Diary of a Mad Crafter

Drumroll Please………

diaryofamadcrafter — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:14:22 +0000

Baby B who has been upgraded to Bee (as we’re keeping the name a secret!!) is a BOY!!!! We’re so so so excited and can’t wait to start on some fun craft projects!! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook!! Check it out if you want to see updates on what I’m working on, or whether or not I’ll post that day!

**Have a project you made using one of my tutorials? Show it off! I, along with all my followers, would love to see it! I have a page on my blog called “Your Pictures!”, located right next to the “About This Blog!” link at the top of my blog. Check it out for more information, and to see other fan pics!**

Father To Be’s Day

diaryofamadcrafter — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:16:44 +0000

I wish I could have posted this earlier, as in my opinion, it’s the perfect Father’s Day gift for the daddy to be (with a good sense of humor of course), but my husband reads my blog, soooo, I couldn’t. Oh well, there’s always people getting pregnant, and there’s always next Father’s Day (or you be like me and give it to him late because it didn’t get here in time grr). I DID buy the shirt (from ebay), but I really could have made it–which is why I’m posting it on here. I’ve used freezer paper stencils for so many projects, and if it weren’t for my pregnancy brain, I totally would have done it for this as well! Here’s my cute hubby in his new shirt (that he’ll be wearing for delivery day!! Haha!)

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook!! Check it out if you want to see updates on what I’m working on, or whether or not I’ll post that day!

Monthly Belly Pictures

diaryofamadcrafter — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:22:26 +0000

Before even getting pregnant, I knew I wanted to take belly progression pictures. They’re so much fun and a great way to look back and see how much has changed! I didn’t know how I wanted to do them, there are so many cute ways I saw on Pinterest, so I combined a few of my favorites. I wish I felt like doing them more often, but once a month is all I’ve got in me! I have my husband snap the picture, and then fix them up on Picmonkey.Here’s the first 3 months so far! I’m finally starting to show a tiny bit after hitting my third month, so I figured I’d share them starting now

P.S. We’re finding out baby B’s GENDER on Tuesday!! AHH!!!!!!

Things You Should Know About IVF

diaryofamadcrafter — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 14:35:54 +0000

As promised, here is my list of tips and helpful information for anyone going through, planning, or even thinking about going through IVF. Unfortunately, it’s not my original list–somehow it got deleted from my iPad (wahh!)–but I sat down yesterday and tried to remember as much as I could to make this one.

