Back to School: Preschool Backpack

With all the back to school planning, big sister was getting all the attention.  But the start of another school year also means little brother being dragged to gymnastics, dance, and other activities.  And every little boy needs a special place for his toys and treasures, and maybe even a little snack... particularly when he's going to be surrounded by tutus.

When I saw this car fabric, I knew I needed to make something for my car-loving boy. I loved the bright primary colors.

I used this pattern from etsy.  The velcro is great for his little hands.

The result... a happy boy.  I love his smile.  It's hard to believe he isn't even three yet.  He just looks so grown-up to me.

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Gone Fishin'

Warm summer days, refreshing breezes...

Fish in the lake...

Fish in the sea...

Is there a fish I can catch just for me?

This little fishing game was an Easter gift for my son.  It was so popular that I had to make a second pole for big sister so that they could fish together.

I couldn't find a good tutorial at the time, so I kind of winged it.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos.

The supplies are pretty simple... fun fabrics, buttons, batting, and metal washers for the fish.  The fishing poles are just dowel rods, magnets, ribbon, strong super glue (don't use hot glue), and colorful electrical tape.  The tricky thing for me was sewing around the metal washer since I wanted it exposed.  It's probably much easier to sew the fish if you put the washer inside.

Now back to fishing...

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A Guitar Man

Have you noticed that there are a lot of clothes out there with electric guitars?  Only problem... we're an acoustic family.

It's one of Daddy's hobbies.  It's something that his little girl loves to help with, and something I imagine that his little man will want to share in as well.

So here's a special onesie for our future musician....

This was by far the most complex freezer paper stencil I have done to date.

Oh that little man of mine!  Doesn't he have a great smile!

Definitely a guitar player on our hands, and a little cutie.  Want to do your own freezer paper stenciling?  Check out the tutorial below.  But be forewarned... it's addictive.
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Dia Libh...

I am in love with freezer paper stenciling.  I may be getting a little obsessive.  My husband is afraid that I am going to stencil every article of clothing in the house.  Well, maybe it isn't that bad.  But I am having fun with it.  I can't wait to show you some of the spring creations I made for my little girl.  However, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, let me start with the Irish shirts I made for the kids.

I already had a green shirt lying around for my son.  Since it was a little boring, I thought I'd have some fun and dress it up.  We really enjoy going to Celtic festivals (much harder these days than during our pre-kid days), so I thought I would go more Irish-themed so they could wear them beyond St. Patrick's Day.

If you want to try this yourself, Dana from Made has a great tutorial on Freezer Paper Stenciling.

I chose the Irish Gaelic phrase "Dia Libh" meaning "God with You."  The font for the green shirt is Livingstone (downloaded from dafont.com).  I used Sherwood (also downloaded from dafont.com) for the white shirt.  I printed out the two phrases and then traced them onto the freezer paper.  After cutting the design out with an exacto knife, I ironed the design onto the shirt and painted it using Tulip's Glacier White Matte soft fabric paint.  I think I did 2-3 coats.

I did the same thing on the white shirt but used Tulip's Holiday Green Matte.  I made my daughter's shirt gender neutral so that her brother can wear it in a couple of years.  The girly shirts will be coming soon. 

Until then... dia libh.

This project is linked with:

The Persimmon Perch: Made it Mondays

Keeping It Simple: Motivate Me Monday
The Girl Creative:  Just Something I Whipped Up
Sumo's Sweet Stuff: Market Yourself Monday
Making the World Cuter Monday
Today's Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On
Somewhat Simple: Strut Your Stuff Thursday
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff
Treasures for Tots: Thursday's Treasures

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Seuss Extravaganza: One Fish Two Fish Onesie

My daughter has recently developed an affinity for Dr. Seuss.  Now that she knows all the Eric Carle books by heart and "reads" (i.e. quotes from memory) them to us, we are moving on to the next series.  We have spent a number of evenings reading "Green Eggs" (Green Eggs and Ham), "Belly Stars" (The Sneetches), "Turtle" (Yeurtle the Turtle), and "Hatching Egg" (Horton Hatches the Egg).  When I found out that Dr. Seuss's birthday is coming up on Tuesday (March 2nd), it seemed like fun to do some special activities to celebrate.

