Theme Thursday: Stormy Weather

Seems like we've been getting a lot of thunderstorms here in Maine lately.  Depending on the severity of the storm, they can either be soothing (a gentle rain with low, rumbling thunder) or intense (pouring rain with loud crashes of thunder and splashes of lightning).  Looks like the latter is in our forecast for the weekend as we have a hurricane on the way.  Yikes!

So I made this treasury, inspired by our Stormy Weather:



Stay safe this weekend, everyone!

Inspiration + Hoarding Craft Supplies = New Items!

When inspiration strikes and I have a new idea for a project, I often find it difficult to focus on anything else.  It doesn't seem to matter how many other things are on my to-do list that should take priority over starting something new...that new idea is all I can think about!  So over time I have learned to just accept that fact and allow myself to dive right into new projects, even if I have 20 other things waiting to be finished.

This weekend, I had one of those "ah-ha!" inspiration moments: 

When I make my felt barrettes and hair elastics, I end up with the lots of little scraps of felt.  Being the craft supply hoarder that I am, I've been hanging on to these little bits of felt thinking that surely one day I'll think of some use for them.  Well, I'm happy to say that day has arrived!  As I was staring at my bag full of these little scraps of felt, I finally got that idea that I had been waiting for.  So, I give you the Confetti Felt Necklace:

Here's a close up so you can see the detail better:

And of course I had to make some earrings to match:

I love how these came out, and I'm already excitedly thinking about other color combinations to try.  Maybe a firey orange, red and yellow for fall, or maybe more subtle earth tones, orange and black for Halloween, red and lime green or red and white for Christmas...the possibilities are endless! 


A fun new item to make, and a way to use up little scraps (which means zero waste of felt!)...this is definitely a win-win.  Plus it helps me justify all those other craft supplies I've been hanging on to.  Given enough time, I'm sure that someday I will have an idea for how to use them up!

Back to work...

So my maternity leave recently ended, and I have returned to work part time, which means that baby is now in daycare 3 days a week.  Little g was so excited to have her baby sister join her.  Though they aren't in the same room, they do get to see each other on occasion throughout the day.  The first day baby b was there, she went around excitedly telling everyone, "My baby is here today!".  Awww, such a proud big sister...so endearing!  These are the little moments that melt my heart and that I will forever cherish.

While the transition from relaxing-being-at-home-with-baby days to getting-both-girls-and-myself-ready-and-out-the-door-rushing-to-work days has been a challenge, we are finally starting to get a routine down.  And working part time creates a nice balance between mom-time and work-time.  But it has made it difficult to squeeze in time for crafting.  And of course, I have more ideas than ever right now!  I guess I'll just keep jotting them down with hopes that someday I'll get to each and every one of them.  It may take me 30 years, but I bet I'll do it.

Getting in the Mood for Autumn

I love Autumn. And although I do enjoy Summer, I must confess that by this time of year, I've usually had enough of the hot weather and start getting in the mood for Autumn. Fortunately for me, I get a little taste of all things Fall throughout the Summer while working on Modern Handmade Child. If you're ready to take a little peek into Fall, be sure to check out our Autumn issue, which was just published this week:


I've also been working on some new Fall and Halloween inspired designs in felt hair elastics. Fun! Here's a little sneak peek at what's to come in my Etsy shop this season:

red apple felt hair elastic

acorn felt hair elastic

yellow birch leaf felt hair elastic

pumpkin felt hair elastic

ghost felt hair elastic

So be on the lookout for those soon. And if you have any other designs you'd like to see, please don't hesitate to ask...I love custom orders! :)

Happy Birthday, little g!

My, my, what a summer it has been! While a bit hectic at times, it has certainly been fun. I must say, I have thoroughly been enjoying my maternity leave, and am a bit sad that it will be ending soon. Time has just been flying by.

We just celebrated little g's 4th birthday. Wow! How did she get to be 4 already?? We hosted our first birthday party with some of her friends from preschool this year, and it was so much fun! I let her help in the planning and creating things for the party, which she really enjoyed. Being summer, I suggested a flower/garden theme, and she loved the idea.


The first thing we did was make the invitations. She finger-painted flowers on the front of the cards, and used a crayon to color stems and grass. Well, some of them had grass...others were left with just a stem, because, as she said, "they were in the snow". It was interesting watching her make these invitations. I could definitely see myself in her as she was creating, wanting to make sure each one was just right.

