Someone is a big girl now ;)

Here ye, here ye! Someone's 3! 

We celebrated Ellie's 3rd birthday, yesterday! It was a princess theme, of course... Here's one of my favorite pictures from the party. These two cousins are usually arguing and fighting...but for some reason, they've been the BEST of friends the past couple of days! I'm dying over their cuteness! We're getting ready to do some Fall festivities, so stay tuned for a re-cap of all our weekend celebrations!!

Bad News / Good News! Giveaway Winner UPDATE!

The Bad News: Unfortunately, I had to disqualify the winner of the "Just Because I Love You Giveaway" because they were from out of town. :( So...

The Good News: Another (local) lucky winner has been chosen! I decided it was only fair (this time around) to give the prize to my favorite Halloween costume story participant!
 

So the winner is...Mamma has Spoken!! I loved your construction cone hat story! So funny and creative! :) Thank you for sharing your story and participating! Please email me your mailing address at lauren {at} mixiestudio {dot} com, so I can ship you what you've won! In case you didn't get a chance to read her entry, here's it is below:

OH a give~a~way! Favorite Halloween costume? That's a tough one but will share a fun but true story. Growing up, we never had store bought costumes. Instead we were encourage to find things around the house to make our own 'original' creation. One year in elementary school, my dad came home with a traffic cone. You know, those orange cones that you see on the side of the road. It so reminded me of a witch's hat so I decided to go as a witch. I don't remember what I wore except I used that cone as my hat. A very heavy hat that felt like it was going to break my neck. Now back in this day in the 60's you wore your costume in the afternoon at school for the school wide party. A party that lasted what seemed like several hours thanks to the added weight on my head, but I'm sure it was only one hour tops. Plus we stayed after school for a special party, then went trick or treating. By the end of that night, I was so tired and sore from carrying all that extra weight on my head. I learned my lesson that year and all my costumes after that had no accessories. Including hats.

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Hey! They kinda remind me of candy corn, too. How fitting ;)

Thanks again for all those who participated! You will have more chances to win again soon. Stay tuned for more super cool giveaways! Now off to making more Fall/Hallow/Birthday crafts. This month is so jam-packed with craziness!!

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to ALL who participated!! I thoroughly enjoyed your Halloween costume stories! Since I loved yours so much, I decided to share mine. One of my favorite costumes I ever wore was our Dia de Los Muertos costumes as a family. I do have many more favorite costumes to chose from, but this one from a couple years ago was a BLAST to make for all three of us ;) Here's our family portrait.

 

And a close up of the makeup and hair detail.

Okay, now I'll just get down to the point...the winner of the Just Because I Love You Giveaway, chosen randomly by the Random Choice Generator, is...

Lysa - who's favorite costume was a present costume she wore for girl scouts!

Lysa, please email me your address at lauren{at}mixiestudio{dot}com to claim your prize! It will be sent to you soon! Thanks!

I will admit, my favorite story is the one about the construction cone as a witch's hat! The Christine Daae and the Phantom of the Opera one was a close second. Thank you all for sharing! Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future :) Have a great Saturday friends!

The City Flea at Washington Park

This is a long overdue post (since these were taken in July, August?), but it's a MUST share. And I finally have a second to post it! So here it is. We made it to one of this year's The City Flea events! See what my sister and I did on last year's trip here. This time it was at Cincinnati's newest park, Washington Park. It was a hot, HOT day and me, Ellie and my cousin, Lucy, spent more time walking around than we expected. But it was well worth it!

Here were some of my favorite finds we spotted that day!

As expected, there were lots of vintage goodies to gawk at.

We had to stop for a juice break. Did I mention that it was H-O-T out? Thank goodness I put her in a sleeveless free-flowing sundress and I brought several juice boxes. Notice she her bare toesies ;)

Off to check out the booths again...We found Vintmo! I will forever love that clock. Be sure to check out their Etsy store, too. Yes, the clock is still up for grabs ;)

 

It was about time for lunch, so we checked out some of the food trucks! For lunch we ate The Day After Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich from Eat! Moblie and the Mmmmm Oreo cupcake from SugarSnap Sweet Treats for dessert! So yummy. The icing was divine.

