The Newborn Pics

My husband took these beautiful pictures of Elsie when she was 5 days old. Now she is a month old and like 3 times this size... (she says in wistful mommy voice.) Ok, not really, but she is getting pretty big. I should probably start taking her picture every month next to the same potato for comparison... or something cuter.

Thanks for indulging me :)

Tutorial: Spool Stacker Toy

If you are here visiting from The Long Thread, good morning and welcome! (I guess the rest of you are welcome too.)

The Long Thread was one of the very first sewing and craft sites I ever found and checked in on regularly. Ellen is a sewing guru, and her site is fun and stylish. So when she asked me to participate in her HandMayde series this month, I was pretty excited.

This week is all about kids. Today I'm sharing a project that your kid can help you make, and then play with long after. And you get to repurpose all those empty thread spools.

If you are like me, you hang on to all your empty spools and have no idea why. Mine have been collecting in a little pile by my sewing machine for some time. Not you? If you are not that neurotic, then start hoarding now!

And if your two-year-old is like mine, he loves his old wooden (or plastic) ring stacker toy, but it's become way too easy for him to do. This version is more of a challenge to toddler coordination, and it adds color-sorting to the fun.






So let's get started.

You will need:
1. Masking tape
2. Contact paper
3. Kid paints (4 colors) and paintbrush or sponge
4. Chunk of wood at least a couple inches deep. Mine is 2 x 10 inches. You can use what you find or buy a piece from the craft store.
5. Four wooden dowels small enough to fit thru your spools. I bought this six pack of white ones at Michael's for a couple bucks.
6. A drill
7. Plastic thread spools, I used 12.

Paint: This is the fun part your kid gets to help with. To prep, cut 4 pieces of contact paper about the size of notebook paper. On the side that is the top of the actual contact paper, not the backing, stick down 3-4 long strips of masking tape. We are using the contact paper for this because it will be easy to get the masking tape off after it's painted. Tape the sheet down to your work surface (I use an old cutting mat for messy things like this.) and let your kid go to town painting, one color on each sheet.

Help them to cover the tape strips pretty well. Hendrix only made it through the first three colors before losing interest, so I finished up the yellow for him. He hates yellow anyway, it's the only color he refuses to learn! (I originally did 5 strips of tape, but discovered you really don't need that much.)

While he was painting those, I was also painting the dowels in each of the colors we used. 

Drill: Next put four evenly spaced holes in your wood block about halfway through. (Who am I kidding, I had my husband do this.) Make sure your holes aren't too big to hold the dowels snugly. You don't have to be too precise about the placement, just be sure they are far enough apart that a spool could be on each one and have space in between.

Decorate spools: Take all your lovely naked spools and remove all the stickers off of the ends.

Make sure all the paint is completely dry and then you can peel up the masking tape easily, and it will still be very sticky.

Wrap up the spools, making 3 in each color. I think the texture of the painted tape is pretty cool looking. 

How fun do all these colorful new stacking blocks look?

Stick your dowels in the wood and the new toy is ready for stacking and sorting. Hendrix has loved playing with his all week. (Of course, I supervise so that he doesn't have any bright ideas like using it as a landing pad while jumping off the couch.) He's always very proud after he successfully gets all the spools on.

I've also been thinking of some fun ways you could use tape painted this way- pretty packaging and gift wrapping, kid-art displays, rotating photo galleries, more colorful memos and reminder notes... I'm sure you could think of lots more. It's a good alternative to shelling out the cash for specialty tapes. 

Thanks for reading everyone, and have fun with your repurposed spools and pretty painted tape!

Eric Carle style cards

I'm a bit late in posting our little Mother's Day project for the grandmothers, but it's something you could fit to any occasion or just a fun art project.

Everyone loves Eric Carle books. He does his illustrations by making collages of paper painted in different colors and textures.

So first we did some painting. (Actually the Mr. did this with Hendrix while he let me sleep in, his own idea. Yeah, he's pretty good.)

Then I cut out circles and various flower shapes from his paintings. The textures look so cool on these. 

Then he picked the flowers he wanted to put on each card and painted glue on the back with a paint brush.

I drew the stems and added the ribbon and a cute picture. I think they were a hit!

Has anyone ever been to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art? I would looooooove to go. We are going to Boston in July, but I don't know if I could convince the rest of my family to make the 2 hour drive. If you've been, would it be worth it?

KCWC Day...um... so far.

I managed to squeeze in some sewing for KCWC on 2 days this week... that's it. But I don't feel bad because, A) I have a newborn and I require naps, and 2) I've made a lot of articles of clothing for both the kids lately, it's pretty much all I've been sewing.

I made H two pairs of summer pajamas. I got the fleece really cheap at Joann's and it's been sitting around for a while, so I needed to use it. I'm not crazy about it at all, but it's good enough for PJ shorts. Except, maybe it isn't? The selvedge of the fabric had a lovely little message saying it isn't intended for children's sleepwear. I'm such a rebel.

Oooooh. Now I remember why I usually just photograph the clothes I make hanging on the wall. It's because 2 year olds are impossible to take photos of. Especially when it's always rainy. And also, they hid your real camera in a dresser drawer for two days and you only have your phone to work with.

No, this isn't a potty training activity. I promise that brown thing is just a felt kiwi. 

By the way, did you know fleece refuses to stick to fusible webbing? Me neither. We do now. 

And of course, he's still rocking his Easter seersucker. Look at those muscular toddler legs!

And just because she's pretty adorable, and doesn't want to be left out...This is where she slept at my parents' house last weekend, in a little cradle my grandfather made for me as a baby. Presh.

