I was a vendor in Crafty Wonderland‘s Super Colossal Holiday Sale in December, which was a success despite freak Portland snow and ice. In case I wasn’t sure before, I am now convinced that Portlanders are nuts about handmade stuff. I love love love this city. Due to my underemployed status and Mike’s of being laid off, I had no money to spend and it would have been sad to spend all day among such fabulous handmade goodness if it weren’t for the fact that my mom just happened to be visiting that weekend.

These were the goodies we found under our tree on Christmas. (Thanks Mom!)

First up, a completely adorable onesie for sesame from B Hive Designs. In case you’re thinking, hey I’d wear a shirt like that, you can. I’d totally buy it, except for the money thing and the fact that I’m not into matching mother-daughter outfits. It was cool to get a onesie from B Hive because the lady behind those cute prints bought one of my hats at Crafty in October and was nice enough to mention it on her blog.

This is not really a cupcake (though sesame was super proud of herself for climbing up to the table to get it and was caught eating the sprinkles off the top). It’s a bath fizzy from MeMe Cosmetics and it really does smell like summer. I also got some coconut lip balm that I love because other than feeling nice on my lips and being all natural, sesame likes to take it and swipe it across her cheeks. What’s not to love about a toddler who smells like coconut?’ I could just eat her.

Adorning my bare wall in my new tree-house office I have this fabulous calendar. I’ve admired Sweet Bonny online and am super excited to have 12 awesome designs to put up on my wall!

Not to be left out, Mike got this nice notebook with a beer theme made by Two Guitars. Fitting, no?’ Beer and guitars are two of Mike’s favorite things. Now he can write down all his thoughts on beer. Or something.

In other (etsy) news,I’m starting to make more water bottle covers made from recycled sweaters and I love them all. Sesame wanted to keep this one for herself. I can’t say that I didn’t want her to have it but it was a custom order so off it went.

One of my hats made it onto the front page of Etsy again just before Christmas! There’s my cashmere hat in the 2nd row. I was excited to see it there. That little navy blue one is actually still for sale. It could be yours!

In the last week we’ve had snow and ice and lots of overreacting byt weather forcasters but this weekend the storm really came! We have about a foot of snow and it’s still coming down. This is Portland, people! We usually get a little snow and some ice but this is nuts. The first pictures are from yesterday when, with chains on the car, we could get out and go to a Christmas party.

Today there’s no leaving the house but we can sure play in the yard! Sesame liked “sledding” until she fell in the snow and her hands got really cold. I realized that I am a failure as a knitter because my baby has NO MITTENS! Really- how long would it take me to knit some? Maybe an hour? What is wrong with me?

Those pants she’s wearing are her Noro pants I knitted her last summer. I don’t think I ever blogged about them. I love them and wish I could knit myself an adult pair! Her cute blue hat is one of my recycled sweater hats that I sell on Etsy. I loved that one and had to keep it for her. Unlike last winter, she likes wearing my hats now and that makes me a happy mama. A similar hat actually made it onto the front page of Etsy on Friday. I just happened to see it and it made me feel a little like a celebrity. Do you see it?’ It’s the blue hat near the bottom of the screen.

Yesterday they were featured on Craft Magazine’s blog! You can see the post here.

So I think I’ll start making water bottle covers like this regularly and make them available in my shop because I loved making them so much. If you’re interested in one, let me know. I love custom orders and would be happy to make one with the design of your choice.

That thought leads me to my next piece of news. I’m starting a Thinking Mama newsletter! You can sign up here and I’ll periodically send out info on new products and special deals just for subscribers. There’s also a link to sign up on my sidebar.