Gingerbread Hair Clip

Grammy is a shopper and blesses us with all manner of cuteness from her clearance finds at Gymboree and various other places. This year Lylah has gotten about a hundred "wearings" out of a sweet Gingerbread jumper and sweater and tights from last years line of cuteness at Gymboree. She loves to wear the tights and the sweater. In fact, they have been on her more than not in the past few weeks. They are her official holiday attire this year.

Since gingerbread stuff is so cute and we make such a big deal of gingerbread stuff at our house at Christmas time, I thought I would make a little gingerbread clip that she could wear with her favorite sweater and jumper. It's felt with sequins and stitching. (Pictured here on top of a ribbon bow because she had too much hair for a single clip this day. It's really a clip with pink around the clip part.)

It was so fun to make! I wish I had started my Christmas crafts earlier in the season. I might have linked them to a linky party or tried to put them in my (non-existent) shop--or sent a couple to cousins. But as it is, we have one, and only one.

I promise to post about paper gingerbread Lylah and our gingerbread houses making. Here and here are last years'. This years are sweet and fun too. I am finding myself too busy to post as often as I want. I am so blessed to be doing things I love and spending time with my precious family. Christmas has been a blast this year. Simple and unadorned. I am loving the season. More on that later....

p.s. Happy 100th Post to me!!

Fail

I was going to call this little post a craft fail...but as I looked at the pictures I chose to take of my kid wearing the craft fail, I see that there is more than just a "miss-craft" going on here.

There are fails on many levels.

1. Child standing on the dining room table (with shoes on, too)

2. She looks like she may either jump or fall off the table...and yet, I just keep taking the picture.

3. Child playing with keys and wearing a rather devious grin...

4. Child's lunch getting cold on the table because Mommy needs another picture.

5. She was allowed to write with a dry erase marker and no art smock. She got a permanent mark on her lower left side. WILL NEVER COME OUT!!

6. Good thing it was a fail in the craft department and I will have to scrap it and try again.

On to the craft fail portion...

I have seen tutorials on making your kid's too small t-shirts into a dress by adding a skirt. Looked easy. Looked fun. Seemed like a money saver. I thought I would give it a try.

But here's the catch, I just can't seem to do anything quick or easy. Why is this? I try to hard to make stuff look awesome and am never satisfied? Maybe. I cannot grasp the concept of "less is more?" Maybe. I am not really a sew-ist? Sometimes true.

Whatever the case, I made this wreck in about 5 hours. Yes 5!!!

WHAT?!! You may ask if I merely sewed a skirt onto a tee. Yes. I also made long sleeves into short elastic sleeves. And it was a bubble skirt. And I gathered a whole yard of fabric onto the skirt. A whole yard gathered up!! For a little one with a 20 inch waist!! I mean, over kill, right?!

I over gathered and the skirt looked silly, and too much, and dread!! HOMEMADE. (in a bad way)

But since she ruined the shirt, I am not going to attempt to fix this dress. I am going to un-gather the skirt and use the yard of cute fabric for a little sundress or shirt and shorts or something.

When it is done I will show you a non-fail. I might even photograph it in an more appropriate location, like the front yard. Smile.

Instead fo Organizing the Craft Room...

I made some stuff.
I made a bigger mess in the craft room.
I was a busy little bee, though.

I made a fun card for Grammy's 60th Birthday.  We ran our of colored ink in the printer and have not replaced it yet.  So I printed the picture in black and white and colored it with colored pencils.  I hand-stitched the accent papers and machine sewed the background paper.  My favorite part is the party hat and pom pom.  The hat has a little star shaped sequin and bead on a flower punch.

There is a glare on the picture here because of where I took the shot.  But you can still see what it is.  I was trying to take just one good shot of Lylah.  She would not hold still or cooperate so I got a series of out takes instead.  When taken together, the group of bad shots are pretty fun.  I sandwiched them between pieces of glass in a floating frame and used pieces of a vintage game and measuring tape to add interest and a title.  The last picture is what she calls her "monster face."

I also made 6 hair clips for Lylah.  I got really bad pictures of them so I will have to try again and post those on another day.

Lylah was a little busy too.  She made her first sef portrait.

It has eyes, nose, forehead, mouth, ears, and legs.   I was impressed.  She wrote it on my babtsitter memo pad--in case you are wondering what the writing in the back ground is.

