{Little Shoes for Little Feet}

Like I mentioned before, I've been sewing a lot. And it seems that all I'm sewing lately are patterns for baby related items. While I have no kiddos, everyone else seems to be adding new additions to their family, and it's keeping my fingers busy.

These are the most adorable little cloth baby shoes. The pattern is relatively easy, and free to download here (thank you Michael Miller Fabrics and this lovely blog). The great thing about this pattern is that all the pieces are so small it's a great project to do with all those scraps of fabric you can't bear to throw out, but don't know what to do with.

The pattern says it fits babies from 0-6 months. I would suggest that it can be altered as far as materials go. Skip the bonded fleece (I used what I had on hand--standard felt) and interfacing, or substitute with what ever you have and all will turn out fine. In essence this is a basic pattern that can be used to make casual lightweight slippers or bulked up with leather bottoms for a dressier look.

Either way your baby will be adorable in them. These green polka dot and pink striped booties are going to a special little someone due this Fall. Meanwhile, if you're curious about what other people have done with the pattern, check out this Flickr group!

{Petite Treats}

Yes, the evil empire that is Starbucks is my arch nemesis. I don't even want to know how much money we spend a month there. I think i'd have a heart attack. Between me and the hubby we have been known to visit TWICE in one day. (Well, a coffee in the morning, then one in the afternoon for a pick me up...) Horrible, I know. Even more costly is the urge to add a pastry or scone to your drink order, and Oh, I often do. Especially those Petite Vanilla Scones. Those are my favvvvv. Well, I searched the web for a copycat version, and got a few different ones.

Going by picture, texture, and ingredients, I modified one recipe a little, and came out with a VERY good replica. These vanilla scones are spot on in flavor, and appearance, however the texture is a tad (I mean very minimally) lighter. The Starbuck's ones are dense while light (does that make sense???), and these ones are on the lighter side, a tad less dense. Perhaps I'll reduce the amount of baking powder next time, that might do it. Overall these are amazing! Make them and you'll be pleasantly surprised, and so will your wallet.

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup of full fat sour cream

1 large egg yolk

1/2 vanilla bean (pod split, seeds removed)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze

1/2 Vanilla Bean (pod split, seeds removed. other half of bean used in dough)

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Heavy cream as needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Whisk together dry ingredients

3. Using any method you prefer, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until flour resembles coarse meal.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg yolk, vanilla bean insides, and vanilla extract until blended. Add this to the flour-butter mixture and mix on low until dough forms a cohesive ball. Use a spatula to get the dry bits fully incorporated. (It may seem a bit sticky, but this is the texture you want.)

5. Pat dough on a floured surface into a disk about 1-inch in height. Cut into 1.5 inch triangles. Place the pieces on silpat or ungreased baking sheets.

6. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top.

7. Prepare glaze while scones are baking

8. Place powdered sugar and the other half of the scraped vanilla bean seeds in a medium bowl, and add water/heavy cream one teaspoon at a time, mixing vigorously until smooth and runny.

9. Use a pastry brush to apply a thin layer of glaze over the cooled scones. Brushing rather than drizzling gives a smoother appearance and requires less glaze. Reapply glaze once the first coat had dried to the touch.

10. Serve immediately. Store cooled scones in an airtight container. Or freeze unglazed scones for future use.

{Sunny Yellow Birthday Wishes}

I've been sewing lately. With all the babies coming this fall, and summer birthdays I've been busy. This bag is for one of my best friends, (I'll keep it anonymous in case she's reading). The pattern is the Amy Butler Birdie Sling, a simple to make bag that has enough room to keep all your summer items close. Really, this thing could fit a towel, sunscreen, several magazines, and a change of clothes, it's that big. And I love it. The first time I made this bag...well, you can read about that adventure for yourself. Inside the bag are a few goodies, a pair of cloth baby shoes, and a bib. Just for fun. Hm...hope that doesn't give it away.

{Homemade & Handwritten}

For a while now I've been on the hunt for new recipe cards. My recipe box is scattered with torn, stained, and faded recipe cards that are close to unreadable. My only problem, is that I am looking for a highly personalized, cute and cheap card to replace them. I found a few that fit one or two of the said requirements, but not all three.These and these (oh and these) are very good options, and I would love to have any of them, but they are lacking in the third requirement, cheap. And don't we all know that that is the most important (at least in my case it is).

The internet does have a plethora of free downloadable cards to choose from, but they lack in personalization and design...so I decided to make my own. A perfect solution to my 3 requirements! I made three different designs choosing only one in the end. Inspiration for the last design came from this stationary I found on Etsy, and it was my design choice for the new cards. I found the vector clip art for free online, and arranged images/changed colors in Photoshop. I also added a monogram to the design and some lines for neater recipe writing. My printer prints on a variety of paper sizes, so I put 3x5 index cards directly into the machine and out came my new cards!

The most tedious part came when I transfered all my recipes to my new cards. We both know that handwritten is so much more charming than typed, it took me a few hours, but the end result was worth it. I now have a completely new set of recipe cards that I love!

