gifted magazine.

this magazine is just what i need to get inspired for the holiday season. so beautiful and you can thumb through the pages online and for FREEEEEEE (said in an adam sandler "bedtime stories" voice. my kids never get over that one.)

my new favorite blog.

oh i am so inspired by one charming party.

i would love to have her plan a party for one of my girls. they would go nuts over this american girl pioneer party.

or this wizard of oz soiree.

oh my!

little girl pilgrim bonnet.

so i know i have very much neglected this blog over the past several months. sorry blog. whoever is leaving obscene comments in chinese should be ashamed of themselves. however, i think you will survive.

like i have said before, it hasn't been that all the craftiness in my life has stopped. i have been very crafty actually. but it is a hard thing to do a craft blog post. taking pictures every step of the way. loading them onto the computer, THEN uploading to blogger. then looking at the html and trying to figure out what picture goes with what dialogue. now you see why. there is probably a better way. and i am totally clueless as to what way that is. my hats off to all those who do this every day.

so once again, i promise i will do better.

i love thanksgiving. it is an incredibly meaningful and neglected holiday. i think that it is overtaking halloween on my favorite holidays list (i know, blasphemous!)

this year for thanksgiving, i volunteered to decorate the kids table. i have found so many fantastic ideas, i just had to try them out. i will link them all, i promise.

one thing i was totally smitten with was the turkey and pilgrim hat headbands at pottery barn kids. but i DID NOT want to pay the $10 per headband (unless i was totally desperate.) so i resolved that i would make them.



then i stumbled onto this pattern for a paper bonnet and pilgrim hat on marthastewart.com. i loved it. and wanted to replicate them in fabric, so they could be used year after year.

i basically followed the instructions for the bonnet, except sewing instead of gluing. i used an ivory colored felt (on the bolt) that you can pick up at any fabric store.


first cut the felt to 12 inches by 18 inches. cut two slits about 4 inches into the fabric, at 6 and 12 inches.


make a 1 inch fold at the top of your fabric for the cuff.


sandwich a 6 inch piece of ribbon in the fold. pin and sew (1/4 inch seam allowance), making sure to backstitch at each end.


fold the center piece of felt up to get it out of the way to sew the back of the bonnet.


fold the bonnet in half, right sides together. make sure the center piece is out of the way. pin and sew together. i gave a bigger seam allowance, about an inch to tighten up the back of the bonnet.


trim excess fabric and turn right side out.


the last step i added, was to tack the center piece to the back of the bonnet. i just sewed a quick straight stitch, but you could easily sew a few stitches by hand to prevent it from flying up.





sorry about the poor photos and ragged looking child. these were taken in the middl of a play date, and one could not be bothered by mom's silly endeavors.

other kids table ideas:

paper bag turkey and corn cob place cards

finger puppet favors (i started doing this one, a little too labor intensive for me, but still so cute!)

i will be back with the pilgrim hat headbands. i need to adjust the sizes a bit for a two-year-old and 10-month-old.