Christmas 2012 Recap: and some hand stamped PJ's

So yes, we are well into January...and visions of pink and red are on the horizon with the holiday of love just around the corner...but I'm just a wee bit in denial that the Christmas season is indeed over (we finally took our tree down and put away our Christmas records *insert sad tear here*). But as I mentioned here, I do love me a new year and am ready to embark on some great new journeys! The future looks bright my friends!

And that future is starting strong (and busy!) with some super fun illustration jobs, preparation for ALT - did I mention I'm speaking?! - and so much more. But as my blog is also a bit of a journal I feel I can't move forward without documenting just a bit from our joyous Christmas day.

I'm sure I probably feel this way as it is the most recent event, but for some reason, this last Christmas really felt like the best one yet. Just something about it was simply perfect. Perhaps it is because it was one of the few years where we actually awoke in our own home and celebrated the morning with just our own little family. Or perhaps it was because of our perfect new little addition, baby M. Or perhaps it was because all I really wanted in the world was to spend one perfect day just with my dear family, completely focused on spending time with one another. Probably a bit of all the above. But whatever the reason...it was...well...perfect.

We spent Christmas Eve with Jon's parents and didn't get back to our place till late that night, so the boys actually slept in on Christmas morning, which was perfect. Jon made an amazing sausage and egg baked dish to keep our tummy's happy while settling down to open our gifts. I was on top of things this  past year and had been collecting gifts for the boys throughout the year and I even had a lot of it wrapped before Christmas Eve. A record for me. It was oh so nice to embark on December knowing that most of the shopping was done (and ended up being oh so necessary as RSV made it's ugly rounds throughout our household). I did however have a number of last minute things to do, such as hand stamp these long john's for the boys Christmas PJ's. I seriously made them on Christmas Eve morning, willing them to dry in time for me to wrap them so that they could open them later that evening. It somehow managed to work out perfectly. And I laughed when A squealed in delight when opening his after his brother...proclaiming "yes! they are different!". Good thing I made two different stamp motif's. Who knew it was so important?

This year was also really great because I feel like the boys really got into the spirit of giving this year. Not only did we pick out gifts for each other but I had the boys really get involved with selecting gifts for my brother's family (we had his name this year). This meant that they had to think of their cousings, go to a store, pick out gifts for them, buy them and go home with no toys for themselves. I was seriously worried about Little O on this one as he's incredibly in love with toys (he feels like they are his friends that he develops deep bonds with). But you know what? He was amazing. He was head over heals in love with this snugly puppy dog that he knew from the beginning was to be for his 2 year old cousin. So throughout the store he played with it, cuddled it and befriended it, but all with the plan of giving him away. And it worked! He loved the idea of him going to his cousins house. He actually understood that this was a special thing he was doing for his little cousin. It was a gift. Amazing (and serious mom sigh of relief here).

Above are the wrapped gifts that they gave to me and I love how excited they were to give. Such sweet boys. Jon let them pick anything they wanted to give me (within reason and budget of course) and A picked out some lip gloss and Little O picked out a brush. So sweet. And it turns outs, just exactly what I needed. I had them pick something for Jon as well so they chose an Angry Birds game for him to play on the IPad (which of course they wanted to play with as well). They also got a few toys for their baby sister.

And OK, I got just a wee bit excited to embark upon the collection of beautiful handmade dolls for baby M. Yes she won't appreciate it for a while yet but I love the idea of telling her the story of her first Christmas and the special doll that she received then. And in truth, she was my little Christmas doll. Our family's favorite gift from 2012.

2012 was a wonderful year for us and we are so excited to embark on a new year with our little family of five. So so many exciting things for our future and I feel incredibly blessed to share it with those that I love and with all of you!

A Simple DIY Thanksgiving Place Mat

I love Thanksgiving. Really I do. But I have to confess that I wasn't planning on doing much with it this year as I have been rather overwhelmed with work and the new baby. I actually like how Thanksgiving melts into Christmas as I feel like the spirit of thanks should be felt during the Christmas season so to me they naturally go together. I don't even mind the Christmas decorations everywhere and holiday music playing on the air mid November.


