Make: The "I'm Not a Boy Hat"

by Designing Mom Shinmin of I Dream of Cake


It's true I don't dress mila like a girl. I prefer her in the soothing shades of blue, grey, black, brown and an occasional muted purple. I opt for tunics and pants over dresses any day. For my baby shower and Mila's first birthday I specified on the invitations, "please nothing pink."

And I'll be the first to admit it. She looks like a boy. I'm ok with it. She has close to no hair (unless you call that peachy fuzz on top of her head hair). There is no discernable difference between the shape of her body and that of a one year old boy. And she doesn't have those delicate features that make some babies undeniably girl like thick long lashes, cheruby rosy cheeks, nor long wispy hair. When I put her in a dress, she looks like a boy dressed in a Halloween costume. So I let her true proud-to-be-active-tom-boy-crawl-all-over-the-place-don't-let-a-dress-slow-me-down personality come through in her clothes.

Everywhere I go people say:
"Aw what a cute boy"
"I just love him"
"Like father like son"
"I can tell what you will look like as a young man"
And my favourite is, "Hey there Joey!"

I'm never offended. I get baby genders mixed up all the time. I just feel bad when they look embarrassed as I announce that Mila is a girl.

They usually say something like, "Oh I'm sorry. She's not in pink." or "Oops the blue tripped me up."

So I created a solution. Since I'm not about to invest in shiny pink items, I thought of the next best thing.

I present the "I'm Not a Boy Hat"! This idea comes from the hat I made for Mila's "Crazy Octopus Costume" last Halloween. This was so easy and I'm more than thrilled with the results. Variations are endless. Here I will show you how to make the "I'm Not a Boy Hat with Fun Bouncy Rosettes".

Start with a pair of tights. I went with a size larger than what Mila would actually wear to fit her big old head. This is a very good way to recycle tights from an older sister, holes or runs not a problem. Since Mila doesn't have any siblings I bought these tights specifically for this project. These were size 4 but I think I could have used a smaller size.


Tie knots at the start of the leg openings.


Make small loops with the length of the leg and sew them to the knot. Start at the base closest the knot and work your way to the toe. Wrap the thread around the loop and be sure to secure each loop by making a stitch or two before moving to the next loop.



Continue until you get to the end of the leg. Tuck and sew the toe part in. Repeat with the other leg.

I really like the way this looks, as is. I like the loopy numbs but I intended to make these into rosettes, so rosettes are what I'll make. Cut through every loop at the center.



Ta da! I'm so glad I stuck to plan. Because I love these rosettes! This hat ended being a bit big so I folded up the lip.

"Excuse me, how old is your little boy?"


"Oh pardon me, I can clearly see she's a fun, strong willed, active, and bouncy little GIRL."


And behold - the "I'm Not a Boy Braided Hat"!


Of course my Mila monster, like Nolan, loves nothing more than ripping the hat off.

Giveaway: Mila's First Birthday of Pies

Ok everyone, let's vote. And we all win because Designing Mom Shinmin of I Dream of Cake will let us in on one of her coveted pie recipes. Read below and leave a comment on the pie of your desire...



by Designing Mom Shinmin

As Cat mentioned in a previous post, Mila turned one last month.

As horribly depressed as I was that she would be no longer under one year, I wanted to throw her a fun yet casual party to mark this important milestone. Because I work in the event industry, people were really cranking up the pressure and expectations by asking almost daily, "what will you do for your daughter' first birthday?" And especially since I'm a pastry chef specializing in cakes I got this all the time, "Oh she's going to have the most spectacular cake. What will her very first cake be?" Oh the pressure!!!



Then as the first days of spring appeared, through the fresh scent of clean air, warmed by the sun's friendly touch, tulips and daffodils made their presence known. I immediately pictured a picnic. The vision became clear. Grass, picnic tables, taupe linen table cloth, flowers, sun..... and.... yes I think I see them..... Pies!!! Mila's First Birthday of Pies. All kinds of pies. Because Mila never had sweets up until then, I didn't know what she would like. So I decided to make nine kinds of pies and hoped something would please her.


