Quaint and Quirky

One Yard Wonders Winner

2011-12-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry I'm late in announcing this! The One Yard Wonders book winner is:

#8 - Jessica
This book looks awesome!! Congrats on your contribution! My thing that most people don't know is that I don't like chocolate. Not in any way, shape, or form. Thats hard to explain around the holidays when it is everywhere!!! :-)
Thanks & Merry Christmas!!

I feel morally wrong giving a book away to someone who does not like chocolate, but I guess fair is fair! :D
(Sorry Amanda! :D )

Make sure you check out the One Yard Wonders website as well as the rest of the blog tour sites!

12/12/2011 Becka's Project Journalhttp://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1395

12/13/2011 Craft Buds

12/14/2011 Patch Work Duck Designs

12/15/2011 Patch Work Duck Designs

12/15/2011 A Spoonful of Sugar

12/15/2011 Nifty Kidstuff

12/15/2011 Becka's Project Journal

12/16/2011 Nom Nom Nom Nom

12/16/2011 Quaint and Quirky

12/17/2011 ikatbag

12/17/2011 Two Brown Birds

12/18/2011 Sharon Sews

12/19/2011 LBG Studio

12/19/2011 Carolina Fair Designs

12/19/2011 Under Construction

12/20/2011 Little Blue Cottage

12/21/2011 Craftzine

12/21/2011 Neuroses Galore

12/21/2011 Emily Steffen

12/22/2011 Jenna Lou Loves You

12/23/2011 Spincushion

12/27/2011 One Inch World

12/28/2011 Sew Sew Etc.

January ‘12 Lu Lu Carter

January ’12 Fiberosity

January ’12 Zuhause

January ’12 Obsessively Stiching

January ’12 No Bad Days

January ’12 Craft & Cackle

January ’12 AfricanKelli

Handmade Rag Doll Winner

2011-12-17T23:29:00.000-05:00

I really loved reading all the posts. I do plan on replying to them all. A lot of people loved Strawberry Shortcake as I did. Man, did she smell good. I can still remember the smell...

My favorite childhood present was my Samantha doll though. I memorized the American Girl catalog when it first came out and it was only Samantha, Molly and Kirsten. I wanted one SO badly. I finally got Sammy when I was 10 years old and it was the best present ever!

So, the winner of the rag doll according to random.org is...... #29 - Jenn Matteson!
Strangely, this is the third time I've held a giveaway where someone I know in real life has won. Maybe I should just host giveaways among my friends! ;)

Thanks to all who played!

The SMS Gift Certificate Winner and My Favorite Gift

2011-12-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Wow! Almost six hundred entries for the Sew Mama Sew gift certificate!!! Crazy!

(FYI, I'm giving away a One Yard Wonders book HERE)

I loved reading allll the entries for the contest and I'm going to try and comment on all of them, but not before Christmas! There were a LOT of quilts as favorite gifts. Another theme was gathering someone's collection of (insert type of collection) and putting it together in some way. That type of gift was my favorite gift I've ever given.

My mom made my brother and me sit on Santa FAR Far far past what is socially acceptable and she hung these pictures somewhere in the house every Christmas. By the time I was in my 20s, they didn't really get hung. They were in a closet somewhere and (thankfully) we hadn't sat on Santa in a few years.

Well, I decided to gather up the pictures and put them into a book for her. My brilliant idea was to ask (coerce) my brother to sit on Santa one last time and add that to the end of the book. We went to a mall where we knew we wouldn't know anyone!

The cover

The first entry

The first entry with my brother

When she opened the book she went from laughing to CRYING to LAUGHING (at the newest picture) to crying again in just a few short minutes. Never will I ever get another reaction like that out of a gift! She's still pretty fond of it!

I LOVED that dress. It had a bell sewn inside of it!

The last forced entry

The surprise end to the book.

I added this one later. This is Josh and me with the Macy's Santa the Christmas before we got married.

Ah, the bad thing is that I will NEVER outdo that present!!

And now the winner:
It is #165 according to random.org and that was Brevistraex who said:

said:

My sisters and I are making a queen-sized quilt for my parents. Their old quilt that my grandma made for them was retired because it was so beat up.

Congratulations! I'll be contacting you to work out the details!

Thank you to ALL who entered!

Fabric by Fabric: One Yard Wonders Giveaway

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Woo! The giveaways are flying at this blog! I'm excited to find out who won Penelope the rag doll and the SMS gift certificate tonight!

