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Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
It's hard to believe she's almost a year old. I've said it so many times over the last few weeks, but it's true. The squirming little bundle we brought home from the hospital is now a spirited almost-toddler on a mission (we've yet to pin down exactly what that mission is, but from what I can tell it has something to do with stealing the TV remote and eating cat food... babies are strange creatures).
It's amazing how much our lives have changed, but despite the magnitude of this difference, it's not something I can easily put into words. We still go to work, come home, eat, sleep, and we have the added task of baby care--it's the same old life, with more responsibilities. If anything, it's more mundane than it used to be, but somehow the simpler things are more fulfilling. Watching Ellie grow into her personality, seeing her try new things--it's an unmatched thrill. And this is only the beginning!
Just look at that face. All the remote-stealing and cat-food-eating in the world couldn't make her less perfect to me.
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
I then counted back through the entries and matched them to the 5 winners.
The winner of the poster is... JenniferB who said: "I like the numbers print from your Calobee site." Thanks, Jennifer!
The four runners up and gift certificate recipients are:
- Lisa R
- Kiddlebug
- Shannon
- Elsie
I've contacted all the winners! Thanks to everyone who entered and spread the word. :)
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
Phew, what a weekend. Miss Elspeth is fighting an ear infection which has made her pretty uncomfortable, and in turn most of our time has been spent doting on her and trying to distract her from the earache. She's also teething--those first-year molars are mean--so it's double trouble around here. I don't think the antibiotics are doing much for her, so I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be seeing the doctor again soon.
Despite all this, I managed to get a bit accomplished. On Saturday we went out with friends to do some quick family pictures and have lunch. We'd planned to go to the holiday parade downtown, but El's schedule has been out of whack (see the part about ears and teething) and she napped longer than usual, so we didn't leave the house until the parade was almost over. I did get a few pictures of the short time we were there, which I put on Flickr.
On Sunday we woke up to SNOW! The weather went from mild and almost green to winter wonderland in the span of a few hours. The change of scenery got me in the mood to decorate, so I put up some Christmas things. We won't be getting our tree until later this month, but the lights in the windows will do until then. I also did some cleaning, processed photos and listed some new postcards in the Calobee Doodles shop.
All things considered, a very productive weekend. Now I need to go snuggle with a sicky baby.
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
It's that time again. Let's scrap the small talk and get down to business: I think I've been a pretty good girl this year, all things considered. That's not to say there haven't been challenges, hardships, and the occasional swear word or two, but everyone around me is still alive and I'm not in jail or anything. I have to call that a win, wouldn't you agree?
So when you're loading up the sleigh and my name comes across your list, please forgive that one incident with the mixing spoon and the cat, and make sure you're packing the following...
- Carlino Cashmere Argyle Socks - I already have three pairs of these cozy socks I bought at an L.L. Bean outlet in October, but I should have bought more. Before you say anything (Mom), yes, they're expensive for socks, but entirely worth the cashola. My feet will thank you.
- iPhone Magnets by Bear Duck Designs - I pointed these out in a previous edition of Friday Favorites, but I have to mention them again. As a Mac geek who does not (and will probably never) own an iPhone, these will console me.
- Garden Bead Lover Necklace by Atlantic Art Glass - I met Linda at an Ellsworth craft show a few weeks ago, and I immediately fell in love with her intricate glass bead necklaces. I don't wear jewelry very often (it becomes a super-magnet for grabby baby fingers) but the detail in her work took my breath away.
- Owl ornaments from Pink Perch - So cute! I want a whole set of them to hang on our Christmas tree.
- A Sunspot Granny Square Afghan from Judy and Cheryl's Craft Boutique - I'm dreaming of a big cozy afghan to snuggle up under when it gets cold (if it ever gets cold... this "winter" has been deceptively mild for Maine so far).
- Fabric wall decals by Mae - I've been eying these since I first saw them months ago. They're really more for the baby than me, but I think it would make decorating Ellie's room so much easier!
There you go, Santa. Open that Etsy account and get cracking!
Much love,
Caro
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
1. Create a new document in Illustrator. If you want your snowflakes to be white, it's helpful to set a background color so you can see what you're doing. I usually drag a quick rectangle shape to fit the document, set the fill to my color of choice, and lock it by selecting the rectangle and going to Object -> Lock -> Selection.
