Birthday presents

We have a number of birthdays fast approaching, so we started in on all gifts last week, beginning with a Birthday Bot. One of the boys in Miss E's music class is turning two this week, and she wanted me to make him a robot, so last week we whipped up our third Recycle Bot. This one is fully recycled, which is pretty sweet. His body is from the corduroy shorts that hubby was trying to pawn off on Goodwill ... They had such big wear spots on the bum that Goodwill would have put them in the trash! But they will make awesome doll clothes -- and robots! I totally forgot to photo his backside; he is complete with a small patch on the back, just for grins. His arms, legs, antennae, and face are all made with recycled felt (from plastic bottles), and he's stuffed with fiberfill made from spun recycled bottles. Pretty cool, huh? Miss E kept trying to name him, but I said that it was up to the birthday boy to choose a name. We like to just refer to him as the birthday bot.

After playing next door with Miss E's BFF the other day, I was inspired to make her a girlish monster. Nothing scary. All girly. We have this great pink bubbly fabric (Miss E says it looks like eyeballs!) that worked perfectly. Her body shape was inspired by "Where the Wild Things Are", which happens to be Miss B's fav book right now. She's all about monsters, and I couldn't wait to get started on this one. I sketched out a few ideas, and got one that won Miss E's approval and put it together. Miss B is fixated on bellybuttons, so her monster (which Miss E calls the Bubble Monster) has a rather prominent bright pink bellybutton. Miss B was pleased, and calls it "cow monster" or "girl monster". Cool! Definitely what I'd call a cute monster!

While I worked on the Bubble Monster, Miss E took the scraps and made her own monster. I was impressed because it's the first time that she has made a recognizable head, arms, legs, and body. We added a nice bejeweled bellybutton, naturally! She has "robots" she has made from fabric and felt scraps, two of which keep resurfacing. They are known as "Dee Dee" and "Cee Cee". Now and then, she pulls out the pieces and wraps them in bigger pieces of fabric and says she has made presents for people. I do like the little bubble monster, though. Pretty cool for a 28-month-old, huh? She's a natural crafter.

And last but not least, I finally sewed up the second Lucy-like doll, who is for a five-year-old's birthday party this weekend. The theme is Berry Princess, like Strawberry Shortcake, so I picked some pink fabrics (all Amy Butler). I even made a teeny little purse for her (maybe I'll have time to make a tiny cupcake?) and a couple of strawberries. I'm debating whether I want to go back and try to add eyelashes; I think that gives Chloe such a cute expression ... but I'm scared to try to add them now that she's finished! We'll see.

One more girl birthday the next weekend, so I'm thinking another doll, one that is a hybrid of Ella Bella and perhaps Chloe. The week after that, we have a birthday for one of Miss E's boy cousins, so there's probably another birthday bot on the horizon as well, then back to aprons and dresses perhaps.

There's just never enough time!