Far, Far Away in the Cousin Nativity

Christmas Eve the kids all took part in a Nativity play with a batch of their cousins. Sunshine and Butterfly were both assigned parts as angels. I realized at the last minute that I needed to have costumes for them! I had my husband pick up some white pillowcases while he was out and about and I whipped up these cute little white pillowcase dresses. They took me maybe 10 minutes each (though taking a little longer would look better, lol)

Little Sunshine talking with Grandma before the Nativity play.


Standing by the Christmas tree. The girls chose their own clothes to wear with the dress, and I didn't have time to re-vamp anything. Otherwise there might have been some pretty white shirts instead of bright tees.

Some real Monkey Business

This afternoon I got to have three of my nieces come over for a crafting party. (In case someone hadn't noticed: I have LOTS of nieces. And nephews.) They brought some socks and two of them made sock monkeys for their two younger brothers and the third one made three hair bows for some friends of hers. They did such a good job! I ran the sewing machine and the hot glue gun, but they pretty much did everything else. I even tweaked the "North Pole Boutique" cards to make them custom from my niece as a finishing touch. We ran out of time a bit, but we were really close to finishing. The monkeys still need eyes and one went home with an arm or two pinned on, LOL, but the girls know what they're doing now and they won't have any trouble finishing them I'm sure.

SJ with her three hair bows. I walked through the first one but she put the other two together pretty much by herself!


RJ with her nearly-completed sock monkey. All he needs now is eyes! They're hoping to make up some clothes too.


JJ curled up on the couch stitching away on the other sock monkey.

Monkey Trouble

This week I have been having lots of fun making sock monkeys! I have finished two that I can take photos of. They are just so fun to make! My three young darlings participate in a gift exchange with cousins. Two of the names drawn were for very little ones -- under 2 years old. Thus, the sock monkeys! After making the first two I decided I ought to make some for my girls' stockings on Christmas morning. I found some fuzzy-wuzzy socks to use for my babies. Tonight I got all the pieces sewn but I ran out of stuffing before I could finish. All three bodies are stuffed and sewn shut, but I need to buy a new bag of stuffing to do all of the arms, tails, ears, and noses. New shopping list for tomorrow!