Literal Progress???

So, what do you think???

It's still REALLY matchy-matchy, because I used the exact same fabrics in the tee as I did in the shorts. I did add the salamander print in brown, but I still don't think it provides enough interest. Thoughts?

And for those mom's of boys out there...is the combo "masculine" enough for little boys? Or is it too prissy? I really struggle with these sorts of decisions when it comes to boy clothes!

I would love to start offering some boy things in the shop, so any and all feedback would be much appreciated...thanks so much!

Beachy Crafts for Kids

Our family had a great long weekend at the beach and made sure we collected lots of treasures to use in our projects when we got home.

A small bag of sand and a large bag of seashells were all we needed for these fun and easy projects.

Seashore Photo Frame:
I purchased a wooden picture frame at our local craft store for $1. There is no glass in it, so it is perfect for kids to decorate and display. We mixed regular school glue with just a touch of water to thin it out, then brushed the frame with the glue using a foam brush. When the entire frame was wet with a good layer of glue, we dropped pinches of sand all over it. We patted the sand in place and allowed it to dry overnight. The next morning we shook and then brushed off the loose sand and picked shells from our collection to adorn the frame. Belle decided where she wanted each shell, then I used a hot glue gun to attach them. Some of them were a little tricky because they had very little surface area actually touching the frame, but we finally got them all to stick. We haven't gotten our photos back from the trip, so I had to put a piece of paper in to show you, but Belle is excited to add a pic from her trip.


Seashell Imprint Necklaces:
I apologize...these pics are not good, but the necklaces are adorable, I promise!
We used Crayola Model Magic, coated twine, and wooden beads for this project. We began by rolling the model magic into balls and then flattening them into either circles or ovals depending on the shape of the shell. We used a barbecue skewer to create a hole in the top. Belle pressed a shell into the compound and then I pulled it out...I recommend that an adult do the removal because it is easy to make the pendant misshapen when you remove the shell. We allowed the pendants to dry over night then strung them on the coated cord and added pretty wooden beads. If you haven't worked with Crayola Model Magic before, it is a really unique substance...it is so light-weight that it feels almost non-existent hanging around your neck. It is also made for use with Crayola markers, paints etc. so you could decorate the pendants once they are dry.
One more suggestion...try looking for twine and beads in the kids craft section of the craft store before heading to the jewelry/beading section. We had picked out a package of the exact same twine that was half the size and twice the price in the jewelry section before we checked the kids section. The same was true of the beads.


Sandy Hands:

I don't have a pic of these, but will try to add one tomorrow...SORRY!

This can actually be done at the beach or at home. Have your child spread their fingers wide and then press their hand into the sand (either the sand at the beach or a pan of sand at home). Be sure the resulting depression is about 1/2 an inch deep. Place tiny shells and sea glass pieces in the depression where your child's hand was. BE SURE THAT THESE ARE FACE DOWN!!! Mix up a small amount of plaster of paris and fill the hand print. Allow it to dry, then remove the cast of your child's hand. Write name, age, and date on the back side in permanent marker and you will have a precious treasure! We first did this last year and Belle's handprint permanently lives in our kitchen window. It's my goal to do this every year so that we will have a timeline of our girls' growth through the years.
A shoreside tip - We carried a tiny amount of dry plaster of paris to the beach in a ziplock bag. By adding just a touch of water from our water bottles we were able to mix the plaster right in the bag. After we had made the casts we threw away the bag.

Literally!

I'M STUCK! It seems that everytime I sit down to create a tee for an outfit, I end up with a very literal applique. I pull something straight out of the fabric, redesign it a bit, and stitch it on. LITERALLY! - See the Funky Chicken...she's pretty literal!

I'm in a creative rut! So I'm asking all of you in bloggerland to help me out. As of this moment, I'm challenging myself to push the creative limits. No more literal appliques (though I love the Funky Chicken so much, that even with this challenge I think she would have been stitched anyway:).

So how can you help??? Keep me honest. Call me out if you see literal appliques or super matchy-matchy outfits popping up in shop or my posts. Ask me about my new creations. And share links to outfits that step outside the realm of perfectly coordinated. Better yet, inspire me with your own non-literal creations!

Belle's Castle...Part 1

For those of you who heard we built a castle and immediately started picturing turets and drawbridges, I'm afraid that you are probably feeling a bit disappointed right now. But in Belle's eyes this is the most amazing castle ever!

Belle truly believes that she is a princess...and NO, I am not the one who gave her that impression. I don't have anything against princesses, I just don't like them. I hike, paint, run, sew, read, and garden. I like to get my hands dirty and even haul my own mulch. I'm happiest in jeans and live for paddling in our family canoe. And my daughter, of all children, thinks that a sparkly blue dress and glittery tiara are normal attire to wear for all occassions. Oh well, maybe Bee will see fashion a little more like her Mama...

