Otto is zero!

Otto was kind enough to pose in his first monthly onesie, which is even cuter when worn by an adorable baby.  Check out the January 19th post for all 13 onesies...

creepy shop + awesome yardsticks = business card holders

I was on my way to do a training for my day job in Pittsfield, and I nearly veered off the road to check out a slightly creepy but cool looking shop.  Being the professional that I am, I continued along to the training and spoke authoritatively about all things legal.  Next chance I got, I returned to said creepy shop.  Lo and behold, 2 awesome, local, super old yardsticks netted me 3 new business card holders.  These are so fun to make and result in such a unique, useful item.

love the vintage font

look at that cool ampersand!

Dalton - home of super cool

Berkshire Barns

special measuring for fuel

that's good cooking...

We love doing custom orders - shoot us an email and tell us what you want on your yardstick business card holder!

month-by-month hand sewn onesies plus a cupcake

I've been excited to make month-by-month onesies since Laurie's twins were gifted with some when they were born (almost a year ago!).  Not only are onesies super practical baby presents (which I can tell you from experience are the best kind), but they are so great for snapping photos for a record of each month of babe's first year.  

I used our stash of vintage fabrics as well as those great pajama bags I scored at the Pine Cone Hill tent sale last fall.  You can hand sew them like I did, or applique them on.  I'm not a particularly sentimental person, but I almost got teary thinking about our new nephew Otto as he grows and changes over the next year.  And wondering which onesies would suffer from poop explosions.  

This is a super fun and easy activity to do at a baby shower.  We'll bring the fabric, onesies, and expertise.  Email us for the next shower you host!

All but the 1st birthday!

Don't forget zero!

today I am zero!

happy first birthday!

cupcake close-up

a little off balance, but even cuter that way

a basket of Otto goodies:

decoupaged blocks and hand sewn onesies

welcome, Otto!

there's a tricycle in your future!

fabric frames

I decided it was high time to display some pictures of Gus in my office.  The problem was deciding which of the 10 billion shots would be featured.  I found 3 that seem to capture his personality, and then grabbed some 50 cent tag sale frames I've been hanging on to.

While I was looking through some decoupage papers, I thought about how nicely my fabric tray came out:

Have I told you about this fabric?  I had a girls' day last summer, and while a great part of the day was spent on a strenuous hike up Mt. Greylock (ok, moderate...), we also visited the pine cone hill/dash and albert tent sale.  Oh my.  Did I say oh my?  Here's another one:  oh my.  I thought our heads would explode (in a good way).  On a second trip this fall (part of my birthday present, thank you John), I snagged these crazy adorable pajama sacks.  They were only $1 each, came in the best fabrics, and have literally THOUSANDS of uses.

And let me tell you, this fabric is SO EASY to work with!  Not only does it decoupage beautifully, but it looks awesome on the monthly onesies I just finished for Baby Otto (stay tuned for that post, I'm in love with them and you will be, too).  So here's the finished product.  They look great, but I fully recognize that the adorable boy helps.

great baby shower project!

Handmade baby blocks is far from an original idea (someone named Martha Stewart has a tutorial for it), but it's a goodie.  It's fun, creative, and easy to personalize.  It would make a great activity at a baby shower, because no baby can ever have too many blocks (ok, let's get real here for a second - decorative baby blocks are for the parents, not the babies), and it's an easy, fun and quick project.

I made these for my new (3 days old!)nephew, whose name is Otto, but whom my son refers to as Babyotto.  When my sister-in-law was here in November, Gus could not figure out why Babyotto could not come out and play.  He's going to be a hell of an older cousin.

I repurposed two books - an old Richard Scarry and a new Eric Carle that I scored from the Twist goodie bag.  My only regret about this project is that I started cutting up the books while Gus was still awake.  Not so good when I spend a great deal of time explaining that books are precious and not to be destroyed.  He doesn't quite get that the exception to the "cutting up books is bad" rule is when you are repurposing the books in such a cool way.  He'll learn.

I didn't have a theme in mind, but once I started reading the Eric Carle, the seasons became an obvious one, especially because there are 4 seasons and 4 letters in Otto's name.  Brilliant, right?  

We'd love to bring this fun project to the next baby shower you host (assuming you live within driving distance from our Happy Valley).  Shoot us an email!

you have to look closely to see the 

letters o t t o overlaid on the beautiful

Eric Carle drawings 

awesome Richard Scarry drawings that 

nicely reflect the 4 seasons

and here is Eric Carle's take on 

the seasons - I couldn't have planned this

if I tried!

two personalized sides:  Otto's birthday is on the

winter block, and on summer is a baseball field 

and some stats about his parents' 

beloved Cincinnati Reds

holiday crafting!

Happy New Year!  Now seemed like a good time to show off some holiday crafting goodies.  It was a mellow crafting holiday, after the big Twist push in November.  But still, a few super fun, quick and well-received presents were created - check them out!

reclaimed from the bees:  

hand-rolled beeswax candles

(all 8 days, now that's a lot of rolling)

snapped up these bags, 

made to hold jammies, at the

Pine Cone Hill tent sale, and 

upcycled them as reusable wrapping

can't get enough of the salvaged clothespins,

this time making themselves of use as 

napkin holders

another gorgeous jammie bag, this time

repurposed as a cover for a garage-sale tray

two layers of poly (over two layers of Mod Podge)

and voila, a waterproof tray!

Now that the holidays are over, and our nephew Otto (or BabyOtto, as Gus calls him), is on his way, stay tuned for some awesome reclaimed baby presents!