Pregnancy Survival Pack - The Gift for the Newly Pregnant Mom

    My sister-in-law recently got pregnant and as a special surprise for her birthday, I created a pregnancy survival pack for her and thought I'd share the idea with my readers! 
    Although I loved and love being pregnant, it comes with it's fair share of struggles. So this pack was created with morning sickness, leg cramps, stretch marks, sleeplessness, worries and breast pain in mind. 

• A good lotion - a good lotion is so helpful in keeping away stretch marks. As your body expands with the weight gain of pregnancy, often stretch marks can occur. But if properly moisturized with stretch mark lotion and/or Vitamin E you can often minimize stretch marks. I thankfully only got stretch marks on my bum, and they slowly went away postpartum, after losing the baby weight. 
• Bananas - Bananas are essential to help with leg cramps. Typically by the end of the second and throughout the third trimester, leg cramps can occur often. There are stretches you can do before bed which help, but ultimately bananas are a God send to keep these suckers at bay. That is because bananas are packed full of potassium. Also try to avoid carbonated drinks, as they often can cause a depletion of potassium. 
• Scriptures for a healthy baby - A few years ago, I typed up a set of scriptures to pray for conceiving, a healthy pregnancy and for their future faith. You can see these scriptures by clicking here. 
• Antacid - During my pregnancy, I had horrible heartburn all night long. Antacids were my go-to to help me sleep; that and propping up my head at night.
• Hair ties - I added hair ties to the pregnancy pack because as we all know whether you have morning sickness and need to tie back your hair, or the fluctuation of hormones and the hot flashes... hair ties are a must!
• Candles and essential oils - I feel that trying not to stress is an essential in controlling hormones and having a pleasant pregnancy. So in this pack I added lavender essential oils and a sweet smelling candle. To see the many health benefits to lavender, click here. 
• Chamomile tea - Chamomile is a wonderful, natural herb that helps to relax you. This is a great tea to have on hand for those moments you are anxious and need a nap, or are struggling to get to sleep. A cup of hot chamomile tea definitely helps soothe the cockles of your heart. :)

    What other things would you add to a pregnancy survival pack?

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Freebie Friday: Mother's Day Printables

Edited with permission, CC.

    It's Freebie Friday again and with Mother's Day fast approaching, coming up on Sunday May 8th, I thought I'd compile my favorite Mother's Day printables! Since last year one of my most popular posts was Father's Day Printables, I thought this year a post on Mother's Day printables would be helpful.

 

    This post has 10 free Mother's Day printables. The printables range from notecards to watercolor typography and are all vintage looking (my fave style!)

    I adore this one! Posted by Crafty Morning... your child puts his/her handprints over the adorable printable poem! Such a cute present, Dads keep this one in mind for sure! 

    This printable is a great keepsake for Grandma or Mom... it's a Mother's Day questionnaire!

    This is pretty adorable too! It's a mini easel with a poem, and your child makes a fingerprint heart! 

    And finally, here are 16 kid-made Mother's Day gifts! These ideas range from printable Mom & Me books to felt coffee coozies. Granted this post isn't all printables, but it as quite a few printable options (and some other adorable gift ideas)!

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DIY Crochet Baby Blanket

    Mr. Picturesque and I have very good friends (family) who are having a baby boy in February. I wanted to make them something special for their son... so I decided to make them a crocheted baby blanket. A Great Aunt of Mr. P. had made Toddler P. one and had prayed over every stitch. I treasure that blanket and wanted something for our friends and their son to treasure as well. 
    It did take me quite a bit of time to crochet (about 4 months), since I'm a beginner and I have a toddler. But I have to say I thought it turned out beautifully. I also had the opportunity to pray over each stitch for this amazing baby boy and the man he will one day become. You can see pictures of the blanket at the top of this post and below. 

    If you are wanting to crochet a baby blanket yourself, the biggest tip I can offer you is to use a bigger crochet hook (it will take less time that way) and to use soft yarn made for babies. Here is the video directions I used for this blanket. I absolutely adore WoolyWondersCrochet because she is really great at giving simple crochet directions and giving great visuals!

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DIY Felt Christmas Tree

    After seeing this Photo Christmas Tree (as seen below) on pinterest for toddlers and looking at felt activities for kids, I decided to make a felt Christmas tree for Toddler P. that she could decorate on her own.  

