Recycling and Repurposing

I'm showing this picture for Sassy Pricilla because she wanted to see the secret compartment books I made. They're in the right of the picture, and the open one has some trinkets we put in for my nephew. The dress was made from an old men's polo shirt, and the little totebag was my rescue of a pajama pants pattern gone bad.



I made this little tree from Martha's tutorial with the papers cut out for the secret compartment book.



We still have lots of papers left from the books (I made the books for two nephews), and I was inspired by Sassy Pricilla's post on a Valentine's bunting and Maya*Made's bunting tutorial. I used watercolor crayons to give it some color.



Yessir, I do believe we have the ugliest curtains and windows on the internet.Do your best to ignore them. And ignore the fact that the bunting is not centered over the window. I love it anyway.

Maya*Made had a tutorial on making a fall newspaper bunting, and we made one in the fall. Here it is after I took it down.

Quadruple Word Score

I've had a spare, not in great shape Scrabble game for quite a while. A few months ago I decided I wanted to make napkin rings out of them.



Hard to believe a family with so many cloth napkins hasn't had any napkin rings.



Took me a long time to figure out how I could do it.



I've always wanted a dremel tool. We got a Lowe's card from my in-law's for the holidays, and I told my husband- I want a dremel! And he picked one up for me. I already had some jewlery wire in anticipation of making them.



And now we have napkin rings.

Easy Peasy Polo Shirt to Kid's Dress

Moooom, I Want To!

Maya wants a lot of things. She hasn't quite learned that we sometimes have to wait for the things we want.

On Tuesday she wanted to sew a skirt she'd gotten too tall for into a pocketbook. Even though I was not really excited about the idea of dragging out the machine, making space on the table, and sewing it, I was even less excited to endure a fit. So I got out the machine.

And? I had a good time. Easy peasy- no pattern, just wing it. Input from Maya on the pseudo-appliques on the front (she asked about embroidering something which would have taken me a few years probably and then said- hey! we can sew a shape on). So nice to sew, and so nice to be present with my kids.

Mo Knows Pigeon!

If you are a kid, have a kid, know a kid, or ever were a kid, you should know Mo Willems. Mo is the author of some of our favorite books: Knuffle Bunny, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, and our hands down favorite, the Pigeon Books. We fell in love with the Pigeon in Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and we squeal whenever a new Pigeon book comes out (I may bust by the time he reveals the title of the one due out in April). My personal favorite is Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late.

Now, the only person who could possibly compete for our love of Mo and the Pigeon is our local children's librarian. Her name is Carrie, and we adore her. Carrie had a baby this year. Since Carrie loves Mo and the Pigeon as much as we do, we thought the perfect baby gift would include the Pigeon. Mo has an awesome tutorial for drawing the Pigeon, so Sam set about making a suitable drawing. I turned the drawing into an iron on for a onesie, and voila! Perfect Pigeon loving baby gift!





I made this one for the baby as well


Carrie loved them, especially the Pigeon one, and even sent us a photo of Isabel modeling it. I'm sure she's a big fan of the Pigeon already.

A wee bit of crafting

I bought this book a while ago. After being delighted by it for many months, I finally sat down and started embroidering on a few onsies I picked up on clearance. There are so many cute ideas for using felt and thread, it is so much fun to look through the book.


I also made a sweet little bunny onsie, but she's wrapped up for a special little girl already.

I made a sweet apron for my sil's birthday from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. Alas, no photos of that either. The fabric was a really awesome Swedish kitchen print from Superbuzzy. My sister sent me her Rowenta iron since she wouldn't be able to use it in Slovakia; lemme tell ya, grandma is right. A good iron makes all the difference in sewing. It was a pleasure to sew the apron because of the crisp ironing. My iron stinks! I might try to give that one to my sister when they come back to the states! j/k!

I've started sketching in my pad again, and have some ideas for a few little projects. It's nice to have short bits of time, as well as the mental space, in which to create again.

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I've been thinking about resilience the past few days. I'm trying to get my thoughts together enough to post something. I'm trying to figure out what is disorder, what is pattern/habit/skill, what's the so-called norm for bouncing back.

