{a merry christmas to all}

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah

Happy Holidays to All!

See you next year!

{pants}

inspired.
So from time to time, I whip up a pair of pants for The Incredible Growing Boy, using an old pair of his as a template. Well. The other night, after discovering he had grown out of three pairs of pants (including, but not limited to, his Christmas overalls) and putting him into a pair of 2T pjs that fit just fine, thankyouverymuch, I decided we were at a point where I could use the pattern over at MADE to sew him some new pants.

I repurposed an old pair of curtains to make these:

You can quickly tell that, even after some hemming, they are still a bit long. That's okay. We just roll them. The cool thing about using these curtains was that the bottom was already hemmed to begin with. After I turned them up to hem them originally, the hem was on the inside, at the top. (Follow me? No? That's okay. Just skim then.) So then when I rolled the pants up for current wearing purposes, the curtain hem is now again at the bottom, SO it looks like I cuffed them with a hem! (When they stay rolled up, that is.)

"No, Son, we don't play in the dog's water..."

So, to recap: Boy growing, new pants made, 2T pattern long, but serviceable with room to grow, pants adorable. And the boy?

Also adorable.

{last minute gift - in a jar}

create.
I needed something quick and fun for my daughter's gym teachers. Using materials on hand, I was able to pull together this:

I used my Silhouette for both the vinyl gym name on the jar and the tag, but any easy embellishments would work for this. I stuffed the jar with hot cocoa mix and some reeses cups for the staff to keep on hand for those sweet cravings, and it was ready to go.

Nothing fancy, but sincerely gifted, just the same!

{christmas countdown - and some santa pants}

create.
There is a bowl of cookie dough that's been chilling in my fridge (fortwodays, ahem) that I need to make cutouts from.

There are a pile of presents waiting to be wrapped.

There is a tree in our living room begging for ornaments.

I discovered today (or at least, my husband did) that my 17 month son outgrew the length of his Christmas overalls.

BUT, I have made, and used a few times over, these awesome Santa Pants from a retro repro tablecloth for my children!

inspired by a similar pair for sale a couple years ago.
I'm afraid I can't find that link now. 

ironically, my son does not "heart" Santa.
At all.

I also watched my daughter perform in her Christmas pageant as a (slightly irritable) shepherd. No matter if her shepherds outfit was too hot and heavy, she sang like a little angel, and we were all so proud!

The other stuff will get done...the memories in between are the most important things of all.

{felt stamped ornaments}

inspired
Recently, I came across this post while searching for teacher gift ideas. Simple and sweet, classic. So I pulled my materials together, and got to work.

At first, I stamped out Christmas themed words, ones that spoke to me about the core meaning of Christmas. But then, I got the idea to do some personalization, and I had a lot of fun with that, too.

Among the names, I made one special ornament for a very special boy in my life who is currently learning braille.  Under his stamped name, I added his name in braille using puff paint. I hope he gets a kick out of it!

These will make fun little gifts, and although I did most of the creating, I have to give credit to my daughter, who very carefully and diligently put the stuffing in each little ornament!

{this year's stocking}

create.
Remember this post from last year? Well, this year, it's my son's turn.

Both of my children had a special stocking for their first Christmas with the family, but the intention was that I would make them each their own to use for...well, as long as they want to!

I'm pleased with how this one turned out, too. It coordinates with his sister's, and was put together with items I already had on hand (which ties in nicely with my continuing goal to put a dent in my craft hoard.) 

And his opinion of it is...well, he did enjoy jingling the bell on the toe. Then he was immediately distracted by free access to his sister's toys while she was in school! Such is the life of a 17 month old. 

{christmas outfit}

create.
Back in October, I found this fabric and fell in love with it. I knew that somehow, my daughter would be sporting a frock made from this come Christmastime, I just wasn't sure which one.

I had also been eyeballing this pattern by Heidi and Finn for quite some time, but hadn't yet found the perfect fabric. (You can see where this is going, can't you?)

Peanut Butter, meet Chocolate. Chocolate, Peanut Butter.

I got to work.  The pattern was so easy to follow, and the dress came together quickly. I used some aqua shirting material for the lining, and it's flowy and comfortable.

Perfect for dancing.

I had some odds and ends laying around from a bag of buttons I had purchased years ago. I used two little candy canes to pull up the sides of the dress (where the pattern had pictured bows.)

In that bag, I also had one turquoise/gold button, which to be honest, I never thought I would have use for, but works perfectly with this dress!

I think that my favorite part of this dress, though, is the big bubble skirt! I absolutely love it!

Paired with some white tights and her red patent mary janes, she is one stylin' girl this season! I used some fleece and coordinating fabric to make a pair of pants for her brother, but alas. On this particular day, I was only able to convince one child to cooperate! I'll try to get those added soon!

{felt flower headbands}

inspired.
There are several tutorials for felt flowers out in the craft blogosphere. I used this tutorial (including the elastic supplier to make these for daughter and friends, but I know that Craftiness Is Not Optional is hosting a whole felt flower week!

Go, be felt-inspired!