Well this got me thinking. I may feel this way but how are my kids going to appreciate gratitude if I don't do something to foster the spirit of giving thanks? So I decided to come up with this simple last minute place mat designed to give them a way to express their thanks on this special holiday.

You might notice that this resembles my gift to Jon I made a few years back. It's such a fun and simple idea I decided to apply it to the upcoming holiday. To make this I simply stitched together two sheets of brown packing paper. I then cut out a number of white paper flags in varying sizes. These were then straight stitched onto the mat.



And that's it! Give your guests some pens and let them express their thanks while you are finishing up those mashed potatoes and that pumpkin pie!

And you'll get a kick out of seeing what your kids come up with. Mario, among many other things, of course made the list for this little guy.  Love it.

And if you are looking for another last minute Thanksgiving craft, our turkey feather headbands are a great, easy craft to do as well!

Mario in the Middle: A 4-yr-old Birthday Party

October was a busy busy month for us. Not only did we have our third child, but Little O had his fourth birthday and of course there was Halloween. Because I knew this month would be just a little bit crazy I really wanted to make Little O's birthday both very simple and very special.

You see Little O has been thrown into the middle child slot...and he's feeling it. Because we've all been sick he's not been allowed to really interact with the baby much and is constantly being shooed away...and he's over it. I feel for the poor kid.

Which is why I'm glad that I stayed up until the crack of dawn to make this little Mario costume for Little O. And why I'm glad that I threw together this little birthday bash last minute. And why I'm seriously grateful for a gigantic polka-dot "mushroom" balloon that can transform an ordinary day into an extraordinary one.

We kept things simple by having the party at a local park complete with a playground (or "Mario Land") and a covered picnic area.

And we made things special by bringing simple white linens and dishes to dress things up a bit.

And of course we had to have chocolate mustaches. (Like my sister, I've never really gotten into the mustache craze -she has an entire pin board for ridiculous trends that are way overdone, it's pretty funny really- but I felt that this party was the perfect place for it. And I think even she might approve. I know Little O definitely did.)

We brought along some sodas in bottles (a huge treat for the boys as they typically don't get to drink soda in this way), threw together some star cookies (thanks Jon!!!) and bought a simple cake. We also put out some grapes, string cheese and crackers so it wasn't a total sugar fest.


And thanks to the dollar store we were able to outfit each goodie bag with a self-sticking mustache.

We chose the park for the easy already-something-for-the-kids-to-do-so-we-don't-have-to-plan-games aspect but ended up loving it for the the real life Super Mario game play aspect of it. I mean just look at that slide. Doesn't it just scream plumbing tube?


The kids had a great time and really interacted well together. I was so impressed with how they initiated their own game play. Sometimes I think we forget that you don't really need that much structure for a birthday party to go well. Just a decent area for kids to run and play in...and they'll come up with the rest!


And this little Pizano? He was in Super Mario heaven. And well...I'm not sure he's left it since.

Man I love this kid. Here's hoping he stays in this magical make-believe world of four forever.

Milly the Mermaid Doll Basic Mod Doll Pattern with Out to Sea Fabric

Have you guys seen Sarah Jane's new adorable fabric line, Out to Sea? If not you are in for a real treat!!

And as part of her incredibly fun blog tour, I'm offering up a doll pattern, based on my Mod Dolls, for you to create your own mod Milly the Mermaid doll!!


In celebration of the the Out to Sea tour, for a limited time, I'll be offering a FREE downloadable pattern and instructions for the basic Mod Doll itself. Tomorrow I'll be offering the pattern for the mermaid ensemble, complete with instructions and additional hair and skirt options, in my shop! And can I just say that I love that you can take her tail off and change up for another option at a whim?! She can be your real life little mermaid!

Purchase the full MILLY THE MERMAID pattern HERE

And you know that if you make one, I just have to see it! So please do share your darling mermaid creations when they are complete :)!!

and stay tuned for the limited release of the mermaid ensemble tomorrow!!

(and I've no doubt there will a number of many more outfits for our little Mod Doll in the future!)

*Update: The simple Mod Doll Pattern is no longer available for free download but you can purchase the entire pattern, complete with mermaid tail, top, skirt and two types of hair here.

