Pick me too!

But I also love the soft feeling of this one, what a quandry!!

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Amy at Nap Time Crafters is taking photo suggestions for her next pattern. I've been inspired by all things vintage lately, so I thought I'd put my 2 cents in:

I love the silhouettes and feminine feel of the skirts...now which one to submit??

Gift jar

Should have posted this one in June when everyone needed teacher gifts! File this one away for next year I guess...

This year we went to the library every Friday for story hour. When the program ended, Miss G definitly needed a gift!

Grabbed a jar (Ikea) and some worms and some Cricut-ing later we had a gift for our favorite story hour leader!!

Olivia's Easter outfit

Aren't I terrible? Here it is, July, and I'm just getting around to posting Olivia's Easter dress. Bad, bad, blogger!!

Anyways, I had been hording this pink, sheer, embroidered fabric. The dress is lined with pink broadcloth (I'm so cheap! That's my go-to crap) with a shirred empire waist and puffed sleeves.

I decided she needed a coat and hat too, so quickly whipped up a crocheted sunhat and swing coat. The coat is also in the pink broadcloth lined with a pink fleece. Little daisy chain accent and a few flower buttons, and we're ready to go!

She had fun 'walking' around with Grandma while the older kids were egg hunting!

Crochet yoke tops

My vow to make Olivia's complete summer wardrobe didn't stand completely, but I did manage to make her a bunch of fun tops.  After completing this beauty, I was hooked and made 2 more!

Comfy knit fabric

Butterfly applique

Stunned rabbit model

No idea why this picture keeps flipping.  Tilt your head please.

Okay, I guess I didn't take a picture of the 3rd top, and it's in the wash right now.  Oops.  It's another floral print with a pink crocheted yoke.  Hope you enjoy!!

Dinosaur Party

Ashton recently turned 5 (!) and we decided to have a full-on, friends over birthday party for him. His choice of theme wasn't a big surprise, since he's been into dinos for the past few months now. I used my Cricut to make his invitations

 Since I'm too cheap to buy a specific Cricut cartridge for every project, I combined different shapes (ovals, apostrophes...) to create the dinosaur shape.




And although I imagine up beautifully fabulous birthday cakes, I severely lack the skills to execute them, so this year I kept it really simple:

Two stacked round cakes (I don't have 2 spring forms the same size...) with some dino fossils 'buried' under Oreo crumbs, and dino shaped sprinkles adorning the sides.



My sister found some t-Rex skeleton sand toys, and made a jell-o dinosaur when we were at her place, so I snagged the moulds and made another one for the party.

Ashton's shirt was specially made for the occasion (with freezer paper stencilling cut out with the Cricut - again combining shapes to make the dino) new dino slippers, and a pith helmet to complete the 'look' The guests were also each given a pith helmet when they arrived.

I created a 'dinosaur dig' activity using play sand, white glue, and dollar store dino figures.

If I were to do it again, I'd play around more with the glue to water ratio. The outside dried rock-hard, so I had to break open each brick and the kids dug around inside where the sand was softer.  They had a blast though!

Can't believe my boy is 5! He had lots of fun with his buddies!

Yarn Works

Oooo...it's been awhile!! Between teething and regular nutty mom stuff, I haven't managed to get a post up in, like, forever! But I'm back!! And hoping to post more regularly, I promise!

So a lot of my crafting time lately has been taken up by crocheting and knitting. I've been making hats for gifts,

Sock Monkey, owl and bunny

Very hungry caterpillar

and for Olivia,

Little Sisters Dress (Ravelry link) Love how this turned out!!

and this Knitted Convertible Cardigan, a vintage pattern done up in mohair.

I also found some adorable Owl skirties on Pintrest, so I HAD to try my hand at making one for Olivia, and it turned out ADORABLE!!! (maybe even deserving of a pattern? who's up for one?)

One of our local schools was having a Mom 2 Mom sale, so I also whipped up a few for that, as well as some hats.  Here's an example of the skirtie and a few of the hats I had there:



Unfortunately I didn't sell much, so I've also started up a facebook page to see if I can sell them better online.

Introducing Baby Purls!!

Tutu dress

Recently I was lucky enough to test the Madeline Tutu Jumper from Amy's AMAZING PeekaBoo Pattern Shop. 

What I love most about this pattern is it's versatility.  Different fabric and colour choices will give you a completely different feel to this little number.  I went with a funky cotton print, but can you imagine this in a deep, jewel-toned velvet? Or white eyelet with lace instead of the tulle? The possibilities are endless!!  The pattern called for a knotted strap, but since Olivia is still crawling, I decided to loop the straps and use a button.

Loving the fluffy little baby butt!



Olivia's First Birthday Party

So my baby girl turned ONE the first week of January.  A birthday party was in order.  The theme was obvious.

OLIVIA THE PIG

My lovely sister hosted the party and let me take over the house with the decorations

I had some fun drawing a 'life sized' Olivia to put up:

and also sculpted an Olivia to go on the cake:

The girls got a lovely Olivia themed boa and tiara, and since I couldn't think of anything 'Oliviaish' to get the boys, they got a red slinky.

Madam started out in her pretty birthday dress

but was stripped down to the diaper to enjoy her cake

















I think she enjoyed it.  Later that week I did a 'cake smash' shoot with her, which she also thoroughly enjoyed:

Makes me somewhat sad that my baby girl is growing up so fast, but we're enjoying every minute!