It's Hard to Believe That This Little Man Is One...

We are some of the luckiest people... we have great neighbors. We live in a unique neighborhood, and we so sad when our neighbor Joan put her house on the market almost three years ago. My husband and I could not imagine having a better neighbor... so I prayed that God would provide us with a great family to move in the house next door. And He blew our socks off... The "A" family moved in the spring that Doodles was 18 months ish and then I quickly became pregnant with Sweetpea. They have been there for us in SO many ways... When Sweetpea was about ten months old they welcomed to their family a fabulous little boy. He just had his first birthday... I cannot believe how fast a year has passed. And when Doodles found out that C was having a birthday, he asked if we could give him some racing cars that he and his sister have enjoyed, and he wanted to know if I would make C a birthday shirt. C had an under the sea themed party at the park. The day was wonderful and we came home with a party favor that keeps giving back... a beta fish. Here is the bib and shirt that I created to match the party...





I love the way that the the two pieces blend, but are not the same. Mommy A and I talked at length about whether we do a true birthday shirt, but we decided to provide more wear, I would design something that coordinated with his precious party invitations. Here is what we came up with...

This is the bib that we decided upon, I think it is so CUTE.

And this has to be my FAVORITE piece. I love the texture on the octopus and the way that we added his name, but only as an accessory, not the main feature. The octopus was hand appliqued on and I love the way that it turned out.

I really enjoy creating custom pieces for special occasions.

Here we come to save the day...

I had so much fun this past Friday creating these new items, I think I have a new favorite. Although they are truly a work in progress... I am offering them now, and will provide a pic of the new one as I have made adjustments to the capes... My little guys just LOVED them. What started off something I did for my children, has now turned into something I just CANNOT wait to share and make for others...

The little man was "Daring Doodles"...

and the little girl was... Jentile (gentile) J, those who know her are probably LAUGHING... as she is anything but gentile... she truly is my Sweet Pea though.


Their favorite part was the fact that the wind was slightly blowing and when they ran, the capes just flew behind them. They had SO much fun wearing these, and I did not even mind that they wore them to the stores as I just thought that they were too cute.

Can you ever have too many bags?

Are you looking for a unique gift.
Bags are like purses, can you ever have too many?

I love this gift... it is so cute and personal. Both Doodles and Sweetpea had a bag just like this... I love to pack it when we were going out for the day or on a trip. You can fill it to the brim with extra diapers, wipes and several changes of clothes or with just a few items. Each bag is personalized with your choice of font, different ribbon and matching tread color. It is hard to go wrong with a great bag like this.

This bag is canvas and has a zipper closure... so that none of the goodies will fall out.

THRIFTY

Many of you know that I consider myself thrifty. I love a very unique and warm look for my home, but I HATE spending a lot of money (there never seems to be enough anyways). I want people to feel welcome, calm, and loved despite the chaos that might be going on in our home with two little ones. So when I needed wall art for our upstairs bedroom, I had a limited budget. I looked through SEVERAL magazines for inspiration, and came up with the follow for the walls. It provides something very custom and expensive looking... but its really is not. My mom found these frames at a DEEP discount and we removed the prints and glass. We went to our local fabric store and they just happened to have just enough on the precut sale aisle and away I went (there are actually 4 frames in total. One is on the opposite wall with a family portrait that was taken when we had Doodles.) I must say that I LOVE these. This design could be replicated for any room and would be GREAT in a nursery. You could do all first initials, all three initials, the possibilities are endless.

See all of those market totes, I will explain more in my next post... I cannot wait.

I Have Not Disappeared

I promise, I have not disappeared. In the next couple of days I will be updating the blog like CRAZY so that you all can see what has been going on... but here is just a taste...

One minute they just love each other and then the next...

Bow Head?

This is SweetPea, and yes I know that the bow on her head is about the size of a dinner plate, my husband gives me such a hard time ;). In this picture SweetPea is approximately nine months old, and she has little to no hair. When Doodles was this age, he had beautiful curls. So when I was pregnant with SweetPea, I was so excited, curls and a bow... YEAH!!! Well no, not so much... Many people mistake her for a boy, even when she was is dressed in all pink... GRRR!!! So I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands, and this is what I came up with, a BIG beautiful bow. And now there is no way that someone could call my SweetPea a boy anymore.

These bows are great and the monogram button is a perfect touch of personalization. I got the band from a friend who has a GREAT site www.avaclaires.com (she also writes an incredile blog, www.spitupandheels.com). She is so sweet, she allowed me to list a couple of things on her site, and she used my sweet little girl as a model, thanks S.

I also posted below a picture of Doodles and SweetPea that I think is too sweet, and I always laugh out loud everytime I see it. SweetPeas face is the "tell all" of the situation.

Sophistication with a Touch of Whimsy

My neighbor has the SWEETEST little man... he has such a little personality, he laughs, smiles and is SO CUTE. Right after Little C was born, she wanted to do something extra special for his bathroom. Their house has the same layout as our house. There are two bedrooms downstairs, and one upstairs, and each bedroom has its own bathroom. C's bathroom is also the one that company uses, so she wanted something that was cute and would look nice for company. So after a lot of thinking, and many ideas swimming in my head, we came up with an incredible plan. We went to our local craft/fabric store and found thread, buttons, and fabric that would tie into the colors in his room. Look at the finished product...

Okay... don't you love it... sophistication and whimsy all rolled into one. But the next part will make you laugh. We are running a little behind at our house. So when I delivered the curtain, I also delivered their Christmas gift, yes it is a little late. But someday, I will be all caught up, at least that is my goal over the next couple of weeks. I created these three hand towels for their company to use. The applique is created out to the same fabric, the same font was used (their last name starts with an A) and thread that was used on the curtain so that they match. I think that it provides a bit of sophistication, but still VERY fun... just like their family. THANKS so much for being such GREAT neighbors.