So when Belle asked her Daddy to build her a castle, we put a lot of thought in to how to do so in such a way that the structure would grow with both Belle and Bee. We wanted to capture the tower aspect of a fairy tale castle, but also ensure that when Belle (hopefully) outgrows the princess obsession, the structure could serve other purposes as well. We setlled on a basic two-level tower design and then began to plan the embellishments that would make it unique to our girls.

So how did we do it and what are our future plans?

Construction Process: All lumber is pressure-treated. We used outdoor screws and bolts for all construction. All corners were mitred unless otherwise noted.

We framed the tower using 4"x4"x8' posts for each corner. The posts were set on top of concrete blocks and then tied together with 2x6 boards placed at the height of the first-level floor. Another set of 2x6 boards were attached at the second-level floor. We added a 2x6 cross beam across the middle of each level and then decked both levels with 1x6 decking boards.

We then decided on the placement of the slide, climbing wall, and ladder. We purchased the slide and rocks for the climbing wall at our local home improvement store.

We attached 2x4 boards for rails on both the top and bottom levels (leaving openings for the ladder, slide, and climbing wall), then used 1x4 boards as the slats for the rails. We made sure that our slats were close together so that little heads can't get stuck between them.

My husband built the ladder in a pretty complicated, but incredibly strong manner. He used 2x6 boards as the stringers. He notched the stringers at each rung and inserted 2x4 rungs into the stringers.

He replicated the stringers for the climbing wall, but attached 1x4 boards side by side all the way up the wall. Then he bolted the rocks to the wall at appropriate distances for Belle to be able to climb it easily. [The rock wall is on the back side so you can't see it in this post. I will be sure to add pictures of it in Part 2.]

We attached the slide, as well as a steering wheel and spy scope (both from the local home improvement store) following the package directions for each. We added a flag printed with Belle's artwork that we purchased from a preschool fundraiser. The colorful bunting was hung for Belle's birthday party, and is now stored with our other party supplies.

And at the last minute we decided to top each deck rail with a 1x6 board for Mommy's comfort when she is leaning on the rail:)

At this point the basic construction is finished and Belle can climb and play all day. But the castle is far from finished in our eyes. We still have lots of ideas to try!

Our next step will be to build and attach a bench to the outside on the right. This will serve as my seat when I'm playing with the girls, but it can also be the diner counter, seating for a puppet show audience, or the railroad ticket counter.

Other embellishments we plan to add include outdoor curtains (probably made from shower curtains), a homemade wind chime for one of the windows, flower boxes, a slate chalkboard, and a natural tic tac toe board. In addition to castle embellishments, we are also planning to devote more of our yard to gross motor development. We are considering a human game board made from stepping stones, a kid-friendly rope course, and possibly a rope bridge.

And how could I forget the castle garden??? While we were waiting for HOA approval for our castle construction, we built a super quick castle garden using landscaping timbers. We cut two 8 foot long timbers into 2 foot sections. These were stacked and screwed together in a tiny square and filled with soil. We took Belle to a local nursery and let her pick out a basket full of annuals to plant. The garden is a few feet to the right of the castle and we are hoping to put in a little path between the two eventually. I'll be sure to include pics of the garden in Part 2 also.

If you want more info or to see specific construction pics in Part 2, let me know...otherwise Part 2 will be all about the fun stuff (curtains, chimes, etc.):)

PLEASE LEND A HAND!

I don't know how many of you have noticed the Craft Hope button displayed below, but it's time you checked it out!

Craft Hope organizes projects that allow crafters to reach out and do something good for people, or in this case, animals in need. Tonight, I am encouraging, urging, and even hounding you to click on the link and sign up for the most recent project.

In this project, crafters are being asked to make rags to help clean animals (particularly dolphins and sea turtles) affected by the oil spill. This project is so amazingly simple, but will make such a difference. If you have a few old t-shirts, then you can help...even if you don't own a sewing machine! Cut those tees into the suggested sizes and either hem or fringe and knot the edges. Put together a set of 10 or 20 and mail them before the July 3 deadline. THESE DON'T NEED TO BE PRETTY...they are just going to be ruined after a few uses. Get your kids to help, pass this link or the craft hope link along to anyone and everyone, but most importantly...sign up to help.

In the next few days, I will post tutorials on some rag projects that you can do in very little time, with very little effort, and with very little money.

PLEASE LEND A HAND!

Rain, rain, go away...or on second thought

It's raining...again! My grass is sighing in watery bliss. My three year old...not so much!

We're headed to the beach tomorrow, so we were out picking up a few last minute things before the storms rolled in this afternoon. More on fun "projects" to do at the beach when we get back... but I knew from the rumbles of thunder and dark clouds on the horizon that we were going to be in for a long afternoon. So, as we were scouring the aisles for beach craft necessities, I decided to grab a new art supply to help entertain Belle while I worked on my LONG to do list.

