onto the back of your pumpkin, covering the excess floss from the tassels.

Wear and enjoy. Show off your Halloween love to everyone you meet!

You’ll probably be finding this pin on my lapel until October 31, when I’ll take it off and switch to a Halloween costume! I’m so excited to celebrate this second Halloween with Hailey. Her first Halloween she was only a month old and definitely wasn’t aware of anything that happened. I can’t believe a year has already gone by and she’s so big!  You’re definitely tired of hearing me say that, but I probably won’t stop. It’s insanity. I mean, look at how tiny she was in her first blog post debut. 

So, how do you feel about Halloween? Are you into the cute and colorful trend, or do you follow the traditional spooky-ness? Love to dress up or hate it? Let me know your feelings in the comments below!

DIY Cake Smash (& Milk Bath) Photoshoot

Last week, Hailey turned one year old! It was a rough week because she had a cold or was teething, poor thing! There was one day that she was feeling slightly better, so I decided this was the day to do her cake smash session. You see, I had originally had these grand ideas of setting up a backdrop indoors, adding all this colorful stuff behind her, creating an amazing cake topper and making it an experience. However, life is what happens when you’re busy making plans. So, I took what I could get and figured if she was feeling slightly better right now, this was the time to do the cake smash pics!

Hailey was in a pretty good mood until I left her to set up the cake smash. By the time I was done setting up (which by the way I did in a super fast manner and totally different than my original plan) she was completely snotty nosed and red in the face. Instead of playing with all her toys in the playpen, she decided that she wanted to cry because she kept seeing me walk by her and not actually interact with her. All this to say, it doesn’t have to be perfect when you’re setting up your shoot. All that matters is that you get it done and have those memories to cherish. I could’ve given up in that moment, because let’s let’s face it I was READY to. But I kept it on, lived to tell the tale, and decided to share what I learned because it really isn’t as hard as it looks. I was even able to throw in a bonus milk bath photoshoot afterwards!

Setting Up For Your DIY Cake Smash Photoshoot

For starters, you’ll want to find a well-lit spot for your cake smash session to happen. Things can get really messy, so make sure that it’s somewhere that you don’t mind getting dirty. Doing it on your carpet would not be wise unless you have a tarp or plastic tablecloth of some sort to protect it. I have a backdrop stand that I was planning to use, but as I had mentioned there was no time for such shenanigans! Because of this, I took a look around my home (which by the way, was dark because it was cloudy and not the day I planned to take the pictures originally) and then took a look outside. I realized that taking the pictures outside would not only provide me with a natural backdrop stand ( the fence around our deck) but also had much better lighting than there was inside the house.

Lighting for Your Cake Smash Photoshoot

On that note, let’s talk about lighting. If you’re taking pictures outdoors you’ll want to make sure you do it either in a shady area or during golden hour, which is when the sun is going down. Make sure you don’t take the pictures right in the blinding sun, as your baby will be very cranky with the sun in their eyes and the pictures really won’t come out so good.

For indoor photos, keep the session near a window or a large sliding screen door. You want to find a room with the best lighting at that time of day so that the pictures come out as magical as possible. If your room is dark, your pictures may turn out OK with a cell phone or on automatic mode. However, when you go to edit them you’ll notice that they came out pretty grainy. That’s because your camera is struggling to find the light within a dark room. So, to avoid that, always find the best, most well-lit area for your photo shoot.

Cake Smash Backdrop

Next up is the backdrop. There are tons of options for what you can use as a backdrop. On Amazon you can find backdrops that you can purchase for this purpose, but very often those are filled with wrinkles. Make sure you reserve some time to remove them with a steamer or an iron. Personally, I absolutely loathe trying to get wrinkles out of things, especially the deep folds that always ends up on backdrops. For this reason, I would recommend either using a rolled-up vinyl backdrop (which you probably wouldn’t know unless you read the Amazon reviews or asked how it was shipped) or a paper backdrop. I have these at home and love them. Just know that as the baby is moving, the paper may end up with wrinkles or folds. If you have a very active child, this may not be your best choice. Another option is to use some fabric that you purchased at the store. But, I think the best way to do it is to use a tablecloth! For my pictures, I used a sequin tablecloth that I had on hand and I covered it with a piece of tulle that I had left over from trying to make a wedding veil and used at Hailey’s half birthday party. The tablecloth was the perfect length for the backdrop and added a little sparkle, while the tulle kind of diffused the shine and created a more matte surface that was less reflective. To prevent the backdrop from moving, I used backdrop clips that I had on hand and attached them to my deck railing. Then at the bottom, I used blocks from Hailey‘s baby shower. The wind was blowing and everything was flying up, so you want to make sure that everything is stuck in place so you don’t have to worry about it while you’re shooting. An important note to make, make sure that whatever you use to hold up the top part of the backdrop is not heavy. If your baby moves or pulls the tablecloth, you don’t want it to come crashing down on their head. It’s for that reason that I used a clip, but you could probably also use some other sort of clip like a hair clip, although it wouldn’t work as well. You could probably also tired up in someway with a knot, but I recommend investing in a pair of these clips as they’re the most effective route and won’t fall down. 

