his and hers wooden peg dolls

I assume you've all seen the adorable wooden doll projects at Lil Blue Boo?  (They are plastered all over pinterest.)

Back in November, Ashley posted her Box o' Princesses and Boyville projects, and they have been on my mind ever since.  Luckily my mom also wanted to make them, so we each painted a couple of sets while she visited.  I know I wouldn't have gotten around to making them without her motivation, so thanks, mom!

First up, the boys:

I expanded the boy's set a bit to include a few more characters.  If Ruby received eight dolls and Oscar only received four, he would not be pleased.   Even with equal sets, I am still anticipating a lot of stealing between them.

My favorite boy dolls are Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader (although Buzz and Woody are a very close second).   Oscar is borderline obsessed with Star Wars.  He's only seen Episode One (which pains Jared to watch), but he thinks anything Star Wars is just the greatest.

I sanded down toothpicks and painted them as light sabers.  They are super-glued to the dolls for safety, so hopefully Oscar isn't disappointed that they aren't functional.

On to the girls:

This set is the same group of princesses that Ashley made, but I tried to add my own flare to each of them.  My kids are young, so to avoid a choking hazard, I purchased bigger wood people (they are all 3 1/2 inches tall).  The larger sized dolls made it easier to add a few extra details.

My favorite ladies are Ariel, Tiana and Cinderella.  I used Martha Stewart glitter paint in silver to add sparkly scales to Ariel's fin.   Cinderella's dress was painted with Martha Stewart pearl finish paint in "aquarium" - it turned out so perfectly shimmery (I just love the MS line of craft paints!).  I didn't use any special paints for Tiana, but she sure has a fun dress.

I'm not going to lie, these dolls took a bit of time to paint.  It's not an easy project to churn out in one night!  But I sure am excited for Oscar and Ruby to open them on Christmas day.  Hopefully they will enjoy playing with them.  If so, it will give me an excuse to make more.  I'd love to add a doctor, fireman, ballerina ... peg people are fun!

Have you made any homemade gifts for Christmas this year?  I know it is only a week away, but I still have four projects on my list.  Yikes.

wood source:  I ordered my 3 1/2 inch peg people from Casey's Wood, and have always had a good experience with their products.  However, Ashley linked to a different shop, Woodworks Ltd., and they have slightly lower prices - I can't speak for the quality.

no-mess glittered ornaments

One of my personal Christmas traditions is that I like to make a few new ornaments for my tree each year.   They almost always involve glitter.  I was talking to my sister earlier today and she remarked that if she could find a way to work extra glitter into every season, it would make her life a little happier.  I agree completely - glitter makes me happy.

This year I still got the glitter I love without the accompanying mess.  These kid-friendly (i.e. non-breakable) ornaments are made with wood discs and glittered cardstock.  They are totally low-fuss, low-mess, high-sparkle.  You should be able to find all of the supplies at your basic craft store.

First I used a small amount of hot glue to adhere a ribbon loop to each wooden disc.  Then I glued my cut paper to on each side of the disc using Mod Podge.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the glittered circles and little shapes, but you could just as easily use a paper punch, or even cut them out by hand.

It wasn't long before I had a large set of glittery, festive new ornaments.

They really shine against the lights of the tree.

I also made a set of ornaments with my family's initials.  They found a home on our newly decorated mantel (which also features glittered trees, a holiday book wreath, and felt candy cane garland from crafts of Christmas past).

I hope you have had a very merry December so far!  We've been battling sickness at my house.  A week after Cora was born, my husband came down with shingles and then Oscar and Ruby both caught chicken pox (and yes, they were both vaccinated).  Talk about the worst transition period, ever.  I wouldn't have gotten through it without my mom being here, continually saving the day!   It looks like things are on the upswing now, though.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that this little sweetie remains chicken pox-free, would you?

happy thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for my family, especially healthy babies, modern medicine, and my sister-in-law's delicious chocolate pie.

Speaking of babies ... remember how I just had one?  Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Cora Margaret:

Cora is such a peaceful, sweet baby.  We just love her!  I was so worried about Ruby (a.k.a. "the brute") using her muscles on the baby, but so far it is just hugs and kisses all around.   Oscar, of course, is smitten as well  (it probably helps that she looks just like him).

