DIY Unicorn and Elsa Pumpkins

I saw a precious tutorial video online about how to make a Unicorn pumpkin and just knew I needed to replicate for Stella!  I figured if she could make a unicorn, we could attempt to make an "Elsa" for Chloé.  I couldn't find any tutorials online for Elsa, so we kind of made her up but I think she turned out cute! 

SUPPLIES:
- spray paint
- jewels
- glue gun
- crown (for Elsa)
- black + glittery stock paper (find this on the scrapbook aisle)
- felt
- "fur" for the unicorn // you can typically find this by the felt
- 2 pumpkins

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Go outside and spray your pumpkins whatever base color you have decided.
2. While they are drying, come inside and cut out eye lashes for your unicorn and Elsa with the black stock paper.
3.  Use the glitter cardstock paper to cut out the unicorn horn, inside of unicorn ears, and lips for Elsa.  (The horn is a triangle with a rounded base that you roll and then use the glue gun to secure)
4. Use the felt to create the outer part of the unicorn ears.

After the pumpkins dry...

FOR ELSA
1.  Use the hot glue gun to secure the crown, eye lashes, and lips.  Use jewels to "bedazzle" accordingly. We created a "hairline" and did a nose and cheeks.

FOR UNICORN
1. Use the hot glue gun to secure the horn first.  Then wrap the "fur" around the stem and secure with a hot glue gun.
2. Glue the glitter cardstock ears to the bigger felt ears and then attach to the pumpkin/ fur. It may help to make a tiny 1/2 inch vertical cut at the base of the ears and bend them slightly forward to make them a bit rounded.
3. Glue the eyelashes on and use the jewels to create the nostrils and anything else you want to sparkle.  My daughter added "earrings" a smile and bedazzled the horn.

This would be a GREAT Fall craft for a birthday or Halloween party or sleepover! I definitely think this will be an annual tradition of ours.  I hope you enjoy making them as much as we did!

The Vanilla Tulip Social Media + Phone Photography Class

One of my dear friends Ashley blogs over at The Vanilla Tulip.  We actually met through our Rodan + Fields businesses and it has sparked a really special friendship.  You know those people you meet and instantly feel like you've known them your entire life? That's Ashley and me.

Anyway… I am so glad I didn't know WHO she was when I met her or I would have been incredibly awkward and intimated (haha!)  The girl is kind of famous and has over 23K Instagram followers.  So I definitely consider her an expert when it comes to social media and phone photography.   I signed up for her class as a creative outlet for myself but also to learn from someone who was able to develop a strong social media platform that has ultimately helped her achieve many goals and take care of her sweet family! 

If you are interested in improving your phone photography skills OR growing your social media platform, this would be a FANTASTIC class to join! She spends a week on each topic and I learned so many new tips and tricks!  My favorite thing about the class was how hands on she was in answering ALL of our rookie questions and also the random friendships that sparked from doing the class with other girls who had similar passions and goals.  I would highly recommend the class - Make sure to mention that I referred you if you decide to take the class! Her next one starts July 13! 

The Cochran's Co-Ed "Baby Party"

Instead of throwing your typical "Baby Shower," we decided to throw Kent & Nicki a "Baby PARTY" - It was a casual, fun, laid-back, cookout complete with an AMAZING photo booth (thanks to the delightfully talented Natalie Jagers), corn-hole in the back, wonderful BBQ sandwiches, and beer in a baby pool... NATURALLY :) It was one of the more fun baby showers I've ever attended and I think our decorations pulled together wonderfully! We went with oranges and blues, since they are doing a SURPRISE gender... June 2nd can't get here soon enough! I can't WAIT to meet that lil' one! 

Here are a few pics from the evening... 




The "Betting Board" - Name, Boy or Girl, and Birthday Guesses :) 














AND ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! Natalie put together this stop-motion video from all the pictures that were taken that night in the photo booth... it turned out SO SO cute! 

Kent and Nicki- We hope you had fun at your party! We wanted to make it EXTRA special for two of our best and dearest friends!  I can't wait to watch you guys become parents and join us in the incredible journey... We can figure it out together! (AKA: Make it up as we go!!! haha) 

Her Journey

Thank you ALL for the encouragement in launching Abby Leigh Media. I am so excited and nervous all at the same time :) 

Today I thought I would share my latest project which took me an entire 10 months to complete.  It is near and dear to my heart and you will see why.  

This is the journey of Stella Rose. 

Abby Leigh Media

I wanted to tell you guys about one of the two businesses that I am launching in the next month or so.  As you know, my goal has always been to own my own business, I just didn't know what I wanted that to look like.  I thought about making scrapbooks, redoing furniture, or making slideshows/videos for people.

