A cute little girl in cute little skirts!

I just had to share these pictures! What a cutie!  This past week I traveled home for the holidays.  I think the highlight of my trip was chasing my niece Lizzy around with a camera.  She was a perfect model for some of the Christmas skirts now available at janiegirlcrafts.  Speaking of Skirts... make sure you check back on December 6 a special treat on this years skirt selections.

What ever happened to Thanksgiving?

I am usually that person who is first to comment on the Arrival of Seasonal Christmas items before Halloween.  Well I am not that bad; I did however skip Thanksgiving!

I have been hit with inspiration, funny how it happens.  Maybe it was all the mid day viewings of The Nightmare Before Christmas while sewing Halloween Costumes.

I am so excited to announce Christmas Items are now available in my shop.

I think the items I am most excited about feature this Candy Cane Fabric.   So, Monday I ran out of fleece after making some new hats, so I ran out to the store and found the striped candy cane fabric and I had the idea to make a twirly skirt.  I've never really made skirts before, since I have a boy.  I guess I tried to make a tutu skirt for my niece Lila, it isn't so much a tutu as a ballet wrap.  I didn't even think about gathering last time.  I'm not sure why these skirts became so important.  I guess I was ready to learn something new, and run with it.  I had the idea of little girls going out to sing Christmas Carols or Sit on Santa's lap. 

I love the movie All I Want for Christmas. For anyone not familiar with the movie is stars a little Thora Birch, she is such a lady, I envision this as she walks to Macy's to see Santa in her Patton leather shoes.  Well,  I absolutely love this selection.  That paired with Santa's Little Helper Costume, with Matching Santa Sack.

I love using our Santa Sack.  We travel from Connecticut to Maine to Iowa every Christmas and I always end up misplacing a present.  A few years ago I discovered a ripstop Santa sack for a dollar.  It was great!  It didn't last very long.  So I had the idea, so last year as I wrapped presents I threw them into the appropriate Families sack and no need to remember so I forgot about them.  When it was time to leave, we threw the sack in the backseat and drove away.  It's going to be fun this year, now that the kids in the family are a bit older, having the Santa Sack Magically appear under the tree on Christmas Morning.  Just like Santa left it for them.

So, I started with a drop waist Red Tutu, that turned into a Santa Costume.  Then I had the urge to make an Elf Costume.  So I made this reversible green with White polka dot wrap skirt, with Tulle/ Cotton.  

 I still have a few ideas, but it's time to move onto filling some orders.  I have a lot of knitting ahead of me this season.  Let's just say I'm getting behind.  Oh well, I love these projects and I'm pretty sure my nieces will be getting one or two skirts for Christmas this year. 

Don't worry about Max, he'll have plenty of presents, however the urge to throw a skirt on him to take pictures on a live body is huge.  Well, I'll see my nieces in the next few weeks so updated photos coming soon!

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Halloween Re-Hash

So, If you hadn't guessed Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Today I took down the last of the decorations.  We hosted a small get together on Halloween.  I didn't get pictures of the entire set up, but I thought I would share some fun things I found.  
Lets start with the Tricks!  Decorations!

 I had a lot of fun with some old ideas!  I made a Happy Halloween Banner, similar to the one I made for my son's first birthday, it was so quick and easy.  Then i found a few sheets of black construction paper and cut bats of all different sizes.  I just taped them all over, the different sizes had the perfect effect.  I hung one of my Balloon Mobiles in the corner, it blended in well with the hanging fans i found at the party store when I was looking for a witches hat for my costume. 

 

My favorite decorations where these pre-printed adhesive stickers I found.  These were so simple, I had some Ball jars that I use for storing applesauce and jams during the winter.  Paired with some bottles from the recycling bin and I had perfect and easy decorations.  Another of my favorites is straight from my childhood.  I purchased dumdums as treats, and just like my first grade teacher taught me, I rapped them in tissue and drew faces.  Add some ribbon and ghosties flew thought the air.

Now it's time for treats!

Growing up my mom went all out for Halloween!  Why would my house be different.  We had selections of toys and candy, I'm a bit of a traditionalists, so Hershey's bars and Reese's Peanut butter cups were paired with bags of Domino's and playdoh.  It was so fun to see kids trying to pick what they wanted! 

I even had a few extra toys for the kids at the party, however I think some of the dads had more fun with these goodies.

No party would be complete without cupcakes.  This year I took all the glop from the pumpkins and turned them into Pumpkin Cupcakes, paired with No-Bake Spiderweb cheesecakes.  The party was a success.

I can't wait till next year!