{Bebes Pt. Deux}

As promised, here are a menagerie of photos that would be great to base a boy baby shower off of. If any of my currently preggo friends end up having a boy this idea gallery will definitely come to life. My ideas here stem from an outdoorsy-woodland theme. A whimsical forest table with touches of faux bois, polka dots, sky blue, yellow tinged green, brown and grey. There is so much that can be done with texture alone in this category! I thought that bringing in yellowed green and vibrant blue would tone down the "nature" factor while keeping the whole thing fresh and young. I definitely want the whole thing to stay away from having a "camping" feel, but rather am going for an "Alice In Wonderland-foresty-chic" kinda thing...that makes sense right???

{Bebes}

So, I'm not sure what they (whoever "they" are) have been putting in the water, but as of lately there seems to be a lot of people around me either, a.) getting pregnant or b.) having babies. The abrupt news has caught me off guard, and definitely lit a fire under my crafty/sewing little behind.

One batch of baby goodies consisting of: a reversible changing pad, bibs, cloth balls/stuffies/toys, and baby blanket has been whipped up and given to little Jeremiah, the first to arrive, to use.

I also have been doing a lot of scouring on the internet and in blog world for ideas and pics of charming baby shower ideas. I'll be throwing at least one, attending who knows how many this upcoming year and the ideas are endless.

My best friend is expecting her first baby in November, and although there are still a few weeks before the sex of the baby is known I have been compiling ideas for both girl and boy focused showers. I apologize but I don't have references for these pictures, they are a miss-match of photos i've been collecting in a folder on my desktop for a while now.

The collage above is my idea of the perfect outdoor tea and dessert shower for a girl. The pink, white and green colors, as well as subtle butterfly theme would be great for this summer. Lots of color, girly detail, and french macaroons sounds to me like the perfect way to celebrate the mom to be.

Boy shower ideas coming soon!

{In Bloom}

Finally the tulip bulbs I planted last fall have come up through the ground and are in full bloom. Thanks to the beautiful California weather we've been getting a lot of blooms in the last 4 weeks. This was my first time planting a bed of tulips, and I am so glad I did. My only disappointment is that the bag of bulbs were supposed to be various colors, and each one came up the same beautiful red and white. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Next up i'll have to share my organic spring vegetable garden, which though small, is my favorite part of the yard. Happy gardening!

{Pink and Brown}

For the longest while I've been dreaming of a space that I could call mine. Somewhere where I can create, sew and leave scraps of fabric lying around without anyone complaining. I've been scouring Flickr and a host of other blogs for craft room ideas. A few months ago our room mate moved out and our guest room was available for me to finally move my craft stuff into! I only took a corner of space, so that we can still have guests stay over, but it's the perfect area for my creative needs! The room actually gets great natural light, though it doesn't seem to translate in these photos.

I played around with a color scheme, and finally chose pink and brown. I wanted the space to be uniform in color and storage, and because it is a small section of the room it needed to have a very organized look. Plus, I like to keep things neat  and tidy. Though it is hard to see, the color on the walls in the room is a pale green and the contrast is nice.

The white table was a hand me down from my mom, and I primed, painted and sealed it myself. I love the clean look it gives. The chair however needs to GO! I hate it, and am on the hunt for the perfect chair to paint and recover. The space definitely needs it! It's a little hard to see, but on the wall to the right are two pictures framed. They look like this, and this. 

This crummy picture (sorry about that) shows the shelf above my table, it holds my magazines, a few boxes of crafting supplies, cans wrapped in decorative paper (to hold pens, paint brushes and extra stuff), as well as a haphazardly placed stack of felt and fabric. 

My peg board was bought at home depot, cut to size (thanks husband!), primed and painted the same color white as the table. It holds all my craft tools, scissors, hole punches, etc... The letter "L" is for my name, and both it and the small clipboard below it were covered in decorative paper. You'll see a sneak peak of some of the paper cutting I've been doing on the bulletin board, which I'm eventually planning on covering in this brown woodgrain fabric. I may just make a matching cozy cover for my sewing machine too!

Finally my 70's sewing machine. I love this thing! It may be a little dated, but it works great and is in great condition. In real life it is a soft buttery yellow color with a contrasting yellow based cream color. It's not fancy, but gets the job done. And it does look awful cute. The hideous office/table lamp is a "make do" until I find something else that fits the space. I'm on a constant search for the perfect fit.

So, this is it, a work in progress, but somewhere I can call my own! I'd love to see pics of your craft/sewing/creative space, so if you have one please leave a link!

{Dreamland}

I usually don't focus on fashion related items (perhaps I should more, since I have such an interest in them), but I had to post these pictures. I want to live here, permanently. These new pics from the Anthro homepage are absolutely gorgeous, and I would love to be found wearing any of these beautiful things. I spend way too much time endlessly searching their web site dreaming of being surrounded by all the beauty that is Anthropologie. My wish list is updated weekly (and rarely comes to fruition) but it is an addicting dreamland. You could say i'm slightly obsessed. That flower, that scarf, that necklace, sigh........

{Little Darlings}

Here in the craft blog world we're used to seeing homemade dolls. Heck, if you do a search on Etsy you'll find thousands of them. This pattern is a basic one that, this gifted and wildly well known blogger, has made very popular. You can even get the pattern here if you want to make a small flock of them for yourself. The pattern is fun to make, and the opportunities to be creative with it are endless. I've made a few, given a few as gifts, and given myself a few. This one sits around my sewing area reminding me to make more of them! P.S. Overlook the linty scraps of thread!