We had a few hiccups in the hospital, so it has taken me longer to get back to the computer.  Between needing to recover and the holidays coming up, posting is going to be really light around here for the foreseeable future.  But can you blame me?  We are all super busy snuggling Cora.

For Thanksgiving, I crocheted Cora a silly turkey drumstick hat:

Funny, right?  After seeing it on Pinterest, I just couldn't resist!   I made up the the pattern as I went along and didn't write it down, so I don't have instructions to share with you.   You might be able to find a crochet turkey leg pattern online, and just add it to a simple hat.  After the holiday, I think I might take the drumsticks off and add some teddy bear ears for a more useful everyday hat.

At first it seemed like Cora really liked it:

But then she started making sour faces at me:

One-week-olds are so fickle.  :)

In completely unrelated news ...

I have a Black Friday Deal to share with all you Silhouette fans.  Silhouette is having a great Black Friday sale where everything in the online store (except the CAMEO, subscriptions, download cards, and gift cards) is 30% off.  You can get an extra 10% off using the online code, JILL, for a total of 40% off!

Also, the CAMEO will not be found in the regular online store, but you can find it on the "secret" Black Friday Page.  The Cameo is not 30% off, and my extra code will not apply, but it will be nicely discounted. The Black Friday Cameos are expected to sell out fast.

All shapes will be 50% off.

The Black Friday sale starts at 12:01 a.m. (MST) on Friday, November 25th.  Codes will be valid through the 28th.

Happy shopping!

bringing home baby - she'll probably need something to wear

Unbelievably, the week has already arrived when we get to welcome our new baby - we'll meet her on Friday!  Some of my friends started asking about her "coming home" outfit, and I realized I didn't have anything planned.  Come to think of it, I have never planned a special coming home from the hospital outfit for my own kids.  I'm not super sentimental about that kind of stuff.  But this baby needed something, poor third child that she is.

First, I made her a really simple knot-top cap.  It is modeled after my favorite store-bought newborn cap that I bought for Oscar years ago.  I sketched out a simple template for you, which you can print out HERE.  You'll need to cut two pieces of stretchy knit fabric from the template, and then another rectangular piece for the border at the bottom.  I cut my border piece to 3 inches tall, and double the width of the bottom of the template piece.  I'm not going to go into detail how to piece it together, but Make It and Love It has a really great baby hat tutorial that should give you a pretty good idea.  Keep in mind that her hat brim folds up, but mine does not.

I also have basic instructions for a really easy baby hat from a t-shirt sleeve from my early sewing days - you can find it HERE.

Besides long sleepers, my favorite newborn clothes are the basic kimono-style snap shirts you can buy in packs.  I even did a tutorial a few years ago about how to dress one up with ric-rac and some pretty buttons (find it HERE). For this shirt, I simply added a lace trim around the shirt's opening - really easy, really fast.  This is actually the exact shirt that Oscar wore home from the hospital, and possibly Ruby, too (I don't actually remember what I put her in).

So there you have it, possibly the easiest coming home from the hospital outfit, ever.  Add a pair of leggings and some cute socks, and you're all set.

a very halloween birthday

I'm sure by now you are all sick of hearing about Halloween, but I had to share a few more photos of Oscar & Audrey's double birthday party.  My friend, Sonja, and I put so much work into it, but it was such a great time!  Both of the birthday kids were in Halloween heaven.

I wish I had taken more photos of the decorations!  Sonja's house looked awesome - she made several cute felt buntings, including the bats pictured above.  There were also decorated lanterns, lots of bat silhouettes, and a gigantic yarn spiderweb that covered an entire wall in her hallway.

I made a simple cake (vanilla with blackberry filling and chocolate frosting), and decorated the top with cardstock cutouts (made with my Silhouette) to look like a haunted house, or "house of spooks" as Oscar called it.  Sonja made yummy nutella mini cupcakes, decorated with the cupcake toppers.  Sonja's husband, Jake, cooked up a delicious dinner of pulled pork burritos with all the fixings, and we also had clementines dressed up as jack-o-lanterns, spooky mummy sugar cookies on a stick, cookie bones, and brownies with cute jack-o-lantern wrappers (there was no shortage of treats).

