Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone...?

Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone...?

My life is uber-super-duper-crazy busy right now with the shop and my two little ones. I am not trying to make up excuses for my absence...I truly want to make it here to you, blog, write a tidbit or two more frequently. I love having this to look back on. I love seeing my little people grow. I know Boo has very few developmental milestones charted on here. I am hoping to have some free time soon. Some time to keep you updated....Some time to keep me updated.

Right now I feel like I am not doing anything 100% (which, if you know me, is unacceptable). It is certainly not from lack of trying - it is just that there are not enough hours in the day to play all the roles I have to play. I am working on changing that.

I am asking for help. I am reaching out. I am trying to plan. AND to act. Little bits at a time, this is the year to get things organized. I am working on it - list by list.

So I am checking in with you. Hoping to find you well. Hoping we can meet up again soon for some coffee or tea --- or perhaps I will bring a croissant to show my gratitude for your continued friendship after such a disappearance.

With thoughts exploding in my head, in my twilight sleep before bed, on my walks around the block, to school, and at the park....just no time to jot them down, or even let them spin around in the quiet of my mind. But soon, I am determined to find some more time to cozy up to a good post, with you. Tune in Soon.

- Jessica

New Products in the New Year

Sorting Hearts

Mama May i

$18

Oh, 2012, how you've already begun to fly by. It's already the middle of January and I have not yet posted something new. I apologize. Winter time is a blah time for me. And Boo has been --- well, not so much of a sleeper, to say the least - so the little bit of "down" time has been supplanted by "up with the little one" time. I am trying to hang in there and be patient and Dr. Sears my baby back to sleep. So little triumphs like the one I am about to share really tickle my heart.New Products. Yay!

Somehow in the midst of the sleeplessness and fumbling through my day-to-day like a zombie, I was able to create some new things, take pictures of said items, edit those photos, write descriptions, and post them in the shop for all to see. The listing itself never seems as time consuming, unless you realized the whole back-end of getting those little beauties up for viewer delight (I'm squealing a little, even if you aren't.) Sooo happy to have something new in the New Year. Here's to a productive one!

Explore With Me

Sensory Bin and Tool Kit

Mama May i

$39

"Sand" Castle

As you can see, this was a while ago, but sweet nonetheless...

I have a "Quiet Drawer" in my bedroom for when I am nursing and napping Boo. I let Buga sit quietly on the floor and play with a number of toys. Today she built a "sand" castle with some blocks. This fit right in with our Summer Beach Theme.

Mobile Fun

I didn't realize how much little ones liked mobile until Boo arrived. I quickly learned that even a fussy, high needs baby, could be soothed by a little smackeral of something floating or moving overhead. At home we have this wonderful Butterfly Mobile that quickly became a favorite.

At my Mom's house, I had to improvise and found a simple way to create some eye candy that our little one absolutely loves looking at.

Christmas Sorting Dish

Christmas Sorting!

Buga used her wooden tongs to sort some Christmasy objected in a simple divided tray.

We had bows, ornaments, shaped erasers, and bells.

I put all the objects in the middle and she had to separate them into categories.

Next time I will build in some other ways to sort -

like bows, and then different colored bows so she could sort by type or by color.

It was a good little something-to-keep-her-busy

while I packaged up some things to be sent out.

Here they are all sorted.

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Oh Christmas Tree!!

How Felt-y Are Your Branches!

I recently had the idea for Buga's room - a Christmas Tree!

I used to decorate my room growing up for all the holidays, Christmas in particular

and I thought it would be fun for Buga to have her own little place

to decorate for the upcoming holiday.

She has a flannel board on one of her closet doors - the perfect tree-hanging spot!

So I went to the craft store and bought a yard of green felt.

We cut out a Christmas Tree Shape.

With Felt scraps I had around the studio, I cut out some Christmas Ball Ornament Shapes. While I packaged things up she used her glitter glue, felt shapes, and buttons to decorate them. We usually do a tropical-colored themed Christmas - hence the bright, non-traditional colors!

When they dried she got to decorate her tree. The felt ornaments stuck to the felt tree on the flannel board. Magic! She loved that they did this. She kept arranging and rearranging her masterpiece until she got it looking just the way she wanted to

(not the way I would have done it, but I tried to keep quiet while she created.)

And here we decorated it together later...a little more the way I would have done it!

I am a little Type A - can't you tell?

Needless to say I think it was a hit because every visitor that we've had so far has been shown the grand tour - Oh Christmas Tree. She keeps un-decorating and re-decorating the tree....

so that's a success in my book!

It was totally inexpensive.

A project that involved her every step of the way.

And one she keeps playing and pretending with.

We will do this again next year....maybe adding some garland or candy canes...or ginger-people!

Candy Cane Tape Relief Painting

Highlights High Five magazine came in the mail this week. Buga ALWAYS heads straight for the "Make This" and "Cook This" section. This month they did painting projects with tape - so that when you peel the tape away the negative space shows through. She immediately wanted to do it. And I wanted to make it Holiday Festive so we could hang them on the door. I decided to try candy canes and use red paint. I cut out the candy cane shapes from white Tyvek envelopes - - I was busy packaging up orders and happened to spot a stack of them - - I thought they would glisten differently because of the shininess ofthe envelope...and the contrast of the matte red paint - and I didn't have painter's tape handy, so I wanted to make sure that the tape I used would peel away easily from the paper. Needless to say, you could use any kind of paper you want, but it may work better with some kind of non-permanent tape - like painter's tape...and if you had different widths, that would be even cooler. But this is what I had available, so here's what we used:

Tyvek envelopes - I think about 6

Red Paint

Paint Brush

Tape

Splat Mat (we used last night's pizza box)

I cut out candy canes from the envelopes in two different sizes. Buga helped me cut the tape (though I did most of the tape cutting).

Buga was in charge of tape placement.

So she went about putting the tape wherever she wanted on the candy cane cutouts.

When we were finished we used red paint to paint all over the visible white space.

Next time I do this I am going to add some peppermint extract

to the red paint so it will smell like Christmas, too.

Won't that be fun??

When the paint dried (not too long which was good for Buga's impatience),

we peeled the tape away to reveal the white underneath.

I love how they turned out - imperfect - but you know they are candy canes.

The lines are a little crooked and fun.

Ohh, they look great on our front door!

And we get to see them every time we walk into the house.

Merry Christmas!