Costumes

Well, I am currently going back and forth between working on Christmas presents and making costumes for the girls. We don't celebrate Halloween, but we love dress-up and we were invited to a costume party. I decided that the girls would be Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, characters from a poem of the same name by Eugene Field. That way the costumes could double as pajamas, and my efforts would not be all for a one-night event.

So far, I have finished the night caps and one pair of elf slippers for Big K. I got the pattern from a blog called Maya Made. These make great house shoes!!! I did change a few things. First, I did not have an old sweater lying around, but I did have some fleece left over from a blanket I had made previously, so I used that. I had to draft the pattern a bit bigger for Big K, as she has a larger foot than the pattern. Also, I made dots on the bottom of the slippers with hot glue to create traction. When she first tried them on, Big K almost fell on our slippery stone floor, so I had to remedy that. The glue dots are not as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked, but they were practical and they are on the bottom so anyone who is not a super perfectionist (that would be me!) would not be bothered by them.

I still have to make pajama pants(excuse me, lounge pants) for each girl, finish two more pairs of shoes, and applique long-sleeved shirts to match before next Friday. Looks like I'll be pulling some late-nighters!

Felt Addiction

Okay, so I have officially become addicted to using felt to create things. Buzz Lightyear was a hit with my kids. Since I posted that one, I was requested to make a Junior to accompany Bob and Larry in their Veggie Tales collection.

For Christmas, the girls will be getting quite a few felt items, along with the dollhouse previously mentioned, and some other odds and ends for their stockings.
In fact, I found this great store on Etsy that sells super cute patterns. The girls are always wanting to use my makeup (at 2 and 4!!!) so I decided to make them some of their own. I looked up felt makeup and found this from GulfCoastCottagePDF. I am definitely going to be buying a few of these patterns. They are so cute!!!

On that note, here are some great links to patterns for items that would make great Christmas gifts (some of them have items you can buy if you're not the crafting type). I will keep posting links as I find them.

http://www.bitofwhimsydolls.com
http://feltorama.blogspot.com/

Finally on Etsy

I finally listed something on Etsy yesterday. I have been really nervous about selling my stuff, but, hey who couldn't use a little extra cash right now? I should be listing some other things shortly, including some children's play tents and maybe a softie doll or two. I have also been thinking about felt crowns. Check out my Etsy mini on the sidebar!

oh, and here is my latest felt creation. This stemmed from a wrong turn down a toy aisle full of shiny, plastic Buzz Lightyears. I paused, looked at my children, and out it came, "Mommy, can we have that?" OH NO!!!! "Then can you make us one?" Wow, I love the fact that they think I can make anything, but it is a little intimidating sometimes to approach these projects. My kids definitely push my ability limits, but that's a good thing, right!?

Out of the Loop

Okay, so I have definitely not kept up with my blog like I promised myself. Very reminiscent of the diaries I started every New Year throughout my adolescence that typically fizzled out about March. Not going to happen here!!!

The birthday party went well. I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. A received many nice gifts. It was so nice that everyone was on board or at least respected our choice to provide our children with simple, non-toxic, environmentally-friendly toys. So thanks to everyone!!!
It is hard to narrow down what her favorite gift was, and A both have enjoyed all of the gifts. Little M spent most of the party sleeping. I had bought her the cutest organic cow print onesie for the party, but you can't make a 4-month old live by your schedule!

Beyond the birthday party, I have been working on getting the girls school room set up. We've decided to go ahead and start K on her kindergarten curriculum a year early as she already pretty much surpasses all of the requirements. My sister and I painted the room this past Saturday. Each of the 4 walls is a different color. The colors are red, blue, green, and yellow. Now I need to get back in there and do touch up work on the paint, paint the furniture (which I got an awesome deal on at www.edswoodcrafts.com), get everything organized, and get all of the visual aids hanged.

Got sleepy kids, so more catching up tomorrow. Here's a picture of my latest project. The girls wanted Veggie Tales dolls, and they got them!

Something Else

Amidst all of the birthday hoopla, other things have actually been happening in my life. Shocking, I know!!! One of those things has been searching for ecofriendly, safe bathtub toys for the girls. They LOVE to play in the bath, but when I found out about BPA and phthalates, and all of those other wonderful things they have been poisoning our children with to save a buck, I tossed their toys and have been struggling since then to find replacements. Most bathtub toys these days are plastic. I mean, it's cheap and waterproof. What I did find in all of my research is rubber ducks that are actually made of (you'll never guess!) RUBBER! I was thrilled as a large portion of the toys I had tossed were rubber (and by that I mean phthalate-laden plastic) ducks. I ordered the real rubber ducks (actually called The Original Rubber Duck) from www.tinybirdorganics.com
The price was reasonable and shipping was free. On that note, I will definitely being doing business with this company again. I ordered the ducks on Thurs. night and received them Sat. morning. Talk about great customer service!!

The ducks are made by a company called Rich Frog. I went to their website to check them out and found that they carry many bathtub toys, and according to the company safety statement they are a BPA and phthalate-free manufacturer https://www.richfrog.com/pdf/SafetyBrochure.pdf Check them out!!! Their toys seem reasonably priced though I have not ordered from them directly as of yet and am not sure of shipping costs/time.
I'll let you know when I do order.

ALMOST THERE!!!!

Quilt, check! Birthday outfit, check! Still have quite a bit to do, but I am definitely getting there on schedule. I still have to finish one more present (an I Spy Bag). It is mostly done, I just have to shrink some shrinky dinks and put them in, then stitch it up. Also, 2 more kiddos were invited in the meantime, so back to the sewing machine for goody bags. Almost all of the party favors are complete. I will be making the crayons with the Toy Story mold I bought on Ebay this weekend.

