{sneak peek}

Ladies, I'm so excited to finally be able to share with you a few spreads from my book, and I just can't wait to know what you think. You can check them out by heading over to PrudentAdvice.com and clicking the "look inside" button on the left. I hope you like it!

Giveaway: Hoot Design Co Alphabet Print!

You can't go wrong with an alphabet print in the nursery, and this beautiful take from Hoot Design Co. is one of my absolute favorites. The artist, Kristen Brown, created a unique custom print for her nephew (the first baby to be born in their family) and people started asking her to make more. Pretty soon she was able to leave her job as an art director at an ad agency in Chicago and become a full time artist! Wouldn't that be amazing??

For this giveaway, one lucky reader will get one 18 x 26, SIMPLY BABY PRINT signed by Kristen in their choice of one of these three color palettes:

The Jill (girl), The Jacob (boy), and The Julian (neutral)

So to enter, we want to know what you would do if you could quit your day job and follow a dream like Kristen. I'll start: I would most definitely be a travel writer and fly first class all over the world to see everything everywhere. Maybe I would host the new version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and tell everyone to have "champagne wishes and caviar dreams"...

Visit the Hoot Design Co store and add her blog to your reader and leave another comment for an additional entry. Share the giveaway on facebook by clicking "like" below, or tweet the giveaway, then leave another comment each time letting us know for an additional entry. Entries will close at midnight July 7th and a winner will be randomly selected.

Go Go Go!

World's Tastiest Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I didn't invent this recipe, but it's so good I just had to pass it on.  I was completely out of milk (umm, isn't it amazing how much milk you can go through when you have kids??) so I was searching for a sour cream option when I came upon this. I think it's the simple maple glaze that I just love (and which I will now put on everything).

 Get the full Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe after the jump...
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Winner: Small Stash Sewing

Yay! Time to announce the randomly selected winner of Small Stash Sewing: 24 Projects Using Designer Fat Quarters. Congrats to Alexanda who said...

When I was a kid, my family would rent a houseboat on Lake Mead. For one week we swam, fished, played gin rummy, sang and danced on the roof, and lived without TV, phone, and video games. I can't wait for my 6 month old (and her future sibling) to be old enough to take houseboating!

This is so weird because Jaime and I were just talking about how fun it would be to vacation on a houseboat!

Alexanda, please send us your contact info using the link to the left, so we can mail off your copy of Small Stash Sewing: 24 Projects Using Designer Fat Quarters.

Easy-Peasy Spicy Pickles

Our garden is exploding with tasty treats! Look at that cute ittle-wittle cucumber sprouting...

We used our first cucumber of the season to make some spicy refrigerator pickles. It's seriously the easiest thing in the world: You just slice your cuke, boil some vinegar and spices, pour on top and refrigerate for a few days. You can use my recipe for curry-spicy pickles or make up your own! Hurry up and get them in the fridge so they're ready for 4th of July BBQs. Get the Easy Peasy Spicy Pickles Recipe after the jump...
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Easiest Softies Ever

Okay so these are the easiest homemade stuffed animals ever.  I know I've mentioned my love for the blog Graphics Fairy, where you'll find a daily vintage royalty-free image of goodness.  Well, I went to her site and snagged some great animal pics, colored them, then printed them on to some iron-on transfers...AND posted the template for you after the jump.

This little softie DIY is a great way to put some wayward fabric scraps to good use (as backings) and to come off like a crafty superstar with hardly any effort at all.

