Meet Pippa and Rascal

Nope, not Pippa Middleton =)

I am very blessed to have some awesome kiddos in my life.  At the top of my list are two nieces and three nephews (all under age 5!) that I adore.  They've got to be the cutest, smartest, funnest kids in the world.  But then again I am incredibly biased.

I also am blessed that some of my best friends are pregnant or recently had babies.  Babies everywhere indeed (anyone catch the reference to the crazy Nutrigrain commercial from a few years ago?).

So when I see tutorials for kids toys or baby clothes I swoon.  Everything seems to be cuter when it's small - and the fact that mini-sized crafts use up my mini-sized scraps of fabric makes it even harder to resist.

So here's a sneak peak at two Christmas gifts I made this summer.  Thankfully all the kids in my life are too young to use the internet so I'm not spoiling their surprises!

Rascal, Me, Pippa

Disney from Ruffles and Stuff created the pattern for these sweet stuffed toys and made it available online for free!  How awesome is that?  Here's a closer look:

Oh that raccoon, he's quite the Rascal.

Pippa is a foxy lady.

These little toys really tested my sewing skills!  The hardest part was hand-sewing on their facial features.  And then stitching their bottoms (no pun intended) closed after stuffing them.  But I'm hoping the little kids I give them to can see past their imperfections to the love that they were made with.

And just because I felt like they were my little friends after working on them for so long, here's one last look: