Feel the Love

Do you ever stop to think about how everyone expresses love in a little different way? Some people play music or share songs, some people are physically affectionate, others like to write love poems or notes. Me, I like to bake. I bake my love into brownies, cookies, cupcakes, so many things that are usually sweet to eat for all my sweeties. So if you've ever received a baked treat from me, or if you've been to my house and I've baked something for the occasion, chances are I'm expressing my love for you. Sometimes I even bake up a batch of love and mail it out, if I have to.

So this weekend, and in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, I was busy. Heart shaped brownies. Bread. Granola. Cinnamon rolls. Phew. It's tiring just to think about it. But I have a lot of love, and a lot of people to share the love with. There's my husband, the fun, carefree, diligent and handsome person who, even if I just think about him loving me, makes everything better. Then there's my son, the painfully adorable, silly, chatterbox train-lover who I'd rather hug and kiss than anyone else in the world. Add to that my immediate family who I love so much and love even more when I see them loving my hubby and son. That doesn't even cover all my friends, who I miss painfully here in my new home state.



As you can see, much baking is in order. But much to my surprise, my guys baked something for ME this Valentine's Day! A great big, heart-shaped pizza! It was so good that I could feel the love. And I could taste it, too. And today, on Valentine's Day, we spent the day wandering through the Milwaukee Public Museum and musing at Dinosaurs, butterflies, and "Winnie Wolf" -- a character from one of our favorite books. It was a good day, and full of love.

I hope you had a good day with those you love! And if you need a little extra, drop by. We've got about a dozen cinnamon rolls left over!

New Product: Big Sis Shirt

Big Sis Shirt
Originally uploaded by pumpkin-girl

I have slowly been adding a few new products to my Etsy shop, and this is one of them. It's an organic cotton tee shirt that says "Big Sis" on the front in recycled lettering (I used an old sheet!). Coming soon, a Big Bro shirt!

I'm also going to be creating some birthday shirts, and a special request by my mother-in-law, a "Grandma" shirt! Any other great ideas for me? I'm finally clearing away some time now that our house has finally started to feel like a home!

The Verdict: Toddler Pasta Making

A while back, I posted some ideas for keeping your tot busy in these long, winter months. Most of the ideas I hadn't tried out myself, but wanted to. Slowly we've been testing each idea. This week, we tried pasta making. The verdict? Well, good toddler activity, not that great results. Here's the skinny on our fat noodles.

We started by laying out 2 cups of flour on our table. Then, we made a little dent in the middle and cracked in a total of three eggs. We also added a tiny bit of salt. I let the little guy go to town with his hands to get it all mixed up. This part went great. Of course mess ensued, but he loved to get his hands in the goop, and was fascinated by the yolks of the eggs (you know how it takes a bit of doing to get them to mix in). Unfortunately, no matter how much the two of us mixed, the dough was WAY too dry to make a dough. So, we added a bit of water and it came together better.

Once we had some semblance of dough, I kneaded it. I am no kneading expert, so maybe this was where we went wrong. Because at that point, I let loose little guy and the rolling pin on it, and no matter how hard either of us tried, this dough wanted to spring back into dough shape no matter what. Eventually with some serious muscle we got it kinda rolled flat, but never flat enough to really be pasta-like.

Then, I gave the shorty the pizza cutter and helped him cut. He could roll it across the dough, but needed a little help with pressure to get it to cut all the way through. And, he wanted to cut smack down the center. This part also kept his attention and he liked to pick up each noodle and put it in the bowl. Then, I let him help put the noodles in the boiling water. We boiled the noodles until our child, who had no nap, began to scream fiendishly and run at mach 20 around the house and then pretend to fall down and be in terrible pain. At that point, I realized it was WAY too late in the game to worry about whether the noodles were totally done or not, and the kid needed to be fed, stat.

We did a little variety preparation with the noodles. Some were buttered with herbs, others with Newman's marinara and Italian sausage. The noodles were extremely dense, listless and chewy. We ate them...well, hubby and I ate them and our child had a meltdown from exhaustion, but they were not all that good. I'm sure the second time's a charm, but this pasta activity, while fun, yielded less than edible results. Maybe they just didn't get cooked long enough...? Who knows, I hardly tasted them because my dinner went downhill so fast!

