Happy New Year!

From our family to yours:)

A button hat

I'm going to try...

I forgot where I found this but I think it was an etsy seller. I have a bad habit of not renaming the things I save to show where I got them from.
Corinnea made this beautiful hat! It fits Ava too and looks just as cute on her. I LOVE it!! It's pale pink.

I took these pictures and then decided to try and get some outside with her wearing it but then I thought Corinnea might think I don't like it since I haven't posted about it so you'll have to make do with these bad photos which don't accurately represent the hat:) It's exactly what I wanted! She is so good at this. Well, good at everything! And today is her birthday!! Happy Birthday Corinnea:)

I keep telling her no one likes a nose picker..but she won't listen:) She's channeling Michael Jackson with that one glove. It's weird the things kids will put on or carry around. One glove, a purse stuffed with a cow and a pair of her underwear, every single piece of dress up clothing she owns (I have a picture of her doing this. She is wearing 4 tutus, and 5 Disney princess dresses at once).

I have no idea why her cheeks get so red. This was the worst I've seen it. But after seeing this I remember that mine used to get very red too when I was younger. I remember a teacher asking about them. I was embarrassed because she implied I was getting beat at home or something like that.

Christmas

Christmas Eve after the girls went to bed. The two Santa bags with toys are for Emily and Ava from Santa:) Don't look too closely at the big chair in front of the tree. It's being reupholstered!
This is the Dragon I made for Emily. It's from here. The instructions were to hand sew all the limbs, head and ears to the body. Had I known this....I cannot hand sew. It's awful. I have no patience for it and it shows. Corinnea gave me some joints to insert but when I got home I realized I would have to take apart way to much to do this as I already had most of it sewn together. So the next one will have jointed arms and legs. oh, she's made from yellow corduroy. Super soft!!

The wings are my favorite part of her! They are made from apple green velveteen.

Ava Christmas morning. She had a lot of fun with her old toys, the bows and stuff that she shouldn't be touching. She showed less interest in her new toys or unwrapping them:) But I knew this would happen so we didn't get her a lot of toys.

The cutest Christmas snow globe/music boxes ever! These things are ADORABLE! They dance to the music and you can link them together and then they dance to the same song. I think I Need them all...Sometimes these dancing/talking Christmas things are so annoying but this is really cute! I just looked on Hallmark.com for them and 1st saw this!! I love Hoops & Yoyo!!

I hope everyone had a lovely day:) We're spending it watching South Park #10 and I'm baking a ham.

Merry Christmas !!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Chloe

Meet Chloe. I made her for Ava but Emily has taken to her so she might get her instead. I love her! And I loved making her. I got her and the top pattern from here but I had to make up my on bloomer pattern. I took a clothing pattern for Ava's sized bloomers and re sized it on the copier. The ribbon trim on the bloomers is really really pretty (it's folded over the hem so it's actually a lot wider).

mad gab and felt

Jessica clued me in to what game I was talking about in my last post (thanks Jess!). SO here's an example of how to play the game: you get a card that says

"canoe Key Pace He Grit" , you have to figure out what it sounds like (when pronounced quickly sounds like "can you keep a secret"). The funny thing is you say it over and over again trying to figure out what it's supposed to sound like and the other person is laughing because that person can here it plain and clear!

I was looking on etsy for more felt food patterns and came across these 3!!

eggs and carton from here. Wait, I can't find it! It's on etsy (sorry etsy seller but I can't find you right now). You could also use a regular egg carton...

toaster and pastries from here

I want this one bad! Movie stuff from here.

And then this ornament is just soo cute! it's from creative breathing in flickr

jama's

Pattern by Oliver + S Bedtime Story pajama's.

Sugar & Spice by Hoffman flannel. The pattern was pretty easy.

these pictures are after a night of sleeping in them:)

Emily calls pajama's "jama's". Rhymes with "Bama" as in Obama. I was telling my sister last night that when Emily wakes up she says it's yawning time. For the longest time I could not figure out what she meant! But then yesterday it finally hit me what she was saying: It's morning time! I should have known because usually whatever she is saying is similar to the real word. Have you ever played that game? I don't know what it's called but someone says a word/string of words and you have to figure out what they are really saying. usually you have to say it real fast and it will click all of a sudden. I can't even give an example except for Emily saying yawning time and meaning morning time (but those two words aren't that close..). I emailed a friend who I played it with so hopefully she'll tell me the name of the board game. I was really horrible at it!

