8
Feb

Sponsored BabyLegs Giveaway: FiFi Ruffles

We’ve got another great new blog sponsor that has joined the crew here at The Cottage Home, please welcome the children’s apparel website, FiFi Ruffles!
A little bit from the owner of FiFi Ruffles……

Hi, I am Kim Woitkowski, owner and founder of FIFi Ruffles. I am a mother of four and recently welcomed our first daughter 11 short months ago. Our first three children are “grown boys”, ages 18 thru 24. Growing up I was never a “girly girl”, however in my adulthood I began to adore little girls clothing and would find myself browsing those sections in the stores years before we decided to have another child. Once we knew we wanted another child we hoped and prayed for a girl! To our amazement we were blessed by the prettiest, sweetest  and pleasant little girl, Sophia (aka FiFi). 
 During my pregnancy my husband and I went shopping (and LOTS of window shopping as well!) in search of the most adorable and unique clothing we could find. As you could imagine, we had been out of the loop on the little ones clothing scene for quite some time and let’s face it…when the boys were growing up the internet was just coming of age and there weren’t very many options for adorable clothing for them. We quickly realized we both loved little girl clothing and would get excited for every new find! We fell in love with Mud Pie Baby (along with many others). 
 At the same time I returned to work and realized a few months ago that I wanted to be home with my little girl and finally take the leap in business ownership (YIKES!). With this venture and inspiration from my daughter, we not only started the business but I have begun sewing and making my own little creations! I aspire to create our own clothing line someday and open our own little boutique. I am blessed to have finally found a “job” that I truly enjoy.    
We are estatic that our family has ventured down this path and hope to place smiles little girls’ faces when they wear the clothing we offer. After all, wearing anything that ruffles is sure to make you feel like a princess! We strive to offer the LOWEST price on Mud Pie Baby Products, in return, brining smiles to Mommy and Daddy’s face as well!!
 Today Kim is giving away a 3 pairs of BabyLegs Winter Collection Leg Warmers to one lucky The Cottage Home blog reader.  The winner will be able to select any three pairs that they would like from the selection here.  
I owned about 6-8 pairs of BabyLegs when Savannah and Matilda were itty bitty and I absolutely adored them.  So incredibly cute, yet so useful for easy diaper changes and protecting knees for early crawlers.
Here’s how to enter to win a set of three pairs of BabyLegs (one entry per person):
1) Like the FiFi Ruffles Facebook Fan Page and make sure to let Kim know that ‘The Cottage Mama sent me!’ (click here).
The winner will be selected a little differently this time…….  
Kim will hold an old fashioned raffle to determine the winner.  All entries will be placed in a hat and FiFi (Kim’s daughter pictured below) will draw the winner.  A video of the drawing will be placed on the FiFi Ruffles Facebook Fan Page.  Kind of fun, huh?
Here’s a picture of little Miss ‘FiFi’ who will be selecting the winner:
Giveaway open until Saturday, February, 11, 2012 at midnight (CST).
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for rates and additional information.
7
Feb

Guest Blogging ~ Riley Blake Designs ~ Tulip Petal Sun Hat Pattern and Tutorial

Cutting Corners with Riley Blake Designs

Today I am guest blogging over on Riley Blake Designs ‘Cutting Corners’ blog.
I’m sharing a free pattern and tutorial for this hat:  
This post is actually non-design team related as we had already scheduled this before the design team came about.  So I will have another tutorial up for the design team next month too!
If you want to make your very own ‘Tulip Petal Sun Hat’ click over and visit Riley Blake Designs ‘Cutting Corners’.  
Click HERE to view the tutorial and print your pattern!
6
Feb

‘Sunny Happy Skies’ ~ Coordinating Sister Dresses

So, as I mentioned about a month ago, I’m currently working with Riley Blake Designs on their Project Design Team.  And what is really fun about this new adventure is getting to work with lots of pretty new fabric to come up with projects for their blog.  Well, I happened to receive quite a bit more yardage of ‘Sunny Happy Skies’, so I decided to create two coordinating looks for my girls.

