Columbia or Etsy bound?

These ones are actually for the Camsters. But I have the supplies to make a bunch more. Then I'll see if the Fancy Dry Goods store in Columbia will sell them for me. Then perhaps these little darlings will make it onto Etsy? We will see.

Over and out!


- Sarah

Etsy Picks of the Week VIII

Yeaaah baby! Time for some Etsy picks.

For Sweetpea...


a custom birth chart. I think this would be neat for everyone in the family. Maybe then my husband could remember all our birthstones... Here is Amy Karol's shop.


and for Me...


beaver speech bubble earrings! How cute! I think I pretty much "favorited" everything in this shop. Creepy cute is always the best route I say. Here is Marmar's shop.




- Sarah

Hey guys!

- Camsters (aka: Sweetpea)

Robeez Remake :: leather shoe tutorial

Don't you hate when you get really great kids shoes and can't find any more of them? Or worse... they cost $40 a pair? Never fear folks! Frugal Mom is here to save the day! *insert trumpets here*
Let's make some soft soled shoes...


First get all your supplies together! I didn't have any soft leather on hand so I used suede cloth, but you can always cut up a thrifted leather jacket. You will need: a soft shoe that already fits your little one, 1/4 yard of super thin elastic, 1/4 yard suede cloth or soft leather, matching thread, and a fresh heavyweight needle.
Trace all the pieces of the shoe onto paper. Then go around the pieces adding a 1/4 inch seam allowance (excluding the sides that stay raw edges in the finished product). Don't forget to reverse the left and right soles. If you are using soft leather cut one each of the soles (suede cloth cut two), four shoe tops, two thin casing strips, and two (suede cut four) heel backs.


Skip this if you are using one layer of soft leather: sew your outside suede to your lining (WRONG sides together) on the two ends, but not the top or bottom.
Sew the thin casing strip onto the top of the heel piece. Stitch only on the top and bottom of the thin strip. Repeat on other shoe.
Take two shoe tops (right sides together) and sew together on the short curved side. Turn right sides out. Topstitch along the same short side. Make two small parallel snips on one side to loop the elastic through later.


Pin the shoe top (facing down with right sides together) to the sole. Then pin the heel back to the sole. The heel back should overlap the shoe top a little on each side. Sew using a regular 1/4 inch seam.
Test the fit on your child's foot. If it's a little big, just sew around it again with a little wider seam. Trim close to the seam without cutting it.


Using a tiny safety pin, thread the elastic through the casing on the outside of the shoe making sure to go through the loop on the shoe top. Tie the elastic in a knot at whatever length gives a snug fit around the ankle. I ended up with about 3-ish inches. Shove the knot into the casing to hide it.
Turn right side out.... and.... Ta Da!


If your baby is infatuated with little birds, stitch some creepy cute red birds on the shoe tops before sewing it all together. 'Now she tells me...' right?!

Enjoy!

- Sarah

Readin' Babes Series :: part 4

After almost two weeks of using our reading word cards, Camsters has shown absolutely no interest in them whatsoever. She won't even look at the cards and usually when we start, will crawl off to do something else. Sigh...

The book has actually warned about this very thing with 12-18 month olds. Apparently at this age they have better things to be learning and doing that sitting for fifteen seconds a day looking at word cards.

So we will be taking a break from our reading series until August when Camsters is 18 months old. Older and wiser right?! If your child is getting in the routine... Keep going strong and we will meet back up with you in August. In the meantime, I will still be reading to Camster daily. Hopefully that will spur some interest.


- Sarah

Children of the Gold Rush series :: 1850's photos

Click on the images if want a more detailed look-see.
For a few weeks I have been compiling pictures of real California children from the 1850's. Most of the pictures here are from Old Sacramento's archives. These pictures can give is insight to what was popular and common place back then.


1. We know that this child is a boy because he parts his hair on the side rather than down the center. He is also wearing a dress which means that he must not be "breeched", or toilet trained, yet. Love the ringlets kid! I wish I could do that with my hair..
2. From what I understand, this boy is wearing a Russian style shirt. He is also holding onto a poodle dog pull-toy.
3. This child is also wearing a dress like picture 1 and also must be a boy considering how the hair is parted on the side. If you look close, you can see the petticoat peeking out from beneath the toddler dress. The mid-calf length of his dress may indicate that he is now walking.
4. I love the sibling pictures best... You really get a feel for the family. The boy is wearing a French style shirt with his trousers buttoned to them. In the 1850's people used suspenders or buttons to keep their pants up, not belts. The girl is wearing a popular boat-neck style dress with pearls. If you look closely you can see her pantalettes peeking out from under her dress. This photo is also slightly tinted.


5. Cheer up kid! This girl is also wearing a boat-neck dress that was popular in the 1850's. Her dress has some sort of neat embellishment on the sleeves and bottom hem.
6. It's unclear whether this child is a boy or girl, but it is rare to see a baby's photo that isn't postmortem. Creepy.. I know. But this baby does have it's eyes open.
7. This girl is wearing a matching coat and dress. You can barely see her long sleeves peeking out from under her coat sleeves, but not enough to distinguish any real pattern.
8. I love how this girl brought her dolly. Her and her doll are both wearing fan front dresses with a boat-neck. Her dress is mid-calf with her petticoat? peeking out. She is also wearing shoes with ankle straps. Dolly is wearing an adult length dress complete with a handkerchief and straw sunhat. In this photo the girl's dress is tinted purple and Dolly's dress is tinted pink.



- Sarah

Dear Spring,

I'm not accustomed to having so many conversations with a season, but I feel you aren't in tune with my needs.

Can you just get on with it already?! You're kinda letting Winter run the show. You did just come into season yesterday... I understand, but let's get rolling on the sweet bird songs, light sunshine with cool breezes, and happy flower blossoms! I'm getting a little sick of Winter's snow storms, 72 hour rain storms, power outages, and 40-mile an hour winds. This is California for goodness sake!

Love,
Sarah (and frankly, everyone else too)