family and friends

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? Do you have one? It’s a replica of a vintage 1950s elf ornament (which I love). Elf on the Shelf comes with a story book for the kids that talks about how this magic elf has come from The North Pole to be Santa’s eyes and ears. He magically comes to life each night and travels back to the North Pole to report back to Santa (after the children have all gone to bed of course). He returns each morning and mischievously hides in a new spot in the house — ready for the children to find him.

My kids are absolutely fascinated with this elf. My oldest named him Mark when we brought him home last year. Sure enough, Mark “somehow” appeared in a new location in the house each morning and the kids had a ball hunting for him each day until he went back to live with Santa on Christmas Eve.

Well Mark showed back up the other day for the first time this holiday season and he’s been “returning” every morning in rather unusual places. This morning he showed up in the butter compartment in the refrigerator. Pretty “cool” hiding spot, but he’s got 9 more places to hide before Christmas Eve. Any hiding place suggestions for Mark? (Leave a comment. Mark and I could use the help.) A friend of mine suggested the dryer. Maybe Mark does need a good fluff and fold.

Happy Christmas!

If you aren’t familiar with the term pram or know it only by name and not by reputation, let me share with you all the vintage goodness of the perambulator (what a mouth full) — better known as pram for short.

First, a little history… Before 1800, babies were seldom carried outside of the home. When transporting babies was necessary, they were swaddled in clothing or, among the upper classes, carried by nannies. Prams were introduced in the early 1800s and by mid-century, they had become status symbols across Europe and Northern America. It wasn’t until the 1920s that prams became common in all social groups. Although prams were quite popular in their day, the design of strollers and carriers became more modern and convenient — eventually causing the pram to become cumbersome and obsolete.

So you might be wondering, “Okay, they’re vintage and really cool, but what could possibly be the practical use for an oversized vintage baby carriage?”

Good question! And besides the fact that pushing one down the sidewalk will surely make you the hippest vintage mom on the block, the bonus answer is, “Think bassinet.”

Both of my babies slept in a bassinet beside our bed for the first three months (a great helper when you’re nursing). And the wheels on that bassinet were a must for wheeling the little ones from room to room during the day without disturbing their naps. In hindsight, I wish I had thought to use a pram in place of that bassinet. What a wonderfully vintage experience that would have been! (Not to mention the great photo opportunities!!) It wasn’t until years later that I remembered this vintage pram my mom had used with my baby brother…

Although the quality of the photo is not the best, this photo is priceless. My mother custom made the red gingham bedding for the pram and the red gingham chicken mobile that’s hanging above. How adorable is that? If you squint, you can even see the silhouette of my tiny baby brother (born April 1980). She wheeled him everywhere in this thing and even took him for an occasional stroll through the neighborhood.

It was kind of ironic when Krista (see previous post) sent me photos of the vintage pram she used for her son, Shiloh. The funny thing is, I had already started research on this post about vintage prams. (Great timing, Krista!) Krista also used Shiloh’s pram (below) in place of a bassinet and once he could sit up, it was a great photo op as well!

I love the embroidered vintage car below. It works perfectly with the vintage travel theme Krista used in Shiloh’s nursery.

So maybe you’re open to the possibilities of a pram? Many people are taking advantage of these vintage ‘hot rods’, and as much as I would recommend researching them as an option, always be careful in your selection of vintage items that will be used for baby. Be sure any pram you are considering is in excellent, sturdy condition and safe for baby.

For more information and a slew of gorgeous photos of vintage prams, the Prams Perfect Prams blog is a great resource. You won’t believe how many varieties there are.

I’d like to share with you guys a favorite photograph. No, it’s not me. This was years before I came around. This is my mom and big sis, Easter 1969. You gotta love the Easter cake that was surely made from scratch… And the chocolate bunny that looks way more appetizing than anything I saw on the shelf this year… And how about the poodle in the corner… And of course the little ‘peep’ in her Sunday Best with a young momma and her fancy ‘do’. Makes your heart (and the chocolate bunny) melt a little, you know?

Wishing all my bloggie buddies a very happy Easter. Count your blessings and take lots of photos of your little ‘peeps’. You never know which one just might show up in a blog 40 years from now.

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog for a while, you’ll remember Baby James (brand new son of my dear friend, Renee) and his arrival back on 11/11. I had been itching to get my hands on him (5-hour commute) and was finally able to do just that over these last few days.

I took every opportunity to spoil him rotten. Sleep on my chest for over an hour so you can get away with sleeping on your stomach? No problem. Christen me during diaper changing? You got it. Want to be held ALL the time? Your wish is my command. I loved it. Every second with him reminded me of the first few fleeting months I had with my own sweet little man, Aidan.

