Monday, June 07, 2010

Canvas Art for Kids Rooms

We welcomed our daughter into our lives & home earlier this year. Just before she arrived, we decided to transition our son up to our office, which is a slightly larger room than the one he was in. When my son upgraded to his big boy room, I wanted to make the transition really special for him. We got new flooring installed & I wanted his first night in his new room & big boy bed to be something he'd be proud of & excited to call his space.

I had originally planned on making his bedding, but with time constraints and after talking with him about it, eventually decided that I might have better luck purchasing something. So the search began.
I found some great bedding at Kohl's just in time.  It was on sale and it was exactly what I was looking for. Fun safari-theme, but with a comforter that could easily grow up with my little guy.  I've been really happy with our choice so far, and he's been using it for a about 8 months now.

After getting his room set up, his walls were looking VERY bare. I wanted to give him something fun to look at, while adding some colors his bedding didn't have. 

Here's what we ended up with. I simply used his bedding to sketch an image onto a canvas, then I painted it in using greater detail than the sheets provided, and colors of my choice. He loves it & I was happy to be able to give him something that I made just for him.

He's been on a twin bed for a while, but his mattresses have been on the floor until yesterday! He's happy as a clam in his new bed now!
 

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Nap Time!

I'm sure most Mom's know the scenerio...You're planning on spending some extended time at a friend's house...with your kiddos....during (dah dah dah doom music) nap time. There are kids your child's age & they have a set nap time - so you need to make a plan...fast!   Many children are also required to provide a nap mat for their preschool classroom or daycare setting. If any of these situations sound familiar...you need a travelling nap mat!


I made this one for my son last year. I filled it with poly-fill & used a trifold design. I did some box stitching at each fold so that it could fold up compactly & added some handles, so that when it's folded up, it can be carried like a briefcase. I also attached a color-coordinating pillow.

We "practiced" taking naps on it at home before taking it on the road. My little guy loves his. He uses it now for Pre-K.


I used decorator-weight material & poly-fill, but it is washable.  I think if I do something like this again, I'd probably just buy a kinder-mat & make a washable cover for that instead, but this one is suiting us well for now & I love watching my little guy snuggle up on it!


Monday, May 31, 2010

Monday Musings #1

Welcome to my Monday Musings #1. This is not my family site, but I've decided I want to use this site to talk about things that happen, life questions & stories as well as crafts.  My family site http://mintnclandy.com is reserved more for what's happening with my family life, and this site is more for my personal musings and crafting fun!

I wanted to share a story with you about a crazy little something that happened to me while taking my two little ones to a local park. It was my first time trying to watch both kiddos outside at one time. I was giving my 3 year old some freedom on the playground & monitoring my newest addition in her carrier, when the nearest school bell rang and a swarm of youngsters, wide-eyed and ready to attack after a full day of being cooped up in a classroom, descended onto the playground. There were probably 30-40 kids playing on a small playgound, (I'm assuming) waiting on their respective parents to pick them up.

I was trying to watch my 3-year-old who was being swallowed into the massive swarm, when a small boy approached me. He started a conversation with me, but to be honest I don't remember what he was chattting about...blah blah blah astro-physics this...and blah blah...quantum mechanics that...(not really). Then it happened, one of the genuinely most hilarious & strange conversations I've had in a while....here it goes:

Awkward Boy: Oh, your baby is so cute. Is it a a boy or a girl?

Baby is obviously swathed in pink from head to toe, but I guess he assumed it's safer to ask. 
Me: Thanks! She's a girl. 
Awkward Boy: Oh, she's a cute girl. I couldn't tell, because she kind of looks like a boy baby. Well, actually all babies kind of look alike.

Me: You're right, they do. She's a girl (smile). 

Awkward Boy: Yeah, look at her feet! They are so tiny. bladdy bladdy blah.... ( I was watching my guy attempt to climb up a ladder surrounded by giants!) 

Me: (distracted) Uh-huh

Awkward Boy: I normally don't talk to strangers you know. (Lucky me!) But you have a baby, and people with babies are generally harmless. Unless of course that isn't your baby. That is your baby isn't it?

(LOL) 
 -------------------
I wanted to ask him where his parents were. As exciting as our conversation was, I was slightly distracted by my small "chicken-little"- esque friend.

Nice to know that I'm considered "generally harmless". Although, t's true, his lack of concern still made me nervous for kids & what they learn about strangers. I laughed and marveled about this encounter all day long. His parents never did show up. I heard about his entire family life story. Interesting stuff.

