Tuesday's Two - a couple blogs I find inspiring

I'm probably going to feature a few blogs every week for quite awhile since I love finding inspiration and tutorials on them. I follow several home decorating and home DIY type blogs.

Young House Love

This has quickly become my favorite blog as we are working on fixing up our house. They have so many tutorials and I find them very inspiring as we're in the middle of such a mess and know now that we can't finish it all at once, but work little bits at a time. I found out about this blog from one of my DIY magazines and saw their bedroom and knew that I liked their style and had to check it out. I haven't looked back... in fact, I used their painting kitchen cabinets tutorial and our cabinets turned out perfect. I really encourage you to take a look at what they did with their 53 year old house to bring it up to date. I think you'll find it quite inspiring knowing that many of the things they did we can do too. Have fun!

Design*Sponge

Well, I just love home decorating and especially love things that are unique and special and especially love DIY. This blog is a little bit of all of that. I just find it so inspiring and really enjoy reading it daily. I just love the uniqueness of it all... I love the name too because I really do just soak up every post and learn so much. I can't wait to finally be able to get to a place in our home renovation that I can finally decorate. I'll just keep soaking up everything I read on this blog and hopefully in a few years I'll be able to enjoy using my love for art in my own home.

Tuesday's Two - a couple blogs I love to follow

I've become an avid blog reader and find inspiration from so many blogs every day. Every day I look forward to reading many of these blogs... so for the next few weeks I'll introduce you to some of them.

Ali Edwards

I get so much of my inspiration for scrapbooking both traditional and digital from this blog. My favorite is Tuesday's Tutorial which is full of great information and ideas and tons of inspiration. She also has great giveaways and I'm currently thinking about doing the December Daily to keep up with scrapping the holidays. She also has a column in the Creating Keepsakes magazine and is an author of a few books. She also is a highly sought after workshop instructor and I love her style of capturing everyday moments. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do... today's tutorial is all about journaling which is something I really need to work on in my scrapbooking.

Fabulous Fun Finds

This blog rocks! I'm all about homemade items and this is the place to go to find "fabulous" and "fun" stuff. She's just full of great finds and I look forward to seeing all the fun finds she has. Recently she had a massive giveaway going on. Those of you who are my Facebook friends or follow me on Twitter noticed that I was really excited about some of the gorgeous giveaways. I've never won any of them which is understandable considering how many followers she has on her blog but it was fun to see all the gorgeous products being given away. What I really like about her finds are that they are all so unique since I'm not the Pottery Barn type of person and really like everything that I have to be unique. Plus, I love helping out an artist if I need to purchase a gift and I find that Heather's blog is the perfect place to stop for inspiration in finding the most unique and perfect gift.

Tuesday's Two - ring sling tips and video tutorials

Well, I know I've posted about both of these stores but now I'm going to post about their blogs. They both have such great tips and tutorials on both of them. After having the ring sling giveaway I've had several people ask me for tips and tutorials for ring sling use so I'm going to post about these two blogs and hope that you find them as useful as I do.

Sakura Bloom video tutorials
Sakura Bloom has recently posted some really great video tutorials on their blog. I find that practicing while watching the videos really helps.

Slings I Love ring sling tips
Slings I Love recently asked their fans on Facebook for some ring sling tips and some really great tips were included including one from yours truly ;). Giselle posted them all on the Slings I Love blog today.

Tuesday's Two - a couple online stores

"little painted polka dots, hand painted, hand painted art, hand painted plaques, personalized plaques, hand painted letter plaques, hand painted name plaques, kids room decor, kids room art, little bunny tutu, toddler tutus, pink tutus, custom made tutus, custom made name plaques, whimsical art, personalized art, commemorative plates, birthday plates, 1st birthday plates, specail occassion plates, unique gift ideas, whimsical wall art, chunky wall letters, monogram wall plaques, baby gifts, unique baby gifts, new baby gifts, baby shower gifts, 1st birthday gifts, first birthday gifts, hand painted birth plaques, handpainted crosses, bulldog plaque, daisy plaque, airplane wall plaque, surfboard wall art, ladybug personalized wall plaque, hand painted picture frames, funky picture frames, polka dot picture frames, personalized picture frames, handpainted photo stands, funky photo stands, signature platter, hand painted platter, wedding platter, wedding reception gift ideas, family tree plate, whimsical hand painted plates, hand painted art, retro art, modern art, canvas paintings, painted rugs, poppy rug"