In the meantime, I'm starting another giveaway for the new One Yard Wonders book. I'm very excited to be part of it!


My name is in the index!

Here's my bio! Written while Amelia was still in utero!

My project! Woot!

Now, don't all go out and make my project! I have a few in mind to make though. I'm definitely intrigued by the child's chair - page 232. One yard of fabric? Really? Here are some others I want to try:
Retro bag: Page 50
Organizer Wallet: Page 56
Tuxedo dress: Page 68
Last minute tunic: Page 333

I'll be sure and share when I try some of these!

This book would make a GREAT Christmas present. Buy someone a yard of fabric to go with it so they can start right in!

Anyway... I will leave this giveaway open until Sunday at 5PM. I'll announce the winner Sunday night or Monday morning. Just leave me a comment. Tell me something you are proud to be involved with or something most people do not know about you. Or just say, "Hi," because it's almost Christmas and you are busy.

:D Thanks for entering!

My Very Last Quilt (Subtitled: The Sewing Accident)

2011-12-14T23:25:00.002-05:00

In reading all the responses to the SMS giveaway, I've learned about lots of thoughtful quilt presents that you all have given to your loved ones. Quilts were by far the most popular favorite gift you all have given!
That made me think back to the last quilt before my sewing accident.

I had a sewing accident. Not lately, but almost seven years ago. I'll tell you the whole gory story.

I used to quilt. I liked quilting. I was a machine piecer, hand quilter. I have a quilt on my bed at my parents' house to prove it. When my grandparents' 50th anniversary began approaching, I decided to make them a photo quilt. I picked the photos, treated and printed and treated the fabric, and cut the other pieces. I was trimming the photo fabric into squares in the bathroom (hard floor) one Saturday in April when the rotary cutter hit a nick in the ruler and took a bad angle toward my outstretched hand.

Don't read this if you have a weak stomach. WARNING!

I actually saw a piece of my finger roll away and I've never seen so much blood come all at once. I screamed for my dad (who was, thankfully, home). He picked up the piece of my finger and put it in a baggie and drove me to the hospital with a piece of my finger in his pocket. Shudder. I know people have had much worse happen to them, but it was pretty horrific to me at the time.

I have since had the privilege of going through childbirth. When I think of pain, I do not think of childbirth. I think of this ride to the emergency room.

Looooooong story short:

They couldn't reattach the sliced finger. Lest you think I have half my finger missing, it was only the tip of the finger (nail and fingertip at an angle).
Finger flesh regenerates for the most part (did you know that?)
I spent 2 months with a very large bandage on my finger and my finger sticking up straight in the air (my index finger).
I taught preschool at the time and preschoolers are not the people you want around you with an extremely painful finger injury. And there was a field trip laced with Vicodin in there somewhere.
I had to tell people that my finger was cut off in a sewing accident.
I have a bum finger to this day. Parts of it have no feeling and parts of it are painful depending on what I'm doing. It's slightly disfigured, but only if I point it out to people do they notice.
That was my last quilt and it's in a bag in my craft room closet.
I got ZERO blood on any part of the quilt.
I now have attached safety shields on all of my rotary cutter rulers.
My husband's favorite thing about me might be that I've had a sewing accident.
I've filed this under "quirky."

It's difficult to take a picture of your own finger. It looks relatively normal when my nail is short!

That's my sewing injury confession. I feel guilty that the quilt was never finished. :( Maybe I just need some motivation to revisit it.

Sooooooo......tell me your worst sewing/crafting accident!

(And come back tomorrow for a One Yard Wonders book giveaway!)

Giveaway Day - SMS Gift Certificate

2011-12-11T23:32:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!!! Today is Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! I've participated in every one so far. For the supply category, I'm giving away a $20 Sew Mama Sew Gift Certificate!

This will be emailed to the winner and ready to use right away. Spend it right away on projects you are finishing or save it until the new year and treat yourself to something new!

To enter, please leave a comment. Tell me your favorite gift you've ever given to anyone. I love to hear about great gifts!
If you follow me already or choose to follow me today, leave a second comment and let me know and you'll get a second entry!

The contest closes Friday at 5PM PST. International people are welcome to enter as long as you know you can use a SMS gift certificate.

Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Don't forget to visit SMS's other giveaways! Giveaway Day

Giveaway Day - Handmade Rag Doll

2011-12-11T23:22:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Giveaway Day! For the handmade category, I'm giving away this cute rag doll.

