Link-o-rama!

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Happy Tuesday!

I am hoping to have a party post for you soon, but I only have half of the photos so far. A friend helped out taking photos of the second half of the party. Jax LOVED his party! He alternated between stealing watermelon off the food table, playing with friends (new and old) in the playroom and asking to sit at the table and snack on all the tasty food. He loved getting sung to and blowing out his candle SO much that we did it twice!

Here are some links for you while I wait for the photos:

Image via How About Orange

Now that the party madness is over (though I admit I haven’t taken down the pretty lanterns and cranes just yet!), it’s time to get back to sewing some new quiet book pages! I hope to have something to share very soon.

Threadless Kids Tee Sale

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Threadless is having a sale! They have a bunch of baby and toddler tees/onesies for as low as $5 each. They are selling out fast, so you’ll need to hurry if one catches your eye. Jax would love the “rain-bow” one – he is big into rainbows at the moment. I love the little planets!

For myself, I’d get this $10 aqua v-neck if clothes were in my budget… It’s very “me”!

Thrift Store Gems

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We hadn’t gone to the kids’ thrift store in a while. The last time we went was right after the holidays and Jax had a bit of a tantrum when I wouldn’t let him carry a mirror around. I wanted to go once before his birthday, though, so we risked it today. Luckily, Jax was super well behaved!

My main goal was warm clothes. Jax has had a big growth spurt and has grown out of his 18m gear. For about $8, here is what I got in size 2t:

A cute Carter’s rock t-shirt, 2 long sleeve thermal tops (one in dark blue to wear under the tee), a Baby Gap sweater and a pair of Baby Gap cargo pants. The pants have soft faux-suede on the pockets.

They were having a 10 for $1 book sale, but we really don’t have room for 10 more books! I’ll be getting rid of all his little baby books this spring in a yard sale as it is. I did see two I liked, though. Planes board book and Who Do You Love? touch and feel book.

I was excited to see the tool caddy. Jax loves the tool bench he got for Christmas, but I’m not a fan of the nails and bolts not having a proper home. For $2.75 I got a great wooden caddy to store them all, with a few bonus tools and building pieces.

This final item was just one of those steals I couldn’t pass up because it was unique, wooden, a great price and all the parts were there! It is the Battat Safari Animal Bus The bus rolls, has a lid that comes off and comes with wooden animal shapes for each letter of the alphabet. We got it for $5.75.

I can see Jax giving toys a ride in the bus and playing with the animals in his barn. The first thing he did was let several of the animals slide down his playroom slide saying, “wheeee!” Hehe.

And here is a bonus photo to show a little update we made to the playroom. The dollar store sells teaching supplies, and we came across these great educational posters sold in 2 packs. I love the colors and Jax loves pointing to everything he knows on them.

I was hoping to find some alphabet magnets at the thrift store to go on that little magnet chalkboard I just hung. It used to be in the kitchen of our old house and was impossible to write on. I just gave it a good coat of chalkboard spray and now it works great. I think that will be a good spot for us to practice our letters and numbers.

The $2 Toddler Art Gallery

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I’ve been working on a creativity corner in Jax’s playroom since last summer when he was just old enough to start coloring with chalk instead of eating it. This past Christmas, his wonderful aunt and uncle bought him an adorable art desk from his wishlist that looks so great with the chalkboard I made for him. The desk comes with a hidden roll of paper, so we’ve been churning out the scribbles together with nowhere to put them when we go to start a new one.


I needed a way to quickly store our new drawings in the creativity corner in a way that lets us enjoy them. Then we could move our favorites into the growing art gallery. Here is what I came up with…

Clothes Line ($1 for 70′ at the dollar store)
Clothes Pins ($1 for 36 at the dollar store)
Nails, Hammer, Level, Scissors (already had them)
Total Cost: $2!

This really couldn’t be easier and doesn’t really require a tutorial. All I did was cut two lengths of clothes line, double knot each end and nail them to the wall through the knots, using a level to make sure it was straight. Clip some clothes pins to it and you are ready to hang your masterpieces!

And I really love how his desk looks with the blue walls and red frame of the chalkboard. I know primary colors aren’t trendy for kids’ rooms right now, but I wanted to choose something a color scheme that would fit in with the already-blue walls, be easily DIY-able and be available in affordable toys and furniture.

