Charlotte's 1st Birthday!

My sweet baby Charlotte turned one on December 20th! I wanted to find a theme that wasn't too Christmas-y but still fit the season. I saw this invitation that Kim at TomKat Studio put together and knew that's what I wanted to do-aqua, red and snowflakes. Love it! She also made these darling birthday circles and I had to have those. I used them on the cupcakes....

 ...and her birthday hat. I just rolled a piece of 12x12 paper, added a tuft of glitter tulle and wrapped ribbon around the top and bottom. I punched a hole in each side and added ribbon for the straps.

The cupcakes were made with red velvet cake and topped with aqua frosting and sugar crystals for an extra sparkle.

Charlotte's cake was also red velvet with aqua frosting. I added red ribbons and sparkly snowflake accents. Her candle was a number one sparkler.

My budget was tight this year, but this was her first birthday! It's amazing what you can do with paper. It's inexpensive and along with my Cricut made some cute things.

First was the birthday banner. I used the Alphalicious font and snowflakes from the Home Accents cartridge. I found snowflake chipboard and added bling. I love the way it turned out. I also cut out white and aqua snowflakes and hung them all over the room. It had such a fun winter wonderland effect.

  We had the party at my parents cozy condo and I was lacking my serveware and other entertaining accouterments, but it worked out. I have to let go of my perfectionism!:)  These are my three girls, Charlotte, Sophie and Maggie right after church before the party.

The birthday girl! I covered her high chair in snowflake fabric to match the outfit that I made for her. Sister Sophie made her the bracelet.

Here is her outfit. It was made with the Stripwork skirt pattern from Pink Fig Patterns. I used Michael Miller fabric and the scraps I had left from the Patty Young project I worked on here. I made an aqua circle and cut out a red snowflake and used Steam - A- Seam to iron it on her shirt. I also made the matching hairbow.

I found this wrapping paper at Target and tied her gifts with an aqua bow, perfect!

With big sissy, Sophie.

My favorite picture of the day. Her new stuffed Monkey from Uncle Matt & Aunt Jenny. Love you Charlotte!

Apple for Teacher

I was so excited when I found out that Maggie's teacher was a quilter! I knew exactly what she'd be getting for a Christmas gift. Of course I've known about it all year, but just finished it yesterday. I love the way it turned out. I put it in a pretty little basket filled with Hershey kisses and a box of green and red pins. "How do you like them apples?!"

 

 I used Heather Bailey's pincushion pattern, Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market apple fabric and Ta Dot from Michael Miller. 

I filled it with crushed walnut shells (found at pet shops for birds) and stuffing. So it's nice and weighted but still squishy:).

Dear Santa....

Dear Santa,
Can you define good? I feel like I can meet that expectation. My husband lost his job and was out of work until just last week! You do know that there was a quilt market and they introduced hundreds of beautiful new fabrics? And I have been wanting to get my hands on most of them? But I didn't buy any because I knew we couldn't. So I think maybe I've been really good:).
So whenever someone asks me what I want for Christmas my first instinct is to say fabric! They look at me like "no something you NEED".  But really nothing would make me happier than to open a box filled with the newest fabric, hmmmm sounds fun just imagining it.

In order to be less vague, in case someone really does want to give me something I would really love here are my top choices from Fat Quarter Shop:

Loving this line! Maybe I'm just missing California, but the colors and designs just speak to me, they make me happy.

I'm always looking for a cute Valentines line to use for my lavender sachets I give as gifts on Valentines Day. These are fabulous!

What can I say, Heather Bailey, florals, pink and green? Actually there is only one word for Nicey Jane: perfection!

I can think of so many projects for these beautiful fabrics. Sandi Henderson has become one of my all time favs.

So, Santa or anyone else who might be reading...this is what I really want. And I think I've been good. :)

Pattern Tester

I love Twitter! I so enjoy hearing what some of my favorite crafters and sewers are doing. One day Patty Young, the fabulous fabric designer and creater of ModKid patterns, tweeted that she needed some help with pattern testing for some of her new pattern lines. I jumped at the chance and though a lot of people responded, in the end was chosen!! I was over the moon thrilled at the chance. The pattern was the Mini Kyoko for the American Girl dolls. This was great because my daughters have the dolls and I have sewn clothes for them before.

Patty was going to send me the pattern and fabric from her new Flora & Fauna collection and I needed to design and make it and give her any corrections needed (as if!). I eagerly anticipated the package and was so excited when it came.

Here is the letter from Ms. Young. And here is how they turned out:

  This is the first version I put together modeled by my daughter's doll, Elizabeth. Patty sent red baby wale corduroy and I used that for the pants. The top is made from different fabrics from the Flora and Fauna line. I used purchased red bias for the edging. I also made matching hair bows.

  This is the second version modeled by my niece's doll, Amber. I'm so glad I did it because I liked this version better. I made my own bias this time and just liked how the colors worked out. I made the hair flower from felt, fabric and a button.

 Here they are together, so cute! So I sent the pictures to Patty and hopefully she will put them in her pattern when it comes out in January. It was such an exciting project and so fun to know I could help in a little way. Thanks Patty!!

Peppermint Fun!

I have always loved hearts and of course I ♥ Christmas.
So when I saw this idea here, I knew I had to make them.
It's the perfect gift to give to friends and neighbors along with a "Merry Christmas with Love" note.

They were really easy and fun to make.
I worried about how "eatable" they would be, but they crunch easily and taste divine!

Somehow regular old peppermint bark just isn't going to cut it anymore.;)

Blackberry Jam

Been itching to make more jam! I can't believe that what I thought would be a year supply is almost used up! I did give a lot of it away (which adds to the fun of making it), so it was a great excuse to make more. On a recent trip to Costco they had blackberries! I didn't think berries would be in season anymore so I jumped at the chance. I just love blackberries.

It is yum, yum, yummy!