I named her Penelope, but you can name her whatever you want! She's a little bit feisty and very sassy in her chevron tights and grey dress. I made her using the rag doll tutorial I put together.
Rag Doll Body
Rag Doll Hair
Rag Doll Face
Rag Doll Dress
Rag dolls are a great last minute gift idea. Not that December 12th qualifies as last minute. Noooooo!

Watch out! She likes to have fun! To win her, leave a comment. Tell me what your favorite childhood gift was. If you are already a follower or choose to follow me today, leave another comment telling me that you did so.

The giveaway will close Friday, December 16th at 5PM PST. I will ship to theUS or Canada.

Visit my Gift Certificate Giveaway HERE.
Visit Sew Mama Sew's other giveaways here: Giveaway Day

A Christmas House Tour

2011-12-11T22:57:00.002-05:00

Okay, I've only really taken pictures of two rooms so far, but here are the two rooms. I'll start with my living room.

It's a small room, so our decorations are simple. I think of the style as rustic and cozy. I highly recommend decorating with golden retrievers. They are very cozy.

My Jim Shore nativity. It's my faaaaavorite nativity I've ever seen!

It's so gorgeous! Thank you, Mom and Dad!

On to the bookcase. These are Dickens' Village pieces that Josh has been collecting since he was a child. The bottom glass gets closed this year!

I hang these mittens on the windows. I made them a million and two years ago.

They are just flannel mittens sewn on to cotton batting.

The tree! (Real of course!)

Now on to Amelia's room.

She loves her tree! I highly recommend decorating with babies too!

Samantha sits on an end table.

Kirsten and Felicity sit atop the wardrobe.

I have changed them into their Christmas clothing every year for 20 years!

Some Christmas stuffed animals on the rocker.

Thank you for visiting my house! Next up will be the kitchen and the craft room!

Streamer Ruffle Christmas Trees

2011-12-09T12:51:00.001-05:00

Can you take one more streamer ruffle idea??? How about some streamer ruffle Christmas trees?
To see the ruffled gift wrap or to see how to make ruffled streamers, go to this post: Ruffled Streamers.

I started with some green and white ruffled streamers, styrofoam trees, and some pins. It took me about 8-9 feet of ruffled streamer to go over the large tree.

To do the green and white one, you should place the streamer at the bottom of the tree with the white streamer overlap on top and the white part facing up.

Pin in place to secure, then start wrapping! Make sure you go over the bottom of the tree so that you cover the Styrofoam. When you get to the top of the tree, form the top into a point and secure with another pin. Done!!!

The green one is just one streamer gathered at one edge and wrapped around. It gave it a lot more volume, so that's another technique you can try!

Of course, I had to make a snow scene to display the trees. I decided to get out my Memere's (great grandmother) antique Christmas figures.

I displayed these every year as a child, but I'm afraid they have lead paint, so I won't put them out anymore. They came out for a little shoot style though!

I actually think the pine cone elves would have been better, but I gave them all away! Oh well!

A little yellow streamer star for the top!

Added to:

A little crafty secret I've been keeping!

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tee hee hee! A while ago, I submitted a project to the folks at One Yard Wonders when they were calling for submissions for their new book. The day after we found out that Amelia was a girl, I found out that my project had been accepted!

The book is out now and it organizes projects by the type of fabric it takes to make them. Mine is in the home dec section and it's a picnic blanket that can hold your plates, napkins, and utensils. I certainly don't expect it to be the most popular project in the book, but it was fun to be part of the process!

Here are some pictures of the project I submitted. After I was accepted, I had to sew it again in fabric they selected, so this is not the example in the book!

Unfolded

Folded up and ready to go!

Rest assured, there will be a Fabric by Fabric: One Yard Wonders GIVEAWAY when I get my hands on one!!!

Christmas Gift Wrapping - Ruffles!

2011-12-02T13:24:00.001-05:00

I'm sharing with you today a different and unique wrapping technique that you can use to jazz up a special present. I figured this out out of necessity when I needed to wrap a present one morning and had no wrapping paper that I liked around the house. I might be finicky about my present wrapping, but I have a wrapping reputation and I need to uphold it!!

Anyway, I DID have miles and miles of these ruffled streamers that I made for Amelia's birthday party in a trash bag. I was pretty happy with the outcome, so here's the Christmas version!

