I'm starting to write a regular feature on the babycenter site about buying handmade for the holidays. I am going to feature two etsy shops at a time in each post--one shop with gifts for big people, and one with gifts for little people. I wrote my first post today and featured two  shops--Industrious Lily and Kinichi.

I'd love to hear who/what are some of your favorite etsy shops and sellers. (or you can even tell me about your own shop!) I think this is a great chance to get the word out to support crafters and push for a handmade vs. commercial-crazy holiday.

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I'm trying to keep a link in my sidebar of my most recent posts on the momformation blog. I'd love to have you visit me over on the babycenter site. I'm feeling a bit lonely. I'm so used to your lovely comments!

For Father's Day this year, I finally pulled together a gift I've been wanting to make Dan for quite awhile. He's always admired other people's silhouette pitures but I've always been intimidated by the idea of doing them. But thanks to some email support from a friend who's a pro at these, I put it together in time. I know he liked them, because by the time I got back from running a quick errand Sunday morning, he already had them hung in a prominent place in our house. 
The silhouettes were pretty simple to put together once I got them equally sized. Honestly, the hardest part was just finding the time to get it done. Mary, of course, picked up her silhouette and tore off the pony tail, so I had to redo,  and I was at the pharmacy buying black frames at 10:45 Saturday night. But it got done. And the girls tell me that I need to redo Elizabeth's silhouette when she has some hair. She's a bit boyish looking at this point, which is why I added everyone's ages below their picture.
We started our father's day with everyone piled in bed together, passing out cards and gifts to Dan. Emma is really getting in to gift-giving (and wrapping presents), so she presented him with the picture she had painted on Friday. (even though he'd already seen it)...
I can remember at Emma's age, walking around my house and picking out gifts for my mother from her bedroom. I specifically remember one year on mom's birthday, wrapping up her used highlighter pen and open bottle of nail polish remover to "give" her. But she still seemed thrilled--as was Dan at the "surprise" of getting the painting from Emma.

And speaking of giving, this lovely package arrived for our family unexpectedly last week. Michelle sent it 'just  because' and it was full of lovely gifts for me and the girls. Thank you, again, Michelle. It was so amazing all the goodies inside--you definitely "got" the girls...horse everything--tattoos, stickers, candy, and more:



for elizabeth:

and a handmade market bag for lucky me:

***first a quick random item: sometimes when I sit down to my laptop at my desk (which also doubles as my sewing table) I look under the table, feeling with my foot for the sewing machine pedal--as if I need to use it, in order to make my laptop work....odd, I know.**

Well, we've returned from the holidays feeling about as stuffed and satisfied as these little cheeks are with fluffy, white marshmallows. The girls never recovered in time from their colds, and in all reality were probably at their worst while we were away. But we still managed to leave with the full, satisfied feeling after a good weekend with family.

Emma quietly summed up our car ride to my mom's house in her notebook:

"Daddy crying because he can't find a place to get a cup of coffee."
(it made for a high-stress first hour of our roadtrip)

"Daddy happy because he finally found a cup of coffee at the gas station."
(But a very BAD cup of coffee.)

Meanwhile she also left this note for us when we got home.

For those of you who need a translation (like her own mother did)--the sign says, "BUY GOLDFISH". I guessed it was a stove and a fish, but silly me, ha!--it's a cash register and a goldfish! Isn't it funny how even her images for the two words are drawn backwards-with the cash register (buy) on the right, and the fish (goldfish) on the left--just like we all discussed at the end of this post.
She's been hounding us about this for weeks, and I imagine Santa will get involved.

The background of this picture is part of my next project. But instead of writing a giant post today, I'll save that for tomorrow.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and you're joyously looking forward to the holidays ahead. I'm feeling very inspired by yesterday's Pay-It-Forward show on Oprah and a short little snippet I read in a magazine about a women who sewed tote bags and filled them with toiletries for women in her local homeless shelter. Yesterday was the first time I have made it through an entire oprah show in a long time. I couldn't peel myself away from all the inspiring acts of generousity. Then a quick trip to target this morning brought all of that consumer-driven, spending-overload smack in my face. I really want to find a way to bring  that spirit of  giving, generosity, and love into our holiday, especially for my children. 

