Back to Cross Stitch

I've been looking for a new embroidery project to start lately. Need to keep my hands busy or I just use them to put brownies in my mouth and that's a no-win for everyone. I was ecstatic when I opened up this months Martha Stewart Living and saw a how-to on cross stitching a family portrait. Adorable and original - I'm in. This is only my second attempt and cross stitch, so it just goes to show you that it is really easy.

I started with myself. always willing to the the guinea pig. Well I am two days in and have completed myself and am almost done with Mr. MaxxSilly. I let everyone pick out their outfit colors. Well, it was more like I was told by someone that "I need to have a pink dress!". I'll let you guess who.

I'm hoping to finish it before Halloween - eeek - deadlines never work out for me. Let's say Thanksgiving and call it a day.

For more on the cross stitch project you can check out the November issue of Martha Stewart Living or read about it here.

Celebrating Fall

How was your weekend? Ours was filled with fall fun. The weather is turning crisp and this is the time of year when we try to cram everything in before the flakes start falling. We went to BBQFest at Mt Wachusett in Princeton. If you have never been up there it is worth going. Even if you don't ski. They have recently repaved the roads and you can drive to the top of the mountain. The foliage looked beautiful. Lilly had fun getting her face painted, sliding down the inflatable slide and riding the ski-lift with Daddy.

Sunday is all about cleaning in our house. We vacuum and scrub down to start the new week. Now that Lilly is four she knows that after nap she needs to strip her bed for new sheets. It's great when they are old enough to help out, all though I am still questioning her vacuuming skills. Oh and yes - my four-year-old still takes naps and has only fought me on it a handful of times. We are very lucky parents.

We also hung our Halloween decorations. More on that soon.

After cleaning Lilly and Daddy made a scarecrow. I got a picture of the kiddos with it this morning. She is very proud of it and spent the rest of the afternoon helping daddy rake up leaves.

Won't be long before that snow arrives...

New Blog Love

Thought I would give a shout out to three new blogs added to the "Blog Roll" this week.

Cup of Jo
If you want to find the gold standard in blog awesomeness it is right here at Joanna Goddard's blog "Cup of Jo". Joanna writes about everything. I especially love her "Motherhood Monday" series. She has alot of followers and I love reading through the comment section and hearing from points of view all around the world.

Sarah Jane Studios
I mentioned Sarah Jane in last weeks Etsy Love post but thought her blog, which I adore, should be added to the roll as well. I love seeing her illustrations and when she shares new projects she is working on as well as new stuff in the shop.

My Frugal Adventures
We all want to save a buck - or seven - here is a great place to start. Charlene's blog gives you the latest deals that can be found on the web. She links to coupons, Facebook and Twitter deals, she really does the research for you. I have found some good things through her hard work.

Be sure to check these ladies out and have a great weekend everyone!

Acts of (ART) Kindness

Today I thought I would share a great story about the kindness.

A few months ago I was deep into a Pinterest binge I came across this darling image of a little space man. I love the vintage look and the little boy looked just like my little Alex.

I did a little research through Pintrest and Google to find the artist. Finally I found him, a graphic design artist in Abu Dhabi named Mostafa. I found his email, along with some of his other amazing art pieces and decided to contact him. I told him how I liked the print and was interested in purchasing it for my son's room. Was it available for sale? To my surprise (and delight) I heard back and Mostafa informed me it was not available for sale but he would be willing to send me a digital copy to have printed for Alex's room. Cue - huge smile on my face!

What kindness. Sending a piece of art you worked on to a total stranger half a world away. In a few days Mostafa has sent me the digital file which I then had printed at Staples. Two stipulations of the exchange were that I don't sell the piece and only use it for Alex's room (no problem) and that I send a photo of the printed image to him so he could see how it looked. I threw Alex in the photo for some extra cuteness.

Everyone loves the image and are amazed by the story of one person's kindness.

Thanks again Mostafa and keep up the great work!

Say What?

If you follow me on Pinterest you know I have a board I call "Words of Wisdom". These are little graphic posters and sayings I have found online that I love. Some are funny. Some sarcastic. Some are goals. I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.

