Homemade Birthday Gifts

My sister's kids have their birthdays on the 22nd and 25th of December.  I know. Great timing. And I sort of started a tradition for myself of making their birthday gifts, since we usually buy their Christmas ones. And this year was no exception! For the big 6 (!) year old, I found this Geologist Kit idea on Pintrest. I sewed up a vest and freezer stencilled his name on the front and 'Jr. Geologist' on the back:

























To go with the vest, Ashton and I put together a rock collection box for him:

and filled it with special rocks from Scholar's Choice, as well as a magnifying glass:

He has a rock collection already which he can add to this.  If I remember correctly, the rocks are (clockwise) assorted treasure rocks, an obsidian arrowhead, a geode which he can break open, agate, peacock ore, and pyrite (fool's gold) As you can see most of these came with little slips of paper describing them.  Educational AND fun!

For the 3 year old (who is singing happy birthday around the Christmas tree and trying to blow out the lights - poor girl!) I sewed up a dress using Burda #9740 and some funky Ikea fabric.  I've been hesitant to try out any of their fabric since it seems so heavy, but once washed it's like a lightweight denim.

And since no 3-year-old gets all that excited about clothes, I whipped up a little crocheted bunny to go with it (using this pattern)

I think I have more fun coming up with and making their gifts than they have receiving them!

Hand sewn felt doll

Yet ANOTHER idea from pintrest.  Found this link and I thought they were so gorgeous that I just had to make one.  I mean, don't they look simply amazing?

So I delved into my substantial stash of felt and got going!  I haven't hand sewed for awhile, but found it strangely rewarding...I could actually do other things at the same time!  Some things turned out a little wonky, but all in all I'm pretty pleased with it. Here's the pics:

She's so pretty - no name yet...Hmmmm

A few past crafty things...

So at the moment I'm trying to paint the basement in the half hour cat naps O's been giving me.  While my crafting is on hold, I thought I'd give a peek at a few things I've done in the past.

  I sewed these Noah's ark animals for Christmas 2009 (?) It took a LOT of time, but was really fun to do!  I bought the pattern online from Three Score Ten (sorry, no link, can't find it back...)  So it was a multi-step process making these: first I sewed them all (most tedious part of the process) then I primed them with gesso twice, then painted all the underbellies white (with acrylic paint - NOT the craft stuff)  The fun part was painting them all!  I then used embroidery floss for the manes of the zebras and giraffes and all the tails, and some weird rope-ish wool for the beard, hair and the lion's mane. Lot's of fun, but of course Ashton was more interested in all the store bought toys he got that year...  Two years later I'm still waiting for DH to make a wooden ark to store them all.  When I stuffed the dove I put a magnet in it's bottom, so when he gets around to the ark I can set a magnet on the top of the ark so the dove can perch on top!

  REALLY easy craft that anyone can do - all this is is scrapbooking paper and foam letters from Dollarama.  I had this frame which wasn't being used (I keep a large collection of frames and change my photos out fairly often - people change over time you know!) and was kind of scratched from the last move, so I just scratched it up a little more.  It now hangs in Olivia's yet-to-be-used nursery (she finally sleeps well in the bassinet, so I'm keeping her in there as long as possible)  The nursery is blue and classic-Pooh themed (the book, not Disney)  I'll probably have a post about muraling a little later on...

  Ashton's room is truck/construction themed (gasp! Really?)  Not sure how long he'll be into it (although his obsession with wheels started at 6 months and shows no sign of stopping) so I didn't do any murals in his room, but painted this little grouping of canvases for him.  I just bought a cheapy set of pre-stretched/gessoed canvas at Michael's and used an overhead to sketch them on.  I really like creating my own artwork for the kids' room, saves me a lot of searching for stuff that matches...
  Speaking of matching, have you ever felt that overpowering frustration when searching for just the right night-light?  Well I sure have!  So I upcycled this old Ikea lamp (you've probably seen them, with the paper?)

 The paper was ripped, so I took it off, then glue-gunned the fabric onto the rings.  No need to be perfect in the length, because it stretches to fit!  It's a flannel, which isn't technically fireproof, but I only put a 25w in there, and it doesn't seem to get to warm.

Anywaysssss...wish me luck on the basement.  By my calculations it should take me about 3 years to paint the whole thing...

SPRING MARKET - May 6, 10-3, Covenant Christian School

So I signed up for the Spring Market when Olivia was in her 'extreme cranky phase' thinking that even if I can't get anything else done, at least I can crochet or knit while holding her.  Of course my eager mind started thinking up all sorts of things I could make for my table, so the last few months have been FULL of sewing and crocheting and glue gun-ing.  Here's a preview of what will be available at my table:

Red Riding Hood capes (size 2T-4Tish) and Superhero Capes

Stuffies-they each come named with a little introduction-'cause I'm not enough

of a dork already...

Caterpillar puppet thingies (made these with my Mom probably 20 years ago-they're so cute!)

Clip Barrettes

Baby Boleros - Summer's coming up, and those little strappy

dresses for kids are so gorgeous, but a little cool for our climate...

problem solved! Sizes 6m-3T

Hats...

...hats...

...and more hats. Sizes 3m-child/teen

Crocheted stuffies.

There might be a few more of these added if my hands need something to do while holding my grumpy baby (who, at the moment, is screaming because she is unable to rip her toes off...or something.  Anyways, she's frustrated) Hope to see you at the market!

WHOO has time for housework with so many fun crafts to do?

So word of my addiction is getting out, and I was asked to sew some owls for some kids of a friend.

These kinds of crafts are one big reason I keep all sorts of funky scraps in my fabric stash.  And where do I collect these scraps?  My favorite low-budget outing of all time: the REUSE CENTRE http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/reuse-centre.aspx  I've really (really, really) been missing it since we moved, but I recently managed to stop in on one of our errand trips into the city (DH wasn't too pleased with all the 'girly' errands, but I've collected enough hours sitting outside of pawn shops not to feel guilty)  I picked up some fun stuff, including tons of felt, with which I plan to make some puppets for Ashton (and adding a puppet theatre to our ever-growing basement reno plan) but my most exciting find was some off-white eyelet material!  So excited about this!  It's gonna make the cutest summer bonnet for Olivia...