Link Love
Happy New Year's Eve, oh prudent ones! Here is some link-y fun to end 2010.
A sweet FREE DIY for this fleece Snowblossom Hat from Made By Rae.
Make tonight's gathering a bit more festive with these free Happy New Year Party Printables.
I'm feeling the turban look for post-baby hospital glamor. Can I pull off this look?
Here is a step-by-step for tying a scarf into a turban for those who can.
Is it too early to start talking President's Day? Love these DIY prezzy t-shirts from Dana Made It.
ALSO:
The wise and adorable Elsie has 5 simple tips for making your 2011 creative dreams come true.
Oh Dee Doh showcases the Best of 2010 DIY Projects. Part 1. Part 2.
I spotted these Clothbound children's classics from Penguin while doing a bit of post-Christmas shopping and thought they would make a beautiful gift for a girl of any age. Jaime gifted Quinn a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for her birthday and I thought it was gift-giving perfection.
One of my own favorite store-bought gifts under the tree was a few of these Pantone Mugs. If you know anyone who is into graphic design, these would be a home run. Trust me.
I've already mentioned that The Quilting Bug has hit. Love the DIY for these His&Hers Personalized Baby Quilts. Nice way to stretch some quality fabric. Like the new insanely cute Tammis Keefe Tribute Fabric.
And lastly, now that holiday madness has died down, why not enter Prudent Baby's Salt Dough Ornament Contest to be entered to win a $50 gift card to Bake It Pretty? Make some snowflakes or get a head-start on Valentine's Day with some pretty hearts. These cookies are real but you could easily recreate both looks with puffy paint and rubber stamps. You have until January 3rd at midnight to submit your photos. Click for details.
Oh wait but before I go, I have two very important mommy questions for you.
1. Does anyone have a free tutorial for a crocheted baby cap with ears? Or any adorable crocheted baby cap?
2. Has anyone bought a minivan lately? Which one? Do you love it? Why? We are deciding between a Sienna and an Odyssey this morning and could use your sage advice. PS. I'm sexy, I'm buying a minivan. Everyone promises I will never look back.
Labels: Link Love
posted by Jacinda @ 1:00 AM
25 Comments:
These are some of my favorite projects too! Thanks for reminding me of them!
We were deciding between the same vans and ended up buying the Sienna because:
a) it's waaaaaaaay cheaper
b) we've always been a toyota family
c) it's waaaaaaaay cheaper
d) we couldn't really find anything in the odyssey that made it worth soooooo much more.
e) did I mention it's cheaper?
Anyway, we've had our sienna for nearly 4 years now and still love it. That being said, if in the case you have so much cash you are using it for wallpaper, might I suggest the Town & Country? I don't usually buy domestic, but dang that's a nice ride.
We traded in our 2002 Odyssey (which we LOVED) for a 2011 Sienna & haven't looked back! We've had it for nearly a year and LOVE it! I was afraid to look at the 2011 Odysseys when they came out, but when I actually like the look, feel, and features on my Sienna better. My anti-mv friends admit they even could drive one! As was mentioned, for the price, you can't go wrong! Good luck!
I don't know anything about vans (don't drive) and yes, we are that family on the street car.
But these crochet cloches over at the Aesthetic Nest are adorable http://www.aestheticnest.com/2010/07/crochet-best-baby-cloche-and-tutorial.html
for the tutorial (no ears though)
Go with the Sienna! I got the keys to one in my Christmas stocking 2 years ago. My husband and I had discussed for months in advance and I had also talked to people and the guy who services my car sold me on the Sienna. He told me that he only services Sienna's but he has repaired other vans especially the Chrysler's. He drives only Toyota's.
We bought a used Sienna a little over a year ago and we LOVE it. Good quality, nice ride, lots of space. An excellent choice for hauling the children around. Toyota's are pricey (which is why we bought one used) but totally worth it.
I actually wrote a pattern for a crocheted baby cap with ear flaps - here it is: http://www.brighthub.com/arts/crafts/articles/88355.aspx.
I also recently surrendered my cute little sporty car for a minivan. I got the Kia version, and I have to say it is infinitely useful. Then again, I have three children so a sporty little car wasn't cutting it at ALL. I do love the van, but I'm still counting down the days until they're old enough to drive themselves and I can resume driving little sporty cars. :)
Happy Almost 2011!
Jess
(http://jessecreations.wordpress.com)
Are you a member of Ravelry? Free crochet patterns ABOUND over there! I have worked up a TON of them for baby gifts, NICU, my own kids, etc, and am rarely disappointed.
We have a 4 year old Sienna and ADORE it. We had narrowed our options down to the same two, test drove them both, and I preferred the Sienna. I am short (5'3") and felt like the Sienna fit me better. I felt like everything was too far away in the Odyssey. We got the 8 passenger LE and it's fantastic. Highly recommend!
We bought a used Sienna almost 2 years ago and love it. Part of choosing it over Honda was definitely a price issue. Two other friends of ours with kids have chosen Siennas recently. Good luck! (I said I'd never go minivan but I don't regret it at all...so much more room for the kids and their stuff!)
We have a Sienna as well. Bought it two years ago. Recently drove the the 2010 Seinna, which seems to have more space and few options that were not avaliable to us.
