Prudent Project Round Up

Top: Liberated Mind made a Top Knot Baby Hat | Ashley made a Shirred Summer Dress/Top | A Bit of Sunshine made Kevin's Famous Scones

Middle: Dohdums made a Most Flattering Shirt Dress | Out of Alabaster made a Snappy Toddler Dress | Roubidou made a Bow Tie

Bottom: A Nest in the Making made a Beginner's Bias Tape Bag | Covet Collective made Drawstring Backpacks | Be A Good Mom made Beautiful Dress Up Wings

Leave these ladies some love in the comments, you just might win this week's Fabric Friday yard for fave comment!

So many fun ways to share your pics with us and the other Prudent Mamas:
-Join the Prudent Baby Project Pool on Flickr
-Chat with other awesome Prudent Mamas and upload your pics to our super fun Prudent Baby Facebook Page
-Tweet them to us.
-And of course you can keep sending them to us through our Prudent Baby Contact Form.
Your "As Seen On Prudent Baby" Button is down there on the left. Thank you!

Wilton Workshop: Behind the scenes (part 2)

As a geek-level lover of sugar arts, I was over-the-moon to get an invite to Wilton headquarters for buttercream and fondant lessons, a sneak-peek at new products, a behind-the-scenes tour and the baking supply tent sale of all tent sales. We are talking "things I must do before I die" level of excitement. Like I said... geek.

Want to see all the goodies?


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Wilton Workshop: Behind the Scenes at Cake Decorating Headquarters

A few weeks ago Jacinda and I (and our friend Rebecca from Cooking With My Kid) had the good fortune to be invited to jet off to Chicago for a Wilton blogger workshop of fantasy cake decorating goodness and joy. We learned some basic cake decorating techniques with buttercream and fondant, had a little competition with some bloggy friends, hit up the Wilton tent sale, and best of all, got a full behind the scenes tour of Wilton headquarters. There's a "decorating room" full of people whose job it is to decorate cakes! All day! It's amazing! Check out pics after the jump...
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GIVEAWAY WINNER: A Month of Advertising on Prudent Baby

Congrats to Crunchtime, the randomly-selected winner of one month of advertising on Prudent Baby.

Check out this fantastic site for beautiful food photography, winning healthy recipes, great tips on feeding your family better and a little bit of the funny. We love the funny.

If you didn't win, but would like to hear more about advertising on Prudent Baby, email admanagers{at}frecklednest{dot}com. Our rates start at $50. Bargain! We would love to have you on board!

GIVEAWAY: Make Stuff Together: 24 Simple Projects to Create as a Family

Make Stuff Together: 24 Simple Projects to Create as a Family is a new book full of wonderful and unique family craft projects. Now that Clare is a little older, we have started "crafting" together and it's great bonding time for us. I can't wait to try out some of the ideas in this book!

Co-Author Kathie Sever says: Make Stuff Together is a book about crafting with your kids; not craft projects for kids to do, not craft projects you make for your kids... but about crafting WITH your kids as a means of connecting with them. And with an emphasis put on mindfulness- mindfully choosing your materials (all materials in the book are upcycled, but we also talk about using new materials sparingly and lovingly), mindfully choosing your projects (finding projects with longevity and meaning and usage), and mindful projects (projects that advocate slowing down and connecting once the crafting together part is done)... and all while, keeping things real, and messy, and kind of geeky and fun.

The projects are divided into six units: dinner time, library time, into the woods, fun and games, happy birthday to you!, and commemorate and celebrate. The projects in each unit are parceled into easy-to-manage segments that help you share quality time with your family without finding yourself overwhelmed.

Sounds perfect! Of course we have a copy to give away to a Prudent Baby reader...Read more »

Make for Baby: 20 Easy Projects to Make Your Own Bedding, Gear, and Nursery Stuff

You want to create a nursery as unique as your baby, but sometimes you can’t find just-the-right-thing. Well here’s 20 projects we've dreamed up that you can do yourself to create custom baby bedding (crib sheets, changing pad covers, pack n play sheets, blankets), nursery decor (curtains, pillows, wall art), and baby gear (hooded towels, bibs, burp cloths). Many are first-timer tutorials, perfect for beginners who are feeling the nesting instinct. Get the slideshow here: 20 Easy Projects to Make Your Own Bedding, Gear, and Nursery Stuff. Have you made any of these projects? Tell us about it in the comments, you could win this week's beautiful Fabric Friday yard from Anna Maria's new loulouthi collection!

Quilt Market: Fabric Preview Eye Candy (Part 2)

Ahhh. More gorgeous Quilt Market fabric to gaze our little peepers upon. Monday morning doesn't seen so bad after all, does it? So grab a cup and enjoy!

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FABRIC FRIDAY!

You knew it had to be coming, right? This week's FABRIC FRIDAY is a yard of Anna Maria Horner Lou Lou Thi, Summer Totem Tart. LOVE LOVE LOVE! I want a little of this for my patio project.

Leave comments on any and all posts this week, we will pick our fave next Friday and announce the winner right here.
Find out who won last week's Fabric Friday after the jump...
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Link Love

Why oh why did I not see these before the Sleeping Beauty Party?

A DIY custom specimen chart just might be the most perfect gift to celebrate someone special's passion.

