I spy with my little eye...

a shameless steal. I prefer to say "borrow" though. I saw this posted on Etsy and figured I could make it too. Because I feel bad about just using the design I'll add a link to the store where people can buy them. So, if you can't make one, please buy it from here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5318821

She has lots of great shapes to choose from. I just liked the rocket. My son loves it. Here it is:




I filled this one with 'Dress It Up' buttons from Michaels craft store. This should keep him busy at restaurants and long car trips. It's fun!

Loving Lavender

A while ago Martha Stewart had on her show the top crafter (Black Apple) on Etsy. She did a tutorial for making her dolls. I've been meaning to do it ever since I saw it and each trip to JoAnn's I'd get another item (muslin one trip, invisible markers another- which I LOVE, then felt, then embroidery thread, polyfill, etc.). It seemed like it would never get made! Not to mention the pattern is supposed to be enlarged 150% and I kept forgetting to put it in my car to take to get enlarged. Well, I saw another internet blogger made the doll and she filled hers with lavender for "relaxing bedtime vibes", which I tought was a GREAT idea. Of course that meant another trip out for the lavender! But I did it! I got my behind in gear and commited to making it for baby (especially since she hasn't been sleeping well at night). Lavender is expensive (at least the organic kind, which is all my local health food store had)!!!! It was $43/pound! Luckily it weighs next to nothing! I bought $3 worth and head plenty left over. I didn't end up enlarging it because baby prefers small dolls anyhow, so that saved a trip. Oh, and ever since she has been sleeping with it she has slept through the night again- that lavender was worth every penny! Here's "New Baby" as she's known at our house (My daughter calls all her dolls baby) cozy on my teacup collection:




And here's the real baby for comparison:


And since I had leftover lavender and Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school is this week, last night I made these eye pillows and filled them with the leftovers and also added some organic flax seeds. I need to make myself one of these (and I think my husband wants one too! Need to find more manly material though!):

Mother's Day gifts

Okay, I couldn't post this earlier because it might have given away the surprise, but here is what the Mom's got for Mother's Day:

The Karen collection:















The Patricia collection:

Linings and invisible zippers and darts oh my!

Now imagine me singing that to the tune of "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" while finishing up my Mother's Day dress. It was (not) fun. But, it was fun to match baby. Some folks think it's corny, but as long as it's something I'm willing to wear, why not! And technically the dresses don't match, just the fabric. I will not try to make myself a garment without a pattern again though, this was a huge pain and completely imperfect. I don't know how the designers do it! Here's the dress (keep in mind this is after riding in the car for an hour, it's wrinkled):






So that my son wouldn't feel left out, I bought him and my husband matching shirts. He loved it. Here we are, even the matching doll:



The funny thing is when we got home from lunch our new neighbors were moving in. We went over and introduced ourselves and my husband added "we don't always match like this, we're not a cult or anything".

And speaking of the new neighbors...our dog must think he's died and went to Doggie Heaven. They have a 1 year old Jack Russell Terrier. Our dog, also a JRT is almost 11. They bark through the fence at eachother, which was cute for about a minute and a half, now it's annoying. We'll figure it out though!