Since the kids were mostly 3-years an under, we kept the activities simple.  After handing out the treat bags Sonja and I made, we sent them on a mini trick-or-treat to the doors inside her house.  The kids received stickers, spider rings, a piece of candy, and a pumpkin-wrapped brownie.  Afterward, we sent them outside to break open a pinata to fill their bags with a few more treats.

We ended the evening with cake, of course.  After Audrey beat Oscar to the punch of blowing out the candles, we re-lit them at least five more times.  I hope they got all their wishes in.

You can find many of the ideas and tutorials from projects mentioned above linked on my Halloween Party Pinterest Board.

ruby's wonder woman costume

Hello! You'll find me over at Lil Blue Boo today, sharing a bit more about Ruby's Halloween costume.

If you aren't already keeping up on Ashley's story, you'll want to check out her posts on her recent battle with cancer.  I've always admired Ashley's work, but even more I admire her positive attitude and tenacity.  She is truly an inspiration, and it sounds like things are finally turning around for the better.  Hurray! 

Keep fighting, Ashley!  We love you.

halloween costume parade

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun time at Oscar's birthday party this weekend - I have tons of photos, but I still need to go through them, so I'll share party details later this week.

Meanwhile, want to see all of our costumes? 

I made Jared a quick and easy robot costume by covering a large cardboard box in silver duct tape and cutting a bunch of vinyl decals with my Silhouette machine.  He really hates dressing up for Halloween, but he was sweet to humor Oscar (and me) for the party.

You've already seen Oscar's pumpkin costume.  It was too hot on Saturday to stuff him full, but we might try that for trick or treating tonight.  He was such a happy birthday boy.  The ear-to-ear smiles he wore all night made all the party prep worth it.

I made a pregnant pumpkin shirt with a simple freezer paper stencil and the new Martha Stewart Glitter Paint.   Not an elaborate costume, I know, but it was about all I could muster and it made Oscar happy.  We felt like a pretty cute pair of pumpkins. 

Here's our happy gang all together.  Ruby was Wonder Woman, and I am thrilled with how her dress came out.   She even wore the accessories happily, which was a miracle.   I'll post more on her outfit later.

I also made the costume for our friend Audrey (Oscar's party companion), as her birthday present.  She loves Beauty and the Beast, so I made her a Belle dress using the Crafterhours tutorial again.  Her baby sister wore Ruby's old Belle dress, so we had two little princesses running/crawling around the party.

I hope you have a very happy and safe Halloween!  Don't make yourself sick with candy.  :)

Here are the kids' costumes from previous years:

2010:  Skeleton and Baby Aerobics Instructor
2009:  Bluebird

rollie-pollie pumpkin

Oscar is a Halloween kid through and through.  He waffled on his costume selection at first (bat, pirate, star wars guy), but eventually he had only one request: a pumpkin! 

When I asked him to try on his costume for a photo, he said, "wait! I need a pumpkin.  It looks just like me."  So cute.

The hat was made using Delia Create's hat-ette tutorial.  It was so fast and easy to put together (literally less than a half hour!) and totally completes the look.  I used elastic instead of a ribbon tie, because I wanted it to be quick to put on and take off.

For the felt pumpkin suit, I used the Rollie Pollie bean bag pattern from MADE, with the small bag pattern pieces scaled down slightly.  The zipper in the pattern makes the costume really easy to get in and out of.  Instead of adding the top and bottom pieces, I made an elastic casing.   I cut arm holes in the side, and edged them with "bias" tape made from felt.   The arm holes are cut a little too large, but you can't win them all.

Or maybe you can?

For the actual costume day, he's going to wear and orange t-shirt and his green legging pj pants underneath, and we are going to stuff the pumpkin to fill it out a bit.