Shopping

My friend Lisa and I went downtown yesterday to shop..without kids!! It was SO nice! I mean really really nice to not have kids. It was super disgusting crowded but I didn't care as much as I would have had we had strollers. So anyway, we went shopping and I got some really cool stuff. The above box is from the large toy store there. It's for me:) From Jon. It's my new favorite brand (taj, wood & scherer). It's like Room 7.
This photo is out of order from the rest. I made this milk carton from this etsy seller. It was easy and I think it's cute! More felt food to come..

This mushroom stool was another find at that large toy store and it's also mine! But really it's the girls. The top Velcro's on and off.

More play food for Emily but not made by me. Isn't this chicken the coolest??

The top toy is for Ava's stocking and the plates/bowls are for both girls.

This pillow is from the same line/company as the box. I'm in love with it! You should have seen the curtains that went with it!! But they were $100+euro for one panel. I am officially done Christmas shopping! Yeah! I might make Ava a stuffed animal but we'll see....

Santa

I found this blog with a tutorial for these fabric playhouses. These are sooo cool!

Emily and Ava at the PX on Santa's lap. 1st time Emily did not cry! She's passed the crying to Ava:)

My new framed photo of Emily (picture taken by Kelly). It was framed at our store and the frame, etc. was picked out by Corinnea. She did a fabulous job! We were stumped and then she came along and pulled it all together.

Secret Santa

From my secret Santa:) This is exactly what I wanted! I had asked Kelly to do this and she said maybe after the new year blah blah. But unbeknown to me, she had already drawn my name and made the plates! I really got the best gift of all my coworkers:) I feel sorry for them..
Mushrooms from Corinnea....just because she loves me:) vintage German mushroom ornaments.

So I have started Ava's stocking (the spotted elephant). What do you think?

I'm not so sure about it..

It's the fabric not the elephant itself. Jessica drew it for me :) I used wool felt with red wool felt polka dots (I used a punch to cut perfect circles). Click on it to see it better and then tell me what you think:)

Here's the Jack nutcracker I mentioned in another post.

And Jack as a snowman. He has a huge dent in his side from moving and Emily yanked his arm off the other night (that's why its so long). He has a top hat and an umbrella.

And just because I have to include a picture of one of the girls in every post. Ava has 3 teeth on the bottom and 4 on the top. I really can't believe she'll be 1 in a month....

decorations

I was putting more decorations up and found some ornaments I completely forgot about! I think I got the little mushroom at a German store downtown but I'm not sure....and I made the felt mushroom (trying to copy one from Anthropologie last year).

The stockings I made 2 years ago (copying Pottery Barn Stockings but with the Island of the Misfits characters). Jessica is helping me with my stocking and Ava's. She has drawn them for me and now I just have to finish making them..

One of my favorite decorations from my sister-in-law, Jessica. She always gets me NBC stuff (that's Nightmare Before Christmas in case you didn't know! I only abbreviate because it's a pain to write it out). I have a Santa Jack nutcracker I forgot to photograph. He's cool too and from her.

This picture of all my tiny NBC figurines is for Kara:) She too LOVES this movie. You'll have to super size by clicking on the picture to see them closer. Some are just laying there across other ones because I had them other places and when I went to put them back on this shelf I didn't have any room! There is also Lenore ("the cute little dead girl") Emily Strange and other Tim Burton characters up there like Oyster boy, etc. This is just a tiny fraction of the NBC stuff I own. It's kind of scary.. and I feel weird abbreviating the title of the movie, like a dork, but I hate writing it out. You understand, right?

Scary Wreath

~Scary Wreath ~

My version from 2002 and the one from The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland below(California). Every year since 2001 they have decorated the Haunted Mansion in Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. This is where we went for our honeymoon! I'm actually not sure if they decorated the Mansion since we've been over here but they did do it 2001, 2002, 2003 and we went each year. I really need to make mine better. At the time I just wanted to make one quick so I used card stock for the teeth and eyes. I just don't know what to use! Any suggestions?

Emily wearing the puppets Kelly got her at Ikea.

Ava wearing her new hair clip from one of our consignors at the shop.

Emily washing her hands in the "baby sink". Yes, that's a bidet but she doesn't know that. She just thinks it's the perfect height for her and sooo cool!