Renee is totally smitten with her new little boy. No surprise there. But what I think catches every new mom off guard a little, is when that tiny fist wraps around your finger for the first time and you wonder how your world could have ever been complete before he came into it.

As for James, he’s already charming the ladies. See for yourself… (Check out his personalized elephant onesie. You’ll never guess where that came from.)

Hey there. It’s been a while. The ‘Handmade Held Hostage’ situation has thrown us for a loop around here. Thanks for all of the incredible support and rallying that the crafting community has created — literally on a dime. I’m very optimistic that our voices will be heard and revisions will be made to the law.

I wanted to share Part 2 of my Crafting for Christmas posts. A few years back, my siblings (one sis, one bro) and I decided that we would only exchange gifts if we all agreed not to go out and spend a lot of money, but instead we would each make something. Well, that wasn’t a big stretch for my sister or myself, but the two of us were very curious to see what my brother would come up with. Paper airplanes? Toxic brownies?

In the back of my mind, I already knew what I wanted to do. I had had good intentions (for years) to make a large Santa-style family loot bag. We often do a lot of traveling around the holidays. It was a pain trying to load up all the presents each time (usually in a laundry basket), making sure none got left behind and all arrived safely. So I thought it would be handy and kind of cool to have a personalized family loot bag that we could load up with the appropriate presents ahead of time, grab it and go. Great idea, right? But I never did it until the year of the “sibling handmade challenge”. That gave me the motivation to get it done and I liked the idea of all three of our families having one.

I had a lot of fun making them. Again, I love that applique and gingham! I used some drapery weight fabric to make each bag and large satin rope to create the drawstring that cinches closed. The top of each bag folds down to make a big cuff with pom-pom trim added to the edge. As far as the applique design, I just went for it — cutting shapes out of the fabric freehand. I had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like, but you could also sketch your design out on tracing paper first. I added some fun trim and buttons and voila! Here’s my sister’s bag:

Now, when we meet at our parents’ house for the holidays, the loot bags are in tow. And the best part is, when all the gifts have been opened, we load up the bags with the gifts we’ve received and know exactly which bag to grab when it’s time to head home.

BTW, for that “sibling handmade challenge”, my sis drew a portrait of Gracie & Aidan that I treasure. Brother cheated and bought us gifts! Should have known!

After Master Aidan was born in 2005, I kind of knew he was going to be the caboose of the family, so to speak. When I was little, I always said I was going to have 10 children when I grew up. I’d still love to have those 10 kids in theory, but in practice, maybe not. Two kiddies, two parents. We try to keep an even playing field around here.

So anyway, we had little Aidan that July and I really wanted to make stockings for Christmas that year. Wasn’t really sure how at first. I just knew that ideally I wanted them to look somewhat vintage and I wanted to like them enough to keep using them until the kids are grown — in the hopes that one day they’ll be reminders of happy childhood Christmases and their mom’s limited sewing skills. (Read my soapbox about that topic in the previous post.)

Before I give you the 411 about crafting these stockings, let me just insert an opinion here: Applique and zigzag stitching is the greatest thing ever! I decided to sketch out my own patterns to applique and had a lot of fun mixing different fabrics. I used antique white felt for the stocking itself and lined it with green gingham. (Gingham is the other greatest thing ever.) I embellished each one with buttons and frills and big jingle bells at the toes for good measure.

Now the ‘monogramming’ was tricky. I don’t monogram, so I had to figure out a way to monogram without monogramming — hence, the tricky part. I found some small gold wire ribbon that I twisted into names and handstitched them in place with clear thread. Pretty smart, eh? (It took me forever to figure something out that would work. Don’t give me too much credit.)

Here’s some close-ups of the results…

I keep hearing that song on the radio. We have a station here that plays nothing but Christmas music throughout December (you probably have one of those too). Seems like every time I turn it on, Julie Andrews is belting this one out. I never really considered it a Christmas song or Sound of Music (one of my all-time favorites) a Christmas movie, but okay. Works for me. In the movie, I guess the children are preparing for a holiday concert if I remember it right. I’m way over-thinking this. Moving on…

My favorite things… I’ve kind of been on a hunt the last several years in search of vintage ornaments similar to those that were on our tree when I was a kid. My mother sold all our ornaments in a garage sale years ago. (She knows I love to give her flack about this.) We lived several states apart at the time, so I didn’t even know about the horror until long after the fact. Her reasoning? She wanted to ‘start fresh’ with the tree. And I get that, I do. But it kills me to think about it. I can still remember our tree vividly from all those Christmases growing up. My mom even HANDMADE a bunch of those original ornaments (felt gingerbread men, bells, santas, etc.). How could she sell them a decade later at a garage sale for 25 cents? Can you tell this is a sore spot for me? Don’t get me wrong. My mom is the greatest and she did hang on to sentimental things from our childhood. Unfortunately, the tree stuff — the stuff she made — just wasn’t among them. The upside is that the whole incident reminded me that stuff is just stuff. And it also made me realize that sometimes that stuff can hold childhood memories for the little ones we love most.

