Byzantine Chainmaille Ring

This is where i got the inspiration to create my own

inspiration

The video i watched to get the pattern:

Video

picture tutorial:

pictures

Pintrest:

post

I fell in love with the lady's ring when i saw it on Pintrest. I think that this was one of my first pins...and it was my first pintrest project. 

This is hard!! i tried to make it the first few times by just looking at hers and free handing ..bad idea! I then spent 30 minutes looking for good tutorials to get this pattern. I found the 2 above and was in the clear. I wore this ring in place of my wedding band for 1 1/2 months (since it was in the shop that long...venting about my problems below the pictures) I kept getting my hair caught in the rings, but it lasted very well. I did have to fix one ring, but that was because i got it caught in my lace shirt and it opened. I still have the ring and wear it when my wedding ring is in the shop... i wish i would have taken pictures of me creating it, but oh well!

I would not normally make a ring, but i made it when my wedding ring was in the shop for the 6th time. let me tell you about my ring issues.

i got engaged on August 21, 2009 and my husband and i got married on May 15, 2010. in that time i lost 30 lbs. meaning i sized my ring from an 8 to a 5.75. and had my band and ring soldered.  the day i got it back a diamond fell out. in the next two year 7 more diamonds fell out...7. the last time was June 1st, 2012. I  was so angry!! i took it in the the jewelry store and was talked to condescending and argued with about the number of times i had brought it in (does it matter after the 5th?) 2 weeks later it was suppose to be back from the shop. I get a call form the store and they let me know that it was going to take longer...i went OFF!! little did i know that i was talking to the district manager who had just fired EVERYONE at the store (ooppps) he researched my story and found that they had ordered me a brand new ring, in my size, 6 months before this. of course no one called me! he was very sweet and gave me the new ring and a gift card to the store. I was happy thinking that everything was going to be better since it was made specifically in my size... until last week when my diamond necklace broke...back to the jewelry store i went. I should be getting it back next week sometime. I have been really luck that that has been the end of my issues with Kay's since that time.

Love and Hope,

Morgen

First 20 weeks of the bump in pictures

The hubs and I have been taking pictures every 2 weeks to document "the Bump" (except the 10th week...whoops!)

Below are the first 20 weeks.

6 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

Love and Hope,

Morgen

New business and the new office!

First a big announcement!

The hubs put in his 2 weeks with PF. He was the regional manager of a chain of gyms in the area for the last year and a half. They treated him really well, but the hours were HORRID! A few months ago we got the opportunity to buy regional rights and the inventory from a very well known tire machine repair service. The opportunity was too good to pass up and we have been working on getting a loan to buy it all! We have been told that the loan is close to being done, but the hubs is going to work for the guy that is doing it now to learn the trade! We are both so excited for the hubs to spend more time at home (since he will be working from home) and to be making triple was he was making at PF.

so now to the office...

A few months ago we replaced the roof on our house (all 4000 sq. ft. of it). Since our house was a foreclosure and we got it so cheap, we have had to do a lot of home improvement. We spent the better part of 2 months sanding and staining our guest bathroom cabinets  They turned out amazing (but sadly i forgot to take pictures). Right after that happened we got into New Mexico rainy season. It doesn't rain much here, but when it does, it is 1 hour of down pour. During this time we found A LOT of leaks...eeekkkk. The worst leak was in our "office"  come to find out, it had been leaking for YEARS!!! there was mold EVERYWHERE!! so the hubs spent the 2 weekends tearing out sheet rock, 2x4's and insulation. Then spent the next weekend replacing it all. I wish i had gotten pictures of the demolition, but i was not about to brave the mold pregnant!

I did take some pictures once all of the mold was gone and he had re-sheet-rocked.

 

We also knew that we would be starting our own business in a month, so we decided to actually turn this room into an office and not a storage room. I really wanted a pop of color to make it stand out (since we had to paint it already... we choose windsor haze Isn't it a pretty color?

Then, before painted we took everything outside, cleaned it... but then took us a while to get everything back into the room organized.

In the process we also found that desk in one of the storage units behind the business. It was a beat up brown metal desk. Some red spray paint and 20 minutes later it was in the room full of our office material!

we still needs to hang some frames and pictures but it turned out well for a room that we had not opened since we moved in. 

Have you ever been forced to renovate?

Love and Hope,

Morgen

Gender Reveal Bows

For our gender reveal party we made pink and blue bows. when our guests came in the front door they were greeted by a table with our ultasound pictures and the bows. they were asked to choose the bow they though the gender of the baby was. the hubs and I made all the bows by hand (well, hubs glued my fingers to the bow more than helped)

pink and blue ribbon

Cut an inch and a 3 1/2 inch section of each color

take the 3.5 inch section and make a loop, hot glue and hold for a few seconds

finsihed loops

take the 1 inch section, fold (and iron if you want) glue the 2 ends and hold together

the loops and ribbions that have been finished

take the loop, fold in half

attach folded piece 1/3 doen from top, on the seem of the loop.

sorry there is not a picture on the next step, but you are going to loop the small folded section around the loop and glue to the spot you already glued

back of the bow

push the safty pin through the the small loop

back with safty pin

Finished Bows!

The front 2 are the hubs and mine. Since we knew we would know the sex, we made bows especially for us as to not give away the gender...

Want to know what the gender of SJP is?

see our post on the Gender Reveal Party

Love and Hope,

Morgen

Gender Reveal Party

On Thursday we got our 19 week ultrasound...so exciting!

So...we wanted to have a gender reveal party, we decided to have it the next day, since we didn't think we could wait longer than a day to keep it a secret and we couldn't miss George Strait on Saturday.

We made cute pink and blue bows and had our friends pick the color of the gender of the baby (Gender Reveal Bows) they thought we were having. Mostly everyone picked blue...in the group picture the left side are the ones that choose blue and the right is the side that picked girls. My whole family choose Pink, the hubs family picked blue. We filled a box with the color balloons of the gender, set it out, served our amazing friends fajitas and beer and had a good 'ol party in the back yard! 

so what is the gender? take a look at the pictures below!

ITS A.......

GIRL!!

we do have a name, but for blog sakes will will refer to our future baby girl as SJP.

Did you do a gender reveal with your family? if so what did you do?

Love and Hope,

Morgen