our weekend

Two sheets, a bazillion clothespins, and one glansa lamp made this little girl's day.

Our weekend turned out to be a rainy and a sick one. LM got a tummy bug, passed it on to Lark, and then I got hit last night. Fortunately, it was only a 24 hour bug and I am already feeling lots better and so are the girls. It skipped Husband but that was no surprise - he has the strongest immune system, I swear he has only been sick twice since I've known him!  

So, in between the many loads of laundry and resting we needed something to amuse a two-year old - I think that is the definition of a fort.

My favorite part about it? Catching LM playing pretend inside with her doll and stuffed animals. I love hearing the funny conversations she makes them have with each other, even if it makes me realize my baby girl is not such a baby anymore...

shop update: shoes

Happy Friday! Here is a shop update I just added, lots of cute shoes! And speaking of cute, I couldn't resist posting this picture of Lark... she is such a sweetie, I love this stage.

Hope you have a fun three-day weekend! Do you  have any plans? We are supposed to get thunder storms so we might just stay cozy at home and make a fort, LM has really been into fort making lately.

little vintage style v.6

Welcome to Little Vintage Style v.6, where you can link up your stylin' little ones!

I keep thinking how fun it would be to make LM a kite to fly on these windy days we've been having... in the mean time, we've discovered the joys of butterfly flying! The feather butterflies you can buy at any craft store get picked up by the wind and take flight quite easily.

We whiled away a late afternoon waiting for daddy to get home by chasing butterflies in our bare feet on the grass. I couldn't help but feel a little of that summertime magic as her giggles floated off into the sky, oh how I love this time of year!

Dress: vintage from ebay, Jeggings: Target

I just wanted to say thank you to all the ladies who have been linking up each week, you are awesome! And, I also wanted to invite anyone who has been thinking about joining in the fun to do it! There have been a lot of great connections and friendships made already which is one of the reasons I wanted to start this feature. I leave the submissions open until Saturday night and we'd love to have (meet) you!

Link up your little ones below!

  

thank you

Thank you, thank you to everyone who helped me through my mid-blog crisis in my last post. The verdict is in, and the jury (me) decided that I am crazy! I am craving a change, but switching up my blog name or starting from scratch on etsy is not the smart way to satisfy that craving. Would I have chosen a different name if I had the foresight of the direction my shop would go? Yes. Does it really matter now? No. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking and feel a bit silly. But, watch out for things to look new around here soon... I'm still looking to scratch that itch...

tell me what you think...

Hello friends! How was your weekend? The theme of mine unexpectedly turned out to be 'how many strange places can you breastfeed in public.' My list includes in a pirate ship, and while running across a waiting room to grab LM as she made a bolt for the parking lot (I'm not going to lie, that one was a little awkward, but Lark was a champ and never skipped a beat (or suck)). Is this TMI? We were car shopping all day long with two small children and not enough snacks (for one of them at least), so needless to say it was super fun.

This picture was taken before we left to document the first time I actually dressed Lark in 'grown up' clothes for the day (thanks to my SIL for all the cute hand-me-downs!). Looking at it makes me laugh because by the time we got home my hair was much more frazzled, I had spit up down my front, she was stripped back down to her 'baby' onesie, and we were all ready to collapse in a heap on the floor. But I'll be driving a minivan this week... so, worth it?

In unrelated news, I have a question for you...

Have you ever changed your blog name/online identity?

All weekend long I have been going back and forth, and back and forth about whether I should take the plunge and change my blog name as well as open a new etsy shop (still selling children's vintage clothing). Let's face it, the name makes no sense when it comes to my shop. I was one of the many who didn't realize their etsy username would end up being their shop name when signing up. I started this blog at the same time, so I just called it hart+sew as well.

At first it wasn't a big deal because I actually did sew clothes and sell them, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I enjoyed sewing for my own kids, not other people's kids. I fell into selling vintage children's clothing instead, and I'm not sure why I just didn't open up a new shop. Now almost 500 sales, and many kind mentions on blogs later I feel a little stuck.

So, rather than torture my poor Husband more (he has already been listening to me debate this for days), I thought I would put it out there and ask you... Is it too late? Is it never too late? Does it even matter? Am I crazy (because thinking about this is starting to make me feel like I am)?

Your input would be much appreciated, and thank you in advance!

little vintage style v.5

Hello friends! It's that time of the week again where you can link up your stylish kiddos showing off their vintage threads...

This week has gotten the better of me and I technically didn't take any pictures of us wearing vintage in our everyday lives...but, I did manage to bribe LM into modeling some dresses I am working on getting into the shop (hopefully by next week). So here is a little sneak peek at what's to come... (and after seeing her in these I am tempted to keep a few, but I can't keep them all!)

 I am just happy I got one decent shot of each dress since the bed is an ideal place for jumping, not standing still for pictures! Later, I'll be taking more detailed shots of the dresses on hangers which is a lot easier to do than wrangling a toddler.

Did you manage to capture your little ones in vintage this week? I know its not always possible, but I will always love to see them when you do! Link up below...

saddle shoes

Did you know that Payless sells the classic black and white saddle shoe? I had no idea until I went on the hunt to find a pair of oxfords for LM since she outgrew my favorite ones last month. They didn't have her size available, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes on these if I don't have any luck finding them at the thrifts first.

Happily, I did end up finding the perfect pair of oxfords today on Etsy. I'm sure they will be making an appearance on LVS soon!

lark// 2 months

Our tiny Lark is two months old! Although I guess she is not quite so tiny anymore. She has definitely done a good job of filling herself out (I give myself some credit for that too).

