handmde wardrobe // valentines tees

my tee: Grainline Studio Lark tee

Penny’s tee: self drafted

fabric: striped cotton jersey knit from Blackbird Fabrics with white ribbing and neck and sleeve hems

hair clips: Zara kids

———————————————————————————————

Not much to say here, so going to keep this short and sweet and just drop in some of these cute valentines photos we took in some me-made matching tees!

hanndmade wardrobe // family holiday robes

pattern: Simplicity 9021 , also available at your local Joann store

mint sweatshirt fleece: Cali Fabrics

grey sweatshirt fleece: Fabric Mart Fabrics

buffalo check flannel: Joann Fabrics

———————————————————————————————

** sponsored post **

Two of my favorite things are handmade gifts and matching with my mini. Even better? When we get Daddy involved!

If you’re trying to figure out what to gift someone this holiday, I’m here to tell you that everyone loves cozy pajamas and loungewear! Especially handmade cozywear. Whether you make them to gift to other people, or for you and your own family to match as you sit around the Christmas tree - can anyone really resist some matching pajamas? Even if you’re a beginner, you can find some super easy-to-sew patterns from Simplicity or McCall’s. Think - some fun basic drawstring pajama pants in a quirky holiday print- super easy and a great beginner project! Or maybe you want to step it up a notch and try some fun matching zip-up onesies. Or you could go the route I did and go for matching robes!

So about these robes. I loooooooooove how these came out. And yes, the pattern is considered an easy-to-sew pattern. It can be a bit intimidating just because it does take a lot of fabric to make a robe, especially a family of robes, but the construction is simple and easy. I would still recommend it to someone at a beginner level. And it is double layered/reversible, so you don’t have to worry about seam finishing and making the inside look pretty because everything is enclosed and hidden! The only thing i would suggest, because it is two layers of fabric, is to choose one thicker cozy fabric, and one lighter-weight fabric. I originally was going to go with two contrasting thick fuzzy fleeces, but I think that would’ve been a loooot of fabric. I’m glad I went with the sweatshirt fleece on one side and lighter flannel on the other. It’s a good balance! I cut and XS for me (my usual size), a S for Zach, and the smallest size for P, which I think is closer to a size 5. Yes, I technically could’ve graded the pattern down to a size 3. But I figured - its a robe, its supposed to be big and comfy. Plus, she’ll get a lot more wear out of it if I kept it a bit bigger. So all I did is take off a couple inches off the bottom hem so it wasn’t too long, and about an inch off the sleeve hem. It’s actually perfect! I’ve had these finished for about 5 days now, and at least one of us has been wearing ours every time we are at home lounging. I have a feeling that they will be getting a lot of wear and love this winter.

Now let’s talk about another aspect of this kind of gift - customization! While I love being matchy matchy, I also having little details to make each piece specific to each person. So for ours, I decided to embroider ‘mama’ ‘daddy’ and ‘Penny’ on each of our robes? And guess what? Even this shouldn’t be intimidating for a beginner. I have actually never hand embroidered before this - this was my first time! I decided to just go for it and try, and honestly it was a lot easier than I thought and turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I’m pretty proud of them!

Now scroll down to see just how cute a three year old looks on her own custom bathrobe. I’m telling you, it is next level cute.

handmade wardrobe // family Hudson pants

all three sweatpants: Hudson pants, men’s Hudson pants, and mini Hudson Pants by True Bias, in a navy blue terry velour from Style Maker Fabrics

———————————————————————————————

Zach has been bugging me to make something for him for awhile now. I mean, I am always sewing for me and P, it’s about time I incuded something for him. And of course, I couldn’t make something for just him - I had to take the opportunity for all of us to match! The Hudson Pants were the perfect project for this since it comes in sizes for the whole family.

I’ve made one pair for me before, so I knew the sizing was perfect for me in the women’s. Zach fell in between sizing in the men’s, so I went with the bigger of the two sizes, thinking that it was better for sweatpants to be a a little loose rather than a little tight. He says he likes the fit, but they seem just a tad bit baggy to me, so next time I might try one size down for him. I also think I will make the pocket bags bigger for him next time. He always carries his phone in his pocket, and they are just a tad bit too small - his phone falls out in these ones. And lastly - Penny’s is pretty much perfect in the size 3! I just need to cut a smaller piece of elastic next time for her little waist. I really relied on the drawstring for these ones, tying them extra tight to keep the pants up on her. But the length and fit were perfect!