I first saw the idea for ruffled streamers on Made. She has directions, but if you don't feel like clicking over, here are some:
You need two spools of streamers, double stick tape, your box, and your sewing machine. I bought my streamers at the dollar store.

Set your machine on a high tension. I found that 7 was a good tension. It gathered the streamers enough, but not too much that I lost a lot of length. Play around with it. Set your stitch length as long as it will go. Make sure you have a FULL bobbin. You are going to need it!

Put the two spools on the floor so they are feeding the streamers like this:

It will help them not get twisted! Learn from my mistakes, people!

Overlap the two streamers and put the pedal to the metal! Just sew straight down the middle.

You'll see that it makes a nice ruffle as it comes out of the machine!

Voila!
Now to wrap a present:

Take a box, place some double stick tape on the bottom front. Attach the streamers to the box and just wind the streamers around the box from bottom to top! I place strategic pieces of double stick tape every once in a while. Tape at the top and you've wrapped your present!
Here are some close ups and more examples:

For the white presents, I used two spools of white streamers.

For the black and red one, I just started with the red down, then twisted it in the back half way up and continued with the black down.

I hope you give someone a fancy ruffled present this Christmas!

Added to:

Craft Room 3.0

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

This post has been a long time coming. I LOVE looking at other people's rooms, especially rooms where they create, so I hope you will enjoy a peek into mine. Some of you may remember Craft Room 1.0, which became slightly famous in Flikr land. Well, when we moved, Craft Room 1.0 had to be taken down and moved to our new house. Craft Room 2.0 was never really finished and probably never photographed. It had yellow walls which were pretty and it was pretty big. HERE is what Craft Room 2.0 looks like now! We moved bedrooms upstairs with the coming of Amelia, so that meant CR2.0 had to move downstairs. Well, enough chit chat - come on in!

My mother-in-law gave me the sewing room sign and button heart. The framed pattern is actually some scrapbook paper I found. The best thing to do with beautiful scrapbook paper is to frame it and hang it!

The view right as you walk in. I do my photo editing at that desk. Josh gave me the Degas repro painting last Christmas. I love Degas, ballerinas, and Impressionist paintings. This one is called Rehearsal of a Ballet on Stage. Catchy, isn't it? The cubes are all from Michaels or Joanns and are super perfect for building a desk. The desk is a door painted green. It's the perfect width to go across two cubes. The To Do chalkboard is really a mirror from HomeGoods painted white and chalkboard paint. When I first signed up for Pinterest, the first thing I wanted to do was chalkboard paint everything!

A better look at the far corner of the room. The chair I planned on reupholstering looks good, right? Too bad the sides and back aren't done! It's only been a few years! In that cabinet is most of my random crafting supplies. I use plastic bins to keep things organized.

The other side of the room houses a closet where all my fabric is stored. Yeah, we definitely aren't taking pictures in there at the moment! Josephine is hanging out by the window, wearing a shirt that's never going to be finished...

Here's a full on shot of my sewing area and inspiration board. The middle machine is my main machine. Then the left hand one is the only machine I can get to do shirring. The right hand machine is my serger. The chair we reupholstered in zebra print fabric. I love it!

The cubes are almost all different. Here are some looks inside some drawers. The top one is labeled, "embellishments." The bottom one is labeled, "cutting tools."

Some organized scrapbook paper.

My Heather Bailey pear pin cushion, a flowery pin cushion from my bridal shower, some antique silk thread in a glass container, wire dress forms from Home Goods, and various other things (including the casings from the first time I fired a gun!).

The inspiration boards.

I hope you enjoyed a peek into Craft Room 3.0! Currently it is decorated for Christmas, so I might be back with some more pictures of Christmas Craft Room 3.0!

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Planner

2011-11-25T14:00:00.001-05:00

Yay! It's the Christmas season! I like Thanksgiving a lot, but I LOVE Christmas! I can't wait to decorate later on tonight!

I'd like to share an organizational project that I made last night.

First of all, many of the ideas are adapted from the blog eighteen25 - a REALLY fun blog to read!
They showed how to make Christmas planners out of composition notebooks. 2011 Planners

I liked theirs a lot, but I wanted to change it. I wanted a notebook that would last me several years, where I could keep track of the presents I gave, etc. I also wanted to use my Zutter machine and make it spiral bound. Finally, several of their tabs weren't relevant to me. I don't do the menu planning for any special events, nor do I completely understand what their "Card" tab is for.