I am a Honda lover! We have a CRV and still have our 1997 Civic and my dream minivan is the Odyssey. My friend's sister has one and loves it so much that my friend just got one too, and loves it too. Good luck! And I think minivans are fun! :-)
We just bought a Sienna and I love it. My older brother drives an Odyssey and it LOOKS better on the inside but it doesn't DRIVE nearly as nice. We didn't get leather in our Sienna, but I bet if you did it would look just as good as the Honda. Also, the Sienna looks tough on the front, like a truck- not a minivan. That made me feel a little better.
We just bought our first minivan last month. I was one who swore I would never drive a minivan.....but, they are just so stinkin convenient and totally made for moms. We debated between the '11 odyssey and '11 sienna too. We test drove them each 3 times! In the end we got the sienna and I'm so glad we did! ( I was originally pushing for the odyssey, I just love Honda). Some things that made the decision for us were better price, more leg room for my tall hubby, and so far my favorite is the track for the 2nd row seats. Can create tons of space in 2nd or 3rd row depending on what you need and best of all (for us) the 2nd row seat can slide fwd to allow entrance to 3rd row with carseat installed. Hondas 2nd row won't slide with a carseat on it. Good luck with your choice...either way I'm sure you will love it!
We recently bought a minivan too. Before buying one, we talked with our mechanic and he advised us to go with a NA made vehicle simply because repairs were easier and cheaper if we ever needed them. We went with a Chevy Uplander, and I love the way it has the room of a minivan but doesn't look like one... it's a little more SUVish than minivanish.
But I have seen the SwaggerWagon ads on Youtube and must say, they have me sold on Sienna over Odyssey. You MUST watch them. Hilarious! My hubby has watched them over and over and he laughs every stinking time. lol!
As for crocheting, I have no idea, since I cant knit or crochet to save my life. Sorry.
Ladies, you are the best. Husband just called from the dealership. He is closing the deal on the Sienna! I agree with those that said it handled better. I will have to work around the seat configuration but I think it will work. Oldest in the middle in the 3rd row? Baby behind me, Quinn behind passenger? Climb through middle to buckle oldest? It's silver... It's pretty!!
I'm too late to chime in, but Sienna all the way! We bought one new in 2004 (right before baby #2) and have loved it. Well, as much as one can love a minivan. But I wouldn't trade the convenience for anything!
In fact, when this one wears out, we'll buy another. With 3 kids, it's the way to go.
I made one of those baby quilts using stash fabric - way way easy and way way fast!! The logest bit was the quilting as I heavily machine quilted it as it's meant to be a floorcloth to lay baba on. Here's my blog post on it
http://me35.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/the-official-last-sewn-item/
Nad congrats on the minivan WOO HOO !!
Margaret C
that snowhat is RIDIC cute. loving the turban look too.
We bought the 2011 Sienna (8 passenger LE) about 6 weeks ago, and I LOVE it. Great features, and it drives really nicely. My kids love it too.
Sienna's and Odysseys are the best. Either way I think you will be very pleased. I just got an Odyssey and I love it. I do not love the dealer but the car is wonderful.
Free patterns for hat Tara at easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com has great patterns here is the the free hat pattern http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2010/12/free-crochet-pattern-monkey-hat.html
Jacinda - yay on a new ride! :) We are also about to make the jump to three little ones and are in the market for the MV.
My BTDT friends put the bigs in the way back seat, then put the baby behind the passenger seat. They keep the other middle seat folded down or removed, that way they can crawl back to the big kids more easily. But crawling back to buckle big kids still seams easier than carrying the baby carrier to the way back seat to clip it in.
Just so you know it is a "Swagger Wagon". My MFMs (that is Mis-Fit Mamas) have coined that phrase. Our little girls' group get together and discuss whose "Swagger Wagon" we get to "take the town" in, and we all drive a Sienna or Town and Country. . . so. . . as others have so mentioned, Sienna seems the way to go. Get Your Swagger on!
http://owlishly.typepad.com/owlishly/osito-infant-hat.html
I've made tons of hats from this free pattern and they're even cuter than the picture, and very easy. (Maybe it's just my tension, but I find I have to add 1 or 2 more increase rounds)
As for the van, well, we had to suck it up and swap our car for a newer caravan, which we're happy with... but I guess that's not much help!
I don't crochet, but I knit and my kids love when I knit a wide rectangle and long enough to cover front and back of a large cranium, fold it over and sew down the sides and then turn it right side out to make a hat. It makes them look like they have "owl ears" aka little horns. My 5 year boy is requesting another one. It's easy for me to do this than buying one since my children have big heads like Tweety bird.
Congrats on the mini van. You really won't look back. I have a friend that doesn't think they're too cool but that's because she doesn't have one! Great mileage, super convenient, remote control back. Plus SLIDING doors. Can't say enough about that feature. Really, there is nothing hot about scrambling out of a smaller car or SUV to make sure you open your kids' doors before they crash them into the cars next to you.
Is is too late to comment? I have found lots of free hat patterns! I did this hat:
http://www.michaels.com/Loops-Threads%E2%84%A2-Crochet-Hat-and-Scarf-Set/e08020,default,pd.html?start=18&cgid=projects-yarnandneedlecrafts-loopsandthreads
with these:
http://crazysockscrochet.blogspot.com/2010/09/crochet-pattern-dinosaur-spikes.html
It was super cute. There is also this pattern, but I haven't tried it.
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/sock-monkey-and-baby-hat
There are a lot of free patterns at lionbrand.com and redheart.com. I have found a few blogs too, crazysockscrochet.blogspot.com and vallieskids.blogspot.com. Check them out!
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