Anyway, long story short, I will definitely try this again. But not until I read up a little more on making homemade pasta. Any tricks to share?

He's Crafty

My hubby is not the most crafty person I've ever known. In fact, he's usually downright uncrafty. Maybe the most crafty he's ever gotten is to take a permanent marker to one of wee Pumpkin's onesies and write some silly thing on it. He doesn't really build stuff, either. So that's why I was so incredibly shocked and amazed when I learned that he had set to work busily crafting this little step stool for our little guy's new bathroom!

This wood was just laying around out in our garage, and somehow he just put his mind to assembling it into the worlds cutest little stool. And he got wee one to bust out his tempera finger-painting skills to decorate it. He clear-coated the whole thing, put some felt on the bottom and it's good to go. And the wee Pumpkin is EXTREMELY proud of the stool he painted, too. So now what am I going to do with three crafty types in this house? It could be ugly, folks. PIpe cleaner wars. Doily knit-athons!

I'm actually ecstatic that hubby has a new handy hobby. Now how can I keep the interest up? Any ideas are welcome!

After: New House Colors

Our new house used to be Barbie Tan. And Sesame. And other various shades of beige.

In the basement, a little minty green was thrown in for good measure. But generally speaking, we were not huge fans of the color scheme in our new house. Now, mind you I have seen MUCH worse. MUCH. And, it's also probably true that even if the colors were the most perfect I'd ever seen, I would find some reason to need to repaint. But, as "luck" would have it, we both agreed that this house needed a new color scheme.

A de-beiging, if you will. I'm pretty sure we're all done with the painting - for the moment. I say this even though our entryway, which is unfortunately a decent color (gray), has white splotches all over it from where nail holes were patched. But, I'm so tired of painting that some strategically place pictures will have to do.

So on to the next phase of home improvements: flooring! We tore out the purple (Yes, you read that right. Prince and the New Generation Purple. Vikings Fan purple.) carpet in favor of some click-lock bamboo set to be installed on Tuesday. So after only a month of waiting, we will finally have use of our entire house. Very exciting. The only bad news is we have no idea what to do with a second "living room."

Yeah, I know, rough times. Extra space. But it's not like I can make it a craft room or something. It's right inside my front door. And I'm not very neat with my crafts. And scissors just can't be out and about in this house! So, we'll probably build a rock climbing wall and install a slide and make it the playroom! Hahahahaha. No. Not really.

After the flooring comes the part where it eventually becomes Spring and we get to work on the yard, which is TOTALLY devoid of anything other than a tree or shrub. Not. One. Little. Perennial. Not. One. Stinkin. Hosta. Well, at least I won't be bored! I'll have a vegetable garden, wildflower garden and assorted perennials to get moving on! Want to come help?

Wordless Wednesday

Run, Cookie, Run!

When we moved to our new house, we were talked into subscribing to some mega-super 80 million channel cable package. Now, it's strange, because we don't spend much time watching TV at all. I mean, when we're not making butter with our toddler, or knitting sweaters, we're on the internet or painting our house! But, the salesperson was convincing, so we went for it. We quickly discovered the Kids on Demand feature and, subsequently, Nick Jr. On Demand, which brought us to the magic that is Little Bear. Have you seen Little Bear? You should.

Little Bear is this sweet, funny little cartoon with some of the most relaxing music ever. It puts our daddy bear to sleep every night, in fact. We were particularly inspired by the episode in which Little Bear and his friends make gingerbread cookies and then are forced to chase after them when they take off out into the snow. We decided we had to make some gingerbread ourselves. I used this recipe and was very happy with it. They were easy to cut out, and very spicy and crunchy.

We've unfortunately run out of new On Demand Little Bear's to watch, as well as the local library's collection. But, it's good enough that we will probably just go back and watch them all again. And watch those gingerbread men (and gingerbread stars, and bulldozers and doggie bones and hearts) disappear.

The Verdict: Toddler Butter Making

A few days back I posted some ideas for keeping your wee ones busy during these long, cold months. I have been working on testing each of them out. First up was making butter. I remembered making butter I think back in fourth grade back at old Frank Allis Elementary School when one of our classmate's mom's came in to teach us how it was done in the old days, so I was naturally inclined to want to try it again.