Mark your calendars for the final Mer Mag + Gap Kids event tomorrow: Animal Character Badges!!

I don't know what it is about this last craft for Gap Kids, but I'm just over the moon about these animal character badges. I'm loving the badge/button/award trend going on and Gap Kids Military Prep clothing is perfect for this. Or put it on any of these fantastic backpacks or a jacket from the French Muse collection. I'm dying at the possibilities of cuteness.

So if you haven't already marked your calendars for tomorrow, I would do so now and visit one of the following Gap locations to make one of these fun badges!!

Saturday, 8/25: Make an animal character badge


from 10 AM to 1 PM

Participating Gap stores:

New York: 122 Fifth Ave
Los Angeles: 2111 Glendale Galleria
San Francisco: 1139 S. Main St. @ Walnut Creek
Chicago: 533 Oakbrook Center
Boston: 250 Granite Street @ South Shore Plaza
Miami: 19575 Biscayne Blvd. @ Aventura
Washington D.C.: 1100 S. Hayes St. @ Pentagon City Mall
Philadelphia: 690 W. DeKalb Pike @ King of Prussia
Dallas: Central Expwy & NW Hwy #738 @ NorthPark
Toronto: 100 City Centre Drive @ Square One
 

I seriously can't wait to see what your brilliant little creators come up with! And like always take pictures and share by using the hash tags #shineon and #clevergap.

And are any of you soaking up the fantastic online crafts that GAP has going on? This weekend you can make a sport patch to go along with your animal badges. How cool is that?!! Take a looky lou here.

Have fun shining on this weekend!!

Journal Making and a recap of Gap Kids journal Shine On event!

It's been so great seeing all the fun instagram photos from all of your feeds from the different Gap journal making events. I just love seeing what all the Littles have come up with!! It's so fun and inspiring.

And if you couldn't make it out to the journal event (or if you just want to make more!) I am giving you the super easy DIY instructions here. If your child is older, they could most likely do this entire craft, from start to finish, by themselves!

Start by selecting some fun patterned, textured or solid card stock. If it's not already 8.5"x11", cut it down to this size. Then cut at least 7 sheets of interior paper at the same size (or even slightly smaller - say 8"x10"). I like using graph paper for the interior as it give little journal keepers so many options for their personal record keeping. Drawing and creating patterns, alongside writing, can be a fun way for your little one to express themselves. You will also need some fun washi or masking tape for the spine and anything else you might want to pull together to decorate the journals: stickers, gems, etc.

Now fold your interior papers as well as your out card stock in half.

Then simply place the interior papers within the cover card stock. From here you can explore a number of fun binding options, such as punching holes and binding the spine with a number of sewing/lacing techniques. For the Gap events, we made things extra simple by stapling together the papers at the folded spine. It's best to keep the staples close to the edge but make sure you are getting through all layers of paper.

You can then have fun with different patterned washi or masking tape when taping off the spine, hiding the staples. Fold the tape over to the back side of the journal.

And now for the fun part! Decorating your journal. You can add a label for your child's name or pull out a number of fun stickers and decals. Feel free to get really creative!

I love the idea of creating a grid of ombre jewels or using the washi tape to create a monogram for your child's first name. You could also use the tape to create patterns, such as stripes or a plaid atop a sold paper, which could be really really fun!

And speaking of getting creative and having fun, just take a look at these little cuties and all of their journals! I so wish I could have made it out to one of the GAP Kids journal making events, but seeing these photos is almost just as good.

I love it when the kids add their own personal "stamp" to these crafts. For example, how brilliant is it to use the gems for a crazy jeweled eye monster like this in this drawing below? Nothing short of brilliant, I tell you. I think the graph paper also helps make these journals more boy friendly. Sometimes we associate journal writing girls (as we love to write our hearts out, right?!) but I think it's so important for boys as well, particularly when they are young. If they can find a way to express how they are feeling, with words and or pictures, it will do them a world a good in years to come. And honestly, I think my husband is a better journal writer than me at this point (my blog has kind of taken it's place for the time being).

If you have any pics of your kids at any of the events, or if you decide to make any of these crafts afterwards, I'd love to see them.

And don't forget to mark you calendars for this weekends Gap Kids craft! We'll be making animal badges that you will just love. I seriously am so excited for these!! I'll share more details on the craft and specific locations tomorrow but set aside from 10 Am to 1 PM on Saturday and you should be all set for now.

Geometric Art for GAP Kids Recap!

I just got back from LA last night and working on getting caught up on everything and enjoying seeing my Littles again (who I swear have grown in just a few short days!). The geometric painting for the GAP Kids event in LA at the Grove was a smashing success! I had such a fabulous time meeting so many little Picasso's and their parents. And the girls from A Squared Events, particularly Jen Truc, who ran the show, were phenomenal to work with. I love seeing everything all set up and ready to go. And then when the kids started coming, well it was pure magic.

I loved to see the many wonderful combinations and creative applications the kids came up with for our geometric art project. They were nothing short of brilliant! I am sharing a few photos from my Instragram feed from the LA Event, (as well as a few from other city attendees feeds), here to share with you. I'm just so thrilled with how everything turned out! (see the flickr page from all the geo painting events here! so inspiring!!)

And if you were not able to make it out to one of these events, and want your little ones to make some geometric art on their own you can now do so at home!

Materials:

• You will need either a canvas or thick sheet of watercolor paper (if you use paper, I would suggest taping it down to a firm surface). 
• A fun selection of bright acrylic or tempera paints
• A paint brush 
• and some masking tape (I like the 1/2" size)

Start by taping off sections of your canvas so that they make a variety of fun geometric shapes.

Now grab your first color of paint. Decide which shapes you want to be this color and paint them in within the line of the tape (overlapping is fine as the tape will be taken off). Then proceed on to the next color, until your canvas is filled with a variety of fun, colorful shapes!

Once the painted canvas is dry, you may remove the masking tape.

Now enjoy your new work of geometric art! I love how striking these turn out. There are so many options and directions you can with this.

I also love how this is a great art activity for kids of all ages. If your child is at the preschool age, and more into sensory painting, they can just go crazy and see what fun magic happens when the tape is removed. And if they are bit older, they can really get into disciplining their color selection and planning out their different shapes. They can be more precise and intentional, creating something really amazing.

If do this art project, we'd love to see pics of your final creations! And if you attended any of the geo art painting events accross the US and Canada, I'd LOVE to see your pics from that as well!

And for this weekend, get geared up for journal making! Your child's thoughts and acheivments will shine on throughout time as they record it all in their very own journal that they make themselves! See more about dates and locations for this event on GAP's Shine On Facebook page. And based on how successful this last weekend was, you won't want to miss it!!

Leaving on a jet plane...On my way to LA! Follow my trip on Instagram!

(Leaving on a Jet Plane print by Cassie Beck)

I'm headed off to LA tonight for tomorrow's GAP Kids event at the Grove. And I'll be updating you on how the trip and crafting is going all on Instagram. Right now, while frantically packing, I'm having visions of the beach, catching up with dear friends, scouring Mood Fabrics and Michael Levine's...and thinking about what I can stuff in my luggage from Trader Joe's to bring home.

Should be fun fun fun!

xo
Mer

Gearing up for crafting at the Grove's GAP Kids in LA!!

I can't believe we will begin our Shine On crafting weekends in just two days! I seriously can't wait!! If you live in the LA area please do stop in at the Grove and say hello! I'd love love love to meet you and see so many of your little artists!

Our first activity will be geometric art! You're little ones will be able to create and bring home a fun and bright, colorful, striking work of art. It's easy and the pay off is so great!

We will be doing geometric art from:

10AM - 1PM

And if you are not in the LA area, please drop on in on any of the following GAP Kids locations:

New York: 54th & 5th

San Francisco: Corte Maderta

Chicago: Sheffield

Boston: Burlington Mall

Miami: Georgetown

Philadelphia: Newton Center

Dallas: Dallas Galleria

Toronto: Eaton Center

If you do attend at any of these events I'd LOVE to hear how it went and to see pictures!!! I'd love to do a round up of all your little Picasso's on my blog after each event, so bring your cameras and share! You can also stay in the loop with GAP's Facebook Shine On Saturdays event page.


Hope to see you there!


xo
Mer