The Elephant in the Room: My Journey with PPD

The past few weeks have been rough. Actually, if I am being completely honest, the past few years have been rough. It wasn't until my second child was born a little over a year ago that I realized that I was suffering from postpartum depression. Looking back, I am almost certain that I had it with my first, but I never spoke up.

For such a long time I just didn't feel like myself. I was sad. I felt like I was carrying a heavy burden. I was shying away from the things that typically brought me joy. Every little thing would set me off. I wanted to avoid social interaction as much as I possibly could. I just thought that it was a phase of my life that would pass and that I would just suffer through until it did. One day, as I was sitting in my office pumping, I stumbled across a blogpost about postpartum.  It was like a light switch went off and I discovered the answer to years of otherwise unexplained emotions. I felt relieved to know that I was not the only one that felt this way.

Whole 30: Week 1

Happy Saturday diva dolls!

My journey to health has been long and bumpy, but now that I am on the path to wellness and change, I cannot imagine ever going back.

Two babies in 22 months and breastfeeding for almost 3 years straight really took its toll on me. I basically took being pregnant and breastfeeding as an opportunity to eat anything that I wanted. The result? Heightened anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, sluggishness and just poor overall health. I desperately needed to make a change but I had no clue where to even begin.

Hello Spring Sign DIY

Are you ready to #getcraftey!?

This post is sponsored by Craftey.

Travel the South: Gorham's Bluff

Nestled high above the Tennessee River in Pisgah, AL, you will find the charming community of Gorham's Bluff. The drive from Birmingham is a little over two hours, making the trip just right for a weekend escape. I was looking for a place to spend the weekend peacefully and quietly with my husband and we got that and so much more at Gorham's Bluff.

DIY Monogram Tray

This post is sponsored by Craftey

For as long as I can remember, I have been a monogram addict. From weekenders to Tervis Tumblers, basically everything that I own is monogrammed! One of the biggest things that motivated me to purchase my first Silhouette CAMEO was the ability of the machine to cut monograms (yup, the addiction runs that deep, y'all). 

I loveeee the look of lucite anything. I recently purchased a lucite tray to serve as a "catch-all" and I just knew it wouldn't be complete without a monogram! Cutting monograms from vinyl is easy as pie and before you know it, you too will be monogramming everything!

Here's what you need:

-Silhouette CAMEO (or similar machine)

-Monogram It App (the greatest app ever invented)

-Any color vinyl (I used Flamingo Pink from Expressions Vinyl)

-Transfer tape (I use contact paper and it works just fine!)

-Lucite tray 

Let's get this party started!

First, you will create the monogram in the Monogram It app. Once you have the monogram style that you like, email it to yourself. Save the file to your documents and then drag it into the Silhouette Studio. You will then use the trace feature to make your monogram cuttable.

Highlight the entire monogram, click the trace button, adjust the high pass filter until the whole monogram is yellow and then click trace.

 Once I have traced my monogram, I delete the original file since I no longer need it. Now you will adjust the size of your monogram to fit on your tray. Since the tray is 10x10, I decided that around a 4x4 monogram would be a perfect size.

Now for the magic to happen! It's time to cut. Load your vinyl onto your cutting mat, load the mat into the machine and then make sure that all of your cut settings are correct. I selected vinyl-glossy as my material, the action is "cut" and then I clicked send! Listening to the CAMEO cut the design from the vinyl is always music to my ears. It never gets old!

Now you will weed the excess vinyl away from your monogram. Cover the monogram with transfer tape and place it carefully on your tray. SWOON!

A monogram can take anything from basic to classic. And the best part? The transformation can happen in under five minutes.

If you're like me and you have nail polish, jewelry, and other beauty items just lying around,  you can arrange them in your lucite tray and now you have a neat and nice way to have the things that you most frequently use on your countertop. 

The tray would also work well on a desk to organize office supplies!

Be sure to check out this post and all of the other inspiring projects over at Craftey!

Happy monogramming dolls.

xoxo, 

Caitlin

Spring DIY Roundup

I love spring because the weather is perfect; not too hot and not too cold. I love the revitalization of life after dreary winter days. The return of color in nature always gets my creative juices flowing and I love to create with cheerful colors whenever springtime rolls around. 

Today, I am sharing a few spring crafts that I have created over time all with the help of my handy dandy Silhouette Cameo. It is literally the most versatile machine!

Let's get crafting.

An Open Letter to My Childless Friends in This Season of Life

My Dear Sweet Friends,

Where to even begin.

It seems like just yesterday we were 22 years old and our biggest concern was figuring out what we were going to wear for a night on the town.

Here we are 5 years later and oh, how things have changed.

We used to be life of the party and the ones shutting down the bar on a regular basis. Nowadays, I am in bed many hours before last call. The only reason you will ever catch me awake at 2am is to feed a crying baby.