Bathtub Foam Dolls

A friend posted about some dolls she'd made out of foam for her four year old and they were so adorable (and so much more sturdy than paper!) that I had to try. Ellie sailed through her chores to help me make these foam dolls. Here she is with her creation:

And creating:

Here's what we came up with, or, our closet as the girls say:

I found a link on howaboutorange for the template. I added some length the the dresses and Ellie drew eyes on hers and Moira's. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and the girls looooove them. The bee, raccoon, and frog slay me. Moira has requested a squirrel, too, so I'm sure I'll get out the scissors again soon.

Felt watches

My sister Jackie made this adorable felt butterfly watch for Ellie when she was here last week.

And she also made the green with pink hearts watch that Moira's sporting below.

I made Clark the orange car on a black road watch. He likes to remove it. And he doesn't believe in sitting still for pictures.

Wooden Families

Reading my friend Stephanie's blog with Ellie around usually results in a trip to Michaels. Especially when she saw these adorable wooden dolls.

We found the wooden game pieces at Craft Warehouse and here are the results:

Ellie's family (we still need to add hair to the girls)









She made the new baby as well "he's wearing a hood and a cape" and Daddy "has a beard"

This is the family I made for my nephew Benjamin who now has twin baby sisters! (Happy Birthday, Benjamin!)







And finally, a set for Moira:










Man, I need to learn how to take pictures

Happy Earth Day!

A working bag made from the leavings of many a lunch.

Book Bag

Stephanie showed me these gorgeous book purses a while ago. We talked about making them together, but didn't get around to it before I moved. When a local used book store had an enormous sale, I went in and got a pretty book in a good color and thought I'd give it a try even without Steph's help. And then I took pictures at every stage so she could show me the right way to do it later on.

Here are all my supplies:

A book, 1/3 yard of cute cotton fabric, 1/4 yard of ribbon, handles from Joann's, and a button to help keep the purse closed. Oh, and FabriTac, and Heat and Bond, and a piece of stiff cardboard, which I forgot to add in the picture because I didn't purchase them.

First I removed the actual book from the cover. I’m sure you could use a razor blade, but since I didn't want to display the inside cover, I cut it out with a kitchen knife. Afterwards, it looked like this: Then I reinforced the spine with approximately 8 million layers of tape:
I think that might actually be bookbinding tape, but I'm not sure. Let’s say it is so I feel extra smart.

Next I attached my handles as well as a button and a ribbon loop to keep things closed:I used my new love, FabriTac (thanks, Steph, for introducing us) and bits of ribbon to attach the handles at an equal distance. And then I taped again because I wanted it to be strong enough to use.

After that I turned my focus to the sides. I made a pattern by tracing around the outside edge of the book when it was open to the width I wanted and then adding a 1/2 inch margin to glue it inside my book. I taped in my pattern to make sure I liked the look:

I did.

I cut two on the fold, so one of them looked like this after I opened it up:

For a little extra support I used some Heat and Bond to hook it together in the shape that I wanted:
Using more Fabritac I attached the middle first:
and then worked towards the edge, making a fold at the corners and another fold at the edge of the book. So it looked like this:
I could have been more neat, but I knew I'd be covering the inside up, so I didn't have to be perfect. The most important thing was keeping the fabric even with the edge of the book.

The final piece I made by covering a piece of stiff cardboard the same size as the book with matching fabric. I measured it so that it folded at the same places as the book cover, thus making yet another layer of support for the binding. Since I used a discarded Kudos box (but you could use any granola bar box), there was already one fold in the exact right place, but I scored the other side lightly with scissors to get a crisp fold. Covered, it looked like this:
Then I secured my fabric covered Kudos box inside with FabriTac to cover all the tape and ribbon ends and exposed fabric. And the project was complete:
It took me two afternoons with assistance from my two helpers and I really like how it turned out. It’s not big enough for diapers (YAY!), but perfect for carrying the essentials—cellphone, chapstick, keys, and a wallet. Or, the inside of the book:
Which brings me to a question: Does anyone want the inside pages of the Reader’s Digest version of Miracle at Philadelphia? I’ll give them to you cheap.

Perfectly girly and oh so pink

I made this wreath out of a wicker form and Dollar Tree flowers for a Valentine's decoration, but it turned out so cute that I think it will hang permanently on Ellie's door. Won't it look even cuter on the white doors at our new house?