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So we had our last Halloween parade today and boy, did they get lots of treats! Don’t get it…why do people feel the need to give 1.5-3 year olds candy??? Why, oh why? I know…what’s Halloween without candy but don’t they know that crazy people like me don’t give their kids candy yet? and what shall I tell my kids? that they are toys? treats to smell and hold? things that will make their tummy ache? things you can eat when you get bigger?
So sad…but yes, these are all things my husband and I tell our kids 
But seriously, they will have tons of opportunities to eat candy when they get older so I’m going to hold out as long as I can! My kids will be the kindergardeners who tell their friends that candies are things that will make their tummy ache 
I felt a tad bit guilty about it all so I let them eat all the cookies and other treats that their friends gave them. How long do you think I can keep up this charade?
Hope you all are having a wonderful Halloween! I can’t wait until tonight when we go trick or treating! I will be counting down to bedtime so I can gobble up all their candy!!!
big sis
Lil sis and I give each other an update at least once a day on our progress…doll making, of course. It’s funny, b/c I get so freaked out when she tells me that she is almost where I’m at. Don’t ask; I don’t know why. I guess I think that I should be further along. So I thought I should give you a peek.
This was taken at the beginning of the week…before all the Halloween festivities. And here is where I’m at now.
Doesn’t look like much has happened huh You can’t really tell in the picture but I am almost done stuffing the 17 girls and hoping to move on to painting and accessorizing them this weekend and next. I’m absolutely sure it will take me longer than that b/c I have a few ideas up my sleeve. Let’s see if I can make them happen.
I was rushing to my TV last night expecting to watch Grey’s when I couldn’t find it on my Tivo. I almost freaked! Then I realized it was only Wednesday Guess Wed are good days to catch up on my Oprah and Martha. I must say…I LOVE LOVE LOVE Oprah. I don’t know what it is about her but I just love watching most of her shows. Some I could do without. I was watching the one with Celine Dion and the kids and anytime I watch any kind of show with kids and illnesses, I have to get my tissue box. This one was no exception. I was almost bawling (while stuffing my dolls). I had to stop stuffing b/c I didn’t want my tears to POSSIBLY stain the dolls (knowing very well that it wouldn’t but you never know).
Happy Halloween Eve! (if there is such a thing)
big sis
I’ve been trying to create a banner for our shop for the past two months, but I’ve been VERY unsuccessful…I’m horrible with Photoshop. There were plenty of attempts, but we just couldn’t get it right. We decided to create an alchemy request for our banner because we had a design in mind. Alchemy is awesome because you decide on the price, and you have talented etsy users bid on your request and at times with an even lower price! We received about 25+ bids, and we finally went with 22lilies because her style matched our design.
22lilies aka Jennifer was lovely to work with, and her work can be found here. She was so patient with us, and she re-did our banner several times until we were 100% satisfied. This was the end result:
We’re so pleased with how it came out!
-lil sis
I am barely surviving this week. and it’s only TUESDAY!
Let me give you a recap…
Husband has been a bit itchy since last week and then starting getting these funny looking spots on his chest. He left for a conference on Monday morning following a quick dr’s visit. Diagnosis? SHINGLES!!! Yes, he is under the age of 50! I think…actually I know his shingles came about from stress. I was so worried about my kids and them getting chicken pox. Although they did get their pox vaccination, the nurse said that they can still get a mild case of chicken pox. So I am on the lookout for any signs of itchiness! They do however have another cold. Let’s see…that’s 3 colds in a matter of a month and a half.
Today was our first Halloween parade! What fun it was!!! I baked cookies last night for the teacher only to find that I was able to fit a few in this tiny container.
And I stamped about 30 of these (if you look carefully, I stamped them close together so it would look like they are holding hands!!! My kids’ names are under the little images. They are the cutest stamps!!!)
to put them here…
This was a first…I have never heard of a pumpkin hunt…
It was loads of fun! Even with their colds, my kids had alot of fun and couldn’t wait to come home and open their treats!
1 down, 2 more parades to go, 60 more labels to stamp. Hope you are having a great Tuesday!
big sis
I DID IT! I joined all the vultures and hit the Charles David Warehouse sale. The whole outing was timed perfectly. Afterall, my kids CANNOT skip their naps and they have NEVER napped anywhere else besides their cribs (with the exception of our 2 vacas). So I quickly dropped them off at my in-laws and headed over to Culver City. I was expecting the worse and I’m not a good “digger”…you know those people? those people who can dig through a sale and find lots and lots of things while you quickly peruse the area and get all giddy when you find ONE THING!
