I once thought crafting would only get easier

Alas, sadly, it hasn’t.   The things I want to make are endless and I assumed once the boy gets bigger, he can give me ideas on stuff to make.   Take the birthday crown, for example.  I had planned on making a new one every year with things he likes.  But, he’s still too little to art direct me and he likes EVERYTHING.  Fruit, animals, playgrounds, trains, cars, you name it.   I was left to decide what went on the crown so here it is: Robot, airplane, elephant, lion and monkey.

And he still pulled off wearing it throughout the day.

Score.

Now for the fail:
This last recent visit to Canada, in addition to visiting friends & family, was to finally be a successful Toy Society drop.   The ninjas have yet to be heard from.

And if you haven’t already made Elsie Marley’s (what I call “doomed”) gingerbread man, you must.   It’s super cute and a quick quick sew.
I had it all planned out, I even went to a craft show at a community center.  It was going to be perfect, a crafty person or kid was sure find it, it was packed with ‘em!   But, that was the problem, I had no chance of leaving it behind without being spotted and since it rained the whole time I was there, other spontaneous drop locations were also ruled out.  I lugged this thing all the way over the border only to bring it right back.
Oh well.   Grandma’s gonna love this little guy for Christmas and I’ll have more chances for a drop again in the future.
This crafting things needs to get easier, cause with part time work and the holidays, I want to sleep, cook, and dare I say, clean the house.
I’ve also flaked on knitting.  Perhaps a knitting group is in my future.
Happy Holidays!

Does this count as clothes making?

And before you respond, I already know that the answer is no.   But, I needed to attempt it some time and I figured no better time than Halloween.  What?  What kind of cheapskate mom wouldn’t buy her kid a Star Wars costume?   Well, the fleece was only $5.

So, here’s how you DON’T make a baby jedi youngling outfit:

First, you start off with a slice of your husband’s pant leg.   This was in the goodwill pile.  Cut up the middle a little, turn inside out and then sew.

Now, try your luck with an elastic waistband.

Not too pretty, but it does the trick.

Then go look at your bath robe hanging in the bathroom and try to eye ball the pattern on how that was made.   Attempt to size it correctly using one of the boy’s shirts (those jedi robes are a little baggy) and then re-pin and sew up the back cause you made it too large.

Oh, and what happened here with the lining around the neck?

Guess I should have used one long strip in the first place.

And check this out:

That’s some quality sewing going on here.   You can’t fake that kind of unevenness.  That one’s definitely not the sewing machine’s fault.

Next, get toddler to stand still for a moment, or better yet, try to measure on the boy while he’s napping.  Pin some more and cinch where needed with more crooked hand stitching.

And in the end, use some more darker fabric to make a tie belt, safety pin the pants and robe. And here you go:

The half-assed handmade costume.

Now if only I could have used a hot glue gun, this would be totally badass.   I’ve also been known to bust out the stapler to fix broken seams.
Thank god that robe covers everything.

And lastly, go to temporary Halloween store that popped up in town last month and buy genuine Star Wars brand light sabre for $9.

As Halloween is the time where you can be anything you want, this year I am going as a seamstress.  Unbelievably, though.

Project Runway, here I come.  NOT!

dressin’ up the hand-me-downs

Everyone I know does the same thing I do.  Take the kid’s old clothes to resell to get new gently used clothes for their kids.  It’s brilliant and inexpensive.  But then again, there are some clothes that well, the person who works at the resale store politely says “no, thanks.”  Or there’s that stain on it and  you can’t even try to bring it in.

So we pass those lightly trashed items along for other little kids to trash some more.  And that’s where these come into play:

These guys have been loved by other kids and passed to me.  This shot doesn’t capture the stains.  And I already started trying to figure out something with the light blue one, there.

Now you can find dozens of etsy sellers, european kids designers, who will offer up cool designs stitched to a shirt with felt.

35 Euros for a shirt with a felt character on it!  That $51.91, not including shipping from Europe.

Whatever.  Here:

And although we cancelled cable.  The boy gets his weekly Yo Gabba Gabba! fix via the internet.

Mama had to whip up a Muno shirt for the little dancin’ boy:

And for this one with it’s zig zag shaped stain (?) the best option seemed to be our little green gecko friend here:

Hand-me-down shirt, free.  Felt, I don’t know, like a quarter each square.

The only problem now is that I need more old clothes that I will let him run around and get dirty in.

I really don’t want him to trash these shirts now.  And hey, maybe the resale store might even take these from me for trade.  I’m not keeping my hopes up.

for the 2 year old that has everything:

not my kid, by the way, he has nothing compared to what’s in the homes of other kids that we know.  We don’t have a large house and we’re pretty selective about the things we get for him, like every parent, I’m sure.  These went to my friend’s little girl who just celebrated her birthday.

I’m working on a world of felt playfood for our boy, but in the meantime, we’ve taken pride in the fact that the toys don’t escape their usual designated play area and that our living room has not turned into kiddieland.

We recently had a new neighbor come visit for an evening get together and I’ll never forget his words: “You have a child living here?!”   Must have been the highchair that gave it away.  Like I said, not a big house.  But we have books, books, books coming out of every crevasse sometimes including the baby’s.   He’d wear book diapers, if he could.

And although my boy would love every newfangled pull/push/riding/climbing wooden must-have by every modern toy designer, my bank account wouldn’t.   I’m pretty sure he likes eating more than toys anyway.