Dreams

Recently in my blog surfing I came across this post from Andrea of Superherodesigns. I've written about dreams before, and as you can see I had a hard time really letting go and dreaming wildly. [side note: I'm tickled that I did take and pass the lactation exam, am losing weight, and have begun exercising regularly and enjoying it! I'm thinking that was more of a goal list than a dream list. hmm. ]

However, Andrea's question introduces the idea of knowing you wouldn't fail. With that suggestion, I let my mind free.

If I knew I couldn't fail, I would open a bakery/cafe that had room for people, especially children, to come and create art. I would decorate our home boldly. I would somehow, someway, help to effect change in Burma, so that Aung San Suu Kyi and the entire Burmese people would be free. I would spend a year or more living in Italy, learning to speak Italian fluently, and enjoy la dolce vita.

I've been reading Jen Lemen's blog for a few months now. She is never short on beauty or inspiration. At the beginning of October she posted about dreaming as well. I've started a life list here; I'm only up to 38 so far, but I'm sure I will continue to think of both delicious and practical dreams to fill it up with. How 'bout you?

Reuse- Orbit business card holder

OMSH introduced me to Orbit gum in a swap. I was getting ready to go to a conference and in getting my volunteer business cards together I realized the box is the perfect size for a business card holder.

From this:


To this:



Or this:



All you need is glue (I used mod podge), and paper. On the brown one I used tissue paper, and I love that you can see the orange of the Orbit box through it. On the second one I used scrapbooking paper.

a few crafty bits

Finished the doll for my nephew

A shirred shirt for Maya

Not perfect, but it was fun to learn to sew with elastic thread. from directions in sew simple magazine and House on Hill Road tutorial

A few books I'm loving right now

How is it possible that I haven't added Crazy Aunt Purl to my Google Reader? She's so fabulously funny, and you know I could always use a nudge towards laughter.

All I wanted for Mother's Day...

was to be able to have my sewing machine out all weekend! I sewed up a storm.

First up was this bag from Tiny Happy


I used a piece of silk my sister brought me from Uzbekistan. I thought that it would be too floppy even with a lining, so I used Peltex to give it some body. Something a little flimsier might have been better, but I really like how it came out. I think I will add some sort of closure to it, a toggle of some sort I guess.

Next up, two totes for the kids to use to transport library books to and fro.


I got to use some of my fabrics from Superbuzzy. The pattern for the bags is from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing.

Also from Lotta's book is this tool roll, which now holds my crochet hooks




I winged the case on the right, which is for sewing needles.

And right before my family served me a wonderful dinner, I started this guy


From Joy's Waldorf Dolls 8" Pocket Love Doll, for our new nephew. I made a doll from this pattern for my son when he was about 1.5 years old. I sewed that one by hand, and now that I think of it, it was the first thing I ever sewed. I'm happy to say that it is still intact, and he is still a guest in my son's bed from time to time!

It was a wonderful day, and it was so much fun to sew all of this stuff!

Seeds of inspiration

About a month ago, Susan at West Coast Crafty posted about a book that inspired her in childhood. I too had a set of Childcraft's How and Why Library, and like Susan, the Make and Do volume stole my heart. After Susan posted about it I looked on ebay for a copy, but abstained from purchasing because I couldn't find the Make and Do volume for sale on it's own in the edition that I had as a child. I didn't buy one in April, but knew I'd keep looking.

On Friday I had a few minutes before I needed to pick up the children from school. I went to the local Salvation Army thrift shop. I'm always envious of folks who seem to find the most amazing things when they go thrifting. I've never been so lucky, until last week. I slowly made my way around the store. When I got to the book corner I looked down into a box...which held the Childcraft How and Why Library! It wasn't the edition I had as a kid, but I didn't care. I eagerly snatched up the Make and Do volume. Reader, I paid 50 cents for it! I took it home and looked through it- despite being about ten years younger than the one I had as a kid it is exactly the same.

