If you haven’t heard of etsyitemoftheday.com then you’re missing out! Jackie has daily posts on some of her favorite items and finds from Etsy.

Yesterday happened to be embe’s day! Go now and check out what she had to say about our Raffey Graspers.

I have to say, not only do I love Jackie’s taste in Etsy items but I’m in love with her site design!

With a craft room/office in the horizon I’m already imagining myself at the sewing machine whipping up some adorable baby items for my Little Peanut. These are just a few of the amazing patterns I found!

First row: Madeline tie apron dress,  baby sneakers, boutique style swing dress

Second row: Ruffled diaper covers, Mademoiselle coat, Liberty lion plush

Wow! Three of these patterns have already sold in between yesterday and today… yes it actually took me a day and a half to get this post up! It’s hard to work with little fingers tugging at my legs and saying “mama!”

With the weather warming up and my daughter getting older now I’ve been on the hunt for fun things to do in the Twin Cities. It also just happens that everything I’ve found so far is also FREE, which is great because an outing with the family can get pretty expensive these days – and so starts my new series “Fun & free 4 kids!”

Fun & Free 4 kids ~ Stillwater, MN

A few weekends ago I delivered some consignment goods to Darn. Knit. {Anyway} in Stillwater. (DKA is a great store btw! Yarn and fabric galore with an amazing boutique of local crafters/artists.) It had been awhile since we vistited and thought it would be a fun day trip for the family. The Little Peanut had a lot of fun exploring the shops along Main Street, the St. Croix River and Teddy Bear Park.

Teddy Bear Park was our first stop. It’s just off main street but seemed like quite a trek because of the hill we had to climb! The effort was well worth it though. The park has got to be like heaven for kids! There are multiple play areas with slides, tunnels, monkey bars and a lot of climbing opportunities.

The whole ride home we kept wishing that there is a park similar to this in Minneapolis, so if you know of any please let me know!

After dragging the Little Peanut away from the park we headed around Main Street visiting shops and taking in the sights. There are tons of antique stores, art galleries and boutiques to visit. When our legs got tired we went to the river front. There is a large area that would be perfect for a picnic and if you time it right you can see the lift bridge in action.

We had a great time and only had to spend $$ on gas and lunch! A bonus was that the Little Peanut took a 2 hour nap after we got home! (If you know her then you know she ususally only does 45 minutes or an hour if we’re lucky.) The only thing I would change is packing a picnic lunch for us to enjoy on the river front.

Some tips:

-Most of the shops in town have a free map that you can pickup so you can make sure you don’t miss a thing!

-There is free parking in the parking lot adjacent to the Brick Alley Building from October 31st to May 1st.

-For more activities in Stillwater visit Discoverstillwater.com

I have never been successful in buying gifts for religious events in Catholic specialty stores, but I feel I hit the jackpot with this weeks favorites.

First row: Personalized Baptism wall hanging, Girl guardian Angel (felt softie), Baby girl embroidered cross blanket

Second row: Custom personalized cross/lovie set, I am a child of God print, God loves me growth chart

Gift giving on a budget doesn’t have to be hard. Check out some of these great items I found for under $21. (I was going for under $20 but fell in love with the iPod cozy!)

First row: Pocket mirror, coffee mug cozy, iPod cozy

Second row: Keep calm and carry on keychain, Spring blossom pendant, Dream big magnet

I’ve been a mother of two for five weeks now and I’ve got to say it’s made me realize how much time I had before I had kids. Sometimes I reminisce about those carefree days and wonder what the heck I did with all that time! Besides the lack of time do everything I want, I’ve also noted other changes in me as I’ve experienced motherhood (I’m wondering if this might foreshadow a book in the future!).

1) Make-up optional – I remember back in the day when I wouldn’t step foot out of the door without putting on some make-up. Even if I were going to make a quick trip out to the store, I’d at least put on some lip gloss. Now, I can go just about anywhere without an ounce of it. It’s not that motherhood has brought out my natural beauty ; rather, I know that I can spend 5-10 extra minutes at the grocery store than if I were to “get ready”.

