Sunshine Fairy Dust

Flora Soleil made another visit to our house last night. And it has been a loooong time coming. Seriously. One of the benefits of having a blog is that I can verify that it has been a whole year since the last time Miss Bloom lost a tooth. And it took 5 months from the time she lost her first tooth until her second tooth was gone. At this rate, the girl is going to have missing teeth gaps in her prom pictures.

Halloween 2014

Yes, I am fully aware that Halloween was 4 days ago. It took a couple days to recover from all the excitement. :) I try to have costumes finished several days early so I can get some pre-festivities pictures of the kids and for my own sanity. However, it just didn't happen this year. Two big Girl Scout events, a couple of orders from the shop and a home emergency all that week threw me way off schedule. I didn't even start Little Boy Blue's costume until 9:00 the night before Halloween. In the end, though, I think their costumes were pretty fantastic.

Folk Art and Forestry: Happy 5th Birthday Miss Belle!

Happy 5th birthday to my goofy Miss Belle! She has been counting down the "sleeps" until today. Such a cute kid! To celebrate this special occassion I took the kids on a picnic hike earlier today. And we managed to get some pictures of her new birthday dress during our adventure.

Vintage-Style Sweater Clip

This weekend we're going to visit my husband's family. And that means family pictures. We've started a new tradition where each family group chooses a color and this year our family is going with purple. So I've been trying to piece together purple shirts for all of us and I think I've got almost everybody figured out. Which is good because we're leaving in less than 48 hours. I decided to put Miss Belle in this purple polo dress and sweater but I didn't like the way the sweater was hanging on her. Then I remembered those sweater clips that little old ladies wear to keep their cardigans in place and wondered if I could find materials around the house to make a simple sweater clip. Coincidentally, while I was in the living room pondering Miss Belle and Little Boy Blue were playing in the coat closet and trying on old winter coats. I noticed a pair of mitten clips (without mittens attached. Ironic.) hanging from the size 2T coat Miss Belle was trying to squeeze into. Aha!!!

Batgirl!

One of my favorite things about this job is collaborating with customers to come up with new designs. The Firestar Supercape Set was originally made at the request of a customer and is now one of our biggest hits!

Passover Pageantry

It's my favorite holiday of the year- Passover! I love all of it: matzoh ball soup, searching for the afikomen, my mom's mouthwatering brisket, a table full of family and almost-family (30 this year!). In our house we've been busily preparing for the Seder. Toffee matzoh, flourless cookies, and charoset are all freshly made and waiting to go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. And then, of course, there are the clothes.

Saltstone Zoo

Yesterday was a dark, stormy, rainy day. April Showers, for sure. Miss Bloom was at school and the little ones and I thought we should do an art project. Miss Belle has a book of art ideas that she and Grandpa checked out from the library. She wanted to paint animals on pebbles. Unfortunately, we didn't have any pebbles lying around and the weather was not pebble-finding friendly. So we decided to make our own! Stones made from salt dough.

The Superhero Blanket

Recently, a customer approached me about a special project. She wanted a superhero cape, but one that was warm, soft and big enough to snuggle up in. Thus, the Superhero Blanket was born. It buttons at the neck like a regular superhero cape.

Chanukah in the Chouse: Night 1

Last night was the first night of Chanukah and we started The Festival of Lights off deliciously. I decided that, this year, we will do something for each night of Chanukah. Earlier in the week, Miss Belle helped me get it all set up.

It's time for... Chanukah in the Chouse (almost)

Chanukah starts at sundown tonight and we are in major prep mode. Even though we celebrate a very low key, tree-and-Santa-only Christmas, it feels like Chanukah is always an afterthought for the kids. Because it is the actual religiously relevant holiday in our household, I decided to ramp things up a bit with eight days of fun. Come back to see how we are celebrating our 8 Crazy Nights of the Festival of Lights.

Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs (Part 3)

Welcome to the third and final installment of Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs. On Saturday I demonstrated how I made Miss Belle's new friend, Snowball the Bunny. Yesterday I showed how I made Miss Belle's boatneck tee and jumper. Today I'm going to wrap things up with a dress and apron for Snowball.

Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs (Part 2)

Look at that goofy face! Man, I adore this girl. Yesterday I told you all about Miss Belle's stronghold on her pjs that she outgrew long ago. And I showed how I made a bunny friend, Snowball, for Miss Belle to coordinate with in her new, revamped, frog clothes. Today I'm going to go over the steps I took to make Miss Belle's frog outfit.

Fashion Refashion: Saving the Beloved Frog PJs (Part 1)

My sewing machine has been a tad neglected lately. I want to spend more time with her but the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with the beginning of school, Girl Scouts, playdates, a trip out of town, the High Holidays... You name it, we've been doing it.

Finally, this week I made time to work on a project that's been sitting on my to-do pile for far too long. Miss Belle had two pairs of frog pajamas that she adored. The problem? Both pairs of pjs are a size 2 and Miss Belle does not wear a 2T any more. She tried- desperately- to hold onto these pajamas. Finally I had to give her a countdown. "You can wear them three more times and then I'm taking them away." She pulled out all the stops to find a way to keep them.

Painted Plants

 

Do you vignette? I love having little visual focal points scattered throughout our home.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from our little family! This year I decided to get festive and make All-American outfits for my kiddos for the 4th of July. Miss Bloom is a very easy-going kid so I knew that I could make anything I wanted for her and it would be a-okay. Miss Belle is a different story. She is a girl who knows what she wants and hasn't quite mastered the art of compromise. And what does she usually want? Pink dresses or skirts that twirl. I knew that it would be a challenge to get her out of her comfort zone. But challenges are okay. And last, but certainly not least, what about Little Boy Blue? I really wanted to get out of my current go-to for boys: bow ties.

The Candyland Dress

Last week was Miss Belle's 4th birthday. This girl loves board games and candy, so I was not surprised when she declared that she wanted to have a Candyland Party for her birthday. And that meant that she needed a Candyland dress.

Dragon!!! Recycled Art with Miss Belle

 A few days ago Miss Belle and I were in the midst of the golden hours of the day: We had come home from a playdate, finished lunch, Little Boy Blue was taking a nap, and we still had a couple of hours until we needed to go pick up Miss Bloom from school. And the weather outside was gorgeous! Miss Belle decided that she would like to do an art project and paint. I was game for that. The result was fun and totally reflected my wild girl's personality: tough animal in pretty, feminine colors.

The Honeycomb Dress ...and the art of improvisation

Before I begin a project, I do a lot of mental planning. Visualizing my materials, which techniques to use, when I will find time to actually make it happen. Sometimes those plans work out and sometimes I have to make small changes along the way. This dress required a lot of editing. It was a very busy week so I wasn't always able to work when I wanted to. The baby was a little fussier than usual. And every few steps I decided that I needed to adapt my original game plan. It took all week, but I finally managed to finish this fun little dress for Miss Belle. She usually wants everything in light pink. (Her left foot is even light pink at the moment because the girls decided it would be a good idea for Miss Bloom to spray paint it. We've been referring to her as Pink Foot.) So when she saw this bumblebee fabric and decided that she must have a dress made from it I was happy to oblige. We chose a pretty grey floral print for accents and a checkerboard skirt.

Tutorial and more pictures of my sweet Miss Belle after the jump!

A rainbow bedroom for Miss Bloom & Miss Belle

I dream about colors. A house full of warm, rich, vibrant colors. A candy apple green kitchen, buttery yellow and rust orange dining room, soothing blue bedroom. My reality, however, is cream walls. Everywhere. So I have to find creative solutions to add the colors I crave to my home. 

My girls also love color so I knew that I wanted them to have a rainbow-themed room with soft, feminine (but not sugary sweet) blue highlights. 

Their dresser has been floating around our household for almost a decade. I think I originally bought it off a friend for about $40. And it was seriously ready for a makeover. I decided to paint it ombré style by choosing a paint swatch and using the lightest shade for the main part of the dresser and painting each drawer a subsequently darker shade. Home Depot sells sample sizes for a few dollars and one of each was plenty for this project. Framed prints are from the awesome shop Flapper Doodle. Miss Bloom made the other artwork for her octopus-loving sister.