**If you’re not going through or planning on going through IVF, this is probably not a very interesting post for you!**

First and foremost, if you don’t like or feel comfortable with your doctor or clinic, go somewhere else. This can make or break your experience! I LOVED every doctor and every nurse that I met at the office I went to. (In the NY/CT area and looking for a great fertility clinic? RMACT was AMAZING). They made all the difference! The girl who took my blood even hugged me the last day, and was sincerely caring the entire time. My nurse was helpful throughout everything, and every other person I dealt with in both the Danbury and Norwalk offices were understanding and amazing.
Talk to someone in the office (we had a financial coordinator at ours) about payment plans, because they’re sometimes available and would make your life a lot easier (less stress)!!
When you receive your medication…don’t freak out. You don’t take it all at the same time, and you should get a detailed instruction list from your doctor/nurse on how and when to take these medications. Don’t be afraid to call them with any questions–because remember! This is serious stuff! You CAN NOT do it incorrectly or it won’t do what it needs to. They WANT you to call if you have any questions.
There were so many times I had questions but forgot to ask, so write them all down! Even bring a pen with you to write the answers if you want, that way you have something to look back on rather than having to remember it all (trust me there’s A LOT to remember).
It’s okay to freak out the first time you do injections…your sticking yourself with a needle…it’s weird…don’t beat yourself up about it–remember I hesitated the first time for 15 minutes! The next day, I hesitated for just 5, and then I had no hesitation at all after that. It’s just something to get used to!
The medication I took (Menopur) did burn unfortunately (something I wish I knew prior to taking it!), but I had a little routine I started after the first day. A half hour prior to my injections, I started icing my stomach (and took my other medication {Follistim} out of the fridge) and by the time I did the injection, I didn’t feel the needle what-so-ever (I’m not exaggerating at all), and the burning sensation was minimal. What also helped, was injecting the medication veryyyyyy slowly. The only thing about icing the skin, is that your skin gets kind of hard. It’s basically freezing the skin, so you have to push the needle in a little harder than you think. I had a few times where I injected and it didn’t go all the way through so I either injected again or pushed it in. I know that sounds gross but if it’s iced I promise, you don’t feel it. The needle is teeny tiny and super thin! Honestly, I didn’t feel the injection even when I didn’t ice the first time, I just didn’t love the burning sensation, so I decided to ice.
I try to eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle….so injecting hormones into myself was the last thing on earth I ever thought I’d be doing. I rarely take Tylenol for goodness sake! Although I didn’t love it, I didn’t let it get to me. I told myself as soon as it was all done, I’d go back to my normal ways, and I did, and it’s fine! If you stress out about things like that, it does no good!
If you don’t need to tell people, don’t. It puts pressure on you can get stressed out. (More) stress is NOT needed! I told a few family members and a friend who went through it to conceive her son.
If you’re fertility clinic offers any kind of girls night or something similar to it, I suggest trying it out. I went to one, and although it was nice to talk about what I was going through, it was also…really sad. I wasn’t in the same state of mind as some of them, I was excited and hopeful and it was more of a downer for me. All the girls were amazing and the idea of it was great and so helpful, but I think it depends on the individual and what they’re going through.
If you have to travel far to get to your clinic (RMACT’s Danbury office was an hour away, while the Norwalk one was an hour and a half), try and keep your gas receipts along with everything else you’ve paid for, as you might be able to get a tax return for everything, depending on where you live!
My “trigger shot” (which was actually two–Novarel {or HCG} and Lupron), the last shot(s) you get before your retrieval of the eggs, didn’t hurt at all! Both used different syringes which didn’t really allow me to go slow like I did with the Menopur, so I was nervous and waiting for the burn, but had nothing. It was suchhh a relief, as it was the last of the shots!
This is personal and may be different for you, but the hormones didn’t affect me what-so-ever. I didn’t have mood swings, no headaches, and I didn’t bloat. The only thing I did get was a bruise a few times I injected. The first time was definitely because I was pinching my skin so hard though! Another time was air in the syringe (at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was) –always make sure there are no bubbles!
Make sure you have enough of your medication so you don’t freak out like me (another freak out I forgot to mention yesterday!) when you’re out of the one kind and need it the next day but the pharmacy doesn’t have it and the place you order from online doesn’t deliver on Sundays! That can make you want to throw up…. Always. Check. Write a list if you must so you know what you need to order and order it days before you need it. You don’t want added extra stress! (Btw-I was able to pick up the medication for my doctors office thankfully!)
Have a little bag to keep things organized if you’re ever out when you need to take any of your medication. (Though I always tried to be home for it, especially the first set of hormones that needed to be refrigerated).
If you can afford to, stay home from work…unless you do a lot of sitting, work can stress you out and you shouldn’t be stressed or putting any sort of pressure on your body as your uterus expands and grows lots of eggs!