My common sense was temporarily out of commission as I gave in to this pie fantasy and stayed up till 1:30 am baking the night before the picnic. Luckily I had the help of two amazing friends, Leticia and Ariel, who baked into the wee hours with me. With little sleep, I appeared at the Crissy Field picnic site at 6am to reserve the tables. Since I've fully committed to this picnic of pies, and had about 60 pie-hungry guests coming, I had to be sure to secure the tables. In case anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area is interested in a picnic at Crissy Field, I highly recommend it. The view of the Golden Gate bridge and water is breath taking. But the tables are first come first serve. Hence I appeared at 6am to claim my territory. I draped my table clothes on the tables, left a few nonvaluable items (all were stolen by the way) and went home to prep.


Here is a list of the pies I made.

1. Mila's Temper Tantrum Strawberry Rhubarb Explosion
2. Mila's Gone Bananas! - a caramelized banana tarte tatin
3. Mila's Peachy Keen - a tart of peaches poached in a brandy orange reduction
4. Mila's Sweet & Tart Apple Pie - a blend of Gala and Granny Smith pie
5. Mila's Blueberry Madness - a lattice topped Blueberry pie
6. Mila's First Coconut Cream Pie - Coconut custard dream, topped with coconut whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes
7. Mila's Tutti Fruit - a fruit flan tart with strawberies, raspberries, kiwis, mangos, and blueberries, all sitting on a spread of lemon Creme patisserie
8. Pretty Pumpkin Milana - a traditional pumpkin pie with short bread flowers as decoration
9. Milana's Prim & Proper Linzer Torte - an Austrian traditional almond torte with raspberry puree

I'm happy to share one of my recipes. Please leave a comment and vote on the pie you would like to bake!

Story: Sweet Celebrations

What a treat (literally) to be invited to Designing Mom Shinmin's "First Birthday of Pies" for her daughter Mila! I had to share some pics from the weekend...

above: the Evite was the perfect teaser... if you dont' know already,
Shinmin of I Dream of Cake is a baking guru

above: you couldn't ask for a more beautiful day out on
Crissy Field. Baby bottles served as mini-vases.

Happy Birthday Mila! Hope you had a very special day...

Friday Fotos: Laundry List

All in a day AND night's work. I'm sure ya'll can relate to this...let's all join hands and wish the end of flu season to arrive SOON.
Happy Friday and weekend everyone!


from Designing Mom Shinmin :
After a night of continuous vomiting (Mila threw up every 20 mins last night all night), this is the laundry pile.

She went through:
1 mattress cover
1 bed sheet
4 pajamas
1 sleep sack
5 onesies
5 burp clothes
17 baby blankets (basically all that we own)
1 Shin nightgown
1 Shin bra

Make: Holiday Stockings

by Designing Mom Shinmin


Ever since Jackie posted the library bag she made for Graham, I've been thinking about a fun-with-felt project. I went to the fabric store and decided that I would make some fun stockings. My new favourite colour combo for Christmas this year is red and grey. I happened to find this gorgeous grey Italian fabric from their scrap bin, so I was giddy to start this project.


I wanted the stockings to have a elf toe rather than the traditional round toe. So I made a template for myself. Anyone is free to use this template. Just print to the size you want, pin to fabric and cut. Sew around the stocking, but leave the top open so you can fill it with goodies.


I made Mila Monster's stocking out of the red felt. Kiril and my stockings are made from the italian grey fabric. I cut out the first letters of our names in a "times roman" font. Although my current favourite font is "eurostile", I wanted a serif font for this look.

I hope I get some nice surprises in my stocking. Fingers crossed.

Story: kaufmannsladen

by Designing Mom Shinmin

With the Holidays sneaking upon us, I remembered that I have a fun story of Holiday tradition to share. Well, this is really my husband, Kiril's, childhood tradition.

