Birthday Mini Marquee

Today is my birthday. It's one of those milestone ones, too... ;) So, this past weekend we had a party, and I used it as an excuse to make my own light-up mini-marquee sign. The tutorial is from Oh Happy Day.

Their instructions are brief, but it worked just fine. The hardest part was folding the strips that you then glue to the sides, but once I got my system down it wasn't too bad. I used the same lights, and the same quick-dry tacky glue, as Jordan recommended. I found I didn't even need to reinforce with tape, which was nice because the few places that I did add tape were too shiny once spray-painted.

Stuffing the lights in was frustrating, but nevertheless successful.

Velveteen Sunday Brunch Jacket

I've been saving this Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush Velveteen (in "Memory") for a long, long time with another oliver + s Sunday Brunch Jacket for Louisa in mind.

When she was two, I made her a size 2. This time, I made a size 6. She is only four and a half, but I wanted it to fit next year, and now I know this jacket runs small. (It is meant to be fitted.)

Waldorf Style Mermaid Doll

Louisa's number one request for Christmas was "a mermaid doll." I have been wanting to tackle a handmade doll for a while—first inspired by this fabulous one, and then reinvigorated by the Little Amigo pattern in Growing Up Sew Liberated, as well as by recently reading Heaven On Earth (a great book about early childhood by a local preschool teacher and the founder of the Charlottesville Waldorf School).

I didn't keep the doll a secret because I can't usually finish crafts very quickly if I don't work on them a little bit during the day while Louisa is around. Plus it was more fun to involve her in picking the fabrics and yarn.

Holiday Bow Tie

To match his big sister's snowflake Sunki dress, Leo got a bow tie for his Christmas outfit.

Since I was using a Figgy's pattern for Louisa, I decided to try the little boy bow tie tutorial from the Figgy's blog. It is a slightly bigger bow (verging on clownish?) than the one I made for him this summer, but it did keep it shape a little better.

The fabric again is Let it Snow in Eggnog Green from the Dear Mr. Claus collection by Cosmo Cricket with Kona Cotton in Holly for the neck band.

Simple Burlap Tree Skirt

Finished in under two hours, this basic tree skirt is all I wanted to cover my tree stand and give our gifts a simple back drop. Instructions for sewing a skirt this style are on Design*Sponge.

I had one yard of burlap to work with, so my skirt has 35" diameter after the 1/2" seam allowance. The underside is a bit of an old thermal curtain from Target (the same fabric I used inside my Showoff Bag.) I had to unpick the curtain hems to have enough yardage, but it worked out. I wanted to complete the project with things I had on-hand, so the ribbon is actually some black hem tape from my stash.

Holiday Sunki Dress

For Louisa's Christmas dress, I made my first (finally!) Figgy's Pattern... a Sunki dress. I managed to finish it in time for her last day of school before winter break, which is also the day of her school's annual performance of St. George and the Dragon, which celebrates the winter solstice and the holiday season.

I made size 4/5 with Let it Snow in Eggnog Green from the Dear Mr Claus collection designed by Cosmo Cricket for Moda Fabric, which I got from Sew Mama Sew. The green side panels are Kona Cotton in Holly.

Popcorn and Cranberries Garland

Shiny Ball Ornament Wreath DIY

Last night a couple local mama friends and I had a glittery craft night to make Christmas ball ornament wreaths.

There are lots of different techniques for this kind of wreath online, but this is how we did it. We worked loosely from this tutorial, but didn't take the caps off our balls.