Ella's first school valentines

With Ella in preschool now, she had her first Valentine's Day card exchange. Here are the cards that she made:

I got the idea off of pinterest and with a little alterations we came up with our own version. Ella colored all over the red paper, then I cut them into hearts. I printed out hearts that said "You make my heart GLOW" and cut them out. Ella then embellished them with glitter and signed her name. After the glitter dried, she taped the smaller heart to the larger one and then taped 3 glowstick bracelets to the back. She was pretty excited about using glitter and getting her own glowstick bracelets. :)

Another Fabric house

I love UK Lass's little fabric house. I especially love browsing her flickr group and seeing all the wonderful houses others have made. There is one that is made of felt and everything about it makes me happy. So, when I got a 4 year old girl in our Secret Santa exchange, I knew exactly what I was going to make her. This is inspired greatly by Jenn White's felt house in the UK Lass's flickr group.

The little girl received the Calico Critters Buttercup Kitten Twins to go in this little nursery. Here I used our Calico Critters Elwood Elephant Twins just to give you an idea of scale.

I loved this construction process so much more then the other houses. This time I pre-embellished all the house parts, and then assembled. The blanket stitch assembly was a little tricky, but would be easier to do the next time I go around, now that I have done it once.

Ultimately, I think I just really like embroidery. It is very satisfying to me to hold something dainty in my hands and make something that looks so charming.

I can't decide what part I like the best, the stone path, the bunting, or the bluebirds on the fence. It was difficult giving this one away.

More roses

For our meetup group, the coordinator thought it would be fun to do a secret sisters exchange over Mother's Day. I signed up, and am trying to make sure I stay within my budget (which is nada thanks to gas prices). This meant using what I had on hand to make my secret sister something.

For her first gift (we need to do 3 things: notes, cards, gifts, food, etc) I made her a half dozen coffee filter roses. I followed Martha's tutorial. I don't have the link handy, but if you just google Martha Stewart and coffee filter roses, you should be good to go.

Doorway puppet theater

Recently, one of our little friends turned 3. I made a doorway puppet theater for her gift. After browsing several blogs for ideas, I combined what I liked about all of them and came up with my own version. I will be making another, so a tutorial will be coming. :)

All closed

The bottom opens for marionettes, the top for regular puppets and the white background is for shadow puppets. The white background is removeable and all the curtain ties are attached with velcro.

I made a house, cat and dog shadow puppet out of black craft foam, using an exacto knife. I then hot glued a wooden dowel to the back.

On the back of the shadow puppet screen, there are a series of pockets to slide the dowels into, holding the puppets in place (like the house is above).

Crafty Chistmas Pt. 3

Ella's big gift from Santa this year was a play kitchen. I found these 2 night stands on Craigslist for $10.


And this hutch from a garage sale for free. I have had this hutch for too many years then I care to admit, just waiting for me to turn it into something.


My neighbor helped me repair the trim on the bottom of the hutch, and I tossed the one door. He also helped me do all the cutting (since I lack any real tools).

Here is the set...

And here it is all staged for Christmas morning. There are pots and pans, wrapped, and cooking utensils in her stocking.

Up close of the hutch.

Up close of the sink. I had the sink set off center so I can get a little dish drying rack for the side.

The faucet is an upside down J, and the bowl is a mixing bowl.

Up close of the stove/oven.

The knobs are little wooden disks that I painted white and then drew on the dial parts with a sharpie. The burners are wood circles that I painted. I sealed them all with Triple Thick Paste. I love that stuff.

The oven door opened. The hinges I bought for the door wouldn't fit so I did a quick fix for Christmas and stapled a strip of fabric in there. I don't think there is a hinge option that will work with the shape of the nightstand and door, so I am going to use some leather and nails for a hinge. I am also adding some chain to the door to help keep it from dropping all the way down, and line the inside with silver. If I can find something to become an oven rack, I will add one as well.

Ella is in love with it, and today she told all the moms at Luke's soccer game that it was her favorite gift!

Crafty Christmas Pt. 2

Phew! I have lost count on how many things I have made, but I have made it to my first deadline. Wrapping and shipping happens tomorrow. I did have to cut a few things from my original list, but I figured I would have too. They were more along the lines of being bonus gifts.

Little chocolate pops to put on top of gifts. To be fair, I made the little snowman and the others were made by friends. I did make 6 snowmen though.

Hackey sacks for Luke. Just one more to make and then they can be juggling balls as well.
http://dorfmunder.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/hackey-sack-pattern-crochet/

3 sets of the fishing game for Max, Greyson, and my secret santa. Each kiddo will get one pole and twelve fish.
http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/07/felt-fishing-set.html

Dinosaur hat for Jaden

http://crazysockscrochet.blogspot.com/2010/09/crochet-pattern-dinosaur-spikes.html

Owl hats for Ben and Nate.

pattern by Inner Hooker on Etsy.

Owl hats for Noe and Ellie

Memory game for Jaden

http://theadventuresofroryandjess.blogspot.com/2009/09/memory-game-tutorial.html

Memory game for Ben

Messy Masterpiece for my mom, painted by Ella. The intent is for it to be a family tree, and I will also give them an archival pen to write in names and birthdates. Or they can leave it as is. :)

Messy Masterpiece for Jen and Ben, painted by their daughter, Noe. They don't know about it though, so shhhhh!

Messy Masterpiece for Mike and Zina, painted by Ella.

How many days until Christmas?

Crafty Christmas Pt. 1

Here is what I have accomplished so far in my homemade Chirstmas gift list. I am almost half way there!

Pillowcases for the boys. x3

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/07/novelty-pillowcase-tutorial.html

Pajama pants for the boys. x3
modified Simplicity pattern
Pillowcase for Ella

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/07/novelty-pillowcase-tutorial.html

Pajama pants for Ella

Simplicity pattern

Slippers for Ella

http://sew-ing.com/make/slippers.html

Pajama pants for Luke
Simplicity pattern

Dishcloths for my BFF's. A Set of 4 x3.
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/03/diy-wednesdays-crocheted-cotton-dish-scrubbers.html

Owl hat for Elora or Ellie. I think this one is too big for Elora, so I will try a smaller size.

Dinosaur hat for Greyson

Car Caddy for my secret santa

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/12/cozy-car-caddy-tutorial.html

The inside of the car caddy

Sock bunny rattles for Ellie, Elora, Thea and Nate

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/05/sock-animal-rattle-tutorial.html

Crinkle taggie squares for Ellie, Elora, Thea and Nate

http://www.joyshope.com/2009/05/baby-crinkle-square-tutorial.html

Reversible belt for Ella. I made 2, but she has already swiped one of them.

Reversible belts for Luke.

So, 35 things made! Not too shabby. :)