Photos.

I got a new camera in 2007. It is nice, really, really nice. It takes fantastic, high quality photos. And those photos take FOREVER to upload. Like hours. So I got behind in uploading photos. Then Small Fry was born, and I got even more behind.

In what seems like no time at all, it's 13 months after I got my new camera, and I realize I haven't had any photos ordered from the beautiful pictures I took. So I made a mission a few weeks ago to get 'er done.

I ordered photos last week - 2031 photos to be exact. Shipped in two boxes weighing a total of 16 lbs. Now I need MANY photo albums. But at least I can fill empty frames and actually have pictures of Small Fry hung around the house.

Some of my favorite photos:

I made the Small Fry a sweater. But he's cuter than the sweater.

The Monkey LOVES the snow. He could sit in the snow all day long and eat it (but he does know not to eat the yellow snow - he'll tell you that).

I know, I know.

I'm neglectful of my poor blog...I know :) I have all the good intentions but I guess that doesn't get you too far when you run out of time.

Lately my days have consisted of being awoken by one of the two little monsters, spending some time waking up while the Monkey watches Thomas the Train or Bob the Builder, and Small Fry plays in what hubby calls "the holder" (it's an exersaucer - keeps him entertained and contained - very helpful contraption).

After I finally muster enough energy to move, the boys get a fresh diaper, clothes for the day and then breakfast for the boys quickly comes next. Some days the boys are lucky enough to get some cereal and cartoons (or even eggs), but mostly it's breakfast on the go. The Monkey loves his Z-Bars (he'll tell you that they're organic), and Small Fry is a fan of waffles, really anything that he can feed himself, but waffles are mostly clean, easy to make, and travel well in the car.

It's often off to pre-school for the Monkey, he loves it, is learning the most amazing things, it blows my mind when he can lead the prayers when we light the candles for Shabbat. He's so cool, and I love dropping him off and picking him up every time from school, full of stories about his day.

When the Monkey is in school, Small Fry and I head to work. He's getting more adventurous and we've decided that our "gated community" must once again be erected (it's gates that keep him in two offices that are essentially baby-proofed. Today I found him under the lunch table like a puppy searching for scraps. I feed him, I swear.

After work and school, it's 35 minutes to home again. Over the next few hours both boys nap, although rarely at the same time. Hubby comes home to take over and I often head to the studio to sew. Of course then comes dinner, play time with the boys, cleaning, bath, bed, and more studio time.

And suddenly I find myself at 2 am again, saying I'd go to bed early, but just not getting everything done. Knowing I will awake no later than 8 am the next day, I finish the essentials and head to bed, thinking of all the things that were once again neglected.

So tonight, I decided the blog needed some TLC, some updates, some photos! Enjoy some updates :)

A photo book

My only niece (I have two nephews), is turning one on Wednesday and I wanted to make her something special. I know how much babies (including mine) love to look at pictures, but all too often, whatever they are holding ends up in their mouth, gets some Cheerios "goo" on it, gets dropped on a dirty floor, etc.

So, I wanted to make her a photo book that you could not only switch out the photos (because likes and interests change quickly in a baby's world), but something that could be tossed in the wash when it met the "too messy" threshold.

From all those requirements, this adorable photo book was born. It is approximately 8" square, and has 10 vinyl pockets each sized to hold a 4"x6" photo. The front and back cover feature some dots with coordinating fabric from the inside pages. Photos can easily be inserted and removed, and the entire thing (minus the photos of course) is machine washable.

Enjoy!

Crocheting in November...

As I stated in an earlier post, crocheting is my new hobby when I need a break from sewing. It started with the shoes from a pattern I got from Etsy (http://sylver.etsy.com), and snowballed.

So, here's what I made starting with the first things, to the most recent creation, a dreidel, available in my Etsy shop (http://mamamade.etsy.com)

The cat:

The hippo:

Then I started to get brave and make something a little "out there" - a sock monkey cupcake:

The cutest little mug of cocoa ever:

And finally, the dreidel - something I wanted to make for Small Fry, since he'd likely eat a real dreidel:

When I'm not sewing...

I have what I call "craft ADD", that is, I can't focus on one craft medium for too long. My mind starts to wander, and I ponder the possibilities of other things I want to be making. That is why I've got supplies for scrapbooking, cardmaking, photography, painting, soap making, beading, punch needle, embroidery, knitting, and more. It's fun, and I'm never bored (thanks, Mom, for teaching me that!)

A few weeks ago, I was browsing Etsy and came upon the cutest shoes, that turned out to be a pattern for crocheting shoes. I happened to have a "Learn how to Crochet" book, but hadn't tried it because they patterns in the instruction book were from the mid-70's and just didn't pique my interest. But this pattern, marked as "easy" was something I knew I could tackle. I quickly bought the pattern, anxiously awaited for its arrival via email and learned how to crochet. I did some research on the internet, found videos that showed me how to do stitches and after some trial and error, I made a pair of shoes. For some reason, I still haven't taken a picture of them.

These are the shoes I saw that made me have to learn to crochet! Check them (and lots of other cute designs out at http://sylver.etsy.com)

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. Hubby and I took the kids to the bookstore (our oldest, the Monkey, is a book FANATIC), and I took out youngest (Small Fry) to browse the craft books. What I happened to find led to a list of "things I want for Christmas", but some were too good to pass up. I found some cool books on "amigurumi", a Japanese word for "knitted/crocheted stuffed toy". I'd read a little about it on Etsy, because it is a big craze, but since I previously didn't know how to crochet, I really hadn't paid that much attention.

This was one of the books I found - she sells the finished products on Etsy too!

Another of the books I found - I love it! (See how the cute photos make you want to check out the book?)

Well, being a true marketer's dream, the beautiful photos on the front of the two books, pointing right at me, were just what I needed to spend $40 and a subsequent trip to the yarn store to stock up on dozens of colors.

And now when I'm not busy sewing dozens of sock monkey shirts (that's coming in another post), I'm crocheting. I love it because I can make projects quickly and easily, and can crochet when my boys are awake. Small Fry can't come in the studio, since he just likes to eat the glue and get into other trouble. And the Monkey thinks that every time he's in my studio, he gets to watch "Curious George".

So, I'm going to sign off this post, and get my photos ready so you can see what I've made!

I'm here.

Every night, about 1:30 am, I sit down to write a blog post. Then I get distracted. It's been a long couple of months, the Monkey and Small Fry are growing by leaps and bounds and I have loads of pictures to share.

But to anyone out there that reads this - hi. I'm here, just busy, and will post soon. I promise.

I went missing!

I think my real life got the better of me the past few months! I've been busy with family obligations, two increasingly demanding kiddos and by the time I think about the blog, the day is gone. I said the other day to a co-worker, that I make myself shut down the computer, stop knitting/crocheting, etc., by 2am...sometimes I'll watch a show (like Grey's Anatomy) that I've recorded, but it is time for my brain to wind down.

I get up with the boys about 7:30 every morning, so I guess it's good I'm still young...I can continue to burn my candle at both ends.

Anyway, I'm working on a photo essay of "the creation of my monkeys", which will be up soon, but in the meantime, I just had to post a few photos of "Santa Sock Monkey" that I've recently listed in my shop. He looks SO cute, all dressed up as Santa, and I'm hoping that others like him as much as I do.