Birthday Buddy Bag

H and J were invited to our little friend Ellie's 3rd birthday party.  We thought it would be fun to make part of her gift so I used our freezer paper stencil technique to make a cute tote just for her.  We also included a Color Wonder princess kit inside for some sparkly, princessy fun.  Hopefully she'll enjoy having a bag all to herself with her name on it!

Crafty Friday #3

This time we worked on some cutting and gluing skills.  I had the kids draw a picture that I then outlined with a Sharpie.  Then I used an exacto knife to cut out some of the shapes.  Meanwhile the kids went to town cutting things from magazines.  I told them to choose anything that they liked.  They both did great, but J really was funny with the scissors.  Apparently he needs to practice!

Then we glued the the magazine clippings to a paper to make a collage.

H got a little help from her Aunt Molly after J was done and taking his rest.  H is a lot more committed and particular in her crafting, I am finding. :)

The final projects turned out pretty cute.  J made a spider web and H made a flower, an ice cream cone and a cherry.

I had to do this one too.  I went for a sewing machine.  It might end up in a frame in my craft room.  It's so bright and happy.

Picnic In Progress

So now that we are going to be a family of 6 we don't have a picnic blanket that we would all fit on.  And I have been saving Joe's jeans for a while.  So I cut up 5 or 6 pairs and serged them together.  The back is a light blue sheet that got too pilled.  No quilting for me though.  I'm just tying it together.  And I plan to add straps so that when I fold it up I can carry it over my shoulder.  I've tied  most of it, but I'm not done yet, so I'll have to post pictures when I'm done!

Crafty Friday #2

 G's Monkey

This one was really fun!  I had been dying to try out freezer paper stencils for a while, so I thought we could make some fun tote bags.  I printed out some cute images and we went to town.  I cut out the image outlines with a craft knife and then ironed the freezer paper stencils onto the bags.  The kids dabbed away with fabric paint on sponge brushes and went to town!  They loved the results.  G napped so I made his, but the big kids did great on their own. 

After the paint dried we peeled off the freezer paper.

 J's Robot

H's Butterfly

Now they each have a "liberry bag" for taking books back and forth from the library.  :)

Grandma's Glasses

So I was asked an embarrassingly long time ago to make Joe's grandma a glasses case that she could attach to her walker.  Being pregnant, I completely forgot about it until I was gently reminded by Joe's mom.  As soon as I remembered Joe and I got a design underway.  It turned out pretty cute.  We even embroidered her first initial on the front.  It has two pockets for her glasses and attaches to her walker with velcro straps.  I haven't heard the verdict yet, but I hope she likes it!

Maternity to (Somewhat) Twirly

I am super pumped about this one, Friends.  See, I had this maternity shirt that I really liked.  I actually wore it with all four (oh my goodness, four!) of my pregnancies, but it was getting really funky stains in the underarms.  I'm not sure why, but the fabric was bleeding red there, but absolutely no where else.

Anyways, the fabric was so cute and I had such sentimental attachment to it that I couldn't give it up.  So I cut it up!  Yes I did!  And my very first ever recon totally worked.  So now H has a cute, but not quite twirly enough sundress to wear this summer.  Can you tell I'm pumped?  Anyways here's a photo montage of how it (mostly) went down.

First I cut off the bodice.

Then I used a pattern piece from a dress that I like and cut off the sleeves and shaped the armholes.

Now here is where I should have a lot of pictures of me trying it on H and her panicking that the pins are going to stick her.  We did this step multiple times until the fit was ok.  Then I gathered the bottom part that I had already cut off and attached it to the bodice.  

Voila!

Cute, free and fun!  Just not as twirly as she would like.  She even asked if I could make it any twirlier.  Sadly, I had used it all up!  See, even the side ties turned into cute little shoulder ties.  :)

Pittsburgh Pillows

My very dear friend Lisa asked me to make some slipcovers for her throw pillows.  So when I went to see her a few weeks ago we braved the fabric store with three busy little girls and chose fabric.  I made them up quick so I could give them to her when she came to town for the day on June 1st.  They really turned out cute.   She chose three different fabrics, two solids and a really great geometric pattern.

Isn't that print gorgeous?  I loved it right away!  

That sweet girl even took some pictures when she got home to show them in action.  They look really fun in her living room. 

It sure inspired me to find some fabric and brighten up my couches, too!  Now to find some fun fabric for me...

Dressin' Up

I decided last year that I wanted to make all of H's outfits for important school events.  You know, picture day, programs, stuff like that.  So of course I ran out of time this spring until THE. LAST. POSSIBLE. SECOND.  H's Pre K 4 graduation was coming up on Friday May 28th.  So on Wednesday the 26th I raided my stash and whipped up a pillowcase dress.  I thought it was cute, but after conferring with her Dad we decided it wasn't appropriate for the event. 

Soooooo, on Thursday I raided my stash again and made another dress for the next day.  (I won't mention how H really messed with the dials on my serger and caused major havoc when attaching skirt to bodice on said dress.)

Guess what those precocious children wore for the entire program?  A cap and gown!  It was so annoying adorable to see them in those outfits after all of that.

Oh well.  I got a cute shot of all three of them afterwards anyways!  

 

Crafty Friday #1

 

I promised the kids that I would do a crafty project every Friday this summer.  Thus Crafty Friday was born.  It all started when we made a list of things we wanted to do this summer on H's last day of school. 

So our first Crafty Friday was June 6th.  We pretended that we were bugs and talked about how big a flower would look to us if we were that little.  Then I showed them some images of Georgia O'Keefe paintings as examples.  Next they drew their flowers with pencil and I traced over it with a sharpie.  Then we went to town with the watercolors.

 J's flower

J lost interest after a while, but H really worked hard on hers.  She added a sun and rainbow in for interest, too.  :)

All in all it was a pretty successful event!  I even had fun making my own flower.

Hats, Hats, Hats!!

I suppose it must be nesting or something, but I have made 4 newborn hats for this baby so far. I love making them because they are so quick and portable.

The first two were plain old yellow and green "don't know what flavor we're having" hats.

But the next two were really fun.  I ventured into the sock yarn world and I love it!  There are so many fun and funky yarns to pick from that it's a little dangerous.  Really fun, though. 

I thought this one could be neutral, but it ended up a little "girly".  So we'll see if that one is a go.

 This one is my new favorite.  It is the Bedtime Stocking Hat from this book here with varigated sock yarn instead.  And on size 3 needles. 

Then after all of the hats for the baby, the big kids demanded their own.  I finished G's first, and it turned out pretty cute.  He likes it anyways.  Its also from the same book.

Then I made H one next.  Hers is also from the same book, but I have to say I don't love it.  The hat itself is a slightly awkward shape.  G is modeling it here because sister was busy. 

J's is still in the works.  It is a little harder for me to knit in the summer.  It seems to hot to be working on a hat.  But I have one all picked out and the yarn a-waiting, so it'll be going soon!