CraftPad - Be creative. Get crafty.

Children's Book Themed Baby Shower

2009-11-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

I really adore this children's book themed baby shower which was thrown recently for Cakie's blogger, Ruby. Check out the themed food and Polaroids of each matching children's story.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

2009-11-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

Last night Jane had her first taste of the theater. We saw the show, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", based on the children's book, and performed at the Seattle Children's Theater. The show was great and Jane and her friend, Olive, loved it! Things got off to a rocky start however due to a power outage in that part of town. We stood in the dark lobby waiting for the power to come back on minutes before the show was about to begin. Luckily, the lights turned back on just in time and the show went on! We had quite an adventure and ended the night with our own milk and cookies from a nearby bakery. (You'll have to excuse these terrible camera phone photos).

(Olive posing with the program)(Olive and Jane)

Little Golden Books Fabric

2009-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Today I was browsing a fabric shop and came across these adorable fabrics featuring Little Golden Books designs. It turns out that there are two collections: The Poky Little Puppy, which came out in June, and The Saggy Baggy Elephant, which is coming out this December. The collections also include cloth versions of each story which you can assemble and sew together to create a soft version of each book. I am in love with these prints.

Fall Felt Leaf Garland

2009-11-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

I was really inspired by this adorable felt leaf garland from Pottery Barn Kids but not willing to shell out $60 bucks for it. I created my own garland for under $5 and I love the way it turned out. This is a really easy one day project. I happened to have an unopened package of 1" brown binding to use to attach the leaves to; however any length of ribbon would work as well. I purchased 1-2 pieces each of burgundy, orange, brown, yellow, light orange and bright orange sheets of regular craft felt. If you want to give your leaves a sturdier look, I recommend sewing two sheets together for each leaf. I found a variety of leaves in Microsoft Clip Art Online, enlarged them a bit and printed them out. Then I cut out the leaves and pinned them onto two sheets of felt using sewing pins andcut out around them. Once all the leaves are cut out of felt I choose a burgundy/dark brown thread and stitched simple lines on each leaf using my sewing machine to create the veins. Then I lined all the leaves up along the binding mixing up the different patterns and colors, pinned them in place and then stitched them onto the binding using my machine.

Thanksgiving Finger Puppets

2009-11-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

I love felt finger puppets and I remember seeing these last fall at Martha Stewart but I never had a chance to make any. Maybe this year I will make the kids and their cousins a few turkeys, pilgrims and Native Americans to play with at the dinner table.

Re-Cap: Best Homemade Halloween Costumes

2009-11-02T20:42:00.001-08:00

So I know that I said I was over Halloween, but I couldn't resist posting photos of these amazing homemade Halloween costumes to wrap up the holiday.

1. The Cat in the Hat and Sam I Am from Made

2. R2D2 and a Garden Gnome from One More Moore

3. A Bandito and Ponyo from Two Straight Lines

4. Captain Hook and the Crocodile from Inchmark

Super Halloween Re-Cap

2009-11-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween. I didn't get many photos of the kids in their costumes but they were able to get some good usage out of them with Jane's Preschool Program, a birthday/Halloween party on Saturday, a church carnival and trick-or-treating of course. I am feeling over Halloween now and getting sick of eating candy! I'm ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas to come. I'm anxious to get to work on a Fall Table Runner and felt leaf garland I want to put up. Hope you had a fun Halloween as well.

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Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T10:54:00.001-07:00

Have fun trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween!

Peter Pan, Illustrated by Mary Blair

2009-10-31T00:37:00.001-07:00

I am really excited about this lovely picture book version of Peter Pan being released on November 17th. The illustrations are by Mary Blair, a Disney artist whose work I love. We purchased the Alice in Wonderland book illustrated by Mary Blair for Jane's last birthday and I love her artwork in the Little Golden Book, I Can Fly. I am excited to peak at the pictures in Peter Pan.

Jane's Drawings

2009-10-28T20:34:00.001-07:00

Here are a few recent drawings Jane has done that I especially like.

A hula girl.

A spotted cow.

Joseph, the baby Jesus and Mary.

Fall Crafting: My Updated List

2009-10-27T23:21:00.001-07:00

I was able to check off five of the items on my fall crafting list. I am now down to six; two of which have deadlines this week. I really want to get the kid's quilts completed next month so that I can get started on other Holiday projects. So little time.

1) Create photo back drop for church Halloween Carnival
2) Bake cupcakes for a friend's Halloween/Birthday Party
3) Sew Thanksgiving placemats
4) Sew fall felt leaf garland (like this one from Pottery Barn Kids)
5) Finish zig-zag quilt for Clark before Christmas Eve
6) Finish stacked coins quilt for Jane before Christmas Eve

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-27T14:07:00.001-07:00

We spent the morning at the pumpkin patch picking out pumpkins, wandering through the corn maze and checking in on the animals. Good fun was had by all.

Where the Wild Things Are Felt Puppets

2009-10-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by the Moishe felt puppet from Whimsy Love that I decided to try my hand at making my own version. I looked through my copy of the book, sketched out a simple version of Max and the Wild Thing and searched through my bag of felt for coordinating colors. I traced around a bath puppet I owned onto two sheets of felt to get the general puppet shape. Then I machine and hand sewed on the other elements and hand embroidered Max's face. I finished the puppets by sewing around the outside of the two pieces of felt and sandwiching the claws in between. Let me know if you are interested in more detailed directions. I am planning to gift these puppets with a copy of the book for a little boy we know who is having a birthday next week.