The hat will be a free pattern and tutorial that I will have posted on the Riley Blake Designs ‘Cutting Corners‘ blog tomorrow and the big bow dress will be a free pattern and tutorial that I will post here on the blog for you all later this week!

Here’s the dress I created for Miss Savannah:

I wanted to make her something that was loose-fitting and comfy for running around and playing, but still had a bit of whimsy.

I thought about adding rick rack in the collar, but opted for pale yellow piping instead due to the bold print in the main fabric.

I decided to do a zipper in the back of this dress.  I usually prefer buttons, but I had the urge to do a zipper since it had been awhile since I had put one in a dress.  The verdict………I still prefer buttons.

Here’s the dress I created for Miss Matilda (I will share the tutorial for this dress later in the week):

I wanted something really fun for Matilda since she is at such a fun age.  I went with a giant over-sized pocket that I embroidered with ‘Oh Happy Day’ and trimmed with rick rack.  I also created a large statement bow for the front of this dress.

I love the huge bow in the front of this dress.  And I especially love the fun, striped fabric.  Matilda’s favorite color is blue, so I went with that for the main body of the dress.  The straps are simply pre-gathered eyelet.

And finally, here are some pictures of my little ladies……..

So, later this week I will post a tutorial so you can make your own ‘Happy Day’ Big Bow Dress and tomorrow I will be posting a tutorial and free pattern for this hat on Riley Blake Designs:

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Now that I’ve got these two looks created, I’m off to cut my pattern for something for my little guy.  
Have a great week!
4
Feb

Winner, Winner!

And the winner of the Heartsong Quilts Fabric Bundle is………..

Congratulations, Cheryl!  If you could please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information, we will get your fabric out to you as soon as possible.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered!
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for rates and additional information.
2
Feb

Biscuit Corn Cakes with Goat Cheese and Blackberry-Thyme Sauce ~ Pillsbury Finalist Recipe

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but just in case you missed it, my mom (Grandma Jane) is one of the 100 finalists in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest coming up at the end of March.  All the finalists’ recipes have been made public, so I am thrilled to be able to share her recipe with you (it was a big secret until they officially published them).

Click here to read my original post about her becoming a finalist.

My little man (Caspian) and I will be flying to Orlando, FL next month to watch my mom compete.  We just found out this week that Martha Stewart will be announcing the $1 million dollar winner live on her show (oh, yeah, did I mention that the grand prize is $1 million buckaroos?!?!).  They will be setting up a set for her show in the lobby of the hotel where we are staying and announcing the winner from there ~ how cool is that?  She’ll also be walking the floor while the contestants compete.  Usually the bake-off contest airs on the Food Network, but we’ve yet to find out the date for that one.

Who is going to win is anyone’s guess.  All the top 100 recipes sound amazing…….I think it will totally depend on the judges tastes on the day of the competition.  But I have to tell you, I’ve tried Mom’s recipe and it is awesome!  She will compete in the brunch category and the flavor profile she has created is incredibly complex.  You have the savory biscuit corn cake, the creamy goat cheese, the tart lemon and blackberry-thyme sauce.  I’m making myself hungry just thinking about it!

So here’s her recipe if you would like to give it a try……..

Biscuit Corn Cakes with Goat Cheese and Blackberry-Thyme Sauce
Serves 5 
(2 corn cakes per person)

If you try the recipe, let me know, I’d love to hear what you think.  This would be so good for Easter brunch if you are looking for something a little different to serve.  Also, if you would like a printer-friendly version of the recipe, you can print from the Pillsbury website by clicking HERE.