Elizabeth from Growing Home shares a DIY for an adorable Hot Mess Mommy Summer skirt. The Flirt Skirt!

Loving this sweet cloud and umbrella lunch combo. Sure to bring sunshine to your little one's nosh.

ALSO {don't you go anywhere!}

Our babysitter spends "my" money getting adorbs feather extensions in her hair at the salon. Here's how you can get the look at home.

Hello, Pizza Pot Pie, my future lover.

Gingercake has an adorable new pattern, A Hobo-style Lunch Sack, that you are going to want.

Has anyone found a craft teacher through Betterfly? What a great concept.

Wow, this paper airplane party is stunning.

Angela Richardson, the photographer who did our family shoot a few months back, posted more of our pics on her blog. blush.

And we babble...

The tiny top hat trend {a slideshow}

The 20 most amazing tree houses in the world {a slideshow}.

Jaime ponders The Princess Phase

Prenatal yoga that defies gravity

What floats your boat? Last chance to leave a comment and maybe win the fun zoo fabric!

GIVEAWAY: A Month of Advertising on Prudent Baby

We are wrapping up our roster of lovely advertisers for July and we want one lovely Prudent Baby reader (and small business dynamo) to join the party. Actually we want all of you to join the party, but we want one of you to do it for FREE! You will be sharing space with some of our favorite folks from around the web including:

Leave a comment here between now and Monday, June 27th at Midnight. Simply leave a link to your business.

Fun with Fondant: It's Easier Than You Think

Before heading out to the lovely Wilton Workshop (that we were facebooking and tweeting about non-stop a few weeks back), my daughter made me promise that upon my return we would make some cake for her class party at school. NOT A PROBLEM! So, while at the ridiculous-giant-amazing Wilton tent sale, I snagged a bunch of fun pans, one of which was this popsicle mini cake pan.

These are perfect for playing with fondant! I had used fondant once before, to create a ridiculous over-the-top cake for Scarlet's Circus First Birthday, and I think I was too ambitious and scared myself off of fondant for a few years. Well, after getting some basic instruction at the workshop, I was newly excited to dig in for some fondant fun, as was Scarlet. It really is a blast to do with your kids. You might even call it edible play dough? Wait, play doug is edible isn't it? Well fondant tastes better. Let me show you how we made a different kind of cake pop and some fondant basics after the jump...
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Silhouette Temporary Tattoos and a Temporary Deal!

We are hangin' at home today having a blast making tattoos in honor of Silhouette's latest hot deal!

This bundle includes:
• 1 Silhouette SD
• 2 Packages Temporary Tattoo Paper
for $199 (U.S. only) (120 dollars in savings!)

Also, (wait for it…) 25% off all other products in the Silhouette shop (excluding gift cards and download codes)! From now until June 29th.

All you have to do is drop the bundle in your cart and enter the promo code "PRUDENT" at checkout.

Yes, your eyes don't decieve you, that is a dancing Squirrel Nutkin tattoo made from Silhouettes new Beatrix Potter collection of Print and Cut artwork.

The tattoos were the only product from Silhouette that I hadn't tried. For some reason, I was doubtful that the print and cut function would work. Could the Silhouette really cut out printed designs precisely? Yes, it could. Honestly? It blew me away. So awesome.

Backyard Farm Update

That's my office on most warm days. I'm a lucky woman. The view? Me & Scarlet's Backyard Farm. After the joy of last year's experimentation, we went at it with gusto this spring. Here is the hill 6 weeks ago (after we scoped out the situation, tilled, and planted seeds, which I posted about here: Backyard Farm Year 2):

And here it is today:

Yum!






Yay! Here's what we've been discovering (and eating!) in this year's backyard farm. I've got pics, tips, and questions for you (advice, please) after the jump...
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GIVEAWAY WINNER: 2-Month Subscription to fair ivy

One lucky winner (or someone they love) is gonna get some prezzies!

We've told you all about fair ivy and we are back to share with you the winner of the free two-month subscription but first, here's a little more about the company...

fair ivy was created in 2009 after a realization that so little of what we receive in the mail is a surprise anymore.  The only real mail that comes to the door is usually bills, Amazon packages, or junk mail!   Where's the fun in that?
fair ivy is a unique subscription service—we send awesome, cute, mystery packages to our customers once a month.  A large portion of the items are handmade, and our packages are additionally as eco-friendly as possible, using crinkle paper instead of styrofoam to protect all of the exciting goodies!   You never know what you are going to receive, but you always know it is going to be wonderful.  There are packages for everyone—teens, women, men and even pets!


You can even buy packages to start sending in the future—so you can take care of all your birthday and Christmas shopping early!

We've made you wait long enough. The winner is...
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Mitered-Corner Cloth Napkins

A few weeks ago we celebrated the impending birth of my friend Brookes' first baby. It was a beautiful shower filled with touching stories, good advice and lots of fun baby and pregnancy photos of all the guests. The decor was simple and lovely. It included a set of cloth napkins that we made together and this gorgeous arrangement of ribbons and silk orchids hanging form the chandelier. Isn't it effortlessly chic? I can say that because all I did was the sewing.


Brookes and I assembly-lined the set of 8 napkins in two short evenings. It's so nice to have a shower decoration that you can keep (and use) forever, don't you think? Maybe she will even give them to her beautiful brand new daughter some day. Here's how we made these mitered-corner napkins.

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