  

The XYZ Art & Pizzy and Jojo booth was close by, so we stopped there to say hello to the lovely and talented Life in Balance family! Caught a pic of them documenting the day ;) Check out all that awesome artwork. So creative, this family!! Side note: We also have had two amazing photo sessions with Brett & Jess from Life in Balance over the past few years! We can voucher that they are amazing! Be sure to check out their site.

Loved the mixed media pieces and simple & effective, booth set-up from Riff Raff Initiative!

Of course, a Street Pops break was in order!! Plum Basil was our choice of the day. SO refreshing and delicious! Ellie loved it. Mmmmm... Side note: One of our favorite flavors is the Ginger Peach Lambic. A MUST try. I won't lie...if you haven't had Street Pops, yet, you are missing out.

Then off to the booths, again. Just my type ;) Check out Schneeman & Co. Vintage!

 

I also saw another talented friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while! LOVE this girl to pieces. Click here to see a previous about some of Karla's fashion designs, as well as Polaroids I took from one of her fashion shows I was in! Good times with creative people.

That same day, the Cincinnati Public Library, Happen Inc. & Bluegrass for Babies had activities for children to do! Here are some snippets of what kind of things Ellie participated in :) She had a BLAST.

I think her favorite activities, from the day, were from the Bluegrass for Babies booth. Planting seeds and making pretend pizzas with her harvest! ;)

And I leave you with a little animation of Ellie and I hula-hooping at the end of the day. Thanks Luce for capturing us goofballs trying to hula-hoop ;-P Look at Ellie just moving the hoop with her arms!

 

We can't wait to make it out to another one.

Don't forget! Today is the last day to enter for the Just Because I Love You Giveaway! Head over HERE to enter. You have until 6pm EDT tonight!! Thanks!

A Giveaway, just because I love you.

Just last month, I joined the Northern Kentucky Mother of Twins Club. I've met so many great people and it's really nice to connect with other moms who have twins or multiples, too! I also participated in their semi-annual EVERYTHING FOR KIDS Yard Sale by volunteering and selling at the event! It was such a fun experience. I cannot wait to do it again in the Spring. Who knew the tagging gun would be so much fun to use??

The NKMOTC is a local non-profit organization with over 150 members, dedicated to the support of families expecting or raising twins, triplets, and more. You can visit nkmotc.webs.com for more details.

As part of a fundraiser, the NKMOTC was selling LaRosa's Buddy Cards to members and friends. To support the group, I purchased one for a special giveaway, on the blog! See below for details.

• One lucky local winner will be chosen (Cincinnati/NKY/Indiana residents only please)! The reason being, is because LaRosa's locations are only here in the tri-state area. The winner will be chosen randomly (via Random Choice Generator) and they will receive a LaRosa's Buddy Card, an original Mixie Studio embroidered magnet, a one-of-kind illustration from a 1974 vintage children's workbook, and book tower that includes four of Leslie Patricelli's mini books!! 

• All you have to do to enter is leave a comment, below, telling me your favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn! That's it! A winner will be chosen, next Friday, October 5th, at 6:00 pm EDT. It will announced, on the blog, the following morning, Saturday, October 6th! 

Not local? Stay tuned!! More giveaways coming REAL soon ;) Hang tight! Hope to hear from you guys. Thanks for participating and good luck! 

*****Update: THANK YOU to all who participated. This giveaway is now closed.*****

 

You know that thing I've been meaning to tell you...

Well...If you haven't heard...there's a new local magazine in town called, Her Cincinnati. Here's a little bit about the magazine.

