Creeping up on one year!

Charlie had his one year pictures today with Carmen of CBM Photo. It was looking like rain, but ended up being the perfect weather for a photo shoot! We met around 8am, it was 77 degrees with a cool breeze in the air. This is NOT normal for Alabama summers, so we were beyond thankful and so glad the rain held off! It is especially helpful to have that cool breeze when you are chasing an almost-one-year-old around trying to get him to get in the right spot for his picture! Here is my very first preview of the shoot today!

As you can see here, he's on the move! I loved the set up for this shot. We used a quilt made by my great grandmother and Carmen brought oranges (how creative!) and the old wooden ladder and wooden crates. We did a variety of set ups using family heirloom type props which hopefully I'll get to share in a few days!

What I've been working on....

When I haven't been working on new things for Christmas Village or planning Charlie's birthday party, I've been just sewing up whatever I felt like at the moment! It's a nice change from the deadlines and stress of planning a line and all that goes with it.

Today, I finished up this little set in sizes 4 - 7. My plan (for now) is not to buy any new fabric until I use up what I already have on hand! It's kind of a challenge - especially since I LOVE buying new fabric so much - but it has made me use some different fabric pairings that I probably wouldn't have thought of before. If you like this set, I have enough fabric to make one or two more if the sizes I have ready won't work for you. Here is the link to order: http://sweet-dreams-designs.net/catalog.php?item=470&catid=10&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D10

This adorable little set has been finished for a while, but since we are still in the dead heat of Alabama summer, I decided to wait a little while before bringing it out! When I did put it out on the floor at the store and post it on Facebook, I sold three sets in about 3 minutes! I still have sizes 3, 4 & 6 ready to ship, but it can be made in sizes 12m - 10 years. I have plenty of this fabric to go around, so if your size isn't listed I can make it for ya! Here is the link to purchase the Peace Pumpkin Set : http://sweet-dreams-designs.net/catalog.php?item=470&catid=10&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D10

Hopefully lots more to come! I'm working on a new idea for the Christmas Village booth this year. It will be all boys again and I'm trying out something I've never done before! I hope it's as big a hit as the Cottontails booth was! I'll be bringing back mix and match tees/pants again so my machine is about to get really busy stitching out some appliqued tees! I've ordered bulk supply of red and green thread...gotta get past this birthday party first! :-)

Birthday Party Prep

I tried my first round with the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker last night in preparation for Charlie's upcoming birthday party and it was a success! I used random sprinkle colors here and chocolate I already had on hand to coat them in since I didn't want to use up what I had bought for the party. So even though they are not "designer" cake pops, I got the technique down AND they tasted good! Oh, and everyone keeps asking where I got this....Kohl's has them for $26.99 and if you buy it in the store like I did, then no shipping! My advice: FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS and read the tips. They really did help! (And I'm a terrible direction follower!)





I have also been working on his birthday hat (not finished yet, but I'll post pictures when it is!) as well as a variation of this idea from Life Sweet Life blog.

Hint: Think about how HOT it is going to be outside at the end of July in Alabama!

Truth be told, this blog has been a constant resource for my party planning. It's also where I found out about the cake pop maker! Score!

I'm also really excited about having Carmen with CBM Photo photographing the party AND Charlie's one year portraits! I wanted to have every minute of the party documented and I'm so glad that Carmen was free that day and willing to photograph it all for me so I can enjoy the party and **try** not to stress out about it!

I'm going to wait just a bit longer to post the party invites (which are PERFECT!) but here is the picture that went on the invitations....

My invitations were designed by MemoriesToo.com/Southern Summer Party Designs and they were printed (real quick and in a hurry!) by my friend Susan who designs adorable stationery for children and adults!

Now, what am I going to do when all this party planning is done?