My tot's interest came from the book Thomas and the MIlkshake Muddle that he checked out from the library. I don't want to ruin any big surprises if you've got this one ready to read on your bookshelf or anything, but in the book Thomas ruins all the milk from the dairy by driving too fast and shaking it into a butter state. Now, if I were conducting a Myth Busters-style experiment, I would have insisted we get our butts on a train and see how fast it'd have to go to turn milk into butter. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure Thomas would have to have been going mach 80 million over gravel to make this possible.

For our non-scientific activity, we simply poured a little heavy cream into some clean baby food jars and shook (and shook. and shook.) until the watery part separated away and left behind some yummy butter. Of course we had to peek a few times first, and taste test a little.

Here's the verdict. My kiddo is 2. He liked this activity for about the first 4 minutes of shaking it. He liked the part where we strained out the watery stuff. He liked tasting. But the hard-core shakin' your booty part, not so much. Even though we set this activity to music, it still did not hold his attention the whole time. But it was fun, and we did get some tasty butter out of it! Mmmm, butter. I'd definitely recommend it, maybe for older kids. With older kids you could even try some butter varieties like garlic or honey!

If you try it, be sure to post your results!

Child's Placket Neck Sweater, DONE!

See this little guy? Isn't he cute. Well, when he was about this small I started knitting him the Child's Placket Neck Sweater. Cut to present time, when I have a super tall, ever-growing 2-and-a-half year old. Voila, sweater is complete and...


...doesn't it look great on him? It should fit him for approximately 27 seconds before he outgrows it. But at least he got one good wearing out of it!

I enjoyed knitting this sweater quite a bit. It was just challenging enough for me, without totally frustrating me. My only wish is that I could have been a little more expedient in my knitting of it! The hardest part of the whole thing was the placket. I found this reference to be invaluable. I love the yarn I used, too -- Cascade Yarns Cash Vero DK (merino, extra fine wool, microfiber acrylic, and cashmere) in color 020. I knit really tight, but the size 2 - 4, in my opinion, fits a 2-year-old, but probably not a 4-year-old.

Thanks to my friend Jen for going first -- she inspired me to give this pattern a try, and I'm glad I did!

Before and After: Office

I'm not going to lie. I'm tired. I've painted waaaaaaaay to many rooms in the new house already. And I still have two more to go. The office, however, was the worst. It was "barbie tan" to start with, and the ceilings are really high and awkward. So, thank goodness it's over. And it's staying "Midwest Spring" blue for a long time. What really sucks is having to try to paint during naptimes and after 8 PM at night. Ugh. The dining table won't be staying there, so this will be a nice open room I can fill up with plants at some point. I am calling it my "botanical room."

Well, that's enough complaining. I can't complain at all about how it turned out. It's soooo much better than barbie tan. On to the next room! Next up is our bedroom. It's going to be "cocoa pecan" -- which actually looks a bit like poo. But not enough for me to stop, just enough for me to worry and wonder how the heck to decorate a poo-colored bedroom. Well, here's hoping I can do a heck of a lot with bed linens...which I can't afford! Bwaaaaaah! Guess I better go grab that paint brush and get to work!

Wordless Wednesday

Toddler Indoor Activities

In winter, I vacillate between being so eager for spring I can hardly stand it and reveling in all the indoor fun I’m “forced” to succumb to, like baking, making and reinventing my surroundings. This winter is a little different, having just moved, but essentially it’s the same. The most different part, really, is that whereas last year our little one was just learning to walk and hardly spoke any words at all, this year he is a fully formed person who wants to play, explore, learn and chatter from one end of the house to the other. Coming up with activities that we all enjoy is a formidable task. And learning how to break the activity into very small chunks so as to keep the attention of a toddler, a must!

Since many of my friends are also “trapped” indoors with toddlers this winter, I decided to compile a little repository of fun indoor activities to do with a toddler in the winter, or really whenever inclement weather keeps you inside the house. These are just things that appealed to me personally – but by all means there are many more ideas out there. I just happen to gravitate toward creative or crafty projects or things to do in the kitchen.

I’d love to hear what others are doing to maintain their sanity this season. Aside from indoor play gyms and the like, what are you doing with your shorties right now?

Teach your kids to make pasta

Making butter with kids

Make your own lollipops

Making Pine Cone Bird Feeders

Making Homemade Finger Paint

Cork Race Game

5 Instruments to Make with Kids

New Little Man Shirts on Horizon!

