Highlights of My Week

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving week!!  November seemed to fly by and it's hard to believe Christmas is 26 days away.  I need to slow down a bit and make sure that I stop to enjoy the holiday season.  I wrote out a list of all the things I'm hoping to do in December so that should help keep me focused.  Here are the highlights of my week:

1. I pulled out my fall/wintery shoes and rediscovered these fun oxfords!
I smile every time I see them :)

2. I updated my etsy shop with tons of new accessories for the holidays!!  They would make the perfect gift for a friend, sister, teacher, mom, cousin, aunt, babysitter, etc.  I ship everything in adorable packaging that is ready to give as a gift or I can ship them directly to your friends & family.  Head over to etsy to do some shopping!!

3. I tried a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and it was GREAT!
Check back in this weekend for the recipe.
It was SO easy - anyone could make them... seriously. 

4. We got two care packages in the mail this week from my mom.
She sent vintage brooches for me, caramel corn for my hubby &
Baby's 1st Christmas ornaments and jammies for Olive.
It's kind of amazing how happy a little surprise package can make a person.

5. We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at my house.
I cooked everything and it was the best feast I've ever made!
I usually have trouble getting everything hot and ready at the same time but not this year!
I'm looking forward to left overs for days :)

We also sent out sweet glittery hand print turkey cards to our family.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Linking up with TheLaurenElizabeth, LifeRearranged, FiveonFriday,

FridayFavorites, FridaysFabFavorites & CoffeeDates

Polka-Dotty Place Etsy Shop 2013

Welcome to my etsy shop:

Polka-Dotty Place Etsy Shop 

I started making accessories 2.5 years ago.

I wear my own jewelry ALL the time.

I enjoyed making things so much that I wanted to make some for other people!  I started giving it away to friends, family& coworkers and then I started an etsy shop in March of 2012.  I have participated in art shows and am currently focusing on making high quality items for my etsy shop.  I'm a SAHM and look forward to making accessories in my down time.

I love making trendy & unique accessories.

I don't make things in mass quantities and love to use VINTAGE items

so rest assured that you won't look like a copy cat this season.

I love flowers, vintage buttons, cabachons and flowers!!

Post earrings:

 Flower pins & clips:
Each flower has an alligator clip & a pin on the back so that you can clip them in your hair, on a head band, on a belt or pin them to your jacket, scarf or handbag.

This is just a small sampling of what I have in my shop right now so go to
Polka-Dotty Place Etsy Shop

to get some GREAT accessories for yourself or someone you love.

Each order is shipped quickly 

& arrives in adorable packaging that is perfect for gift giving.

Thank you SO MUCH for supporting my shop & my family!!

Olive's 1st Thanksgiving

 In honor of Olive's 1st Thanksgiving,

she'll wear her turkey jammies

we will read holiday books

we will watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

she'll eat sweet potatoes and squash

she'll sit at her first Thanksgiving table

we will call and Facetime with our family

we will make lists of the things we are thankful for this year 

we will watch football and enjoy having Kevin home all day

and 

we will eat pie, LOTS of pie.

Outfits of the Week

I'm loving this Fall/Wintery weather in Arkansas!!  I have been wearing scarves, layers, jackets and it's been so cozy.  This is my first year of being a SAHM and in the past I was used to getting dressed for teaching every day.  It's been an interesting challenge for me to go from professional outfits to trendy casual looks.  This is unfamiliar territory for me but I'm working hard to put together great looks.  

My goal last week was to take some pictures in the daylight and to put a little more effort into accessorizing myself - done and done!  I like those goals so I'm going to repeat them this week. 

Here are my favorite outfits of the week:

1. Happy Saturday

polka-dotty oxfords - Marshalls

military trench - Old Navy

t - target

skinnies - JCP

military button earrings - Polka-Dotty Place etsy shop

 2. Lunch Date

top & scarf - Limited (NEW)

skinnies - JCP

earrings - Macys

flats - Lucky

*Olive is wearing:

onesie from TheModishLife, jeans from Kohls & headband from GroopDealz

 3. Christmas Shopping

cardigan - J.Crew

top - Loft

scarf - gift

earrings - Charlotte Russe

skinnies -JCP

booties - BORN

 Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Thanksgiving to YOU!!

Linking up with ThePleatedPoppy, CasualFridays

RandomWednesday, TheBestofStyle, FavoriteFashionFriday,

Handprint Placecards

I loved Olive's glittery hand prints so much 

that I decided to use the left overs for place cards.

 I used squares of card stock, a brown sharpie and the tissue paper hand prints.

 To go along with our centerpiece:

 I also made little thankful lists for people to fill out at each place setting.

Just 2 more days until TURKEY day!

Tiny Handprint Turkeys

Another holiday, another baby DIY project 

is my motto so naturally we had to do some hand print turkeys.  Since Olive isn't quite 6 months old, I knew she wouldn't be able to do a lot of decorating and designing for her turkey this year.  I was more than willing to improvise and do a simple turkey.  I found this gold glitter polka-dotted tissue paper at The Dollar Tree weeks ago and I knew I had to have it.  I wasn't sure what we were going to do with it but it was too fancy to pass up.  Looks like the perfect turkey paper to me!

I'd never traced Olive's hand before so I wasn't sure how I was going to approach the task.  I knew I probably only had one or two shots to get a good hand print so I traced her hand on a thick index card that I planned to use as a template.  I first tried to hold her on my lap and press her hand down with one of my hands and trace with the other... fail.  She drooled on my paper and I couldn't hold her hand in place.  She was dying to get the remote and my phone so I changed my strategy.  I laid her on the coffee table while I was right beside her, let her get the remote with one hand and I used her other hand to trace.  She was distracted so it worked like a charm.

You want to do what with my hand!?!?! face 

and then she decided she was up for the craft :)

 How did we do, mama??

 Perfect!!

I traced in ink so it wouldn't smear and then cut it out making sure to even up her fingers a bit.  Turns out that those wiggly little phalanges are tricky to trace :)  I did get a swipe of ink pink on her little sleeper so next time I'd probably strip her down to her diaper.  Thankfully it came out easily with some hairspray.

My template:

 I folded the tissue paper several times so I'd be cutting 3-5 hand prints at a time.

 Cut out a small chunk and then do the base of the hand first.

The fingers are tricky so be sure to hold onto the palm tightly to keep everything in place.

 I needed 10 for my card but cut out at least 16 so I'd have a few extras.

I had some blank note cards so I practiced writing out our message and did a sample card.  Once I decided it was perfect, I started on the real cards.  I did this part after the baby was asleep because I was covered in glitter and didn't want her to be a little glittery mess.

 Front of the card:

 Inside of the card:

 I only made 10 of them and sent them out to grandparents and close family.  I also made a few for myself because I just couldn't resist Olive's first polka-dotted hand print turkey!!  Holidays with your kids really are SO MUCH FUN!! Happy Thanksgiving week to you!!

Linking up with MadeByYouMondays, CraftoManiacMonday, FlusterBuster, TaDaTuesday, ShareIt, TooCuteTuesday, ShowMeWhatYaGot, WowMeWednesday, WhatIMadeWednesday, TeachMeTuesday, WordlessWednesday, InspireMePlease & MadeYouLook