Baby Shoes

I finally got around to making a little pair of shoes for Elise! I look at the tiny shoes for sale at Babies R'Us and have been tempted to buy some but, adorable as they are, I just can't do it. Almost $20 for shoes that will fit for maybe a couple months? No thanks!

But I do have several baby shoe patterns and piles of fabric so I'm going to make her a few pairs instead. And let's face it...homemade ones seem a lot more comfy for her little feet than the stiff shoes in the store. That's what I tell myself, anyway...   :)

I found a small chunk of black corduroy and used black flannel for the inside lining. I wanted to make Elise a pair of Mary Jane-type shoes to start with. The only problem was I didn't have a pattern for those in her size. A different pattern looked like it would work, so I found the 3-6 month size and tweaked it a little to make the top a different shape. Etsy is my new favorite place to look at patterns. I've found some really cute baby patterns that are inexpensive and super easy to make. And baby shoes are great--they're so small they only take a few minutes to sew!

So my new 'design' worked out okay. I couldn't decide how I wanted the straps to look so I ended up leaving them off and tried something different. Mom gave me a huge bag of buttons last summer and there were a few black flowered ones that were the perfect size. I sewed a button on both sides of each shoe, then used black elastic to stretch across as the strap.

Done! And they actually fit Elise's feet really well. Although when I tried to get a picture of her wearing them she started curling her toes so they look a little awkward here...





I want to make her a few more pairs--different styles and colors for this summer. Will post more pics later!

Cookies!

Looking for simple entertainment? Bake with a toddler! :)

I couldn't decide what to do with Parker last week so I let him get his little hands into some cookie dough! I mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough one morning and put it in the fridge for a while to chill.

After lunch I pulled it out, along with a rolling pin and a few cookie cutters. I kept them simple, using shapes he would recognize--circle, square, star and heart.

He was so excited to help!

I rolled out a piece of dough on a cutting board and set it in front of him. He needed a bit of help pushing the cutters all the way through, but after making a couple shapes I let him try it on his own.

He was somewhat distraught when I pulled out the first couple cookies, but once I explained that I had to put them on a tray and bake them he went back to work.

His toddler technique was great to watch! Each time I gave him a freshly rolled piece of dough he would cut the first cookie from the middle. Then he would work his way out, either cutting around or overlapping that first one. When I pulled up the cookies to put on the baking pan I was finding some unusual shapes!

At one point I was busy cutting out some cookies and checking the ones in the oven so I wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing. When I looked over, I saw that I hadn't been quick enough at taking out the ones he had cut. So he just kept cutting...and cutting...and cutting!

This poor piece of dough was shredded! I don't know how many times I re-rolled it for him, but I'm pretty sure the cookies turned out a little more, um....chewy than usual.  :)



After they were baked I let him try one and asked him to take one to Daddy. He proudly handed one to Kyle and told him that "Parker made it!"

We had plans to go out that night so the decorating waited until the next afternoon. I mixed up a bowl of icing and got out a couple plastic knives and two kinds of sprinkles--big chunky sprinkles that he could pick up easily. I started icing a few cookies to show him how. The first thing Parker did was pick up a plain star cookie and inform me, while taking a bite, that he needed to eat that one.

I guess he wanted to try one to make sure they were still okay...?

When he finished eating, we were finally ready to start decorating. He put a little glob of icing on a cookie...

then got distracted by the colorful sprinkles and decided to play with them for a while.

I kept asking him to help me decorate the cookies, so he finally picked up his knife again and put another, bigger glob of icing on his cookie. Then he began decorating it, one sprinkle at a time. Yes, we were there for quite a while...

Here is the one he made all by himself!

 Although they took a little longer to make this time, I have to say.... these turned out to be the cutest cookies ever!  :)

No-Mess Painting

I tried another art project with Parker last week. I wanted to let him paint again but it's a little chilly outside and finger paints are too messy for in the house.


The solution?  Bag painting!  :)




Since Valentine's Day is coming up, we made hearts. I cut some hearts from card stock and placed each one inside a small ziplock bag.



Next I poured a few drops of paint into each bag, then sealed and handed them over to Parker. After I showed him how to smear the paint with his finger to 'paint' the heart, I let him take over and sat down to watch.

He was doing a good job!

When I thought he was done with a couple I picked them up to open and he got a little upset.   ...guess he thought I was going to take them away or ruin his work.

So, standing where he could see me, I cut open the bags and lifted out the hearts, being careful not to smear the paint too much. I wanted to keep as many of his little finger strokes/designs as possible!

I placed the hearts on cookie sheets and set them outside to dry.

It took a few hours for them to dry. Just before he got up from his nap I brought them all in and hung them on the wall. He noticed them when he came in later and his whole face lit up.

