Sometimes I wish there were just a few more hours in each day. Ok, maybe more than sometimes…

Just a few years ago, I was interviewed for an article on Handmade In PA, about what my typical day was like. You can read the original article here. It’s funny to me, reading back on this and seeing how much in my life has changed since then. My 7 month old has turned into a three year old, I’ve had another baby and my little business has grown a bit. It’s much harder to get things done when you have a three year old who won’t nap anymore, and is very demanding about everything. I spend most of my typical day now feeding the boys, changing and/or cleaning them up, cleaning up after them, chasing them around the house, doing puzzles, coloring, playing with little people, attempting to keep the house somewhat clean, running errands and the list goes on and on. I hardly ever get to actually work during the daytime- I usually have to wait until my hubby gets home and after we eat dinner. The only time I can work a little during the day is when my three year old is at his preschool, but that’s only for an hour and a half. Trying to fit in a normal workout routine has been tough too- but not impossible. I really want to workout, so it has become a priority.

This is not me complaining though- I am very thankful for my life as it is. I have two beautiful babies and I want to enjoy them while they are little…because they are only little once! And I feel blessed that I can do a little something from home (that I love doing) and contribute to our finances, while being here for my children at the same time.

I just have so many ideas floating around in my head and I frequently forget or run out of time to put them down on paper…my head feels like it is going to explode sometimes because I just want to get down in my studio and create…my hands get itchy like they need to be making something…sometimes it is hard for me to fall asleep at night because my mind just races with ideas…

Keeping a sketchbook around me all day has seemed to help a little bit…even if my sketches are rough…one step at a time, right? That is all I can do, since I won’t be getting anymore hours in the day

Ever have a ton of things on your to do list, then just lose ALL motivation to get anything done?

Well, that was our weekend. We had lots of plans to finally get our house completely cleaned up and back in order…and we got some of it done…just not all. Which in my mind, is completely ok.

Instead of spending the whole weekend working and crossing things off of the list, we spent a lot of time doing puzzles, playing pirate ship, singing, dancing, and snuggling….I mean, who can resist a face like this?
We did so much from the end of November through the end of the year, running here and there, long nights working late, holiday visits and parties…we really needed some time to just slow down, just us.

It was the perfect time for me to just be with my family. I am amazed at how creative Cash is with his little people…how he can sing me full songs…how he will sit and put a whole puzzle together…how he demands that we go to his room and “dance to rock n roll”…and how we can sit and have a conversation about anything he wants. I can’t believe how Weston is walking everywhere…and how his smile makes me melt…and how he is getting into everything he is not supposed to…and that he is going to be one year old in just one month. My husband amazes me with his strength and patience with all of us…how he is always thinking of us first…how he plays with the boys…how he takes care of them…how he takes care of me.

I am blessed.

Sorry about that! Christmas has turned into the craziest time of year for me and my family, and this year was probably the busiest of all. We had an insane end of November/December! It began with my three year old’s birthday party (which I was ridiculously sick for- and ended up getting every single person who came to said party also ridiculously sick)……then Thanksgiving…then the next weekend was my hubby’s 30th birthday party.
Then the next weekend we headed up to Jersey for a family birthday party….and THEN was Crafty Balboa!! Of course, I already posted a little update about that…but it’s worth saying again- my best show yet! And then, CHRISTMAS!!!
We all had a really nice time with our extended family and the boys were such troopers through all the traveling and late nights. As you know, we did a bunch of DIY Christmas projects/gifts and I tried my best to document them here. I still have a couple more that I’d like to post (felted soap and homemade fishy crayons), though…

We went up to Jersey (again) after Christmas, and right as we were about to leave I got super sick (again), and spent the two hour ride home with my head in a bag. Yuck. I really hope that is the last time I get that nasty flu bug. It took me almost a week to recover both times…the only plus is that I think I lost every bit of holiday weight that I might have gained!

Something else really exciting (that most of you probably already know): Weston started walking about a month ago! My baby is growing up way too fast…I can hardly believe he’s going to be a year old soon!!

And finally, in the last few weeks, my hubby and I worked tirelessly on my NEW SHOP which is now open! It’s been a long time coming and I finally decided to take the plunge. I’m so excited to have everything in one place now…and I have so many new ideas I can’t wait to share with you!!!

Let’s make it a good one!!

This is a project that’s been on my list for awhile now- I could never find the time to do it though because all of my ideas were a little over the top. I have so many sketches of pages, but they are all sort of complicated (for a soft book anyway)…so I finally had to just admit to myself that simple was the way to go. I thought shapes would be fun- easy for me to make, and a fun way to teach West basic shapes. This was also supposed to be a tutorial, but maybe someday when I have more time. For now, I’ll just explain how I did it and show you lots of pictures.
I cut out six rectangles, two in each color and then ironed them in half.

For the shapes, I used fabric scraps I had and Heat N Bond.

I followed the directions for the Heat N Bond, ironed on the shapes, then stitched around the outer edge with a very small zig zag stitch.

I didn’t take pictures of the rest of the assembly, so I’ll just explain it. Once I finished all the pages, I sewed each same colored rectangle to each other (so yellow & yellow, blue & blue and orange & orange), with a piece of thin batting on the outside. I left a little 2-3″ opening on each page, so I could flip them right side out. Once they were flipped right side out, I used a larger zig zag stitch around the outside of each page- for decoration AND to close up the little hole. The last step was laying each page on top of each other and stitching through the center to make the completed book. Here are some photos after he opened it on Christmas morning:

I wish I would have had more time to actually make this a complete tutorial with more pictures and exact measurements, but things got a little crazy right before Christmas. But the most important thing here is that I finished it (AND Weston loves it!)