I am also going to be a pumpkin, but don't require any stuffing in my costume.  Only 3 weeks to go before baby girl #2 arrives.  :)

mini cupcake toppers

The only thing cuter than mini cupcakes are mini cupcakes with mini cupcake toppers (how many times do you think I can fit the word "mini" into one sentence?). 

I used my Silhouette to cut these little cuties out from black cardstock and scrapbook paper, so other than gluing the pieces together, there was very little work involved.  All of the shapes came from the Silhouette online store.

Each topper is simply taped to a toothpick and will be popped into a mini cupcake for the kids' Halloween birthday party this weekend.

My friend Sonja and I are a bad combo for party planning, because we tend to feed off of each other's craziness.  Even this afternoon, we were discussing ideas for more things to do and make (with the party only days away) ... we have to take turns reminding each other to calm down and focus on the current to-do list.  Do you have a friend like that?  It makes me laugh.

p.s.  Just a reminder that the promo for the new Silhouette Cameo ends Monday, Oct. 31st.  Use the code JILL to get a Cameo and your choice of a free starter kit.

introducing the Silhouette CAMEO

You all know how much I love my Silhouette cutter.  I've used it to make wall art, custom shirts for my kids and husband, hair accessories, etched glassware, and to organize my pantry.   Most of all, I love to use it for parties and gifts - decorations, labels, treat boxes, etc.

So have you heard the news?  They have just released a new version, the Silhouette CAMEO.  She's a sleek little thing...

The biggest change is the increased cutting size.  The Cameo cuts paper, cardstock, vinyl, or fabric up to 12 inches wide (verses the SD's 9 inches) and 10 feet long.  The extra 3 inch width allows you to cut significantly larger designs - you can see the difference in the cutting mats below.  I love that I no longer have to trim down 12 inch scrapbook paper before running it through the machine.

Other improvements include a quieter motor and an adjustable cutting blade.   I'm a big fan of the new blade, because I was always losing my blade caps on the SD.  Now I can change the cutting depth with a simple click.  Yay!   I also find that it is much smoother to load materials, particularly the vinyl.  All in all, it is just a new and improved version of an already awesome machine.

The nice Silhouette folks also sent me one of the new starter kits to try out.  There are starter kits for vinyl, heat transfer, fabric ink, and rhinestones, and include all the tools you need to learn and make a new project.

So far, I've kept my Cameo busy with party prep - Oscar is having a Halloween themed birthday party this weekend, and my machine is working overtime.

First, I used the Vinyl Starter Kit to decorate a beverage dispenser for the party.  It's going to look awesome filled with colorful, Halloween punch.

I also cut a little vinyl wall decal for a blank space near one of the food tables.  The party will actually be held at my friend's house, because our kids are having a joint party.  Vinyl is great for making easy, temporary decor - I didn't feel bad plastering her walls with Halloween stuff, because I know it will peel right off when the party's over.

Paper buntings cut from scrapbook paper spook-ify my otherwise plain cake stands.  I can't wait to load them up with treats! 

If you've been saving your pennies for a craft cutter, I can't say enough good things about the Silhouette Cameo.  And since I love sharing a good deal, you can get one of the new Cameos plus your choice of a free starter kit (Fabric Ink, Vinyl, Heat Transfer, or Rhinestone) for $299, using the online promo code, JILL.

This promo runs starting today, October 25, through October 31.  There are a limited number of promotion bundles for the first shipment of Cameos, and they are expected to sell out. Maybe it can be an early Christmas present for yourself? I'm sure you deserve it. :)

doll/bear carrier

Here's my latest project selection from the Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew book:

the bear carrier!   I'm telling you, this book is gold when it comes to making handmade gifts for children.  Every project is a big hit (I've also made several explorer vests and the red riding hood cape). 

This carrier was for another one of Oscar's friends, but we tried it on his favorite bear to get the straps sized properly.  He was ecstatic - hands free bear travel?  Life doesn't get much better.   "Let's try glow turtle next!" he says.

Can you imagine the tears when I had to package it up for the birthday party?  Oh, man, was Oscar mad.  I promised to make a special one just for him, which means Ruby will probably need one, too.   My to-do list never stops growing.