Kiril grew up in New Mexico and his Christmases were MAGICAL. Besides the warm adobe homes glowing under blankets of pure white snow, flickering luminaries lining the organic shapes of the mud packed buildings, the hundreds of bond fires warming the streets, the smell of roasting red and green chillis dancing into one's nose, Kiril had kaufmannsladen.


My husband is half German and half Russian. For Christmas, he got kaufmannsladen. For easter, he got Russian home made bread and cheese. Not a bad childhood huh?

In this German kaufmannsladen tradition the adults construct and transform the entire living room into a candy store. In Kiril's house this was serious construction work. They built actual shops, nailed up shelves, provided cash registers, and stocked the shelves full of jars of candy and baskets of marzipan fruits and figurines. Each kid in the family got his or her own store.

The kids were restricted from the living room until construction was completed (by Xmas eve). Kiril told me that he recalls being unable to breathe for days in anticipation.

When the candy stores were unveiled, often with a trainset running through the stores, the children would run wildly into their shops and immediately began taking inventory of their goods. They were in charge of price negotiation, competitive advertising and building their business strategies. They sold to adults, visitors and sometimes to each other. They told me hilarious stories about Kiril's brother (who was a natural entrepreneur) going to his cousins' shops to buy out all their candies, which excited them beyond belief. However they quickly realized that Christmas was no fun without candy. So then Kiril's brother sold the candies back to them for twice what he had paid.

Now every Christmas we return to Santa Fe, NM for a little magic. We plan on sharing this tradition with Mila when she gets just a little older.

Unfortunately we can't find any photos of Kiril's candy store right now. However I was able to find a couple of cute examples of homemade kaufmannsladen online.

And it seems like they now sell kaufmannsladen kits.

Make: Crazy Octopus Costume

*Note from Cat:
I made a "Gahhh!" sound when I saw the Halloween costume Shinmin made for her baby Mila. Soooo brilliant! And hey, I told her she could now go as "Octomom."

What are all of your little ones are going to be Halloween? Share your pics with us!

.............................................



by Designing Mom Shinmin

With Halloween fast approaching and one of the busiest seasons at work, I had originally decided to skip Halloween this year. But yesterday morning, I woke up and looked at Mila and thought, “I can’t deny Mila her very first Halloween. “ Of course, my husband Kiril added more guilt by saying to me, “You’re creative, why don’t you just make her something? ”

So I immediately sprang into a DIY baby costume frenzy. What could I make with materials that I already have at home and complete the project in one afternoon? I only have one day off, so a quick project is key.

I decided to make Mila an octopus costume (an idea I borrowed heavily from the October issue of "Parents Magazine").

MATERIALS:

Four pairs of tights or socks. I used two baby tights and two pairs of adult knee and thigh highs. I decided to use the light blue pair for Mila to actually wear and the others will be her 6 additional legs.



I found this belt laying around that my friend Marie brought back from Paris. I thought that the colourful rivets were perfect for the tentacle suction cups.



If you want to make this costume at home and you don’t happen to have a French belt with rivets, here is your chance to use up all those extra buttons that come with sweaters and jackets. I think using buttons will achieve a very fun DIY look. Of course, pieces of cut out round felt will work too.



I also used a black ribbon, a long sleeve onesie, hot glue gun, lots of cotton balls, and a needle and thread.

STEPS:
First I cut the longer tights and socks to match the length of the actual tights Mila will be wearing.


I kept the waist top from the tights for a future project.



Then I cut the ends to a point and sewed the seams from the inside. Of course don’t alter the tights that your baby will wear.



Then I stuffed the 6 legs with cotton balls. I couldn’t find batting in the art supply store nearby (which would have been preferable) so I hand shredded a ton of cotton balls. After stuffing the tights and socks, I sewed up the tops to close the openings.

Next I cut all the rivets off the belt and kept the buckle for a future project.



I then hot glued all the rivets to the legs to create the suction cups. After cutting off the blue bows, I sewed the pieces onto the light blue tights because I didn’t want the hot glue to itch her les.

I used 8 rivets per leg and had two rivets left over.