I've been madly sewing up new tiesies out of the great Zee Spot long sleeve organic cotton onesies I just ordered. It's so soothing to do this work. I love putting together the colors, and I love imagining what the little dude who wears it might look like. My customers are usually buying for a special occasion - wedding, birthday, gift - so it's such an honor and source of pride for me when these little shirts head out the door. And of course I love the fact that I am finding uses for things like old ties that might end up in a landfill somewhere or something.

It all started over two years ago before my wee pumpkin was even born. We had a wedding to go to, and I had no idea what a 3-month-old wore to such an event. So I put my thinking cap on and came up with the uber-comfortable and super retro hipster baby tiesie. Of course wee pumpkin ended up stealing the show a bit in his duds, but he didn't seem to mind all the attention! This year I am hoping to spend a little time with some new designs, maybe using more reclaimed or vintage fabrics in applique form. I'm thinking more birthday tees and maybe adding a "big brother" and "big sister" tee into the mix. And as a special request for my mom-n-law, a "Grandma" tee! Can't wait to see what the future holds for Pumpkin Girl...now if I can just squeeze in a few more hours to my day, somehow!

Any other great ideas for new Pumpkin Girl tees? I got lots of onesies that need a purpose!

Before and After: Basement Bar

Aside from our cool fireplace, our new basement bar is one of the few things that adds lots of retro charm to our otherwise-uber beige house. It needed just a wee bit of painting and some new decor and it's looking like a dandy replacement for our formerly attic "man room" area.

It may be difficult to tell from the photos, but the wall color (what there is of it) used to be mint green. Now it's "antique red" which is really a red/orange combo that makes the space seem a lot warmer, and more old school. The hubby has begun putting up his string of Schlitz beer lights, his vintage TV lamp and other barware and beer signs and generally just pimping out his new space. It's fun to watch it come together and imagine a time when we'll have some friends in the new town with whom to enjoy it!!

Our newest project has been painting our "office" which is open to both our kitchen and living room. The color is "Midwest Spring" which is a really nice blue color. The room has a TON of this kind of ugly wood in it, but at least now it won't be "Barbie Tan" color any more (hubby's word) or what I like to call "Terra Cotta" -- really just another shade of beige.

Today I had a bug to try to make cheese. Yesterday it was butter. Perhaps my body is telling me I need more dairy? Anyhoo, if you have any good cheesemaking stories or recipes, do share!

Before and After: Living Room

Our new house is half generic, half cool. Half beige, half...well, no, actually the whole thing is beige. But paint is an easy way to change the look of something, right? Or maybe "easy" isn't the best way to describe it, but less expensive than remodeling, I guess.

Hubby and I quickly set about using paint to make our new house more our own, and de-beige and de-wood it a little bit. Our first project was to paint the shelving that flanked the fireplace white (Beach Pearl, to be exact) so that the fireplace would stand out a bit more. Because the fireplace is one of the few "charactery" things about the new place (see, I invented a new word!).

It wasn't so much easy, as it took about four days of naptimes and bedtimes to get it done. But for fairly little money and a lot of elbow grease, it makes a big impact. Dontcha think?

Phew, we are cranking through the projects over here. No time for sewing or knitting when you have home improvement projects calling your name!

New Room, New Life

It's official! We're Wisconsin residents, again! I guess that means we're cheeseheads again, too! And we have been enjoying many a delicious cheese, too. Mmmm. It's been great coming back to the state both hubby and I started out in as wee ones ourselves. Already two nice neighbors have come bearing treats to welcome us to the neighborhood. Good vibes. Yes.

Our first moving objective once we arrives was to get our little guy acclimated to his new environment as quickly as possible. Leading up to the big event we prepped him quite a bit by talking about all the things that we'd do in our new house. We also took him to Sherwin Williams to pick out paint colors using those cool little fold-out brochures they have there. He chose Recycled Glass, which I thought was a nice choice. His auntie, nieces, me and he himself all pitched in to paint.

It's been a week and a half and already his room is completely done, all toys unpacked and most already played with at least once. It's so exciting! And wee one has only said a couple of times "I want to go home" -- which now is even waning. Thank goodness we're all settling in and crossing all the little to dos off the list. Slowly, life is returning to normal. I even made soup tonight from scratch (mostly). Seriously, it didn't come out of a box. Boy, are we progressing fast here!

