More of my favorite things

I so wish I had been there to see my sister open her gift.  She knew that I was making slippers for my mom and my sister in law.  So, I think she was expecting to get a pair too.  I hoped she was hoping too.  So I wrapped her present in a big long thin box.  It was the perfect size for the fleece slipper boots I had chosen for her and my other sister in law, Kait. Mom said it worked perfectly to throw her off the scent.  And I hear that she loves them and only takes them off when her feet just get too warm from the two layers of fleece.  Perfect for upstate New York I would say.

The beautiful Kait trying on her pair.

The other thing I wish I had been able to see her open were the bibs that I made for tough little Sean Thomas, my littlest nephew.  He looks like a little man with a baby's body, so I thought these would be perfect.  And I was right they are hysterical on him.  

Isn't he a dapper little guy?

A matched set.

 As I mentioned before, my other favorite part of Christmas this year was watching Isaac and the excitement he had in giving gifts he made for everyone.  The three aunts were lucky enough to receive necklaces that Isaac sewed himself.  He chose the fabrics well and I think they were well liked.  Aunt Tracie wore hers to dinner that night, Aunt Kait to church the next day, and Aunt Cheryl wore hers to the spa and got a compliment on it.  A chip off the old block.

The three aunts' necklaces.

He made ornaments for his cousins, and a helicopter ornament for Papa.  He made nesting Santa boxes for Grandma V who loves nesting dolls and Santas.  All great gifts, but I don't have pictures of them.  I do, however, have a pic of the ornament he made for Grandma J who loves snowmen. And of course, it made her cry.  I was so proud of him this year.  He really got the giving spirit. 

Such a sweet boy.

A few of my favorite things...

Now that I am an adult, my favorite part of Christmas is watching people open the things I have made for them.  Actually, I loved that when I was a kid too.  Maybe that's where Isaac gets it from.  So this year, my favorite gifts to give were the ones I spent precious time on. But, I was also super excited to watch Isaac give the gifts he had painstakingly made too.

Having made shoes for Em, I thought, I could make slippers for big people too.  You've seen the ones I made for my mom.  But, the original idea to make them started with my sister in law Tracie who is a self professed shoe-aholic.  I thought she needed something pretty for lounging around the house.  So she ended up with these little numbers. Suede sole, navy blue wool upper (cause blue's her favorite color), cream fleece lining and a pretty flower.  I can just imagine her cats chasing her feet around.

My feet already miss them...

And that will have to be all for now, as my children who should be napping, aren't.

Merry Christmas to me...

Sometimes when I am sewing I get a little distracted by the scraps laying around begging to be made into something instead of being tossed like so much trash.  Such was the case a couple of days ago. I think I may keep this one for myself...

A gift given

I've been busy busy busy making Christmas presents, which obviously, I can't post about.  What if they see?  But, we had an early Christmas with my folks in Cleveland this past weekend so these are no longer a secret. 

For years and years I remember the hunt for black Isotoner slippers for my mom.  She wears them everyday so by December she's in need of new ones.  Having recently tackled baby shoes and thoroughly enjoying them, I thought, how perfect would it be to make slippers for my mom this year?

There were, however, two attempts.  The pattern I used didn't call for elastic at all, but when I got one done I thought it absolutely needed some to ensure a good fit.  But, I had used what little I had left of a special purple fabric my mom had given to me from her own stash years ago.  I was sad to have lost that fabric, but once I got the second pair done, I realized that I could use the inserts from the first pair for a pop of color.

Like Mom, classic on the outside, wild on the inside.

Cozy, comfy and stylish.

Merry Christmas!

Leaf It to Me

I admit, that was cheesy. But, I have leaves on the brain right now. Cutting out a whole bunch of them will do that to you. I had to take the Halloween and birthday decorations down today, and I guess I had gotten used to having them up, because the whole room looked so plain.  I'm not ready to do winter or Christmas yet.  I have big plans for that.  But, Thanksgiving is first and so, what to do for that?

For the mantel

I love those letters and am having so much fun finding other times to use them beyond birthdays.  And I really like the understated leaves.  I copied pages from a dear old book of my Mom's onto cardstock for some of them. And I used some muted gold poster board that we had from another project. 

  I hung some from the windows flanking the fireplace too. I'm very happy with them and the gentle reminder they give.

 

Birthday Bash!

My sweet Monkey Boy turned two this week.  How did the baby that I prayed so long for get so big so fast?  If you've ever met Jonas you understand the nickname.  He's mischievous and silly and sweet and climbs every thing.  Given that, we of course had to go ape for his birthday.

We kept the celebration small.  My kids alternate big party years, and this year was big brother's turn.  But, it still has to be special, right?  Since my little monkey ripped our other birthday banners it gave me a perfect excuse to make one that was more graphic.  Inspired by the banner over at Life in the Fun Lane, I wanted something we could all use.

I started by color copying pages from an old book from my mother's childhood.  Got the aged look without having to tea stain.  Then I used those pages to print the large black letters.  I backed them with card stock circles and sandwiched black crepe paper between them, trimming them down to a more masculine size.  My final trick was that I glued a card stock loop on back so that I could thread them onto ribbon or twine, making them reusable.

Then, of course he needed a birthday hat, so I threw this together:

For dinner, he wanted his two favorites, pancakes and hotdogs. So, of course, that got the monkey treatment too...

Normally, I create a cake in the shape of whatever my kids are into at the time.  But, with the monkey theme, I couldn't resist making these insanely delicious looking Banana Caramel Cupcakes from Bakers Royale.  But, this was a party for a two year old, and that seemed quite sophisticated.  So, I made up a little bunting with a happy little monkey swinging from it, tied it to two skewers and viola!

Guess which one went to the birthday boy.  Birthday was a smashing success as is evidenced here:

I love you Monkey Boy!

Go Vote!

Okay, I know we have a very important election day coming up on the 2nd.  Seriously, go vote that day. 

But, that's not what this is about.  One of my designs made the top 15 in the Shabby Apple Dresses contest.  Woo! I'm flattered to have placed.  #12 is totally going to beat, well, everyone.  I knew she would win before they posted the finalists.  I follow her blog and she's very talented.  That being said, she doesn't really need your votes, so if you could throw some love my way and vote for me, I would appreciate it. 

Click here to see the finalists and read the rules for voting.  But, the link they provided isn't currently working properly, so if it still won't work you can come back and click here to vote. My dress is number 8.  Thank You!