Cake Smash Cake

I had gone to the grocery store and picked up a cake, but it had this very ugly dark purple icing all around the top edge. I bought it because I wasn’t sure if I would have time to find a better cake or make one, but I knew I didn’t want the cake to look like that. So, I went to my local home goods which is right next to the grocery store and picked up small cake pans. I wasn’t sure what I’d have time to do because I intended to do her photo shoot earlier in the week. However, since Hailey was so sick I had a few extra days to create the cake. I ended up making a strawberry cake and just used box cake and premade icing to cover it. I used a flat spatula to smooth out the edges so that it didn’t look totally horrible. While I was going to BJ’s looking for Hailey’s birthday party cake, I noticed that they actually have a lot of small “cake smash” cakes that actually come in a variety of colors. I managed to get a pink one for her party, but this is a great alternative if your grocery store only has hideous cakes like mine did.

Cake Smash Cake Topper

The cake topper was another funny part of it. You see, I was so concerned about having the right cake that I forgot all about the topper! So, I was scrambling around the attic looking for the right craft supplies to very quickly make my own cake topper while she was still in a good mood. This was, of course, before she started being very upset with me. I may do a blog post on how to create the cake topper I made, but overall it was really simple. I used wooden skewers, wood balls and a fringe embellishment/ribbon that went across it. Then I used wooden letters that I glued on to spell her name. To add a little more sparkle, I added some paper punched glitter card stock and put those on toothpicks. To be honest, the smaller sparkly stuff was totally unnecessary, so I’d recommend skipping it altogether. As soon as the baby starts eating a cake, hand over fist, you won’t want to pokey things in there and you’re going to remove them. I’d recommend picking one great topper or keeping it towards the front of the cake, letting them really feast on the cake towards the back.

Cake Smash- The Little Details

Now let’s talk about the little details. I went to her closet and picked out a dress for the shoot. I knew that my cake did not have any dyes, so I wasn’t too worried about it having a lot of staining. Either way, I figured that this is probably not something she would wear every day and wasn’t too concerned about it getting messed up. If you are worried, you can just do a tutu with a necklace on top or an affordable dress. Another option is to add a cute bib that will protect her dress or his little outfit, but also matches the theme. So anything about cake or it being the baby’s birthday is ideal. Then, I added a little hat that came with Hailey’s birthday party outfit. You can purchase a similar one on Amazon or Etsy, or you can make your own crown. I knew I wanted a little extra color in the photo shoot, since the background was just silver with that light peach overlay. So, I grabbed a tassel garland that I had left over from Hailey‘s half birthday party. I also attached the garland by sticking it under those backdrop clips so that everything was kept together nicely with no risk of falling. I put Hailey‘s cake on a plastic plate, because I was worried about her possibly knocking over a cakestand and breaking it. However, she actually was fairly tame the whole time and probably could’ve been fine with a glass plate. Use your discretion on that one!

DIY Cake Smash Photos

Now that your scene is all set up, it’s time to commence the cake smashing! All that’s left to do stick your little baby at the back of the cake, grab your camera and get ready to take pictures. I recommend taking all sorts of angles and distances. For example, you want to take a picture of the cake before I get smashed, a picture of the baby with the cake before they smash it (if you can!) and then a picture of their full body. After that, you want to get in on some details. The little hands grabbing at the cake, the little foot covered in icing and cake, and their little mouth. Take all sorts of angles and get in on those little details! This is how you would have a nice, well rounded session. Try to make your baby smile, but also acknowledge that they may just be so into eating the cake they don’t even bother to look up at you. For my shoot, it was difficult because as soon as she saw the cake she was happily eating, although she still mad at me for having ignored her. Because of that, her face is still a little bit blotchy from the crying and I feel like her eyes say it all.