He was so proud of what he did and told me HE painted them and then asked if we could send some to Grandma and Papa. He was very emphatic that we needed to send TWO hearts, so he picked out the red and purple ones on the left and we put them in the mail yesterday.

So fun! I love that he enjoys making projects. Elise likes it too, apparently. Every time we put her chair in the kitchen she stares at the hearts up on the wall and smiles.

Heat Pack

I made a heat pack last week. Not overly exciting, I know, but it's something I've been needing.

When my knee is aching or I have nursing issues the only heat pack we have is a huge one Kyle got that's meant to wrap around his neck and shoulders. Not great for a small area. So I made one. And it's prettier than Kyle's, too.  :)


 The best part is that it only took two supplies--a small bag of rice and a scrap piece of flannel.

I didn't have a specific size in mind... I ended up cutting out two pieces of flannel 12 x 7 inches.





I sewed around three sides, leaving one short end open. I trimmed the corners to prevent too much bulk, then turned it right-side-out and top stitched close to the edge to give the seams a little extra reinforcement.

If I poured all the rice in at once, it would fall to one side like a beanbag. Instead, I made the heat pack with sections. 

I marked and drew lines every 2.25 inches down the length of the pack. I poured 1/4 cup of rice into the bottom of the bag, then stuck a few pins across to hold the rice back while I sewed over the line.

I poured in another 1/4 cup of rice and repeated until the last section was filled. To close the last section I folded in the end of the bag 1/2 inch and top stitched across.

Done!
Isn't it cute? So glad I now have a normal size heat pack for the next time I hurt.  :)

Baby Bonnet

Baby bonnets. Old-fashioned, yes, but there's something about them that makes me smile. Seeing a baby's chubby little face framed with ruffles and lace is just...sweet.

Elise is cute in hats although the knit ones don't stay on her head. Every time she moves and squirms around they fall off or slide into her eyes. I usually end up taking them off because they tend to annoy me. Last Sunday Elise wore a new dress, which came with a matching headband/bow. Well, the headband was horrible but I tried it on her anyway. Aaaaand then we took it off. A thick, bunchy band on a tiny bald head just doesn't work. Poor little thing...hopefully she starts growing some hair soon so she can wear barrettes and clips!

Anyway, not sure why the whole baby bonnet thing came up. I think it was when I was looking up baby hat patterns one night and I came across some for bonnets and they looked super cute. I wanted to make one for Elise--something fun for church and that will go with her frilly little dresses.

I didn't want to pay for a pattern so I looked at a few pictures online and decided to make my own instead. I drew and cut out two pieces and made the first bonnet from scrap fabric to check the size and shape, etc. It was pretty close to what I wanted. I went ahead and cut the same pieces out of white fabric, making one change along the way. I was making Elise's hat from white eyelet fabric with white cotton lining.

First I basted and gathered the back straight edge of both the outside and the lining, then pinned them onto their matching oval-shaped pieces.

Sewed them together.



I pinned both pieces together, matching the right sides, and added a length of ribbon to each front corner.





After sewing around almost the entire outside edge, I turned it right-side out and pressed the seams flat.

Almost done!

I measured and marked a line 1" from the front edge, then pinned my lace over it and sewed it in place. The line made it a lot easier to keep both the lace and my seam straight. 

The last thing I did was run a basting stitch over the seam I had just sewn, to slightly gather the front of the hat. It frames Elise's face better and gives it a more 'ruffly' look.  :)

Finally I tried it on her. And then realized I had made a mistake. The side corners, where the ribbon was sewn in, needed to be further back. With the way I had sewn it, the ties came out way past her chin. To fix the problem I folded the sides back about an inch on each side, tucking the extra behind the round back piece. Since the back was already gathered, a little extra bulk wouldn't be too noticeable. I hand-stitched the folds in place.

Here it is after I made the adjustment...

I tried it on Elise again and this time it fit perfectly.

I think she likes it!  :)

We went out to show Kyle her new hat. He said it was cool, but then started telling her she looks like a little homesteader or like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Hmmm... not quite sure how to take that yet. Maybe we should wear it on Sunday and get some outside opinions. Either way, it was fun to make. I love sewing for my babies!

Chenille Scarf

Finally back to sewing! I cancelled my November sewing class because I wasn't feeling up to it. Good thing I did, because that night was when we checked into the hospital to have a baby.  :)

I wanted to go back in December, and my friend had missed the night she signed up for, so we were able to go together on the 18th. It was great to have a night out again! The project for this month was a faux chenille scarf. I had no idea what it was or what it would look like until the night of class. When I saw the pattern I didn't love the look of it, but thought it would still be a good idea to learn a new sewing technique so I headed over to the rack of fabric.