Retrieval day…..stay home!! I was knocked out for the procedure so it wasn’t scary at all–even fun if anything because you’re all high on the anesthesia! lol But that didnt last very long! This is definitely TMI, but it’s also something you should be prepared for–you will probably (everyone’s different!) get the WORST gas pains ever!!–Sorry! I wishhh someone told me about this one! I could barely walk after a few hours, which is why I suggest staying home! I did some yoga poses and that was helpful, but really, time was key. I felt somewhat better by the next day and completely better by about 4 days after the appointment. After reading up on it and finding that list (that seemed like it intended to scare rather than help–thanks goodness I read it AFTER I went through most of everything) that I posted about yesterday, I listened to her and drank some prune juice and….let’s just say that didn’t help….at all!! If anything, it made it worse! It was trapped gas, so the prune juice was just adding to it!
I suggest staying home for the transfer (when they put the embryo(s) back in) as you should be completely relaxed as well– though you won’t be in any pain!
Do yourself a favor….don’t take a pregnancy test. Wait for the blood test! I read and read and read about when you can take it and took one….it came out negative. I didn’t let it affect me, as I also read a hundred times that you could get false positives and false negatives. So I don’t even know why I did it! I even read that some women took one THE DAY OF THEIR BLOOD TEST and it came out negative when they were actually pregnant! So trust me…..DON’T TAKE IT!
After you find out the good news….take as many pregnancy tests as you want! I took two just so I could see that positive sign I never got to see month after month
If you’re like me and end up having to do the progesterone shots…in the bum…with the 1 1/2in needle…don’t freak out until you get the shot. I know this sounds crazy, but the only thing you feel is the slight pinch of it going through that first layer of skin…for like a millisecond. The scariest part was the lead up to it. I imagined it was going to hurt once going into the muscle, or when the medication was actually distributed, but I kid you not…..nothing. I know, weird. And there were even times that I didn’t feel it break the skin at all! Those were the best! Because you’re waiting to feel that little pinch and then the next thing you know, they’re saying “all done!”
Even after knowing the intramuscular injections didn’t hurt, looking at that needle was still FREAKY!! It grossed me out like something in the movies! (It’s HUGE).
Super important, and this is something that your doctor or nurse will tell you, but I’m still adding it here because it freaked me out opening that box of medication. There’s a 1 1/2in syringe with a SUPER thick needle, and one with a thinner needle. YOU’RE NOT STICKING YOURSELF WITH THE THICK ONE!!! That was my biggest freak out! I saw that thick one and said “how can that even break your skin?!?!” and my husband came over to rub my shoulders and I screamed at him to get away from me and not to touch me…..lol poor guy.
If you know someone who can give needles (ex: a nurse) they’re now your best friend. I love my husband, but no way did I trust him going at my bum with that needle! Originally, I didn’t want anyone to do it who didn’t have any experience giving a needle before, but after driving to the doctors every other day (at 8 in the morning and an hour away) I couldn’t deal with it anymore so I had my mom come in with me and learn. Mommy’s the only one I trusted!
Have your nurse or doctor draw a circle where you can inject and every time it starts to fade, go over it again (yes, I had black circles on my buttcheeks for over a month lol). When I found an area didn’t hurt at all, I drew a smaller circle around that specific area and only injected there.
Always remember to have the person aspirate (which means once the needle is in your skin, to pull the syringe out a little to make sure you didn’t go through a blood vessel), because I had blood in my syringe a few times. It won’t kill you if you inject it, but you still don’t want to because it won’t administrate the way it’s supposed to. BTW, they should teach you this in the injection class so don’t worry.
Try getting the needle laying down, and standing up to see what you like better. I ended up standing up for mine because it was more comfortable–just always remember, no pressure on the side your injecting!! I always put all the pressure on my other foot.
After the injection, massage the area, and keep a hot compress on it (if I were out, I used the air activated hand warmers and when at home, a microwaveable rice hand warmer that I made). Don’t put any pressure on the side of the injection!! Limp if you must walk! There were days that I had things to do after getting the shot and had to walk, and oh my goodness, my bum would hurt!!! There was one day it was so bad I had to walk around using a broomstick as a cane! So no pressure on the side of injection! Just sitting/laying down and relaxing!
If you have to take the Crinone progesterone gel applications (along with the injections or by itself)…..email me. That’s a little too much information to put on here! lol
Sonograms each week are amazing! I miss seeing my little baby that often! They are the vaginal ones opposed to the abdominal, but who the hell cares…after what you went through, to see that baby grow and hear that heartbeat is freakin’ awesome!
It’s so important to talk to your significant other about what’s going on (in your head), because it’s easy to keep things inside and take it out on them. Although you’re going through a lot more physical and emotional stuff, your significant other is having a hard time with everything as well. There were a few times that I found myself not even wanting to be around my husband, and then I realized one day, this isn’t his fault, nor mine, it’s no ones fault and none of us would have chosen it! And though he doesn’t express his feelings like I do, I knew he was stressed out with everything as well…and ever since that “epiphany”, I never felt or acted that way again.

