Birthday Party Ideas For a PDF File

I purchased a Retro Robot PDF file on Etsy. I loved the look of it, and figured I could find something to do with it for my son's much anticipated Robot party on his third birthday.

The hubby and I printed 2 sheets of the PDF, cropped, and then laminated each one for a fun little robot memory game.

Of course, I had to sew up a little drawstring bag to store it in! :)

In future, I would love to take this idea using cute pictures from a vintage children's book, or any number of other places and make memory games for the take home party favours.

Anyway, that was my one big idea. My mom, the crafty genius, came up with a crazy number of ways to use this cute little PDF - a party banner, loot bags, and food signage among them. Pop over HERE to see them all.

Also, head over to this post on Fun Fabrication to find more pics of the amazing Robot birthday!

Birthday Clothes

 

This year's Birthday Tee for Levi, came from I Spot You - An Etsy Shop selling really cute customized t-shirts for kids.

It was pure coincidence that the Robot fabric I had ordered coordinated perfectly with the birthday t-shirt! Yay!

The pants are pretty basic - a pattern traced from a pair of Levi's long shorts, or short pants, whichever way you wanna slice it.
I added pockets on the bum out of the circuit board fabric, and added cuffs in the contrasting orange robot fabric. All 3 fabrics are from Robert Kaufman's Robot Factory collection.
The waist is just a simple elastic waist band. I always use ribbed non-roll waistband elastic.

Of course, little brother had to have a tee to celebrate the occasion too!
                                               
            

*Tie T-shirt material is the orange Robot Factory

Little Boy Trousers

My two little boys...just had to try writing that one out (for those who don't know it will be so in approximately 3 weeks!!) :). But yes, I finished two pairs of pants, one each for my two boys! Yay!
I used Anna Maria Horner's pattern for Quick Change Trousers from her book Handmade Beginnings.
I have found at first glance her patterns to be quite daunting (that's the inexperienced sewist in me), but once you get going, and work it through gradually, it really wasn't difficult at all. The second pair was definitely much simpler and much faster (and, as you can see, half the size!).







The material I used is Michael Miller's Play Stripe Lagoon & Groovy Guitars Lagoon for the larger size, and Play Stripe Lagoon & Zoology Lagoon for the smaller pair. Also for both pairs I used a simple black cotton piece for the back panel on the stripey side.





I REALLY love these sweet little pants, and definitely have to figure out how to adapt the pattern to fit a size larger than 24 months.

Reading Corner

I have been wanting to create a reading corner for our little guy, and it all came together this past week. I picked up this sweet rocking chair from Kijiji (basically an online garage sale in Canada) for Thirty Dollars, sewed up the book sling, and my hubby sawed the dowels, hung the brackets and set it all up.



The book sling was super easy to put together. I had this great yard of Little Golden Books fabric I bought from The Tin Thimble on Etsy which worked perfectly for the project.



I didn't have quite enough to double it as per the instructions so I instead had 2 rectangles cut out at an inch more than she suggests to make up for the additional sewn edge, and then followed the instructions from there. The sling is lined with a thrifted sheet I had. It is a bit long for the book stage he is currently in (the smaller board books) but we just turned the back dowel to shorten it up before tightening the brackets.

You can find the tutorial for the book sling here. This clever holder of books is also in the 2011 Page-A-Day Sewing Calendar - which is totally worth buying. There are a ton of awesome projects in this calendar.

I am liking it very much and I think Mr.Levi does too.



I so hope he always loves books as much as he does now!
xo

Handmade Holiday: Progress!

YAY! Success has been happening one stitch at a time over here.
I finally finished my little guy's car cozy and am pretty psyched about it. An amazingly handy little idea, that will be quick and easy for stuffing in his nappy bag, and entertaining him while out and about. It didn't take long at all, it's just all about seeking out that perfect chunk of time in which to get to work on it.







I mentioned this cozy a few weeks ago on my Handmade Holiday post about some of the incredible free tutorials available online, and this is so definitely one of those.
The tutorial I used is courtesy of Homemade by Jill, and I borrowed the adapted ideas of Polkadot Prints, so many thanks to those two fantastic bloggers!

The outside, and the pockets are made from an old pair of jeans; the wheels from an old wool sweater which I felted.
The inside Roadway material and the roadsign fabric used for the car applique are both from Riley Blake's Wheels collection which I picked up on Etsy.

I also finished a little stocking stuffer this week which we have been working on at our parent & child Waldorf group Monday mornings. It is a simple handstitched wool felt ball. This will be a much kinder toy to our home considering how much he likes to throw a ball. Though he may not like it as much as a ball that has the potential of causing a ruckus...
Anyway, I know I've said it before but hand-sewing really is so meditative, and chilled out. I totally enjoyed working on this little project.



Hope you are all finding success in your gift-making, baking, card writing, or whatever holiday projects may be on your list!
xo