I remember being incredibly jealous of my younger sister [4 years younger than me] while she bounced up and down in her bouncy swing. I'm sure I had my turn when I was a baby, but I don't remember that far back. I didn't really think of buying one for Penelope and never would've thought about making one, until I saw the most amazing felt swing at Apartment Therapy. Fortunately for me, Enfant Terrible's shop featured the swing with loads of photos [that have since been removed], allowing me to figure out how the thing was made. AWESOME. What better time to make it than for Christmas? This is the second time I've made some sort of furniture for my child, and hopefully won't be making the same mistakes as last time. Rest peacefully knowing that I love Penelope and would never put her in harm's way. For my baby's safety I used:

• 4 ounce shoulder leather instead of felt [stronger and doesn't stretch much]
• natural leather, no dyes or bleaches
• doubled up artificial sinew for strong seams
• 4 bungee cords that can hold up to 50 lbs of tension each [I know Penelope's a big girl, but not that big] although they might look like they're going to fall out in the picture, but they're actually really hard to get in and out of the eyelets
• circular wall hooks that can hold up to 2300 lbs of pressure each, bolted into the studs of our door jam

We've had the swing up for about 3 weeks now, and it's been a wonderful success!! Everything is strong and holds in place, and Penelope has such a great time bouncing away to music in it. It's really cute to watch. I think when she gets bigger, and we actually have a yard [that might be never] I'd take out the bungees and put rope through the holes and attach it to a tree. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Note: I can not be held responsible for those that might try this at home.

Em, Marc, if you haven't opened your presents yet, READ NO FURTHER!! [SPOILER ALERT] My brother-in-law is a huge Steelers fan, and when I saw him wearing my sister's apron for grilling, I thought he could use his own, manly, butcher-style apron. Hope it's the right size. Emily said she wanted something that was fun that she could use everyday, so I made her a reusable grocery bag big enough to hold a gallon of milk, loaf of bread, eggs, cheese and some fruits and veggies. I also made her this lovely hair clip. It looks awkward on me because my hair is short; Emily has longer, pretty hair that she knows how to do very well. I made Ayden this awesome winter hat which is just so fuzzy and soft, hopefully he'll be able to keep it on his head for his wintery walks with GG. It sure looked cute on Penelope. She kind of looks like a boy in this picture. A little. I was pretty sneaky with this one. My dad had mentioned the idea of buying her a new ipod, since her old one holds its charge for 20 minutes (sorry mom), so I made her the case. Simple, but useful. I think [not sure] that Linda suggested I make recipe cards for her for Christmas. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, except the fact that they're not letterpressed [not enough time]. The printing still turned out great. Want these recipe cards for yourself? Download the pdf here. I also gave her the gift of blogging. An Esplin family blog. Christmas was wonderful and I was truly spoiled. Hope you had a great one, too. If you'd like a tutorial on any of these things let me know, comment or email.

Honestly, many thanks to my Mother-in-law for keeping me motivated for this mammoth DBers Challenge. I wouldn't have been able to do it in 12 hours if it weren't for her. Overall: I'll likely never make this again, but it was absolutely delicious. This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand. If you want the recipe, go here (it's 18 pages of hair-pulling, eye-gouging fabulousness) because I don't want copy down the colossal recipe. Sorry. I will, however, tell you what the layers are. . .

• Almond Dacquoise
• Dark Chocolate Mousse
• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• Praline Feuillete
• Vanilla/Nutmeg Creme Brulee
• Dark Chocolate Icing

It was great to have my mother-in-law's help, plus her enormously huge kitchen and sweet glass servingware. Brother-in-law, Eric, seemed to like it. Also, thanks to Chris and father-in-law, Cordell, for getting me the amazing D200 and 50mm Lens for Christmas. You can almost taste the creaminess of the mousse and the crunchiness of the feiullete through the screen.

Happy 8 month Birthday, my Penelope dove! Here's what you've been up to: • Your left front tooth poked through this morning, beating out the right incisor that I swear was going to come through first. • You have zero interest in crawling or anything that includes moving. • You love avocados, squash and the little taste of red curry I gave to you a couple of weeks ago. • You're standing by yourself. Not moving, just standing. • You love your new bouncy swing (post to come on that one). • You now say ma-ma and da-da and ba-ba and you love to use your vocal chords. We love you dearly, goobie girl. You're my favorite.