Crafty Balboa was this past Saturday and it was amazing!!! This was my first show in about a year and a half (I took a break after I found out I was pregnant). We met so many awesome people, including Kim from Rogue Theory, Sara from Girls Can Tell, Lisa from Volta Organics and Nicole and Nicole from Rainbow Alternative and NightOwl. Almost my whole family came to shop, as well as a bunch of my amazing friends. I feel so blessed to have so much support!!!

I brought (a TON of) baggies, lunch totes and diaper covers. Originally I wanted to make pacifier clips and wetbags but I just ran out of time…there’s always next time! I forgot to take pictures until the show was almost over so there are a few things missing here…

And here the baggies look a little picked over…I made so many of them so I was so happy that I sold a bunch!!

Our cutest little salesman was a very good boy, though he was flirting with all the girls and trying to steal our neighbor’s Christmas tree…

And this guy…man, he is too awesome for words.
I am one lucky lady!

I got some awesome gifts of course but I will save all of that for another post- don’t want to give away any surprises to those who might read this. All in all it was a great day- my best show to date!! Thanks to everyone who came out to support handmade!!

I’ve been wanting to make a scrappy fabric wreath ever since my friend Jen of Peachy Tuesday posted pictures of one that she made on Facebook. So I started scouring the web for ideas and I came across someone who used foam pipe insulation for their wreath form instead of styrofoam. This sounded like an awesome idea, since foam pipe insulation is SO cheap! I sent hubby out to get some so I could get started.Right before I started working on it, I was talking to Jen, and she sent me some great links about problems people were having using the foam pipe insulation- that it was too flimsy and wouldn’t stay circular. I decided to center mine using a wire hanger, bent into a circular shape. I placed the wire circle inside the foam circle and duct taped them together. This made for a nice solid shape- it’s not perfect as you can see from the pictures but the fabric covers up any bumps in the tape.
First I thought I’d just tie scraps of fabric all around the wreath form, but I wasn’t wild about how it looked. So I took them off and wrapped strips of fabric around the whole form, and just tied scraps onto one part of the wreath.
I just tied a little black ribbon around the top to hang it on the door.
Again, this was one of the easiest diy projects I’ve ever done- and I’m loving how it turned out!!

I know, it’s nothing like waiting til the last minute since tomorrow’s the first day of December. I really wanted to do an Advent Calendar this year, and after doing a lot of researching online I decided to come up with my own. This is a very very simple calendar, mostly because I just didn’t have the time to get super fancy. I went out to the dollar store and got most of the supplies.

To make this calendar, you will need:
-small envelopes
-craft paint (we used red)
-paint brush
-scissors
-white paint marker (or whatever color you want to write the numbers in)
-a board of some sort (I used a cork board we had laying around)
-binding/ribbon/string
-thumbtacks
-clothespins
-anything else you want to embellish your board with (we used jingle bells)

The only things I already had were the cork board, thumbtacks and binding.

I sealed up 25 envelopes, and painted them all red. I was going to have Cash paint some, but he wanted to paint his own envelopes all different colors.After they were all dry, I cut off about 1/4 off of the top of the envelope. You can cut them straight or use fancy scissors to do this, but I just made up my own squiggly cut with my boring scissors.I had made a list of different Christmas-themed activities to do on each day in December. These are just a small example of ones I used:

-Read about the first Christmas
-Have a Christmas dance party
-Donate a toy
-Make Christmas cookies

My hubby typed them up, printed them out, and then cut them up into strips to be put inside the envelopes.To prepare the board, my hubby cut strips of green binding to fit the width of the cork board and then pinned them into place with thumbtacks.While he did that, I drew all the numbers onto the envelopes using a white paint marker. After the binding was in place on the board, we put an activity into each envelope and then pinned them to the binding using a clothespin.We also embellished the board with little jingle bells. Here’s a shot with our Christmas tree in the back:It’s now hanging in the kitchen, ready to be used!

I love handmade stockings- there is just something so special about them. You just can’t even compare a handmade stocking to the yucky fuzzy ones you see in the store. My great grandma made my stocking years ago and it has always made me want to make stockings for my own family. When Justin and I moved into this house, I knitted us stockings- and I also knitted Cash’s first stocking. Here is a picture (with our store-bought doggie’s stockings too) of them all last year:I love our knitted stockings but they took so much time to make! I guess you could say I just didn’t feel like knitting up one for Weston since this is his first Christmas, but I also loved the idea of having matching ones for all of us. So I did some searching online and found this super fast and easy tutorial on the Fabric Worm blog.

I bought all the supplies, including some black fabric markers so I could personalize the stockings before I sewed them up. I printed out our names in a funky tattoo-ish font that I found on Dafont.com (my favorite place to find unique fonts).Then I cut out all the letters and arranged them in the stocking shape.I taped the cut out letters down and put my stocking shaped fabric over them, taping that down also. Using my lightbox, I traced the letters onto the fabric:It was really easy from there- just followed the tutorial to finish them and here are two completely done:The tutorial is so easy, you really only need to know how to do a straight stitch to make them. There are plenty of other ways you could customize these too- that’s what’s so great about a basic pattern like this. Now I just gotta finish the other two…

• A handle or hook so it can hang on a door knob or towel rack.
• Lots of sizes: Small for travel, large for at home.
• Zippers are a definite.
• Front pouch or pocket for dry things.

• 1/3 Yard Polyurethane Laminate (PUL)
• 2 Fat Quarters or 1/2 Yard combination of Cotton Fabric
• 17 1/2″ zipper
• Matching Thread

Here is another one I made with fusible fleece on the back of the PUL and pellon peltex on the back of the fabric.