GIVEAWAY: Big Little Felt Universe & an amazing Felt Camping Set!

We are so excited to announce this giveaway because this is one of the most adorable craft books we have seen in a long time! Big Little Felt Universe by Jeanette Lim contains over 70 felt projects in full color with lifesize patterns. Now we have all seen amazing felt fruits&veggies...



but have you seen... felt cacti?

or a felt doctor's kit?

or felt tools?

or a felt laptop?

And so many more projects. Amazing! One of the things I love most about this book is how boy-friendly the toys are. We are always saying that boys get totally robbed compared to the amount of DIY projects geared towards little girls, well not this book! It has something for everyone. You're sold, right? You want the book but how about one of the ACTUAL SETS from the book. Is that something you might be interested in? Well, we have one of those to give away too. Feast your eyes on the Camping set that one lucky Prudent Baby reader will win...

So we have not 1 but 2(!) copies of the book to give away and complete felt Camping Set. And this one is open WORLDWIDE! That's right, even YOU can enter. Find out how to enter and where to get a free pattern from the book...
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Planting the Garden

Gordon made his first trip to the Dallas Farmer's Market this weekend when we set out to buy the plants for our garden. We would have like to do some seeds, since that's when you can actually feel prudent for putting a garden, alas it's too late for seeds here in Texas what with 100°+ days are right around the corner. We might still try some just to experiment.

As always, the girls had a blast at the market, sampling the vendor's wares and helping to pick out the plants.


We let pregnant Brookes do all of the heavy lifting.

Find out what we got and see it all planted...
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Cookie Decor: How to Make A Cookie Board & Cookie Bunting

I used to detest paper projects and cookie decorating because of the precision and attention to detail they require. I don't know what happened, but lately I'm totally Sweet on Paper. Since we asked y'all to create paper packaging for a sweet treat for our Sweet on Paper Contest to win a new Brother All-in-One 11X17 Printer/Scanner/Fax, I thought I'd try to do the same. And once you spend this much time making cookies, what's a few more hours?

Here's my entry, find out How to Make A Cookie Board Display and Cookie Bunting after the jump...
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THIRD BIRTHDAY FIESTA!

Living in Los Angeles, Mexican food and Mexican culture are things my friend Anna and I adore and wanted to celebrate. Being three-year-old girls, our daughters said that DORA is something they adore and wanted to celebrate. So to honor their request for a Dora party, we threw them a FIESTA!  Despite the drizzly day, the party was a total blast for all involved, with lots of fun details to bring Dora's world to life while honoring her mexican heritage.

Check out lots of fun THIRD BIRTHDAY FIESTA activities, foods, decor, and games after the jump...
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Irrigation System for Raised Bed Garden

Team Texas had a wildly productive weekend of garden preparation; buying plants, installing an irrigation system into our raised beds, and planting.

We were all ready to go to Home Depot and design an irrigation system from scratch. Imagine our delight to find that someone has already done the work. The guys at the "Depot" introduced us to DIG Irrigation Products drip and micro sprinkler system (not a sponsor, just love their stuff.) DIG has created an awesome FREE Drip Irrigation Installation Guide which guided us through what to buy and how to put it together. Down the line, if we want to install misters, sprinklers, faucets etc, we can easily add them on. It's really amazing. For now we just need a basic irrigation system to keep my lazy butt from killing the entire garden.

Here's what we did...
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April Fools Prank: The Fake Parking Ticket with Free Downloads

Doesn't that look official? If you got that in the mail, would you not be like "what the?? how did I get a $400 parking ticket!?!?"

Well, it's not official. I made it all. And now I will share it with you, so you too can torture your loved ones and maniacally cackle while they curse you.

Last year I shared with your our April Fools Prank, the Fake IRS Audit with Free Downloads. HA HA HA, sorry I laugh every time I think about it. Maybe I'm mean, but I just LOVE april fools pranks. Anyhoo, that was two years ago. Last year we pulled another successful prank on our friends and family, but I couldn't tell you about it then for fear of spoiling it. But now all is revealed: we sent them a faux parking ticket in the mail. For $401.09. Like Scarlet's birthday that year, and the date of April Fools 4/01/09. They all fell for it! Except for one, but she was expecting it. They fell for it even though the fine prints says "19119040108119220411140.10360.9840104040109040110APRILFOOLS2132689975142323447950HAHAGOTYOU".

We created a template based on a parking ticket I got in the mail, then we added the address of each friend and the seal of their local city, which I found via google image search. We didn't use their license plate number or any more personal details than their addresses, and they still didn't catch on. Duped!

Now it's your turn! There's still time to customize my templates and send out your own. Get the April Fool's Fake Parking Ticket tute and free downloads after the jump...
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Awesome Deal on Silhouette Machine Extended!

The folks at Silhouette had such a great response to their latest offer that they decided to extend it through the end of today!

Visit the Silhouette site, click shop, place the Silhouette SD in your basket, enter the discount   code "PRUDENT" at checkout and all discounts and freebies will show up  in  the basket.

