Some Special Brown Fuzzies!

I’ve shown you my Ghosties before (here and here are two versions)… I used to make them A LOT. I sold them in quite a few stores around Seattle. Then the economy started falling apart and a few of my shops started closing and I honestly didn’t feel like finding new shops. Honestly, I had made a lot of these little guys!

But, I love them. As I make them, I turn them right side out and they each seem to have a little something different and a little something funny about them that makes me smile. So making them is always happy! I had a request to make another one and I never say no to a Ghostie!

A good friend is adopting a son (fingers crossed everything goes as planned) and she always gets Ghosties for baby gifts. Of course, her own needs one too! When she called I knew exactly what fabric I was going to use. I already had it in my head and when she mentioned brown, I was floored, because that’s exactly what I was hoping she’d say! This guys face seems a bit lop-sided to me, but the family thinks he’s just right, so he’s staying just like he is.

So this little guy is made of this brown blanket scraps I had received from my ’recycled’ source. (I have an upholsterer friend who gives me all the scraps my husband will let me bring home!) And then I had this pile that was shedding all over my work space, but I hated to throw it away. It’s soooo soft! But all the leftover pieces were skinny strips… Scarf?

So I called my son and asked him if he wanted another Stay Put Scarf and even though he barely wears the other one I made him, he got SUPER excited about this one.

He pulled out all his fabric scraps and wanted to make a patchwork one. I didn’t agree to do the WHOLE thing as patchwork, but we decided to do a little bit. And he picked the scraps and laid out where they were to go!

I used the edging of the blanket for the loop on the scarf.

And I just love this picture of him and how serious he looks. Maybe it’s me being his mom, but doesn’t he look like a real model in this picture? Not just a crazy kiddo??? hehehe…

And if you’re not wearing the scarf, it can always be a blanket for the Ghostie!

 

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Another Kid Designed Momma Made Project

Did you see the last Kid Designed, Momma Made project I did? That one was for my son’s auction… This one is a baby gift!

Last week I was invited to a good friend’s baby shower brunch. It was totally last minute. And it was planned during a week that I was still recovering from surgery and unable to drive. I knew that I couldn’t just run out and buy something. And honestly, I’m not real good at that. SO the other night we were out and my son started drawing….

As he got a little way through his drawing, I knew exactly what I was going to do! This baby coming is the third child in the family. His soon to be middle sister has this little tiny blanket that she carries everywhere! Between that and the drawing, I knew I was going to make the baby brother a little blanket kinda like his sister’s.

The drawing continued, but I knew which part of the drawing would be the one I made. I told my son that I was using his drawing to make the baby a present, but that I wasn’t doing the whole drawing. He was very relieved and said that ‘If you use the whole drawing, it might scare the baby.’ Since the drawing is an alien fighting a ball of fire….

The striped part became the blanket, and the face and hair is stuffed. So it could be a pillow, or it could be a stuffie… It’s up to him to decide! And the ears are just soft little quilted pieces to love on, like the tag dolls that kids love so much!

I love turning kids drawings into reality. Only this time, when my son saw it, he was horrified! IT was NOT AT ALL like his picture, according to him. The hair is not hair, but part of the hat and it’s NOT SUPPOSED to be polka dot!!!! AHHHH!!! Well, I think it looks pretty close to the original drawing and it just so happened that the polka dot was the only soft coordinating fabric that I happened to have on hand… I’m happy with it!

What do you think? Does it look like the original drawing???

 

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A Vertical Starfish Garland DIY

Don’t be too sad, but I hate to say it…. This is my last Christmas present post! Yes, February is halfway over and I’m still chatting about Christmas!

This was a gift for my mom who loves everything beach inspired. And who reads the blog, so I couldn’t write about it before Christmas!

I saw this picture of the vertical starfish garland in Coastal Living in the December issue and pulled the ‘ole, ‘I can make that!’ I immediately tore the page out so I wouldn’t forget. And yes, I do subscribe to Coastal Living. On accident! It was also a present for my mom last year, but I accidentally got my mom and myself an issue. Instead of canceling, I’ve really enjoyed it! Now to decide if I resubscribe??? I already have some more DIY ideas for the beach house (or my mom…).

So off to work I went in my little Christmas workshop! I had the rope left over from our pirate party and some starfish still left over from our wedding. I had given most of them to my mom to decorate her house, so I did have to ask her to bring some back for me to make her present! HA!

Originally I was planning on using just one piece of the rope, but then realized a little more simpler approach! I measured out the length I wanted between the stars and then hot glued the one long length of rope to the back of the starfish. Then I went back around each one and wrapped the rope around the top of it. So it looks like one continuous rope, but… It’s not!