Oh, and I wanted to use graph paper because I hate horizontal lined paper. I need to write on zero lines (plain copy paper) or too many lines (graph paper). But that's just me being weird (err...quirky!).

ANYWAY...
I decided on 4 tabs - Calendar, To Do, Christmas List, and Projects.

I cut some 8.5x11 paper (copy and graph) down to 5.5x 7.85. I used the copy paper for calendar and projects and graph paper for To Do and Christmas List. I stuck a piece of scrapbook paper at the beginning of each section and attached a tab indicating the section. The paper I cut for the tab was 2x2, but I folded it in half to make it 1x2.

I cut two manilla file folders to 6x8 to use as the covers. I adhered scrapbook paper to the file folder and decorated the cover a bit. I also used some translucent plastic I had for organizing scrapbook paper to serve as a protective cover. I cut it to 6x8 with my paper cutter.

I bound all that with the zutter and 3/4" coil.

I attached a bell with ribbon - mostly for decoration, but slightly so I could find it in my bag or diaper bag! Sheepish grin!

For the envelopes inside, I bought 6x9 inch envelopes at Staples, but they were a bit too big for my book. After I bound the book, I cut the envelops on the sides and bottom to fit the inside covers and I sewed around the three edges to keep it secure.

I printed out the calendar pages from here (same place as eighteen25, but I opted for a month calendar instead of weekly ones).

Added a few graphics and strips of scrapbook paper, and I was good to go with my new Christmas planner!

It would be easy to recreate with a small spiral notebook or a composition book like eighteen25 did. Their graphics are really cute, but they are year specific. If anyone would like the graphics I used, please send me an email to quaint and quirky at gmail dot com or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you the file! I can put the words in black, red, green, or multicolored like I used!

I'm adding this to the tatertots and jello weekend link up party!

Super simple baby dress - or "Make it Work"

2011-11-23T12:46:00.001-05:00

Amelia needed a new dress Sunday morning. Ummmmmm... maybe "needed" is a strong word. Anyway, I made one Sunday morning before church. Sort of...

I had a skirt in a bigger size made from the Oliver + S tutorial found here: Lazy Days Skirt
I had given it a regular hem on the bottom though - not a ribbon hem as was shown.

When I tried it on Amelia, I found that it fit her torso and the length was fine. I used the same fabric to cut out two 3.5 inch wide by ??? inches long (I just overestimated) strips of fabric. I sewed long ends together to form a tube, turned them inside out and pressed it with the seam in the center back.

I tried the dress on again, used safety pins to determine where the straps should go on the front and the back and sewed them onto the dress (I finished the ends of the straps with my serger, but you could just turn the raw edge in and sew it closed on both ends).
Note: I left a significant tail in the back for the straps so that I can reuse this dress as a shirt next year and lengthen the straps as needed.

I had this owl from a scraps tutorial I had previously done, so I topstitched it in place.

Tutorial here: Scrap embellishment tutorial .

What's the point of this blog post? Make it work. Not every project has to be perfectly laid out, planned, and executed. Sometimes it's fun to work with what you have and improvise. Try it. It's freeing!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I'll be back to show you a fun Christmas present wrapping idea I had!

Dear Amelia

2011-11-18T12:23:00.001-05:00

Dear Amelia,

Yesterday, I read you 1,714 books. Actually, it wasn't 1,714 different books. It was about seven different books that added up to 1,714 times. And most of the books weren't stories. They were books of pictures that either you or I pointed to and I said the name. So I couldn't even act it out or sing it or assign new voices. Every time you handed me a book, you climbed your chubby body into my lap and snuggled in to listen to the most fascinating book in the world to you.

By the end of the day, I felt like I couldn't read (if you call it that) ONE MORE BOOK.

But then I thought -

There's going to be a day where I'd give anything for you to snuggle your body into my lap to listen to a book.

And there are moms out there who would do anything to get the opportunity to read their child one more book.

And there are people out there who would do anything to have a child to read a book to.

And I was humbled. And I would love to read you My First Word Board Book as many times as you want (and even more!).

For the curious, this frilly dress girl is reading a Red Sox board book. :D

A Present for Ezra

2011-11-10T12:46:00.001-05:00

My friend Tara's little boy Ezra turned one at the beginning of November. The theme of the party was Birthday Monsters which Tara pulled off amazingly well. I'm sure she will be blogging about it soon!
I'm a girl who likes a party theme, so I had to make something to go along. I had the idea of making a reverse applique bag for his books and toys. THEN my idea got out of control but I had a better idea. I did the reverse applique so that it looks like the monsters came crashing out of the bag and are causing havoc.
It started as this:

An orange t-shirt I bought at Target and various other knits/items waiting for repurpose.