2. Draw the first "leg" of your snowflake by creating an elongated shape or pattern of some kind. I do this mostly using the line and circle tools, but you could experiment with any shape. This is the shape that will be repeated in a circle to make the snowflake.
3. Once you're satisfied with your shape, click on the Rotate tool. Hold down the Option key on your keyboard and click on the bottom center of your snowflake's first leg. This will bring up the Rotate dialog.
4. The angle of rotation should be set to a number that, when repeated, adds up to 360 degrees. I usually go with 30, 40, or 60. The lower the number, the more legs your snowflake will have.
5. Once you've set the degrees to rotate, hit the Copy button. You'll see one repetition of your initial pattern appear... if you don't like what you see, hit Ctrl+Z to undo and repeat steps 3 and 4 to try a different angle. In this case, I initially set it to 40 degrees but decided 60 would look better.
6. To finish off your snowflake, simply hit Ctrl+D to repeat the pattern until you complete a full circle. Voila, you have a snowflake!
7. You can play around with different angles and shapes to get the look you want. For smaller or more detailed snowflakes, you'll probably want thinner lines. For larger snowflakes, thicker lines look best. It helps if you group your final snowflake (select all the pieces, right-click or Ctrl-click, and hit Group) so you don't lose bits and pieces as you create more and move them around the page.
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment here or there.
I'm having a proud mama moment... a couple months ago I was asked if I could do a photo shoot of Ellie for my office's research magazine to illustrate an article about making your own baby food. The latest issue was released today, and you can see the online version of the article here.
If you've ever taken photos of babies, you know how challenging it can be (one of the many outtakes from our mini shoot is to your right). I didn't quite get the exact photo we needed on the first try, so the final "photo" was actually a combination of two images, skillfully merged by one of our graphic designers.
Ellie had a lot of fun with this. Normally we don't let her play with her food, so having complete freedom to smear, smush, squish and splat the puree everywhere was baby bliss. That grin you see? Completely genuine. I'm going to clip a copy of the print article to go in Ellie's baby book so we can show her how much she enjoyed her first "modeling" gig.
Originally published at Calobee Doodles. You can comment here or there.
The nice thing about holidays with the family? Well, besides the turkey, stuffing, good company, good music, pie, copious leftovers... OK, so there are a lot of nice things about this time of year, but one of my favorites is lots of helping hands and extra entertainment for Miss Ellie.
I even had time to complete this cute holiday doodle... and in the process, I discovered how to make pretty snowflakes in Illustrator. Now I'm kind of obsessed with them. I may have to make yet another desktop wallpaper...
This gingerbread duo and the snowman design will soon be available as postcards in the Calobee Doodles shop!
Originally published at Calobee Doodles. You can comment here or there.
Originally published at Calobee Doodles. You can comment here or there.
Originally published at sixhours.net. You can comment there.
It's contest time, all! I think you're going to like this one. The grand prize....
A 12x18 Alphabet Soup poster print!
This was the doodle that started it all, and easily one of my most popular items. If you don't have kids, consider it a jump-start on your Christmas shopping for your family or friends who do.
If that doesn't motivate you, I'm also giving away some runner-up prizes--4 $10 gift certificates to use in either of my shops. That means there will be not just one but FIVE lucky winners.
There are four ways to enter, which means you can have up to four entries in the contest:
1) Leave a comment on this blog post. Visit either of my shops (sixhours or calobee) and tell me what your favorite item is. Make sure to leave a way for me to contact you, too!
2) Re-tweet the contest on Twitter by copying and pasting this message:
RT @sixhours Please enter me in the Calobee Doodles contest! http://www.sixhours.net/2009/11/23/yay-for-free-stuff/ #calobeedoodles #contest
3) Become a fan of Calobee Doodles on Facebook and leave a comment on the wall naming your favorite Calobee Doodles print.
4) Blog about this contest, making sure to include a link back to this entry - http://www.sixhours.net/2009/11/23/yay-for-free-stuff/
The contest runs until 11:59 p.m. on December 6. On December 7 I will collect all entries in a list and generate a random number for the grand prize winner, then four more random numbers for the gift certificates (one prize per person). This contest is open to U.S. and international participants alike! Gift certificates will be sent via e-mail with a code--you can use this code in the "message to seller" box at checkout and wait to pay until I've sent a revised invoice.
Good luck!