Lately she has been all smiles with a few giggles and coos. She will always grin when you blow raspberries in her face. Her peaceful birth has been carried on in her peaceful personality. She is a very content little lady and is already sleeping through the night most nights. This is where I pinch myself.

Life with two little girls is good...although a bit messy! One of these days I'll get around to cleaning up the nursery and give you a proper tour. 

I'll be taking pictures of Lark wearing her brooch monthly from now on...

See her at 1 week, 2 +3 weeks, 1 month

little vintage style v.4

Last Friday we met up with my two sisters and their kids and walked around some gardens (I should say we walked and the kids ran). It was a gorgeous day, the flowers were beautiful, and I honestly don't think LM is happier than when she is with her cousins.

She wore another casual vintage top, although you probably wouldn't guess it was vintage by looking at it, that is unless you spotted the tag that would not stay tucked in! To me this top looks like it could be sold in stores right now, and I love the style for its timeless simplicity.

Once again Lark was asleep in the stroller, I'll have to sneak her in another week...

On LM: top - vintage Kate Greenaway, shorts - Target, shoes - Saltwater sandals

On me: shirt - Target, necklace - vintage pocket watch, a gift from my mother

Now its your turn, link up below!

little refashion: lace dress

Since I hit up the thrift store often I am constantly coming across clothes that I don't think are necessarily cute but definitely have potential. This dress met that criteria in my eyes. I liked the pretty lace skirt so I bought it with the intention to refashion it.

This was the game plan...

I had the idea to use fabric markers to draw a design on the bottom layer of the skirt that would show through the lace. I ended up using a pastel green marker and free handing a couple of simple chevron stripes. The green started running low after the first stripe though, so I had to use blue over the green on the top stripe. I'm actually glad because it is a little more interesting to have the stripes two slightly different colors, kind of like an ombre effect.

Then I pulled off the bows, chopped off the sleeves, lowered the neckline and added a peter pan collar and buttons. Again, I didn't have enough of what I needed and had to use two different sizes and colors of buttons, and again I think it turned out better that way! The colors of the buttons ended up echoing the colors of the stripes with the top button being slightly darker than the bottom.

At first I wasn't sure if the green/blue really went with the dark maroon bodice, but in the end I think the buttons pulled it all together. I'm happy with how it turned out, unexpected details and all!

And here is the before and after next to each other...

Have you ever refashioned clothes for your kids?

happy mothers day

Early this morning I found myself with two wide awake children and a sleeping husband. As I fed the baby, changed a very poopy diaper, and made breakfast for the toddler I remembered it was Mother’s Day. 

Wait a minute, shouldn’t I be the one still asleep in a warm bed and not wiping a sticky bum?

And at that moment I knew I had a choice.

I could be annoyed and feel sorry for myself, or I could let my equally tired husband sleep and enjoy spending a quiet morning mothering my children.

I refrained from going back upstairs claiming my ‘right’ that we switch places.

Instead, I held my sweet baby girl while she breathed softly on my neck and I realized she is old enough now to hold me back. I counted fingers and toes with my toddler and listened to her sing silly songs as she played with my hair. And I took an inner step back from our daily morning routine to really appreciate my children and marvel that I get to be their mother.

I am so grateful I had that time to be reminded that no matter how exhausting and at times trying it is being a mother, it is undoubtedly worth it.

And when Husband woke up at a decent hour (still early) I got my pampered Mother's Day breakfast and felt loved and honored, and happy I made the right choice to start my day. Because there have been many times when I haven't...

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful day and realize how important and exceptional you are!

****

Oh, and remember how I resolved to take more pictures of Husband and I? Well, I forgot until we were in the car... This is typical of him, every time I look he acts normal and every time I'm not he pulls a funny face!

may the fourth be with you...

Yesterday was Husband and I's fourth wedding anniversary. We aren't celebrating until the weekend, but I couldn't resist giving him the rad present I've been hiding under a big pile of clothes in my craft room closet and itching to give him for months now. I'll show you later, but he said I was 'the coolest ever' so I think it went over well.

He also informed me that we actually were married on a holiday. Star Wars Day (post title making sense now?). I don't have anything clever to say about that, I just wanted to tell you (and use that phrase as my post title).

I feel like a very lucky woman to have ended up with him. Like seriously lucky because I didn't even realize how good he was for me until after we were married. I mean I knew he was awesome and I was (and still am) in love with him, but four years later I am counting my lucky stars. I have yet to find one of my quirky ideas he will not go along with, when I told him I celebrated our anniversary by going out and buying clothes for myself he said 'good,' and my consistent requests for foot rubs are granted 99% of the time. He makes me happy and I hope I make him happy too (he says I do).

Trying to find an appropriate image for this post made me realize most of my camera happy moments occur when he is at work, and we are seriously lacking in recent pictures of just the two of us so I need to remedy that... but when he became a father on top of being a husband my love for him grew ten million times more, so this picture says a lot to me about what we have accomplished through our love in four short years. And makes me look forward to endless more...

little vintage style v.3

Welcome to Little Vintage Style week 3! I mentioned last week that the weather has been chilly lately, so we are very happy the sun decided to shine this week! We've been enjoying being able to play outside every day and have gotten a little sun kissed in the process.  

On this bright and sunny morning LM was running around playing super hero with one of my t-shirts tied around her neck. She said she was Super Girl and Lark was Super Diaper - she cracks me up. Then she took her cape off and searched for dandelions around the yard.

I've been waiting for her to grow into this cute tulip pinafore top for over two years now, but I almost can't believe she is already old enough to wear it!

Top: vintage thrifted, Pants: Gap thrifted, shoes: Keep

see v.1 here

see v.2 here

Link yours up below, we'd all love to see!

And, I'd appreciate a link back to here in your post, thanks!