It turned into this:

I was very happy with it and I hope the birthday boy will get good use out of it!

The back:

Thanks for looking!

Adding this to I Heart Naptime's Link party!

Oh, blog, how I wish I had more time for you...

2011-10-31T05:00:00.000-04:00

After *another* unintentional blogging break, I am going to try to get back into it. I have had a very busy few months, with various wedding and family photography projects to edit, Amelia's birthday party to plan and execute, and lots of other things to do. I admire people who can blog through motherhood and other activities.

Some things that have occurred:

We went on a beach holiday. Amelia ate a lot of sand.

Amelia turned one. We had her first birthday party at an area carousel. It was a lot of fun and my friend Tara blogged about it. You can find her post: HERE. I, unfortunately, don't have any pictures from her party because they disappeared into a technological black hole. I have never lost a picture in my life until then and it had to be my first baby's first birthday party. :(
I did take some cake smash pictures separately though, so at least I have those!

I started watching my cousin's baby during the day, so that has affected my free time as well.
We had a freak snowstorm this weekend. This is at my inlaws' house in New Hampshire.

I have a little crafting secret that I hope I can reveal in the next few days. I don't have to keep it a secret, but I am. Muahahah!

I hope I'll be back soon with some more fun things to report!

I Heart Faces - Eyes

2011-08-14T22:10:00.004-04:00

I'm trying out an I <3 Faces Challenge for the first time!
Here's my picture:

To see what the competition is about, go here:

Amelia on our beach vacation!

Uprinting Giveaway Winner

2011-06-22T12:43:00.001-04:00

The winner of the Uprinting giveaway is #19 (according to mathgoodies.com)

I will be emailing you shortly!

Thanks to all who entered!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T00:19:00.001-04:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband

I can't imagine Amelia having a better daddy!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, my Pop, my Grampy, Josh's dad, and Josh's stepdad as well! We are full of Fathers here!

Five Minute Friday (and don't forget the giveaway!)

2011-06-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

Today's Five Minute Friday prompt is Home

I like the memory kind of posts, so I thought of my first home that I remember. It was a third floor apartment, but big and spacious. My brother and I shared a room and I remember the window in our room. We used to look out it to see if we could see the cars of expected visitors (our cousins were our favorite visitors). It was a turn of the century mansion turned apartment, so the rooms were very big. The bathroom was especially large and you could have hosted a dance party in it.

Across from the bathroom there was a storage room of sorts and I think my mom sewed in there. I remember her making me a large Annie doll in that space. My memories are cloudy though, just flashes here and there. I was six when we moved from there to our first house. I remember the old woman on the first floor, but just barely. It's interesting how memories work. How it's just a flash and then it goes away - a window, a woman, a bathroom, a doll. I just remembered the telephone. It was at the end of the hall, near the bathroom. It had a dial.

I will try to find a physical picture, but the five minutes are up!

This may be my weirdest post yet!

What do you remember about your first home?

Also, the Uprinting giveaway ends tonight! Don't forget to enter!

Dear Amelia

2011-06-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Baby Girl,

You woke up at 2:30 this morning (not your norm), and as I sat there and nursed and rocked you, I looked at the big girl on my lap and wondered these things:

When did you get to be so big? You stretch across my lap and over the arms of the rocking chair now.
When did you get so much hair? It's blond and wispy and beautiful and it might be curling over your ears.
When did you get to be so mobile? You crawl around everywhere now (and get your head jammed in the end of the crib because you don't back up).
When did you get to be so beautiful? You've always been adorable, but you are just so beautiful now!
When did you get to be so fun? You love to play with us and laugh and smile. You make me laugh and smile all day long!
When did you get to be so smart? You figure things out and recognize words and songs, wave and clap.
When did you get to be so opinionated? You know what you want, when you want it, and where you want it. There's no distracting you. You will pitch a fit if you don't get your way.

I'm looking forward to you walking so that we can hold hands and talking so that I know what's in that funny head of yours, but right now I want to freeze you as my baby girl forever - in your butterfly feety pajamas, with your chubby hand holding mine, where you always need me.

Love, Mommy

Uprinting Giveaway!!

2011-06-13T09:49:00.004-04:00

I love giveaways! Can you tell?

