Stocking Advent Calendar

I know I'm a little late in posting this, but....oh well. I made this calendar for Hudson (and Holland in future years), and he loved it. The "elves" put a treat in the stocking each night, and he counted how many days were left. The stockings are felt, sewn together with a zigzag stitch, with felt letters glued on. The hardest part was cutting out the letters freehand, but it was still easy. I then bought a piece of foamboard from Hobby Lobby and stapled on some Christmas fabric and 4 pieces of ribbon. Super simple! I was in a hurry to get it done in time, but for next year, I'd like to make a big Santa face out of felt and glue it on behind the ribbon, with a big white fabric bag at the bottom to look like Santa's beard. We would put the stocking in the bag each night, and Santa's face would be revealed when all the stockings are off.

Photography

So, I got a nice new camera for Christmas from my wonderful husband. I'm hoping to finally be able to take good pictures of my babies and my projects. I "know" an incredibly talented photographer, who is offering a workshop to share some of her photography knowledge, and I'm really hoping I can attend. Her name is Katie DeWinter, and we know each other through an online forum called the Junebugs. We all met online when we were pregnant with babies due in June of '06, and we still keep in touch. Anyway, Katie is having a contest to win a free spot in her workshop. To enter you must post a link to her workshop http://www.katiedewinter.blogspot.com/2009/11/beginner-photography-workshop.html on your blog or facebook page, along with a one sentence answer to the question: "What do you LOVE about photography?". So to answer the question....

I love that photography captures life's beautiful...and not so beautiful memories, such as my gorgeous baby sleeping like an angel, then that same pretty girl with her finger up her nose.

Speaking of photos, next time I promise to post pictures of the projects I've finished recently, and possibly even a tutorial.

A few of my recent projects...

My first order of business was a nursing cover and diaper/wipe clutch for a friend's baby shower, but in my rush to get it ready for the shower, I forgot to take pictures. It was even my own creation, not copying anyone else's tutorial.


I also decided that I needed to make a pincushion before I did any other sewing projects, so I tried the strawberry pincushion tutorial at Embroideroo http://embroideroo.blogspot.com/2009/10/strawberry-pincushion-tutorial.html . Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but it does the job. And who says a strawberry can't be blue?

Then the cutest thing by far.... The ruffle t-shirt dress from kojodesigns http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2009/08/kojo-tutorial-jcrew-y-ruffle-dress-from.html . This dress was super simple to make, and is possibly my favorite thing in my daughter's closet at the moment. The hardest part was trying to get her to hold still for a picture.
















And I had to include this picture because it's so precious.

Spooky Stuff....

Friday night we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. Hudson was full of a million questions, but really enjoyed "helping". He got to scoop the goop, and kept grabbing the carving tools when we weren't looking and giving the unsuspecting pumpkins a little stab. Holland wouldn't touch the goo (just like her brother at that age), and couldn't really care less about the pumpkins. She wasn't feeling well, so she just kept crawling into my lap. When all was said and done, we ended up with a vampire Mickey for Hudson, a cute little hairbow wearing-gaptoothed-cheeseygrin pumpkin for Holland, a spider for Daddy, and a greenish puking pumpkin for me. Oh, and Cootie had to test some pumpkin and promptly got sick on the dining room rug.










Saturday was the big day. We went to a Christmas bazaar at Hudson's school, lunch at Grammy Marcie and Papa Jim's house, then home for short naps. My fuzzy little elephant was so excited to trick or treat and my little Pebbles Flintstone was just kind of along for the ride. It was freezing, so she didn't stay out long. At one point, Holland got so cold that Danny was wearing her inside his coat, and Mimi D ended up taking her back home. Hudson was funny, because there was a neighbor wearing a scary mask, sitting on his porch, and he wouldn't even get out of the wagon. Because of that, things started out pretty slow for him, but he soon got into it and had a great time. We came home and both kids loved dumping and sorting through all of their loot before settling down for the night.

Going to give this a try again...

OK, at first this was going to be a blog to advertise my hairbows, but scratch that. It will just be for any randomness that comes to mind. Although, I do still have my hairbows for sale at www.ohholland.etsy.com.

So anyway....the kids, Mimi D, and I went to Thistleberry Farm today. It was supposed to be 70 and sunny, although we never saw 70 or sunny, but we still had fun. The kids had fun riding the cow train, playing in kids corral, and doing the hayride. I didn't have my camera charged, but Mimi D got some good pictures. Hudson tried the jumping pillow but got knocked down twice by some big kids, so we moved on to other fun things. It was a long, busy, fun-filled, no-nap day! Possibly going bowling tomorrow, but shhh, don't tell Hudson yet.

Welcome to Oh Holland! Hairbows

I am a SAHM getting ready to start my own hairbow business. I will do a little here and there as I have time, and hopefully it will continue to grow. I started making hairbows for my daughter a couple weeks before she was born, and have been told many times that I should sell them. So that is just what I'm going to do. If you're wondering about the name, my daughter's name is Holland, and I find myself saying "Oh Holland!" multiple times a day. My mom suggested that I use it as the business name and it just seems to fit perfectly. I will be posting pictures and prices of my bows shortly, so check back often!