Not bad for the week.  I did SOMETHING every day of the week this week.  Yeah!  That feels good.  Feels like what I should be doing.  Ahhhhhh

"Gingerman Lylah"

Here is a fun project that we did on Friday. I have said before that one of my favorite things to do with kids is let them paint with Puff paint made from shaving cream and glue. You use equal parts of both ( pretty much--I use more shaving cream most of the time). It is an amazing puff paint because it is fluffy and soft and feels so neat when it dries. Every time I do an art experience with my class I have parents and passers by in the hallway asking what the art is made of. All that to say, you should try it out. You will love it too. It is messy because the kids really get into it ( and it's 1/2 glue), but it washes out of clothes well if you just use glue and shaving cream. If you want color you will have to use food coloring. If you try to use paint you will end up with a form of a not useful, almost silly putty. Here goes... The Gingerbread Kid project. Lylah calls hers Gingerman Lylah. She always leaves out the "bread" part in the middle.

Supplies:
Bowl to mix puff paint and spoon to stir
Shaving Cream
School Glue
Roll of Brown craft paper big enough to trace your child and make clothes if you wish
Scissors
Paint and paint brush
Plastic Pastry bag or a sturdy Zip Top bag to use for piping "icing"


Finished Product!! By the real Gingerman Lylah in her favorite unicorn jammies.
First step: Trace around your willing assistant. I used brown craft paper so that I would have a ready made gingerbread color to start with. I Then used the cut out body to make a pattern for a dress and boots and mittens and hat just like a paper doll.


Step Two: Enlist the help of the willing assistant. Paint the clothing pieces. She wanted to use pink. I love the look it made. It ended up looking like the frosting on those yummy iced animal cookies. I think you could get the same look with any paint as long as you added white to it to make it more icing-ish. Let it dry.

Step four, five, and six: I guess are the most important and I did not take pictures of them. Oops!! Sorry. I am not used to taking the pictures all along the way. I will explain them instead.
4. Glue the pieces of clothing to the body for a permanent paper doll effect.
5. Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue in a bowl until completely incorporated and then transfer the mixture into a plastic pastry bag without a decorative tip. Snip a tiny snip of the tip of the bag so that you have a small opening that the paint will be piped from.
6. Pipe the paint mixture onto the paper gingerbread kid in a decorative gingerbread fashion. I outlined the whole body and made details for the face and clothing. Let this all dry for several hours and then display! Ta da!! A paper gingerbread kid.
p.s. You can make this project in a variety of ways. I did them with both of my preschool classes this week too. Theirs look a lot more 'kid made' because they are. For the class I made the paint mixture and put it in the piping bags and put a twist tie on the end so the paint wouldn't ooze out. I did NOT trace extra clothes out of paper and have them paint the clothes. All of their decorations were made with glue and construction paper, raisins, and puff paint. You could also use candy (real or stickers) for clothing decoration. Here is a link to the classroom designs. This is a project my two year old class loved as well as my five year old class. My 5's had some pretty fun and funky designs and were really into it. I hope you will try it. Let me know if you do. I would love to see some more ideas for the gingerbread kids and pictures of the fun. Happy Crafting!

Finnished!!

It only took 3 years and 4 Pride and Prejudice viewings to get Lylah's Christmas stocking done. Poor baby has been promised ( in my mind ) a Christmas stocking since before she was born. This will be her third Christmas and she, at last, has a stocking! I got my niece's stocking done a week or two ago and then started work on Lylah's. I totally intended to have stockings on my ETSY shop this Christmas, but it did not happen. I will get myself together to get them done for next year. I was in a funk all of last year. I had a stressful new job ( in good and bad ways) and I was dealing with the loss of our precious baby, Anna. I was just barely hanging in there. But right now, praise Jesus, I am feeling pretty good. I am feeling well, I one year of job under my belt and a fantastic assistant to help me this year. I have been given hope even through the loss of our long anticipated third baby. I have been given peace, and faith, and been loved by my sweet husband and friends. All of this, plus the inspiration given to me by my bundle of crazy two-year-old bliss and a plethora of bloggy goodness, has given me the push I needed to get my chapped hands in motion.

So, without further adieu.... Lylah's long awaited "boot"
The stocking base is my favorite old kakki pants.  I have made all my stockings this way.  Who knew it was "upcycling".  It just looks more cozy.  I used a lot of my favorite ribbons and tried out the stripes pattern with varied widths of wool felt and ric rac and ribbon. I embroidered the snowflakes on top after I machine sewed all the stripes down. I hand sewed the pocket design and toe and heel patches. I used all my favorite designs from other family stockings and made Lylah's into my favorite yet. Glen's was the first I made in remotely this style ( made a whole set for my fam when I was in high school not in the same way as these). I made mine second and next a set for Chris and Susan and their kids my mom and dad, and Matthew and Sarah and Lilly ( and now Celie too). They have gotten progressively better. Now mine and Glen's will look very shabby next to Lylah's. Maybe I will do new ones for us next. Glen does not want a new one for sentimental reasons...so maybe I can chop his up and up-cycle it. We will see I guess.

