Tree of Seasons Gets Hoppy

Last year Easter was so early that I never made a scene for my tree of seasons.  So this year I decided to 'hop' on it (excuse the pun!).  However, it took me two tries.

Here's the first attempt:

There are two things I didn't like.  First, it was too bare.  The scene needed more.  Second, and this has been rattling around in my brain since I first made this scene, I felt the pieces were too small.  I wanted the animals to have more importance than the tree itself, so felt they needed to be larger.  So back to the drawing board!

Here's the second attempt:

Right now the only I would change would be the eggs.  I think they would have popped more if I had just made solid eggs instead.  On the positive side, I love the size of the animals.  They leave less negative space and the detail just turns out better the bigger the the images get.  

I'm really very happy with version, except that now I'm going to have to go back and remake all my other characters!  Oh well, I'll tackle it one month at a time.  Next month, I'm making a new birthday scene since Rowan will be turning 3!

In other random news, there's a lot of new babies arriving in the next few months, including my first niece/nephew!  So I'm thinking about making some burp clothes with cute appliqués on them.  Maybe that will be a new line for my shop!

Catching Up With Mickey

Ages ago I started working on a Mickey Mouse themed quiet book for Rowan.  Off and on again I've slowly been plugging away at it.  Here's the pages I've finished so far:

First page

Velcro the clubhouse together

Page 2

The buttons are sewn on the page

Page 3

Page 4

Goofy even has his signature pineapple underpants!

Page 5

Page 6

Velcro the different hats on Donald

Page 7

I used faux fur for Daisy's ponytail

Page 8

Finger puppets!

This is one of Rowan's favorite pages so far!

Page 9

The puzzle pieces attach with velcro.  However, I wish I had used a different image for the puzzle.  It's actually trickier than you'd think!

Page 10

Toodles has glue, a screwdriver, a hammer, and of course, the mystery mouse-ka tool!

Page 15

(No I didn't miscount, there's 4 pages I haven't finished yet.)

Practice your numbers

Page 16 & 17

There's the shoe garage, mistletoe mountain, the sandy desert, and Mickey Lake.  

The fact that I know all these places explains why my brain can no longer retain useful information.

Page 18

This is currently Rowan's all time favorite page.  He loves going fishing for gooey fish!  

There's a magnet inside the 'hook' and those are paper clips sticking out of the fish.

There's still 4 more pages to go, and thankfully those aren't quite as detailed as some of the above pages.  Of course, there will be a cover, too.  

Sadly, I will not be selling these books in the future.  While it hasn't been particularly difficult to make, it's pretty time consuming.  Oddly, most of the time is spent just cutting out all the little pieces!  My plan, however, is to eventually sell a pattern with instructions.  When I get it all ready, would anyone like to test it out for me and see if it makes sense?  Pretty place?  With cupcakes?

Pretty Room Update #3

I finally got the pom-pom trim I ordered in the mail and went to town with it!  It's cute and a bit kitschy.  I love it!

I added the pink trim and some interfacing to my valence.  If I had been thinking, I would have interfaced it to begin with.  Without the interfacing, the light would show right through it!

The pink is a bit brighter than the pink on the fabric, but it matches the lampshade and the spray painted cork board frame and thread rack.

The white trim on the lamp really ups the cute factor!

I'm seriously in love with the pom-pom trim and keep finding myself wondering what else in my house needs some!

The next item I think I want to tackle for the room are some fun pillow shams.  I just need to figure out what I want to put on them.  Any ideas?

Mr. Giraffe's Wild Ride

A few months ago Rowan finally figured out how to ride his tricycle, and now that's about all he wants to do!  In fact, he's gotten so fast that for Christmas Walt got me a Razor scooter so I could keep up with me.

I'm not going to lie, that thing is really fun to ride! 

Now the problem we keep running in to is that Rowan likes to pick up "treasures" on his rides, but neither one of us has any place to keep them.  (By treasures I mean rocks, sticks, and pinecones.)  I decided he needed a basket to put his goodies in.