Lil sis was all excited for me too (and for herself). She’s one crazy mama! She is swollen to the max! and yet she still wants me to find some shoes for her…with the hopes that her feet will “unswell” back to pre-pregnancy size or close to.
I’m lucky that I have small feet! I found some heels and a pair for my sis, but really where am I going to wear these heels? Rationalized the purchase by telling myself that one of my g-friends will get married soon. And I can always plan a date night with my husband. In the end though, it was not worth the drive or my time. AND MY TIME IS PRECIOUS! I never give away my time unless it is truly worth giving and sharing
Oh well! You live and you learn. I’ll have to brainstorm some other places to wear my pretties!
big sis
This weather is driving me crazy! Normally I love the weather here in sunny Los Angeles, but c’mon! We are nearing the end of November and it is reaching almost 90 degrees here! Just complaining b/c we had two field trips with our mommy and me classes to pumpkin patches and it was unbearably HOT! So hot that even I did not want to look for that perfect pumpkin. My daughter who is a bit like me cannot stand the heat. She chooses to stay indoors if it’s anything above 73 degrees! So you can only imagine how she has been at our outings. Ugh! Hating the terrible 2’s right now. And really why is it just the 2’s…isn’t all beyond-fussy, pouty, tantrumming, crying, screaming-at-the-top-of-your-lungs kind of behaviors just terrible at any age??!!!???!!! I say that b/c I think hers started from about 1.5 years old and it only seems to be getting worse Yes, it is only a phase I keep telling myself but my biggest fear that it’s NOT!
On the flip side, my son…my poor son. He has been getting into accidents NON-STOP! 2 weeks ago, he was goofing around, dancing, and spinning himself when he lost control and fell on our ottoman. It would have been fine if he had landed on top but of course, he hit the side and the side of his face got all bruised up. He looked like he had a black eye for a few days. That has been slowly healing. Yesterday, he took a fall down a few steps and landed on the SAME side and got all bruised up again. That fall scared the crap out of me and I had to consult with his nurse. You just never know…I was so scared for him to go down for his nap until the nurse called me back. What was scarier is that she called it a “head injury”. TODAY…we were eating lunch and he decides to play with his plastic spoon while it’s in his mouth and he managed to get it wedged in his mouth!!! My mother-in-law had to pry it out! OMG, Calgon, take me away!
What is going on with my kids? SERENITY NOW!
My husband’s timing is impeccable. While I will be busy busy busy sewing my life away he will be out of town for 4 consecutive weeks. Yes, you read that correctly, 1 month. It’s worse than it sounds. He travels anywhere from 2-4 days during the week but STILL! Will I make it through this holiday season without getting any more white hairs? My sis’ friend found my first white hair at the baby shower; she was nice enough to yank it out for me!
Sorry for all the complaints. This weather is getting to me and making me extra sleepy and irritable. Need to snap out of it soon. We have 3 Halloween parades/parties we are getting ready for and by “getting ready” I mean making goody bags. With my recent discovery that I do not have any time (sarcasm here), I had to give up on making Martha’s oh-so-cute jack-o-lanterns. Don’t think we didn’t try. My mother-in-law attempted several but it was just too time consuming and too small to fit anything into it. And PLEASE will a 2-year-old really care? I know, just trying to make myself feel better Hopefully, my cute lil Minnie and handsome Buzz Lightyear will have loads of fun dressing up in 80 degree weather!
Here’s to hoping my next post will be a happier and cheerful one!
big sis
This mess is also my work area…sigh. I have set up an assembly line for making my dolls for the upcoming fairs, and I am driving myself crazy. I’m not as neat as big sis, but I definitely cannot stand a mess like this. Should I clean before I start sewing, or should I just complete the big sis dolls and then clean up after?
I’m counting down the days till I stop working! It’s so exciting to know that I’ll have 4 weeks (if Lila doesn’t come early) to just relax and take naps and catch up on my Oprah. And how can I forget, I’ll be busy finishing up the dolls and accessories. There will be more capelets, cute hats, and denim dresses this time around!
-lil sis
I know…so cheesy, but I can’t help myself. You know how hard it is to come with titles/song lyrics with the word “party” in it when you have a SUPER BAD memory???
Sorry for the late post. It was one of those days…a day when you start to question your parenting and wonder if everything you’re doing is all in vain? Anyways, I’m over it today and back to myself.
Food for my sis shower was a tough one. She’s not very particular but I knew I was not going to be able to make the food on my own with my time constraints. Although at one point of my planning, I did write down everything I would attempt to make. So after much thought, I chose Whole Foods. I know…not really a place you would consider huh? But let me tell you, I would DEFINITELY recommend it!