 We were told to get two yards of yarn-dyed flannel. Unlike regular flannel, yarn-dyed is the same look and feel on both the front and back. I picked out a light blue with dark blue and beige plaid.

The instructor told us what to do and we started cutting...come to think of it, I didn't even use the pattern I bought! That's okay, I guess I'll have it for future reference if I want to make another scarf later on. Anyway, this project couldn't have been easier. We layered strips a certain way, then sewed down the length of them back and forth until we reached the edges. Then we used a fun little tool to cut the flannel between the seams. After the scarf was washed and dried, it was soft and frayed on both sides to give it the faux chenille look. Some people cut the seams at the end to give it tassels. I couldn't decide if I wanted them, so I left mine solid. Here's the finished scarf....

It turned out to be a pretty cool project! I was going to make a few for gifts, but it was too close to Christmas and I didn't get time. I'm glad I learned how to make them, though.  :)

2012 is Over Already?!

Wow, this year went by fast! They say the older you get the faster time goes by...I think I'm starting to see the truth in that!
The last time I was able to log in was to announce Elise's birth. Let's see...what has been going on with our family since then...?

Well, to start with, Elise has been such a sweet and easy baby. She loves to be held and snuggled and just last week she started smiling. Is there anything sweeter than a baby's first smiles?? Those big wide, toothless smiles that just melt your heart and make you smile right back at her. :) And she's been sleeping for 5-6 hours at night, which is wonderful!

Parker seems to love his little sister and sometimes will ask to "Hold it Baby?" (translation: hold the baby?)

He's been a helpful big brother, bringing her toys and burp cloths, and always telling me when she's crying. Sometimes he will ask her what's wrong or try to tell us she needs a bath.  :) Hopefully they're close enough in age that they'll be good friends in a couple years.

I think we've adjusted pretty well to having two little ones! There's more laundry, more crying, WAY more diapers, and it usually takes an extra half hour to get out the door when we try to go somewhere. But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world! I took me a while but I'm finally realizing that housework and errands can wait. Baby snuggles and toddler playtime are more important.

Christmas was fun this year, as always! Parker helped Kyle put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. He was very busy carrying branches back and forth and once the lights were on we let him help hang a few of  the ornaments, including the Phineas and Ferb one he picked out at the store.

Parker was having a great time walking around the tree looking at all the pretty lights and ornaments. But soon Kyle discovered him behind the tree, sitting on a present picking at the paper! So we had to put a gate around the tree to keep him out until Christmas. I think one of the highlights for him every day was turning on the lights. I've always loved Christmas, with the tree and all the decorating involved but I think it's even better now that Parker is old enough to enjoy it, too. Seeing his excitement when the lights come on or when he gets to go up close and touch the ornaments makes it so much more special! 

Since Parker is able to make simple projects, I wanted to start a new tradition of having family time to make holiday decorations. The first thing we made was paper gingerbread men. I got them from Target's dollar section. Basically it was a large gingerbread man cutout and it came with two sheets of stickers for the gumdrops, icing, etc. They only had two, so Parker and I each made one. 

 Then a few days later we all made Christmas trees. I picked up green foam sheets at Joanns and cut them into tree shapes then pulled out an assortment of buttons, pompoms, beads and star stickers I already had here. I put drops of glue on Parker's tree and let him decorate it. He was actually doing pretty well until he got distracted by the stars...he pulled them all off the tray and decided he was in charge of handing them out. He was a little stingy with them, so we had to swipe a few when he wasn't looking...  :)  

Notice the pile of stars??  :)

Elise was 'helping' Daddy with his tree. 

The last thing I did with Parker was bake Christmas cookies. I didn't have time to make them from scratch though, so I cheated and bought a package of the Pilsbury kind that had trees in the centers. I let him put them on the cookie sheet, which he thought was super fun. But when I took the tray to put it in the oven he got a little upset--he wanted to eat them right then. Poor little guy. But he cheered up pretty quickly when he soon got to eat a cookie that he helped make!

Christmas morning was pretty relaxed. Parker woke up early but was content to play in his bed for a while so we could sleep in. After we were all up and had breakfast we started opening presents. Parker was having fun for a while, then he started getting a bit restless so we opened a couple of his new toys so he could play. And he loved the bows. When we were finished with gifts, I looked at the couch and he had pulled out all of the bows and had arranged them by color! Who needs all those gifts when you can just play with the boxes and bows?  :) At least he realizes what gifts are now, unlike last year. We didn't mind that he was a little slow opening them. It made it last longer. I'm sure next year he will be tearing them open! 

So that was our little Christmas together--a quick look at some of our family time over the past few weeks. We've had a wonderful year overall and have been blessed in so many ways! I'm so thankful for my family and look forward to seeing what 2013 brings. Happy New Year!!

:)