Book Love & Kid-made Ornaments

HAND IN HAND : Crafting With Kids
By Jenny Doh
(20 Top Bloggers & Favorite Projects)

I just wanted to post about this great book that compiles 20 bloggers, with each talking a little bit about their creative life, and then sharing a favourite kid friendly project. I would love to get around to every project at some point but, so far, we have managed only one.

Levi printed gold trees with the potato stamp I made from a cookie cutter, and then he decorated the trees in red paint. I would have liked to add another colour of fabric paint for him to use, but running out to any shop right close to Christmas was not in my plans unless absolutely necessary (e.g. grocery store)!

I sewed them to a backing fabric with a ribbon for hanging attached, and he stuffed them.
A fun project, and one he is super proud of!

Looking back on the activity in the book that inspired our project, I see I should've taken the route of a raw edged ornament. Much simpler, quicker, and I even prefer the look of it.

I'd show you the finished product, but unfortunately Christmas came and went all too quickly in our house this year what with the listing of our home. All decorations were packed away quite swiftly after celebrating. Kind of sad, but also kind of exciting - time to get packing everything!!

Anyway, if you love crafting with your kiddies, this book is definitely worth having!

Oh, and yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a great start to 2013!

XO

Favourite Children's Christmas Books

Just thought I'd share a few of our favourite reads this Christmas season:

 

"As dry leaves, that before the wild hurricane fly, 

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew

With a sleigh full of toys, and St.Nicholas, too."

~ Clement C. Moore

I LOVE those first two lines.

 I have been hearing those lines, this story, every Christmas Eve for my entire life. My brother's and I would cosy up next to my Dad while he would first read to us from the Bible about the very first Christmas, and then The Night Before Christmas. Our family copy of The Night Before Christmas was identical to the one above, only I picked up my copy at a thrift store. 

This Christmas Eve tradition is definitely one my husband and I will carry on with our kids. 

On that note, 1 week until Christmas Eve!

I hope you're able to take things slow, and just enjoy. 

XO

Hexagons

Something new, and lovely came in the mail last week. Possibly to steer me from my over-ambitious queen sized english paper-pieced quilt dreams. :)

I picked up  my copy of this Japanese sewing book here. It has 21 projects in it.

I love a portable project!

xo

YAY For The Unexpected!!

I love a surprise, and surprised I was when a parcel just arrived at my door from my Sister-In-Law & Brother!



The Quiltmaker's Journey is just as sweet as the second book The Quiltmaker's Gift. It tells the story of how the Quiltmaker came to be. I love the pictures so much in these books.

I Can Fly and The Happy Man and His DumpTruck are both super cute. Levi loves them both. Any book with birds and animals gets him excited. Though they all seem to make the same high-pitched "squeak squeak" but he says it like "heh heh". :)

Anyways, THANKS GUYS!!!
xo

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

Beachy Craft Time

Well that's me all caught up on posts that I had wanted to blog about while in the Dominican. This is the last little taste of my beach week, and it's hard to believe I was there only a few days ago... :(

A beach, the sound of the breeze in the palms, one shining sun, and a wee bit of craftiness.
Can there be a better combo?



I knew that amidst all the relaxing I would crave using that downtime for something creative, and cross stitch is just so portable (though remember, NOT airplane friendly what with the scissors and needles). I have lost at least a couple great pairs of mini scissors to the folks checking hand luggage at the airport. I think I have learned my lesson, but only time will tell...



This book is really awesome - if you dig needlework, which I do. It is packed full of super cute motifs and ideas for how to use 'em. I've just started another mini project from it, but sorry I just can't share for the sake of surprises!

The "Story Girl"

Since I was a little girl I have read and loved many of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books. Her books are timeless, and her characters endearing. I own many of her titles. I had thought all but, after dedicating an entire day on Prince Edward Island to visiting as many Anne or L.M.Montgomery sites as possible, have learned otherwise. There are several books still needed to complete my collection. I believe them to be a collection worthy of keeping to read and re-read.

I used to want to be her. Even at the age of 8, the year I received my first typewriter, I would dedicate hours to writing. The Emily series were my absolute favourite. How Emily would take detailed, descriptive notes of her surroundings, and her relatives. It was the beginning of my need to always carry a notebook with me – a natural progression for any aspiring writer.

One of the things that drew me to her stories, and still does, is the time period. I love the 1800’s and early 1900’s simple, handmade way of life. Visiting these sites and getting to peek into that way of life made for an awesome afternoon. I believe that is what allowed my hubby to tolerate a full day of it as well! ;)

I will now bombard you with the details of this beautiful past that I loved the most!












The photographs were taken in Prince Edward Island at Green Gables in Cavendish, The Anne of Green Gables Museum at "Silver Bush" in Park Corner, and the Birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery in New London.

Links from the L.M.Montgomery Institute:
Her Life
Her Works


"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, and take whatever God sends."
~L.M.Montgomery

Board Books

I love 'em. The little guy can find interest in books (his own way i.e. chewing and throwing) without me being all uptight about it, and there are just so many awesome ones. He has all his board books on a shelf that he can reach, and as soon as he is in his room he races right over tears them all off the shelf and then sits and turns the pages. It's one of my favourite things to watch.

Some favourites so far


Four new ones will join the shelf this Thursday (the First Birthday Extravaganza) :


These little hands love to flip through a good book


Any favourite board books to share?

Rag Bag

We stopped using paper towels several years ago and have never looked back. We simply quit buying them, and got used to grabbing for a rag when we would have otherwise reached for a paper towel.
When I saw the idea for the "Rag bag" in Soulemama's inspiring book Handmade Home, it was too perfect. Instead of a pile of rags sitting in the cupboard under our sink they would be tidily contained in one convenient little spot.

I adapted her version slightly and found the project super easy. It's something I use every day.
I repurposed 2 old tea towels that have never been very efficient, added a braided hemp drawstring, and appliqued letters using a soft recycled denim material and this template.



Done!


***Much more important than my Rag Bag - My baby boy said "Mama" yesterday!!! What a feeling... :)