And besides, the Swiffer seems to be more entertaining to him than anything else.   And if I’m lucky, he actually gets some of those dust bunnies in the corner while he’s at it!

the baby eats crayons

well, I don’t know when I will ever stop calling him a baby, he’s almost two.   And he’s really over the whole putting things in his mouth phase but I think that something about the texture of crayons, it just makes everyone curious. And even bigger kids still break those little sticks.   This just seemed like a much better option.

And while I had found dozens of bloggers who melted crayons in the oven to make cool multicolored disks, somehow after reading this one,

I actually got off my ass and melted some.

Hot damn, I think that was the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

It’s not like I didn’t want to get those hip eco-friendly triangle crayons from Melissa & Doug.  I already photocopy coupons to buy organic food, I really don’t have $9 to waste on crayons for a baby.

I can hear it now, “How come you melted crayons instead of buying some from Whole Foods like every other mom who reads Mothering Magazine?”
(I read Mothering Magazine, at the local library.)

And speaking of taking the cheap route,  bargain crafting continues with the cardboard house:

I was seriously thinking of breaking down and getting one of these.

Then I was like $60??!!!!  Screw that.

Foam board from the Dollar Tree, some left over construction paper, flowers, and some felt for the faux tibetian flags, EIGHT BUCKS, baby!

And that eiffel needed to be revamped too:

This is more of a true shape instead of that funky pyramid. I don’t know what I was thinking.  See, told you I have no idea what I am doing.

But in the meantime, I found a sweet easy Fabric Postcard Swap at whosies

if anyone else wants to get in on it.

French Crafts, je t’aime!

Bonjour!

Paris took up the whole 3 weeks,
though other countries we planned to tread.
Mostly cause family and friends from Europe
wanted to visit us there instead.
I don’t have wild tales of my travels.
It’s like any big city, I suppose.
Only, with older architecture, slighty nicer fashions
and everything in euros.

We live in a time where the web gives us instant access
to information and more.
I continue to wonder why so many people now seem
less educated then before.
If the internet I did have growing up as a kid,
a genius I’m sure I would be.
I’m doing my best to make up for it now.
I even cancelled our cable tv.

If you have not checked it out already,
Google Maps you must use.
It’s not just satellite images,
now you can actually see street views.
On any map of any town,
just drag that little stick man.
You’ll find there’s rarely any road
not captured by The Google Van.
While it will never compare to actually being there
and seeing with your physical sight.
You can still tour the world via computer
without the costly and long airline flight.

Not to mention the crude airplane food
and customs riffling through all your threads.
FYI, in Europe, a stroller and a baby
gets you whisked past the line of hundreds!
Once back in the states, however,
be prepared for very long waiting.
Security checkpoints and tourist sites
are not so accommodating.

While I wish I could have brought you all back souvenirs,
there’s peddlers everywhere.
Like this dude from the Côte d’Ivoire,
who stepped into our camera shot there:

The airline restriction on luggage is insane and really sucks.
If over 50 pounds in weight we’d get charged $150 bucks!
Imagine me on a scale holding my bag and then,
moving shoes and jeans from one to the other and doing it again.
Just leave behind the French magazines.  Can’t bring back that Paris gravel.
Talk about milking every dollar out of people when they travel.

So with that, may I present a memento:

of the city of love and other things.

And a photograph of a little boy visiting the estate of ancient queens & kings.

With gardens so vast, it has not been surpassed.
So beautiful you could cry.
We left le Marais and spend the whole day
at the palace of Versallies.

Back then Paris was filthy,
and this a playground for aristocrats.
T’was their escape from the sewer stench of the city
and it’s sickly inhabitants.
Where Marie Antoniette had a village built
on the grounds where she had played.
And pretended what it’s like to live the simple life
of a pheasant dairy maid.
I am sure the revolutionists were thrilled about that,
no wonder they wanted her head.
I also heard if you dug deep enough,
the dirt under Paris is all stained blood red.

And before you comment on my choice of greys,
it’s merely just for show.
The Eiffel Tower has more of a dark tannish
(almost pooish) coloured glow.

And with every one a t-shirt will go
that contains the following draft:

My relative/friend spent 3 weeks in Paris.
All I got was this stupid handmade craft.

We now return you to your regularly crafted program!

This is not how this was supposed to work!

urban craft is running (without scissors) around in Europe.  Please talk amoungst yourselves over at little t jane, the prevailer of all things cool and creator of current previous blog header adornment:

The Pay-It-Forward means that I make you something for you for nothing but the hope that spreading craft continues on to other people.  In my case, the cycle returned and this is totally unexpected and I am in awe of the thoughfulness and marvel the creativity.

little t jane has truly taken PIFs to a new level.  Thank you for your kindness!  I will do my best to ensure it continues!  And to my other PIFers, don’t you be gettin’ any ideas!  My only wish is that you enjoy what I make for you and pass that spirit on to make more happy crafters!

While I am away visiting friends who are ill, spreading ashes of the dearly departed and hand delivering reproduced crafts:

I am thankful for everyone and everything and am glad to have met such wonderful and talented people (and I mean all of you!) via blogging.

Please enjoy this tiny speck of dust we live on called Earth.  It gets smaller everyday.

And who wouldn’t want to have Karl Lagerfeld wrapped around their little finger?

original Lagerfeld finger puppet design by: mullishmuse