How to Edit Cake Smash Photos

Once you’ve taken your photos it’s time to edit them! I always say it but I’ll say it again, the magic is in the editing! I really want to make sure that you take the time to go in and edit your pictures. Pick out your favorites, And load them into your favorite editing program. My favorite is Lightroom (or the LR app),but you can also use a ColorStory, Snapseed or PicMonkey. From there, you want to do things like lift the shadows, add some brightness, and increase the vibrancy (if you like your photos bright and colorful like I do!). Then you want to export them from there and save them into a folder on your computer somewhere you can easily access them in the future.

DIY Milk Bath Photoshoot

After the cake smash, you can also do a really cute cleanup session! Keep everything set up as it is, just add a milk bath and a few flowers, fruit, toys or rubber duckies. I used warm water and heavy cream to get a nice, milky bath without using a gallon of milk. We used her regular bathtub, but I would say that a round tub would probably be nicer. Then, I added a crown and placed her in the tub. At that point, I added in all my pre-sliced fruit (oranges and grapefruit) plus my flowers. I trimmed the stems and they floated nicely at the top of the water. The fruit was perfect because Hailey ate it while I took pictures. She LOVES citrus, especially lemons!

So, that’s all there is to it! It’s actually really simple to do a great DIY cake smash session with your baby. Even if you cannot hire a professional photographer, I think it’s really important to capture the special moments with your baby. If you’re interested in improving your pictures further, I have an extremely affordable class for moms so they can learn how to take professional photos of their baby. It’s called Dreamy Baby Photography and teaches you how to set up a great shoot, how to make sure you got the best lighting in your home or outside, and how to keep your baby happy. Additionally, I go over how you can sort your photos with ease and edit them in a flash. I’ll even teach you how to “copy and paste” your edits! You can find that right here.

DIY Mean Girls Tote Bag

It’s Mean Girls Day! In case you’re wondering why today of all days is Mean Girls day, it’s because of this scene. As a total Mean Girls fan myself, I couldn’t let this day pass by without doing a fun DIY project! It’s so fetch. Before we begin, I want to encourage you to see what I did last year, because even with a 5 day old baby, I had to celebrate! How cute was teeny tiny nose-picking Hailey?! I can’t handle it.

I created not one, but FOUR different Mean Girls quotes that you can put on a bag! This project is perfect because you can carry these bags all year long to show off your love for Mean Girls. You can do pretty much any quote you want to, but I picked four of the more iconic ones. And I made a template so it’s super easy for you to do it, too!

*This post contains affiliate links.

You will need:

Pink tote bags (here)
White iron on vinyl (here)
Cricut (here)
Standard grip mat (here)
Cricut tools (here)
Iron (similar here)
Cut template ( this link or this link)

Directions:

1. You have two options for the template, for a total of 4 quotes. To see them, go to this link or this link for your cut files.

2. Load your vinyl and cut the quote(s) for your tote. For a more in-depth post on how to cut iron-on vinyl, go to this post for the full directions. Don’t forget to mirror them!

3. Weed your vinyl to remove the excess. Do this carefully so you don’t end up ruining any of your letters.

4. Center the decal, then iron it onto your bag. Make sure you wait for it to cool completely before trying to peel it!

Now, go shop til you drop with your new totes! Or, give them as a gift to a fellow Mean Girls lover with a bottle of Rosé inside and a pack of popcorn. Pop in a copy of the DVD if you don’t think they have it! Also, be sure to go watch Mean Girls on this most joyous of holidays. It’s the grool thing to do.

Boston Overnight Trip (With a Baby!)

This summer, John and I were amazingly lucky to have a month off together. We made it a staycation since we are on a budget, and mostly took day trips around Long Island. However, one thing I wanted to do was visit my friend Caren, who lives in the Berkshires. We’ve been chatting every week for a year and a half as part of a mastermind/accountability group and I really wanted to finally meet her! Since we were headed that way, we figured why not make a pitstop in Boston and stay for a night? I’ve been wanting to go back since I spent a few days there during the cold, harsh winter and we figured this would be the perfect time! We did all this with Hailey, who was 10 months old at the time. It was our first overnight trip with her and we were nervous, but overall it went really well!

For those of you looking to take a day trip/overnight trip to Boston, here’s my experience along with what we did while we were there. We did a very condensed version and I’m sure there’s SO much more to see, but we had a timeline we had to stick by.

