New Labels from Twill Tape Guy

I ran out of labels so I ordered a new bunch from Twill Tape Guy.

 
These were my old labels.  I had 4 colour choices:  yellow, grey, pink/purple, and plain.  I also had them on white and natural twill.


I prefer the white twill.  It's much sharper looking than the natural. 

My new set includes:  yellow, grey, 2 types of black, green and blue.  So much better than trying to print my own twill labels.

I bought a lot of these.  It's nice to have extra!
If you would like some too, just go onto Twill Guy's site and click on "Custom Printed Twill Tape".   Choose the size (0.5" - 1.5"), choose your colour, mail in your graphic (thanks hubby!), and place your order.  My labels are approx 1" plus 0.25" per side = 24 labels per yard.  Twill guy will send you a picture of your order before he prints it.  So easy!

New Shoes

No these are not new shoes for me.  Baby Bunny doesn't wear shoes... EVER.
So when he got these cute brown shoes for his birthday, we decided it's time for him to get used to shoes before it starts to get cold outside.

  
Here are the shoes.
So cute!  Like a little man!

The shoes stayed on!  

Here we are at the library.  
Cheeky Monkey loves to read books.
Baby Bunny likes to eat them (ugh...  hope this doesn't happen once flu season arrives).

Here he is again.

He's also wearing the lazy Sunday pants that I made from hubby's old sweatshirt.















I love little boys!!

It's a Good Day When...

It's a good day when:

The sky is blue and the sun is out.

The kids take a nap at the same time. 

The wind blows and I smell fresh cookies baking at the Dad's Cookie Factory.  Le yum!

 







I can take a break on my porch and eat ice cream.

Tutorial: Harvesting Marigold Seeds

We have a well in front of our house that is like a miracle well.  Anything that goes in there will grow tall and big.  It's like instant Miracle Grow.   We had an old marigold plant in there from last year and the seeds were still in the pods.  So, Cheeky Monkey and I ripped out the old plant this past spring and sprinkled the seeds.

This is what the plant looks like now.  Crazy, huh?

To collect seeds for next year, you need to first look for dead flowers.  If you pick a fresh bud, there won't be any seeds inside.

(I love my little helper's cute little fingers!)




 

 Collect several

Open the bud

and you'll see this

Collect them and save for next spring.

Isn't Cheeky Monkey such a good helper? 

As Seen on... A Sprouting Acorn

Last night, Michelle from a Sprouting Acorn emailed me to let me know that this week is National Child Passenger Safety Week in the United States.  I wonder if we have one in Canada...

Every Tuesday, Michelle (and her friend Andrea) hold a spotlight on an ETSY store.  Today they chose my shop!  How very nice of them! 
 
In honour of Child Passenger Safety Week, I am providing Michelle's readers with a 10% discount on the toy leashes in my shop AND an opportunity for one reader to win a leash!
Please visit the blog here to enter! 

 
  You could win this one...

 or this one...












Or any other one that you see in my ETSY shop.
 










Nighty night!
Must go to bed early because Mom, Sis, and I are going to a taping of the Steven and Chris show at the CBC building.  Fun fun fun!

Toddler Backpack: Little J's Dump Truck Backpack

Here it is!  Little J's Backpack is finally done and shipped down south.
I love making these backpacks.  Again, I used a pattern from Made by Rae.  I modified the pattern a bit as little J's mom wanted a bigger pack.  He is going to preschool and the school wants the kids to have backpacks that will fit an 8.5" x 11" folder.   Hopefully the school doesn't expect a pre-schooler to carry a lot in their packs.  Their little bodies are still growing!!

Here is the front view

The side view

Large side pocket

Back View

I modified the pattern slightly:  1) slightly larger straps and 2) backpack connectors instead of D rings.  

Quilted bottom

Lined with hippo fabric and includes an inner pocket.
I included a small velcro tab. 

Couldn't resist putting Cheeky Monkey's spiderman book in the pocket.  


Memo to me:  Must make another one for Cheeky Monkey







Time to take a break and watch some TV!

Happy Birthday Baby Bunny! (Party #2)

A week after we held the first party, we had another party for family.
This one was held indoors and was much more low key.

We moved in the pom poms.
I left them outside and they got rained on but somehow they are still intact.

Baby Bunny learned how to say "pom"

Pretty much the same menu but this time we had more pizzas and didn't get subs.

Can you believe the size of this balloon?

And the kids fought over the pirate ship.  

(This is a Little Tikes product and every time we receive something from this company, we get a good laugh from the catalogue.  It looks like it's from the 80s).  Will post a pic once I find out where the kids hid the catalogue.  




Oh and I didn't learn my lesson as I forgot to put out the cookies again.  Doh!
The good news is that our family figured out the recycling stations!!!  Yahoo!

Happy Birthday Baby Bunny! (Party #1)

Happy 1st Birthday to Baby Bunny!

You can only have one first birthday party so we ended up having 2 for baby bunny.  Our bungalow is too small for all of our friends/family and little kids so we split up our parties.

The first party was for our friends with kiddies.  We had an outdoor party.  Probably wouldn't have been able to function inside with 19 adults and 12 babies/toddlers.

This is the sign hubby made to direct folks to the backyard.  M + 1 + left arrow.  Says it all.

I made some pom poms for the fence because balloons were making baby bunny crazy.

Also I love making these and needed one more excuse to make more poms.  

Gotta love Martha Stewart!
Click here for the instructions


 


We made little loot bags for the kids.  Although we used blue and pink bags, the contents were pretty much the same:  Treats:  Goldfish pack, Dora or Cars fruit jube jubes Toys:  Slinky, skateboard, bouncy ball, bubbles, sunglasses, and stickers


 





Babies got little food jars and some babies also got Sophie Toy Leashes



















Here is a picture of the cake.  Hubby and I gave ourselves a mini heart attack the night before.   We didn't bother pre-ordering a cake since the store across the street ALWAYS has a bunch of cakes available.  Well, the night before the party, we discover that ALL of the cakes are gone.  So that meant driving around at 9pm with the poor kiddies in the backseat.  

By the time it was all over, Baby Bunny just wanted to play with more balloons.  He had no clue it was his birthday




















What worked:
- Having it outdoors made it so much easier 
- Lots of balls and toys to keep the kids occupied
- Easy to eat foods (pizza, pasta salad, subs, veggies, fruit) and self serve drinks in the cooler


What didn't work:
- The recycling station.  We had 3 boxes:  1 for food waste, 1 for cans/plates, 1 for garbage.  All 3 boxes looked the same by end of night.  Oh well, can't say we didn't try!
- We didn't take many pictures!  Next time we will designate a photographer to help us out.  Correction - hubby says we are never going to have another party with that many parents and kids.
- Even though we had a lot of food, I forgot to put out dip and some extra treats.  Oh and I should have had some crackers for the kiddies while they waited for the pizza.  I threw a couple of bags of chips on the picnic table instead since I figured this would be payback for all the times Cheeky Monkey got junk food.


All in all, a fabulous day.  Kids napped so that made a huge difference.  Cheeky Monkey woke up after the guests arrived but he didn't kick up a fuss.  Baby Bunny woke up right before the 1st guest so he was in a good mood.  

The next morning, the kids fought over this toy and many others...