Get the full DIY for the Easiest Softies Ever after the jump...
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Prudent Project Round-Up

Top: Andrea at Things I Make sewed that Pillowcase Dress | LOOP + LiL made a DIY Cute Crib Sheet | Brittany at Keep Up With The Collins made a Simple Snuggly Baby Blanket

Middle: Priti at Arm Candy for You made the Most Flattering Shirt Dress | Jean Marie at Welcome to My Craft World made the sweet Summery Sun Hat | Tisha made a cute gift set with a DIY Step Stool and matchy Burp Cloths

Bottom: Cherry at Bright Red Cherries whipped up some Apple Cream Cheese Muffins | Melissa at Honeyscrap conquered zippers with her Quick & Pretty Make Up Bag | Michelle at Music Therapy Tween made a Big Bow Headband

Your "As Seen On Prudent Baby" button is over there on the bottom left. We adore seeing these pics, send them by form or share them with everyone in the Prudent Baby Project Pool on Flickr!

Link Love

Anna Maria does it again with the simple instructions to make this tunic on her blog...
Love the Envelope Project on Meet Me At Mike's...
DIY picnic blanket at Dos Family...
Make sweet dandelion bracelets with OhDeeDoh.

And more...
New single from Erin Weir! Bye Bye Blackbird at Mix Tape
Will someone please bring me one of these right now, with a pretty straw...Green Tea Shake Recipe at The Kitchn
Interesting conversation about childhood obesity going on at DoubleX
Amazing alphabet prints at Hoot Design Co
I'm off to Dwell on Design tomorrow... are any of you going to be there? If so, email me!

Cincinnati here we come!

And by "we" I mean my husband Rick, who doesn't stop the car. ever., three year old Clare, 14 month old Quinn and me, Jacinda...  for 962 miles. Each way. So the drive should be fun. But after that we have a day to explore before attending a family reunion and then turning around. SO, I'm making the most of that day. Here are my thoughts...

Start off the day at Findlay Market to sample the local goods. I'm all over The Goetta Danish. My husband is a Goetta purist so he is a bit offended by the liberties taken here but I'm all over adding buttery pastry, apricot jam and cream cheese to fried meat product. I just gained a pound typing that.

From there it's over to the Contemporary Arts Center to see the Shepard Fairey exhibit and to take Clare to Family Saturday: Street Art They say: Join local artists from ABLE Projects as they demonstrate how to make your own street art inspired prints. Sounds fun, right?

Unfortunately, that means we will miss the Snoopy appearance at the Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore and de-Café which could not seem cooler. Snoopy, you ask? Clare has an Aunt who loves Snoopy, so Snoopy is #1 in our book too. Maybe we can swing in for look anyway.

And lastly, I'd love to stop by one shop. It's just one! It's MICA. Doesn't it look great? Have you been? Is it awesome?

And then we're off to the Ball Game!

Natives of Cincinnati, am I on the right track? Please leave a comment and let me know what's up!

It's a few years old, but I pulled most of my itinerary from the Design•Sponge Cincinnati Design Guide

And stole the Shepard Fairey Mural photo from Jessica at A Little Gray. Tho whole "OBEY" just seemed too perfect for 30 hours of driving with 2 toddlers.

Brownies with Feelings

Clare and I had a blast making and decorating Daddy's favorite dessert on Sunday. My goal was to keep things simple and fun and yummy! I was inspired by these little sugar eyeballs that I had from Bake It Pretty. It was really interesting to talk about facial expressions, and how to draw a surprised or angry or sad face. Clare mostly wanted happy faces. This project requires minimal time, supplies and skills (as you can see, ha!)

Click here to get the details on this easy idea for decorating brownies. It's part of Prudent Baby's Summer of Fanciful Treats: Sponsored by Bake It Pretty

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DIY Fabric Dry Erase Calendar

When I saw this fabric backed dry erase board idea from Paper N Stitch on Craft, I got so excited! Life as a writer involves a lot of deadlines (as does life as a mom, right?) and I had been trying to think of a way to display my editorial dates & story pitches for one of my other gigs in an up-in-your-face-get-it-done-now-woman kind of way, while still being pleasant to look at. Thank you Britnni for the inspiration!
See how I made my Fabric Backed Dry Erase Calendar after the jump...
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Apple Fritters

Every single morning during my last month of pregnancy I ate an apple fritter on my way to work...alone in the car...licking my fingers after each bite.  Yes, I got really fat. Anyway.

