The best of "Tiptoe Through", 2010 year in review

I thought I would do a little "best of" recap of Tiptoe Through for 2010, after all there is a lot to be grateful for!! In general I really picked it up this year and began blogging more regularly. June was an especially active month with December wrapping it all up (pun intended!) with the most posts yet!  I have some goals for my blog for 2011 that I will share in the new year, but for now here are some favorites from this past year!  It was hard to pick just one, so feel free to browse through my archives for more fun posts from 2010.

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January: Winter Wonderland
February: Etsy Blog feature
March: My guide to Portland, Maine
April: DIY- king headboard for $70! and a Curtain behind it
May: The Market Tote, by Built
June: Lonny Mag, featuring my sister!
July: Nesting Project- painted shelf and Sofa makeover
August: decorating inspiration- Artist's houses
September: making Art in the streets!
October: Cordelia, our daughter + DIY october
November: New Discoveries- links and such
December: DIY ornaments

A hat for Sophie!

Last Christmas I knit hats for my Niece and Nephew. Unfortunately that year I was not the best at judging kid's head sizes- now I know better! Kid's heads are always so deceiving, they are actually pretty big even though their bodies are small! ; ) And so last year's hat is now too small for my niece so I knit her a new one! I used this super soft baby alpaca yarn that is two tones of pink spun together- it's like a cranberry pink!  I made the pattern up and added some vintage white buttons to the side to finish it off. For sizing I basically made it an adult small, and then wove a piece of yarn through the brim and tied it in a bow to allow for the width to be adjusted as she grows, and then eventually the yarn can be taken out!

My sister-in-law sent me this text message picture today of my 4 yr old niece wearing her new hat, she's so darn cute! Can't wait to see them at the end of January!

Links and Such

Epic Street Art! by artist Agata Olek

2010 in Review:

2010 according to Google
Ten Films that didn't get their due

Video montage of silly internet "wins" and The year in FAILS- ie: darwin award contenders 

The decade's best dresses
best blogs of 2010

50 best songs of the year

And Such:

This is what 32 inches of snow looks like
This is embarrassing  -Dads on vacation

LOL, this is GR8! When parents text

cool Staircases
allsaints- neat high end-ish clothing!
Been singing this to Cordelia lately, now I need to dust off my guitar and learn it...

Lovely and haunting

Francesca Woodman photography and a book of her images.

I feel a little late to the game here that I am just seeing these images and learning about Woodman, would have been a perfect fit for my gradschool work!  Lovely and haunting.

Cheeks

at 9 weeks and growing fast! 

Last week I inherited some hand dyed pink and green- watermelon color, yarn from my sister-in-law's fiber stash and I've decided to knit the little miss a sweater with it! I already knit a little swatch for the gauge and the pink and green makes a cute pastel candy stripe. Now I need to choose a pattern, something a bit bigger that she can get a lot of use out of. She's growing so fast that maybe a 12 month or 18 month size will get us through  late spring and most of the fall!?

 I'll keep yah posted on the progress.

UPDATE: I think I'll make this cardigan! AND below is the watermelon hand spun, hand dyed yarn.

New Year Promo, 20% off!

Use code "newyear" and receive 20% off at my vintage shop!

Offer expires Jan 1, 2011

He Took the Hint

My husband got me THIS print I hinted about earlier on my blog- for Christmas! I said it would be perfect for our Daughter's room one day! How sweet, I love it. In the meantime, as we continue co-sleeping and thus she does not currently have her own room, I will hang it in our studio/guest room where all of her clothes and such reside! Hooray!

2011 Calendars

It's the perfect week to search etsy for a fun 2011 calendar!

Here are some of my personal favorites.

Above: 2011 Cloth Tea towel calendar, by 1canoe2

Limited Edition, Letterpress Calendar, by sarahparott825

2011 Calendar, by pineconecamp

Happy Searching!

Glitter for the NEW YEAR!

My vintage beaded bag is in this New Year themed Treasury!

New Etsy Favs

Today I'm enjoying the snow here in Portland Maine, having a cozy time drinking tea and knitting. We had a great Christmas- our first spent in New England... and now I am looking ahead to January! I turn the big 3-0 on the 17th and at the end of the month we are heading south to Delaware to visit family and introduce our daughter to the rest of the clan. So in a related/unrelated note- I thought I would put together a little "New Etsy Favs" since it's been a while and SINCE I have a birthday coming up! WINK.

 WINK.

Above: Urchin Lace, charcoal sweatshirt, by sealmaiden

Pink Crochet Quartz earrings, by Lavenderfield.

 (I have a pair of her earrings already, I just love her jewelry!)

Victorian Coat Rack, by longbarnmerchantile.

Vintage Glove Mold, by bluebellbazzar.

Vintage Letterpress Letters, by Salvagenation.

Lotus bowls, by jherrmann.

