Archive for Holidays
November 9, 2009
· Filed under Etsy Finds, Holidays, Molly, Stationery & Paper Goods · Tagged Etsy, Etsy greeting cards, handmade cards, holiday greeting cards, letterpress cards
Hellooooo Monday!
Today and tomorrow we’re taking a short break from the gift guides to bring you some holiday card ideas. Today’s edition features cards you can find on Etsy – some are single cards, most are sets. Take a look:
Candy Cane 4 pack ($15) by Darling Clementine
Letterpress Gone Fishing Holiday Cards, set of 8 ($15) by LookyLoo
Letterpress Damsel, set of 8 ($15) by LookyLoo
Hanukkah Menorah, set of 6 ($18) by Foxy & Winston
Snowflake Girl Letterpress and Reindeer Bear Letterpress, sets of 8 ($18) by Fugu Fugu Press
Red Bulb ($3.50) and Candy Cane ($3.50) by Gold Teeth
Woodland Panoramic Scene, set of 8 ($16) by Modern Printed Matter
Stitched Holiday Owls, set of 3 ($8) by Polka Dot Shop
Christmas Blossoms Greeting Card ($3.60) by tsktsk
Christmas Parade cards, set of 10 ($18) by Lila B
Custom designed Holiday cards by Ollie Graphic
Baubles, set of 4 ($6 – free shipping for two or more packs) by Mrs. Eliot Books
Ok, I have to confess: I adore that Snowflake girl card by Fugu Fugu Press. I also really love the Woodland Panoramic Scene by Modern Printed Matter and the Red Bulb card by Gold Teeth (a favorite shop at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this summer).
What about you? Have any favorites?
November 6, 2009
· Filed under Etsy Finds, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Kids, Molly · Tagged baby gift ideas, baby gifts, handmade gifts, handmade gifts for babies, holiday gift guide, holiday gift ideas
I need all of my friends to start having babies right away, because I have a lot of baby gift ideas…
Custom name plate ($60) by ninainvorm
Kanoe Baby Hammock ($290) by studioleroux
Chubby Night Owl ($21) by rabbitsmoon
Baby spoons ($22 each) by beehivekitchenware
Number Pipeline Print ($25) by ModernPop
Flock Organic Cotton Baby Quilt ($44.50) by Organic Quilt Company
Happy Cloud t-shirt ($12) by Jen Skelley
Lovely Lilac Snookie with personalization ($40) by Chickabiddybaby
Elf Hat ($16) by Mani-Mina
Eames Rocker Baby Name Birth Date Keepsake Print ($35) by prettymod
Modern Striped Candy Cane Stocking ($25) by MissMosh
Pear Tree Wall Art ($38) by Almost Sunday
Mix n Match Fruit Hats (Pick 3 for $60) by LA Originals
Wooli Felt Garden Diaper Caddy ($49) by BabiesBreath
Custom Silhouette Ornament ($30) by lepapierstudio
Deer in the Woods Growth Chart ($84) by Anna Joyce
Custom cloth blocks ($50 for set of 3, each additional block $10) by SmidgeboxDesign
♥ ♥ ♥
Is it Friday already? It’s been an especially fun week here – thanks to all of you for your kind comments, which we love reading.
The beauty of these gift guides is that if you really liked them, you can bookmark them for anytime you need gift ideas (and not just gifts for the holidays). Right? Karin and I both added a lot of new Etsy shops to our favorites.
Next week we’re starting the week off with some holiday card ideas, then we’ve got a whole lotta stocking stuffer fun, and finally, gifts for the person who has it all.
See you on Monday!
November 5, 2009
· Filed under Etsy Finds, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Kids, Molly · Tagged gifts for children, gifts for little boys, handmade gifts, holiday gift guide, holiday gift ideas
Ok, you’re right. We had just as much fun picking out these gifts for little boys as we did for yesterday’s little girls’ gift guide.
Tell us if there’s anything you especially love in today’s guide – we’d love to know.
Aqua Cowboy Print ($30) by jenskelley
Bear Woodland Set ($80) by small town toys
The Beep Beep Car Stamp Set ($18) by The Small Object
Bernie the Monster t-shirt ($28.50) by NissaLisa
Blast Off Finger Puppet set ($35) by stay awake
Say Cheese Vintage Camera t-shirt ($20) by b children’s wear
Treasure Chest ($55) by Illustrious Rose
Organic Cotton Circle Wooden Toy Boat ($19) by willowbaus
Lemon Ball Vintage-style Baseball ($28) by Lemon Ball
Special Edition Winter Boy Doll ($104.25) by hasenpfeffer
Gertrude the Goldfish ($7 each) by MiChiMa
Tiny Friend print ($25) by KidsHaus
Zoo Blocks, set of 13 with drawstring bag ($30) by tiny giraffe
Little Hero Cape ($42) by Discovery Denim
Of course, pretty much all of these gifts work for little girls too.
Tomorrow: We’re going a little crazy with the Gifts for Babies guide. We can’t help ourselves.