This store has quickly become a favorite. My friend Lisa is so talented and I'm so excited to feature her store today. It's my birthday in a couple weeks and I really wanted another necklace. She came out with a new one that I knew instantly was what I wanted for my birthday. Her communication is go great and she really will work with you to make a custom piece exactly how you want it. The necklace is based off one of Moriah's favorite books and it also has a couple little tags along with it that has each of the kid's names on them. She has so many great styles of jewelry from scrabble and domino pieces to silver or copper pieces. In addition to the mama gifts she also creates for the little ones and is such a great artist. Check out her store, I promise you won't be disappointed.

The particular necklace I have is not currently available as I'm a tester for it... but I'm pretty sure she'll be carrying it after I'm done testing it. :)

Sweet Shoppe Designs Scrapbooking Shop

OK, so I've received some questions about the digital scrapbook pages that I posted yesterday. Both pages were made with kits that I bought from Sweet Shoppe Designs in their Going, Going Gone sale. These are kits that are being retired and 50% off... I thought I would share this with you since you have until Saturday to purchase any of them before they are gone for good. Normally, I download freebie kits but I just couldn't resist these kits at 50% off. Yes, I'm cheap and proud of it, lol. There are 57 pages of kits that are being retired and it was really hard to narrow it down to within my budget. The three kits that were used in those pages were My Paper Garden, Tomboy Princess & Garage Grunge. I can't wait to use the other kits that I bought. From what I understand this is a biannual sale so I'll be sure to be prepared next time, saving my pennies, lol.

Tuesday's Two - a couple giveaways

No, I'm not giving away anything right now... although, I'd like to eventually add giveaways to this blog but I wanted to feature a couple giveaways that I like for Tuesday's Two.

The first one is from Cutest Little Baby Face and it's a Rebecca Lily Lightroom Presets giveaway! I love Lightroom and do most of my photo editing in Lightroom. I recently got into using presets with Lightroom to add a little flare to my pictures. These presets are really nice and I probably won't win the giveaway but am thinking of maybe purchasing a few of the presets I like them so much. Anyways, take a look and if you have Lightroom then enter the giveaway! Enjoy!

The second one I thought was cute for Halloween! It's from one of the blogs that I follow, "Seriously? Ridiculous!". This is my first year with a fireplace mantel and I thought even if I don't win this one I'll definitely be making something like this for Christmas and maybe some other holidays... What a great idea and fun thing to do with an assortment of fabric.

Tuesday's Two a couple days late

OK, today I'm going to feature two of my favorite baby items right now...

Mountain Buggy Urban Double Stroller
I was really wanting to start running again which I haven't in a few years but what was I going to do with the kids... I'm a huge babywearer and enjoy going for walks with them but it's not safe to run and babywear at the same time. What to do... I searched high and low for a jogging stroller that would suit my needs. I wanted a side by side that was all-terrain for the Arboretum but narrow enough to fit through doors. I wanted something that would be easy to push since I knew it was going to be hard enough starting to run again after so many years. I had narrowed it down to two strollers and in the end it came down to price but I have to say that I'm so happy with the one I ended up with. It's been so great to run again and I love taking my kids along with me for the ride.

