Holiday Card Designs

The holidays are right around the corner. I've been working on a new product line for Lilly Jean Creations and finally have something I'd like to share with you. Please visit the "Shop My Card Designs" link above to see a collection of holiday card design templates I've created. I can customize any of these designs with your photo/s and signature for a small fee, then email you a file that you can print on your home printer or with your favorite online photo printer (or I can coordinate the printing for you). There are more details on the page, so please take a look. I'll continue to add designs in the next few weeks. 

I know there are a lot of options for holiday cards these days. I hope you'll consider letting me take some of the stress out of the process for you :)

Cheers!

Owl Hats

Our friends are getting ready to welcome their first baby (a girl) this week and I was itching to do some crafting. So, I went back to the pattern I used for the monkey hat, but this time I made it into an owl hat. It turned out so cute, that I decided to make one for Miss Alice as well. You can find the pattern HERE. It is super easy and fast. The instructions include how to make monkey ears. I made the eyes and beak for the owl myself after looking at similar hats online. The tassles for the ears are made from yarn scraps as well as the braided ties. So cute, so fun and SO easy. I will probably make a few more, as we have more friends with little girls and winter is approaching . . .

I made this one for our friends:

And this one for Miss Alice:

One year, three dresses

So, in less than a week she'll be one year old. Hard to believe. Even harder to believe how little sewing and knitting I've done in the last year. I miss it. Terribly. I took the occasion of her first birthday to MAKE the time to sew her a dress. Of course, I couldn't make just one, so I made three. Now to decide which one is the winner. Friends have suggested a dress change halfway through the big day. That may be the answer. All of these were created using an Old Navy tank top, cutting it and sewing the skirt to it. I put elastic on the inside so that it would still have some give to it, which is a good thing because when I tried on dress number one she needed that give to get it on her. Once it was on (it wasn't all that hard to get it on) it looked super cute and fit her great. I'll have to test out the other two tonight and decide on the order for the party. I also haven't decided if I should make some hair accessories. She's not all that into hair accessories, but maybe for photo ops? I sure hope I can do more blogging in the future. I'm working on a couple of knitting projects and of course have so many pinned and in my head for the future. It's okay, though. I love being a mom and if it means not having as much time for other loves, I'm okay with that.

Monkey Hat

I finished this hat for a friend about a month ago. I had forgotten to blog it, until she sent me a photo of her new baby boy wearing the hat. He looked super cute. The hat was really fun to make. I had hoped to make a bunny version for Alice for Easter but never got around to it. Maybe an owl for her birthday.

I found the pattern on Ravelry HERE. I used Lion Brand CottonEase yarn.

Easter Dress

I was amazingly able to squeeze in a short sewing session to make Alice an Easter dress. I used a couple of vintage pillow cases that my mother in law gave to me. The fabric was so springy, I couldn't resist.

To make the dress I took one of Alice's dresses, folded it in half length wise, laid it down on the fold of the fabric, traced around it and then cut out the pieces. I fully lined the dress, so I did the same thing with white fabric for the lining. I used snaps to connect the straps because I didn't have a pair of cute buttons that I liked, and I didn't really have the time to sew button holes. Overall I'm super happy with how it turned out, I just hope it fits her. I haven't tried it on her yet, but when I held it up to her it seemed like it might be a little snug around the chest. Here's hoping it will at least fit for the one day.

Booties for Babies

I LOVE the Saartje's Bootees pattern on Ravelry. It's a quick knit and is a great use of stash yarn. Here are couple of recent pairs of booties that will be making their way to a couple of baby girls. I made a pair of these for Alice and loved them. They stayed on really well, although they didn't fit her for long. She got her mom's big ass feet :)

Where's Waldo Hat

I intended to send this hat to one of the holiday babies, but never got around to it. Maybe someone will have a baby around the holidays next year and I can send it. It's too small for Alice, now. It was supposed to be a holiday hat with the red and white, but once I finished it looked more like a "Where's Waldo" hat to me.

For the babies

When I have been knitting lately it has all been for babies. I know so many pregnant women right now it is kind of ridiculous. I love baby knits though, because they are quick and thus more instantly gratifying than say a sweater for me would be. Although, I would like to knit something for myself again one of these days.

Here are a couple of hats I knit for my cousin who had her baby in December. At the time I made these they did not know if they were having a boy or a girl, so the green colors seemed like they would work for either. They had a boy, and I think that they actually are a bit more boyish colors, but Alice tried them on for me while I was making them and she looked pretty cute in these colors, too.


I knit these based on a basic adult hat pattern. I just fiddled around with it for a bit to figure out how many stitches would work for a baby. I think it ended up being 70 something and I was using maybe US 5 needles. I can't really remember, which is kind of a bummer because it means I'll have to do the trial and error process again the next time. Maybe it will come back to me if I decide to make more of these.

I also made a blanket for the babe. I used two flannel fabrics and sewed them together, then I crocheted a decorative edge all the way around. I must say this ended up being more time consuming than I originally anticipated. I did a blanket stitch by hand all the way around to give me something to crochet into. I found ways to do this with a machine online, but I couldn't find the right needle and just decided to go totally hand made. It turned out really cute and I'd love to make one again sometime, but I may look into a quicker option for establishing that base stitch row.




I got an email recently from the mom saying that the hats fit great and stay on his head and that the blanket gets lots of use for tummy time. So, sounds like these were successful gifts :)

I'm working on a whole bunch of other gifts that I hope to post about soon. Booties and hats and maybe another blanket, we'll see. I just hope I can find the time to get them all done before the babies are all a year old :)

Mommyhood has taken over

Well, here it is over 5 months after she arrived and I'm just now getting back to the blog. Sorry for the long absence. Mommyhood has taken over. She arrived on August 27th in the morning. 8 lb. 4 oz. 21.5" long. Healthy and perfect. We named her Alice and she's the sweetest little girl.

I have been able to finish a few projects since she was born and will post about them soon, but I thought that I should post some pics of the babe first. So, here she is!

All dressed up to come home. CLICK HERE for the post about her outfit.


Sporting the only hat I made that fit her. (3 weeks)


Feather & Fan in action. (1 month)


Rockin' out her purple booties. (1 month)


Modeling one of my LillyJean applique peasant tops. (8 weeks)


And here is a recent photo. Not modeling anything, just looking cute.(5 months)


Love her!