I've been visiting the oil pastels at our local "projects store," for several weeks now, but the prices seemed a little hefty for a 3 year old's art box. So, today when I saw that Crayola now has oil pastels (28 colors for less than $6), I tossed a pack in the cart. I wasn't certain that they were going to be the same quality as the more expensive ones, but she is three after all.

Once we were home, Bee was tucked cozily into her crib for a nap, and the thunder was rolling we opened up the new medium. I brought out some watercolor paper because I thought the texture would make a nice combo with the new pastels, and off we went. Belle is really into drawing things that she can make out of basic shapes, so to start off I showed her some different ways to make flowers. [She's turning into a bit of a perfectionist, so I have to be careful or she ends up just wanting me to do it for her.] Since watercolor paper comes with its own fairly hefty price tag, we switched to colored construction paper after the first drawing. We went on the draw ocean animals {jellyfish, octopi, fish, and even a dolphin all from circles and lines). We practiced blending...Belle loves to blend because it's a great excuse to get the colors all over her fingers. Then we made some more flowers and letters for Daddy.

Most art supplies occupy Belle for 2-3 pieces of paper before she is bored and wants to move on. These lasted for 10 drawings! She just didn't want to stop. The colors are brilliant and go on super smoothly. The traditional "crayon" shape was familiar, but the results they produced were pretty fantastic. The set even has gold and silver! I would highly recommend these for the preschool crowd! We didn't even mind a little rain!

TEES!

I need to keep it short this evening...typing is a real challenge with bandaids on multiple fingers! I was more than a little clumsy at the machine tonight and stabbed several fingers with pins while I worked! But, I thought I would share a couple of quick tee refashions that I have done for Belle in the last couple of weeks. Both are reasonably simple if you are adept at working your sewing machine.

The first is this adorable bow tee. It was made to match the patchwork pants that I shared a while back. It doesn't take much explanation if you are familiar with ruffles. If you would like step-by-step directions, just let me know.

I created the bow by turning 2 long strips of fabric right sides together and stitching down the long sides. Next, I turned the tube right side out and top stitched both sides. Finally I cut the ends on the diagonal, turned the edges under and topstitched. Once the long strip was prepped, I tied the bow and hand-stitched it in place. I think next time I will attach the bow to a large pin so that it can be removed for washing. I was, of course, making this at the last minute the night before Belle's preschool program. And wouldn't you know that there were no appropriate pins in the house...oh well!

The ruffle was made by cutting a long strip of fabric approximately 4.5" wide by twice the length of the bottom edge of the tee. First, I sewed the short ends together to form a large circle. Then, I folded the circle in half the long way with wrong sides together and ran a gathering stitch (longest stitch length your machine will do) close to the edge. I pulled the top thread to gather the fabric, flipped it up over the tee right sides together and pinned it in place. I sewed the ruffle to the tee and finished the raw edge with a zigzag stitch. Finally, I flipped the ruffle down in place and topstitched along the edge of the tee approximately 1/8 of an inch above the seam. I really like the way this tee is long on Belle, but if you wanted the tee to hit right at the waist of your pants, then just cut a few inches off the bottom of the tee before you add the ruffle.

I don't have a pic of the second tee refashion, but it is really basic. I needed a tee to match a pair of capris that I made for Belle to wear to her birthday party (MY BABY IS 3...Where did the time go???). I couldn't find anything in her size that matched the pants, but I did find a tee one size too big. I figured I could make it work with some redesign.

My goal was to add ruching at the hip to shorten the tee and bring in the waist a bit. To achieve that I cut 4 pieces of ribbon (about 12 inches long) and 2 pieces of felt (about 6 inches long and wide enough to cover both ribbons plus seam allowances). On the inside of the tee at each hip, I placed 2 strips of ribbon side by side, one on each side of the side seam. I made sure that there was about 6 inches of ribbon hanging below the hemline of the tee. Then I placed a piece of felt over the ribbons (see diagram - it's rough, I know...but, I wanted to sketch something out so you could see the set-up). I started by sewing across the top of the felt and ribbons to hold everything in place. Then I sewed the felt to the tee on the outside edges and between the ribbons, making sure not to catch the ribbon in the seam. By scrunching the tee up and tieing the ribbons I ruched the side seams and shortened the tee by several inches...enough for it to fit Belle quite nicely. For a little added oomph, I used the same ribbon to hand-stitch a small bow on the top of each shoulder of the tee. I'm not entirely sure that I would use felt again because it added quite a bit of bulk (once again, it was a last minute improvisation). I think you could use extra wide bias tape or a piece of fabric (be sure you fold the edges under to prevent fraying). But, if felt is what you have...it will work just fine.

Diagram:
Dark line - bottom edge and side seam of tee
Dashed line - stitch lines
Shaded Area - ribbons
Rectangle with thin outline - felt piece