a few of my favorite things!

in an ideal world, time & money would be unlimited... meaning i could buy out everything i want on etsy for everyone on my christmas list! unfortunately, as we all know, that's just not the case for most folks. i'm excited that most of my christmas shopping is done, with the exception of a few things i'd like to make for family that i'm still working on of course [stay tuned for more about those!]

here are some of the awesome handmade goodness i would be purchasing with wild abandon if i had the cash! some of them are vendors i've seen in person at recent craft shows, & some are etsy shops that i may not have even ordered from, just admired for a long time!

::: an apron story :::

for my birthday a few weeks ago, my sweet husband bought me an amazing apron from this great vendor! she has lots of really pretty prints, and adorable child sizes. what could be cuter than a matching mommy/daughter apron set? i think every lady on my list needs one. here i am rocking the apron after wanting one for a nice long while... it's reversible and currently even fits my pregnant belly!

::: visibility :::

some of the cutest hand-painted signs in existence. i saw this vendor's booth in person at mistletoe market and seriously wanted to buy out everything! perfect for little neice's and nephew's rooms.

::: the felted pear and sewn sweets :::

wouldja look at the cute felt food in these 2 etsy shops! you already know i dream of a handmade wooden play kitchen for my little helper, can you imagine the cuteness of filling the shelves and fridge of that kitchen with all these creative & beautifully stitched little munchies? love. and i'm laughing now because i just realized the felted pear has all your fruits/veggies, and sewn sweets is dessert headquarters!

::: sosorosey :::

this shop has some of the most creative crochet designs i've ever seen, and there's not too many people i think you couldn't buy for from here! ornaments for a new baby, a desk/dresser organizer for your favorite guy, a christmas trivet for your mother-in-law, some beachy decor for your sister, and even a garland for your tree! seriously, i want to buy this whole shop.

::: jaqueline knits :::

all i can say is that i've wanted a little green apple jacket for forever... don't you?

just a note: none of these ladies have tempted me with goodies in any way to promote their shop- i just love their products & love to share the cuteness! i hope you'll be buying as much handmade loveliness as you can this season to support your local people who love to make things by hand!

thinking christmas?

every year, i get delusions of grandeur... errm... way too overly optimistic thinking that if i just started in the summertime, i could gather a bunch of ideas together and hand make all my christmas presents for everybody! this year i really could do it, i tell myself.

but somehow, something always always brings me crashing back to reality, and most of the christmas crafting that gets finished at all is done huddled in my craft room late into the wee morning hours the night before. remember the christmas stocking saga of last year? that is a true picture of my crafty-optimism-turned-procrastinating near-disaster.

however, after being continually inspired by the handmade holidays master list and hoping that some of you reading here are doing so because you actually finish your crafty projects, i thought i'd post some great inspiration and project ideas specific to the groups of people i think they'd be perfect for! ie: kids, sisters/girlfriends, or the ever-difficult brother-in-law crowd.

here are my favorites!

for all the ladies:
[sisters, sisters-in-law, moms, mother-in-laws, girlfriends]

etched snowflake glasses

monogrammed tote bag

stenciled tea towels

for all the guys:
[brothers, fathers, father-in-laws, brother-in-laws, husband's best friend, etc]

monogrammed neck tie

kindle [electronic book] cover

photo coffee sleeve
[although i think i would pick one favorite photo & print it on printable fabric & stitch it directly on rather than making the photo removable]

for the babies & kids:

little mary janes [so deceptively easy looking!]

toy car cozy

fabric magnet alphabet and numbers

fabric flower hair clips

kid's step stool or dot stool

sorry there are no pictures of any of these fabulous projects, but just trust me when i say that each website they came from is a treasure trove of ideas! now if i can just get my 2 year old to nap long enough to take a chunk out of my monstrous list of christmas ideas, starting with the ones i didn't finish last year!

sweet shop birthday!

last week, my sweet and tiny newborn woke up a wild and happy 2 year old! so after pulling out an appropriate birthday girl outfit:

we put up the birthday banner from last year [i have to admit i love this thing. i hope she wants to put it up when she turns 40!] hard to get a good picture of it though:

and opened up her own little sweet shop for her cousins!

i have seen SOOO many amazingly cute renditions of the "sweet shop" birthday idea that i thought it would be perfect for our happy little girl. we had to plan it all right after a week-long trip to my grandparents, so it wasn't the most organized thing ever! but it was cute and fun and just right for a sweet family party. the perfect phrase for an invitation came to me while browsing ideas months ago, and i ended up "picniking" a fun photo just in time to email it out to everyone:

one of the projects i had to let go of due to limited time was that i wanted to make her a little paper banner over the candy saying "kenna's sweet shop" [similar to the merry christmas one last year]. but we did have a little sign directing our friends to help themselves to a goodie bag/party favor full of candies... mini boxes of nerds, smarties, hershey kisses, dum dums, jelly beans, and candy necklaces!

