Black Friday

I'm not a big Black Friday shopper.

Too busy.

Too crazy.

It's just not for me.

But I look forward to our trip to the Christmas tree lot all year long.

It's my kind of Black Friday shopping.

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My good friend recently started a blog and she's hosting her first giveaway.  Go on over and show her some love and enter!

Maybe if you bug her enough, she'll even share some flowers. ;)

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend, friends!

xoxo

Gee, thanks.

I hope you had a wonderful turkey day full of family, friends, and of course, plenty of food!

I'm certainly thankful for the incredible life that I lead and everyone in it. I'm also so thankful for the readers that stop by my little patch of internet over here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

xoxo

A first Christmas dress

I finished Baby Sister's Christmas jumper just in time for pictures.

She looked adorable.  Her attitude?  Not so much.

We'll try again in a couple weeks.  Otherwise, Grandma's getting a Christmas card with a screaming baby on it. ;) Too bad I can't bribe her with a Happy Meal like I do to her brothers.

And now, a little pattern review:

I mentioned I planned to use Amy Butler's comfy jumper dress pattern from her Little Stitches book. Typically, I love her patterns, and I've had really good results from everything else I've made.

Sewing the dress was easy.  But after re-reading the instructions a few times, I decided to just forget them and construct the dress the way that made better sense to me.  I skipped the band, the elastic, as well as the slit in the front.  I'm not sure of the point of the slit on a dress for an infant...I always envision jumpers being worn over a long sleeve top.

Now that I struggled through it one time, I think I could make another much faster and much simpler.  Tell me...have you tried this pattern?  Do you like it?  Have any other jumper patterns you love that I should try?

And after a quick Google search to see if I was reading too much into it and making things harder than they should be, I found this.  I'm glad I'm not alone on my feelings on this pattern!  (And seriously, could her baby be any cuter?)

xoxo

Anthro hack: Mason jar snow globes

Here's a short and sweet project for naptime today.

Collect a few mason jars from your cabinet and some tiny trees and white glitter from the craft store.

Arrange the trees on the lids and glue down.

Fill jars with water and snow. 

Screw the lids on tightly and enjoy the snowy goodness. 

Be proud you didn't just spend $93 at Anthro on something you just made in 15 minutes and for less than 10 bucks. 

xoxo

Happy Sunday

We've been lucky enough to have weather in the 60s the past few days. 

Rake.

Jump.

Rake some more.

Jump some more.  

Over and over again.

And we wouldn't have it any other way. 

xoxo

11.11.11

To all of our veterans, thank you.

For your strength.

Your courage.

Your selflessness.

Your ability to do things I can't even imagine.

Thank you.

Happy Veteran's Day!

xoxo

Call Guinness

I actually sewed something.

I said I was going to work a couple hours a day on gifts each day.  So far, those couple of hours may or may not have been more like a tiny bit of sewing and another hour wandering around the Christmas section of Walmart procrastinating with my little flock.  I swear I only ran in for rotary blades and starch!

I forgot the starch. 

But we did come home with these:

Oh, Christmas is near.    

xoxo

A whole new world

I've had five yards of this red tartan sitting on my shelf for ages.  I'm sure I had good intentions to make a Christmas something or other, but (surprise!) it didn't get made and now I've forgotten.

It's going to be perfect for Sister's Christmas dress.

A dress.

A dress!

Can you tell I'm excited to finally sew little girl clothes?

So Amy Butler's jumper it is.  Simple.  Straightforward.  I've always loved the kimono pattern from her.  Lots and lots, and I hope this one is just as good.

xoxo

Happy Sunday

Oh fall, you and your pretty colors get me every time.

xoxo

November 1st

November 1st after Novermber 1st I post a pic of my roasted pumpkin seeds.  I figured I wouldn't break tradition this year. :)

My mindset is still the same as well.  Lots and lots to do if I want to be able to slow down and enjoy the holidays like I want.  My goal is to put in two hours of handmade holiday and gift work a day--one while my children are awake and one after bedtime.  We'll see how that goes.

And because I refuse to say goodbye to anything pumpkin until after Thanksgiving, I made a quick batch of these this morning.  I got a bunch of emails last year about them sticking to cupcake liners (and the same thing has happened to me before, too), so I just gave the muffin tin a good spray of Pam, and they popped right out. 

xoxo