You get: 
• Silhouette SD
• Clean Cut Interfacing
• Sewable Interfacing
• And a roll of white flocked heat transfer material

All for only $229!

Do you already have a Silhouette? Well you can get 25% off all fabric interfacing by entering "prudent" at checkout.

Here are a few more projects we have done with ours!







Take advantage of this awesome offer before midnight tonight!

Cupcake Pancakes

Too fun. We made them cupcake-shaped using this method then added some whipped cream and chocolate chips. A nice sugary start to the morning. Hey, I never said I was a healthy eating type. If it says "cake" twice in the name of your food, it's probably not a good idea. Don't judge me.

Do you feed your children any not-so-great-for-them foods? What do they love? Leave us a comment revealing the sordid details and you could win some key fob hardware to make your own Key Fobs with our tute!

Sweet on Paper: Paper Bias Tape Bags

Here is a quick way to make little paper bags for sweet treats! It uses the same technique as bias tape (with a little cheat) but made with paper. I used my new 11"x17" All-In-One Printer from Brother. The same printer that we are giving away in our contest, to scan a beautiful vintage (and possibly hand-made?) doily from my mom and got to work!

Read on to learn how to make Paper Bias Tape Treat Bags.

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FRIDAY {SURPRISE} PRIZE

Are you ready for the winner of our fat-quarter of Ukulele fabric?

Click through for the best comment of the week and next week's F{S}P
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WINNER: SILHOUETTE DIGITAL CUTTING TOOL & AN AMAZING OFFER!

Ahhh. The long awaited winner of the Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool. Are you ready?


And the winner is...
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La La Lazy Link Love

It's 2 AM and I just awoke sitting upright on the couch with a puddle of drool on my shoulder and a giant baby boy across my lap. Soooo sleepy. So do you mind if Link Love is a little about us this week?

First of all, this morning is your last chance to enter for the chance to win the Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool. Entries will close at noon CT and a winner will be announced this afternoon. EXCITING! In fact, even if you have already entered, go ahead and enter one more time, share on facebook, stumble-upon and twitter for additional entries, leaving a comment each time. Don't leave entries here, please click link above to go to entry post.

Also, be sure to enter for the chance to win a Custom Toy Portrait from First Friends.

The Sweet on Paper contest is in full swing. Are some of you working on your entries this weekend? We've already seen some cuteness coming in!

I just finished up a series of posts on Babble's Baby's First Year Blog, 100 Things I Love Now That I'm a Mom, inspired by Jaime asking a group of our friends the same question. We've done FASHION, PEOPLE, BEAUTY, CONVENIENCES, ENTERTAINMENT , KIDDO CARE, FORMER PET PEEVES, TRAVEL, PLAY-TIME and WELLNESS
What did I forget... besides how satisfying it is to pick your baby's nose?

And Jaime curated Babble's 50 Best Etsy Baby Shops. It's a must-see for buying handmade for baby! And if your favorite store wasn't included, you can nominate them on Babble! Image from Gingiber.

This weekend is little Miss Scarlet's 3rd birthday party. Happy birthday girl! So you know next week is going to have some of our best posts ever, based on our birthday parties past. Here, here and here.

Here in Texas we are going to be hard at work in the garden. The beds are all ready for planting!

How about you? What crafty fun are you up to this weekend? Leave a comment for the chance to win our Ukulele fabric!

XOXO

GIVEAWAY: FIRST FRIENDS CUSTOM TOY PORTRAIT

Could you just die? If your baby has a lovie, you understand how this photo melts my heart. That's Clare (the one with the green marker on her face and the shaggy Feral Child from Road Warrior hair) holding "Mermaid" and a portrait of "Mermaid" painted by Erin Chainani of First Friends Custom Toy Portraiture. Even Mermaid sees the resemblance...

Here's what Erin says about First Friends:
First Friends celebrates children's love for their favorite toys. Formerly a Yale-trained NYC-based professional costume designer, I'm now a Miami-based mom of three-year-old twins searching for new ways to stay creative and keep painting. I was inspired to create First Friends after painting portraits of my kids' favorite stuffed animals -- when they saw their paintings for the first time, they jumped around and screamed with joy....and thus First Friends was born. Dollies, stuffed animals, trains, action figures, or even toy garbage cans (seriously - one of my real commissions!) - whatever the toy, kids and adults love to see their favorite first friends memorialized in a unique, hand-painted portrait.


You can choose to order your portrait unframed or custom framed with a white mat and white recycled wood frame. I offer three portrait sizes, with prices ranging from $65 to $165. All portraits are hand-painted in watercolor, gouache and ink on professional-grade watercolor paper. Gift certificates are also available (and are a great option for grandparents, friends, uncles, aunts or anyone else who may not have access to a photo of the special toy). And for kids who have more than one true love, I'll paint multiple toys together in the portrait for no extra charge.

Aren't we going crazy over these portraits!?! I still can't get over the cuteness and I'm so I'm excited to announce that Erin is giving away a Framed 6"x9" custom toy portrait here on Prudent Baby!

Read on to find out how to enter this WORLDWIDE giveaway and see more adorable toy portraits.
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