A Handmade Tissue Holder

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
Since I don't want O's doll diaper bag to be disorganized, I thought this handmade tissue holder would be the perfect place for her to store her doll's cloth wipes :) I followed the tutorial on Skip to My Lou, and the tissue holder was incredibly easy to make! It's the first thing I've EVER sewn completely independently (on the sewing machine)! I'm very proud :)

More Handmade Gifts

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
Regular readers of this blog probably know that my mom and I are making a doll diaper bag full of handmade items for O for Christmas. Here are a few recent projects. Last night I made 2 cloth baby wipes and a burp cloth. They are so tiny and soft :) My mom did the top stitching...I tried to do it and almost ruined them. I'm getting better at this sewing thing, but I still need a lot of practice :)

Floam is Fun!

My friend, Becca, has been telling me about floam for a while, and we finally tried it! I planned on making homemade floam eventually, but when I saw it in the dollar store, I decided to go ahead and buy it. It's fun and a nice change from playdoh (although we still prefer playdoh). It's a bit more firm than playdoh, and it's somewhat difficult for O to roll flat, but she still has fun with it :)

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Story Time Felts

We LOVE the Terrific Twin Toddler Felt Dolls! My 4 year old niece, M, and O (28 months) were very excited when I told them that I had a new toy for them to try out this morning. They played with the dolls for quite a while. I love how focused and quiet they were while playing! My sister tried to get M to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv, but she didn't want to stop playing with the dolls. She finished her dinner quickly and immediately went back to playing with the dolls :) O and I had fun playing together, and I really like that the dolls are thick enough that you can dress them and then walk them around like they are figurines. We had so much fun!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
I really like that the dolls are made of VERY thick felt. This makes it easier and more fun to play with them like figurines instead of on a felt board.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
This is the tote that the dolls are stored in.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
M LOVES the dolls even more than O does. My sister is definitely getting her a set of the dolls for Christmas! I love buying gifts for O that are well-made, open ended, and inspire creative play. These dolls definitely meet all of my criteria :) I also really like the photo dolls in felt. These dolls would be a fun keepsake :)

An Upcoming Review

I just received a set of the Terrific Twins Toddler Felt Dolls from Story Time Felts, and I can't wait to write a review on them for all of you. I've been very interested in getting these dolls for O because I love paper dolls, but I'm afraid that she is a little young for them (28 months). Felt paper dolls are the perfect solution! I emailed the owner of the company asking if she would send a set of dolls for me to review. I wasn't really expecting to hear back from her at all, so imagine my surprise when she emailed me back within 10 minutes and said she'd love to send the dolls!!! I was shocked and happy :) The dolls arrived while we were at Disneyworld, but Elliott brought them to us tonight (we are still at O's Guh-guh and Grandpa's house). I was immediately impressed by several things: the dolls and their accessories are packaged in a see through bag (I love it when toys come with storage bags!); I was expecting the dolls to be made of regular felt, but they are actually VERY thick and sturdy; and the clothing and accessories are adorable and very well made (read here to see more about the product and process). I can't wait until tomorrow when I show the dolls to the girls (my niece and O). I hope they love them as much as I do. I'll let you know!

A Few Musical Instruments

IMG_2952 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

I always try to buy musical instruments when we travel, and I was very pleased with the instruments I found at Disneyworld. Most of them had tags stating that they were handmade in places such as Ghana and Indonesia, and that a portion of the proceeds are donated to the communities in which they are made. Hopefully, that's true and not just a gimmick to get people to buy them! I was especially excited about the thumb drum! I've been looking at these online and in catalogs for a long time, but I'd never seen one IRL. I think we are going to have lots of fun making music soon. O might wake up to a stocking full of musical instruments on Christmas morning!

A Few Souvenirs

IMG_2953 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

I was really excited to get O some neat items for her dress-up suitcase while we were at Disneyworld. I was looking forward to buying souvenirs in the World Showcase at Epcot, but I was disappointed at 1st. Then I found a hat and parasol in China. They were both reasonably priced, and I think she'll love them. The red hat came from Africa in the Animal Kingdom. I was surprised by how reasonably priced everything was. I was expecting outlandish prices for souvenirs since it's Disneyworld :)

100 Followers!

I just noticed that this blog has 100 followers!!! Thanks for reading, everybody!

O's Doll Carrier- In Progress

IMG_2949 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

We are back from our vacation, and O and I are spending the week at Guh-guh & Grandpa's house (Elliott will be here with us tomorrow). My mom and I have been working nonstop on O's handmade Christmas gifts. Here is her baby doll carrier. We have all of the pieces, and now we just need to sew them together. So far, I've done all of the sewing, which is pretty surprising :) I'm going to let my mom do the top stitching, so it will look nice and neat instead of crooked :) Hopefully, we'll finish it tonight and start on the doll diaper bag. We are using my Beco as inspiration, and I'm hoping O's doll carrier will turn out the way I have imagined it!

O's Favorites

Lately, I've been working on O's Christmas wish list (that her grandparents requested), and I've been thinking a lot about the toys that she plays with very frequently. I'd thought I'd share these things in case anyone else interested :)

1) playsilks- O was not very interested in her playsilks until I hung them on the wall. Ever since then, she has played with them EVERY day! I love the playsilks because they are so versatile and open ended. She uses them as hats, scarves, dresses, skirts, capes, doll blankets, as wrapping paper, to make forts, etc. The possibilities really are endless :) I ordered the silks from Dharma Trading Company about a year ago, and my mom and I dyed them using kool-aid. This is definitely one of O's most loved handmade gifts!

2) Unit blocks- O's grandparents gave her a set of unit blocks made by Melissa and Doug for her 2nd birthday. She only played with them once or twice a week at first, but then I moved them to a different, more accessible location in the room. Now she plays with them daily. She loves to make doll beds, hospitals, playgrounds, towers, etc.