I think my little man has a pretty good resemblance to the Pillsbury dough-boy these days, so he just may be sporting a little costume for the competition………you’ll just have to wait and see!
31
Jan

5 Months Already?

How can it be that my baby boy is 5 months old today?
My sweet little Boo Boo is going to be on the move before we know it.
I love every square inch of this baby boy.  His chubby cheeks, his huge grins, his soft skin, his smell, his belly laughs, his rubber band wrists, his super-chub thighs……. oh, and those eyes, I love those baby blues……I could go on and on.  Caspian Finn is honestly the sweetest, happiest little guy I have ever met.  Always smiling, easy going ~ definitely a dream baby if I could have ordered him up myself.
I’d like to push the pause button right now and freeze this moment in time.  Ok, I’m pushing it……right…..now.
It’s all going by way to fast.
Happy 5 months to my sweet little guy ~ you are truly such a joy!
30
Jan

Rick Rack Travel Tissue Holder ~ Tutorial

These last couple weeks we have been sick with some pretty nasty colds around here ~ tis the season, I guess.  It is the worst feeling to be caught out and about without a tissue in sight.  I mean, what is a girl to do? I’ve been meaning to make some travel tissue holders for the last year and I finally sat down and sewed some of these little cuties.

As most of you know, I’ve got a thing for rick rack, so I decided to incorporate one of my favorite trims into the design.  This project is a really great way to use up scraps as it only takes two small squares of fabric.  If you are in a ‘scrap busting’ kind of mode, this is going to be a great project to put those scraps to good use.

Also, if you are just starting out sewing, this is a perfect beginner project and if you are a seasoned pro, these fun travel tissue holders will take you minutes to sew together.  Let’s get started…….

Rick Rack Travel Tissue Holder
by The Cottage Mama
Supplies:
1 – 6″ x 7.5″ piece of fabric (exterior)
1 – 6″ x 7.5″ piece of fabric (lining)
Rick Rack
Basic Sewing Supplies
Optional: Wonder Tape
Instructions:
Cut your fabric.  You will need two pieces for each tissue holder.  One for the exterior and one for the lining.  Also, pick out a coordinating color of rick rack trim.
Pin rick rack to both sides of the exterior piece of fabric.  Line the rick rack up with the edge of the fabric.  Another option is to use Wonder Tape to temporarily adhere the rick rack to the fabric.  Wonder Tape is a double-sided tape that washes away and won’t gum up your needle.  Apply it to the back of the rick rack, peel off the paper backing and stick it to the fabric.  Again, Wonder Tape is totally optional.
Place the lining fabric on top of the exterior fabric with the right sides facing each other.  By right sides, I mean the printed side of the fabric.  Stitch down both sides that have the rick rack using a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Turn right side out and press.  This should allow the rick rack to just peak through on either side.  This was a standard, regular sized rick rack.  If you choose to use a smaller or jumbo rick rack, you will need to adjust it so that the right amount peaks through with the 1/4″ seam allowance.
Place the fabric with the exterior fabric side up.  Fold in both sides, so now you see the lining.  Fold in so that the seams where the rick rack are seen are overlapping each other.  Pin in place.
Stitch down both sides of the tissue holder using a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Trim edges with pinking shears or use a zig-zag stitch for finishing.  Clip corners and turn right side out pressing out the corners.
The rick rack is entirely optional as well, but I think it adds a nice, vintage detail.
Fabric is 100% cotton, ‘City Weekend‘ by Oliver + S for Moda Fabrics.
Once your tissue holder is complete, just fill with travel sized tissue packs with the plastic wrapper removed.  I plan to make one of these to keep in each of my purses, one for the car, and maybe one for each of my kids.  These really are the easiest thing to sew and make a very ordinary item such as tissues into something special and fun!
27
Jan

The Cottage Kids Favorite Toys ~ Age 2 through 4

The question about work-life balance has come up from quite a few of you lately.  You want to know how I balance being a wife, a mother to three young children, and a small business owner?  For right now, I’m not entirely prepared to answer how I ‘do what I do’ because I’m still formulating my thoughts on that topic.  I’m imagining me saying, ‘just run around like a crazy woman’ is not exactly the answer you were looking for…….though sometimes it’s the truth.   So until I can clearly articulate myself on that topic……..I thought I would share some bits and pieces of our life that will maybe bring the whole idea work-life balance together.

