Felt Christmas Stockings

I've been a busy little elf working on products to sell at Sprout this season.  I just dropped off more Christmas stockings.  If you are a Durango local stop by to check it out!

Lego Birthday Party

 This might be my favorite kids' party to date- Lego Party!  I was thrilled when my oldest requested a Lego party for his sixth birthday.  I love all things Lego so I don't know who had more fun- me making the party or my six year old experiencing it.  The result was super fun.  I think everyone had a great time!

 Invites- I designed these to look like a box of Legos and printed them out at home, but I found several super cute ones you can buy on Etsy...

  Decorations- Lego head banners made with paint chips and Sharpies, bricks also made from paint chips, lots of crepe paper streamers in primary colors, center piece from XL Lego blocks, and lots of little Legos here and there... 

Food: I had a hard time thinking of Lego inspired food- cheese slices to look like bricks were my only thought.  For the cake I did cupcakes with chocolate Lego guys using this mold...

Gift Bags:  Lego head marshmallow pops (how-to found here), stickers, and a mystery Lego mini figure pack...

Games:  The kids mostly just wanted to run around outside, but some of them did spend some time playing Legos set out on the kids' old train table.  I also printed out coloring and dot-to-dot pages from the Lego sight...

Instead of cleaning up after the kids left I sat around building with all of I's new Legos.  Hooray!  Maybe He'll want another Lego party next year...

Oma-made Halloween Costumes

This year I didn't lift a finger creating Halloween costumes, but my mom really outdid herself making these BEAUTIFUL costumes.  D chose the Disney Rapunzel pattern that literally would have taken me years to sew.  It really is a beautiful dress (for a beautiful girl don't you think?)  I'm sad she will outgrow this costume!  Ike chose the musketeer pattern.  I was too impatient to get a good picture of the cape so you can't see how impressive it is.  Thanks Mom!!!!

Rainbow Birthday Party

I was so excited when D decided she wanted a rainbow party this year- it was so fun!  We looked at some party ideas online, but this cake sealed the deal for her.  Unfortunately my version of the cake was a bit of a disaster, but everything else came out pretty well.

Cake table (with sad, sad cake):  fabric is from Wal-mart and rainbow stripe party hats (and rainbow candles not pictured) from Target...

Table scape:  D LOVES to draw, color, and create all day long so this table was a no-brainer.  Simple butcher paper with crayons in votives for the birthday girl and guests to design their own table cloth...

 

Decor:  crepe paper streamer rainbow...

...rainbow balloons...

... rainbow paint chip garlands inspired by these at Kojo Designs (although I ended up making  mine differently- maybe I'll write up a tutorial soon?)  ...

Food:  Rainbow fruit and veggie tray...

...jello cups inspired from this post at Glorious Treats...

... and disaster cake.  D was thrilled with how it turned out and guests thought it tasted good, so I'm really trying to get over it and count it as a success...

Party attire:  Rainbow dress I made for D that she has yet to wear.  She opted for her very favorite Hello Kitty rainbow shirt instead.  Hopefully I can talk her into wearing this dress soon- before she grows out of it!

Little Monster Party

My youngest just turned one and I threw him a monster party.  The details are obviously lost on a one year old, but hopefully he'll look back on the photos one day and enjoy them. 

I "borrowed" almost all my ideas from parties I found online- I'm thankful others are so creative!  I found most ideas here at Nounces Design.  I obviously loved her color pallette and REALLY wished I could spring for the black and white chevron fabric (I used some black and white polka dot fabric I had on had instead.  Somehow I forgot to take pictures.)

I found the idea for these monster headbands at this party on Hip Hip Hooray.

I bought these monster books as gifts- M loves books...

And I made up an invite to put in his baby book to remember the occasion...

Superhero Cape Sets

This is what I've been up to this summer- lots of superhero cape sets! Shiny capes with super stars or super lightning bolts...with co-ordinating masks and wrist cuffs...My Etsy store is too hard to keep up with at the moment, so I'm selling these (and lots of other fun handmades) at Sprout here in Durango. She carries children's consignment and local, handmade toys and clothes. Durangoans- come check it out! Lots of great bargains on used clothes and gear and a great way to support a local business.
Here are my two oldest modeling their superhero gear as "SUPER D" and "IKE-TASTIC." These guys are ready to save the day!

Oilcloth Art Smock

D loves to be artsy AND craftsy and has grown out of her art smock, so I made her a new one. Isn't it cute? I LOVE this green apple oilcloth- sewing with it was MUCH easier than the laminated cotton. I must have been doing something wrong M's bib, hopefully I can figure it out. I cut the apron pretty generous so that she'll be able to use for years. I have more than half a yard left of the oilcloth, so I'm dreaming up some other fun projects. Any suggestions?

Baby Bike Bib

Surprise! I made something! This stage of life with the kids is making it nearly impossible to spend time crafting, hence the lack of posting as of late. I did manage this cute bib for M out of necessity- all my messy food bibs are pink. I used a laminated cotton so it wipes off easily after feeding. Even after doing some research online I still had a difficult time sewing with the fabric. Anyone have any pointers? I still have some fabric left and am hoping to make a couple more bibs, then I am moving on to art smocks made from oilcloth.

Brown and White Baby Shoe

This is a project I started months ago- cute baby shoes! I was inspired by these shoes from See Kai Run- aren't they awesome? I love, LOVE these shoes. Even on sale I can't justify pricey shoes that will fit a tiny baby for two seconds...

so I decided to make my own. Using the Stardust Baby Shoes tutorial found here, I made... one shoe. It was harder than I thought. It has been sitting on my desk for months. Today I decided to ditch this project since it seems I will never make the second shoe. Yeah! One more project off the desk. Little M will just have to wear his Old Navy shoes. Now trying to figure out what to do with one shoe...

Handmade Valentine Gifts

I couldn't get it together to do much for Valentine's Day this year, but my mom made wonderful handmade gifts for the kids this year. She is amazing!

This is a felt "Lightning McQueen" for my Cars crazy oldest. Awesome! She is thinking about trying to sell plush felt cars and trucks on etsy. What do you think? I think they would be a hit!Knit pink bear for D. She named her Ruby.And a hanging triangle toy for baby M. It has ribbons and plastic toys dangling and batting.

My kids were thrilled! We've been playing with them all week.

Valentine Garlands

I'm taking a tiny break from cleaning up to make some seasonal decorations... Valentine's Day heart garlands! Actually this first one is probably not technically a garland, but I don't know what to call it- a hanging? I got the idea from a Paper-Source catalogue.Here's how I did it:

1. Pick out paper. I painted a piece of sketch paper with water colors when my kids had their paints out. A medium weight paper works well.2. Cut into strips about one inch wide.3. Fold in half.4. Using a pen (or dowel, knitting needle, etc.) roll the paper tightly up to the center fold.5. Take the pen out- it should look like this.6. Repeat with the other side. The paper will form a heart that looks like this.7. Cut a length of thread twice as long as you want your hanging to hang. I strung a small glass bead onto the end to give the whole thing weight. Then thread a sewing needle onto the the thread. Using the needle, pull the thread up through the bottom of the paper heart. 8. Using a small piece of double sided tape or a photo mounting square, stick the top of the heart together, making sure to catch the thread in the tape.It should look like this when you are done.9. Follow this the remaining paper hearts, stacking them on top of each other. The finished project- stacked paper heart "garland."

And this is the simple felt heart garland I made. I cut out all these hearts to make embroidered felt conversation hearts, but it was going to take way too long. I just ran them through my machine and made the garland instead.