The place card leaves are finished as of last night. I was able to get a little sewing done during Mary's nap, and then miraculously, while Dan was away in the evening at a class at church, I was able to finish them. The miracle-part being that the girls were playing happily and quietly long enough for me to get more sewing done. I can't remember the last time I sewed during the 7-8:30 hour.... When I originally set out to these name cards I wanted to make something that people could take home with them. So instead of writing on the card stock side of the leaves, I just attached a narrow strip of paper for people's names that they can remove later in order use the leaves for something else.

Emma didn't nap yesterday and instead worked on sewing a little pouch. Unfortunately, no nap caught up with her quickly and she had little patience for her mistakes. So, it became a team effort to get the project done with me coaching her on almost every stitch. I also realized in the process that at this age, it's easier for Emma to do overcast stitches, going round and round, instead of trying to do a regular straight stitch. She gets very confused about what side of the fabric she's supposed to be pushing the needle through, gets lots of knots and tangles and before you know it she's tossing the pouch across the bed in frustration. But when she knows that the needle always pushes through from the bottom, it's much easier for now.

The fabric she picked frayed really easily, so I stitched up the sides with my machine for extra strength. Then she picked some ribbon out of my stash for a handle--and of course she picked the thinnest, tulle type of ribbon that I had. But we made it work.

These pictures are so orange because it was such a "floody" day yesterday. They were all taken by desk light--no natural light to speak of.

And before I go--a friday favorite: my new tube of  Hemp Hand Protector from The Body Shop. I went to a Body Shop home party on Sunday and this is one of the things that I came home with. In the wintertime, (well all the time really), I get really dry hands. The kind where I put lotion on and within minutes you'd never know I'd used it. They just soak everything in. But this stuff is fantastic. It lasts forever--as in the next day, even after dinner dishes, my hands were still soft; and it smells yummy. It is an earthy smell (as in earth mother) that isn't overpowering or in your face.
I highly recommend it. Maybe I need to become a consultant....

My sister's on her way as we speak for a quick weekend visit. I'm looking forward to sunny skies and playing hard.
Happy Weekend!

***ETSY SHOP SALE ends Sunday***

Today marks Dan's 32nd birthday. In his family, birthdays were never really a big deal--but not in mine. Birthdays were big events, and I haven't let that little tradition fade in my family either.
I remember when I was little birthdays meant getting to ride in the front seat of the VW bus all day, choosing your dinner fare and activities for the day (my standby was always the aquarium with Ben and Jerry's afterwards), being excused from the dinner dishes, and staying up as late as you wanted.
But since riding in the front seat is a given, work is required, and staying up late would be far from a gift, we'll shower Dan with a few carefully crafted and purchased presents, a good meal, and party hats.

This afternoon the girls and I worked on another sets of these tees for Dan. This will be his second set, the first was for last year's father's day. He has worn them so much they are starting to fade and when I washed one of them the other day, I couldn't believe how teeny-tiny their handprints had been. Mary was an infant and her handprint was really no more than a smear.  I remember there being more paint on her onesie and chin than on the tshirt. So this year a new set was definitely due.
Just a few weeks ago, I asked Emma what her favorite thing was about living in Wisconsin. She told me, "painting tshirts for Daddy." (Huh?!) I figured we could paint tshirts in Maryland, too. Funny what kids remember.

So, tonight we'll eat grilled steak and the official Maryland state crustacean, then nibble on a few pink-frosted cupcakes with sprinkles (whose birthday is this!!? Funny how  the birthday becomes as much about the kids having fun as it does celebrating Dan's birth. ) And we'll open one or two other gifts.
Happy Birthday, babe. xo.
(and hope you're not reading this from work...)