I thought it would be fun to make some giant tissue paper flowers for the party. I was thinking we would just have them for decorations, but little g had a great idea for them: stick them in the yard to make a flower garden, and all her friends could "pick" them. What a fun idea!


I also wanted to have a couple of games for the kids to play, so I made these cute little ladybug bean bags:

They were fun and easy to make. (You can hop on over to the MHC blog today for a tutorial to make your own ladybug bean bags.) After playing a couple of games with the ladybugs and picking flowers, it was time for lunch, and of course, cake!

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I'm sure it was the first of many more birthday parties to come. Happy Birthday, little g!

Becoming a Mother Again

When I wrote the letter from the editor for the Summer issue of Modern Handmade Child, I thought I had a few more weeks of my pregnancy left. As I sat there, with an aching back and swollen feet, feeling fatigued and overwhelmed, I thought to myself, ‘I’m not sure I could do this again’.

Pregnancy can take such a toll on a woman. In some ways, second (and I’m sure subsequent) pregnancies can be easier, as you've been through it before. In other ways, they can be a lot more challenging since you already have another little one(s) to tend to. But all of the difficulties are soon forgotten when you are holding your newborn in your arms. Little did I know that I would be doing just that sooner than I had thought.

We had all of the essentials ready: car seat installed, check. Bassinet set up, check. Stocked up on diapers and wipes, check. Clothes all washed and neatly folded, check.

Physically and emotionally, I was definitely ready. But mentally, I hadn’t quite prepared for the eventuality that the baby could come at any moment. So when my water broke three weeks before the due date, I was in a bit of shock. Many thoughts went racing through my mind...'it can’t be time already’...'do we have everything readyfor baby?’...'she wasn’t supposed to come for three more weeks’. But it didn’t make one bit of difference if I was ready for her arrival or not – she was on her way.

Once I got past the initial shock, the only thing I could do was to accept the reality that I was in fact in labor, and take action. We quickly finished packing our bag for the hospital, and dropped my daughter off at a friend’s house for the night. We arrived at the hospital, and just 2 short hours later, I was holding my baby in my arms.


There is something so magical about holding your baby for the first time. It’s a feeling that is incomparable to anything else in this world, and something that cannot easily be explained to those who have not experienced it. It is especially amazing if you have had a previous birth experience where you were not able to do so, such as I had with my first (she was immediately whisked off to the NICU due to breathing issues, and I was not able to hold her until day 2). So when my second daughter was born healthy and strong, I relished in the fact that I was able to hold her. In fact, I hardly put her down the entire time we were in the hospital!


I’m finding that I’m much more at ease becoming a mother the second time around. Although I’m just a few days postpartum, I already feel like I’m settling into motherhood again, and enjoying our new family of four. I feel calm, relaxed, and confident. As I hold my sweet baby girl, I gaze into her tiny eyes, which are filled with so much curiosity and wonder, and those thoughts about not being able to do this again disolve into ‘I definitely think I could do this again’. So will there be more babies in my future? That remains to be seen. For now, I will cherish this time as a mom to two beautiful girls.

Happy Mother's Day!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Lots of changes going on around here. It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks, our little bundle of joy will be here. So exciting!! We were hoping to move to a bigger house before baby's arrival, but unfortunately that did not happen. So we've been busy moving things around, trying to make room for our new addition to the family. One plus is I got to move my workspace into a new room, which sort of forced me to reorganize everything as I set it up in the new room. It's nice to have a fresh start. Here's a peek at me (with my 32-week baby belly!) in my new workspace:


So in addition to preparing for the baby and reorganizing my workspace, I've been super busy with Modern Handmade Child. I've been working hard on the Summer issue, which should be coming out around May 1st. This will be the first issue that I've put together on my own (I previously had a co-editor, but she stepped down), so it has been a bit challenging, but exciting at the same time. So be on the lookout for that in a couple of weeks! If you want to know a bit more about what I do with MHC, you can check out my interview that I did last week.

And lastly, somewhat of a bittersweet change. About 4 1/2 years ago, I started the EtsyKids Team and have been the team leader ever since. After carefully considering everything that I am currently doing, I have decided that it is time to let this one go. It was a difficult decision to make, but I knew that I simply couldn't keep up with everything on my plate with a little one on the way. So I have officially stepped down from being the EtsyKids Team Leader. I'll still be somewhat involved with the team, but at this time I want to focus my attention to my family, MHC, and my Etsy shops. That's certainly plenty to keep me busy!