This blog is just about my life and mostly revolves around my son, Jamie. This blog is a combination of everything, whether it may be a new recipe I tried, a good freebie I found, something funny Jamie said, or feelings I'm having about life in general. There's little rhyme or reason. I'll never win any blogging awards, but I enjoy writing about our lives and I mostly do it for my son. It's so easy to forget moments over the years. I've got all these little tidbits of our life in print and I hope that someday Jamie can enjoy them.

I called this blog Mother of Life, Mother of Loss because of my issues with pregnancy loss and the joy of finally bringing this wonderful person into the world. Truly, I feel the pains of loss, but you won't see too much of that here. I am blessed and I am, above all else, a mother of life.

After all the years of infertility and loss, Matthew and I were blessed with a surprise pregnancy. We were pregnant with twins, but unfortunately, Baby A could not stay with us. Baby B grew into a healthy and happy baby girl that we named Bella Marie. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children.


Thursday, April 30, 2009

Pretty Paper Flowers for Mother's Day



Jamie and I have started working on Mother's Day gifts for his grandmothers. Today we made adorable flower bouquets from strips of magazine papers and chenille stems. They were very simple to make and Jamie really enjoyed threading the paper on the stems.

Click Here to go to the illustrated instructions on the Parents magazine website.

What You'll Need
Gather these supplies before you start your project:

-- Pencil
-- Ruler
-- Scissors
-- Glossy magazines
-- Hole punch
-- Green chenille stems
-- Buttons

Step 1
Cut 4 to 6 same-size strips lengthwise from colorful magazine pages. Choose the width of your strips from 1/2 inch to 1 inch -- the narrower the strips, the more you will need to make the flower appear full.

Step 2
Punch 3 holes along each strip -- one centered and the others 1/2 inch from either end. Hold paper face down and poke a chenille stem through the center hole. Fold ends over to slide other two holes onto stem.

Step 3
Add remaining strips, arranging them to form a flower design, as shown. Thread the chenille stem through a button, then back in through the flower, twisting stem behind the petals to hold it in place.

Originally published in the May 2009 issue of Parents magazine.






1 Remarks:

Kathy May 1, 2009 at 9:23 AM  

Those are so cute!