Where to Stay in Boston:

We stayed at AirBNB in Beacon Hill. It was such a cute area, but it was really hard to find parking and super hard to maneuver a stroller down the narrow streets and steep hills. To make matters worse, we parked at the bottom of a hill, and had to carry pretty much everything in one trip which was hard. Oh yea, did I mention that it was trash day? Because it was, as luck would have it. That meant that the super narrow sidewalks were now even more narrow! We pretty much had to push the stroller in the street. If you’re looking to be in a cute and trendy area, Beacon Hill was really nice and quiet. However, with a baby, we didn’t really get to enjoy going out to eat or anything so for us it wasn’t worth it.

I would have preferred to stay in a hotel with parking or valet service, where they help you to your room with your bags. Baby’s come with a TON of gear, so it would have been nice to take an elevator instead of a narrow winding staircase! 

What to do in Boston:

The next day, we packed up all our stuff and filled up the car. We took a short drive over to the Boston Public Garden and took the first muni-meter spot we found. It was only for an hour, so we decided to grab some breakfast and head back out after to find more long-term parking. 

Coffee and pastries at Tatte

Address: 70 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114

We happened upon Tatte’s Bakery along the way, and couldn’t resist stopping there for breakfast. It’s super crowded but moves quickly. We had a Pistachio Cherry Tart and a Chocolate Hazelnut Brioche and both were amazing! Everything there looked amazing and I wish I had taken a picture so you can see. Their website is gorgeous and really matches the look and feel of the place, so you’ll get a good idea of what it’s like. We sat outside on their picnic benches and relaxed for a few minutes with our breakfast, then went off on our way. The weather was so nice that day!

Parking near Boston Public Garden

Since there wasn’t any good street parking (especially since the muni-meters were so short) we parked in a private parking lot under the park called the Boston Common Garage. It wasn’t super cheap, however it was super easy to access and there was tons of parking.

Walk through the park

The first part our Boston adventure was taking a walk through the park. We walked by the Make Way For Ducklings statue, we had tons of little kids running around. They were all climbing on them while the parents were taking pictures.

Then we went to the Lagoon where they had swan boats. I was tempted to get on and take a ride, but it was just so sunny that we didn’t want to get burnt. There was also a splash pond in the park, so if you’ve got little kids who like water definitely bring a swimsuit or towel for them! All the kids were loving it so it’s definitely something that your kids will wanna do if they’re slightly older.

Go on the carousel 

During our stroll around the park, we found a carousel and decide to take Hailey on for her first ride. She loved it and it was really cute to see her so happy. It was only $3 too!

Walk down to Quincy Market

Next, we took a walk down to the Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall Marketplace. There’s tons of stores and restaurants over there! You can go shopping at stores like Gap, Old Navy, Home Goods, Marshall’s, Primark, The Flying Tiger, Crocs… there are a ton more, so get your credit card ready! I went to the Primark which has affordable clothes (it’s like H&M meets Forever 21) and The Flying Tiger, which has all the cutest stuff you don’t need but must purchase. Inside the markets themselves were pretty narrow and crowded, especially with a stroller. But, wandering the streets outside was a breeze.

Lunch and drinks at Zuma Tex Mex Grill

There were a ton of restaurants and eateries all around the Quincy market and the shops, but everything seemed really expensive. There wasn’t really anything that appealed to us very much, so we kept looking for something that excited us. At that point, we found a really affordable Mexican restaurant and decided to take a chance on it. The menu was huge and had tons of options, and the kids meal was affordable. The restaurant itself is downstairs and it isn’t necessarily that special looking. However, the food was really good and the service was great. We loved their food and I even had a margarita!

Walk along the Freedom Trail

After lunch and shopping, we took a walk along the Freedom Trail. We saw the first public school and the Old State House, which has a unicorn on it! There were a whole lot more sights on this trail than we actually did, but we wanted to head back since we had a long drive ahead of us.

Making the drive up to Boston is great for an overnight trip is a great idea if you live in the area. It’s got a lot of history and it’s walking-friendly, which is great when you’ve got a stroller! The winters there get COLD so if you’re planning to go at that time, be sure to pack lots of layers and warm clothing! But, during the rest of the year it’s definitely beautiful. There’s something for everyone- great food, lots of shopping, and tons of history. Even Hailey enjoyed it! I’d definitely want to go back with her when she’s older, since I bet there’s a ton more she’d be able to do.