2) Ready in under 30 minutes…and this includes a shower! I’ve always prided myself on being relatively low maintenance but motherhood has taught me how to be even more efficient. Because kids can be unpredictable, I have to devote more time to getting them ready, which means less time for me. To me, just because I have kids doesn’t mean that I know longer have to abide by the clock. My time is no more important than someone else’s and I just have to allow for more time to get where we need to be - ON TIME (tardiness is my ultimate pet peeve).

3) Cold (leftover) food is okay – back in the day when I had more time, I had to have my food piping hot. It just tasted better to me. Moreover, I wasn’t too keen on eating leftovers. Now, I’m lucky if I can eat without being interrupted or sidetracked. My son is getting a little more finnicky about what he eats too so that leaves me to clean up what he doesn’t (I do have my limits on certain foods, hehe!).

4) Workout when? - Before I had kids, I had a pretty solid workout routine. I exercised at least five times a week – a combination of both cardio and weights…and at a gym! Now? I’ll be lucky to get at least two days. Working out is carrying my 2-year old on my hip. And for strength training, try carrying him upstairs! With a rambunctious son, my workouts have gotten more creative – playing hide and seek, running around the coffee table, pushing my son around while he sits in his Cozy Coupe, etc. I guess I shouldn’t mind not working out so much; it just gives me more time with my family.

There have been some welcome changes as well

5) Speaking Vietnamese at home - I remember growing up, we were forced to speak Vietnamese at home. The problem was that neither me nor my siblings were very good at it so we ended up not talking at all or breaking the rules! My parents were super busy raising seven kids in a country that was not their own so I could only imagine how difficult it must have been for them. Now that I have my own kids, we speak primarily Vietnamese at home. In fact, my Vietnamese has improved quite a bit because I speak it at home with my son. He and my daughter will grow up to be bilingual but I think it’s important for them to learn Vietnamese because I know that once they start school, English will be their primary language. It’s up to me to make sure that they are continually exposed to the Vietnamese language and preserve that part of their culture.

6) Regular communication with my parents – to be honest, I never had a really close relationship with my parents. Being one of seven kids, it was easy to fly under the radar and just check in every now and then. But once I had a kid, that all changed. My kids bridged the relationship gap and it’s been great to be able to share my motherhood experiences with them.

There are a ton more changes that I’ve experienced since entering into motherhood (you can read more of it whenever I get to writing that book!) but one thing remains constant – I’d do it all over again for my kids.

The whole reason why I learned how to crochet was to make amigurumi. Can you blame me? Just look at these adorable patterns!

I can’t wait until the little peanut gets old enough to play with pretend food so I can whip up some cupcakes, cookies and of course veggies.

First row: Darling duckling, Lion gurumi, Crochet vegetable tray

Second row: Brisa ballerina, Forest friends silly slimy snails, Cupcakes

Third row: Russian Matryoshka, Cotton candy horses, Penelope the empathetic monster

While doing some spring cleaning I came across a box of candles and some craft supplies that included some glue on jewels. I remembered my sister’s wedding favors and how she slaved for hours gluing on beads and pearls in flower shapes to candles and thought it would be fun to try it out with the jewels I found.

It was fun trying out different designs. I used a silver sharpie on the dark pink candle, the light pink has flowers and the red candle is random sparkles.

It was two easy steps!

1. get yourself some candles and jewels (from the beads section of the craft store).

2. glue on the jewels either randomly on the candle or in a design.

It did take a lot longer then I anticipated because I couldn’t find any glue in the house. The glue stick failed miserably, the rubber cement I had was almost dried up, the super glue wouldn’t even come out of the bottle. In the end I was able to find some Elmers glue that worked perfectly.

Note: I have not lit the candles yet to see how well the jewels hold up to the heat and when it’s burned down.

Have you heard about the indie tot? If not, it’s time check ‘em out and check us out on the shop showcase!

I’ve been admiring all the shop showcase stores for a long time now so it’s such an honor to be featured along with them.

About the indie tot: “Your children deserve the very best in life, and The Indie Tot was designed to recognize those small businesses and artisans who provide babies and kids with the most exceptional products on the market.”