First Home Ec project!

I’ve been a bit of a slacker lately with my online classes.  Don’t know if my brain just isn’t into it because I’m not in school right now and it’s still vacation or what, but I managed to get my act together and finish the tote project we were assigned in Home Ec.  Actually, not only did I finish it, I finished it twice!!  I decided to make the boys bags for when we go to the library.  I also thought they’d be a good place to keep the library books during their stay in our house so I can find them easily when it’s time to return them.  But now I’m thinking these bags are so cute they’d make great overnight bags too.  I used my cricut to cut out some big letters on cardstock and used those as a template to cut the felt.

I did make this a few days ago, LA included the tutorial from her blog as a bonus in the class, but I’ve been making those for months so it doesn’t really count as part of my ‘homework’.  I added the rick rack to be fun, and cause myself some headache, I still haven’t perfected the use of that stuff!

My first zippered project!

I went downstairs last night to make something that was consuming my brain.  I did the usual, ‘oh I’ll just work through 1 show and then go to bed’ and as usual didn’t go to bed until hours later.  After completing enough to get my creation out of my head inspiration struck while looking at some of my new lovely fabric scraps.  Originally I wanted to attempt the boxy pouch but quickly realized none of my scraps were the right measurements.  So I ventured off on a journey to make a lined pencil case type thingie.  And boy did it turn out to be quite the journey!!

After much stitch ripping, brain scrambling and muttered potty mouth words I have a very sweet and cute Snow White zippered pouch!  I even got fancy and stitched one of my new labels into it.  Shout out to Jennifer for those wonderful little labels by the way.

I only had the one zipper, there was a trip to the fabric store this morning.

The truth is out, my child is a robot.

While Nate was napping on Sunday Wesley and I got a little creative.  I cut the diaper box into a robot costume for him to play with.  We covered it in some foil so he’d be all silver a shiny.  Little did I know what I was getting myself into.  When I asked him if he wanted to come with me to the craft store he said yes and asked to bring his ‘robot box’.

We picked up some decorations for the front (buttons and stickers) and back (stripes aka ribbon).  Then once Nate woke up we headed over to my Aunt’s house to visit with my cousin for a bit while she was in town. My Aunt’s dog was not impressed with the outfit.  Sorry it’s blurry, robots move fast!

Wesley asked for some cheese and crackers and then was presented with the problem of trying to eat them while being a robot!

Later I had to run out for some milk and other things and robot Wesley tagged along once again. *sigh*

My 4 simple goals, at last.

I too jumped on the blogsphere bandwagon and decided to join in on Elsie’s 4 simple goals (before 2011). Then I sat around in a panic wondering what the heck I was going to choose to accomplish!

I think I’ve narrowed it down.

1.  Be more present in everything I do.  Mostly when I’m with the kids, the dishes can wait.

2. Read books in bed again, before sleepy time.

3. Take time for just me more often.

4. Try to take awesome photos.

My kids created and photographed by me.

Other nice fancy pants photos borrowed from We Heart It (click images for link to source).

Girly Handmade Beginnings pants this time!

I was so happy to get to pick out some fun and girl-ish stuff to make for the lovely baby Samantha.  I also got fancy and appliqued some t-shirts to go with the reversible pants.  Needed a nice thoughtful gift and a break from being a pillow factory.

You can’t really see but there are little brown, pink and white birds on the first pants.  I added some brown with white polka dot fabric to the inside to make rolling up the pant legs more fun.  On the second pair of pants I actually cut the leg shorter and added that bank of green apple fabric so when she grows bigger and can’t roll up the pant legs they’ll still look like they have a fun contrasting cuff.

Now I just have to get her counting book all done!

Vintage sheet fun!

My in laws are doing some renovating and I noticed some old sheets in the basement protecting the wine from all the dust.  So I went ahead and asked for them!  They’re a little beat up, used for painting drop sheets in the past it appears but I’m hoping to find some usable chunks of fabric.

I’m hoping I can get a skirt out of those, or at least one of them.

This one is just awesome!  It was stuffed into a vent in the ceiling and appears to have some moldy spots on it hopefully I can still get some fun use out of it.

Curse you Handmade Beginnings, and my creative brain!

I’ve been crazily crafting lately!  I think of something, make it, and as I’m finishing or ironing or stitching new ideas about it pop into my mind, modificiations/enhancements/things to change . . . OR just a whole other project idea entirely!! It’s hurting my head.  It’s also starting to take it’s toll.  Last night, despite promising myself, ‘just 1 more show while I craft’ I ended up heading to bed at about 1am.  Which is ok if your 19 month old doesn’t wake you up at 6:20 :/  I’m hoping I can just keep going until my sleep in day on the weekend, at this rate it will need to be Saturday.

So here are some of the things occupying my time.

I’ve also been working on passport covers.  Not sure what lead me in that direction, I suppose I want to travel.  In the past 5 years I’ve been to so many places – Cuba, the Netherlands, Egypt, England (a few times), France, Germany, Spain on the last day of school everyone was asking me where we were going over the summer and I said ‘nowhere’.  People were surprised.  We were in England and Spain last December but I hadn’t returned to work yet so they didn’t really know about it.  So I suppose instead of traveling this summer I’ll feel like I am and create us some cute passport pockets, and some for my shop!

Made these for my boys, the print is super cute it’s all full of Canadian things, maple leaves, beavers, moose, fish, and landscapey things it’s super fun.  I’m making Nate some reversible pants out of it as well.

Initially I made this one for me but now I’m amending my design and might have to create another one for me.

The little cut out felt is for a monogram but I’m not sure where to place it without covering a cute animal peeking out!

More crafty book must haves

Oh August release dates, what will you do to my credit card?

*sigh*

Finally a beginning to the Handmade Beginnings projects.

Finally decided to take some time to tackle a project from Handmade Beginnings. I vowed to use things I had on hand so while they aren’t as colourful as the ones in the book they’re equally as cute once they’re on my little sweetie. I used some IKEA fabric and some red with little white polka dots and just plain yellow.

It’s been pretty hot lately so Nate sort of objected when I snagged him to put some pants on for a photo op. So it only lasted a few shots. I had to distract him with toys and stealing his suckie to get him to stretch up for a nice back shot.

The instructions were really easy to follow.  I was surprised by the way they laid out the patterns, to save paper I understand, and I had to tape it all to a window and trace the pieces onto graph paper.  I went with the 24 month pattern, even though Nate’s only 18 months, they’re a little big so they’ll fit him for a while.  I turned the cuffs up twice so they wouldn’t be too long.  He was napping when I was finishing them up so I used Wesley as my model.  The pants would fit him perfectly if there was another inch or two on the bottom.  I’m hyped to make some more.

Kool Aid jammer beach bag fun!

Someone at work mentioned she had attempted to sew juice pouches and kept breaking needles.  I happily offered to make her the bag she couldn’t make herself.  So I sat down to construct a bag and liked it so much I made myself one too!

It’s absolutely ginormous and can hold everything you need to head to the beach/park/swimming.  I’ve carried mine back and forth to work, swimming with the kids and yes, to the beach!  It’s great for things that are wet, like your water bottle that gets all condensation-y, or your wet swim stuff.  I used black nylon for the straps and I made them really big, I bought about a  metre/yard and just cut it in half to make 2 straps.