Anyone had any interesting conversations lately?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Butterfly Lamp - Fly Away With Me Mobile (Part 3)

After being inspired by a  this mobile, I created my own (tutorial here), which eventually evolved into this beautiful Butterfly lamp!  I am so proud of how it turned out, and will probably be making various lamps for my etsy shop soon!

After hanging this in my daughter's room, I got a picture of her basking happily in the warm green light.
I even got a quick picture of her happy view. She loves it & so do I. The light and shadows cast on the walls are very soothing and serene. Hope you enjoy our happy little butterfly lamp.





The way the lamp lit up kind of reminded  me of the jellyfish I saw in Monterrey. 
Which leads me to a future lamp project!  Look familiar?

PS - As I previously mentioned, I will probably have some of these available in my Etsy shop soon.  I may also post a tutorial if you're interested ;) Link Parties where you'll find me.
    Here's the Tea Rose Home feature link!









I was featured on FJI

Making
-Mandy

Friday, May 21, 2010

Yeah! A Blog Award! Thanks!!

Thank You Brittney from Brittney's Budget Crafts for honoring me with a blog award!
If you haven't visited Brittney's blog before - you really really should! She has some GREAT ideas to share!! ;)

Rules of receiving this award:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! (in no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Here we go:

7 things about Me..(This is not easy!)

1. I am a mom - with 2 little ones. As if that's not obvious by the themes for my crafts. ;) I have a 3 year old and and a 4 month old! They give me total joy & purpose....sometimes stress too...but they are AMAZING blessings. I thank God for them every day!

2. I wish I were more organized. My husband loves techy things & I love crafty things & between the two of us & our two kiddos, we keep a pretty crazy home. It's still a home - but I wish it were a completely organized place. I just don't quite know where to begin. I really need someone to help me know what to go ahead and get rid of! ;) Organization is a MAJOR goal of mine.

3. I'm just learning how to sew. I'm not very good yet, but I'm having a great time learning. My Nana is an amazing seamstress & I'm learning what I can from her. She & my mom have the ability to make anything imaginable & I hope to be able to be that way too!

4. I love traveling, visiting new places, new faces & new adventures. I am a pretty spontaneous person with very varied interests. I love exploring & have several places I'd love to visit...but I've lived in OK most of my life. ;)

5. I'm in school, studying Speech Language Pathology.  I have a tremendous desire to use my gifts to help people.  I am currently taking a little bit of time off for our newest addition & I'm very thankful for this time with my sweet kiddos.

6. I really enjoy creating new things. I find it very soothing to make something on my own & extremely rewarding to be able to share my creations with friends who appreciate them.

7. I really enjoy cooking fancy meals...but everyday dinner isn't my cup of tea.  I'm working on that though!!!

I'm supposed to pass this award on to 15 blogs that I found recently & enjoy. It was SO hard to pick 15 - I have so many that I love!  Here are a few of my recent finds (in no particular order) which I think you might enjoy checking out! 
Macey @ Macey's Daily Parade
Shelley@ House of Smiths
Aura@Aura-Joon
Bev @ @ FlamingoToes.com
Bec @ theiheartblog.com
Sonia @Kosmic Chai
Ann @ makethebestofthings
Allison @ Design LIFE
Cole @ Letters From Coco
Dana @ Surviving 4 Kids
Suzanne@ Just Another Hang Up
Diane @ Perfectly Imperfect Life 
Morgan @ Mama Loves Papa
Amy @ Varnish Design
LeAna @ A Small Snippet of Our Lives
Bonus Blog Award! Stephanie @ Sabbe Spot

Why not? :)







T-Shirt Dress & Tie-Tees for Tots - Take 2

After Jonas showed up to Pre-K in one of his tie t-shirts, the teachers there sweetly asked me to make all of the students outfits for the end of the year "graduation" program out of plain white t-shirts.  This motivated me to create my first t-shirt dress.

I was really happy with how that turned out, and was going to go for the same thing...but ran into some difficulties.  When sewing the skirt on, my bobbin ran out of thread after sewing half way around the shirt. I didn't notice & after fixing my mistake, I ended up with a portion of the shirt that I couldn't get the thread off of because it was so deeply woven into the t-shirt that to take the thread out would create HUGE holes. So, I had to get creative.

I had some jersey material on hand that I was planning on using for flowers, but instead decided to make a cute waist-band ruffle. They turned out great!

The Pre-K class made such cute little models for my outfits. That's the biggest task I've tackled sewing so far. I was very proud to see my work on all of those cute little kiddos. I am also excited that now they have something to be proud of  - created all from a simple white t-shirt!

You should definitley give this project a try! It's fun & relatively easy. If you make a mistake - you CAN fix it & your outfit might even look better because of it! Your little one also probably won't complain about being uncomfortable. I know that is a bonus!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Easy Caprese Salad

Easy Caprese Salad

I'm always on the lookout for great recipes that are easy & convenient. After looking at some ingredients I had on hand the other day, I came up with this idea to make an Easy Caprese Salad.  It only took a few minutes (which is very important in my home with 2 little ones) and it tasted delicious.  

A traditional Caprese Salad is usually made up of slices or balls of mozzarella cheese, basil and fresh sliced tomatos. 

I wanted to use my Caprese salad as a complete meal, so I added pasta & baby spinach.  This time, I used Ronzoni Smart Taste Spiral pasta this time, but have also used whole wheat pasta with success. Then, I simply used baby spinach & basil leaves as my base, put one serving of pasta on top, sliced some small grape tomatos (that's what I had on hand) and sliced up some reduced fat low moisture mozzarella string cheese.  I lightly coated the pasta in Kraft's Fat Free Zesty Italian. 

It was SO good & fresh tasting, I just wanted to share.

Hope you enjoy. If you have some quick and easy meals that take minutes, using fresh ingredients, I'd love to know about them.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fly Away With Me Mobile (Part 2of 3)

Even though I only recently posted the butterfly mobile idea on my blog here, I have actually been working on it since this past winter, in anticipation of my little girl.

After typing up a tutorial, my post was somehow deleted. Much like a sock gets lost in the dryer, my post disappeared from my blog. I was so disappointed that it vanished after putting so much time into it. Has anyone else ever had this happen?  Oh well, so goes life. Enough of my pity party...on with the new tutorial!

I have no idea if this is the "best" method, this is simply the method I used. If you know how to make it easier on yourself or others, please feel free to leave your wisdom in my comments. ;)

I started with a wooden embroidery hoop. I found a spool of metal twine in the bargain bin at Michael's for about .79. It very closely resembles twisty tie line. (Thin gauge wire encased in plastic), but any small wire or possibly even string would probably work. I tied my twine on in pie formation as seen below.

Next I spray painted the whole thing white (wires and all), but I don't have a picture of this step.

I purchased a butterfly punch tool by Martha Stewart, also at Michael's, and created what felt like 100's of butterflies, out of scrapbook paper.

 Then, using a needle and clear fishing line, I createed 2 rows on each line of wire, evenly spaced, one center line and an additional 8 lines on the outer ring, centered between the wires, for a total of 25 strands of butterflies. 
I secured the bottom of each line with a seed bead, both for weight and stability, and tied knots where I wanted the butterflies to "rest" on their lines. So, each butterfly has a knot just below it, holding it in place on its line.
I added one additional butterfly to each row going inward, so the longest row of butterflies, is the center line. Giving it a tiered effect. And, voila! The mobile is complete.  Sorry for the shaky picture, but believe me, the finished result was beautiful! 
 My original plan was to secure this with some decorative ribbon to a hook in the ceiling of my daughter's room. The colors served as the inspiration for the quilt I had my Nana make for her.

When I showed my husband, I held it up under a lamp, and he commented about how it would be  really interesting if I could somehow make it into a lamp. ....I loved the idea, but I will save that for another post!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

T-shirt dress

There are t-shirt refashions all over the place right now.  If you'd like to attempt this simple sewing activity, there is a great tutorial over at Just Deanna.

I attempted a refashion using the same fabric I used for my Mother's day Onesie dress.  This time it's 5T, for a friend - after being asked to make these for my son's class' pre-school graduation.  (More about that later!)

My assessment of my first attempt? Not bad! So, I thought I'd share.  I just used a simple boys white undershirt. The entire thing cost me less than $5.00, including skirt fabric. Easy &  inexpensive, perfect!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Fly Away With Me Mobile

What I'm working on next........Something similar to this:

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! ;) This mobile is available from PB Kids for $79.00. I am punching out my own colorful butterflies & making my own. I started today, but will post things as I get closer to finishing.

I was even more excited when I saw some recent posts about butterfly projects on Homemade by Jill. Check out her paper punch art project -it's fantastic! Maybe I'll do that next!

Pictures & tutorial coming soon!