I wish I could hang this on my front door, althought we kind of have a policy of not letting mean people in the house anyway.

 We should all live this way.

That Eleanor Roosevelt was a wise woman. It is better to be criticized by others (and not care) than make the wrong decision and doubt yourself the rest of your life.



Yup.

This is what I tell people I do at work. And yes, it is true.

Ha! Have a great weekend everyone!

You can find the original credits for these images here.

Adventures in Apples

We did indeed go apple picking last weekend. It is always such an adventure. I love watching Lillyana run from row to row of apple trees shouting "I found some!" She climbs on her daddy's shoulders to reach the ones at the top of the tree. Once she gets it she says, "Look mommy, it's the perfect apple."

I look forward to next year when Alex joins in the adventure. This time around he was confined to the stroller - something about his need to eat things off of the floor - must be a toddler thing. We gave him his first "real apple" and boy, did he dig in.

When we got home I started on a batch of applesauce and made a pie. In looking at the huge amount of apples in the kitchen I thought it best to look up some other "apple-esque" recipes. So Sunday night for dinner we had some delicious applesauce pancakes. Yum. I used the homemade applesauce which is only apples, nutmeg and cinnamon. I used to add sugar but now I find the apples are so sweet there is no need.

Have you got your apples yet? What are you going to make?

Etsy Love: Sarah Jane Studios

I have been trying very hard to get the children's rooms finished. We've only lived in the house for four years. What's the rush? Right? Well, now that our family is complete (thank you Alex) it seems to be a good time to settle in. Alex's room has really come the furthest. All of his nursery furniture was handed down from big sister (crib teeth marks and all). I have found a few pieces for the walls but am always on the hunt for more. Hence (so fun to type that in a post) my new post all about Sarah Jane Studios.

Sarah Jane is a children's illustrator, blogger, fabric designer and from what I can gather the creator of some adorable kids art. I purchased two of her embroidery patterns this summer and have loved working on them. In her Etsy shop she has some great kids art as well. Truth be told, I would hang some of these pieces all over the house if I could. I love the piece above and think it would great in Alex's room. We have a flying theme going. Although this piece would be great as well.

Isn't it precious.

She also has some great paper dolls and puppet theaters that could occupy a little one on a rainy day. I am also in LOVE with her fabric line and want to make Lillyana a million little sundresses from it. Okay, and maybe one for myself.

Great job Sarah Jane - keep up the good work!

Hello Weekend.

Nice to see you again.

We are expecting some summer like weather here in New England this weekend. Of course we are, I packed up all the summer clothes.

I think the family and I are going to head out and do some apple picking. After baking two pies last weekend and making some applesauce Wednesday night, I have the urge to get my apple on. Hmmm, what else to make? Any crazy apple recipes you guys would suggest? Throw them up in the comments.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PS - I realize that this post references apples and I can't help but think it is coincidental that Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, passed away this week at age 56. I was, and still am, a fan of Jobs. Not just his business sense, but also his creativity and ability to see ten steps ahead of everyone else. It's hard to compare anyone to Edison or Ford, but Jobs in his brief life, came the closest.  He will be missed.

AWOL Much?

Oh my goodness. Where has the time gone? Let me fill you in on why MaxxSilly has been AWOL.

#1 - Dental surgery. Yeah, I had 2 teeth pulled about 3 weeks ago. I lived on jello and ice cream for two days and I found out at my follow up appointment that I was quite entertaining while on the "gas". Good times.

#2 - Cold / Allergies. Dear pollen, no one likes you. You ruin beautiful fall days with your need to cause sneezing and runny noses. It's just not nice.

#3 - Computer crash. Bye, bye hard drive. Don't worry I was sick of all of my pictures and music anyway. Go ahead and make them disappear. Oh, and while you are at it take anything I ever saved for my blog.

On a happier front my little man turned one! I can't believe it.

Maybe he will start sleeping through the night at some point. Yes, my son still wakes up at night for a bottle. Any advice? It's the same time every night. Oh and I have tried to let him scream it out but this just leads to the entire house waking up as opposed to just me. Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.

Anyway, the teeth have healed, the allergies and under control and the computer is back. Let's do this!