Kids DIY Plush Pals

2009-10-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

We had a few friends over to play today and I thought it would be fun for the kids to try making their own plush dolls/animals to take home with them. (I got this idea awhile ago from Cakies). The kids used fabric markers on pieces of white fabric and colored their own creatures (or scribbles for the younger ones); then they picked out the fabric they wanted for the back of their dolls and I quickly stitched them up while the kids played. The kids then helped stuff them with batting and we hand stitched them closed. Ta da! Jane made a little "Jane" doll with a tiny baby to hold (a sister named Alice). She has been carrying her dolls around all day.

Printable Chore Chart for Kids

2009-10-22T09:34:00.001-07:00

I love this printable Chore Chart from ModEco Kids featured on Craftzine today. I am planning to print out two copies for the kids and give them a shot. They would work great with those little circle stickers as well.

Monday Art Day: Fall Leaf Rubbings & Watercolors

2009-10-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today's art idea was inspired by the BergBlog and recently featured on the Crafty Crow. We headed outside and scavenged for fallen leaves of various shapes and sizes. Then we got out our crayons (the ones missing the paper wrappers) and rubbed over the leaves and finished them by painting over the rubbings with water colors. The watercolors resist the wax crayons and make for a great piece of art. I couldn't resist and made a few pictures of my own.

Just for Fun: Printable Halloween Crafts

2009-10-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

You can print this blank pumpkin template and different facial features to create your own silly, scary or serious paper pumpkin from Angry Chicken.

Or print out and dress up this Halloween girl or boy paper doll from Babalisme.

Wonder Woman and Superman

2009-10-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

The kids Halloween costumes are almost complete. I bought a long sleeve red tee for Jane and appliqued the Wonder Woman logo in gold. I decided not to worry about doing boots and got her red cable knit tights to complete the outfit and keep her warm while trick-or-treating. She was excited to try on her complete outfit this morning and do some Wonder Woman moves on my bed. I was really lucky to find true blue boys long underwear on sale at Target yesterday so I bought a pair for Clark's Superman costume and appliqued the Superman logo to the shirt. All I have left to complete is Clark's red Superman cape and the kids will be ready for Halloween fun.

Holiday Countdown

2009-10-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

It is way too late to be posting to CraftPad; but I just finished up my advent calendar and I couldn't wait to show you. (Now you know how I spend my Friday nights). Cutting out those numbers was completely exhausting... but I watched an old movie while I cut and it made the task more bearable. You will notice that I added on a little snowman by the front door and some snow along the ground outside. I tested out the pockets by filling them with Halloween candy and they are the perfect size for mini candy bars, etc. Since I was figuring out the house as I went along, there are a few things that I don't love about it but I think my overall idea came to life. I am so excited to hang it December first and get the children excited about the countdown until Christmas.

Hallway Makeover

2009-10-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

I really want to make my downstairs hallway a bit more functional but the space is so narrow I've had a hard time finding any piece of furniture which will work. Now I've got my eye on the HEMNES Shoe Storage organizer from IKEA. It is only 8" deep and would make a great spot to place keys and mail and fill up with shoes, scarves and mittens. I am hoping to transform this:

into something like this:

Wild Projects

2009-10-15T09:01:00.001-07:00

You have to check out the post on Where the Wild Things are at the Crafty Crow. I am dying to make my own version of the Moishe puppet from Whimsy Love and I this Max felt ornament from Batzie09's Flickr photostream. I am desperate to go see the new movie this weekend.

WIP: Advent Calendar Sneak Peek

2009-10-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist. I really wanted to show you the half-finished advent calendar I have been working on for the last week and a half. It has turned out to be a much bigger project than I originally intended. However, I think the end result is going to be worthwhile. I have only sewed on the bottom row of windows and shutters and need to sew on the rest. I am then going to add felt numbers in multiple colors to the windows and door for the 25 days until Christmas. Each window is a pocket and will contain a small treat inside. The door will be for December 25th and may contain a larger treat or something special yet to be determined. I was inspired by this house style advent calendar from The Land of Nod, but also liked the quilted look of this advent calendar as well. I decided to quilt the back of the house to give it the look of siding and I added layers of felt for the roof to make it look like shingles. I stitched the door panels, chimney bricks and window panes on my sewing machine. I look forward to sharing the finished product.

Fall Crafting: My List

2009-10-12T22:56:00.001-07:00

1) Finish up Jane's Wonder Woman Costume and get started on Clark's Super Man cape
2) Plan Halloween Party for local youth
3) Help plan Halloween birthday party for five year old
4) Creat photo back drop for church Halloween Carnival
5) Sew Happy Birthday bunting for dad's 60th Birthday Party
6) Sew Thanksgiving placemats
7) Sew fall felt leaf garland (like this one from Pottery Barn Kids)
8) Finish advent calendar before December 1st
9) Finish zig-zag quilt for Clark before Christmas Eve
10) Finish stacked coins quilt for Jane before Christmas Eve

Best Birthday Ever: Busy Town Party!

2009-10-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

This is the best birthday party idea ever. A Busy Town Themed Birthday Bash from Holly at Craft/Stitch via OhDeeDoh. My children love all of the Richard Scarry Busy Town books and the characters and would die for this party. I have actually thought of using Busy Town as a theme before but never put the ideas together to do an actual party. Jane saw this and is sold on doing a Busy Town party for her 5th birthday.

Art Day: Apple Prints and Water Colors

2009-10-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

We've been having really lovely fall afternoons so yesterday we went outside to do a little painting. I got this apple print idea from Craftbit via The Crafty Crow and thought we would give it a try. We sliced an apple, dipped it in red paint and stamped it on our paper. I am planning to use the apple print for wrapping up a birthday gift for Jane's friend (which happens to be an apple skirt with matching bag). I love using the kids artwork for wrapping paper for their friends and family.