In general, this was a succesful project! I still have quite a bit of this terry velour left, so I’m going to make us all matchig sweatshirts too, so we have full sweat sets haha. And I see more Hudson pants in our future. We are a lounge-y family, after all.

year 7

all photos by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

I always share our yearly photos with you here, so here is year 7! Check out all the previous years here.

We always try to time our session for when we are back home in Buffalo, NY, becasue I just can’t imagine not having Dawn as our photographer! She is the absolute best, and I love going back to her every year. P had a bit of meltdown in the car right as we arrived to meet Dawn, so the first few minutes of the session were a bit rough. But a few throws in the air and a promise of a new Paw Patrol prize hiding in our bag (scroll down to see when she opened it lol) and she was good to go and her usual cute self.

P.S - my top is handmade: Romy top/self drafted with ruffle in a viscose/linen, Penny’s dress is also handmade: Macy Pinafore by Jilly Atlanta.

Penelope Flora is 3 years old!

Penny turned 3 years a couple weeks ago, and I realized I never posted any photos from her party here! She requested a rainbow and kitty cat party. Actually, she’s been telling me that that’s the kind of birthday that she wanted for months. And she never waivered. 

Zach made her pretty rainbow cake, and I made the kitty cookies. I found a contact paper rainbow craft on Pinterest for the girls to do, and for extra decorations, I hung up a bunch of the rainbow paintings and drawings that Penny has done over the past few months. I’ll link as many of the other supplies as I can!

Penny’s rainbow dress: Old Navy

Penny’s cat ears: Target

Penny’s sunglasses: Gymboree

cat plates, rainbow cups, 3 and cat candles: Meri Meri

rainbow napkins, rainbow wrapping paper, pom Pom garland, rainbow balloon, 3 balloon (dollar section) - all from Target  

letterboard: oak & made

cat cookie cut outs: Amazon 

Year six

***all photos in this post by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

If you follow me on Instagram, you’re probably sick of seeing these, ha! But I cannot stop staring at these, and I always share my favorites here every year, too. So enjoy!

all photos in this post by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

P.S …..

+ this set was taken at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens in Buffalo, NY

+ My sweater is Forever21, my jeans are my handmade Megan Nielsen Patterns Dawn jeans (see post), My booties are from Target, Penny’s dress and headband is Nelly Lou, Penny’s boots are from Target too.

+ See past years family photos here.

all photos in this post by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

snapshots: sunflowers at Colby Farms 2018

Two flower field posts in a row! We're getting flower crazy over here!

Because of the heat wave we're had this summer, the sunflower field at Colby Farms bloomed earlier than usual. I love going here every year (even if it gets crazier and busier every year, too), and this year was extra special because Gramma and K-pa were here with us! Penny loved walking through the tunnels of the rows of flowers and saying she was "flower hiking". I hope she looks forward to this tradition every year like I do <3.

You can see all our other years visiting the sunflowers here (I love all of these photos so much!) - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 (not Colby Farm)

PS- my dress is very old H&M, Penny's dress and socks are June and January. Her turban is Nelly Lou.

snapshots : flowers and blueberries at Parlee Farms

For years now, we've made a tradition of strawberry picking in the summer and apple picking in the fall. This was the first time we decided to go blueberry picking, too, and it was a hit! Penny was picking and plopping blueberries in her mouth faster than we could keep up with her, and we picked enough berries to make 2 pies and smoothies for a month!

On top of that, Parlee farms also has a gorgeous pick-your-own flower field filled with zinnias and dahlias, as well as sunflowers. That one wasn't as much of a hit with P. Bee filled flowers + a bug terrified two year old + sweltering heat don't mix, apparently. But I was in absolute heaven. And it was the perfect photo op, of course! If you're from the Boston area, or anywhere in New England for that matter, check out Parlee farms in Tyngsboro, MA.

Not an ad - I just really liked this place!

PS, my dress is handmade - Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges dress extended to maxi length