I wonder if she’ll hang it at her house or the beach house??? hmmmm….

It would be fun for an Under the Sea party, too, Huh??? Just a little something different than the typical garland!

 

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A Valentine’s Printable for You

Amidst all the sewing this week, my son and I took some time out to be crafty! We are making Valentine’s!

Quilt inspired Valentine’s that is!

I was totally inspired by S.O.T.A.K. Handmade’s pixelated heart pillow. When I first saw it I thought I’d make a few for Valentine’s gifts, but then realized I might not make it in time…. So instead of sewing it, we decided to glue it!

Consider your self warned though…. If you use my printable you must cut a bunch of 1/4 inch squares. You may think, oh, these are small. Easy! Right? Easy yes, quick no! It took me much longer to cut out all the squares than I thought it would. But once you get them cut…. Fun times! My son decided to take a shower while I finished cutting the little squares and I was still cutting when he got back. I heard him (’cause he’s really loud! Are all 4 year olds this loud???) telling his Dad that he had to get back upstairs to make his Valentine. When he came back he was like, ‘WHAT???? you’re STILL cutting???’ Yes, dear….. I’m still cutting out little bitty, teeny, tiny squares!

But once the cutting was done, we were on our way to some super cool Valentine’s!

As we were starting, I was about to correct my son, yes, he’s 4, and get him to get all the little 1/4 inch squares of paper to align perfect in the grid. Then I breathed, because I can get a little OCD when it comes to details like this, and let him go! And I love how his turned out! Even if it doesn’t fit in the teeny tiny grid! HA!

hhhh

And of course, he loved his role of acting SUPER excited to get mail! I also added a little heart glued to the outside of the envelope. You know I’m a sucker for the wrap around address labels or something, at least, added to the envelope too. So this year, instead of the address label, I’m adding the ‘coordinating’ heart on the outside!

Ready for the printable? I have a few versions!

If I scared you about cutting all those little pieces, you can download the card with it already colored in. With the grid, here. I think the grid gives it a little more of a quilt-y feel.

Or you can download the already colored in version without the grid, here.

And if you are a little on the OCD side like me, and are super excited about cutting all the little pieces, you can download the grid with the ‘gluing guidelines’, here!

Enjoy and Have a great Valentine’s Day!

A Handmade Christmas- Pot Holders

And another thing marked off the to do list!

This Christmas there are a bit more handmade items than in years past. Which is fantastic! I’m actually doing them! But the one problem is my procrastination…. Staying up late the last few days! The good part is, I’m loving the pieces I’m making. I can’t show you too many of them since the gifts are going to people who see the blog… So most of January I’ll be showing what I made for my handmade Christmas!

These pot holders were a lot of fun to make. I don’t think I measured a single thing! Oh, that’s not true. I did measure to make sure that they are square. Otherwise, I just kinda cut until they fit.

Remember the Curtain Are So Easy Tutorial I did this summer? Those curtains were for my Stepmother’s kitchen and I had extra pieces left over. And I knew that they needed to be potholders to go in her kitchen!

The first one I made was the elephant one. The elephant is a recurring theme in their home… Roll Tide! TYpically he’s not yellow, but…I loved this Premier Prints elephant fabric.

Then I made this one with just a simple little quilting design.

And lastly, I made the ice cream bowl one! I was totally inspired by this one from Pink Penquin, which she sells here. I admit, I didn’t buy the pattern. But… I’d recommend buying the pattern so that your’s looks as perfect as hers do and so that you don’t end up with a lop sided bowl like I did. With all that ice cream in my bowl, if it was real, it wouldn’t stand up!

My Dad has a little addiction to ice cream. He has a bowl every night before bed. My Step Mom said that if the ice cream wasn’t in the kitchen, he probably wouldn’t even realize that they had a kitchen! So I thought the ice cream one would be fun!

So, like the magnets, I’m kinda addicted to the pot holders now!

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The Glitter is Out for an Ornament Tutorial

If you’ve been reading since last Christmas, you know that I rarely break out the glitter unless it’s Christmas. It’s out again! And I’ve been making glitter tree ornaments.

I’m doing another swap…. Yes, another one. This one is an ornament exchange! The 5th Annual Handmade Holiday Ornament Exchange hosted by Blu Penny. I’m excited! So originally I joined thinking I’d exchange the tree ornament I made from my son’s designs, but then this idea hit me… You might already know this, but I have a growing collection of brightly colored pointy, cone trees that I decorate with. So then this seemed perfect!