My kids may or may not grow up to be the sentimental sap their mom is, but in case they are, I’m making a conscious effort to keep small reminders of their past.

Favorite #1: Vintage Elf: Is he the cutest thing or what? Found him and a few of his buddies at a flea market last year. He’s a total flashback from my childhood. The cool thing is that at the base of his head he has this candy cane-wrapped wire that you can actually twist around the branch of the tree rather than your standard hooks.

Favorite #2: Vintage Stocking: Yep. This is the real deal. This held my very own loot from Santa every year when I was little. Mom held on to this one! It’s made from red felt and lace. Gold glitter sequins spell out my name. It actually inspired me to make handmade stockings for my own family that we now use every year. I’ll have to share them with you in a future post.

Favorite #3: Vintage Santa: Check out this jolly vintage Santa. I was able to grab him and an entire bag of his clones at an estate sale a few years back for $5! Score! Just like the elf, his hat is felt and he has that hard plastic face reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. He also has a fluffy spun cotton beard and his ‘made in japan’ label on the back.

Just as a side note, you’ll probably also notice in this photo that we have a ‘fake’ Christmas tree. I ADORE live Christmas trees. They are beautiful and smell wonderful. And I admire my friends that use them. I know that picking out the tree every year is a tradition for lots of families. If I had any sort of green thumb, I’d probably be tempted to go that route myself. But I don’t. And that makes them a pine-needles-everywhere, fire-hazard nightmare that scares me to death. So I’ll have to stick to enjoying them from afar.

Favorite #4: Vintage Christmas Place Card Holders: I keep telling myself that I’m going to use these at a big Christmas dinner, but so far it hasn’t happened. We usually go to the grandparents’ house for big family dinners, so I haven’t had the chance. I’ve also thought about using them in an altered art project. I found them in mint condition in their original box and couldn’t resist the urge. They’re really tiny. Only about 1-1/2″ tall.

We’re back from our week-long trip to see Mickey. We had a great time, but I can’t tell you how good it feels to be home. There’s something to be said for sleeping in your own bed, showering in your own shower, eating in your own kitchen…

I’ve got tons of photos from our trip that I’m sure I’ll share in later posts, but just wanted to let you all know that we made it back safe and sound.

Christmas apparently snuck up on us while we were away. When we arrived home last night, we were greeted with Christmas lights all over the neighborhood. Clearly we have some catching up to do. I’m itching to write about vintage Christmas ideas too, just as soon as I can get settled back in, wash about 10 loads of laundry from the trip, start and finish a class project with Grace, and deck the halls with boughs of holly. It’s great to be home.

After months and months of childlike anticipation, the day is finally here. We’ve officially hit the road on our way to that place where wishes really do come true (if you’re age 3, that is) – Walt Disney World. Wish us luck on our 10-hour road trip of endless bathroom breaks, bickering siblings, and answering the ‘are we there yet’ question about a gazillion times. It’s gonna be great!

Never fear! I haven’t left you empty-handed in my absence. I can’t spill the beans completely, but let me just say there will be a very special post on Thanksgiving Day. Feel FREE to stop by. Catch my drift?

Hope all of you have a fabulous Thanksgiving. I’m sure I will come back with a ton of stories and more photos than I know what to do with. Talk to you soon!

D

[ Shop Note: The shop will remain open while I'm away. Orders for in-stock items placed Thanksgiving week will ship on 12/1/08. ]

Baby James was born today, 11/11/08, at 12:57pm! He weighed in at 7lbs, 15 ounces and 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great. We live about 5 hours away, so I’m dying to get my hands on him! Had to share the news. In case you have no clue who Baby James is, catch up on the ‘vintage nautical saga’ here and here.

Welcome to the world, little one!

[Since I don't have any pics yet of the baby, here's a pic from the day of Renee's baby shower when I gave her the now infamous vintage sailor coloring book. Renee also sent me a pic of his nursery with some other vintage finds: a vintage children's book titled Teddy's Sailboat and a set of vintage glass nursery jars that have the cutest baby graphics on them. The big paper maché 'J' was a decoupaged table centerpiece from her shower.]