More to come on all of our exciting new home developments. We've got new sites to explore, a yard to play in, and lots of fun home improvement projects as we turn this beige beauty into a place of our own. Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm BACK!

Wordless Wednesday

Tomorrow is moving day, and I don't know if the new house has internet yet, so you may not hear from me for a week or so. Have a wonderful holiday!

Goodbye, Little Blue Craft Room!

It's moving time for me. In just about 5 days, on Christmas eve no less, I'll be packing up a 26' moving truck and heading on down the road to our family's for Christmas, and then on to our new house. We've been needing a change of pace ever since our kiddo was born about two years ago. I'm not sure why, but as the cliche goes, everything changes when you have a kid. And then again, maybe we just felt like staying put was too easy and needed a bit of an adventure. There are a lot of reasons to find a new space, try a new place on for size.

So, as I eagerly await all the new, I'm also trying to take it slow and remember and appreciate all that's old. All our friends, the house that I bought all on my own (before I was married), all the familiar places. Today I packed up my craft room. I'm still not sure if or where or how the new house craft room will pan out, so as I looked at all the stuff -- the BAGS of fabric and the boxes full of yarn, quilt batting, ribbons, buttons...I couldn't help but wonder what I'll make of it all in the new house. I have high hopes, but also realistic expectations. Getting settled somewhere new while being a working mama -- well, the thought of it makes me tired. That's nothing to say about actually doing it and doing it with enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and creativity! Hopefully inspiration will hit in my new surroundings! Of course as soon as something's set up, I'll post photos!

If you've got any truck packing (or unpacking!) advice, leave a comment. I could use some tips of the trade. It's been seven years or more since I last had to do this!

Easy Peasy Felted Christmas Tree Garland

Okay kids. Here's a holiday decorating idea that couldn't be much easier. In fact, the hardest part is to keep it from getting tangled up after you're done! It's a beautiful felted garland for your Christmas tree. All you need is a sewing machine, thread and some different colors of craft felt (or felted sweaters).

First, use something small and round (bottom of a spool of thread?) to make yourself a circle template. Then, cut out as many little circles out of felt as you think you'll want for your garland. I think I cut out 40 or so for mine. Then, sit down at the sewing machine with a coordinating thread color in your machine. Start sewing with nothing for a few inches, pulling out the top and bobbin threads gently. Then, slowly and carefully feed in your first circle, sewing right through the middle of the circle. Sew for a few inches and then add another circle. Continue in this fashion until you've used up all the circles you cut. Leave yourself a little tail on the end and that's it! You can hang it on the tree!

As a little tip -- if you want to reuse this year to year, make yourself a handy cardboard storage tool by cutting a rectangle out and making some little grooves in the short end to slide the thread into. This will prevent it from being a tangled mess when it comes time to re-hanging it next year!

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Holiday Activities with the Shorties

This holiday season has been far from restful for our family. We've been packing up to move and working out all those logistical details, we had a short vacation to see the in-laws and virtually every other second of our time has been spent running around like chickens with our heads cut off to fit the holidays (shopping, wrapping, tree decorating) in there so we don't feel like we totally missed out on the fun.

I got to thinking about a few quick, simple things that we could do to slow down and enjoy the season. And, for us at least, it's really added some fun. I'd love to hear what your family's holiday traditions are, and how you slow it down during the rush-bustling.

1. Drive around and ooh and ahh at lights. It gets dark early, so even the little ones can manage going out. Put some hot cider or some cocoa in the sippy cups and head out for a neighborhood with good lights, or like we did, a set-up display at a park. Also helpful is a radio station tuned to the the classic Christmas songs and a little sing-along action.

2. Make cookies. Kids of all ages (well, okay, those over age 1) love to dump ingredients in a bowl. Those that aren't old enough love to play with mixing cups and spoons or bang them on pots and pans. Our friend bought the wee one his own digger-shaped cookie cutter which really inspired us. Rather than shoo the kids from the kitchen, let go of your inner Martha Stewart and allow the messiness to ensue. Allow time for the process -- kids aren't very rushable.