Here I am warming my bum after an injection! This is the day I had to walk around with a broomstick….hence the face….but seriously, that was the worst day. After that, I knew not to walk around and to put the heating pad over the injection site and I was good to go! P.S.-I’m allowed to use this against my kid when they don’t listen right??? lol

**If there’s anything anyone would like to add to this, feel free to comment or email me! But I’m not making this list to scare anyone, only to inform and help out others who are going through, getting ready to go through, or thinking about going through the IVF journey.**

Baby B’s Journey

diaryofamadcrafter — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 18:13:48 +0000

Ok, so by now, most of you know that my husband and I are expecting our first little poop machine this December and we couldn’t be happier! What some of you don’t know, is how it happened…and no I’m not talking about bow chica wow wow how it happened, ya perv. (This is a super long and personal post–so get ready!)

I’ll start off by saying, I’ve wanted to be a mommy since before I can even remember. I was BORN for it. Even at 10 years old I remember thinking how much I couldn’t wait for this to happen. I knew it would be a long while, but I’d always wanted it and knew someday I’d get it. I also always wanted to be a super young mom, which is funny, considering my parents waited a while to have kids, but there was something about being young, married, and barefoot and pregnant that always appealed to me. It’s definitely not for everyone! And I know how hard woman have worked to earn equality over the years, but I’ve always felt my dream job would be to stay home with the kids and be an amazing housewife–sue me. I don’t even know what made me feel this way, as I mentioned my parents waited over 10 years to have kids. They DID get married extremely early (19 & 20), but even so, my mom had always said “don’t jump into things, enjoy your life before settling down”. I never listened…I was always looking for my future husband!

Flash forward, I met my now husband Keith, and we instantly fell in love! Ironically, Keith was the first guy I was with where I told myself, “take it easy, every other guy you fell hard for, you said you’d marry and look how that ended”. So I …tried….to take it easy, though it was hard, as he was just as bad as me, wanting to hang out every second of the day! About a year into the relationship, I was still crazy about him, and knew he was my guy! (Especially after seeing how amazing he was with his young nieces and nephews!!!) We talked about marriage alllll the time, and he knew how much I wanted kids (if you knew me what-so-ever, you knew how much I wanted kids! –trust me lol) but he was always the responsible one and said “not until we get married!”

Flash forward another few years, we get married in September of 2011. And though we wanted to start trying in mid-late October for a summer baby, as there are none in the family, we decided to start even earlier–about 3 weeks after our wedding. Now I look back and laugh thinking about what my dad always says (not to this particular subject–but in general!) “People make plans, and God laughs”. –or something like that anyway… Couldn’t be more true! I think about all my plans that I’ve had for my life (I wanted to be married by 21 and kids by 22–THAT didn’t happen! lol) But then, something happened that I NEVER in a million years could’ve imagined. We weren’t getting pregnant….

I want to say by 6 months, I was getting nervous, but because of our age and health (and allllllll of our friends who “got ‘er on the first try”), I was nervous by the second month. By the 6th month, I was calling my doctor and going for some tests. They all said, it’s probably just stress, this and that, and gave suggestions on what to do. I heard a lot of “this happens all the time and as soon as couples stop trying, they get pregnant”. OK….first of all…I could NEVER imagine giving up! Even when you say you’re not trying…it’s always in the back of your mind….So basically, I convinced myself it was just stress, being that so much had happened over the course of the last few years, and we continued trying.