A Very Merry Christmas Tradition

We have this funny tradition in my family, one that evolved over the years as all traditions do- to wear our Christmas stockings on our heads. Yup, nothing too inventive or  intelligent for that matter, just something that was done to us as babies and then continued through toddler-dom with years of posed pictures in front of the fireplace with our sheepish, dare I say smacked-ass grins on our faces as our stockings cut off the circulation around our heads.  SO this year, being Cordelia's first Christmas the tradition must go on! And here she is with her Father's knit stocking on her head! She looks thrilled.  My Paternal grandmother Ruth knit all of our stockings and my mother has dutifully carried on the tradition. (Don't worry Grandma Pinnie- We can wait until next year for her stocking!) PS: click on pics to view them larger!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(And a big Thanks to Aunt Barbie for the cute Gingerbread onsie!)

Links and Such

Oh SNAP you better watch out, Santa knows EVERYTHING!

Christmas Ornament Tree mobile- a how to

Top 50 list of 2010, from NPR

Time lapse video of the Lunar eclipse.

These days

This is wild: did they find Amelia Earhart?

Check out this jewelry shop on etsy.

I heart this bunting necklace

Wooden Animal boxes

Cool Ceramic Candles

An additional 25% off at Anthro right now! I like THIS. I have a birthday coming up ; )

Totally NUTS "speediflying" video IE skiing with a parachute

dots and lines are just fine: fabric and pattern blog

Cordelia's birthstone month- a pink tourmaline, (cute selection and website!) but a scorpio- is a blue topaz...? and then a google search says October is an opal? I'm confused

8 weeks old

It's been 8 weeks TODAY, that's Two WHOLE Months that we have been "parents". (again counting Wednesday to Wednesday not the 27th-to the 27th) It's funny how my definition of "badass" has changed. For example: I consider myself a badass when I get a 4+ hour stretch of sleep, I'm a badass with my new cloth diaper skills, and I'm a badass with how I navigate blow outs, especially those that involve my own clothing- awesome. I'm a badass in how I can read her a little better each day- I know what she needs when she fusses and I also know when to let her slightly stir and then fall back asleep with out me having to intervene...  Yes, my friends it's the little things!

And with each wakeful moment- which are becoming more frequent and in the parameters of a "schedule" we love her more and more. She gets cuter when she sleeps, I swear. And even though I am going to be 30 next month, it really feels like she and I are growing up together. She develops the ability to hold her head up for longer periods of time as I grow as a parent, pretty comparable stuff ; )

She smiles and jabbers on, listens to us intently and spends what feels like hours, staring at all the artwork on our walls...  Recently my sister keeps quoting a line from the book "the happiness project" -the days are long but the years are short... this is oh so true, and I especially see it with our days spent with Cordelia. So we are soaking up this baby time before we have to baby-proof the house introduce solids and fill out college applications! dun, dun DUN!

Last Minute Gift!

Gift certificates now available in my Knit Shop! They make the perfect last minute gift, simply purchase and I will send you a pdf of the gift card with the code for you to print! They also make great stocking stuffers and are available in different amounts.

In other News- I love it when I get customer feedback pictures! This Salty guy bought my "Life Aquatic" beanie and was so pumped he shared this fantastic picture of himself in what looks like the hull of his ship. A very nautical setting!!! 

And he wrote: Best. Hat. Ever. This fine knitter is incredible. And salty.

Christmas Tidbits, getting in the spirit

This week I've been thinking about how to get into the Christmas spirit! With a new baby, it's fun to think about new Christmas traditions... but I feel that most of that pondering can wait until next year when she is a year old and more aware of the holiday. In the meantime I've been thinking about my own childhood- and that includes sweets and movie watching. We rented Scrooged (seen above) and I have Santa Claus on my netflix queue. Two movies that were not always in the yearly mix, but still good ones to revisit!

NEW this year: A Pandora Radio mix of Handle's Messiah and Manneheim Steamroller- which provides a fun classical alternative to all the pop christmas songs that bombard us on the radio and at stores. 

This week I'll also whip up some 6 layer bars. I emailed my mom for the recipe and here's what she wrote: 

in a 9 x 13 inch pan, melt:  (you can do this carefully on a burner in the pan if it's metal.)

one stick butter

sprinkle over the butter the following ingredients, one at a time in the following order:

1 cup crushed graham crackers (food processor or put crackers in plastic bag and roll with rolling pin)   (some recipes i found use 1 1/3 cups but the butter should absorb most of the crumbs, so you be the judge).
1 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut

over the top, drizzle 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes.  Cool, cut in squares.

What are your festive plans for the week!?

Oh Christmas Treeee PART 2: DIY Ornaments

We made more Light weight ornaments for our potted Christmas tree this week!

Above: Noel- from some store bought stencils! Would also look nice backed with red paper...

I knit this teeny mitten from this glittery silver yarn- its about 1.5 inches long. I still need to knit its mate! 

Baby's first Christmas ornament! Cordelia's foot print from her 3 day appointment, photocopied and laminated with her name and birthday written on the back.

Another Stencil ornament.

And here she is, coming along! I want to add some silver tinsel. And I'm going to make a few of these paper ornaments this weekend! Can you tell we're having fun!?

Our Midwives

Open Circle Midwifery- an awesome group of midwives, who lovingly took care of us for 9 months. The best coaches to have during the home birth of our daughter. 

