Let me sing you the song of my people...

Source: The Nest via Pinterest (broken link)

I love coffee. I actually didn't have my first cup of coffee until I was working at the IWK Foundation. Nancy introduced me to the latte and I was hooked. I loved how it was coffee but not harsh. Then I discovered really good coffee...not the burnt bottom of the pot stuff that I had been served for my first taste that turned me off forever. Austin didn't like to sleep...(at least I thought he didn't- compared to Amelia he was a dream sleeper!) and I was tired. One day I was out just for the sake of being out. Austin had finally fallen asleep in his car seat and I was tired and didn't want to take him out of his seat for fear of waking him. I pulled up to the coffee drive through and asked for something caffeinated.  I got an amazing cup of medium roast Paradiso and then I became this:

Source: The berry

My kids know that coffee is just part of my life. At my friend Kelly's house, Austin would drive the Crazy Coup car up to the "drive through" and order "A dubba dubba wif keam and a watté no foam"

Nice.

We are a family that has coffee dates. The kids get a little hot milk and we all sit together and chat- a modern tea party. I cherish my coffee dates with friends where we just curl up on the sofa with a warm mug and talk. I miss when life seemed to be a bit simpler on maternity leave and those coffee dates were frequent and full of laughter. Work is getting in the way of my social life.

I really just want to drink coffee and make pretty things. Instead I have to work full time partly because of my addictions...to fabric and coffee.

Source: Bear and Robot

So it's National Coffee Day. Whether you are like me and need a cup to start your day, or you could take it or leave it, coffee is not just a drink. It's part of our social fabric and I, for one, am very happy to include it in my everyday!

The Jingle Dress

I love Christmas fabric. Usually I can barely decide which fabric to use when I'm designing my holiday dresses. This year I wasn't having much luck finding a stand out fabric when I walked into the local fabric store and saw this gorgeous Ann Kelle fabric on the shelf. I couldn't resist the little birds in their Santa hats!

I love the fit of this dress. Amelia is very comfortable and loves to wear it. I love the elastic at the waist, neck and sleeves that give this dress a great fit.

took awhile for our model to warm up to the camera

I love me some polka dots too!

Everything about the dress just screams fun to me. And that is what the holidays are about, fun and family. This dress wears and washes well. I love that I can thrown leggings and a long sleeve shirt under this and she can wear it over and over. Dresses are fun and all but they have to be able to be worn for more than for pictures, church and the holiday dinner.

The little red shabbie comes off the sash and can be used as a hair clip too. Do you love the hair band? I do! Shelley created it and I just love the bling. I'm so thankful for my very talented cousin and friend Andrea for taking these shots. We had a reluctant model and I was sure there might have only been one good shot in the bunch. I'm not exactly sure how she managed to capture all of these.

Seriously...this girl kills me!

The dress is now available on our Facebook page and I'll be listing it in the Etsy shop soon. I'm so exciting to share this adorable dress with you!

A Milk & Cookies Party

I had thought of hosting a milk and cookies party for Amelia's first birthday but then decided on a "Look Whoooo's One" theme...that didn't go as planned. The baker forgot to make her cake and it was the center piece of the whole event. The party went well, Amelia and our family and friends had a great time, but I was devastated that the cake wasn't right.

This year I started planing well in advance to ensure that I avoided all the last minute rushing and forgotten details of the previous year. I decided to keep it simple and a Milk and Cookies party was the way to go! Because clearly this girl loves her malk (milk)!

I spent the week and a bit before the party baking cookies. Cookies freeze so well and thaw quickly so it allows you to get the most time consuming part over in advance. Austin and Amelia "helped" me and I have to admit the extra flour on the floor and the smiles on their faces made the mess worth it!

The decor was pretty simple. I had planned to decorate the backyard but since it was raining and we had to change our plans, I had more than enough decor. It looked like a pink bubble exploded in our home (Miss A LOVES her "pik".

I visited my favorite sites and baked up the following:

1. Kraft Peanut Butter cookies
2. Oatmeal Raisin cookies
3. Homemade Oreos (heart shaped of course!)
4. Chocolate Chip cookies
5. Sugar Cookies
6. Chocolate Sugar Cookies
7. Turtle cookies
8. Cookie Popcorn
9. Monster Cookie Dip

Amelia's cake was a simple chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Four layers of cake, pink frosting and sugar cookie details. Simple, easy and delicious!

I have been decorating cakes and cookies for awhile but I really wanted to make the sugar cookies the star of the sweet table. I recently found a great website where I was able to find cookie cutters at unbelievable prices! Shipping was fast (and free! coming from the States that is virtually unheard of these days). Cheap Cookie Cutters even responded to my tweets. I'm pretty impressed and have another order going in soon. (and no they did not pay me to say any of that...I wish I got paid to blog.)

Once I had the cutters, I searched for the perfect recipes. I found them on Sweetopia. This very talented Canadian momma not only had great tutorials and recipes but she also answered my questions when I tweeted her. I am amazed at what Marian can do with royal icing! (Check out her Kitchen Aid cookies...I feel like I might want to tackle them next.)

I had seen some really cute paper decor on Pinterest and I tracked it down through Etsy. It was inexpensive and with a few Photoshop edits everything was ready for the party.

Vintage milk jugs were a find at Winners

The rain didn't damped our fun! Amelia had a great time playing with her friends and was so captivated by the Cinderella lego that my sister gave her that we had the bring the birthday cake to her! So much about that day was perfect, from Amelia running around in her diaper stealing "cookcook"s from the table to her squeals of delight when I put the cake on the table. My kids were happy and my sister was here to share in the celebration. It was an awesome day.

The global craft market

I've been a little busy.

I am so excited to announce that Grasshopper Kids Creations featuring A2 Designs is on ETSY!



GrasshopperKids on Etsy

 We officially opened our store this week and have linked it to the Grasshopper Kids Creations Facebook page. Take a moment to check it out. We'd love to hear your feedback.

I'm an Etsy junkie. I always find cool gift ideas and I have yet to purchase something and not be happy with it once it arrived at my door (or the gift receiver's door). I love the idea of supporting crafters and finding things that are different and (for the most part) not mass produced. So it was almost a no brainer to list our creations there. It has taken a bit of time to post listings, create our shop policies and make sure that we're in compliance of everything. (And I certainly hope we are because frankly it would be a real bummer to have the Internet police after me).

I've added a few new items to the shop including these adorable booties:

And this sweet top:

My model was a little under the weather but she tried to cooperate. She is seriously cute nonetheless and I think this top is going to look adorable in the spring fabrics that just arrived from Hawthorne Threads (click me for a sneak peek!)

Shelley and I will keep adding to the shop and we hope that you'll stop by, take a look and maybe share the word that we've jumped head first into the global craft market.