A gift for my mother-in-law with finger and thumb prints of her children, children-in-law and grandchildren. Even little Oscar put a smear on there.
Concept seen here. I like my addition of the names in the wood grain but those "leaves" are way better.
Inspired by the work of an artist we saw at Renegade who used model train miniatures in her work, I made some little scenes in glass vials.
They're ornaments.
Those little figures are so expensive at the model train store so I was glad I could make a second ornament for friends representing their two boys on the scooters they got this year.
The top one is for us. Biscuit in the blue dress and a more grown up Oscar on our tire swing. The bit of branch is from the tree our tire swing actually hangs from. The moss is from our sidewalk. I wonder how it will dry? I was too impatient to dry the moss before assembly so we might have mold by next Christmas.
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In other news, still 24 hours to enter the book drawing (I mis-wrote yesterday--it's open through the 23rd). It's so fun to see all the comments and I'm sorry I'm so lame about responding.
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I just finished a Christmas present that came out exactly like I wanted. It's so funky/cool. Can't wait to share it post holiday.
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Hope you're ready for Christmas if you're celebrating. I'm off to wrap and figure out what the jolly red guy is bringing Oscar.
LAURA--do not keep reading this post.
Here's a cousin photo--gotta love that autumn light.
And Oscar practicing his sitting (on a wine tasting trip--he wasn't tasting)
Ok, so the real post!
I made a Kindle cover for the Kindle I got my sister for Christmas. It's inside a book I found, discarded at work. Better Sweet Peas. For some reason the title tickles my funny bone. I cut out the pages and just used the book cover.
The whole thing is padded and zips closed--my sister travels A LOT so it needs protection.
This was the project I posted about a few days ago under the title "Fail." This is the FOURTH zipper I used and it still isn't perfect. But it does work. And if she doesn't like it, she still gets the Kindle so I think it'll be alright.
And with that, we conclude 30 days of making something every day. Gotta say, this was a good kick in the pants. Despite the many (many) cop out projects I got several gifts done and I forced myself to get off the computer/couch every night to make something. Hooray!
I got a 4 inch board book for a dollar at Target.
Then I pasted trimmed snapshots of all our family members over the alphabet. I used a very thin coat of Mod Podge.
Yeah, could have done a better job with the trimming but I didn't have much inspiration tonight so it is what it is.
As always with this "make a thing a day" deal it was hard to get going late at night after work but I'm glad I got this done. It really only took 30 minutes and it'll be a fun little gift for Oscar under the tree.
What a cutie!
Thanksgiving break is over. But wow has it been nice while it lasted.
Today Biscuit participated in projects galore! She and I painted tree branch pieces. Anyone who's been around here for a while will know that I've got a lot of tree branch pieces around.
We hot glued magnets on the back to make....wait for it.....magnets!
Before our painting adventure, Mr. H and Biscuit were busy in the woodshop making something for Oscar (photos to come) and then they ran to the hardware store and before I could turn around they'd made a soccer goal!
Biscuit is suddenly very interested in learning about/playing soccer. She says that "once she knows all about it" she might be interested in playing on a team with uniforms.
In the meantime she's working on my signature move from my soccer playing days. The preparatory cringe ;)
And Oscar was busy turning 6 months old.
Following my family tradition we made him half a cake. A delicious carrot cake which we enjoyed without him. Sorry kid, maybe when you turn 1. Happy Half Birthday to Oscar!
All in all, a good day and I've got the messes all over the house to prove it.
According to Pinterest 1970s salt dough ornaments are back with a more modern look. Too bad mine didn't work out. The dough was fun to make and easy to work with but the baking just wasn't right. Way too much puffing.
I will say, stamping the unbaked ornaments with plain old stamps and stamp pads did work. So that's something. Better luck tomorrow.
So Mr. H made this. Biscuit helped (she painted the back). I just provided the concept and let them go. Idea from Pinterest. Of course.
It's a wall mounted) bedside "table" in which you can store stuff but its secret purpose is as a
book place holder. Cool, eh?
And, once again with the cop out post as this was made a few days ago. All I made today was a ball of yarn. Which is more of an accomplishment than you'd think since I started with a tangle of yarn about the size of a cat. Now I have a ball of yarn and a tangle about the size of a rat. As soon as it's all ball and no tangle I intend to knit with it. May I suggest storing your yarn better than I do?
Tonight I was going to go sew but decided to check in on a few blogs first and read Alicia's news about their adoption falling through and got a bit depressed about the universe. For me, having a baby makes me want even more for everyone who wants a baby to get their baby so this sad news hit me hard for something that is happening to someone I only "know" via the internet. Sheesh, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Gotta go distract myself.
I'm currently reading a book I bought for my 9 year old niece. She read it and liked it so I borrowed it back. I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot. It's Kiki Strike if you have a 9 year old niece who is a reader.
The other day Amalah mentioned the drool pads she bought to cover the straps of her ergo carrier. Talk about a head smack moment. If ever a child needed a drool pad, it's my drooly-chews-on-everything kid.
I whipped these up in about 20 minutes. The inside is (part of) a cloth diaper and the cover is a fat quarter my friend Kristin gave me as part of a baby gift for Oscar. Perfect, no? They attach with a strip of velcro (just like carseat strap covers).
Shortly after the photo shoot Oscar proceeded to spit up all over one of them so they're already destined for the laundry.
I have several sewing projects I'm excited about but they'll take time. And effort. And by the time the kids are asleep I'm more about brainless and easy.
So I made a pile of god's eyes for ornaments.
This one is my favorite. Here's the color inspiration.
Yeah, this is a total cop out but I've spent the entire evening fighting with computers in an attempt to order some fabric from Spoonflower during their free shipping deal. Ah the lengths I will go to to avoid paying shipping. If the fabric works out I might have something cool to show. Soon. Ish.
In the meantime, did a 3-minute-not-too-successful project--felted soap.
The wool is very pretty up close. I know in the photo it looks like a lump of gray lumpiness so you'll just have to trust me.
You need some soap to felt but as I was trying to felt this it seemed like I was just using up the soap and making a big sudsy mess. So it's rather lightly felted. I figure it'll felt more in use. In fact, I'll try it tomorrow and report back. I was thinking of making this as a gift (hi, sis) but I'm pretty sure it's too lame. Oh well.
