This week’s theme is pink in celebration of Breast Cancer month.

One of my favorite photos of the Little Peanut. We were getting ready for Lunar New Year at our Vietnamese church. She’s wearing the traditional Vietnamese ao dai (dress) and khan dong (hat). My first attempt at selective coloring. I tried to no avail to get the pink to be softer because I think the bright pink has a little too much “pop.” I do love how her lips and cheeks have a pink glow.

Don’t forget to click the image above to view all the other great entries!

Cathy and I are throwing a Halloween party for the kids this weekend, and we’re having a fun time planning it! One of the many decorations I have is a Halloween wreath. It’s a super easy way to change a regular autumn foliage wreath into somehing fun and cute for Halloween!

All you need are: orange cardstock , string, glue/tape and of course, a wreath

(NOTE: For the spiders/bats, cut them out from black cardstock or do what I did and purchase Martha Stewart Crafts Spider Silhouettes)

Step 1: Cut out 4″ circles (the number of circles depends on what you want the wreath to read. Mine is “BOO!” so I cut 4 circles)

Step 2: Write the letters out in a thick black marker

Step 3: Glue or tape to a ribbon or string and tie to the wreath

Step 4: Adhere the spider and bats

Step 5: Hang on door!

Our yard sale is the perfect way to add handmade to your holiday shopping list. We have a variety of special, unique gifts 30%-50% off retail price. Better yet, they’re ready to ship. But hurry – quantities are limited! Here are just some of the handmade items the little ones will enjoy:

Visit our online store for ALL sale items. While you’re there, check out our entire catalog and order by December 5th to ensure delivery by Christmas.

Last year while visiting my cousin in Seattle she took us to a pumpkin patch. Believe it or not that was my (and my girls) first trip ever! I thought it would be a fun tradition and so we made our first trip out to Anoka County Farms a few weeks ago.

The weather was unusually warm as you can see by her sleeveless dress! And despite the apprehensive look on her face I think she really enjoyed it and would have allowed us to pull her around the whole afternoon.

There are a ton of wonderful entries, so be sure to stop by i heart faces to check them out!

One day I WILL sit down to read my Nikon D3000 camera manual in its entirety (believe it or not, I read my serger machine manual, hehe!) and sound like a photographer, but in the meantime, I’ve just been playing around with the settings while I take the shots. Anyway, I took the following pictures in sequence (and at my daughter’s expense!). I love the  lighting and the glow it gives off…my little cranky angel!

Feeling a little vintage today!

Links to these fabulous items are below the image

First row: Fall newsboy hat and tie, Shutterbug vintage organic knit dress, The Audrey headband

Second row: Custom sugary sweet summer frock, Ivory crushed satin petticoat bloomers, Vintage style hat

We’re a gadget family as you probably noticed here and here. Lately though we’ve been partial to everything Apple – iPhone, iTouch, iPad, Macbooks…. maybe an Apple TV soon?! Hint hint hubby!

After I got over the “wow it’s my shiny new phone that I can check my email, Facebook and Twitter on” phase I discovered the apps. (It’s a little embarrassing to admit but even though I’m in the IT industry the iPhone 4 is my first smartphone!) The commercials were right- there is an app for that! Of course some apps are better then others but it’s essentially endless for adults and kids.

Here are some of my kiddo’s favorites, whom at 2 years old is a pro at navigating the iPhone/iPad and YouTube to find games and videos.

Flashcards by INKids

She loves: the Bodies cards because the audio when you click on the person (they giggle, laugh, cry etc)

I love: There are tons of categories like alphabet, numbers, animals, shapes and more. That the word is said, but that you can also turn it off so you can ask them what it is. That it also has Spanish and since we go to Mexico quite often we all can learn! You can lock the app so they can’t leave it and erase some of your apps (not that I know right?! ha!) There’s also a few games like spelling and word match.

The iPhone app is free, the iPad app is $3.99 (HD and includes French/Spanish)

Peekaboo Barn

She loves: Not knowing what animal is going to be behind the door and making animal sounds.

I love: How she imitates the animal noises. So adorable!!

The app for iPhone and iPod Touch is $1.99 but there’s a lite version you can try. We’re actually using the lite version because she just loves the rooster and it’s easier to “find” it with only a few animals, but I do plan on purchasing it once she gets over the rooster phase.