A least a year ago, I found this pin on Pinterest:

I knew it would come in handy down the road.  So I pulled it out and poured over it.  I decided it would be doable, all I needed to do was tweak the straps for the handle bars.

So yesterday I set out to get started.  Low and behold, I actually had all the supplies all I needed!  So I got busy, and sure enough, I managed to get it done by the end of the day.

I'm really pretty impressed that it works on his little trike!  And I think when he transitions to a bike, we can move it onto that.  The biggest plus, Mr. Giraffe (Rowan's lovey) fits in!

Rowan was one excited little boy when he realized Mr. Giraffe could come along with him now.  

I think I might appliqué Rowan's name in Red across the front.  It needs a little something yet…What do you think?

Hooked On You!

Rowan and I go to a Mommy and Me preschool every week and this last week we had our Valentine's Day party.  We're encouraged to bring Valentine's to pass out if we'd like to and I also like to do something a little different and crafty ;)

While stalking Pinterest, I found this pin:




I loved the idea, but obviously giving twenty different two year olds a BUCKET of worms isn't a good idea.

So I tweaked the printout a little bit and put 4 worms in a little baggie and stapled the printable to the top of it.  Super easy and quick!

I'm not sure about the other kids, but I know Rowan loves gummie worms!  Now to start scheming for next year's Valentines!

Craft Room Fix-up #2

As I've been working in my new Pretty Room, I've discovered that my closet was once again sub-par.  Funny how your needs and preferences change over time.  I found myself wanting more baskets to sort my fabric scraps better and more shelf space to just be more organized in general.

The baskets were easy enough, just a quick trip to Wal-Mart to take care of that.  The shelves looked a bit more complex.  Then it hit me:  I had extra shelves stashed in the back of Rowan's closet!  Not long after we moved into our house, my parents came out and helped us finish out the closets in the craft room and Rowan's room (both closets where completely bare).  We bought two Rubbermaid kits, but ended up having a few shelves left over.  I knew they'd come in handy down the road!

So one evening while Rowan was tricycling in the garage while Walt was working on some electrical work out there, I holed myself up the Pretty Room and ripped in to the closet.

Here's the before pic:

Note the old, yucky yellow paint above the closet.  Bleh!  

Here's the after pics:

I ditched that bottom bar and added more shelves which really opened things up.  I also just rearranged things in general.  Now I don't cringe when I open the doors!

I also made one other slight change.

I switched the order of the two boxes on the left and added the white frilly frame around the top one.  It's from IKEA and I had been using it in my living room, but since I redid the main wall in there, a whole bunch of frames opened up!  Not a big change, but adds a fun little pop!

Next up for the room, added the pom fringe to the valance and the lamp!

The BIG Valentine Craft

Last year around this time I came across a great tutorial for a Valentine's mailbox complete with mail on the great blog Imagine Our Life.  However, I thought Rowan was a bit too young, so I saved it for this year!

After quite a bit of prunching (that's a term my gramma used to use for messing around), and only having to rip out one little bit, I finished it in time for V-day!

There's canvas inside the mailbox to give it a little body.  The mailbox is stitched together with the blanket stitch.  After this project, I think I've finally mastered that stitch!

The stamps are removable with velcro.  The envelopes also seal with a dab of velcro.

The flag on the side of the mailbox actually moves up and down.  It's a little floppier than I'd like, but it works!  On the blog, she used fabric that goes through the printer to print off cute little letters with pictures that were stitched to the felt letters.  I cheated and just drew squiggles with some black puffy paint :)

My favorite piece is the cookie that slides into the heart envelope.  It's got seed bead 'sprinkles' and a little stuffing to make it look extra yummy.  Rowan loves to munch on it!  He informed me that Gramma Nin sent it to him.

Rowan and I are both really happy with how this one turned out!  Now on to finishing my valentines for his school party and maybe some creme filled cupcakes...