A Sewy Little Christmas

No, this post isn't about actual Christmas events.  It's just the usual rundown of crafty things I did for Christmas this year.  In other words, look at how talented I am!

(lawl)

Mostly I made stuff for Baby this year.  The biggest project was a little quilt for her, like the one I did for Mr. C's first Christmas.  I should mention that he treasures that blanket and sleeps with it every night.  

JUST KIDDING, it's in his closet...

(As for that Winnie the Pooh blanket, he DOES sleep with that one every night.  Figures!)

But here is her blanket:

The colors look rather washed out in photos but you get the idea.  It was fun to pick out the fabric (thanks, Jo-Ann!) and I think it's really cute, despite my best efforts to mangle every corner.  Here it is in its natural habitat:

A byproduct of going to Jo-Ann's was that I found this great London-themed fabric.  So I made myself pajama pants:

Just because I've torn holes in like six pairs of pajama pants in the last year *weeps bitter bitter tears*.

I also made Baby a sleep sack and hat, like I did for Mr. C last year.  I think the hat is super cute and the sack keeps her cozy.  

I will NOT say that I did my best sewing on the sleep sack.  In fact I did some of my worst but it is functioning just fine and no one but me and Baby ever see it anyway.  And did I mention she looks super cute in that hat?  Mr. C calls the knots "kitty ears."

Speaking of Mr. C., I made him this bag for his library books because he likes carrying bags and he likes library books:

Let me clarify: I bought the bag at Hobby Lobby, the patron saint of Christmas craftiness, and then added the letter.  It's felt that I cut out using a template I made and then just hand sewed on.  Easy peasy.

In ornament news, I made these candy canes of my own design for my family this year:

(I bought the bows, after attempting my own...)

We also made Baby's handprint ornament for ourselves and the grandmas.  Only one of them got broken by a certain someone and had to be remade.

Finally, since Drew works at an actual office now I gave him a bunch of stuff for his desk.  I made this to go along with it:

lol indeed!

Great Snakes!

For Halloween this year, I pulled out the idea I postponed from last year--Tintin and Snowy!  Perfect for a little boy and a littler baby.  

Originally the plan was for me and Drew to be Thomson and Thompson:

But it turned out to be surprisingly hard to find all the components!  It would have been funny, but we switched gears.

Drew decided to be a somewhat dressed down Captain Haddock and well, I was a unicorn with a secret.

(Get it??)

For Tintin, I bought the sweater online and made the socks from leftover fabric I had.  His shirt, pants and shoes all came from my beloved JBF consignment sale (can you believe those pants??).  

Really happy I didn't have to make those pants.

Snowy on the other hand, well, I made all of that.  I used a pattern that came with the sleep sack, but by the time I was done, I realized I should have made my own pattern based off an outfit she already had.  It would have been easier and fit better.  The suit was HUGE on her when I finished it.  HUGE.  So I had to cut it down to size, but it didn't fit great still in the end.  

BUT the fabric is such that all my adaptations didn't really show.

BUT the fabric is such that it was impossible to work with.  Never again!

(Please note her little tail.  Hee hee!)

I made her little headband from a 97 cent Halloween headband from Walmart.  I actually made it several times...  In the end, I assembled it with hot glue.  

As for us, I bought the shirts and made the iron-on designs myself.  Drew did the sketch of the unicorn though because, as it turns out, I do not draw a good unicorn.  No no.  But I did finish it up.  I also made some unicorn earrings to go with it.  

In the end, I don't think anyone knew who they were and probably didn't even realize we were wearing costumes.  But!  Being recognizable has never been a HUGE concern of mine at Halloween...and they looked cute all the same.  

And now it's time to brainstorm for next year...

Room for the Poppy

I agonized a bit over what the Poppy's room should look like.  My first theme was books, inspired by this Jessie Wilcox Smith painting, but it just wasn't coming together.

Around this time my Granny passed away and while I was reading her memoirs I was reminded that she loved Beatrix Potter's books and I thought "AHA!"  Not only is it a good theme, it's a nice reference to Granny as well.  Along with the theme, I had a motto of "feminine, not girly" and that worked perfectly with Beatrix Potter.

The room was originally the same brown as the rest of the house, with a white chair rail.  I eventually settled on a rosey pink for the bottom part of the wall and a light grey for the top.  Naturally Drewbles did all the grunt work.  Let's look at some pictures of the whole setup (complete with a model for scale):

We moved the white dresser from Boo Boo's room and got new bins for it.  The rocker/recliner was a KSL deal and I couldn't be happier with it.  This bedroom is smaller so I think it makes more sense to use the smaller chair in it. 
 
And yes, that is a name sign hanging over the dresser and yes, I did photoshop the name out of it.  Ha!  But I will tell you that the letters match the Beatrix Potter font, but I had to create them myself in Photoshop because you can't find that font (it's owned by the publisher, I believe?).  I will also tell you that's a three-photo IKEA frame that I cut the dividers out of to make it one long rectangle. I'm very DIY about my name signs?

Moving on.  The night light was one we've had sitting around for years, and Drewbles got me the set of books for Valentine's Day.  He also contributed an original Peter Rabbit art, and the three on the wall are postcards I got off eBay.  

Bonus fact: the frames are from our wedding reception (I added the ribbons).  We STILL have four or five more...

We hung up this painting my sister did for me a few years ago.  She based it off a picture I took in Windermere, near Beatrix Potter's Hill Top House. 

