Gifts for little ones, made by (not quite as) little ones.

My sister had a baby boy recently, so I finally have a nephew!  Yippee!!!  In our family, there is me and my two sisters.  I have three girls, my middle sister has three girls and now my youngest sister, bucking the trend, gave us a little boy.  How lucky are we???

My girls wanted to make this wee little one some nautical themed gifts.  My sister is very cool, has a great sense of style and might work for one of the most amazing fashion companies ever.  She puts me to shame she’s so fancy.  Needless to say, she can buy anything for that baby boy, but we all know here she would love handmade over anything bought.

Here is what the girls made:

Annabelle made a pot of lobsters. The lobsters are made from Michael Miller fabric, backed with red twill.  The pot is made from heavy duty canvas and it’s lined with fusible fleece which made it sturdy and very pot-like.  Annabelle did a great job, the whole idea was hers and I think the execution is great.

Millie made a Mama fish, fashioned from her favorite pink sweater, and some babies from my sisters sweater.  How sweetly sentimental is that?  Millie made her own pattern for the fish and they are part machine an d part hand-sewn.   Millie is a sweetheart and she worked hard on those fishy eyes!

The thing I like about this best is the pride the girls have in making something unique, that’s from the heart.  They love their Auntie and now they love that baby!!!

What did I make?  A baby quilt of course!  How cool is that orange and blue lobster fabric?  I did a really easy strip quilt, though to be honest it took me forever!  And I can’t figure out why since really, shouldn’t this have been super easy?  I mean, it’s all straight lines!

And because I wanted my sister to have something sort of  ”girly” for her, I made her a matching necklace from the quilt fabric.  She loves it and it can double as a teether.  I’ll post a tutorial on how to make the necklace soon, it was easy and I got to use my fabric scraps.

Congratulations to my beautiful sister and brother inlaw on their beautiful baby boy!

PS) I KNOW.  That owl is OUT of control cool. I covet that owl.

Egg dying with silk ties, it's EASY.

Reblogged from Liz Noonan:

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Okay, pictures as promised! To do this all you do is

1) cut up a silk tie
2)wrap the egg w/the silk print "good side" touching the shell, close off w/elastic band or tie off w/twine - I did the elastic bc I'm a little lazy.

3) wrap the silk covered egg in some kind of cotton, I used old scraps of anything I had lying around and then tie that off or wrap w/elastic, again, I did the lazy route.

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Egg dying with silk!

Naturally dying eggs

Reblogged from Liz Noonan:

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We wanted to try dying eggs naturally over here after reading about it here.  We opted to go with the cold method of dying since it would take many turns at the stove and I wanted the girls to be able to do it themselves.

For the beets, blueberries, tomato, tumeric and blackberries we boiled them first.  I used about a handful of each to a 2 quart saucepan.  

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Naturally dying eggs!

How I made those bunnies

Reblogged from Liz Noonan:

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Some of you asked how I made those cute little finger puppets.  I used this tutorial from PurlBee with a few adjustments.  I sewed on little arms to hold things and made more, shall we say, fancy, bunny bums.

The little carrots were hand felted and finished off with wool crewel thread.  Those bouquets were vintage millinery items from my collection, finished off with some washi tape.

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Easter bunny finger puppets! A great tutorial from the purl bee!

Cashmere Bunny Remake tutorial, just in time for Easter crafting!

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Well, perhaps you've been looking at my Facebook page, and you see I've been crafting my husbands old sweaters into little bunnies for my nieces and daughters.  I've promised you I'd make a tutorial, so here you go!  I will warn you - I am a very ad hoc person - I don't measure, I live for the moment of making and also I love the freedom to alter things as I go.  

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My Cashmere Bunny Remake Tutorial, for you DIYers looking for a little sweater remake for Easter!

Cute and Quick! Valentines Day Tutorial over on Whip Up

Reblogged from Liz Noonan:

Come check out a very easy and cute Valentine Tutorial I wrote for Whip Up today!  You can see it here http://whipup.net/2012/02/02/guest-post-stuck-on-you-valentine/

Valentines Day is on the way, thought I'd share this great tute I did for WhipUp last year. It's a great way to combine Vday with a class donation. Enjoy!

A little paint can change almost anything.

Check it out peeps.  Look at what a little paint can do!  We went from a cave-like feel to light and bright.  At some point this part of the house will most likely be remodeled so we didn’t want to do anything expensive.  We have a teeny tiny bathroom on the other side and would like to take half this room at some point to make a laundry/half bath.  And the floor needs work, it’s really awful and stained and just gross.  I’m thinking I might paint that too.

I think we did quite well, what do you think?

 

Artwork by Eloise. Don’t we look so much happier now that we have a nice mudroom?

 

Mudroom rehab, Yikes! pictures

The first room we walked into at the open house for our new home was the mud room.  It was a huge let-down to walk into that room.  It had dark paneling, no light and was quite dismal.  Our home, however, is a cheerful, bright little spot on a long road with lots of old farms, some new construction and mostly lots of trees.  I love how it’s like a little ray of sunshine when you mosey up to it.  This room does not reflect the personality of our house!

I tried my best to take photos but they all look awful because frankly…..the room is pretty awful.  It’s great now, short of a remodel it’s about as good as I can make it.  Mostly I’m thrilled because I actually have a mudroom and a place for all my girls coats, bags and whatnot.

yikes, right?  I left the really dark picture because it was the only one I didn’t alter with the filter on Iphoto.  All of these photos had to be adjusted.  On the entry there is one door and one window.  Directly in front of you is the other side of the room, one door that goes out the back.  It’s pretty square and utilitarian.

I’m neck deep in a long project of painting and remodeling.  Most likely it will take us three years to get our home where we want it, possibly more.  This is the third home we have owned together, my husband and I.  We have lived in 5 different apartments and 3 homes in our 15 years together!  That’s a lot!  We have painted and updated every time.  We love a project but we hope this is the last one for at least 10 years!

Look for the “After” pictures on Thursday!