Then I measured Mila’s waist to determine the length of ribbon needed. Her waist is 17”. Imagine having a 17” waist?

I used masking tape and mapped out the 17” on the ribbon and added about 10“ to each side of the 17” for a total length of 37”.

Next I sewed all the legs onto the ribbon making sure that the legs stayed within the 17” outlined by the masking tape.


Remember the waist top from the tights? I decided to turn it into a hat for this costume. I sew on a couple pieces of white felt and added the remaining two rivets for eyes. I pulled at the leg openings to curl it back slightly.



I dressed her in a black long sleeve onesie. This one is from Imps and Elfs. The buttons spell out "LOVE". Tie the ribbon around her waist, add the hat and voila! Crazy octopus!

Friday Foto: Cake Love

The Magnificent Mila is already practicing her culinary talents at her Designing Mom Shinmin's "I Dream of Cake" studio. What a cutie!

Have a great Friday and weekend everyone. See you on Monday!

Our Lists: Baby Cribs

I have exciting news to share with all of you! Designing Mom Shinmin delivered a baby girl on Sunday--a big congrats to her, hubby and baby! In ode to the joyous new arrival, I thought I'd post up her very stylish and thorough list of baby cribs.
*And FYI: the Amy Coe crib at the very bottom of Shinmin's list is on sale. Armed with my Babies R Us coupons, I just bought one for the nursery.



By Designing Mom Shinmin

Since we have not purchased a crib yet, I've been scouring the market for the perfect one. My husband and I want to take our time to find the perfect crib. So for now when the baby arrives, we plan on letting the creature sleep in the bugaboo bassinet (my husband and I call our baby "the creature" because he doesn't know the sex).

While searching for the perfect crib, I have 3 basic requirements.

1. It has to look great.

2. I want a convertible crib so that we can use it as a toddler bed for the years to come.

3. It has to be well built and safe.

Here are my top finds.

High End: These are some great covetables, love-to-have, but hard-to-buy.

This one is from the Ola! collection, made by Casa Kids. I love the rounded corners and the Brazilian Lyptus hardwood. $850.
This one is called Nurseryworks Studio Crib, designed by TRUCK Product Architecture. This is my dream crib. I love when function is combined with design. And when you add clever space-saving hideaway features to the product, I become dizzy with delight. This crib has been perfectly thought out and immaculately designed. Here are some of the clever features of this crib. It comes with a big drawer under the crib. I love how the changing table tucks away neatly and perfectly. And when the baby grows into a kid, the changing table panel will work as a desk. Yours for $2,100.

This ducduc Parker convertible crib displays a bright and bold Unikko fabric pattern (by Marimekko) on the side panels. You can customize your crib and choose from ducduc's wide selection of fabric patterns. $1,445.

I love this one too, also from ducduc. It looks like a grown up bassinet to me. (that is with the logic that bassinets grow up to become cribs) $1,795.

Budget: Here are some great alternatives that won't break the bank.

This is Silver Lake Crib, made by DwellStudio for Target.

For $239, you have a smart looking convertible crib, with big drawer space underneath.

The Soho Crib, also by DwellStudio for Target, comes in walnut with pink or blue drawer accents. Though I'm not a fan of pink-for-girls or boy-for-boys designs, this crib is pretty sharp. Get it at Target for $229.

This is the crib that I'm considering for myself, the Mercer Convertible Crib by Da Vinci. It's clean, it's sleek, and the white and walnut colours work well with our room. And I'm digging the bonus drawer. I've seen this sold online for $400 - $450.

This is the Sweet Pea Modern Crib, sold at JCPenny. I've seen a much more expensive version of a similar design for over $1000. So this is a great knock off, provided that the quality doesn't suffer. But for the sale price of $279, you really can't complain. The side bookshelf is a great addition too.

This is the crib that I originally had on my registry, the Westport Lifetime Convertible Crib by Amy Coe. But it's been out of stock for over a month, so I'm looking elsewhere. This is goes for $350.