It "is the monthly Cincinnati-centric magazine for, by, and about women. Covering topics like fashion, fitness, home, travel and more, each free issue includes insider tips, pertinent information, intelligent features and profiles of the city’s most influential and inspiring women. Her is Cincinnati’s new community for women. Modern. Confident. Beautiful. "

The reason why I'm mentioning this is because, I am excited to announce that I have an article published in the October Issue! Look under the Her Kids column. I'm the featured mommy blogger :) It's the latest one, so grab it at your local Kroger or various other local locations, and check it out! Here's a list of where you can find them. They're free to the public! I also want to give a special shout-out to fellow high school graduate from Notre Dame Academy, Lisa Flick, for informing me that they were looking for bloggers to write for this column! So an enormous THANK YOU goes out to Lisa! I am honored to be a part of such a great thing. Also a HUGE thanks to my sister, mother and Her Cincinnati for helping me throughout this process.

Since, it's October, I chose to write about Halloween and costume making. It's always one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. Halloween always reminds me of how my mother used to make costumes for my sister and me. She'd go all out with every single detail and enter us in costume contests. I can recall winning a couple of them and it was a blast to show off our one-of-a-kind costumes! So, now being a mother of three, I can really enjoy passing down the Halloween tradition, by making my children's costumes! Below are some snippets from the issue.

To conclude the article, there are three DIY costume ideas for your little ones! They all were inspired by storybook characters! There's one for Madeline (from Madeline), The Peddler (from Caps for Sale) and the Bunny (from Pat the Bunny). The materials needed and a how-to explanation is explained for each one!

I'm so stoked about this because this is the first time I've done anything like this. It's so cool to see your work out there in the real world. I hope you enjoy it. If you do happen to check it out, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy First Day of Fall, friends! I'm absolutely loving this weather. Fall is hands down, my favorite season.

Current State of Mind.

I'll be back soon friends...like tonight soon. I have some news to share and a million bajillion things to catch you all up on. Stay tuned. It's been crazy over here....obviously because I haven't been able to post for over a month now! In the meantime, check out these links to where I grabbed these awesome quotes from :) They're spot on. SPOT. ON.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON & NOW PANIC AND FREAK OUT

Rock-A-Bye Baby

Trying to put the twins down for their afternoon nap or bedtime can be a struggle... Sometimes, instead of just quietly rocking them in my arms before they sleep, I play some soothing music as they lay in the crib. It works wonders! Sometimes, my two and a half year old sleeps to it, too :) Music that has worked for us consist of a lullaby radio station on Pandora, children's music I've found on Spotify, a couple of CD's I've borrowed from the library and a Discovery Toys album my mom used to play for my sister and I when we were young. Out of all of these, I have compiled some of my personal favorites, and made a couple of lovely playlists for you on Spotify! See below for links and references to all the music we've been listening to! Enjoy!

Welcome to The World {A Lullaby Playlist} - Click here to listen on Spotify 




Run Barefoot {A Get Up & Dance Playlist} - Click here to listen on Spotify

Discovery Toys : Sounds Like Fun

1. Muffin Man
2. Adding Things
3. I Love You So Much
4. Letter Sounds (apple apple aaa)
5. Counting by Tens
6. Months of the Year
7. Where Has My Little Dog Gone
8. Opposites Are Fun
9. One to Ten in Spanish
10. Buenos Dias
11. Magic Words (Manners)
12. Sweet Dreams
13. Three Little Kittens
14. Counting 1 to 30
15. I Had a Little Nut Tree
16. Hey Diddle Diddle
17. ABC Chant
18. Hickory Dickory Dock 
19. Twelve Month of the Year 
20. Counting Sheep 1 to 30


Click here to PREVIEW all the tracks from the Discovery Toys : Sounds Like Fun album that are listed above! Here, you will also find the biography on the lady who sings these songs, Barbara Milne!


Also, below, I want to share an album from one of our favorite children's group, Renee and Jeremy. It's called Welcome to this World. Find out more about them and listen to more of their great music, click HERE!