I ordered chicken salad and turkey sandwiches which they were able to make look like tea sandwiches. Also picked up Orange Sesame Chicken Tenders and Broccoli Crunch Salad (which I absolutely LOVED). We also had another salad, veggies/dip, cheese/crackers. Now for the best part…dessert!
If Jenn from JustJenn wasn’t going to cater the party, I had to do the next best thing…replicate some of her ideas.
Sleeping baby cupcakes! My sis friend offered to make the cupcakes and she did a wonderful job!
These were surprisingly a hit as well.
Mini rice crispy treats…made into balls and dipped into pink-colored chocolate!
The cake was SO ADORABLE. Of course, I ordered it! Did NOT EVEN FOR A SECOND think about baking one myself! From Beverly’s Best.
Interestingly enough, my sis used them for her wedding! Look how awesome they are? Does the design look familiar? It was a yummy marble cake with bavarian cream. Oh…it was yummy! My kids thought so too!
I’m going to throw in a few more pictures so I can finally be done with my sis shower! Here are a few other things I made.
These lil knitted booties came with a matching hat.
And that is it folks!
I’m switching gears…I have a little over a month to make tons of dolls and paperweights for the fairs. B/c of this and lots of other reasons, lil sis and I agreed that we will not be posting any more dolls in our shop. It is just too crazy! At this point, I am still taking custom orders (I say “I” b/c my sis does not have the time, unfortunately) but if it gets to be too much for me, I may also slow down and stop taking orders.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the “virtual” baby shower everyone!
big sis
Part II of my sis shower…
I love Martha Stewart’s pom-poms. I would have loved to do the big ones and hang them from the ceiling but 1) I rented a space for the shower and did not want to tear off paint from the walls/ceilings 2) the ceilings were HIGH! (which I wouldn’t have known since I received the clubhouse keys a few days before the shower so it’s a good thing I didn’t make them!) and 3) this is the most important reason…I have finally come to terms with my limitations. Even I must admit defeat
So I made the next best thing…the napkin rings!
Now what I would have done differently…(you can learn from all my mistakes!) Martha says to use floral wire, which I did, but I found that it was a bit pokey after tying them around the napkin. By then, all the flowers were made so there was no way I was going to redo them. But I would have probably used ribbon or maybe even curling ribbon instead of the wire. I had extra flowers so I incorporated them here.
I made some “Baby Bunch Bouquets” with some modifications, of course. These are the materials I used and found it be easier vs. using the stem wires.
I just wrapped up the wires with floral tape. And here is the end result. Too bad I didn’t take a picture from the top (MUST HONE MY PICTURE TAKING SKILLS!). It is a bit difficult to see the wrapped onesies but if you look hard, there is some white peeping out…those are the onesies
I don’t remember where I got this idea but it’s out there somewhere. I just took some cube-shaped boxes, wrapped them in white paper, added pastel strips, added letters to spell out “LILA” and voila! HUGE BABY BLOCKS!
I knew that people would only be able to see the front (where the letters are), the left side of the purple “L”, the right side of the “A” and the tops of the cubes so I covered them up. The rest of the sides are just white (saves lots of time!). In retrospect, I should have stuck with the color scheme but I ran out of supplies and time! Yes, 2 months of prepping was not enough…I kid.
Another thing I whipped up was drawstring baggies. Gosh, a tutorial would be helpful here but these were made late in the evening and I was barely awake myself…
I used muslin and spiced it up by adding a bit of color. I especially love the lil piggies! Bags had lil goodies inside and were the prizes for the games.
More to come tomorrow…let’s talk about food!!!
big sis
Big sis and I are proud to announce that we’ll be showcasing and selling our dolls at two Holiday fairs this year! Actually it will only be big sis manning the booths because I’ll either be 1.) resting up and anxiously awaiting for my water to break or 2.) taking care of our newborn Lila (yes, we have a name!).
The first fair:
Sun, November 23, 2008, 9am-3pm
BEARY BEST FRIENDS BOUTIQUE
Holiday Inn Buena Park: 7000 Beach Blvd., (714) 522-7000
The second fair:
Sat, December 6, 2008, 10am-4pm
HANDMADE BRIGADE HOLIDAY 2008
Tall Mouse: 13233 E. South Street, Cerritos (562) 865-0800
Please come visit if you’re in the area. We’re trying to think of some new doll ideas. We’ll also be selling some cute fabric covered buttons as well as SC and LA paperweights for all you Trojans and Bruins!
Christmas is right around the corner!
-lil sis