Easter Outfits in the Hospital

Easter morning in the hospital didn't turn out to be such a bad thing. The Easter Bunny brought our baskets straight there, which was nice of him. And mom and dad got to be lazy while all the grandparents got Hendrix dressed and took him to church. Well, I don't know if it's called being lazy when you've been up every 3 hours in the night. Either way, the doctors were eager to let people go home so they signed off on Elsie and I both, and we were home by early afternoon. I'd say bringing home the sweetest brand new little girl is a pretty good Easter.

This is what my neurotic self was working on last Thursday afternoon, the day before we were supposed to report to the hospital for a c-section at 6am. It probably would have made more sense to be packing so I wouldn't be up until 12 doing that, but I have priorities. 

The seersucker shorts I made using MADE's pants pattern, and I lined them with an old gray t-shirt. The bow tie I made like Prudent Baby's version, only I put velcro on the band instead of one of those fancy tie slides. Shirt and shoes are from Target.

Elsie wore the first dress I made her, but I didn't get any great pictures of them together. 

Alright mom and dad, this hospital hallway photoshoot is lame. Let's eat candy. 

3 Boy Shirts

So have you seen the little solid and striped tees Target has right now for $5? I bought a bunch and have been having a blast dressing them up, mostly with a stack of mine and Nick's old tees. Mucho-score-age. 

First up is the obligatory "big brother" shirt. We parents sure love to put things on our kid's clothes that they won't understand. And me, I like to abbreviate things to make them even harder to understand. I even thought about making it say "bro-ham" or "brosef" like Jack Black calls Will Ferrell in his little Anchorman cameo. But that would have just confused most everyone and made our parents and grandparents question our moral bearings and worldviews...Hendrix is just going to like it because it has "shark attacks" on it. 

The words are freezer paper stenciled, and the wave part is a graphic that I just painted real quick. Just lying, it was already on another shirt. Then I slapped on a couple sharks.

This shirt you might remember being modeled on game day. The thing is, sports team apparel for kids is WAY expensive. Much more than I would ever pay for an article of clothing that is going to get popsicle stains all over it, or maybe even puked on. I found a Reds shirt at a thrift store a long time ago and put the logo from it onto this shirt about 6 minutes before we walked out the door to head to the Reds game. (p.s. That day was their first loss of the season so far. We always seem to have that effect on them.) 

This last shirt didn't turn out exactly as planned. When Nick saw it he said it looked like something Randy Savage would wear. (?) Then he asked if I was a promotor of Chevron now. (Don't get him started on the system.) The technique is inspired by this shirt, which of course looks perfect and cute and easy to pull off...

But only the top green chevron part is curling up to achieve the desired effect. After some quick pondering, I figured out that this is because I should have sewn the other two chevron panels opposite side down. Knit t-shirt material always has a side that curls up on the edges you cut into... D-oh. 

Maybe it will still curl up the more times I wash it, who knows. It's still his favorite color and cute enough to play outside in. I'm just glad the poor kid got something made for him in the midst of all these dresses and pink things. Just two more days until we meet Elsie Morgan! Squeeeeee!!!!

Two Years Old

Yesterday my Hendrix Gray had his second birthday. We opened a few little gifts, went on a sunshine-y walk, spent most of the day with great friends, and grilled out for dinner.

Today, we took him to his first Reds game since he was just tiny. He was mesmerized by the players and the big screen and the riverboats... for about an inning and a half. Then he had other matters to attend to.

Like trying hard to look just like Daddy.

...trying even harder to look just like Daddy,

 and taking bites out of a helmet sundae that are way too big in an attempt to find all the green sprinkles.

He was also really good at clapping ferociously when everyone else did, dancing to all the hip-hop songs, and being terrified of Gapper the mascot. I don't think I could love this kid any more... until tomorrow.  

An Only Child

I get more excited every single day to meet our little girl. I really can't wait to hold her and kiss her and put a face on her. It's going to be the best ever. But I'm also realizing that this last month of pregnancy is someone's last month as our only kid, our favorite little boy. We are savoring the days together. It's weird how we can't imagine loving another little person as much as we do him. We know it's going to happen, it's just hard to imagine. And it's going to be pretty great. 

Funny Valentine

Do you ever make something that comes out so goofy looking it kind of becomes cute again? That's how I feel about this hippo-like valentine stuffie I made for H.

It's big enough to hug and has belting arms with velcro so it can hug you back. Well, that's mostly so I could hang it in various spots around the house today for Hendrix to find. The eyes are vintage buttons from my grandmother's collection, and you can't see in the picture too well, but the legs have Wizard of Oz characters on them, you know, because hippos love that movie. 

There's a pocket on the back for little Valentine's Day treasures for him to find each time. This morning when he woke up, the Vday Fairy Godhippo had brought a new little Cheetah. He's big into cheetahs lately. 

Maybe the Fairy Godhippo will visit every year? Who knows. I am so not into Vday, but I can definitely get into making it fun for the kids. I'm sure I will also have more fun with it when they are in school and we get to craft Valentines for the classmates. My mom thought it was a little crazy that I got Hendrix gifts and nothing for my actual Valentine. He's a server in a fancy schmancy restaurant, so Vday means one thing- busiest night of the year. He'll be making that money tonight and I'll probably be sewing up Baby Girl's crib bedding. We are romantic like that.

Most of the fabric I used was from a scrap exchange I did with Tara of SewTara. (By the way, I still don't think she has got my package yet and we sent them on the same day. She lives in Canada, so the Canadian postal service wins. So they have that and Justin Bibber going for them.) She sent me all these cute scraps, plus a lovely little pincushion she made. It was really fun to do a scrap exchange because everything I got is pretty different from the fabric I normally buy. I always love the Japanese prints and cutesy animal fabrics I see on the internet, but I just don't spend my money on them. Now I have some of my own. I'll have to figure out some more scrappy projects to use these up on.



Happy VDay!