{Embrace} and {Small Style :: Birthday Girl!}

Good morning!

I am so so excited about today's post!  This has been a big work in progress for me and I am thrilled with how it turned out.  More importantly, Emilia loved it!

We celebrated Emilia's THIRD birthday this past weekend with a "Tinkerbell Party", at E's request.  The only catch was that she wanted to be Rosetta, Tinkerbell's fairy friend, because she wears pink.  My MIL found an awesome deal on a peachy colored fabric which matched our Rosetta doll's outfit perfectly, so I set out to create something fantastic. 

Emilia loves tutus and all things twirly, so I really felt the stress of perfection...haha.  Honestly, I just kind of made up the skirt as I went along...I looked at a couple tutorials for petal skirts and tutus, but ultimately, just kept playing with it until I liked it.  It didn't pass the "Twirl Test", but E still loved it!

I also took a plain white tank and added a small fabric rosette embellishment.  I didn't want anything too over-the-top and I think it turned out great!



She was also very particular about which character each family member was to dress up as...and here is our little family!  I was Tinkerbell and Jason was Terrence- Tink's boy fairy friend.  Such a good dad to get in on the fairy fun! (O:


I am excited to post all about her party details soon.  Please stop back by! (O:

As seen on Emilia:
Rosetta Skirt - Handmade by me
Rosetta Tank - Target's Circo brand plain tank, I added the embellishment
Leggings - Walmart
Wings - Amazon.com

I am linking up with two wonderfully awesome blogs today; please go check them out!:

Small Style :: Time to Twirl!

The other night, I came home from work and asked Emilia if she wanted to play outside with me for a while.  (I cannot get enough of this awesome extended Spring we are having!)  She quickly jumped up, excited about the idea, but said she needed to change her clothes first- oh the drama. Already.  She went through 3, count them Three, shirts before settling on her "Rosetta Dress"  (There are many items in our house that are dubbed "Rosetta" something-or-other.  Rosetta is her favorite of Tinkerbell's fairy friends because she is the one who wears pink.  So most pink things are "Rosetta" this or that.)
Do you want to know why the first few shirts didn't make the cut?  They did not Twirl enough.  From the mouths of babes.  She knew exactly what she wanted and did not stop until she found it.  I love this whimsy part of her little personality.  She loves clothes that are "pretty", colorful, fun, and of course, twirly.  Paired with her favorite shoes (so glad I got them for roughly $4- they have been loved almost to pieces!), pink leggings and a pink paisley bow, we were ready to go!

Our little walk around the neighborhood was very enjoyable.  There were many stops along the way-

To look at the flowers that were similar to those Aunt Clare had picked for her last weekend:

 Not exactly roses, but we stopped to smell them all the same:

To take "Stair Breaks":

I love the way she sweetly crosses her legs anytime she is seated.  She has done this since she was itsy bitsy.  Such a little lady. ;-)

And "Grass Breaks":
And, of course, to play with rocks!:

*If this love of rock collecting continues, I am making her a shirt like Ross' sticker on the show FRIENDS-- "Geology Rocks"*  ;-)

We also raced along the sidewalks and ran away from bees.  I am so glad we took this little adventure- it was such an enjoyable way to come home from work.  (O:  (I apologize for the iPhone photos...I promise to dust off the "real" camera very soon!)

As Seen On Emilia:
Pink and Green Paisley Hairbow - handmade by me
Light Pink "Rosetta Dress" - Old Navy
Hot Pink Leggings - Gap, yard sale
Pink Floral "Rosetta Shoes" - Target clearance

Linking up to Small Style!  (Seriously, go check out the cutie kids over there and consider linking up yourself!)  (O:

Small Style :: Emilia's Stylings

Our little girl gets more and more independent every day and we are so proud of her.  Her most recent venture in independence has been dressing herself, "All by Myself".  That works out fine for bedtime, because no one cares if your pj's don't match...well, personally I twitch a little when her pj's don't match, but I'm working on that.  ;-)  A few days this week, she has gotten herself dressed before coming down in the morning.  As you will see, she has a love for girlie things and bright colors.  It reminds me of how my sister used to dress when we were younger- mixing of patterns, colors, textures was all OK if she *liked* it.  ;-)  Forgive my poor photo quality, but my husband snapped these with his iPhone and had to be quick before Emilia darted off to play. (O:

Emilia's Styling #1:

Emilia is wearing a white long sleeve shirt (Target), layered under a Cardinals shirt (yard sale find), paired with overalls (Target clearance for $4.80!), black tutu (Carter's sale- reused from Halloween costume and 2nd birthday outfit), pink and white striped socks (Old Navy) and the famous Rosetta shoes (Target clearance).

Emilia's Styling #2: 

Emilia is wearing a colorful striped short sleeve shirt (Old Navy clearance), under a Gap tank top (yard sale) and paired with polka dot leggings (Gap clearance).  *I mentioned to Jason that I need to rearrange the drawers in her room because this whole outfit was from our "nice clothes" drawer that only I dress her from when I am with her...but Jason noted that most of the fun, bright colors are in that drawer!  Maybe I need to spread out the love...(O:

I hope you get a little laugh from her outrageous stylings, as we did.  But remember, she is oh-so-proud of herself for doing it all by herself.  So we tell her she did a great job and we love the colors.  I think I will continue choosing outfits and letting her decide which to wear when we actually leave our house, but for playing at home, these are perfect. (O:

I am linking up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Styles again!

Oh!  And guess what!  I actually won one of her giveaways from last week!!  Woo hoo!  I do not have the best of luck with winning things, so I am super stoked about this.  Look at the beautiful pashmina and silk scarf I won!  This will be a great addition to my growing scarf collection, yay! (O:

Small Style: All About The Jacket

As I mentioned here the other day, Emilia and I took full advantage of the wonderful, unseasonably nice February weather we have been having in the St. Louis area.  We decided to head to the park and I had already planned her outfit, since I knew I wanted to snap some updated photos of her while she played.

Currently, this is her favorite pose! ;-)

There is a back story about this adorable little coat- basically, I am obsessed with it.  I watched and waited, watched and waited at Old Navy for it to go on clearance (the only way I like to shop!).  Even once it went on clearance, I waited a little while longer for it to drop lower...and it was a glorious day when I stopped by, checked the tag and YES!!  It's finally the price I want to pay!! ($7, if I remember correctly.)  But, the story doesn't end there.  I purchased the coat a size up so Emilia could grow into it for next fall/winter...little did I know my family would be making a huge life changing decision to move overseas to become full-time missionaries...to an island called Saipan.  There is no need for sweet polka dot jackets on a tropical island, nope.  That is why I knew I had to get some shots of baby girl in one of my favorite ON finds, even if it is still a little big! (O:

Emilia's favorite shoes; she calls them her "Rosetta" shoes.  For those of you who speak Tinkerbell, you know who this is. ;-)  Another awesome clearance find, only $4.54 at Target!



As seen on Emilia:

Jacket:  Old Navy~ Clearance $7

Jeans:  Old Navy straight leg~ Yard Sale $1

Shirt:  Carter's~ Clearance (You cannot actually see this shirt because E insists on buttoning every button to the very top!) ;-)

Shoes:  Target~ Clearance $4.54

I am linking this post up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Style.  Check out the other great entries and join in the fun!  Today they are celebrating the 1 Year Anniversary of Small Style- including some cute giveaways!