3. Make some wrapping paper. We used a big roll of paper (actually we started months ago, but you could do this impromptu, too) and spread it over the tot's desk. Then, get the whole family seated around the table (yes, you too dad) and start coloring. Fill up the page with whatever you want. When it's "done" use it to wrap your gifts. My wee one particularly enjoyed being the one to pick out and place the bows.

4. Get a little tree for the kiddo's room. Our wee one really loved the tree we set up in his room -- just a simple fiber optic one. Of course you have to be aware of whether your kid is apt to smash it down or yank it off of a shelf, and always have to turn it off at night etc. But, our kiddo was in love!

Next year, I'm going to tackle making bird seed Christmas ornaments with the kiddo. I think he'd love it (as would the birds!).

So, do share -- how are you keeping your sanity and/or holiday spirit this year?

Wordless Wednesday

My Yearly Ode to My Own Tree

I'm not shy about pledging and re-pledging my love of my own vintage 60's aluminum pom-pom Christmas tree. I worked hard for that tree. I craftily stalked many an Ebay seller trying to get my paws on that tree. Many auctions were bid on and lost before this little beauty came up as a buy-it-now. And each year when I put it up and get it decorating, I ooooh and aaaah over its coolness. I actually wish I had two.

Did I mention it's silver? And vintage? This year we did have to go parting ways with the revolving light that used to shine on it (itself not vintage, you'd think it'd last more than a few years...new piece of crap), but that's okay. It still shimmers in the light and looks beautiful.

Tell me, do you have a tree you love? Do you cut a fresh one and bring that yummy pine-y smell into your house? If I were a crazy rich person, I think I'd have a different tree in each year. But for now, this one is doing the trick for me.

Another Christmas Gift Done!

Spoiler Alert: If you are my sister, stop reading now. Avert your eyes! If you are her kids, why in the world are you on the internet!?

I took a whole bunch of liberties with the One Yard Wonders pattern for a bunting. Okay, essentially I was just inspired by the photo but really made the whole thing up. This bunting is going to be a gift for my nieces for their new camping land -- I thought it could use a little "sprucing up" around the tents!

This is a fairly simple project to make. If you can find some big, bold typefaces that you can print out and cut around, that's the hardest part. Rather than fabric glue these letters on, I just appliqued them. It takes longer, but I like how it looks. And for a short word or phrase, one package of double fold bias tape should work. In retrospect, I think my fabric choice is too busy and the letters aren't bold enough, but I think the kids will like it anyway. The fabric does have a "woodland" theme, so it really was too perfect to pass up. Thank you, Crafty Planet!

On Christmas Eve we're packing up a 26 foot moving truck and chasing our fortune back in our home state of Wisconsin. So...I have been trying to get the house packed up in between my crafting projects, but it's been tough to really feel like I'm accomplishing much of anything. It may be the end of my holiday crafting...unless I get really inspired in the next week or two!!

What surprises have you been making? Do share!

Secret Keeping and Gift Making

My two-year-old is a genius. It's true. Yes, I know, all us mothers say that about our children. But this time I really mean it. My toddler has learned to pin and iron and sew. Carefully, carefully supervised, of course, but nonetheless, he made his daddy's birthday present, then helped me wrap it up. And the best news -- he loved every minute. In fact, now he sometimes puts down the Thomas the Tank Engine and says he wants to do some "ironuning" and pinning. Here's some suggestions for including your toddler in your crafting projects.

My first word of advice is to choose a project that's small and has lots of short steps -- sitting around pinning for 10 minutes is really just going to end up with someone getting a pin stuck in their foot, or nose, or whatever. Then, get some sort of kid-proof container for the pins. I liked the fact that the pins were not being opened and closed (and landing on the carpet, only to be found again by bare feet) without me controlling it. Again, who wants a pin in their eye? I also recommend not involving the toddler in the cutting at all. Unless you have some child's safety scissors, I just don't think you, your project, or your child's clothes/appendages will survive it.

With the ironing, I suppose it depends on how well your toddler understands hot and don't touch. As I mentioned previously, my son is a genius, so he understands them perfectly. Ahem. Almost. What I did was set the iron on the lowest heat I could to make it work. Then, I explained in as graphic a detail I could that, if he touched the hot part, he would get a really, really bad owie. Here is where you can call on your long-suppressed desire to be an actress and mock-touch the hot part of the iron and recoil in horror. I also adjusted the ironing board so it was at the perfect toddler hight. Then, I showed him how to take the handle and run it up and down the ironing board. He did manage to touch the hot part of the iron for a split second, and more so for dramatic effect than anything else, I then rushed him downstairs to put ice on it. He then definitely got the message that the hot part is hot, and not to touch it!