November 4, 2009
· Filed under Etsy Finds, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Kids, Molly · Tagged gifts for little girls, handmade gifts, holiday gift guide
Karin and I have three girls between us. No boys. We’re all girlie, all the time, so we especially loved picking out today’s gift guide.
How can you resist any one of these items? That’s right, you can’t.
Forest Friends Satchel ($30) by Mee a Bee
Custom Kid Portrait on Canvas ($165) by LittlePinkHouse
Chickadee shirt ($22) by 1girl1boy
“Hannah” notecards set of 12 ($12) by Peony Paperie
Apple Maryjane Flats ($20) by Utopiapedia
Hayride Ruffle Cape in Tweed ($60) by red possum
Caterpillar and assorted hair clips ($5) by Sun Drop Clips
Nahla Bear with Coloring Book Set ($57) by all things small
Forest Critters Reusable Wall Stickers ($74.50) by Mae
Felted Flower Fairy ($30) by FairyFolk
Mary Had a Little Unicorn, 8 x 8 print ($20) by Helen Dardik
Nest. Sweet Nest, wool bird in a cotton nest ($25) by Sugar Elf
The Sasha Dress ($22) by Mani-Mina
Bunny and Radish, 8.5 x 11″ print ($20) by yumiyumi
Which is your favorite? I’ll confess: I bought one thing (so far!) in today’s gift guide. I can’t tell you which – but it’s more fun to guess anyway. (Ok, if you ask me on Twitter, I’ll tell you!)
Tomorrow: rats and snails and puppy dog tails.
November 2, 2009
· Filed under Etsy Finds, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Molly · Tagged Craftsbury Kids, Etsy, gift ideas for her, handmade gifts, holiday gift ideas, Mahar Dry Goods, Paper N Stitch
Happy Monday!
Today we’re kicking off our Handmade Holiday Gift Guides, which we will feature for the next two weeks. Karin and I have had a lot of fun picking out handmade items mostly from Etsy but also from Paper N Stitch, Craftsbury Kids, and Mahar Dry Goods. (Certainly not an exhaustive list of places where you can buy handmade items).
The first of our gift guides – and probably the biggest because we’re experts in this category (!) – is Gifts For Her. We hope these ideas give you some inspiration for your holiday gift giving.
The Letter Bag ($118) by Moop
The Orange Book print ($18) by LilyMoon
Bird Cupcake Stand ($38) by Whitney Smith Pottery
Pink and Cream Plaid Set of 4 Notecards ($7.50) by Olive Manna
Amoeba in an Oval Necklace ($35) by Starving Artist Bazaar
Chalk Cloth Table Topper ($21) by Modern June
Clouds Are Raining Happily Medium-Sized Pitcher/Jug ($35) by Ninainvorm
Block-printed Medium Lampshade – “Minileaves” ($80) by Home Sweet
Letterpress Recipe Cards and Recipe Box ($46) by 1canoe2
“Today is Awesome” print ($20) by The Small Object
“Birdies on Chairs” Fabric ($8.50 for a fat quarter) by Scarlet Fig
Personalized Loveheart Notecards, Set of 12 ($18) by modernemotive
Low Wide Coper Bowl ($200) by Jill Rosenwald
Little Black House ($30) by Nora Aoyagi
Dachshund Wall Hanging, two 8 x 10 panels ($45) by BellaBlu Designs
Bird Planter ($48) by PrettyRandomObjects
Wide Collar Wrapped Blouse ($93) by Moon Circus
Brown and White Striped Vintage Ribbon Belt ($25) by Jessie Chapman
See anything you liked?
Tomorrow: Gifts for Him
October 30, 2009
· Filed under Holidays, Kids, Molly · Tagged Halloween
Halloween parades are fun.
Is it time to open the bags of Halloween candy yet? I could use a Butterfinger.
October 30, 2009
· Filed under Family Fun, Holidays, Molly · Tagged Halloween costumes, Pippi Longstocking, punk rocker costume, Rubik's cube, Super Mario costume, sushi costume, Valley Girl costume
I rustled up some old Halloween photos of me (of which there aren’t too many), Rolando, and the girls.
Kindergarten. Scary witch mask!
First grade. That’s me in the polka dot clown costume facing the camera. Do you see me? My town mixed a bunch of candy into a pile of hay in front of the five and dime store, and then had all the kids scramble for it. Who thought THAT was a good idea?
Rolando and his sister Diana. Scariest clown ever. The stuff of nightmares.
Fourth grade. You have no idea how proud I was of this costume, which I made all by myself. To clarify, the color in this photo stinks, because the two sides you see are orange and pink (and not both pink).
Nice bangs!
Punk rock love in California.
Valley Girl love in Indiana. (That’s me on the far left. My sister spray painted polka dots into my hair.)
Elena as Snow White’s evil stepmother. Rosa as a butterfly.
Waiting for it to get dark.
Elena as Pippi Longstocking.
From last year, Elena as a sushi roll and Rosa as Super Mario.