I have been inspired to bring little S into the kitchen more by my friend Rebecca's site Cooking With My Kid, so we made these homemade fritters together and are sharing the recipe here and over at Cooking With My Kid today.  These might give you a heart attack but the recipe is easy, quick, and your kids will be like "Mommy made donuts!  We love mommy!!!" If you don't want to deep fry try some Apple Cream Cheese Muffins instead.  Get the full Apple Fritter Recipe after the jump...
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No-Bake 4th of July: Ice Cream Floats

We are working on a few easy-peasy no-bake sweets for The 4th of July as part of Prudent Baby's Summer of Fanciful Treats: Sponsored by Bake it Pretty

Click here to get the details on these festive 4th of July Ice Cream Floats.

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Recycled Calendar Coasters

Remember when I made our headboard and I told you how I found that beautiful otomi fabric on ebay?  Well the seller also sent me a calendar with all kinds of gorgeous images of otomi fabric.  It was so pretty I didn't want to throw it away, but a girl only needs so many paper calendars.  Since I've been working on prettying up my home office with exotic fabrics like otomi and suzanis, I thought recycling the images onto some coasters would be a nice touch.

I know I showed you how to do this once before with the Matryoshka and Owl Coasters, but I'll show you How to Make Mod Podge Coasters again after the jump.  It's so crazy easy!

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GIVEAWAY: Small Stash Sewing by Melissa Averinos

We are back with another fabulous giveaway! This time it's a copy of Small Stash Sewing by Melissa Averinos. If you know Melissa, you know you want this book and if you don't know Melissa, visit her blog yummygoods.com to learn more about her life as a "fabric designer, author, shopgirl, painter, Cape Codder, good listener and lover of pie." She's funny, right?

Sigh, now I can't stop thinking about Cape Cod. Have you ever been?... some of my favorite Summer memories. What is your favorite Summer vacation spot? Why don't you tell us for a chance to win Melissa's book. And if you're feeling chatty, tell us your favorite Summer vacation memory. The funnier the better, but it can just be sweet or boring or whatever. You will still be entered to win. Unless your favorite Summer vacation spot is Dallas because you are wrong, it is sooo freaking hot here right now. Just kidding,  you are still entered to win if you love to Summer in Dallas (and if you use "Summer" as a verb.) As you think back on a good vaca story to tell us, here are a few of the gorgeous projects you can make from Small Stash Sewing!




{hello from Jacinda's toes}
This Giveaway will end on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at Midnight CT and a winner will be chosen at random.

Beginner's Bias Tape Bag with Free Downloadable Pattern

I promised you this free downloadable bag pattern when we offered up the Simplicity Bias Tape Maker Giveaway as a great first project for your Homemade Bias Tape, so here goes...

I've made a couple so far, and I usually don't like fabric bags (i'm a leather lover) but I actually adore these for summer. They are super quick to whip up (under an hour) and are also reversible, so you can get a couple different looks in one swoop.

You could also use store-bought bias tape, like I did for the big one (oh, and you can blow up or shrink the pattern to make different sizes - Scarlet's been using the littler one as her lunch bag).  Either way I think it's a sweet & simple summery project.  But I'm dying to know, what do you think??

Get the full Beginner's Bias Tape Bag Tutorial and free downloadable pattern after the jump...
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Prudent Project Round-Up

Top: Fawn at Clean Up On Aisle Four made that sweet Pillowcase Dress from an actual Pillowcase | Jess at Craftiness is Not Optional sewed the Snappy Toddler Top | Sara sent in her beautiful Most Flattering Shirt Dress

Middle: Kirstan at The Stepford Wife made the DIY Nursing Cover | Baby Valone whipped up some Apple Cream Cheese Muffins | Meghan at Is Five made an applique DIY Step Stool and posted a detailed tute

Bottom: Emily at We The Kings made the Hamptons Hooded Beach Towel | Kalen at Frim Fram Spot made some Fabric Pom Pom Flowers | Mandy at Pink Shoes Photography made a 10 Minute Onesie Dress

Your "As Seen On Prudent Baby" button is over there on the bottom left. We get so excited seeing all your pics, send them by form or share them with everyone in the Prudent Baby Project Pool on Flickr!