For sewing, I set the little guy on my lap while I sewed. I also explained that he must not put his fingers by the needle or move any buttons (which, of course, was not a direction that was completely followed). I did give him two "jobs," which seemed to be enough to keep his interest. As a side note, if you have not yet started giving your tot jobs, try it. Our kid thinks it's the coolest thing ever if it's called a job. His jobs were to remove the pins as I sewed and put them back in the box and, upon command, push the reverse button to double back on the stiches.

When the project was done, I let him wrap it and choose a bow. He's been carrying the present around from room to room since yesterday when we finished it. Obviously he's extremely proud of his work, and cannot possibly wait two weeks until daddy's birthday.

Next up: toddlers learn needle felting. AHhhhhhhh...maybe I'll hold off on that.

Know any other great projects for kids?

Wordless Wednesday

Get Your Shopping Done in a Day

It's true. You can totally get all your holiday shopping done in one day. If you'd like, you could also spend every last penny of money you have, and happily so. Where and when is such a opportunity presenting itself? Why, the No Coast Craft-o-rama, of course!

Let me tell you the story of the No Coast Craft-o-rama. Oh, the year was 2005, I think. Right around the same time Crafty Planet opened it's doors. I had started crafting things to sell and was having very little success at the local craft sales. Around the same time my mom was retiring, and bugging me about what she was going to do with all this newfound time. So, I set about to recruit forces to help me plan a wee little sale in our fair city. And that is what I did.

To get things started, I dropped in on Trish at Crafty Planet. "Trish," I said, "...how can I get some hip crafty peeps together to help me plan this thing?" To which Trish said, "I'll help you!" And so it was. I created some flyers and hung them about town. Trish passed the word through the store and her wide network of crafty hipsters. The night of the first planning meeting arrived...and some people showed up! Real, live people! Who also liked the idea of a cool, indie craft sale! It was a thrill. To this day only one or two of the people who were at that meeting are still involved with the planning, but believe me, every one of them made a difference in how things came to be!

Fast forward past all of the agonizing hard work of putting together that first sale, trying to find vendors, a location, determine advertising needs, establish an identity and get organized to the morning of the sale. We all arrived at Columbia Manor in northeast Minneapolis with butterflies. Would anyone come? Would the tables all fit? Would everything run smoothly? As people trickled in, then crowds amassed, then hoards of made shoppers practically stormed the place, it became clear that we would far exceed our expected attendance of 500. In fact, I think I recall we had around 2,500 attendees! It was amazing, and one of the most exciting and rewarding feelings I've ever had to see all that hard work pay off. Our vendors said that shoppers were crazed, throwing money and snatching up crafts like it was their last ever opportunity to get a piece of the craft action. My husband dressed as Santa and dj'ed all day, and my mom had a banner day of sales. All of my friends came, and I made new friends and discovered some unbelievably talented local crafters and generally just had an awesome day. It whet my appetite for more.

As I said, the whole story is a long one, but I've helped plan this sale for the last four years -- everything from writing press releases to setting up and tearing down tables to helping design shirts and web sites and choose vendors and appear on media interviews. It's been a labor of love but also extremely consuming. This year I stepped away from it all to focus on (selfishly) me, my family, and lots of other things. But I can rest easy knowing that it's now in Trish and the Crafty Planet gang's capable hands. I feel like I set out to accomplish something really great, and I did -- and now it's got momentum of it's own! I can finally just show up and shop...with no responsibilities! It's a great feeling, and I plan to completely blow every penny I have there. So if you're expecting a gift from me this year, you can't come shopping with me. Or you've got to get lost...which won't be hard to do at this event!

Come check it out and support local handmakers. They deserve your business!

Let the Christmas Crafting Begin! The Not Ugly Trash Bag

Wednesday (a day off!!! woot!) marked the first day of the Christmas shopping season for me. I loaded up wee Pumpkin and headed out to K-Mart to pick up a few of the Martha Stewart ornaments, first. I also picked up some towels to use for a One Yard Wonders towel embellishment project. This took all of about 7 minutes. The bulk of our time was spent looking at the animatronic lighted reindeer and Christmas trees on display and sitting on the firetruck ride outside the door (darn, mommy doesn't have any quarters...).