This is the first year I won’t be making any part of their costumes. Their grandmother bought them flamenco dresses in Spain, which they wanted to wear for Halloween. Pictures to follow soon.
I hope everyone has a fantastic, warm and sunny Halloween filled with only the best candy (i.e. no Good n Plenty!)
***
Starting to think about the holidays?
Karin and I have been collecting our favorite gift ideas. Starting on Monday, we’re bumping our regularly scheduled blog posts for two weeks’ worth of handmade holiday gift and stocking stuffer guides and as well as a holiday card round-up. Stay tuned! Lots of fun and pretty things for you to see!
October 29, 2009
· Filed under Design, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Molly, Pretty Things, Stationery & Paper Goods · Tagged 2010 calendars, Night Owl Paper Goods, Owls, stationery, woodland animals
Just as a follow up to my 2010 calendar round-up, I wanted to share some pics from Night Owl Paper Goods and their Critter Calendar, which I already own and adore, and the Pattern Calendar, which is also lovely.
I love the April duckies and the August otter.
The calendars (as well as many of their single notecards/postcards) are printed on eco-friendly yellow birch wood which has been sustainably harvested (yay!).
Here’s the Pattern Calendar:
I especially love those blue/green/yellow flowers of October.
If you follow them on Twitter, they often have one day sales which you can take advantage of, and visit the sale section of their website for some really good deals.
Night Owl also designs for Tiny Prints. You might remember that not long after Christmas last year, I totally fell in love with these Valentine’s Day cards:
So, yeah, I’m pretty much a big fan of Night Owl. Can you tell?
October 26, 2009
· Filed under Crafty!, D.I.Y., Holidays, Kids, Molly · Tagged Cardstore, easy halloween costumes, no sew Halloween costumes, sushi costume
This sushi costume (all Elena’s idea) is the easiest Halloween costume I’ve ever made, and it’s probably also the one I’ve gotten the most compliments on, too. No sewing necessary.
Here’s what you need (feel free to experiment with colors!):
Enough of each to wrap around your kid’s body (like maybe a yard and a half):
- Black or dark green fleece
- White fleece (the kind that has some texture, like a sheep, to resemble rice)
- Salmon colored fleece
Some large safety pins
A couple of strips of the black fleece for tying the roll around the body
Put the layers of fleece on top of each other (black on bottom, then white, then salmon), pin them together at the ends (not totally necessary, but just in case), roll them around your kid’s body, then tie with a couple of strips of the black fleece (which is stretchy and makes an excellent tie).
Add some chopsticks and a wasabi colored t-shirt and you’re good to go!
With my permission, the Cardstore entered this costume (and Rosa’s Super Mario costume) into their Silliest Costume Contest. If you like it, vote for it on their Facebook fan page (see the link in their blog post – and you have become a fan of Cardstore on Facebook to vote). The costume with the most “likes” wins a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card. That would be a nice thing to have, but you have to vote today (and you have to vote a bunch, because so far it’s only got a couple of votes!)
Happy Monday!
October 12, 2009
· Filed under Crafty!, Family Fun, Holidays, Kids Crafts, Molly · Tagged Halloween crafts, lift-the-flap craft, easy crafts for kids
This lift-the-flap haunted house craft is something I used to do all the time when I was a kid. I don’t know if I learned at school, or I made up on my own, but it’s a fun and easy craft.
You’ll need:
- Construction paper
- Glue
- Scissors
- X-acto knife, or small sharp scissors
- Markers/crayons/colored pencils
- Stickers (optional)
Step 1:
Draw freehand, or use a template to cut out the outline of a haunted house. I printed this one out, then drew it freehand on a piece of black construction paper
Step 2:
Take a white or silver colored pencil and draw some windows in the house
Step 3:
For some windows, use an x-acto knife or small sharp scissors and cut out three sides (for the lift-the-flap windows). If you want to have open windows too, just cut out the whole outline. Once you have cut out the windows/doors, flip the house over (so you don’t see your pencil lines) and glue the house onto another sheet of construction paper. Orange makes it spookier, but white makes it easier to draw the crazy characters who will appear behind the flaps.
Step 4:
Draw your scary creatures behind the windows and doors and decorate the rest of the page too. We used a combination of drawing and stickers. I resisted getting out the glitter.
This is a fun book for learning how to draw goofy monsters:
Here’s Rosa making her haunted house:
Creak creak creak creak! Go away!
Of course, this same idea can be adapted for other designs: a gingerbread house, a cute country cottage, an apartment building in the big city. I have in mind the idea to make a little woodland animal/fairy cottage scene for Elena.
Elena, meanwhile, was not so much into spooky Halloween scenes. She was too busy making portraits of her Little People (of the vintage Fisher Price variety). How cute is this?
One of the easiest ways to get crafty with the kids is to take a big roll of white paper (I get mine at the teacher supply store), tape it to the top of the table and let them draw whatever they want. They love it.
When the trees and sun are happy, the whole world is happy.