   To make the felt Christmas tree for Toddler P.:

• After searching around for the cheapest price, I ended up at Walmart and found a 12 piece multi-color pack of 12x18 sized felt. 
• Then I came home, and traced out a Christmas tree onto the green piece of felt with a permanent marker 
• Next, I cut along the lines I made, to cut out my Christmas tree. 
• Then I took the red and blue felt sheets and cut out circles (3 blue circles, 3 red circles), to be Toddler P's ornaments. 
• Next I took the brown piece of felt and cut out a rectangle to serve as the tree stump.
• Finally I used the yellow felt sheet, and traced a star with the permanent marker and then cut it out. 

    Super easy Christmas tree for toddlers, and Toddler P. adores it. She loves playing with it! It's such a great sensory activity too! Another cool plus with this activity, is that felt sticks to felt. So if you wanted to, you cut put it on the wall for your toddler to decorate. 

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Freebie Friday: Six Fall Printables for Kids

   It's Freebie Friday again! This month I wanted to post Fall printables for the kiddies! 

Here are some adorable Fall leaf coloring pages:

This is such an adorable one, it's a matching leaf printable:

13 Fall coloring pages:

 

These printables are great for teaching patterns, numbers and letters:

This scavenger hunt printable I love because no matter where you are located in the U.S., these are all items you can typically find outside: 

I think this craft is my favorite, out of this list, because it is so cute and easy to do so long as you have a few empty toilet paper rolls lying around: 

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Freebie Friday: Five Fall Printables

              (Picture courtesy of Unsplash.com)

    Since Fall is right around the corner, I thought it was time for an official "Fall" post! Why? Well because I love all things Fall! I love the weather, I love the decorations and I love curling up with a hot cup of cocoa or coffee! 
    It has been about a month since my last Freebie Friday post, so in honor of Fall and Freebie Friday... here's my current favorite five free Fall printables!

   This link from Moritz Fine Designs has 5 adorable Fall printables! 

    I couldn't help but include this one from Hawthorne and Main, super adorable Fall Banner!

   Thanksgiving place setting printables from Craftaholics Anonymous!

   Love these 12 fall printables from My Blessed Life. 

   Finally, how adorable are these DIY trail mix gifts with Fall printable tags by Make Bake Celebrate?

   What's your favorite thing about Fall? 

Freebie Friday: Learning the Alphabet

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   Guess what day it is? It's Freebie Friday! This Freebie Friday I'm posting all of my favorite free printables for teaching Sweet Toddler P. her alphabet! 

   Here is a wonderful list of alphabet printables and activities: 


    An individual coloring book for every letter of the alphabet:


    10 free dot ABC printables (children complete these with a bingo marker):



    This is a list from the same blog listed above, but it has printables for every letter of the alphabet: 


    Alphabet worksheets:


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Freebie Friday: Road Trip Printables & Such

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    Well it's that time of the month again, it's Freebie Friday! As you may know, at least once a month I write a post with some freebie printables and other activities in it. This month, I have made a list of some neat road trip printables for the kiddies since we are nearing the end of summer. 
    So without further ado, here we go! Don't forget to click on the pictures below for a direct link. 

• I had already posted this adorable DIY dress up kit on my Facebook page, but just had to repost it here because it seems like it would be great fun on the road and keep the kiddies occupied for some time! 

• Here's a road trip scavenger hunt printable. As the kids see the items on the list, they can check it off!

• Here are 50 road trip activities.

• Here are 10 printable car travel games.

• Here are some toddler road trip activities

• And finally 25 busy bag ideas!

Freebie Friday: Father's Day Printables

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    It's another Freebie Friday! With Father's Day coming up in a matter of weeks (on Sunday June 21st), I thought it was time to post a free printable father's day post!

    Here's a great list of 101 Free Father's Day printables that look really fun and awesome. These seem to be more DIY ideas for you mommas to make for your spouse rather than the kids for their dad:

Here are some other cute printables for a gift box:

50 free father's day printables that look fun: 

Here are some father's day printables for the kids to make:

Free Mother's Day Printables

Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday, May 10th! In honor of Mother's Day, I have found some free printables and thought I would share them with you!

Here are some wonderful, free printables from Simply Stacie with everything from Mother's Day printables for kids, Mother's Day photo cards and even cupcake toppers:

 

Click here for this adorable newspaper printable:


Mother's Day subway art printable:



Adorable mason jar vase with Mother's Day tag!




Easy subway tile tote:


I love these subway tiles as an alternative to the above print: