Waldorf Dolls

I have wanted to make a Waldorf doll for awhile now. I have always been intimidated of the sculpting of the face. Well, I decided to take the plunge and started searching the net for instructions.
That is when I came across Dancing Rain Dolls. They have kits available that are customizable by skin color, hair and eye color and size. I bought two kits and started them the day after Christmas. I took about 4 hours to get the first one done. The second one went a little faster. I haven't made clothes yet, but Bitty Baby clothes seem to fit ok.
I am not totally happy with the face, but I do like the hair and the girls seem to love them.
I am sure that these will not be my last dolls.

The Craziness is Over....Almost

All of our traveling is done. We have had several parties, saw lots of family and had a ton of fun. It all started with our family Christmas celebration at our house. The girls decorated cookies and ate a lot of frosting.
That evening we started with some snacks, opened gifts and then enjoyed a buffet of appetizers. The girls thought it was great to have so many options of food. We didn't have to keep encouraging them to eat because they got to choose their own food.

The girls loved all of their gifts. The playhouse, face bag and I spy were all well received. Coco's big gift this year was a wallet full of gift cards. She can now go to the movies with her friends, buy some cd's or get a bite to eat without coming to us for money.

I got some surprises under the tree as well. Jim got me an afternoon at the new spa that just opened down the road from us. I can't wait to take advantage of that! I also got a digital frame for my office, a ceramic bird from Lilly, Santa and Snowman salt and pepper shakers from Claire and perfume from Coco. I also got this great necklace. I bought it for myself, but let Jim put his name on the tag.After all of this, we traveled up north to my parents. It is usually takes right around 2 hours. It took 4 hours. That is right 4 hours! I could hardly peel my fingers from the wheel when we finally pulled into the driveway.

While up there, we had 2 Christmas parties and a baby shower for my sister. We saw tons of cousins and had a good time.
We have one more party to go. Coco is having 5 girlfriends over for a fancy dinner and gifts. They are going to be one tired group. They are gathering for a New Years party tomorrow night and then coming to our house on Thursday. Here is a sneak preview of what will be going on in our dining room.


I will post many more pics on Friday or Saturday.

New Holiday Header!

I have been doing a lot of blog reading lately. I have seen so many cool holiday headers, that I thought I would try and make a chang on mine. I saw come really cool cupcakes on Becky's blog. I bought them from Two Peas and got to work.

I am happy with the way it turned out. I bought a couple of other things so I think that changing up the header could become a regular thing.

Enjoy!

Christmas Card

I am revealing our family Christmas card a bit early. They were shipped in two batches and I am mailing the ones that need to travel the furthest today. The rest of you who live closer, or who I will see in the next week will get yours from the second batch. So you will be getting a sneak preview. I only scanned the front. When you get yours, be sure to turn it over for another photo and message.

I took all of the pictures. They seemed to print a little dark, but I still like the card. I had them done by Dayspring Studios. They print cards with a religious message and that is what I wanted for Christmas. I suppose I could have made something similar myself by using Photoshop and some digital scrapbook kits, but I was a little late in thinking about cards this year.

So without further ado…

Marybeth Vrugdenhill - Simply Life Photography and Charity Dick

Marybeth Vrugdenhill has been our family photographer for the last couple of years. Each time we've had a session she makes it fun and different from the others. Last year she sent out this cool magnetic calendar with a shot of the girls from our session.

Today, we got these cool magnents from Courteney's senior session that we did this year.

These little touches are such a great reminder of why we love her. If you are in need of some family portraits, wedding photography, or anything else, make sure you check out her site for some samples of her work.

In looking for a great way to display some of the pictures, I found this frame that my cousin Charity Dick made. Charity paints murals on walls, sinage for businesses, and old windows. She also makes these box frames and I think it is perfect for the shot of the girls together.

If you would like her contact information, let me know and I can put you in touch with her.

Melvin Update

Someone (you know who you are) has been asking for a Melvin update. So here are some pictures. He has been climbing the Christmas tree which has been driving me crazy. Other than that is is a typical lazy cat that lounges around a lot.

It's looking a lot like Christmas

Our house is finally looking a lot like Christmas. Our tree is up. Decorated. Our Jesse tree is out. The girls, my mom and I made lots of snowflakes today. It feels cozy and I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Our Christmas cards came today. I will scan it and post about it tomorrow.

Here is a peek into our holiday home.

Welcome to the World of Lilly

What's this Mom? asked Claire. I almost did not dare to turn around. The girls had been crafting nicely at the table for quite awhile. No fighting over supplies. No criticizing each others work. It was beautiful. I had gotten 2 loads of laundry folded. Lovely.
Then it all came to a screeching halt.

It was hair. Human hair. Quite a bit of it. Lilly hair.















There she stood with her half mullet haircut. "Why did you cut your hair?" I asked.
"Because." she said. I informed her that there would be no scissors in her near future and she responded "you're not my boss."
She quickly learned that I am her boss and sat on the step (our time out spot) for quite awhile.

I lived with the hair for a few days. I don't know if it was much of a punishment for her, but I dreaded the thought having all of our Christmas pictures taken with this horrible haircut.
So, yesterday she got a haircut from a professional. She absolutely hated it. She hated the hair washing. She hated sitting still. She did not enjoy the process. I guess that was part of her punishment.

Now comes the best part. Everyone LOVES the new haircut. She is getting compliments from everyone who sees her. (This is not helping me in the "don't cut your own hair or you will have to have a short hairdo" department.)

Here is her before picture (the one on our already outdated Christmas card)

Here she is with her updated do:
Again....Welcome to my world.

I Actually Won!

Wednesday was Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway day. There were hundreds of blogs from all over the world that participated. I visited the blogs and decided if the item being gifted was something that I (or someone I know) could use and benefit from. If I won something, I wanted it to be an item that I would be excited to have and not just another free thing.

I got an email today from Chris saying I won her giveaway. Guess what it is? Have you guessed yet? You are going to look at this and say "That is so Jen."
Here it is. My prize.Baker's twine and an assortment of vintage buttons. I can think of a million things to do with this already. Chris also sells the twine in her shop.