Joli Paquet Returns!!!

Well, I finished knitting the bear!!! He is felted and is currently drying. Once I get his little face put on, I will post a photograph. I think it's looking pretty cute so far!

I am so excited to find out that some of my favorite bloggers will be having a special holiday blog full of tutorials, decorating ideas and more! Last year, they offered kits to appease those of us who weren't able to make it to Silver Bella. It looks like it is going to be great!!! Find this wonderful holiday blog here.

Bellaween and Knitting

I signed up for the latest MY MINUTIA e-zine called Bellaween and so far it has some great projects. I haven't done any yet because I need to go out and get some materials but I can't wait to try the projects.
Tonight, my buddy Monique is coming over and we'll be knitting up a storm. Maybe I'll finish the teddy bear tonight! I'll post photos when I do. I just need to finish knitting half of the back of the bear and sew it all together. Then, I'm going to felt it. I've never tried felting before so this should be interesting.

Christmas Present Idea

Cooking is really big in my family. Everything seems to revolved around food. So, when I found TASTEBOOK, I got really excited. It is a website where you can upload your own personal recipes and photos and make a personal cookbook. Prices start at just $19.95. I've already starting loading some recipes and I plan to contact family members and have them e-mail their favorite/signature recipes. I'm going to compile a family cookbook and give one to each family for Christmas. Sounds like fun, huh?

Halloween Goodies

Halloween is coming up and I feel compelled to really go ALL OUT since this is Baby's first Halloween. I need to start going into the garage and finding all of my decorations. I didn't do much decorating for holidays last year because I was pregnant and lethargic.

In order to get a jump-start on the holiday, I just ordered this adorable kitty from HippieDog! (photo borrowed from Hippie Dog Primitives) Isn't she wonderful?! I have lots of Hippie's pieces and I love each and every one. What is not to love about black cats and Halloween!

I also got the new Grand in Road catalog and I am trying to restrain myself from ordering a $1000 worth of lawn decorations. Maybe when Baby is a bit older...

The Smile Award

I have been delinquent in thanking my sweet blogging buddy Hippie Dog for giving me the Smile Award! I have to admit that I secretly get a thrill every time I get one of these little blogging awards. It is just a massive warm fuzzy! So, thank you Hippie. You made my day!!!

I am passing this award on to the following people:

Charles Batte

Heidi at Sweet Woodruff Acres

Sarah at Experiment Land

Mary Isabella at Daisy Bouquet

Vallen at Queenly Things

And to all my loyal readers who stuck with me while I was on maternity leave from my blog. You guys are the greatest!!!!

My Cutie Patootie

Here is my little guy at his first Junior League meeting....he wasn't impressed.

Whew!

Well, I had a nice weekend. Baby turned 16 weeks old on Sunday. I can't believe it! I am more than halfway done knitting the bear for baby. I'll post photos of it soon. In the meantime, you can see what the bear is SUPPOSED to look like in the picture above. You can find the pattern here. So far, it's not too hard. All knitting with some fairly simple increases. Next, I need to get back to scrapbooking and doing something with those baby formula jars. I've decided to decoupage a couple to use as vases. I'm thinking of doing a few more as "fairy dust" jars. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Fall is in the air! I can't wait!!!

Chas Batte Studio

My friend Charles finally has a terrific website to showcase his amazing art dolls. He will be showing at the Halloween and Vine show in Petaluma at the end of this month. The image above is borrowed from Charles' website and is copyrighted. Go check it out and prepare to be amazed!!!

Link to Chas Batte Studio

Back Online and Back to Work

Today I returned to work from my maternity leave. Sigh. So hard to leave my baby. I don't really want to be working full-time but I'm lucky to have a good job with good benefits.

In other news, I finished scrapbooking my pregnancy and I have knitted half a bear for baby. I'm using a FiberKnits patterns and so far it's going pretty well. I'm going to felt it. I really want baby to have something homemade from me. We'll see if I can wait until Christmas to give it to him. I can't believe I filled a scrapbook with ONLY my pregnancy! I'm going to have to get a new album and begin with the delivery story.

Glad to be back online. Hope you are all well!!!

(I still need more ideas on what to do with all these glass formula bottles! Keep your ideas coming!!!)