Mommy's Touch One Size Pockets w/ Snaps
I've tried many different styles of cloth diapers from prefolds with covers to all-in-ones. I found though that my favorite are pocket style diapers. It's like a cover with a pocket to fill with absorbing inserts. When I figured that out I tried several different brands too. The ones that seem to work best for my children are the Mommy's Touch brand and I LOVE all the many colors. Of all that I've tried this is the only diaper I haven't had any leaks with and they clean up really nice. I've also tried both velcro and snaps and I find that I get a better fit with the snaps. The other issue I have with velcro is that Isaac figured out how to remove his diaper pretty quickly, lol. They really aren't that much more care than with disposables and I love that I'm not filling up the landfills. I do a load of laundry every day so I'm finding that I'm washing the diapers every 2-3 days so I don't have to buy so many diapers and I don't have any problem with smell that way either. I love how gentle they are on my baby's bottom w/ no chemicals like you have in disposables... I could go on and on about the benefits of cloth diapering... I started cloth diapering when Moriah was potty learning and it was also a trial to see how much I liked it. I was pregnant with Isaac at the time so I got mostly gender neutral colors... other than the one Hello Kitty diaper... so, now I'm able to use them with Isaac. Because they are one size diapers I just snap them up to fit from newborn to potty learning.

(sorry no pictures... the diaper is usually covered up with shorts or onesie to keep Isaac from taking them off, lol)

Tuesday's Two - Babywearing

Today I'm going to feature my two most favorite babywearing stores. I will admit that there are several I love but these are the two I frequent the most.

Sakura Bloom Ring Slings * www.sakurabloom.com
I was first introduced to Sakura Bloom by my dear friend Carrie. I had tried ring slings with Moriah and failed every time. Then Carrie moved to the area and she showed me how to use them and it's been true love ever since. I always loved the simple look of Sakura Bloom slings and dreamed of one day having one... then she gave me one as a baby gift when I was pregnant with Isaac. My two favorite babywearing pictures with Isaac are with this sling. In fact, Mark took one of them and I entered a photo contest and won my second Sakura Bloom which happens to be my most supportive sling I have. It's just stunning and I love all the colors. I really love the support of these ring slings. They are double layer and high quality fabrics which make them great for not just the newborn stage but for toddlers too. I often find myself using them with Moriah too as a simple hip carry when she's too tired to walk. It makes it so much easier on my back too to not have to actually carry her on my hip, plus it leaves me hands free! =)



Slings I Love * www.slingsilove.com
Looking for a place that has a bit of everything? Slings I Love is the place to go. Giselle is a local friend of mine and I was so excited when she decided to start selling her favorite carriers since she loves many of the same carriers as I do and means that I can try out new things before buying them too. For those who are local to me she's also a great instructor so she helps with really learning how to use your purchase and to help you figure out what works best for you. She carries many of my favorite brands in wraps, mei tais, ring slings (including Sakura Bloom), pouches, buckle carriers and so much more. She's really sweet and eager to help everyone find the love of babywearing that we both have.

Tuesday's Two

So, I have a new theme for Tuesdays. I'm going to feature two items every Tuesday. For now I will be featuring my favorite items but eventually I hope to feature some products from WAHMs.

Today I will feature two of my favorite photography items:

Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

This is the lens that doesn't leave my camera hardly ever. I love the depth of field and it's so much sharper than any lens I've ever used. If anyone were to ask me what one lens I would recommend it would be this one. At first I wasn't so sure about whether or not I would like a prime lens instead of a zoom but I've tried several zoom lenses and I still go back to his lens as my fave. I really think this lens is a must have for any DSLR users. Unfortunately, this lens does not auto focus with the Nikon D40, D60 or the new D5000. For those who have those cameras there is a AF-S version of this lens although it costs twice as much.

Crumpler 4 Million Dollar Home

This is the camera bag that I use. The size is perfect for me to carry my flash and camera with lens or camera with lens plus an extra lens. I love the fact that it just looks like a normal messenger bag and doesn't scream camera bag. The fabric is water resistant so I'm not afraid if I get stuck at the Arboretum on one of the trails that my camera and gear are going to get all wet if it starts raining. I think it's very well padded and has an adjustable divider. The velcro closure is sturdy although I would not use this bag for silent events like a wedding or funeral since it's pretty loud. For normal out and about though, I use this bag all the time. I think I may get a bigger one though some day so I can use it as a camera and diaper bag since I love it so much.