*Side Note: We try to keep the twins on the same schedule for everything. It just makes our chaotic life easier and everyone's happy :) Plus routine helps our days run smoothly. I'm proud to say, most of the time, all three kiddos take their afternoon nap at the same time. Yippee! Free hands for me to get things done!

Vintage Awesomeness

I snagged these awesome canisters from my grandmother's house, last year, when we were helping her clean out her house. She was getting rid of some older things and this canister set was one of them! She was about to send them off to Goodwill! I was like, ummmm...I'll gladly take those off your hands! By the way, these weren't the only vintage goodies we snagged from her. I'll share more later on. Hopefully some DIY upcycles!

Anyway, I just recently found them, again, because I've been packing for our move. We have boxes everywhere. I've had some awesome stuff saved in boxes labeled "For When We Have a House", that I haven't set out in our apartment. These little guys have been waiting patiently to be used. More like, I've been waiting to use all this amazing stuff I've saved to decorate with!! Obviously, I cannot wait to embellish our new home now that we will have the space for it.

They kind of look like Pantone swatches, yeah?
 

I have a set of four. Two large and two small.

Now where to put them...the studio or the kitchen? I think she originally had them storing small things in her kitchen. What would you do with them? Suggestions? Thanks grandma for saving these and passing them down to us! Who knew we would be using them today.

Reality Check Monday : Moving On

I have some exciting news that I have been wanting to spill for the past couple days. It's been a long time coming but...

We are moving out of our 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment into a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house! We could not be more excited!! Since our little family grew quite quickly over the year, we've needed a little bit more space. More details on this to come...but I just wanted to express my excitement already! Oh the joys of everything that comes with moving into a new home! Let the planning begin.

Along with the exciting news we just shared, I want share a prayer from my favorite prayer book called, "A Gift So Rare" by Helen Lowrie Marshall. This book was handed down to me from my mother. I really love these prayer poems because everyone can easily identify with each of them, in their own sense. I like Marshall's writing because it's realistic and comforting. The poem that I'm currently praying is called "You Never Know." I'd like to share it with you. Enjoy and have great Monday.

You Never Know

You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word
Or something you may do
May open up the windows
Of a mind that seeks the light—
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know—it might.

And just in case it could be
That another's life, through you,
Might possibly change for the better
With a broader and brighter view,
It seems it might be worth a try
At pointing the way to the right—
Of course, it may not matter at all,
But then again—it might.

Friday Feature : RR Cherry Pie (Japanese Candy and Miniature Toys)

My daughter stumbled upon these videos while watching some How-To PlayDough videos, on YouTube. Yes, I let my daughter watch YouTube, under my supervision. Technology and kids these days! Anyway...once we saw one video, posted from RR Cherry Pie's feed, we had to search for more! RR Cherry Pie provides videos on how to put Japanese candy and toy kits together. Some of them remind me of what you do when you "cook" with an Easy Bake Oven. Check them out for yourself. They're actually pretty cute, because everything is mini! Here are a several of her favorites. Go to RR Cherry Pie's sites for more here - RR Cherry Pie on YouTube & RR Cherry Pie's Blog.




Since she's into this kind of thing, but may be too young for it still...I decided to look into getting her some Bento boxes and lunch accessories for fun! I think she'll enjoy these. Maybe I'll get them for her birthday or turn it into a birthday party theme. Click the pictures for source link. Have a great weekend!

Mixie Finds : Out and About

While I'm running errands, I always find fun products that catch my eye. Ninety percent of the time, I gravitate towards office/school supplies and stationary items! Oh the temptation... The designer in me always wants to buy anything Sharpie®. Here are some things I've found, recently, while I was out and about. I did not purchase any of these items (except for the pastel Sharpies®. Can you blame me?)...I just found them and photographed them for future reference and now sharing them with you! I'm going to start doing this from time to time.