Of course when I have these very rare opportunities to spend time alone with my kiddo, I use it as a "teaching time" to learn something new. So what's to learn at K-Mart, you ask? Plenty of things, such as "never wear your pants that tight if you look like that" but that's a lesson for another day. I took on the task of teaching my two-year-old about giving gifts (versus receiving them). [As an aside, he calls them "pressets" and "supuprises" and every time I hear it I smile.] I let him select some ornaments for his cousins and he did really well until later in the day when we were at the sporting goods store. He found a nice, little, orange shovel "for his cousins" that he has taken to bed with him every night since. Hmm, guess he's not quite ready to fully appreciate gift giving. But we tried.

But, anyway. On to the crafting! I spent a few hours working on the Not Ugly Trash Bag from One Yard Wonders for a certain someone on my Christmas list. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe in sharing with you. It was an absolute cinch to put together and it just made me want to try more projects from the book. So very soon I'll be getting started on another one. And maybe this year I'll actually reach my goals for Christmas crafting.

What's on your agenda for this year? Thinking big? Scaling down?

101 One Yard Wonders: WONDERFUL!

It happened! I was published! In a real book! One that a real publisher put out, not like a photocopied or "self published" type deal! It was very exciting to be involved and I am just happy no one called and made fun of me for poorly written instructions or changed their minds after they received the finished product. Phew!

Saturday was the book release party down at Crafty Planet, and it was so balmy here I rode my bike. It was packed! People were lining up to buy copies of the book -- I even heard they were out the door for a while! I hadn't yet received my own book yet, so I bum-rushed the front counter with the rest of them and quickly verified that they did, indeed, publish my project -- a kid's growth chart.

The most fun was that I got to meet a bunch of other contributors, all equally stoked about their appearance in print. We all signed each other's books (I ended up just buying one there...never can have too many) and joked about how we planned to write things like "have a great summer" and "don't do anything I wouldn't do" but instead just signed our names and talked about our projects.

I raced home with the book and sticky-noted each project that I plan to make for Christmas gifts. So far they include:
--Obi-inspired hot & cold pack
--Not Ugly Car Trash Bag (more on that another day...already done!!!)
--Checkers to go
--Fabric Dollhouse (will be a barn)
--Festive Flag Banners
--Oven Mitt and Hot Pads

I'm sure I'll try to sneak some more in there, but with moving and all the stuff going on, I'm not sure I'll have time. But, geez, I sure don't have an abundance of money, either, so maybe a desired reduction in fabric stash + money savings will cause me to "find" extra time...hmmm.

This book has a ton of great ideas in it. They range from really easy (the trash bag took me less than 2 hours) to semi-difficult. If you're a beginner sewer, or just pressed for time like me, I think you'll enjoy the book. The ideas are not run-of-the-mill, and there really is a little something in there for everyone. The only thing I noticed is that the kid's clothes section is all for wee girls...sadly little Mr. Pumpkin will just have to make due with a non-clothing wonder. Oh, well!

Wordless Wednesday

The Wool Quilt Scarf

Here in Minnesota, it's already been cold enough to pull all the winter jackets, hats, scarves, and mittens out of their summer storage places and put them into regular rotation. Through the summertime, I've been a bit of a "late adopter" of the scarf as accessory (not as necessity) trend. I know, shock and awe that I'm not on the cutting edge of a trend. And, shock and awe again that I'm too cheap to actually go purchase one of these trendy wardrobe pieces that has -- for the most part -- absolutely no purpose. I mean, seriously. $60 for a scarf?

It was not to be. Usually when I say to myself "I'll just make one" I'm completely full of crap and never get around to it. But, given the relative ease of putting this project together, I went for it. I basically cut one big rectangle of wool for the back and then some various sizes of coordinating fabric (including a bit of vintage kimono fabric...yay!) for the front side. I added a button and a couple of fabric yo yo's here and there and called it my $6 vs. $60 accessory that actually serves a purpose, too! Not too shabby, right?

I'm just coming around now on my month-long head cold, so perhaps I can start staying up later than 9 p.m. for a bit now. I've got holiday gift making to get a jump on now! Yikes!