The Idea started with this tree as the final product, but the making of went through a few ideas… The idea came from a bag of wooden spools I picked up at Goodwill and have proceeded to lose. I’m 99% sure I have these spools, but I can’t find them anywhere. Then I found some ‘fake’ spools and this is how I finally decided to make the ornaments.

The materials you’ll need are:

Little Foam cones

Little Wooden Spools

Mod Podge or glue

White Paint

Paint Brush

Glitter, I prefer the super fine glitter

Barbeque Skewers

Ribbon

And not pictured (I forgot) is a Loop Turner

Step 1:  First, I painted the little spools.

Step 2: Push the skewer in through the cone. This is kinda tricky, because it wants to come out through the side. So you have to work it up and straight through the middle.

Step 3: Coat the cone in the Mod Podge.

Step 4: Coat in glitter!!!

Step 5: Glue the spools onto the bottom of the cone. I kept my skewer sticking out of the tree to help locate the right position for the spool. (You can also use a hot glue gun for this part!)

Then you have this great little forest of glittery trees!

Step 6: Pull the ribbon through the spool and the cone.

Step 7: And tie a knot at the bottom of the spool and another one at the top of tree. This covers up that flat top part of the cone.

And Voila! It’s ready to hang on the tree!

I’m totally in love with these trees, but now I have to decide which of my swap partners gets which tree….

Do you decorate with these bright colors? Or are you more or a red and green traditionalist??

Be sure to check out all the ornaments in the ornament exchange flickr group for more inspiration!!

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Free Cookies and Coffee and Crafts and Gifts and Greens Galore!

ok, so I don’t have any cookies and coffee for you, but I can tell you where you can get some!! If you are near Seattle, please try to make it to the The Arboretum Foundation’s beloved holiday sale, Gifts & Greens Galore. Get ready because it’s starting now! The event takes place today and tomorrow,  Friday, December 7, from 12 to 5 p.m., and Saturday, December 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

I was recently invited to attend the sneak preview and it was pretty cool!  I had never been to the event, so I was curious to find out more about it. The invite said crafts so how could I resist??

The annual event is a fund-raiser for the amazingly beautiful Arboretum, right in the middle of our fair city! The sale offers a one-of-a-kind selection of eco-friendly botanical decorations. While I was there donors were dropping off all sorts of beautiful clippings perfect for holiday decorating. The clippings, from both donors and from around the Arboretum,  are all sorted and sold by the pound. Not only can you buy the clippings to make into your own creations, but you can also pick up locally sourced and sustainably harvested wreaths, swags, and garlands.

Isn’t that hydrangea wreath fantastic? it was also made by local volunteers. Love it!

There’s also a great sale to pick up Christmas presents, including these great terrariums! And some great DIY demonstrations:

On Friday at 1 p.m., author and outdoor living expert Debra Prinzing will show shoppers how to create beautiful holiday centerpieces using seasonal, locally grown materials;

Northwest lifestyle and entertaining expert Alexandra Hedin will give a demo on Saturday at 11 a.m. about unique ways fresh greens can be used for the holidays;

Sue Mariotti of The Terrarium Shop on Etsy will show you how to build a miniature terrarium (so hot right now!) on Friday, from 2 to 4 p.m.,

And Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Foundation volunteer craft specialists and educators from UW Botanic Gardens will also host show-and-tell activities during the event, one of which we got to make!

These great little wreaths are made from ivy branches. Since ivy is an invasive species, the event will not be selling any of it, but it can be used in crafting!!! Lisa, the Education Program Assistant at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, was there directing us on making these cute little wreaths. I love my super little simple one. Just a little bit of ivy branches, a pine clipping, a little mini pine cone nut thingy (you can see I’m not real up on my planting terminology) and some ribbon!

I loved seeing all their ideas on different ways to use clippings, from your own home or from their sale, as decorating embellishments! Check out that star place setting. How cute is that???

And thank you so much to The Arboretum’s local coffee roaster. Zoka Coffee, so offering free coffee for the event and to Cougar Mountain Cookies for the delicious cookies. Be sure to taste a little of both while you’re there (for free!)!

We also got to make another cute craft! But I’m saving it ’till tomorrow! Come back!!

And the details again….

The Arboretum Foundation’s beloved holiday sale, Gifts & Greens Galore, returns to the Graham Visitors Center at Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, on Friday, December 7, from 12 to 5 p.m., and Saturday, December 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Kid Designed, Momma Made

Hmmmm…. That almost sounds like a good name for a new business venture… hmmmm….

I’m so excited about this project! I love the little flower fairy doll I just finished up for a little girl from my son’s preschool. Honestly, it was kinda hard to give away!!