I’m not going to get into what exactly was wrong, as it’s a personal matter and between my husband and I (I know you’re probably thinking this is a pretty personal post as it is!), but the reason I’m posting our story is because I wanted to share it with others who have gone through the same thing, or is going through it now. (If you are in fact going through this, you can certainly e-mail me, I’d LOVE to talk). We finally went to a fertility specialist about a year after we started trying, as suggested by the doctor, and discussed our options.

Our option was IVF. Or, in-vitro fertilization. This is the process in which the egg is fertilized outside of the woman, and then placed back into her once its progressed over a short amount of days. I literally couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but at the same time I was SO hopeful!!! The doctor shook my hand and said “nice to meet you, you WILL be getting pregnant here”. I immediately relaxed and felt a WHOLE lot better. Even AS she described all the “fun” stuff I’d be going through the next few months. I didn’t care, because the end result would be WELL WORTH IT. And it was…

Little Baby B 5 days old!

So, shortly after, we started our IVF journey and look where it brought us! We were SO UNBELIEVABLY lucky to have no problems what so ever, got SO many eggs (a total of 32 actually!) and was able to freeze 9 embryos! We also were very lucky and got pregnant on the first try, with just one embryo (usually 2 gets transferred, or even more depending on the situation). And honestly…..it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I scared myself reading up about certain things, and going on message boards.

After reading THIS list, I told myself no more looking online…everyone, and every situation is different, and I was scaring myself for no reason! From when I went through the first set of injections, till the last procedure, I wrote a list of helpful information that anyone going through, or getting ready to go through IVF should know (which I’ll post tomorrow, as this post is awfully long as it is!). I WISH I had a list like mine to read when I was going through everything! I would have been so much more relaxed, though, like I said, I handled it pretty well as it was–thank God for my amazingly supportive family and friends! There were really only a few times that I actually freaked out.

One- when I got allllll my medication that I’d be taking (it really is a lot, but you don’t take it all at once), and when I saw the 1 1/2in syringes for INTRAMUSCULAR injections…..something I didn’t think I’d have to do. This is on my list that I’m posting tomorrow, but I laughed the first time I got that shot….I cried and cried and cried when I found out I’d need to do it, and the first time I got it I literally went “wait–it’s done?!” And laughed. I didn’t feel anything but a tiny little pinch (and sometimes nothing at all) despite the ….. 1 1/2in needle going into my bum!

Two-the first time I had to give myself the stomach injection. The needle was so so tiny and I wasn’t worried about it at allll, but let me tell you, that first time I had to do it, I hesitated a total of 15 minutes! There I am, in the bathroom , pinching my stomach, yelling at myself “you can do it! Just do it already! C’mon!” Finally when I did it, I cried (happy tears!)….I was soooo glad that it was over with and not as bad as I thought it was going to be!–though more of that on my list tomorrow!

Three- I had little freak outs every time I had to start something new (ex: new hormones, change of hormones, stopping the hormones to do something else). The hormones didn’t affect me what-so-ever physically or emotionally, it was just the fear of messing something up and wasting a lot of time (and money!).

Finally, four- The freaking out of waiting for the call if I was pregnant or not! I thought for sureeee it would come back negative…and prepared myself (and some family members) for days!

P.S. -now, I laugh at all my freak outs! Everything happens for a reason! I feel this will make me appreciate my baby even more than I would have if we “got it on the first try”!

So, after hearing our story, if you–for whatever reason–don’t agree with what we did (IVF), please leave your comments to yourself. After everything I went through, I see myself, and all the other woman who have gone through this, as extremely strong women. I just read a quote recently over on Sawdust and Embryo’s blog (a woman who also went through IVF to conceive her adorable baby twins), “You hear the saying ‘being a parent is the hardest job in the world’, but I can say from experience that N.O.T.H.I.N.G is harder than wishing you were a parent.” –I literally couldn’t agree more, and my heart goes out to those who are still trying. Never give up!