For the most part (excluding today ~ ugh!), the girls are really good at entertaining themselves and playing together.  The fact that they are only 16 months apart really helps because they are pretty much interested in the same things.  I would say they are definitely each others best friend.  Having them be able to play independently helps allow me to tend to their baby brother, Caspian Finn, and get some work done with The Cottage Mama.

Today I thought I would share some of The Cottage Kids favorite toys.  Now mind you, Matilda Jane is 2.5 years old and Savannah is almost four.  So, these are what they are into now………I’m sure that will change down the line, but I’ll give a little update when it does.  I also think it’s fun to see what other kids are into and might give you some new ideas for toys for your little ones.

Little Tikes Deluxe Wooden Kitchen
This play kitchen has been a huge hit ever since we got it when Savannah was 2.5 years old.  I love that it is wooden and it has held up incredibly well.  The laundry feature is really fun for the girls since they love to use the washing machine and ironing board.  It also has an oven, refrigerator, stove, microwave and sink that are all wonderful for pretend play.  There is ample amount of storage inside as well.
Almost all of our pretend food is Melissa & Doug, but this was one of the first sets that we started out with.  The food groups are a great variety.  We have added the pots and pans set, cutting foods, the cookie set, donut set, pizza party and birthday cake to the collection.  The girls can spend an hour cooking up things in their play kitchen with this food.  Truly a great investment.

The Bilibo is a new toy that the girls received for Christmas from my in-laws.  We aren’t entirely sure what it’s supposed to do, but that’s the beauty of it ~ it can be anything you want it to be.  You can sit in it and spin around, you can put your baby dolls in it as a little doll bed, you can wear it on your head and pretend to be an astronaut (a favorite idea of Savannah and Matilda), you can carry your toys around in it.  The wonderful thing is that it lends itself to great imaginary fun.

I’m not sure who loves this toy more, myself or the girls.  These gears are magnetic on the back and you can set them up in all different kinds of patterns on the refrigerator to make them work together.  It’s great for problem solving because the kids have to figure out why the gears aren’t working together when they are set up in certain ways.  Even my father-in-law, the engineer, loves these!!
Washable Dress-Up Masks

Ok, so the #1 activity around here is dress-up and pretend play.  We have a gigantic dress up bin that is full of all sorts of costumes (a lot of which my mom made me growing up), accessories and now we have these fabulous masks (given to us from my mom and Pepo for Christmas).  They are great because they are fabric so they can be washed – big bonus with toddlers.  The elastic on the backside is nice and sturdy so it won’t break.  And they are really comfortable for the kids to wear.  This week the girls have been telling me that I am to wear the cow mask……..not sure if they are trying to tell me something.

Beginner Pattern Learning Blocks

Savannah seems to be more into these than Matilda right now, but these are great for identifying shapes and colors.  They are kind of like a bunch of mini-puzzles, but you can engage with your little ones by asking them questions regarding the different pieces. The shapes and boards are wooden and the boards are double-sided with a picture on each side.

We have had these boxes since before Matilda was born and they are probably one of our all-time favorite toys.  Why?  Because there are so many things that kids can do with them.  They can sort the items by color, sort them by type, they can count the items in the box or they can use the different pieces for pretend play.  LOVE this toy!
We love ‘Little People’ around here.  The girls love playing with the home and the farm.  It’s really fun to see them talking and pretending to make up little stories with these characters.  I loved my ‘Little People’ house when I was growing up, so I’m glad they do too.  We’ve also got Noah’s Ark as well as the ABC animal set……..though we pretty much just put all the characters together.  At any given time you might find the alligator hanging out in the house or the baby sleeping in the barn…….you know, anything goes around here.

