Crafts & Dreams: December 2013

12/18/13

Free Christmas Tag Printables

In the spirit of Christmas, I would like to share some basic Christmas gift tags that I created the other day. You should be able to easily download and print them out. I tried to save them as a PDF but they didn't print correctly, so I ended up going with a JPEG.

They are pretty simplistic, but they look adorable when printed out on either recycled brown paper or white paper.

On top of using my crafting skills for the majority of the presents this year, I also wrapped them with things that I found around my house. The presents are wrapped in newspaper as a result of a quote I saw on Facebook from GASAN.

"If every American family wrapped just three presents this holiday season in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. That's a lot of paper!"

However, you could also use fabric remnants or recycled brown paper that you can pick up at Walmart (this is what my sister did). To glam up the newspaper I used some twine and yarn that I had sitting in my craft basket. I even created a couple of bows with some of the newspaper scraps! My inspiration for this entire thing can be found on my Christmas Pinterest Board. I think the simplistic tags look absolutely adorable with the newspaper, twine, yarn combo. What do you think?

12/10/13

Preparing for Breastfeeding

I realize it has been a while since I made my last post. I've sewed several things, so there are a couple of tutorials on the horizon. I've just been too busy sewing to sit down and write everything up and take pictures. (No, I didn't take pictures while in the process because I was too focused/lazy)... I like to think it was because I was too focused though.

One of the things that I have started looking into is getting prepared for Breastfeeding. Before, I felt like it was too far out to really get ramped up on it. But now that I am down to 10 weeks until the wee one makes his grand entrance, I think I should get ready! I am shy of my 1 year anniversary at work, so I will only be taking my vacation/sick time off. This adds up to 4 weeks of completely work-free baby time. I then plan on working virtually for roughly 2 months. I'll be making the transition back to work and pumping exclusively after that, so I need all of the preparation I can find!

Before jumping into the resources, I'd like to share that I will be able to get my Breastpump COMPLETELY FREE! No, I didn't receive one for my baby shower. I actually took the steps to contact my insurance provider. Anthem Bluecross Blueshield covers 100% the cost of lactation support and 100% lactation equipment rental/purchase. All I have to do is get the prescription from my Doctor and contact one of their approved medical equipment providers. A little more leg-work than going to Walmart or Amazon.com, but extremely worth it! There are several providers, so I actually have the choice between the Medela Swing, Medela Pump In Style, The First Years Breastflow miPump Double Pump, or Medela Advanced Personal Double Electric Breastpump. I'm leaning towards the Medela Pump In Style, but would love your feedback if you have a preference out of the ones listed!

My word of wisdom for this post - check with you insurance BEFORE buying a pump. You could get one free of charge!

Now for the links to resources for pumping exclusively...

I hope to update this post as I discover more resources, but the following are what I've collected as of today! Let me know if you find them useful OR if you have any you would like added to the list by commenting on this post.

Here are a few links to the La Leche League, which I have a feeling will be invaluable as I begin my journey. I also am currently reading "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" by La Leche League and love it!