For Ellie

I finally finished my latest labor of love, this one for Elizabeth Ann McConathy, Ellie for short. She was born Jan. 23 and I finally met her earlier this month and got to give her (and mom Tara) her birthday gift. Since no one knew until the big day if she would be a boy or a girl, I had to go with a gender-neutral theme and fill in her name and vital information in pink once she made her appearance. Sorry the picture isn't the greatest, but believe me it looked pretty good all framed up in pink. Of all things, the text part gave me the most trouble. I must have started, pulled it all out and re-started 10 different times. Now that I've finished Ava's and Ellie's, I better get busy on the new baby's, huh?

As promised ...

Look! Look! I'm posting on consecutive days! My 2009 non-resolution just may be kicking in early. Yep, I'm going to try — try! — to post much more frequently in the New Year. It would be nice if my supposed co-author (ahem) would help out. Maybe he'll strike up a non-resolution of his own, and then this blog would be a really good read (or at least, there would be more stuff to read; I'll settle for quantity over quality).
In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure I have this to share:

Lavender therapy bag with lovely cherry blossom print slipcover.

The bag sans slipcover.

And here's what my beautiful and talented sisters made me for Christmas:

Not the best representation of the beautiful framed photo from Julie. She took the photo at a park she visited whilst in France this summer.

Cute hand-painted sign from Carolyn (please excuse the horrible wallpaper — clearly, not my choice).

Carolyn strikes again: Can you believe this hand-painted mug featuring a portrait of my favorite cat? And yes, Caddy's eyes really are that neon green.

So, promises kept! That's a good way to start 2009. Happy New Year ... anything's got to be better than 2008, right?

Christmas comedown

So Christmas came and went without much fanfare, which is a good thing. And, I'm proud to report that my handmade holiday was a success! The only store-bought gift this year was for Nick, but I balanced it out with a handmade gift, too.
Here's a few images from my Christmas projects:

Lentils, navy beans and lavender was the filling for the therapy bags I made for the women on my Christmas list. They can be microwaved or popped in the freezer to melt away a headache or to help you relax. After this project, lavender is my new favorite scent!

After a lot of agonizing, I finally settled on making these lined drawstring bags for the men on my list. Men are incredibly hard to make things for, but I figured if we filled these bags with some treats, who wouldn't love them?

And here are some of the treats: Nick's homemade contribution — yummy marshmallow chocolate squares with nuts. Delish!

Carolyn (a recent college graduate!) and Nick ham it up at the extended family Christmas party.

For my next post, I'll share:
1. Photos of the actual therapy bags I made (need to go take some before I give the last one away).
2. Photos of the awesome handmade Christmas gifts I received.
and
3. A New Year's non-resolution (because if I call it a resolution, I will inevitably break it).

He's a natural

He looks pretty good holding a baby, huh? Little Ava Hart seems pretty content.

And finally — my months of hard work were all worth it once this project was hanging in Ava's room.