February Deals and Outfit of the Month - A Visit to Sweden

Thank you to all who responded to last month's question,  "What country would you like to see in an Outfit of the Month this year?".   So many countries I hadn't even considered!  I can't wait to share many of your suggestions in the coming months.  We may have to have two years of Girls Around the World outfits! Our second stop this year will be to Sweden. This is a Swedish Midsummer (Midsommar) Day outfit.  Midsummer is celebrated every June and is second  in popularity only to Christmas.  Before going to the festivities, girls make sure to create a festive daisy-chain for their hair and look forward to dancing and singing with friends and family under the Maypole.  Before bedtime, the custom is for youth to pick seven different kinds of flowers and put them under their pillow for their future spouse. I'm curious if any of you have visited Sweden or have ancestors from there (I do!).  I know of a few of you are from Sweden.  Do you celebrate Midsommar?

HUGE Deal: Everything Valentine Package $8.50   Included in the PDF package:   * SIX dolls: Four girls and two boys (look below to see which dolls) * 10 new Valentine outfits (Eight girl outfits below, 2 Boy outfits below) * Free subscription to the Outfit of the Month club (if you need to update your subscription or just want to tag on another year this is a great price!) * Two special Valentine postcards and poster printables (see below). If you already have a Minime doll, now your doll will have some friends to play with! The dolls in this deal are not custom (see photos for the dolls you will receive). Items are all in PDF form so will be emailed to you when payment is received.  Go shopping!

Pattern Shop Sale

Did you know I have a shop full of patterns?  I used to sew a lot when the girls were smaller and took nice, long naps.  They also had no interest in scissors.  Those days seem so dreamy now. :) 

To celebrate the arrival of baby Adeline, I thought I'd so a sale!

Here is a sample of what is in the my Etsy Shop:

The Pod Swaddler Pattern (that's Norah!)

The Scoop!

Easiest and most effective burp clothes!

Fast, fun and easy!

SALE

Just purchase a pattern and then in your notes, let me know which pattern (of equal or lesser value) you'd like for free!  Enjoy!

A New Little Life...Meet Adeline

"Aside from new babies,

new mothers must be the most 

beautiful creatures on earth."

-Terri Guillemets

My dear sis-in-law/assistant extraordinaire and her husband Ethan do good work wouldn't you say? Meet Adeline!  January 15th is a special day. Both Adeline and the Twins' birthday.  Five years apart. I love that  Brittany and I get to celebrate the day we became mothers for the first time on the same day. :)

We live hours away and it is killing me not to get to hold this sweet little bundle but I'm so proud of Brittany (almost two days of labor!) and Ethan. 

 Well deserved rest for both of them....

She already loves to look at Daddy.

 This picture brought a tear to my eye.  Nothing like these perfect moments.

Congratulations on the start of a new, hard, sticky, wonderful journey!
Love you guys.

  

Announcing 2013's Outfit of the Month Theme...

I'm so excited about this line!  I'm calling it Girls Around the World.  I started these outfits about two years ago and just never got around to finishing them.  I have about five completed and would love requests for the rest so if you have a favorite country/culture you'd like to see, leave a comment or send me an email and I'll consider it.  January's outfit comes all the way from Korea!

I did a bit of google research for this so who knows how accurate it is.  What I found is that this smock is called a "Hwarot".  It is traditional Korean clothing worn during the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty by royal women for ceremonial occasions or by commoners for weddings.  I'm sure there are many Korean readers out there who may know more or may think I got it all wrong. :)  If you are Korean or know more about the culture, please share!

If you haven't signed up yet for the Outfit of the Month Club, I'm extending the sale for the next week so do it soon!

December Outfit of the Month and Last Minute Christmas Deals

Well, the Year of Gowns is over...sniff, sniff.  But I'm so excited for the outfits I have planned for you in 2013.  I think you will like them. :)

Is December flying by as quickly for you as it is over here? 

We are enjoying our traditions new and old.  Elfy is getting a lot of attention esp. in the wee hours of the morning!  At least three times this last week, Maisy has come into our room at around 4 a.m. to tell me what Elfy got into during the night....oh mercy!

Well, if you are like me, you probably don't have everything totally ready yet for gift giving and especially stockings so I thought I'd do a few little PDF deals for some last minute, gifts, stocking stuffers, etc. 

December Deals:

• BOGO on all PDF outfit lines (just purchase one outfit and let us know in your notes to seller what other outfit line you would like)
• Free Outfit of the Month with ANY order (if you already have one, you can add this on or give it to a friend...just let us know which email you'd like it to come to).
• PDF Paper Doll coloring book is HALF OFF. Making all 24 pages of fun only $5.oo.  Use code COLORCHRISTMAS to get your discount.

Enjoy!  I'll be checking in with a little gift for all of you in a few days...until then, Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa, Some Merry Elves and Free Printables

We are getting ready for our "Elfy" to come so I thought I'd re-post this from last year.  It's already fun to look back at the girls' handwriting from a year ago.  The link last year wasn't exactly right but with Jeff's help, all of the glitches should be worked out.  Have fun and Merry Christmas!

It's that time....time for a special letter to go to the Jolly Old Saint and all of his Elves in the North Pole!  

This is the first year that the twins remember a bit of the magic from last year and are aware of the concept of Santa and his elves.  So far, so fun!  They loved "writing" a letter to Santa.

After their letters were done, we put them in an envelope and made sure to attach two Santa stamps (one stamp will only get the letter half way there, you know).

Soon this little guy will appear with a very important letter from Santa himself!  His job, to help Santa with his list of good boys and girls.  He is kind of a mix between the Elf on The Shelf and The Elf Magic Elves and my own imagination.  I have found so many great ideas of what to do with our Elf on Pinterest.

We know it's from Santa, it even has a "seal of excellence" on the back...and says, "Santa Express" on the front.  It must be pretty important!  Here's what the letter says:

And who are these three little elves going to?

The year the twins were born, three of my siblings had babies too...so there's a group of five (I call them the Fantastic Five) cousins all the same age. All of the cousins will meet their magic elves soon!

I had such a great time creating this for my family, I thought it would be fun to share it with you!  I'll list all of my sources and then all you will need to do is click on the pictures below to get a PDF version of all the printables.

• I found our elves HERE (the prices were awesome and I LOVE the dolls...they are a great size and have a vintage feel and wired bodies so you can pose them, etc. and I literally had them two days after I ordered them).
• The gold seals I found at Office Max...they were the perfect touch to make the letter from Santa look official.  They were over by the stationary...I'm assuming they were for awards, certificates, etc.
• I have created labels to and from Santa, official stamps from the North Pole, a blank letter head from Santa (in case you have something specific you'd like to write), the official letter from Santa about his special elf, and a guided letter to Santa. 

Just click on the pictures below to print your PDF's.   I hope you will enjoy!

Click on the Picture to print

MERRY  CHRISTMAS!!!