Used Grammy Logan's sequins and beads, my favorite ribbons and felt, and Grandmother Blazer's seed beads for Mouse eyes and fun ric rac for embellishments. I am so thankful to have so many people give me their crafting things. It adds history and family to my projects. Makes me love the finished product more and more.
I made a little plush mouse to go inside the pocket of the stocking. i was inspired to do this by the overalls my mom sent her from Gymboree. They had a little Panda that was attached to the pocket and she loved it. Took care of it and kissed it a lot. I made up the pattern myself and even made him have movable and bendable legs and arms. I will have to make more mini plushies. It was quite fun and I loved the result.
Here she is trying on her "Boot". She knows she will find a present inside it on Christmas morning, but she has not quite got the idea that it is not really a boot. She said she now needs "anovee one for the other foot, please" Love the tongue out. She is both working hard and being silly.

Here is a link to the stockings I made for my sister and her family. I love to see them all together. Makes me need to get new ones done for me and Glen!!

Just Hear those Sleigh Bells Jingling...

I have no pictures to post because my camera is MIA again. I know where it is, but it is not accessible today. Oh well.
I am in full craft mode. I am working on Lylah's stocking and her various Christas gifts. I am currently making her a Waldorf inspired doll. I love it. Right now it i just a head without a body. Lalah saw it to day and said "uh, no thank you Mommy...." and "is that and Octopus" and later when she saw the disembodied head sitting on the coffee table, " Here yo go Mommy. don't EVER ever , ever leave this out again. Not ever." I admit the "doll" is a smidgen on the creepy side now, but I believe it will be so sweet when it is done. I am planning on giving it hair in Lylah's color. There are lots of pretty yarns to choose from now a days. So I am excited about completion. If I like this doll, then I will make more and use more to shelf materials like the REAL Waldorf dolls are made with. For this one I am using knit fabric and polyfill to stuff it rather than the all wool and no synthetic materials that the philosophy would suggest. You will have to look them up to see what I am talking about with the dolls. I love them and think they are cute. ( Depends on the doll-maker though . ) They are deliberately made without a whole lot of expression in the face so hat the child can pretend more completely. I cannot wait to finish the doll and make her a few clothes. When I get the camera back I will take a picture of the work in progress for you to see.

Creating a Woodland Fairy from existing clothes

I thought I might do this blog in a psudo-tutorial way. But I forgot to take pictures at several key points. Oh well, I got it done! I started with a dress my mom sent Lylah for last fall. It is a bit too short now. She grew so much over the year. To make the dress an acceptable length I made a tulle topped twirl skirt to go under it,like a petty coat. I made a brown skirt first and then added the tulle in layers on top.THUS ENDS THE PICTURE STEP BY STEP PART I then made wings by recovering some other wings I had with panty hose and glitter and such. I made a system to hook the wings on under her dress so that you could not see the attaching place. It hooked through the button hole area in the back. I then made a belt of ribbon and put felt flowers on it. Next came the felt flowered head piece. ( TOOK FOREVER!!!) Lastly, I made the toadstool wand-- Her favorite part by far.
Ta Da! An interpretation of a woodland fairy ( on a $5 budget). Oh how I love this picture. This was the Thursday before Halloween. we were getting ready to go to school for our field trip to Trick-or-Treat around American Family Insurance. I love the cheeks here. I want to kiss them and eat them up. She used her wand as more of a cane or walking stick most of the time she held it.

PENNIES ARE MONEY!!!

Lylah and I have been going up to the attic craft room to "make projects". Lylah has been so excited about the random change she sometimes finds. She has been toting it in a little purse my mom gave her for her first Easter. she transfers it to various places and then back to the purse. The project we made together was a money bank for her pennies. We made it with a plastic Jiff jar because I love the RED. It goes well with her room and it's fun. I put paper around the jar and she colored it with markers. Then I had her help me find the letters I needed to spell her name and the other words. Then we cleaned up the beads about 5 times( because they were scattered about more than once.) Then I glued the beads and ribbon on the jar with Tacky glue. Then Lylah squeezed the glitter glue on the lid and placed the clear stones on top. She also placed the flower sequins on the sides. She was so proud of it!!! Wen Daddy got home she showed him her money bank and demonstrated how to put the money in over and over. She would sleep with it if I did not think that was a bigger hazard than letting a 2 year old have pennies in the first place.
She loves her mommy projects. I would not trade them for the world, even if I DID have to to help her not to destroy my entire work area more than once. It was a good lesson in responsibility and also sorting skills and following the rules. #1rule: When you make a mess, clean it up before you make a new mess. I think I need a little practice on that rule myself.


The finished product. Fun, fun times.
She was wearing a whole suit of soft knit leggings and a long sleeve tee. she had on the cutest pink jeans overalls dress over it and I thought I had a picture of it. Too cute. Her hair is getting long a so sweet too. I love it in the side bow with her "after-play" bangs falling down.