I know its 2012 this is the last addition to my gift guide (I was asked to delay the post until now). 🙂 Emma and I did something really fun last week. We designed our own stuffed toy! Thanks to Happy Toy Machine, we were given the ability to make any kind of toy be it animal, humanoid, monster, or robot. You can make virtually anything with this super cool toy machine that lets you customize head shape, body parts, eyes, ears, and colors. you can even add a tail or wings! Theres also the ability to add an embroidered emblem or text. Oh, the possibilities! Heres what Emma and I came up with: We made two different characters before this, but the monkey won out in the end. Isnt he cute? And we just had to add that little basketball emblem. Emmas daddy plays basketball and she loves playing…
I love to make t-shirt dresses (my first one is here) theyre so simple and yet can be made to look fancy easily! Over the summer I made two dresses/tunic tops from sleeveless shirts and appliqued the shirts to match the skirt material: Ive been wanting to make some long-sleeve t-shirt dresses, so I went to Target and bought some of their $5 shirts to make dresses out of. I actually ended up cutting the bottom off the dress on the left in the picture above to make this: I havent put a tutorial together, but I can if anyone is interested. Ill definitely be making more. 🙂 In the meantime, here are some t-shirt dress tutorials to check out: T-Shirt into Pleated Dress by Make It and Love ItLong-Sleeve Tee into Ruffle Dress by Make It and Love ItT-Shirt Dress Tutorial by Waldeck Dry GoodsRuffle T-Shirt Dress Tutorial by…
Ill admit I was skeptical about this craze when I first heard about it. Fashionable jewelry that doubles as a teether for your baby? Is it really something that would benefit both mom and baby, or is it a money-making scheme? I wasnt sure, so I decided to test it out myself. And thanks to Smart Mom Jewelry, I was able to try the most popular brand on the market, Smart Mom Jewelrys Teething Bling! Lets start with the packaging. Teething Blings presentation is beautiful, as you can see in the photo above. The pendant is made to look like stone. The first thing you note whentaking it out is that it is made of a smooth, mildly flexible material not rock-hard like it appears to be. The necklace part is a cording that is strong and soft. For safety reasons the clasp is breakaway (the clasp will come apart…
A lot happened in 2011. I can hardly believe its over and gone! Time really flies when you start having kids, let me tell you. So what happened? Well, in January Isaac joined our family. One day I looked like this and literally the next day Isaac was here! Emma was FINALLY weaned from the pacifier She also started preschool (and loved it)! Some of our favorite preschool-related posts: The Best Places to Find Preschool PrintablesLearning About Size SequencingExploring Emotion Through Clay PlayFun With Do-a-Dot MarkersColoring on Hot Rocks With CrayonsUsing Music to Memorize FactsPainting the Sidewalk with Chalk PaintWe Hatched a Baby Alligator!Painting and Glitterifying Mini PumpkinsOur Thoughts on PlayFoam Also,Emma was potty trained! That was not an easy journey, folks. We made homemade baby food for Isaac and shared the how-to (part 1 and part 2): I also started teaching myself to sew and really took to it….
Do you do New Years resolutions? If so, do you usually follow through or feel guilty for a year? :-p I guess this would depend on what type of resolutions you make. For example, its harder to keep resolutions about losing weight or quitting smoking than vowing to get out more with your family or buy more purses. 😉 I dont think I have any resolutions I need to make except I really do want to eat better and try to maintain a lower weight. Its hard to do when you stress eat, thats for sure. If I have an especially hard day, as soon as the kids are in bed I find myself inexplicably drawn to the pantry in search of chocolate. Thats gonna be hard to kick! Oh, another thing I would like to do is try at least one new recipe every month. We get into a…
This was Emmas Christmas present from my parents: A beautiful Disney Princess Huffy 16 bike with training wheels. She. Is. Thrilled! Youll remember that we found her a tricycle at a garage sale for $5 not too long ago. I think it was too small for her because she refused to ride it after awhile. So this really came just in time, and it was a great choice. We needed something to get us outside, and Ive been taking her out to practice riding in our driveway and down the lane every day since Christmas, rain or shine. My only problem now is that she had one tumble (into the grass, nothing serious) and now she panics and refuses to ride unless she feels me holding her waist. This does not stop her from riding fast, so if you see a woman running along next to a pink bike ridden…
We enjoyed our Christmas very much. 🙂 This was the first year that Emma really was able to understand about the tree, the presents, the meaning of Christmas, and enjoy the anticipation of opening her presents. She got some very nice things this Christmas, too, including a real huffy bike with training wheels from her grandparents (I dont have a picture of that yet) and a guitar. Well, ukelele, but Im not telling her that its not a guitar like her daddy has. LOL She has been playing it constantly, and was especially excited that this ukelele (something I found on sale at Zulily) came with a big red pick. Isaac got a Melissa and Doug zoo animals sound puzzle, magnetic latch puzzle, and a pounding toy great choices because both kids love them! We had a really nice Christmas. 🙂 How about you? P.S. Emma keeps asking for more…
This was a total impulse buy. I was walking through Joann Fabrics with a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket, and I saw this box: I was ecstatic! Every year I look for a special nativity set but so far I just hadnt found one I liked. Precious Moments nativities are fun but verrry expensive usually, and I didnt want to pay over $30 for one. Right now anyway, while I have toddlers. So I grabbed the box and headed up to the checkstand. Then of course I get there and find out that this set isnt eligible for the 40% off because its already on sale. So I DID get it on sale but not as much off as I had anticipated it was $18. Still a great deal, considering paint and a paintbrush came with it. Though the paintbrush was not a great one, unfortunately….
If youve been to Target recently, you may have walked by the aisle full of Giada De Laurentiis brand new line of bakeware, cooking tools, and food. Who is Giada, you ask? Why, only one of my favorite Food Network chefs with her own cooking show dedicated to Italian cuisine! She has a wonderful show with recipes that are easy enough to follow that even I, definitely not a cooking extraordinaire, can bring a wonderful, fine restaurant-quality meal to the table. Ive walked through the Giada for Target aisle and nearly drooled over all of the lovely things that I just knew would make me a better cook. 😉 So you can imagine my excitement when I found out I was going to receive some of Giadas line for review! And I was right, I am able to put some new yummy things on the table now! Partly due to…