My heart stopped a second when I got to this page



I stared at this photo for hours as a kid. My mother was not crafty--oh how I yearned to sew this outfit for my dolls! When I told my mother and sister about my book find and my reaction to this page, they both said the same thing "now you can!" And I will ; )

When I was a little girl I always had my nose in a book. Make and Do was one I looked at for hours on end. Another was Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cook Book. Just this afternoon I was reflecting on the impact that these two books had on my childhood and my life. I love cooking, baking, and crafting. And I love doing those things with my children. These two late 1960s books were hand-me-downs from my dad's cousin. I wonder if I would be a different person if these books were not given to me? Who knows. Right now I'm just enjoying my books, and loving sharing these books with my kids.

Fruitful Weekend

I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm thankful for it--somehow I've got my get-up-and-go back!
After some great discussions with my husband on our spring break trip, I've decided for sure to take the IBLCE exam this summer. This is the credentialing exam for lactation consultants. The regular deadline for applying to take the exam is April 30th. As of last week I still had three background courses to take, and I finished them all! Now I'm taking one more breastfeeding education class (all online) and am busy getting all of my paperwork together to send in the application. Like I said, I'm not sure where this feeling came from, but I'm so grateful to be taking care of what needs to be done and just generally feeling 'in the zone.'

In addition to doing this preparatory stuff for the exam, I also did some crafting. I purchased a sweater a few months ago and felted it right away. I just wasn't sure what I was going to create with it. I thought of a small purse, but couldn't decide how to cut the sweater so as to use the cool flowers on it. Finally I remembered the cool Lambkin pattern and realized the flowers would be so cute going across the lamb's back. Et voila! My lambkins:

The eyes are the buttons from the sweater.

I also did some embroidery. I bought some patterns from Sublime Stitching a few months ago after seeing one that Krista was working on. I am relatively pleased with the results, but this is something I definitely want to get better at!

Speaking of get-up-and-go--I really need to scoot out the door and get to work!

Creative Challenge: Yellow

Yellow

This is what popped into my head after I read Tammy's post. I sketched it right away, and then created it with scrapbooking papers and tools.

There was a companion as well- a simple sun, yellow on yellow paper. Unfortunately it didn't scan very well so I'm not posting it. My moon guy and the moon made of cheese are a lot cuter in person than they are via scan too! Wish you all could see them in person.

Flowery Valentine Goodness

I saw these flowers in Wondertime magazine here.
We decided to make them for Maya's preschool class. They look so pretty on our table that I think we'll make more for us to keep.

Another Space Boy, and Yoda too

Here's one I made for my aunt's grandson. I love how he came out.

From December 2006

My son has been itching to learn to sew. Here's his first project. I'm going to start him practicing on the machine as well. One Hour Craft has a great tutorial on teaching a child to sew.

From December 2006

Space Girl

I bought Hilary Lang's Space Boy and Robot Put-together pattern book as soon as she listed it for sale. The kids decided they'd like to have a space boy first, and set to work picking their fabrics. I'm almost done with Sam's as well.

I'm sure we'll be doing robots after we get back from NY in January :)

ps, here's Sam's

Goodness, it's been a while

I think about this blog a lot. Still not sure what I want it will be--just for me, or for others as well. I'm trying just to say 'evs' and just make it for me.

I'm doing a lot of crafting lately. My felt bag still awaits its handles, and the scarf I started crocheting is lying dormant. But, I've made one doll for my nephew who just turned one, have almost finished a cape for my niece, and am starting on a spacegirl doll for my daughter. The fabric for my son's spaceboy is cut out. If I have time I will also make one for my aunt's grandson, so I have something to give him when we go to NY. And I'd love to make a waldorf style mermaid for my daughter. We'll see; if I keep going like I have tonight I can finish everything.

Blogs-a-million

I happened to be looking for something in my Firefox history the other day. I noticed that almost every website I've looked at in the past month has been a blog.

My obsession right now is craft blogs. I love making things, and I'm so inspired by seeing what other people are making. While perusing who knows how many sites, I came across these great felted sweater bags: Wee Wonderfuls, Whipup.net, Knitty, and Craftzine. I remembered that I have a felted sweater in my fabric stash, and stopped by a thrift store today to pickup two more sweaters to felt. The new ones are drying in my garage, and I'm hoping to piece a bag together in the next few days.

I didn't come across any colorful striped sweaters as I'd hoped, but I think I can put together two cute bags with what I found. Not too many wool sweaters at the store I stopped at, afterall, this is Florida.