Baby Doll Cradle Make-Over

For this past Christmas, I decided to make Pretty a big doll, and Santa brought her a little cradle for her doll to sleep in!

I found the cradle at a discount outlet store for a company that does monogrammed things. This store is where all the mistakes go. Poor mom of "Reese", who ordered this and it came back upside down. Oops.

I bought it with the intention of peeling off the vinyl lettering and being done with it. It was only a few days before Christmas when I realized that the letters were engraved about 1/8" down! I wasn't looking forward to sanding it down and painting over it. That's when my awesome husband said, "why don't you just put paper over it?"

Bless him!!

Technically, his idea included normal old copy paper.  But I only used it for the template, and chose a scrapbook paper for the final look.

I smooshed the copy paper into the space, then cut it out so it fit.

Then I used it to trace on the back of the scrapbook paper. I used ModPodge to stick it down and repeated it on the second side.

I also made a mattress for the cradle using some left over 1" foam and spare fabric.

I love it!

 As for the baby, I was hoping this one would replace her favorite toys and be all she played with! Not so much. Maybe when her new baby brother comes in June?

Vogue Pattern 7418

So far the only thing this baby does is sleep. Christmas morning, she opened the cradle first, since it is from Santa. As soon as she opened the "baby" it went in to the cradle and that's where it has stayed for the past 2 months. Not even joking.

Sadly, she doesn't quite fit, unless you squish her legs.

Also, a funny thing. Hero watched me make the doll while Pretty napped. He even handed me pins while cutting out the fabric (and oh my, did that take forever. "Do you want red, or blue, or purple?" with every pin!) Anyway, it wasn't until he pointed it out that I noticed I was using the same purple fabric for this doll's dress as I did for last year's Christmas doll. Hmmmm.

Pretty's birthday is next week (2 years!) and I'm planning on making a blanket and pillow for the bed. Maybe for next Christmas, she'll get another dress for the baby. . . that's not the same purple?

Christmas Morning

Here are my favorite pictures snapped Christmas morning.

Pretty and her stocking

Hero's reaction to getting the pink dog (Zhu-Zhu pet) he asked for.

Me with the kids and the frog blanket Hero picked out for me.

Merry Christmas!!


And I am proud to say that the Black Apple doll I made for Pretty is her favorite thing now. More on that later. The great thing about Christmas being on Saturday, it easily spills into Sunday. It's like 2 days of Christmas! So, I'm off to spend more time with family.

Did you know . . .

While both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid December. Female reindeer retain their antlers until after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should have known. Only women would be able to drag a fat ol’ man in a red velvet suit all the way around the world in one night and not get lost!


No, I didn't write that, but I don't know who did to give them credit. . .

image found here

As we are getting within reach of Christmas morning, I feel like the reindeer. We moms (and dads) do all the work and Santa is the one who shows up last to claim all the credit... But I think it's worth it. 


Good luck to all you out there doing the last minute sewing and buying. I know I'm one of them, having bought supplies for a few gifts last night!

Remember this pile of squares? Well, after a bit more work, each pair became . . .

A Christmas Angel. . .

Pattern found here

Each angel was given a name tag with the year stitched on the back.

Each year, my parents give the whole family ornaments. When I was growing up we used to get 2. One from them and one from a great grandmother who had been dead for years. . . I know that sounds weird. But this amazing woman had crocheted so many little ornaments that there were enough for everyone in the extended family, down to us great grandchildren, for 5 years after she was gone. I'm not sure how she did that!

I offered to make these a year ago, as a bit of a return to days of our childhood. 14 Angels at almost 2 hours of work per angel = 28 hours of love! Good thing I started making these back in July!

I love the homemade ornaments. They add personality. Now, I may change my tune in a few years (like Vanessa over at V and Co. here and here, she cracks me up!) but I was super excited to have Hero bring home this cute little star from pre-school to hang on our tree!

He's so talented. *gush*

Boy, do I wish I had something more. . .

I'm preparing to host a baby shower at my house tomorrow. Which means, I've been doing little projects all week long. Today's project: Clean and hide all the clutter I normally have everywhere in a box in the storage room. . .

But a few days ago, the project included separating red from green M&M's. Green is the main decorating color, so I needed the green only. But it was way cheaper to buy the Christmas M&M's and have red left over than to buy what I needed in green only. Plus, there are different shades of green in this mix. How awesome is that?

I share some more of the things I've got going on after the shower. Happy pre-baby party!!

Let the Countdown Begin!!

Well, they are done! I finished the last two today, but they are ready! Here are the last 9 ornaments for my advent calender:

Peppermint candy, a star for the top, bell, and ball ornament.