[still cute despite an almost-out-of-ink print cartridge!]
and the perfectly pink "piece of candy" cake!

even the newest member [until the baby gets here of course!] of our little clan got in on the celebratory action:

& of course, a few other party necessities. i made 2 dozen of these cupcake-sized rice krispy treats & we are still eating them!

there was just enough food, just enough playmates, lots of love and LOTS of candy. all in all, life is pretty good when you're turning 2!

happy birthday little one! & thanks for giving momma a reason to go a little crazy on the party themes!

[ps- we both wore super cute rosette hair clips that i got a few weeks ago at a local craft show. i can't for the life of me make those little rosettes to look right, so i bought us each one and love them! if you're looking for one, her shop is called 'inspired by kate' on etsy... hopefully she'll have some listed after the holidays!]

twenty-seven.

a delicious family,

with one more on the way.

i think i might be bogarting all the blessings, y'all. turning twenty seven today is looking pretty good so far!

little turkey for a little turkey.

before i forget & the thankful holiday is long gone, i'm thankful to have a little person [soon to be 2 little peoples!] in my life to create things for, such as this little turkey number that a certain someone wore while stuffing her face with stuffing:
if you're looking for your own sweet little something on a bib, the whole petite bee shop is waiting just for you! new christmas designs are coming soon...

ps- become a facebook friend of petite bee & you can view a whole gallery of happy bib wearers and other custom bibs i've done recently. you can even send me a photo of your happy bib wearers so i can add him or her to the gallery! love it!

turkey day cupcakes!

this year for thanksgiving, we baked up a whole army of turkeys:
i saw this idea somewhere the first thanksgiving we were married, and made them "for the kids" for thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws. unfortunately, the only kid in the family at that point was our just-turned-2 niece. needless to say, we had to help her eat the cupcakes... poor kid couldn't be expected to eat a whole dozen by herself!
here are the details, they're very cute with not too much effort!

beak- candy corn with the yellow part cut off, glued on with icing
body- chocolate cupcake with milk chocolate frosting!
head- mint milano cookie
eyes/wattle- piped chocolate icing
feathers- archway molasses cookies cut in half
i made them again this year for the kids of our sunday school class when we got together last week. kenna was thrilled to help me make them, asking for more "bites" of chocolate icing & shouting "turtee!" and there wasn't a single one left after the party. success! my precious family is certainly what i'm most thankful for, today and always.

"so then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." -colossians 2:6-7

happy thanksgiving!

fabric stamped lampshades!

when i did a little lamp shuffling after making the pottery barn inspired lamp, i had left one of our bedside lamps naked with no shade. we used to have completely non-matching lamps because i am apparently scared of anything being too matchy-matchy, but i have seen photos everywhere of matching lamps on either sides of the bed or between twin beds that look completely fabulous. so when i got these two lampshades in excellent shape completely free, i thought i'd at least try out matching lampshades on either side of our bed.

before:
[i tore off the thick top and bottom trim]

i've been wanting to add a touch of yellow since our room is kinda beachy, and i thought it would give a little sunshine-y feeling and a pop of color. but among all the yellow fabric from my stash, there wasn't a single piece that wasn't flowery... i wanted bold and graphic.

i had just bought some fabric paint [including yellow] to try freezer paper stenciling, and decided to really branch out and try stamping directly onto the lampshade with it. it worked out really well!

i started with these super cheap stenciling sponge brushes to make a perfect circle, and a plain old plastic juice lid to make a ring.
the stencil sponge is perfect for making a nice fat circle! i just loaded it up with paint and squished it gently with my hand inside the lampshade to give it a sturdy surface. same with the juice lid... although some of them i had to go back over once or twice to get a solid line.
i had a bit of a pattern in mind as i went, but just kind of made it up on the go. in hindsight, it probably would have worked better to sketch out a bit of a plan very lightly in pencil. it started to come together as long as i tried to keep the spacing even.
after the paint was dry, i planned to hot glued some rope-like jute to hide the torn edges where the old trim used to be, but i could never quite find exactly the trim i wanted.

so i put them in our master bedroom to see how they looked, and just couldn't get crazy about them. not loving it! sometimes [ok, often] that happens with me and my jump-in-and-go-for-it crafting style. while i thought they would be adorable for a kiddo bedroom or playroom, they just weren't doing it in the beachy-serene thing i have going in our bedroom.

i actually made these back in may... it is now november and they have sat there all these months, unfinished & totally wrong for the room. so, if you ever find yourself reading here & lamenting some unfinished project of your own, come back and have a look again at these sad, half-finished little lampshades.

ooh, and then check out craft fail, because it could make anyone feel better. i read it all the time because it usually makes me laugh that good weepy-hysterical-almost-crying laughter that feels so good. and then i do feel better.