After that, I have a banner to make and some prizes for the games. Beyond that, I just have to get the food and house ready, then it is PARTY TIME! YEE HAW! Sorry, I have been spending a great deal of time focused on a cartoon cowboy lately.

I Might Be Crazy

I think I might be a little on the crazy side, but I'm not sure. Would you call it crazy to decide at 11PM that you simply have to get a tiered skirt done for your child right away; then stay up until 1AM to do it? Anyway, still trucking along with the birthday stuff. The quilt front is sewn. Now, I have to add the 3 b's (batting, backing, and binding)and outline all of the squares.

I will be getting out in the garage later today to build the ring toss game. I am excited about that as I have not done a woodworking project in quite some time now. Gotta get the dust off those tools!

Getting Ahead

I am actually starting to get ahead of the game with the birthday party now. I finished putting the invitations together and cutting out the pajamas yesterday. Today, I mailed the invites, so there is no backing out of this thing now! Just kidding! I also finished the pajamas. The shorts turned out well, and the shirt turned out okay. It was my first attempt at applique, and it got a little tricky around the boot area. I think I would probably use a different technique than the one I chose next time I applique, but, hey, it is all about learning and growing, right!

Centerpieces

Done with those, moving on! Gonna cut it short today, we're headed out for some family time. Then, I have to work on the Woody pajamas I am making.

Sashing

I got the sashing cut out last night. YEAH!!! I am about to start working on the centerpieces. I'll upload pictures once I get them done.

On another topic, we had a blast at book club yesterday. I run a bookclub for 2-4 year olds every Friday at my house. There is a theme every week and we read books, have a snack, a do a craft all revolving around the theme. This week we did the circus because the circus comes to town in July every year. We read some great books including Circus Parade by Harriet Ziefert. That one had some very bright pictures the kids really seemed to enjoy. We ate popcorn and made toilet paper roll clowns. I got the pattern from www.dltk-kids.com They have quite a few simple crafts you can do with things that are lying around the house.

Can't Wait!

Okay, so I have to admit, I didn't get to the sashing last night. One of those things came up where it was only going to take "a minute, " two hours later I was headed home with kids still awake at 10:40PM. Oh, well, I did still cross some other things off the birthday list yesterday, so, we'll call it a wash!

In the meantime, I checked my email and got a recommendation from Amazon for Amy Karol's new Bend the Rules with Fabric book. It comes out August 25, and I am there. That's actually perfect because I will be done with the birthday, and I should be done with the book bags I am making for my toddler-preschool reading group I host. So there, it will be great and I don't have to receive it only to gaze at it longingly until I can get to one of the projects, which I know will be great.

22 Days and Counting

I have 22 days left to accomplish all that I need to for Abbey's party. So far, I am staying on the schedule that I set for myself (though I had quite a setback last night when I could not actually find the schedule). I finished sewing the goody bags and I got most of the quilt cut out. Tonight, I will cut out all of the sashing pieces.

Christmas Goals

So in all my spare time (HA HA) I have been thinking about Christmas. We are planning to have a green, handmade Christmas, but there is one store-bought item, or should I say collection of items that I have set my sights on for the girls.

They love the dollhouse that they have, but it will soon be relocated to Gram and Papa's new house. I wanted to replace it with a wooden one along with handmade dolls. I found the perfect dollhouse at Nova Natural www.novanatural.com This started me on the quest of finding the perfect furniture and people (at the right price) to accompany the house. Since my oldest is such a little artist, I wanted to pick some furniture with a bit of color. I chose the Neo furniture collection from PlanToys. I got a great price on it at www.kidsurplus.com . Incidentally, they have a decent selection of natural toys at pretty good prices. For the dolls, I picked the movable dollhouse dolls in the Kathe Kruse line. I shopped around and found the best price at www.grannys.com. Please DO NOT forget the "s" at the end of granny. My sister did and was shocked at the website she was directed to. So PLEASE don't make the same mistake!

Puppet Theatre COMPLETE!

So here are the theatre, puppets, and a matching storage box. I was garage saleing and someone was selling a bunch of cigar boxes. I aired this one out really well and covered it with fabric and ribbon that matched the theatre. The puppets are the Roundup Gang from Toy Story 2. There is Woody (of course), Jesse, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. They are made up of very tiny pieces of felt, marker, embroidery floss, and hot glue. I sewed some flexible organic terry cloth to make the part that actually fits over the finger. What do you think? I hope Abbey likes it!

Abbey's Birthday

So my middle daughter is about to turn 2. She wanted a Woody's Roundup birthday party (you know, from Toy Story 2). Well, let me tell you, Woody stuff is not easy to find. I am making all of her gifts as well as the goody bag treats and the decorations. WOW, have I bitten off a little more than I can chew? YES I HAVE! But, I love it! Who needs sleep, am I right? It is going to be great though! I can't wait. She is getting a Roundup gang quilt, a set of pajamas, a finger puppet theatre with Roundup Gang puppets, and a Roundup-themed I Spy bag. I'll post pics as I finish these projects. The puppet stuff is done, but I still have the rest to go and 3-1/2 weeks left to get it done.

Today, I am working on the goody bags. They are burlap on the outside and bandana on the inside with jute ties and western charms. I got a great tutorial for these lined drawstring bags from happythings:
http://happythings.typepad.com/happythings/2006/04/dsb_301_better_.html