This giveaway is from the company UPrinting. This is the first time I've given something away that I haven't made or purchased myself. I hope you will like it!

The giveaway is for 2 inch x 3.5 inch stickers from UPrinting. (Business card size)
Think of the awesome possibilities this affords you!

If you have an Etsy site or home business, make stickers for your packaging (this is what I will do!)
Make labels to put on your dishes when you bring them somewhere so you get them back!
Make stickers to put on the inside of books, videos, games, etc. that you let friends borrow
Make "Made By" stickers
Make "I Love You Because_______" or "I'm thinking of you" stickers and put them on your child or spouse's lunch.
Make customized stickers for your child's teachers
Make customized stickers for a class or group (school, Sunday School, scouting, etc.)
Anything else you can dream up!

Here's the official info:

Prize Details:
250 Stickers for One (1) Winner
2" x 3.5"
70lb Label Matte, Front Only Printing, 4 Business Days Turnaround
Restriction: Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.

Click on the picture below to go to UPrinting's sticker page:


Roll Stickers

Click here to go to the sticker templates.

To enter the contest, here are your options (IMPORTANT: For each option you do, you have to leave a comment - and make sure there's a way for me to contact you!)
1. Just leave a comment (Feeling chatty? Tell me what you would do with the stickers)
2. Become a follower of this blog or tell me that you already follow.
3. Facebook, tweet, or blog about the giveaway and include a link to this blogpost (one entry for each). {Note: You can easily do that using the little icons at the end of this post!}
3. Like UPrinting's facebook page or comment that you do already: UPrinting's Facebook Page
4. Follow UPrinting on Twitter or comment that you do already: UPrinting on Twitter

The contest will be open until midnight (EST) on Friday, June 17th. I can't wait to see who wins! Note: If you want help designing your stickers, I'd be glad to help. Just let me know!

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive stickers http://www.uprinting.com/sticker-printing.html&gt for hosting. Check out standard label templates http://www.uprinting.com/print-templates/labels/ on UPrinting.com.

Pattern Winner and Five Minute Friday

2011-06-10T13:18:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all your kind comments on the dress and pattern giveaway! It's Friday and it's nap time, so here's the winner:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2011-06-10 16:52:14 UTC

Mary said, "Amelia looks adorable and so does the dress!! Thanks for the chance to win! MK"

This seems to happen in many of my giveaways. Someone I know in real life wins! Mary has lots of little granddaughters that I'm sure love Grammy-made dresses!

Also -
I came across this post from a great blog, All that is Good.

I'm going to emulate Trina's post with one of my own. (Emulate sounds much nicer than copy, doesn't it? :D )

1 Year ago: I was sadly nearing the end of a wonderful nanny job for a wonderful family, but excitedly looking forward to having my own baby girl soon!

2 Years ago: I had just finished my final year teaching fourth grade and we were deciding whether or not to get a puppy. Oh did we ever!

4 Years ago: The crazy final preparations for our wedding were going on. Our reception site had to be changed a few weeks before the wedding, but that's another post for another day!

5 Years ago: Several friends and I went to a Red Sox game together. For one, it was her birthday (and we are going to celebrate her birthday tomorrow with a baseball game too!), for one it was his first Red Sox game, and another one would be my future husband. :D I also got a sunburn that day because I forgot sunscreen. If you know me, I'm a sunscreen nazi. When it finally turned from burn to tan, you could still see the tan lines for over a year. It's still referred to as the June 11th tan.

10 Years ago: I was reveling in the end of crazy spring semester and getting ready to spend the summer blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and pouring juice for the children I was babysitting.

20 Years ago: Finishing up sixth grade, graduating from my elementary school and DREADING being sent to Junior High.

30 Years ago: I was 11 months old!

The original idea is at this blog:

The {Awake} Baby Dream Pictures

2011-06-10T05:00:00.002-04:00

I saw a post somewhere about Adele Enerson who decorates around her daughter when she is asleep. I decided to try my hand at some. Except at the point when I was taking these pictures, my child didn't sleep. She's only recently realized that naps are things babies (and tired mommies) should take! Here are some of our "Dream" photos though!

Walking Levi

St. Patrick's Day

Riverdance

Play Ball! (Obviously she's a Red Sox fan!)

All the backgrounds are just scarves, sheets, t-shirts, pieces of knit fabric, burp cloths, etc.

Try some of your own! If you do, let me know. I'd love to see!