Goodnight Moon Game

We got this game for the kids for Christmas and it has been a big hit.  There are many different variations of instructions with the game depending on the ages of the players.  We have been doing the beginner version of the game, but both girls can play it well and have a lot of fun.  The instructions go up to age 6.  Not to mention, that Goodnight Moon is a sweet classic.

Mega Blocks Princess Building Set

I don’t think these Mega Blocks need much explaining, but we love to build castles and towers.  We’ve added to this set with another primary colored mega blocks set, so now the girls can build a tower as big as they can possibly imagine.

This is a new toy that the girls received from my mom and Pepo for Christmas.  They really enjoy it, but have yet to really master it.  And yes, they are made out of an awesome material so they are definitely indestructible.  I think it will become more of a favorite as they both get a little older, but I love it because it’s the gateway into sewing!!!
Those are just some of the toys that are big hits around here.  The girls play with their musical instruments and their baby dolls quite a bit as well, but overall they’ve got quite a few toys to keep their little minds occupied.  Personally, I love when my kids can play on their own because I think it fosters creativity and independence.  Yes, it does help me to manage my household and business when they play on their own, but it also helps them learn to not always need to be entertained by someone else.
I’ll share some of our favorite books with you in another post.  It would have been just too much for this post.  
We love books!
So, what are (or were) your kids favorite toys when they were toddlers?
25
Jan

Sponsored Australian Aboriginal Fabric Bundle Giveaway ~ Heartsong Quilts


I’m really excited to announce a brand new The Cottage Home blog sponsor ~ HeartSong Quilts!  Wait until you check them out, you’re going to be blown away by this unique, one-of-a-kind quilt shop!!

HeartSong Quilts is one of the most unique quilt shops in America. It offers visually stunning fabrics including Australian Aboriginals, primitive moderns,urban and edgy fabrics, and fabrics evoking African mudcloth and homespun. They also sell traditional fabrics, panels, quilt kits, books, patterns and notions. They have an extensive clearance fabric department with savings up to 50%. They provide long arm quilting service, too. When you don’t want the “same old, same old”, head for HeartSong in Hot Springs, SD. It’s definitely not Your Grandma’s Quilt Shop!
Ann and Brian Powers, owners of HeartSong Quilts, have a passion for bringing new and exciting fabrics to their customers.  Ann started quilting in 1997 in South Florida, and the family moved to South Dakota in 2008, introducing  their urban contemporary tastes to the Black Hills.  Brian is on the Board of Directors of the Quilt Trade Association, a national trade organization providing education and training for independent quilt shop owners.
Today, Ann and Brian are giving away a hand-selected bundle of fabrics to one lucky The Cottage Home Blog reader.



The bundle, pictured above, consists of 8 fat quarters from HeartSong’s Australian Aboriginal fabric collection from M & S Textiles.  If you’ve never seen Australian fabrics, you’re in for a real treat.  They combine bright and clear colors with visually arresting designs, and have great hand and washability.  Pair these with any of the Marcia Derse fabrics, the Fassett Collection, Jason Yenter designs or any of the other contemporary designers using bright colors.
There are a couple of ways to enter the HeartSong Quilts fabric giveaway.  You can do one or both  of the following:

1) Sign up for the Heartsong Quilts Newsletter on the right hand side of their website (click here).
2) Become a fan of Heartsong Quilts on Facebook (click here).

Ann and Brian, of Heartsong Quilts, are offering an exclusive discount of 15% off your entire purchase (excluding clearance fabrics) for The Cottage Home blog readers with the promo code: COTTAGE

Giveaway open until January 29, 2012 at midnight (CST).

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com for rates and additional information.
1)   
25
Jan

Winners, Winners……

And the winners of the Sodee Naturals and Biltmore Inspirations giveaways are……..

Sodee Naturals Winner:

Biltmore Inspirations Winner:

Congratulations to both of you!  If you could please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information, we will get your prizes out to you as soon as possible. 

Thank to everyone who entered.  There’s another great giveaway going up today, so if you like fabric, come on over to The Cottage Home.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of The Cottage Home blog, please email Lindsay at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com