Project 52: Week 8 - Fashion Police

I hate shopping for clothes for myself.  HAAAAAAATE it.  I always see things that are adorable on the hanger or on other people, but when I try it on...ugh.  But spring is coming, and I could use some new clothes.  Afterall, I just purged about 75% of my closet.  Some people follow the rule that if they haven't worn something in a year, toss it.  Well, my rule was more like if I haven't worn it in a decade, toss it.  With the exception of two Ithaca is Gorges t-shirts I couldn't bear to part with, as well as this gem I Fancied up for my bachelorette party, long before Fancy Fonts was even a twinkle in my eye:

The disturbing experience is a story for another time.  Back to hating shopping.  

The girls and I hit up TJ Maxx yesterday to get some new spring clothes for Brynn.  I found a few adorable tops and a really cute dress for her, so I was feeling quite confident I'd find a little something cute for myself, too.  I grabbed a few things off the rack and headed to the dressing room.  While I was 0 for 4 in the trying on department, it was really fun to see my girls watching me try stuff on and tell me I look cute, even though I did not share their generous opinion:

Can't I just trade places with them?  They look cute in anything!

Project 52: Week 7 - Spring Training

Sure, we just had a major winter weather event (read "dusting" for northerners), but this winter has been more like spring from day 1.  The snow is now gone, the temps have since risen, and spring training is on the brain.  Yankees pitchers and catchers report in five days, but Brynn is getting a head start by getting in some BP today (in a dress):

She even took it upon herself to work on some switch hitting:

And since Daddy thinks it's cheating to have a DH, I had Brynn take some ground balls with the scatch ball and paddle...if Derek Jeter can hang on another 15 years at short, the Yankees might have a suitable replacement by 2027:

Looking forward to the start of Brynn's first t-ball season!  Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Project 52: Week 6 - Just imagine

I often write about how funny I think Brynn's imagination is.  The girl could sit by herself at the kitchen table with a tiny teddy bear and a shoe and create an entire fantasy world around it.  She turns just about everything into a plaything with a name and personality all its own...toothbrushes, pencils, she even turned a foam noodle into a pirate she named Buddy (I could have sworn I took a picture of Buddy, but couldn't find one anywhere...my apologies).  

Here are a few recent examples of Brynn's imaginative play:

Buttons, right?  Nope.  It's a button family.  Clockwise from left, there's "the mommy, a kid, a baby, and a kind of baby kid."  They sleep on her bedside table.

Here are Brynn's fingers, stuck inside Strawberry Shortcake's shoes.  She calls it the "shoe bandit."  I can't make this stuff up.

One of my favorite things Brynn does is care for inanimate objects as if they were pets.  Case in point:

Here is Brynn's piggy bank, reading "Happy Birthday, Little Pookie."  Apparently, the piggy bank "likes to read about pigs because she's a pig."  And she's wearing glasses because "she can't quite see."  Brynn puts a sleeping cap and a blanket on her piggy bank every night.  She also likes to wear these glasses, and while I hope her perfect vision stays with her well into adulthood, bespectacled Brynn is pretty darn cute:

I love getting down and playing with Brynn, but sometimes it's even better to just be a fly on the wall...with a camera!

Project 52: Week 5 - Sleepover

Much like the rest of us, Brynn couldn't wait until Friday this week.  We had attempted to let the girls have a sleepover in Camryn's room one night last week, but Brynn developed a relentless cough in the middle of the night, and I had to move her back to her own room so everyone could get some sleep.  She was so disappointed, and I promised we could try again on Friday.  

Well today is Friday, and Brynn was so excited that she told me she wanted to go to bed at 6:53pm.  We managed to keep them up for a little while longer, in the hopes of wearing down the little spitfire that is Camryn Jane to the point of utter exhaustion.  Note to self:  Camryn doesn't really have a point of utter exhaustion. She kept Brynn up with questions about Eli (a boy in Brynn's preschool class that Camryn talks about quite frequently), trips to the bathroom, and some good old fashioned silliness.  But before Brynn started to get rather irritated with her sister, they had a lot of fun together, and were already talking about when and where the next sleepover is going to be.  

Cuddled up for a bedtime story.

