An enchanted birthday

We had a blast with Miss E's fourth birthday this year. It took more time and effort, but cost less and was definitely a hit with the kids and adults alike. I don't really know how it all got started, but one afternoon, I was brainstorming and we came up with the idea of gnomes as a party favor and it took off from there. I studied the Waldorf gnomes I found on the web, and looked at a couple tutorials, then ordered a ton of people turnings from Casey's Wood Products in Maine. Worked perfectly! I did them in batches and I would estimate that they took about 5-10 minutes apiece.

The next fun idea that came out of brainstorming with the family was to make gnome homes as a craft project, at the party. That way, the children would adopt a gnome, then build a home for him or her, and take both to their home. It was a blast! My husband sliced up a bunch of cardboard that we had in the garage, making nice little 5x7 inch bases (or roofs, you choose!). I bought a bunch of cheap craft sticks in two sizes and 10 bottles of craft glue. The rest, we collected. We took bags, boxes and egg cartons full of sticks, bark, acorns, grass trimmings, pine cones, snail shells and more. The imaginations ran wild, and we saw all kinds of beautiful gnome homes. I'll include a few images as examples, but every single one was awesome.




To top it off, we had chocolate cupcakes decorated with snails (of course), and hot pink toadstool cupcakes that were strawberry. How the heck do we top this next year?

Happy Easter weekend!

I'll catch up someday, but here's a quickie if you're running late on Easter gift ideas. Grab a toilet paper tube, some felt, and some craft glue. Cut two ears, two arms, circles for eyes, and some big feet from felt. Glue onto tube. Add a pompom tail, and voila! -- an Easter bunny gift holder. Fill it with jelly beans, socks, or anything else that's small and fits into a tp tube!

I have to admit, this was E's idea ... and she did most of the gluing together. I think it took us all of 10 minutes to make, and she just plain loves it. If I ever have the time someday (IF!), I could do a tutorial, but I know that the rest of you can duplicate this pretty easily yourselves.

Have a happy Easter!

Enter Henri, the ginormous French garden snail

So it's been raining a lot around here. Most snails are still in hibernation, since it's a bit chilly for their taste. I happen to have a daughter who is quite enamored with snails, and it's driving her nuts. "When will the snails come back, Mommy? I can't WAIT." What am I to do? I can't change nature, can I? But I can sew ...

Enter Henri, the ginormous French garden snail. I felt like I was back in seventh grade home ec class, making "soft sculptures". Back then, I made a big stuffed clock, with poseable arms. Yesterday, it was a giant snail. (Funny, but there are a couple of other crazies like me who have snails on Etsy, and most of them came up with the same ideas I did!) I happened to have some knit fabric with, of all things, snails on it, and that worked for the big tube that became the shell. I went with fleece for the body, so I could sew the bottom to look like his big snaily foot, and not worry about frayed fabric. So his eye stalks are a big droopy, and no, I didn't make the feeler stalks yet, though both DH and daughter have said I need to add those. Maybe later on ... for now, though, Henri is happily hanging out in the house, where it is warm enough for his taste. His size? Well, he can be seen here with our 14.5-pound cat ... I think that says it all!

Henri crept into Miss E's room late last night, ready to surprise her this morning, and has been leaving his slime trails around the house all morning. He claims he loves French food, cooks better than Julia Child, and *should* have a mustache.

Yummy felt foods

Sorry to leave y'all hanging, but now that the birthday girl has opened her present, I can show you how those tomatoes turned out and what they are for. I have been wanting to make a sandwich for a year now and found this fantastic tutorial from Tania's Myrtle & Eunice blog (tut is on her sidebar). Hers are beautiful, as is her photography. The tut is perfect, and though mine were not as lovely, they were fun to make and came out well. I just love the lettuce! Oh, and I added a burger and will eventually make some lunch meat as well since Miss E requested it.

To add to the fun, the sandwich inspired me to make s'mores. My daughter was only mildly impressed with the results, and then I realized ... d'oh! She's never HAD the real thing! My description only got her halfway to understanding, so I emailed the DH, who stopped at the store on the way home and bought supplies. After dinner, we fired the grill back up and showed her (as best as you can with a propane grill on the back patio) how real s'mores are made and ... better yet ... how they taste! She was instantly smitten and has enjoyed the felt ones much more since then!