Here they are at our last appointment this week with Cordelia fast asleep and 7 weeks old. We hung out, ate some soup, did a few final check ups.... I would love to work with them again! We will miss seeing them so often, but look forward to our future potlucks! 

And the Little Miss- wide awake, chilling with her Dad.

Links and Such

Above: Paint your own little girlfriends, set of four, by gemmielou on etsy- I'm bookmarking this for when Cordelia is older!!!

Typewriter artwork, by Keira Rathbone.

Dollar redesign project: fun ideas, plus I've always thought we needed different size bills for the Blind...

I want to be her (not so hot about the title, I like to be me ; ) but I like the fashion...)

Stirrup Socks: knitting pattern.

Serena & Lily: year end sale 70% off ! ! ! !

James Brown, teaches you to dance.

Colcannon recipe, with Brussel Sprouts- YUM

Organized Simplicity: a new how to book -perfect for those upcoming new year's resolutions!

Oh archeology how I love thee- Storm in Middle East- reveals ancient statue!

Ladybug plays with sprinkles.

More light weight ornaments

Love this! and Might have to buy it- a PDF knitting pattern for these cute ornaments by AmyGaines on etsy.

And a friend shared this blog post about DIY pom pom ornaments and a garland all out of Roving! Perfect solution since they are lighter weight than the traditional pom-pom, now if only I had some roving lying about.

Stay tuned- I have three other light weight ornament ideas! Will post tomorrow! 

Apparently

My twin brother and I wore these matching Peruvian hats when we were babies and NOW- thanks to my mother, my daughter was the toast of our babies group today, way to represent. I managed to get a shot of her awake, smiling WITH a dimple today, but it was a blurry cell phone pic that would make you squint... so this will do

Baby on Board

My Friends at Slaps- decals on etsy, just came out with this cute decal for your car! We got one and can't wait to put it on our car. Would make a cute baby shower present. And check out their Baby's Vision Stimulating decals too!

Oh Christmas Treeeeeeee

As some of you may remember last year- we bought this tiny Lemon Cypress from Whole Foods for our Christmas tree. It was about $20 and we figured as long as we repot it every summer we could have a "green" solution to cutting down a christmas tree each year. THEN one day when we have our own place we will plant the tree and look out at it and say- that was our Christmas tree for X amount of years! (Feel free to click on images to view them larger)

The tricky thing is the branches on our tree are very thin thus we needed to make light weight ornaments. So we used my mother's chewing gum chain, made a popcorn garland, hung some cinnamon sticks with red ribbon, made some God's eyes and then dried some fruit for ornaments and a fun Swag.

For a star, and to keep the two garlands in place, at the top I tied a yellow bow of ribbon. I like how the tree looks like a Raven decorated it, while speaking back to some old school decorating techniques.

To cover the pot- I though about sewing a tree skirt, or even knitting one... but with all the custom knitting I have to do for Urban Knitfits and taking care of our new baby- I decided I needed more of a time saver. So I dug into my ribbon box and found the widest ribbon I had. Turns out it was yellow and pink- which is actually a fun color alternative to green and red. I wound it around the base and poof within 5 minutes the flower pot was covered and I could go to bed! Score!

I still have a few more light weight ornaments I want to make. So stay tuned to the blog for future how tos! IN the meantime you can check out this Green Ornaments post I wrote 2 years ago.

What are your favorite handmade ornaments? 

Orphan Angel

I was on etsy last night and at the bottom of the screen in the "recently listed" feed popped up this funny little face! I clicked on it and discovered PaperMoonGallery. This Orphan Angel reminds me of The Nightmare Before Christmas, so funky and cute!

The Gift Of Giving

I'm a big proponent of thinking outside the box when it comes to gift giving for Christmas! About 10 years ago I began giving Heifer International presents to my siblings and parents. Then my Grandmother took over the annual tradition- and each year it was a fun surprise to see what livestock we "got". MINT- a very cool design blog I follow, posted a fantastic gift guide this week with different ways we can help others. Ranging from $12 art supplies to training a midwife for $150! Check it out HERE.

Happy Giving!

GIVEAWAY Winner!

Congratulations to Katherine Chu- winner of my Giveaway for this homemade pom pom garland!

Stay tuned- I'll have another giveaway next week! It's a knit good ; )

Victorian Biker

I made this etsy treasury tonight "Victorian Biker". It started with a few favorite lace pieces and grew from there!

Links and Such

Above: White Porcelain Pear Set, by NewMoonStudio.

3 piece set baby clothes, by teacollection.

Real Simple: 14 homemade gift ideas.

ENTER my blog GIVEAWAY. I will draw the winner at random TOMORROW!

Cool Collages.

Nerd Boyfriend.

DIY- 5 pointed paper snowflakes .

Digging this TUNIC.

PS I made this- chandelier project! darling in a breakfast nook or over a work space!?

Cute Retro inspired Prints, I think they would be perfect for a kitchen, of course I'm thinking a kid's room! ; )

Darling Children's apparel, toys and MORE!