Remember how much you liked hooded towels as a kid? Maybe you should make one for your kids, or someone else's. . .   

[CLICK HERE FOR THE TUTORIAL]

The file is 14MB so it might take a while to download. I'll probably post a smaller version after Christmas, if you'd prefer. 

It's a good think that Penelope drinks so much, otherwise I wouldn't have anything to put Christmas presents in. Now I'm thinking, what am I going to do when she grows out of formula? Maybe I'll just have to buy formula just for the cans. Or beg neighbors that have little ones for their leftover cans. I love those things. This year I made marshmallows, caramels, chocolate-dipped meringue cookies. I feel a little guilty that I'm contributing to the annual sugar-induced coma. Oh well. At least they're tasty.

I feel like all I do all day is talk about how adorable Penelope is. I think I say, "Penelope is so cute!" or "You're so cute, Penelope!" about 46 times a day. It's getting old. Penelope's not. The novelty that is Penelope will never wear off. Although Penelope is getting old. She's nearly 8 months now. I don't feel like she's approaching the year mark, mostly because of her lack of mobility. She enjoys staying put. Unless I'm in the other room. I'm mostly doing an update because I want to show off how sweet Penelope is. We had a little photo shoot last week, and while I was photographing her I thought the photo-op was a complete failure, I didn't realize how her personality would show through in the most adorable ways. I admit, I doctored them. You can tell. I'm in a vignetting phase and I like it. Maybe due to my lack of focus in my life, I want focus in my pictures. So here are the overly photoshopped photos. And maybe I should have washed her face before the photo shoot. [gallery=23] Click on an image to see it in full screen mode. Also, The striped shirt was a 50¢ find at goodwill. I love it.

So, the ghost of Christmas Craft came to our house a couple of nights ago and convinced me that I need to decorate. And just after I threw away last year's ornaments in a fit of hormonal frustration. Blerg. Never fear, though, Walmart yarn is here to save the day. I was so inspired by ambrosia girl's entry on kid-friendly decoration (thanks, Jenn & thanks Martha!), I decided to make little pom-poms. 25 of them. Now I'm ready to cuddle up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and crank up the Christmas tunes.

I have to have deadlines, 'assignments' if you will, in order to get things done. I learned this after we moved here. I didn't have friends, family, school, job or kids to keep me occupied. You'd think I'd spend all that time working on my art, arts & crafts projects, cooking nice meals, etc. Oh no. I slept for almost 6 months straight. Which means, if I don't make it to a baby shower, bridal shower or any sort of gift-giving event, I have ZERO motivation to work on a present. Translation: I missed a friend's baby shower in August. I just finished making the gift and gave it to her on Saturday. I'm such a dork. My friend's little boy is 4 months old, and catching up to Penelope quickly, so I made a Kimono that fits Penelope, and maybe baby Will will be able to wear the fuzzy sweater more than once before he's too big. I like how it turned out. The fleece made the project easy for finishing, and great for this kind of wet-cold weather we've been having recently. Want to make your own? HERE'S THE TUTORIAL. It's fabulous.

I found a great tutorial a while back for an accordion bind that could double as a Christmas ornament. After teaching the bind to my class, I'm in love. It's a simple bind, no sewing, and perfect for Christmas ornaments, gift tags or mementos. I want to know. . . what are your traditions?!?

Merry Christmas! I hope y'all will be spreading the Christmas spirit with my candy boxes and your favorite homemade confections. I know I will. Here's the second annual Christmas box design available for free! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD. This download is free for personal use only.

Caramels That Won't Fail

Dorothy Schettler Makes about 200 one-inch squares 2 sticks butter (or 1 cup) 1 1/2 cups Karo syrup 4 cups sugar 2 cans evaporated milk Butter a jelly roll pan, set aside. In a large pot, melt butter, add Karo syrup, then sugar. Cook until boiling. Slowly add evaporated milk so candy won't stop boiling, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Cook to firm ball stage (235º on candy thermometer. Pour into buttered pan and cool 5 hours or overnight. Cut in 1" squares, wrap in wax paper, and eat or give away. This recipe is also good for caramel apples. FYI.

More Christmas Candy Printables (By Year)

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