Forrest Friends

She loves: Watching the animals fly when you press the keys on the keyboard. Playing hide and seek with the animals (the friends section) and coloring.

I love: That it introduces her to music and animals. That we animal noises together! She presses the key and then we go, “hoo hoo” or “oo oo ee ee.” There is also a story mode, but we haven’t made it past the first few pages. She just loves the keyboard. There are also a few coloring pages that keep her occupied for quite awhile.

The app is for iPad only. Best part- is it’s free!

Invite your friends over for a spooktacular Halloween bash with our free printable! The curved-flap design makes it easy to use – no need to find the right sized envelope.

Click here to download our Halloween invitation free printable.

Print onto the back side of decorative scrapbook paper to give them a fun (or spooky!) feel. Add on a sticker to seal. I turned these circle tags from Paper Glitter into stickers by printing them onto sticker paper.

The download has two designs: “It’s going to be spooktacular” and “trick or treat!”

The invitations measure 3.5 inches folded.

Not sure how to fold the flaps?

Score the four sides of the invitation for a clean fold.

Fold the flaps to the center one at a time starting at the top and going clockwise.

When you get to the last flap, tuck the edge under the first flap.

These Melissa & Doug magnetic letters were an impulse buy and they’ve turned out to be one of the best. They came with a chalk/whiteboard but I stashed that and put them on the dishwasher for the Little Peanut to play with while I cook. I love them because they’re not the typical plastic letters that you see in most homes. Like all Melissa & Doug products they’re made from wood. They’re also super-sized at 2 inches tall.

If you have kids you know that they would never take the letters off and toss em across the house and become attached to one letter and carry it around with them and make you look for it when they’ve lost it. Nope! What kid does that?! Or maybe you’re like me and a little anal retentive then you would never obsess about finding a missing letter to the point of dumping out every toy bin to find it. Nope! Not me!

Ok so maybe me. We’ll call it the “Great search for the letter H.” It lasted for about 3 weeks and got to a point where the Little Peanut would walk by the dishwasher and yell out “H where?!” and come running over to me wanting to look for it. That’s when I decided I would make a replacement using old calendar magnets that I saved (never know when you’ll need a magnet!), corrugated cardboard box, and color card-stock paper.

Step 1: Make a letter template, cut it out.

Step 2: Trace your template onto the magnent, cardboard box and card stock paper.

Step 3: Cutout the letters

Step 4: Glue (I used Mod Podge) the cardboard box piece to the magnet. Let dry.

Step 5: Glue the cardstock to the cardboard box piece. Let dry.

Step 6 (optional): To add a little water protection to the front of the letter cutout contact paper and place on top.

Step 7: To avoid paper cuts make sure the card-stock isn’t too much larger then the cardboard box by trimming off an excess around the side of the letter. I used an x-acto.

Step 8: Stick on your fridge and enjoy! You can see my letters are the “H” and “I” in the photo at the top since they’re purple.

This would be tedious if you do a whole alphabet since you have 3 layers to cut but it would be fun for a name, shapes, or animals. The added layer of the cardboard box makes it more sturdy for little hands that like to crush and bend everything they can get their hands on.

For my mom who is a lover of coffee, cooking, and knits. She also loves to get dolled up for a special occasion and fills her cozy home with love and photos of the grandkids. Can you guess what her favorite color is?!

Click on the image to go to the item or Click here to view my ‘Lover of coffee, cooking, and knits’ treasury!

Purple,Shawl,Perfect fo… SRdesign $32.00	Aubergine Cut Out Just … Storeyshop $4.75	A set of four crocheted… TomBjornDesign… $9.90	Plum Purple Mug 18 oz. KarinLorenc $22.00
Long fingerless gloves/… nathaliedembel… $45.00	hand dyed pot holder – … goodkarma $15.00	Set of 3 Plants, Succul… VivaFlora $36.00	Majestic Ornate Frame amye123 $19.00
TWILIGHT Purple Amethys… VeraidaGifts $69.00	Blackberry Sage Scented… FreshPickedCan… $8.00	The Meaning of Life – S… metalandmud $33.00	NzLbags Handmade – Hand… NzLbags $67.00
Parisian Romance Escapa… NandJDesigns $29.99	Granny Square Pot Holde… JacBerKitsch $14.00	Purple coffee sleeve wi… thingirl $5.00	Two Hand Painted Stemle… PrettyMyDrink $30.00

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