And finally, I’m leaving you with one more thought! When you have a friend who recently got married–refrain from asking her pregnancy questions…..because let me tell you, that was one of the hardest things I had to hear while dealing with everything. And p.s. this goes out to NO ONE in particular, because EVERYONE asked me. I totally get it’s a question you ask newlyweds, and I’m certainly guilty of it in the past, but now that I know better, I’ll never ask this again! Hint: if they want to talk about it, they will!

DIY Adjustable Bangle Bracelet

diaryofamadcrafter — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:05:00 +0000

My sister and I have fell in love with these bracelets, as they actually fit our freakishly thin wrists. You can buy them in the stores (but they can be really expensive–so we leave that to our boys to buy for us….just kiddingggg ). We took a look at the one my sister had, and decided it could totally be DIYable. The wire we purchased (pictured below) worked pretty well, though misshaped a tiny bit. Next time, we actually want to try wire hangers! They’ve got the stability that’s needed, and won’t wear over time. So when we do try that, I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Here’s the wire we got–purchased from Hobby Lobby.

We started by cutting about 14 inches of the wire (though for our wrists we needed something like 12 inches. We bent the wire upward on one side (just less than an inch from the edge of the wire), and downward on the other side. Then, we closed the loops. This step is a little annoying, as you have to close the loop with the other wire going through, so what I do is, make the loop, and then open it back up just enough to let the wire in, and then close it. It can’t be too tight, otherwise the bangle won’t adjust.

Add some cute charms to your bangle, and you’re all done!

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Caprese Pasta Salad

diaryofamadcrafter — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:21:58 +0000

Mozzarella…..heirloom tomatoes….pasta….and basil vinaigrette = heaven. This pasta salad is SO. GOOD. And SO easy to make!! It’s perfect for the summer, and my favorite….picnics!

1 box fusilli

Heirloom tomato chopped (about 1/2 cup)

FRESH mozzarella chopped (about 1/2 cup)

Basil vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

Cook the pasta, chill in fridge. Cut up the heirloom tomato and mozzarella to bite sized pieces. Prepare dressing in a blender (I used my bullet) and mix the tomatoes, mozzarella and pasta the together. Add vinaigrette until thouroughly dressed (I had some left over, but I’ll definitely be using it for something else!) Check for seasoning and serve cold.

Basil Vinaigrette

1/4 lemon juice

1/4 red wine vinegar

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

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Homemade Honey-Almond & Cherry Granola

diaryofamadcrafter — Mon, 27 May 2013 14:33:57 +0000

I’ve been obsessed with cereal lately. I’ve been going through boxes like crazy, so I decided to try making my own. You don’t need to eat this granola as a cereal, in fact it would be perfect in little sandwich bags to take to work/school as a snack. It’s so easy to make, and you can easily half or double it.

Homemade Honey-Almond & Cherry Granola

4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup almond butter (unsalted)

1/2 cup honey (or agave, if you don’t eat honey)

1 tea cinnamon

1 tea vanilla extract

1 tea salt

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup dried cherries (or more)

Preheat oven to 325F. Mix the oats, cinnamon, salt, and chopped almonds together until combined. In a separate mixing bowl/cup, mix the almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract together until combined. Mix the two together and spread out on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool until hardened, break up into bite sized pieces, and add the dried cherries. Enjoy!

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An Announcement!!! :)

diaryofamadcrafter — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:36:20 +0000

Have you been wondering why I’ve been lacking in posts lately??? Well….here’s my reason!!!!

And we couldn’t be happier!!!

Gift Card Art

diaryofamadcrafter — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:37:48 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I keep just about everything that I think can be turned into some sort of craft! Whenever I use up gift cards, or any kind of plastic card that I receive, I always keep them. I’ve used them to help flatten Mod Podge bubbles out, and to get perfectly straight lines while tracing, or making my own stencils, and I’ve also covered them in scrapbook paper and made them super cute! You could use these as key chains, gift tags (which would be SO cute with pictures rather than writing out names), ornament, or just to hang from your car mirror, anything your little hearts desire!!! Here’s the one that I made from one of my favorite pictures from me and my husbands wedding

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