It wasn't until both of my parents came over to meet Stella that I figured out there was a market for slideshows and videos, especially in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. You see, I make videos all the time documenting fun trips, anniversaries, and even Stella's gender reveal announcement! I always get the greatest response from these and thought - Why not make this into a business? I LOVE making them, there is a market for it, and it is a job I could do out of my home.   If it wasn't for all of their encouragement, I would have never taken this leap! So thank you to my Dad, Kelley, Mom, & Chris for believing in me.

So here we go... I am launching Abby Leigh Media next month!

www.abbyleighmedia.com

As you can see it is not live yet - My friend Colleen and I are working hard behind-the-scenes to get all the details ironed out before we go live.  But I am totally smitten with the logo.  I think Colleen captured "me" in a nutshell. I wanted something playful and whimsy and something that somewhat indicated preserving a moment in time, because that is what slideshows are for!  If you notice on the tree, the heart with the "M" is symbolic of preserving a special memory. I thought it was a really cute and subtle way to get the message across.

SO if you would like a slideshow for a graduation, rehearsal dinner, milestone birthday party, or to document a fun vacation, I would LOVE to make one for you! 

Just email me at: info@abbyleighmedia.com

I can't wait to share more as we get closer to the launch!

XO,

Abby

Valentine's Day DIY

My family finally received their Vday packages a few days ago so I figured I should share how incredibly cute they turned out!!! 

Note: I can't take credit for anything but copying and embellishing a few Pinterest finds :) And forgive me for the non-professional iPhone photos- I ran out of time and these are all I have!  Trust me, all of this was much cuter in person! 

Stella's Valentine's Day package: 

• Copies of our Valetine's Day "photo shoot" pictures
• Baby Footprints VDay Card
• Long distance hug 

First up was the "Long Distance Hug." It was SO simple, quick to make, and a great keepsake! I printed out tags from this blog post, traced/cut out Stella's hands, measured her arm spam to cut the ribbon, then attached the tag, and viola! A long distance hug for the family overseas :) 

The Baby Footprints Valentine's Day card was inspired from this pin on Pinterest.  Logan and I waited until Stella was asleep to paint her feet white thinking she would sleep through it... um... yeah, right! She woke up screaming so it was a labor of love... AND patience.  I like to think she will thank me someday for putting her through 5 minutes of utter torture! Then I just used scraps that I had lying around in my scrapbooking stash to create 4 unique cards :) I think they turned out really cute! 

NOTE: The footprints are a 2-man job. I cannot fathom doing this solo with a squirmy baby so I highly recommend recruiting a helper. Person A holds the baby while the Person B paints the baby's feet with non-permanent water-based paint.  Person B then gets thick card stock and presses the feet on the paper. Then you "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see who cleans up the baby's feet before the paint gets everywhere! :) 

Stella and I had a blast making these on Valetine's Day... I can't wait to ACTUALLY craft with her someday - what fun :) 

Hope you enjoyed this post and got some ideas for future gifts or cards - these ideas could easily be adapted for any celebration or holiday! 

Our Attempt at Newborn Photos

Remember the inspirational pictures I had for Stella's newborn pictures? We had the cutest outfits picked out - including the tutu and blingy headband from Aunt Katy and I "pinned" all the "how-to" newborn photography articles and read up on exactly HOW to take the pictures myself.  

The articles and pictures we found make it look SO EASY... you know... put them to sleep, pose them, and voila! Done.

Right?  

WRONG. 

1/2/3/4

Let me just tell you how our two photo sessions went.  I fed Stella, had the room heat turned up really high, and as soon as we started changing her into our outfits she would start wailing and was wide awake.  We tried to snap a few pictures of her awake and she was having none of it... She first vomited on our bedspread.  We kept perservering and then she peed all over our fur blanket through tears.  Then we made the mistake of putting her in the itchy hot pink tutu and laying her on her tummy... this just royally pissed her off so she topped off the afternoon by pooping on our bedspread.  

Below you can see the attempts and the one "money shot" I was able to snag! 

Somehow we DID manage to get a handful of cute pictures out of the 200+ that we took! I am not sure how all these newborn photographers do it...they make these poses look so EASY and NATURAL.  Gigi and I are convinced that the mere mention of the word CAMERA makes our girl cringe and she immediately wakes up and tries to go on strike.  After a second attempt ending in an inconsolable cry session we decided that 1 of the few good pictures we took would just have to work for the birth announcement.  (We are saving that image until after the birth announcements go out- It's by far my favorite!) 

She will thank me someday, but I am pretty sure she HATED me that afternoon! Here are a few of our favorites. 

***And for the record: I will for sure be using a PROFESSIONAL next time! ***

Holiday Home Tour: Log Cabin Edition

Decorating a log cabin at Christmas in the snowy French countryside.... dreamy.  I am convinced Christmas decorations just look better in log cabins :)

























Ta! Da! We love our little home... tempted to leave the decorations up until after Stella arrives so my family can admire them :)