Photo by Bella

The first snow of the year!

Snow before thanksgiving. Oh boy, we have a serious winter ahead of us.

Bella's 3rd Birthday Party (a little late)

I must admit I had a lot of fun putting together Bella's ballerina birthday party. I made a couple tutu's and dancing wands with ribbons. Ordered the cutest pinata from Mommy Do on Etsy. I asked a couple close friends and family to help me out and bring some side dishes and bought you bake pizzas to save some money. My goal was to keep it as simple as possible... except for the cupcakes. Early to mid summer Bella started talking about wanting a strawberry birthday cake. I used my mama magic and convinced her cupcakes would work too. I am not so sure about my cake decorating skills mostly because I've never tried. I am kind of proud of how these cupcakes turned out so here is my cupcake tangent: I knew finding good strawberries in October was going to be a stretch so I froze some of the most delicious in season local strawberries over the summer. Not only were they sweet but they were also bright red. I used this recipe and absolutely no artificial anything. David started teasing me because I was so excited about the sprinkles I found that were colored with beet juice and the jelly beans colored with fruit juice that I guess it might have been mentioned to, well, everyone. Ok, now for the good stuff, photos taken by Faustino. He was paid in cupcakes.







And... my little baby girl is three! I have really cherished these last couple of months. She is growing in so many different ways. Her interests expand every day from different relationships and how they relate to her to the changing weather. I love that she can tear all the cushions off the couch and jump until she's sick or sit and color for an hour. Either way she is perfectly happy as long as she is doing something.

Autumn at the park

Handmade for Mama

I know! It's not very often Mama gets something new to wear. I haven't had the best of luck making clothes for myself so it has been a good year and a half since I have attempted anything. Since I left off I have learned that woven tops cut on a bias just work better because of the added stretch. AND that I love knits of all kinds and when given an option I always go for a knit top.


This one was made with some fabric I already had as a practice run. I used Simplicity's 2456 The front and back panels were cut on the bias which I learned will not work with plaids! Look how ridiculous that seam in the middle looks. It does fit perfectly so I plan on making it again. I plan on wearing this around the house until I find a better use for the fabric.




This shirt is made out of a knit fabric I picked up and Pacific Fabrics a couple months ago. I am not in love with it. I really think I picked it up because it was the first knit fabric print I've seen that I didn't hate. Because Knit is stretchy, I made a size smaller and even though I used the same pattern pieces I only made one panel for the front. I am really not crazy about the center seam. This shirt am really happy with. Even the hem isn't TOO bad. I wish I were a better garment photographer. This may be something to work on.

Big Boy Activities

Elliott is really starting to enjoy our trips to the park and not just from inside the moby wrap close and snug (and safe) with mama. Our last few trips we have braved putting this very mobile, walking, crawling boy down. He has loved it! This seems like such a small step but in a really big direction: Independence. I guess this was inevitable, I was going to have to share him with the world eventually.

Oliver + S Jacket: Complete!

So I finally sat down and forced myself to tackle the rest of Bella's jacket and to my surprise it went really smoothly.




I really like the unconventional use of color for the lining. I wasn't too sure how the dark lining would look but having spent so much money on the pattern and then on the Amy Butler Fabric I figured I would have to cut the cost of this jacket somehow. I happened to have a couple of yards of the lining fabric. Yes it cost me more to make this jacket then it would have to go to my local big box shop but I know this jacket will last a long time because I made it to last with quality fabric. I think if I were to buy something similar in quality and style it would have been a lot more. I thoroughly enjoyed making this jacket, even learning how to set sleeves. It turns out setting sleeves isn't as tricky as one might think.

I think I'm going to make one for Elliott with some red corduroy my grandma gave me (free) to feel less guilty about the 16 bucks I spent on the pattern!