My Husband's Crafty

I may be able to do things with fabric but when it comes to colors and artistic talent my husband takes the cake. He does naturally what I can't do even by following the lines! Can you tell I'm a wee bit proud?
I may have mentioned before that all of my children have birds as their middle name. My oldest is Wren, my middle is Jay and my youngest is Kestrel. With each child that's been born my husband has drawn a representation of their bird with their initials making up part of the bird.
When we moved into our current house we had a huge blank wall in our dining room that we didn't know what to do with. Shortly after my husband penciled in a huge tree with the kids birds on the branches. Over Christmas break he finally completed painting the tree and I'd have to say he did an amazing job.As you can see I covered up part of our name in the photo...I'm sure you understand. :)

Pioneer Party....Done!

My oldest had a wonderful pioneer party this weekend and I'm so glad we threw one for her. I was glad when it was over and I could put my feet up but she had a great time and all the kids were really great.
I made her a covered wagon cake using paper to form the top. I was completely paranoid that it would not work like I thought it would in my head but I was pleasantly surprised and I did keep telling myself they are only six no one will care. My daughter's covered wagon people from Schleich pulled the whole thing together nicely.
We ended up rolling out cookie dough and cutting out shapes and then while they baked the kids searched for Lincoln logs we had hid in the house so they could build their own log cabin. The game the kids loved the most was our version of marbles where they had their own marble and had to roll it into different places in the cabins that were built for prizes. All in all the three hours went by super fast and most importantly the birthday girl had a blast.Note: You can see the "family tree" my husband painted in the background, more on that tomorrow...

Adventurer

This is my last installment of Christmas sewing.....I think. Last but not least was my son who needed an outfit to match the adventure game my husband had made for him. The game consists of flashlights, cards, cave music and searching for lost treasure. Perfect for a little boy. So I made him a vest with lots of pockets out of suede and a satchel to match. I didn't have a pattern for his since it was a little last minute. I just took one of his sweater vests as an estimate for the vest and added pockets on the front. For the satchel I just made a simple messenger type bag and shrunk it to fit him. All in all it turned out pretty cute. My husband was convinced he needed a genuine Pith helmet to top it off. It also turns out no one makes pith helmets for 2 year olds so he can be comforted in the fact he can wear his hat when he graduates from high school.

Prairie Girl

My oldest daughter is really into Laura Ingalls Wilder, really anything that has to do with pioneer life in general. So for Christmas I made a pioneer outfit just for her, complete with pinafore and bonnet. I was terrified at first of attempting the pattern because to be honest I'm just not a pattern girl. I'm more of a dive in and figure it out as I go sort. But I was pleasantly surprised and only had to ask for help from my mother-in-law once. It is a tad big, which I wanted, because I want her to be able to wear it for awhile! To top off the outfit her grandparents gave her black riding boots and a matching pioneer outfit for her doll. I loved that she got things she could use her imagination with. She wore the outfit all the time over break and a pioneer birthday party in a week is in the works. Pioneer games here I come.
Note: The pattern I used was Simplicity 2843 and I used basic green gingham fabric for the body, with some vintage lace around the yoke and cuffs.

Back

Yes, a another month has gone by without much going on here on my side of blogland. But I had a much needed break to focus on some sewing projects, focus on a little more simplicity in my life and getting the most out of my kids before school started up again. Now that everyone is back into the swing of things I'm getting back in the saddle as they say and reorganizing my crafty life. I have lots of things to share and photos to bombard you with! I'm sure by the time I get to some of them it will be almost spring but that's okay. Slow and steady is my mantra in 2010. Regular programing starting tomorrow...

Growth Chart

A growth chart I just finished up. It's my second one I've done for somebody and each time I tweak a little more and it looks a little better. Makes me want to make one for my own kids! My list keeps getting longer....

WOW, A Month!

It's amazing how fast a month can go by and suddenly it's December, Christmas lights are up and cookies are being consumed.
I won't bore you with the details of my last month. Let's just say there was a little bit of everything, from napping to sewing. A good month!

I just made this purse this week because my old one died on me. I found a great tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew called the Phoebe bag. I highly recommend it! It was super easy and turned out very cute! The fabric I used my mother gave me from their trip to Portand, and I would tell you what it is but I cut off the selvedge and already threw it away in a fit of cleaning. :(


I hope everyone is enjoying their month of December and I have a few other posts coming of things in the works.
Happy Friday!!