Holiday Wear for the Girls...

I have managed to get 2 outfits finished for my 6 and 1 year old girls for this upcoming Holiday season. I love the look of over the top Christmas wear but seriously who wants to work so hard on something their kids can wear for a day or 2 at the most? I tried to pick out prints and colors that will work for before and after the holiday season, I think I succeeded!

First up is the dress I made for them, this is a modified version of Create Kids Couture Elena's. The pattern calls for 2 skirts but I just added both ruffles to the end of one skirt. Next time I will shorten one of the ruffles a little more since it hides the bottom ruffle too much. For the smaller size I will also use only 3 strips for the ruffles, I think using all 4 make the dress very heavy for such a small size kid. The blue fabric is a snowflake swirl, the black has red dots with little snowmen and snowflakes in the white and blue dots and the red is a small print white dot. I wish I would have switched the bottom ruffle to the red on top for my 6 year old like I did for my 1 year old. I think it just makes the dress pop a little more.

For my 6 year old.

For my 1 year old.

The next holiday outfit is the Create Kids Couture Amanda and I'm in love with this pattern. You can showcase off so many fabrics with the 3 different ruffles or make them all the same. It was a very easy pattern to follow, just lots of ruffling! I'm planning on making a bib onesie for my youngest daughter to go with the skirt and my oldest might be wearing a green sweater that my great grandmother knitted for me when I was a little kid. I'm hoping it will fit and I think the green with look great with the skirt and bring out the green in the leaves. I love the look of the poinsettia's on the 2nd and last ruffles and the red and black ruffles both have white dots on them.

Size 8

Size 12-18 month

I picked all of this fabric up from R & R, which is actually an Ace Hardware store about 20 minutes from us, they have a huge table of flat fold cottons at great prices. Some pieces have the name or designer on the side and some don't, so I don't always know what to tell people to look for when searching for the fabric. It's always like a treasure hunt there!
                                               

   
                                                              

November Sewing Class Week 1

We started our second Beginner's Sewing Class at Make and Take Craft Weekend this month and these ladies were total rock stars sewing up 3 pillowcase dresses for Craft Hope Project 23 during their first class! We went over how to properly thread the machine and had to mess with some bobbin issues but then we got to work on our dresses. We sent a total of 9 pillowcase dresses to Craft Hope and they all turned out so darn cute!

I just love the look of the vintage pillowcases as a dress and what an easy sew, no hemming at all! We used the directions for a pillowcase dress from The Craft Hope book but there are many tutorials online like here, here and here. One of the best things about the pillowcase dress is that is can be worn all year round with layers and can go from dress to tunic as your child grows!

Shout Out to our October Sponsors

A huge Shout Out to our awesome sponsors for our October Make and Take Craft Weekend!!! We like to give our guests a little something to take home as a nice way to say, "Thanks for coming and staying with us!' and we like to support local and/or small businesses by sharing their products with our guests. I think the best way to get your product out there is with testimony from others who have used it. So thank you to all our sponsors this past month! If you have a small business and would like more information on being a sponsor please contact us.

Happy Apples Caramel Apples

About the company: 

We are family owned and operated and have been for over thirty-five years. Each Fall, we pick ‘em and dip ‘em to make the same delicious caramel apples that have been known and loved for generations. Try our Apple Cider for a real taste treat. All natural and full of nature’s goodness. One taste and you’ll wonder why you ever had anything else.

I love this company and they gave us Happy Apples to share with everyone, Apple Cider to sip on and a completely yummy Happy Apple salad recipe! It was so good, there was nothing left! I picked up the apples and cider with my 4 and 1 year old and we even got a tour of the factory and how they are made, I might have been more excited than my 4 year old! Thank you Happy Apples!

Serenade Natural Products


About the company: 

We're a family business located in Lakeville Minnesota.  We believe that natural is better. Our luxurious bath & beauty products and soy candles & wax tarts are handmade, by us (my husband & I), with the highest quality ingredients and in small batches. We use the finest natural oils & butters, pure essential oils & herbs, natural waxes like beeswax & soy wax, and phthalate free fragrance oils. We offer many products that are 100% natural including handmade soap, lotion, lip balm, lip gloss, body butter and essential oil candles.   

I found this company after researching for natural lip balm that contain lanolin and bought a few tubes, I was hooked after that and while ordering another batch for myself I emailed them about being a sponsor for our Craft Weekends and lucky for us they agreed! You can find their lip balm in every room of my house, plus my purse! Our guests were treated to their own lip balm and I'm pretty sure everyone was using them in the Craft Room on Friday night! They also have many other body care products so check them out! Thank you Serenade Natural Products!

Pappy's Gourmet 

About the company:

For as long as I can remember, my parents have been avid gardeners. They have planted everything from pumpkins and strawberries to okra and rhubarb. Zucchini has always had a place in their garden and they have always been extremely successful in growing it (at times a little too successful)! My Mother (Pappy to all of her grandchildren!) came up with a tasty way to utilize a lot of the zucchini, she developed a unique recipe for zucchini relish. She has been making this recipe for years and has always received rave reviews. To this day no one in our family can eat a brat or a hot dog without it.

This company is very dear to me, "Pappy" babysat my oldest while I worked for another 2 years at the school district before staying home after my second child! She is the best!!! And their products are super yummy. I eat the Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly on a hot ham and cheese and my husband likes the Blackberry Habenero Jelly on a salami sandwich. They gave each of our guests the Raspberry Jalapeno Jelly to take home and we all enjoyed their Mild Tomato Salsa on Friday night with our Mexican dinner. Thank you Pappy's Gourmet!