So let's start with the clothes.  After all, we need special costumes to celebrate.  That and I have just started playing with Freezer Paper Stenciling and wanted to try it out.  Thus was born the One Fish Two Fish onesie for my son.

In fairness, this isn't truly Seuss.  I took the opening line "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" as my inspiration, but the final product is slightly more sophisticated.  The one thing I would change would be to have the "two fish" line higher.  The gap between the two lines is a little much.

My daughter helped cut out the letter stencils with my paper punches. It was a great activity to work on letters and spelling words. I found the fish silhouettes on-line.

I had planned on making a sneetch shirt for my daughter.  It was going to say "Stars on Thars" (don't you love that phrase) and have a green star on the belly.  However, I couldn't quite get the design to materialize in my head the way I wanted.  I'm going to do some other non-Seuss shirt designs for her.  However, I did make her these whimsical, primary-colored barrettes.  I can't decide how I feel about them, but I'll try them out for now.

I'll be posting more Seuss-inspired projects over the next couple of days.  Until then, we'll be reading Green Eggs and Ham over and over.  It was my favorite as a child, and I love watching my daughter laugh as we read it now.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.

This Post is Linked to:

Keeping It Simple: Motivate Me Monday
The Persmmon Perch: Made It Monday
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up
Making the World Cuter Mondays
Sumo's Sweet Stuff: Market Yourself Monday
Today's Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On
Treasures for Tots: Thursday's Treasures
Fireflies and Jellybeans: Show Off Your Stuff Party

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Mardi Gras Onesie and Pin

Given that Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, I decided to put together some fun Mardi Gras-inspired outfits for the kids.  And given my current obsession, that means felt.  Laissez les bons temps rouler.

I love the fleur-de-lis.  There is just something about it that I find beautiful and appealing.  It might have to do with watching Musketeer movies as a kid and the whole romanticism of the debonair swash-buckler.  Then again, I have a thing for Robin Hood, King Arthur, Ivanhoe, Mr. Darcy, Zorro... need I go on.

Back to my little man and his new threads.  I went with the fleur-de-lis design and used the traditional purple, green, and gold.  (As a side note, I looked this up.  According to wikipedia, Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch Romanoff of Russia chose the colors during a visit to New Orleans in 1872.  Then in 1892 the colors were given official meanings... Justice (purple), Power (gold), and Faith (green).  Yes, I am the nerd that looks up the history of holidays and symbols.)

I made the fleur-de-lis as a stand-alone emblem and lightly stitched it to the onesie.  After Tuesday, I'll cut it off and save it to be sewn on a new shirt next year.  My daughter liked looking at her brother's onesie so much that I made her a pin to wear on a cardigan.  She has a cute purple plaid shirt that she can wear with it, and of course we'll add some bead necklaces to complete her ensemble.  (Sorry... couldn't resist)

I also made her a set of purple and green barrettes (same way as the valentine barrettes).  I considered making them fleur-de-lis as well but ended up opting for flowers.

If you are interested in making your own onesie, here's how:
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Celebrating the Boy

Despite all the pink on this blog, I actually have a son as well as a daughter.  He just celebrated his 4 month birthday and is an absolute charmer.  But I have to admit that I have had a hard time coming up with crafts suited for a boy.  Even beginning with the nursery, I made all these cute things for my daughter... an origami bird mobile, a pink and brown paper cutting, butterfly cut-outs, etc.  But for my son I have been a blank.  I've ended up buying more.

So, it was with great excitement that I just came across Celebrate the Boy Month!  This is an awesome idea.  In case you are interested, Dana from MADE and Rae from Made by Rae are teaming up on this.  I for one can't wait to see what they come up with.

Here's to the Boys... particularly a little 4-month-old who is on my lap as I type.


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