Our preschool auction came up not longer after I (I mean Santa and the Easter Bunny) made my son’s Bear and His Best Friend Pear duo. Remember, this was a project I did based on an idea he had. I had a great time putting his ideas together in stuffie dolls. The project turned out so cool that I donated a stuffie project as an auction item for the Preschool auction. It sold and this was the image I got to go on. Drawn/designed by a Pre-K’er.

And this is what came from the drawing. Made by a Momma!

It was pretty fun! I’m usually pretty good at sewing and getting everything right the first time. But I had a few struggles with getting some pieces just right. I made the feet a couple of times before I got them right. and one of them is still a little off, but I feel like it’s pretty close.

I did take one creative liberty…. The original design didn’t have hair on the front of the fairy’s face. I made the face without the hair and it just seemed to be missing something with the crown there and hair in the back… I hope that’s ok…

So what do you think? Add Design Your Stuffies to my Etsy shop??? hmmmm….

 

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Weekend Whims- Spoonflower Cut and Sew Projects

Two things happened recently to remind me of a project I started a few years back and never finished… I had started an ABC of fake animals photographs I had taken… The idea was that it was going to be a book. But of course I had other ideas of what to do with the photos. Like maybe have them printed on fabric and make ABC blocks… Yep! I was gonna do it. And am now excited about finishing it!

oh, yeah, those two things that reminded me about it.. One, I am so excited to have a close high school friend visiting me this week with her family and she is pushing me to get some of my projects done that I’ve been talking about… And two, I saw this great camera bag cut and sew project on Spoonflower this week! And of course, you can’t go to Spoonflower without looking around and I found a few other cut and sew projects that I love!

 

1. So my friend that is visiting has a 2-year-old daughter and she LOVES airplanes! Lucky for her we live under the flight path to the airport… And she loves stuffies, so how perfect is this plane doll design by Tante_Lein? Except I would need to add a tag, because tags are so in these days, at least in the eyes of this 2-year-old!

2. I love the skeleton doll by Happy Sew Lucky ! I think I love it most because it has the pumpkin dress!!

3. All of a sudden yesterday my son started singing this song about Yeti’s. it must have been from a show he watched, but it’s hilarious! After one day he of singing this song he decided he wanted his next birthday party to be a Yeti party! hmmmm… I bet he’d love this Yeti doll from KFay.

4. Speaking of parties, my nephew is about to have a Ninja birthday party. These little ninja guys from Engravogirl would make a great party favor!

5. And the very cool camera bag that started this whole thing…. From Happy Sew Lucky.

Do you all know what Spoonflower is? It’s a company that prints your designs on fabric. So you can design something, upload and sell it. You can buy it just for you or you can put it out for everyone else to buy too. There are some FANTASTIC fabric designs on there! Has anyone uploaded any designs for sell???? Feel free to share your favorite Spoonflower fabric or cut and sew project with us!!

Freezer Paper Stencils, a Tutorial

Another easy peasy tutorial!!

I’m sure you’ve seen the freezer paper stencils… They are all over the kiddie crafting and sewing blogs. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at it for AGES!!! But never have. Until now!! It’s so easy. Really! I love it. I want to make more… But here’s my very first attempt (drumroll…..)

Ta-da!

Do you know the Octonauts?? WE LOVE THE OCTONAUTS! They are really cool. The stories all about under water adventures and tech kids about under water animals. And the graphics are very cool. I love them, my kiddo loves them and even Dad saw them and said, ‘They’re cool!’ So the image is the Octonauts logo. An Octopus, which I also love….  Since I love octopi and the kiddo loves Octonauts, I decided to make him one.

Step 1: Gather Materials.

Freezer paper (of course…), which you can purchase at most local grocery stores.

Image

Exacto Knife

Paint Brush (I used a roller, but that’s up to you. I liked the roller….)

Fabric Paint (I used screen printing paint only because that’s the white fabric paint that we had at home, but I’d probably recommend a plain ‘ole fabric paint. The screen print paint is a little thicker than regular fabric paint.)

T-shirt or some item of clothing.

Step 2: Cut out you image. Layout your image on the freezer paper. You want to cut so that the shiny side of the paper is down.

Step 3: Iron the freezer paper onto the t-shirt with the shiny side towards the fabric. The freezer paper will stick to the shirt. I typically have my iron on HOT, and I left it there for this project!

Step 4: Paint! And let it dry. I’m a bit impatient when it comes to things like this, sooooo… I used a hair dryer to help it dry faster!

Step 5: Then just peel away the freezer paper!

Step 6: Set the paint per the paint instructions.

Wah- la!

Has anyone else made these? What image did you use? And if you haven’t made this, what image would you use?

 

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