Link Love

Get the template for these father's day shirt and tie gift boxes at Papercrave...
Our favorite baker Amanda from Bake it Pretty shows how to make these sparkler Pops at PInt Size Social's DIYs with VIPs...
And Tracey Stweart from Moomah shares a DIY for this burlap embroidered Zebra at the same spot...
and make a bib from a vintage towel at Bloesem Kids.

And more...
5 plants that can live in dark rooms at Apartment Therapy
I think I've mentioned my obsession with making ice cream but I had never considered making it with Greek Yogurt! This recipe looks so good at Shelteriffic
Love this free printable address label template from Daffodil Design, going to make myself some today
and oving Dana's new computer case over at Made.

Winner: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker!

We told you how the lovely ladies over at Simplicity heard how much we LOVE their Bias Tape Maker and offered to give one away to one awesome Prudent Baby reader. To enter, we asked you to invent a magical machine to simplify your life and this is what we learned:

65% of Prudent Baby readers agree with me that folding laundry is a despicable chore.
15% of Prudent Baby readers want a self-cleaning house, a Jetson's-style robot maid, or as one commenter put it, "a scullery maid from a princess movie" lol!
10% of Prudent Baby readers hate doing dishes and wish there were a machine to help.  Several of those readers realize this machine already exists and would just like to have one.
10% of Prudent Baby readers hate cutting out patterns and want only to sew pre-cut pieces of fabric together.
5% of Prudent Baby readers simply want a bias tape maker.
One Prudent Baby reader wishes there were a machine you could put food in and it would come out as dinner.  So do we my friend, so do we.

I wish we could be like Oprah and scream "EVERYONE GETS A BIAS TAPE MAKER!!!!" but alas we cannot.  So for now it's "SANDY A LA MODE GETS A BIAS TAPE MAKER!!!!"  Sandy, congrats!!

Now everyone else don't be too sad because we have lots more giveaways of amazing things to come. Now go read our post How To Make Bias Tape and make some this weekend, because on Monday I'll be sharing the free downloadable pattern and tutorial for this Beginner's Bias Tape bag. And if you're feeling like giving yourself a little present, go ahead and order your own Simplicity Bias Tape Maker.



And thanks again Simplicity!

DIY Drawstring Gift Bags and Coloring Books

Let's talk gift bags. Clare takes bags very seriously. At all times, she has  30 tiny bags filled with odds and ends from around our house and there are negotiations regarding how many bags she can take in the car, every time we go in the car. Bags are important. And right up there with bags is Miss Spider and right up there with Miss Spider is coloring. 

So here is where we landed on gift bags for Clare's Buggie Birthday. Simple fabric drawstring bags (and by "simple" I mean that I cut every possible corner to make these quickly) a handmade coloring book using downloadable Miss Spider coloring pages from Nick Jr, a box of crayons, a sweet treat and these adorable 49¢ buggie finger puppets from Party City. And the leftover bugs?... they are sitting here at my foot, peeking out from one of Clare's random bags as I write this. Soooo many bags.

Get the DIY scoop on Drawstring Gift Bags and Coloring Books after the jump.

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DIY Buggie Headbands

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this. I looked all over town for little buggie-deedle-bopper-antennae-headbands for Clare's Buggie Birthday before a lovely young lady at a local toy store mentioned "So um, you could always, like, make them." Right, like a DIY. And then she told me exactly how to do it, which was even more helpful. So here is what we do to make some buggie headbands. ok? No need to search all over town.



The kids (and some moms!) really loved these and wore them the whole party! Really cute! Would be great for aliens too!

Click here for DIY Buggie Headbands.
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