Santa Claus and a snowman.

A snowflake.

And what kind of Christmas would it be without pumpkin pie? In my house, growing up, we never left cookies for Santa. It was always a piece of pumpkin pie.

 And I'm sure you were thinking, "What's up with the crazy heart?" Maybe this will help:

All done! It was fun to put them all up for this picture.

And also very sad to put them back in the pockets. Anyone else have trouble deciding which pocket to put each one in? I want them all up for the whole month!! Merry Christmas Season!!

the first wave of advent ornaments

Since I had already made the first part, I wasn't paying too close attention to the assignments. 2 weeks ago, when I read, "cut out your tree shape" I moved on and thought I had done that so I was still good. Then this last week the assignment was, "Make another 8 ornaments." 

Um. Another 8?

And then, of course, I was making baby shoes, so here is what I was able to accomplish since I started on Saturday night. 15 of the 16 isn't bad!

Holly Berry, Drum, Mitten, and Candy cane

Gifts 1, 2, and 3

Dove, Buddy the Elf, and Stockings for each kid

Baby Jesus, Angel, 3 Wise Men, The Shepherd's Sheep

There are several I used the template provided at Homemade by Jill, but the ones I made up are by far my favorites. Even the stockings that I used the template, I added little stitched names and it makes it that much more personal. I learned new tricks making these. I've never known how to do the edging called a blanket stitch. And I learned how to do a French knot, which is what I used for all the eyes and for the hair on Buddy the Elf.

Anyway, these are the ones I'm really proud of:

Baby Jesus in a Manger  

The 3 Wise Men

(This is the one that kept me up until 1am last night)

The Angel

(with an Asian husband, my red-headed self will always be outnumbered, 

so I had to do the red hair. . . not to say I think I'm an angel...)

True Candy Cane

(maybe you've heard this story, but supposedly it's only a true candy cane if it has one large stripe for the Atonement, and 3 little stripes for the Godhead, so I added in the little ones)

The Shepherd's Sheep

(I didn't want to make yet another tiny person, so I decided the sheep could represent for the Shepherd in the Christmas story)

Buddy the Elf

(if you haven't seen the movie ELF, you are missing out!!)

This is so much fun! And after pushing through 15 ornaments in 3 days, I think finishing the last 9 in a week is going to be a sinch!

I'm opening a shoe making factory. and other stuff.

While I am sewing and working on projects every day, I don't really have anything new to share. As the title suggests, I'm currently making shoes. Tiny, adorable baby shoes. About 6 pair. . . This is what happens when everyone I know decides to procreate at the same time!

I am also working on Christmas ornaments for my advent calender AND real ones for my entire side of the family. I'll tell the whole story behind it all when they are done, but here's a bit of a preview.

Can you guess what they will become? If you can, you are amazing, because there is still a piece to make, then some assembly.

And lastly, I'm working on a cute little sweater upcycle thing that worked, but not quite. So I need to try again before I feel I can share with you how to make one. But let me tell you, it will be worth the effort (and the wait)!

Good night bloggin' friends!

Advent Sew Along

Last year, I fell in love with the advent calender over at Inchmark. And then felt went on sale at JoAnn's and it was decided! I made the calender part, with a few changes.

First, I decided that hand sewing is for suckers. Not really, I just didn't want to hand sew all the pockets and tree on, so I used my machine.

 Next, my pockets are not the small 2.5 in square. I decided to make mine 4 in square. At first, I wanted to do this so that I wouldn't have to make as tiny of ornaments to fit in my tiny pockets. Now, I think the ornaments will still be small; but this way I can put in some candy as well.

Because the pockets are bigger, the tree had to be bigger too. Mine measures 20" along the bottom and the same 20" tall at the point. I also decided on using bright multicolored buttons because I've always been a fan of Christmas lights of the colored variety! 

Last year, since it was already a week into December, I was pregnant (aka TIRED), and realized that I would not be able to machine sew the tiny ornaments and have them look good; add on top that I would have to make up my own patterns for the ornaments and I was out. I used some little candy canes ornaments last year, thinking I would just make the ornaments (by hand) this year.

To my surprise, Homemade by Jill has decided to do a sew along of this exact calender! And she just posted some templates for ornaments that someone else sent in to her! I'm super excited! I may still make up a few of my own, but we will see.

I like how my bigger version has turned out, and I can't wait for the ornaments! Hero's a big fan, too. Since he's still working on number recognition, this is perfect!

Does I still count as a sew along participant when I made the first part last year? :-)