And finally, I loved this idea I saw others making, and whipped up two, one for my daughter and one for the birthday girl: roll, cut and frost cookies! So simple and so cute; I need to have some small rolling pins and cookies cutters on hand for the next gift because these are truly fun. Both girls, mine almost 4 and the birthday girl just turned 3, knew exactly what to do and immediately had fun making their own decorated sugar cookies. What a blast! (I realize these are the plain cookies; perhaps better photos to come later on.) I boxed them up in cute bakery boxes. :)

That's probably it for the felt for awhile, but I do have a birthday cake to finish before Miss E turns FOUR. I started it a year ago and must finish it this time!

Enjoy!

Deceptively difficult!

Whoever thought that sewing up a few slices of tomato would be so challenging! I can't tell you what I'm working on, since it's a gift for a small friend (whose mom just might read this!), but the rest of the project has been pretty simple. But ... nice, perfect slices of tomato with neatly-stitched segments? Not so simple! My straight stitching is far from pretty, so I'm struggling through, and to make it more challenging, I have a 3.75-year-old who keeps bouncing up on the loveseat to see what I'm doing. Or, she asks me to thread her needle, tie a knot, trace out circles and hearts on felt ... because, in and around *my* projects, she has her own. Yesterday, she took off with the felt food making (wonder why?) and produced five sandwich cookies, a tomato slice, two blueberries, and a big strawberry donut. I think she has done great for a small fry!

Now, back to stitching and no more bitching ...

Doll clothes

I've been meaning to make doll clothes for Miss E's Bitty Baby for ... uh ... ahem ... well, let's just say a long time. The patterns are going to decay soon. Okay, so not that long, but a long time. I finally did, and they actually came out near-perfect! I am so very lousy at following patterns that this is a major accomplishment. Just a few hours of work, no swearing at all, and doll clothes that are so cute. The dress is really supposed to be a nightgown, but why would you just sleep in something so ornate?! It's a Simplicity pattern, 3517, view B.

The hat was a loose rendition of this tutorial from the purl bee, but made it reversible. It's at 80 percent of the pattern size, but I think next time, I'd make the brim much wider. It seems really skinny to me, but Miss E thought it was just perfect.

Best of all, the dress and hat coordinate with the dress I made last fall for Miss E, from one of the Portabello Pixie patterns from Sandi Henderson. That pattern just rocks -- I've made two dresses (her princess dresses, she calls them), extending the skirt length a bit to make them floor length (which won't last long at her growth rate), and also made a cute Santa shirt from it. Again, a pattern that I don't swear at and can get through in about 3.5-4.0 hours. YAY!

Just letting you know I'm here. And still making things. If you're reading me.

Looking onward

Happy New Year's Eve to anyone still monitoring my long-ignored blog. See, here's what happened. At the end of August, I bought a serger. I had gotten some money from my grandma, about a year after her passing, so I used part of it to buy a serger. It has been wildly fun, and I've made an array of fairy dresses, skirts, some beautiful dresses and a shirt from a Sandi Henderson pattern, and countless other things. It's just that when I've had free time, like I said before, I have sewn, not blogged. I've had tons of fun making things, including more dolls (even one cute Christmas one) for both girls. As the end of this year approaches, I've decided I don't need to document absolutely everything I make, and I don't need to apologize for not blogging. We'll see how this next year goes, but I do know I'll be a-makin'!

Miss E has been quite the little maker, too, and I am constantly impressed with the ideas she comes up with. I've turned her loose with needles, thread, floss, scissors, glue and an array of sequins, pompoms, felt, buttons and fabric. I love watching her get so excited about the things she makes, and I hope it never ends. She made Christmas tree ornaments for my parents as a surprise gift, and even cut out some of the shapes on her own (particularly the pink snail). She decorated a few more of the animal shapes, so we made them into a small garland for Nana to hang at her house.

And she surprised the heck out of me one day just before Christmas when she took some beads, floss, and a thick needle and actually strung those beads on the floss, one at a time. She brought it to show me, and I was amazed that she had not only come up with the idea to make a bracelet, but that she could take her small hands and string those tiny beads like that. Last year, she was learning to poke a shoestring through some chunky wooden block beads! I took her to Michael's and we bought some proper stretchy string and she picked out new beads, and she strung a beautiful bracelet for Nana; one that Nana is actually proud to wear. (I'd like one, too, Miss E!)

So here's to a happy and healthy new year, full of fun crafts and sewing projects! Cheers, y'all!