I had a Birthday

Shout hurray!
Turned another year older :-)

(Trying to blog from my phone)

name blankets galore!

 

Last year (2013) was a busy year for my minky name blankets. I was especially swamped (but loving it!) in November and December.  It is fun to think about all the children who got name blankets as Christmas gifts. I hope they are all loving their blankies now. 

I am still taking orders through my etsy shop. And you can also visit my Facebook page to see more photos and updates.  

I'm so thankful to my sweet friends and customers for the support! I am just a one-mom operation here, and probably always will be. But I appreciate every single order that comes in, and helps our little family so much. It allows me to work at home, and be flexible for the times when my kids need me.

Need a great gift for a new baby or small child? Visit my ETSY SHOP!

 

 

 

American Girl Trip to TX

Ruby and I went on our fun surprise trip in January. I still need to upload pictures from my "real" camera, but it's been weighing on me to at least write about it while the memories are somewhat fresh. 

It was my sister-in-law's idea originally. Then she and David planned it together and he surprised us with it for Christmas (video here). So we went to Dallas to stay with Aunt Natalie and their family since there is a doll store there. Ruby's cousins had all been to a doll store, and she had always wanted to go. She is at such a perfect age to do this. 

She was an easy traveler and appreciated everything SO much. She had a smile on her face the whole time and kept saying "thank you so much" for everything. It was really great to have the one-on-one time with her. It is so rare to get that much time with one child. It makes me want to take a trip like this with each of my kids. 

The store was awesome. I loved it, too! I about wanted my own doll - haha! She took her Samantha doll on the trip (the one that was originally mine as a girl). She got her (the doll's) ears pierced and hair fixed at the "salon" there. Then later in the day, we went to the mall and got RUBY'S ears pierced! She will always remember exactly where she was when that happened. She was so brave and knew she wanted to do it. It was so cute. 

She chose the girl of the year, Isabelle. Aunt Natalie had fun buying it for her and picking out a few outfits/accesories for her. (We are so thankful for Aunt Natalie and all she did for us on this trip - what a huge blessing!!) Ruby LOVES her new doll and sleeps with her every night. I love these American Girl dolls because they keep girls YOUNG and interested in dolls longer. And interested in reading! I love that they come with books and stories. Anything to keep them young and carefree for as long as possible.

It was fun spending time with cousins and having such special treatment for our weekend away. 
We will never forget our special trip! 
 

Ruby's Christmas Surprise

Dare you not to cry while watching this.





It's a bit hard to understand ...

The letter said: 
Dear Ruby, Would you like to pick out a new American Girl Doll? Well guess what you can! I want you to get on an airplan and fly, with your Mom, to Dallas, Texas. There you will get to go to the American Girl Store and choose a new special doll to bring home to Utah! You have been a good girl. I hope you have fun! Love, Daddy.

((My sister-in-law lives in Dallas and has been planning this with David. We are beyond excited!!))

Name Stockings

I made these last year and originally posted about them HERE but I thought I'd share it again in case anyone is interested in making some! They really were a lot of fun.

 Now that our family feels complete, I decided it was the perfect year to sew some stockings. I was so excited when this idea came to me. I knew I wanted to incorporate our names somehow. And lots of my favorite fabrics. So this is what I came up with.

I knew I wanted the base to be felt. Our stockings were made from felt when I was little, and I just think it seems Christmas Stocking-ish. And I knew I wouldn't have to line it. I am glad I went with felt because it was a good base for the letters. I used wool felt from JoAnn. I don't think it's 100% wool, but it's definitely not the acryllic stuff that is the cheapest. It was on the smaller bolt for about $10/yard (I used a coupon, of course).

I tried to draw my own stocking shape, and then tried to trace an old one, but neither of those efforts gave me the exact shape/size I was looking for. I like a larger size, and a nice round toe. While browsing my favorite blogs, I found Mad Mim's "perfect stocking template" and it was just that - perfect! Find it HERE. Thanks, Miriam! So, I simply cut the felt pieces out and then the trickiest part was sketching out the letters. I wanted them big and bold, so I made them fill the entire stocking. I'm glad everyone has 5 letters or less in their names - it was tricky fitting Simon and Greta on there! Technically, Max is "Maxwell" but that's mostly when he's in trouble and Max was easier!

Drawing out the letters and making them look just right was the most time-consuming part (and least fun). But then it was fun to pick out the fabrics and get my applique on! For more letter applique tips, see my tutorial HERE.

 Most of these "process" photos were just snapped with my phone whenever I randomly remembered to take one.
 

I drew the letters normal, but was sure to trace them BACKWARDS on the heat-n-bond before ironing onto the letters. ((take a look at my applique letter tutorial to see what I mean.))

I stitched around the letters -- three times around each letter if you're wondering. (see photo below) I have lots of fancy stitches on my machine, and I tried out a bunch of different things, but in the end I liked the thickness that I got by going around each letter 3x with a straight stitch. Which of course kept me up til 4:30 am one night, but hey they will be on our wall for years and you should see how excited my kids were when they them.

 
 The nice thing about felt is that I just stitched the fronts to the backs (right sides together), flipped them out and that was it! Didn't need to line them or finish the top. I am still debating what to use for a hook (maybe rick rack) so for now they are just hung with some pins. We don't have a mantle, anyway. I told the kids that Santa will take them off the pins before he fills them, of course.

Happy Halloween!

 Tonight was Trunk-or-Treat at the church ... it rained on us a little, but didn't keep us from having fun!

Here's our whole family .... a CANDY theme this year, I guess?

 Sugar Mama and Sugar Daddy 

Vanellope Von Schweetz and Wreck-it-Ralph

 And, Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory of course.

Remember the Oompa Loompas from 2008? Anyone still around from five years ago? haha. Well, we had to bring them back while they still fit. They always get lots of laughs, I couldn't resist. I figured they went along with our "candy movie" theme.