And there's no way Brynn would sleep anywhere without Ellie, so she fashioned a sleeping bag for her beloved elephant out of Camryn's throw pillow:

Upon leaving Camryn's room for the sixth or seventh time, I explained to Brynn that the word "sleepover" isn't all that accurate, as there usually isn't a whole lot of sleeping going on.  Perhaps I should take note of this myself and hit the hay while all is quiet up there!

Gnarly, dude

Looks like piggy banks were the popular item during the month of January!  I completed another one last night while watching the train wreck that is "Teen Mom 2" (case in point, my favorite quote of the night:  "Is the schools good here?").  My friend in Hawaii ordered this little piggy for her new nephew, but it would be just as appropriate to keep him right here at our house.  I think he's totally radical, man.

Duuuuuuude. 

It's barreling, bro. 

Beach bum 

Gonna shred some killer waves right after I finish this fish taco, dude.  

And no, Ryan doesn't talk like that.  Next on the docket is a piggy for a Tinkerbell themed nursery...I have given up all hope of being able to draw the Tink herself, so hopefully my customer is ok with a simpler design that will coordinate!  Stay tuned.

Large piggy banks like Dylan's can be purchased for $25, and medium piggies are available for $15.  Just FYI, my handy dandy postage scale arrived today, so I will no longer be shipping orders before payment has been received.  Also, effective immediately, I have to start charging sales tax based on where the item will be shipped.  Boooooo...the down side of being legit!  Find me on Facebook or email me at karen.psimas@yahoo.com for ordering and information.  

Hog wild

You people are Fancy!!!  I've had quite a few piggy banks in the works to start off the new year, and a few really challenged my artistic abilities.  First up, we have a piggy for the family I babysit for, who wanted a fun way to start saving for a trip to Disneyworld:

I really wanted to use the Walt Disney font, and was worried I wouldn't do it justice, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out:

And you probably know by now that I am the worst at drawing faces, so I stuck with a basic silhouette of Mickey and Minnie:

Maybe the Joneses will save enough to invite us along?

Next up is a tried and true Batman piggy for Zachary.  I made a piggy for Zachary's new baby sister a few months ago, and his Nana promised he'd get one of his own as well.  Jealousy among siblings bodes well for business!

Last we have a piggy I knew would challenge me.  Kimberly wanted a Super Mario Brothers piggy bank for her nephew, and I was a bit terrified because I knew I'd have to draw a face somewhere on this piggy!  I sat down with a glass of wine (I swear it helps me relax and get the creative juices flowing!) and a print out of some SMB characters.  While staring at the pictures and trying to figure out how to arrange the characters on the piggy, I was slapped in the face with my favorite idea yet:

He makes me giggle!

Even with my limited knowledge of video games, I realize Sonic isn't a SMB character, but it's one of Kyler's favorites, so he gets prime real estate on this piggy bank. 

Yoshi is another of Kyler's favorites, so he gets a prime location as well.  

All of the piggy banks above are the large size, and can be purchased for $25.  Medium piggies are also available for $15.  Find me on Facebook or email me at karen.psimas@yahoo.com with questions and orders.  Don't forget...new customers get 20% off their first Fancy Fonts purchase through the end of January (which is this Tuesday!), so get your orders in, newbies!  And remember that with every order placed between now and the Polar Plunge on February 4th, Fancy Fonts will donate $1 to Special Olympics Virginia.  Freezingly Fancy!  

Now that the old school Super Mario Brothers theme song is stuck in my head, I'm off to enjoy some very Fancy pancakes, courtesy of the hubster!

Project 52: Week 4 - One on One

I get time alone with Camryn every Monday and Friday while Brynn is at school, but I usually take advantage of only having one child in tow and get as many errands done as I can (when beach weather hits, however, this will no longer be a true statement).  Ryan had a few errands to run when he got home from work tonight, and since I had a houseful of kids today, he did me a solid and took Brynn with him.  It's a rare occurrence for me to have only one child to tend to for dinnertime, bathtime, and bedtime, and Camryn and I fully enjoyed our one on one time at the end of a long day:

Love my little nugget.  And I officially look as tired as I feel.  Good thing the picture is a little blurry.