3) kitchen set and play food- I've noticed lately that O stays away from her play kitchen if it is not neat and clean, so I am trying to get her to clean her kitchen after she plays instead of leaving food in the sink, etc. She usually plays with her kitchen at least once a day. She loves to fix pretend water with mustard and ketchup in it :)

4) books- We have a vast library of children's books! Mainly because I can't resist stopping by the thrift store every Thursday after work, and I usually buy at least 3 or 4 books. I'm trying to be more choosy lately :) We spend hours reading each day, and O loves to pretend to read by herself.

5) playdoh- O plays with her playdoh every day. This is her most popular toy right now! Her ice-cream maker is very cool, but she only uses it about once a day. She usually prefers to make cookies with the playdoh.

6) arts and crafts- Ever since I set up O's art shelf, she's been making "art" several times a day. This is thrilling for me because before I set up the shelf she never asked to color or paint. We only colored or painted if I iniated it. It's very exciting that she can color or paint (with dot painters) whenever she chooses, and she chooses to do so several times each day :) Yay!

7) baby dolls- Right now Baby Emma is O's favorite doll. O is a very nurturing, loving little mama, and she LOVES her babies.

8) bandaids- O LOVES bandaids!!! She usually has at least 3 or 4 bandaids randomly placed on her body. She also loves giving us bandaids. Luckily, my mom buys bandaids at the Dollar Tree, and we always keep several boxes on hand :) I think Santa may fill O's stocking with boxes of bandaids!

9) Rainbow Nesting Tunnel- My dad gave O this rainbow nesting tunnel for Christmas last year, and it is such a beautiful, well made toy. She's been playing with it very frequently for almost a year, and we love to play with it, too :) She uses it as a tunnel, bracelets, anklets, cave, dog house (for miniature dogs), etc.

We Survived 6 Days at Disneyworld...

We have had a great time this week, but we are TIRED! I think we'll need at least 2 more weeks of vacation to recover :) I can't wait to get home and take the time to look at all of the pictures. Between my mom, my sister, and me, we probably took at least 200 to 300 pictures a day. I'm planning on making a Snapfish book of the week, and I'm sure that choosing the pictures for the book is not going to be easy. I'm so proud of O for having such great behavior even when she was tired. She was very excited to choose a prize today. She chose a set of Cinderella figurines, and she has had fun playing with them. Although, she's been a little concerned that there is no pumpkin with the set, and Cinderella doesn't have shoes. After playing with her figurines for a while, she spent an hour or more playing with a stack of hotel towels. Who new that towels could be so much fun??? She spread them out, stacked them, made a path with the washcloths, and wrapped a towel around her leg when she was pretending that her leg was broken. Who needs toys when you have towels?! She's also really enjoyed playing with quarters, nickels, and dimes this week. On the bus rides, she played with her fingers...making a church, steeple, and then all the people (you know the rhyme, right?). So...I'm realizing more and more that the toys I buy her are more for me than her, but it's still so much fun :) I've spent way too much on souvenirs this week, but I did get some really cool things for O's dress-up suitcase and her musical instrument collection. Hopefully, I'll be able to get these things home intact and unseen by O :)

Time-out at Hollywood Studios

O was so excited that Elliott put her in time-out at Hollywood Studios this afternoon! My girl is an interesting kid, and she loves time-out :) She playfully bit Elliott on the shoulder. He wasn't mad, but she wouldn't say she was sorry, so he put her in time-out. She was thrilled, of course (and we are sure she intentionally wouldn't say she was sorry because she wanted to go in time-out). After a few minutes, she still wouldn't say she was sorry, so I went to talk to her. After I told her that she didn't have to get out of time-out if she apologized, she ran to Elliott, hugged him, and told him she was sorry. Then she was ready for more time-out. The poor kid probably just needed a break from this action packed vacation :)

Wow! I am SO tired :)

Vacationing is Disneyworld is certainly not a relaxing vacation! We are having a fantastic time, but we are exhausted. It's 9:00 and almost everybody is asleep for the night (Guh-guh, Grandpa, Elliott, Mem, etc.). My mom wore a pedometer the 1st 2 days, and we are averaging about 5 to 6 miles a day. I'm hoping to lose the baby weight that I gained during my 11 weeks of pregnancy (I'm sure those of you who have lost a baby can sympathize with how much it sucks to have baby weight, but no baby). Hopefully, I'll be able to fit into my clothes again after this trip. Anyway...we've had 1 day at Epcot, 2 days at Magic Kingdom, and we are planning on going to Hollywood Studios tomorrow. O has been a trooper. She got scared yesterday during the Winnie-the-Pooh ride, and then we believed the guidebook when it said that the Haunted Mansion wasn't scary...mistake! It IS scary if you are 2 years old :( I sang "You are my sunshine" quietly into O's ear about 100 times as we went through the ride to help her feel less scared. Later, she told us that she was scared of the aliens in the Haunted House. She said they were tall and might get her. Poor baby! So, now she is scared of every indoor ride, but she loves the outdoor rides. She especially loves the carousel and the teacups. While we were spinning VERY fast on the teacups, she yelled "Ock and Oll!" (rock and roll). Now it's time for me to go to bed :)

Using Her Best Manners :)

We were lucky enough to get last minute reservations for lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table (Thanks, Mem!), and we had a great time. O says that meeting Snow White was her favorite part, but I think that eating ice-cream was the highlight of her afternoon :)

Dancing in Italy

IMG_0145 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

When she hears music, O dances! O was so excited everytime she heard music yesterday in Epcot. She danced in Morocco, Italy, Germany, etc. She almost jumped out of my arms when I showed her this stage in Italy :) She loves to perform!