(You can also see a corner of the rug we got to cover a bad patch of carpet but you'll have to look at the website to see the whole thing.)

Sometimes my model gets impatient for some camera attention.  Please ignore his runny nose and admire his tongue rolling skills.

Bonus fact: I can't roll my tongue.

Okay, let's look at the other wall: 

We were all saved from having to make the toddler bed transition by Drew's sister loaning us one of her portable cribs.  *long sigh of relief*  We got a new mattress and sheets for it, and it looks great!  The white crib will look lovely too, but I'm glad there's no pressure to move Boo Boo out of it (thanks again, Emily!).

No, I did not make a mobile this time.  I just...didn't.  But I did buy this one and every time Boo Boo walks in the room he says "OOOOooooOOOO!!!" so that's a good sign.

(Approved by Boo Boo and cars alike)

Let's take a closer look at that blanket draped over the back:

This was actually my baby blanket, once upon a time!  Over Thanksgiving my mom removed the original ties and backing fabric (both were very orange) and we found a peachy flannel and this pale green yarn.  My sister and I tied it and my mom did the rest of the work (she also added interfacing to the original fabric, just to make it sturdier).  I think it is perfect!

Bonus fact: I always thought my mom made this blanket for me.  But over Thanksgiving she told me my Granny did!  I think that means I made the right choice of theme.  Also that she had a lot of foresight...
  
And as the finishing touch:

Yes, Peter Rabbit is a boy.  I don't care!  And that is the room.  It turned out just right, and I am pleased that we were rather thrifty and creative about the whole thing too.  *pats back*

These next few things have nothing to do with the room.  I'm just tooting my craft horn.  I made these super simple headbands:

I made this blanket:

Then I made this blanket, using Beatrix Potter fabric I found on eBay.  I can't wait for the Poppy to spit up allllllll over it...

*toot toot*

Crafty Christmas

As per usual, the craft bug hit me at Christmastime again this year.  It wasn't my most crafty year, but with a number of Poppy crafts on the horizon, it was a good idea to take it easy.  Anyway, here is what I came up with this year, starting with the year's holly ornaments:

The berries are jingle bells!  I had this idea a few years ago, and I like how they turned out.  If you look closely you can see a sixth sitting on the branches because I forgot to sew in the ribbon loop.  Oops.

When fall/winter arrived, I noticed that Boo Boo's room is a little chillier than the rest of the house so I fretted over if he was warm enough at night.  One day at Hobby Lobby I noticed that sewing patterns were $1.99 ($1.99!) and so I grabbed one for a sleep sack.  Fleece in hand, I went to work.

I had Boo Boo model it for me before he went to bed.  He decided to demonstrate his unimpeded mobility:

I think we both sleep better at night knowing he is cozy in his sleep sack.  I had to put in my first zipper, and it actually works!  Whew.  Maybe one day I will feel capable of making my oranges dress?

Anyway, the pattern included a variety of other cozy babywear, such as a hat.  I had just enough fleece leftover to make one:

He wears it and everything!  It's a good thing too because his Toothless hat is getting a bit small and his Yoda beanie has vanished :( :( :( :( :( :( 

(Has anyone seen a Boo Boo-sized Yoda beanie??)

This last item is not really a craft and not an idea I can take credit for either, but it is BRILLIANT.  What do you do with the Christmas cards you want to keep year to year?  Before, I would have said you put them all in the decorations box where they can float around in a mess.  But NOW I will say this: punch a hole in the corners and put them on a binder ring!  They're easy to look through without being a mess and you can keep them organized by year.

(I happened to have a binder ring leftover from the quiet book--which I finished but needs its own post.)

Thus concludes my Christmas craftiness this year.  Who knows what next Christmas will bring and what crafts the Poppy will inspire.  Maybe I will do some more matching jammies again next year?  Only time will tell. 

A Hobbit-y Halloween

(First off, can I just say how cute Babycakes was last Halloween?  So little!  So cute!)

Months ago I had a plan for Halloween costumes this year.  Then I realized it would be better and cuter if we had a second baby to fill a role so we pushed that to next year.  So what to do this year?  It seemed the time was right for Boo Boo to be a little Frodo, with Drew as Samwise.  As for me, well, when I made my Care Bears shirt, one of my other ideas was to do a shirt with the Eye of Sauron on it.  Hilarious! I cackled about the idea for about a month before actually working on the costumes.

I spent a week making them, and what can I say, they turned out even better than I expected!  Then we got this group photo and Babycakes made this face. 

(I must confess his expression reminds me of myself as a child, especially in one particular sibling portrait.  Family, I think you know which one I'm talking about.)

I made both the cloaks, plus the little vest (Eep, buttonholes!) and hemmed up both pants.  I used this tutorial for the little cloak and this pattern for the big one.  I had to lengthen Sam's and I used flannel instead of felt so I finished all the edges.  I think I spent half the time measuring hems, which is my least favorite part EVER about sewing.  But, like I said, I love how they turned out so I can't really complain.  I made the Eye in Photoshop.  Hey, let's look at pictures:

We took some pictures outside and Frodo went straight to the village of Bree.

Fortunately, he loves wearing capes!

It will probably come as no surprise that I already had a Ring and the brooches were found on ebay for about $1 each.

The cutest of hobbits!

 

New favorite pictureeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

"What's that over there...Mordor?"

(Hobbits are always careful about steps)

On a quest!

 

This distracted expression brought to you by the mail truck.

"What's that over there...Mordor?"

Hilarious!