Stay tuned for a post with some more playroom updates! In the meantime, pull up a chair and grab a crayon!

DIY Large Scale Alphabet Art

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I’ve been wanting some art for Jax’s playroom for quite a while. Large scale art is quite expensive, so it was time for a little DIY. I knew the first piece I wanted to make would involve the alphabet. Jax can recognize 90% of the alphabet and loves to point out the letters he knows.

The only thing I bought for this project is spray paint. I got Rustolium Painter’s Touch in aqua satin finish. I already had the 30″ x 40″ blank canvas – a gift from a dear friend before she passed away. The scrapbook paper and Mod Podge is from my craft stash.

     

To start, I created a 30″ x 40″ document in Photoshop and started laying out the alphabet in different fonts until I was happy with how it looked. I then cut everything up into templates and printed them out (in light gray to save ink.) If you’d like my pattern, download a zip file here. If you have a different size canvas, you’ll have to scale the templates accordingly.

Spray painting the canvas took all of 5 minutes and I only needed one good coat. I’m planning to use the leftover paint on a smaller canvas for the reading nook.

The part that took the longest was cutting out the letters. The templates print out backwards, so I’d lightly tape one to the back of my paper and cut out both the template and paper at the same time. Some letters, like the F and R, were too big to print in one piece. I had to print them in parts and tape it together before cutting the letter out. As I cut each letter, I’d tape it to my canvas using my layout as a guide, choosing colors as I went.

     

Once everything was cut, I was ready to glue the letters down. I used the leftover Mod Podge from my barn project. I started with a paint brush but it started shedding so I switched to a foam brush. I simply picked up a letter (throwing out the tape), painted a layer of glue on the canvas, placed the letter back down, smoothed it out and painted glue over top. I found heavier scrapbook paper worked better. My very thin dark blue paper wrinkled up as it was drying. I made sure the glue covered the whole canvas for an even finish.

 

I let the canvas dry overnight and was so happy when I saw the result in the morning light. It looks so colorful and happy in the playroom and fits perfectly between the windows over Jax’s little kitchen. (Side note: I just bought wood to add two more shelves to his kitchen. Those Melissa & Doug food boxes drive me nuts stacked like that!)

What do you think of our ABC art?

Life Via Instagram

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I think it will work out best to do weekly iPhone photo dumps on Saturdays. Fridays are so busy with me trying to get in enough work hours for the week, so it is hard to blog regularly.

Life is happily busy right now. Jax turns two on February 5th and I am deep in party prep for his sushi-themed bash. I am painting paper lanterns and folding hundreds of tiny origami cranes! Hopefully I can also get some quiet book sewing in, but forgive me if I don’t get a pattern up before the party!

I have a project I hope to post tomorrow, but I haven’t gotten to work on it today. We got home from errands and the baby has been passed out on me ever since! Tired, growing boy!

Are you on Instagram? Follow me at username iolstephanie.

And The Winner Is…

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The winner of my handmade mini Valentine quiet book is Jaclyn S.!

All entries were placed in order (duplicate comments removed) and the number was chosen at random. I wish everyone could have won, but I definitely don’t have time to sew 26 of them! I’m stretched as it is watching Jax and working 30hrs a week, hah.

Want to sew your own? Here’s the free pattern!

Congrats, Jaclyn!

Life Via Instagram

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Psst! Have you entered to win my hand-sewn quiet book?
You have until Thursday at noon!

I got behind in my monthly Instagram dumps, so I have a ton to post! I’m thinking I may just start posting them on Fridays. So here is everything up until around last Friday…

Are you on Instagram? I enjoy photos from other crafty mamas. You can follow me at the username punquin.

Valentine Mini Quiet Book

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Win this book below!

I created a pattern for a sweet and simple mini (6″ square) quiet book to share with you all. Do you have a little one you’d like to give a Valentine to?

Tutorials:
Front/Back Cover
Flowers & Chocolates
Weaving Heart & Cupcake
Book Assembly & Giveaway (this page)

Book Assembly: Fold your three double pages in half – the cover should have the designs on the outside of the folds, the other two pages should have the designs on the inside of the folds. Pin your pages together as shown. They will form a little book.

Make three passed on your sewing machine (you can also hand-sew!) – one for each double-sided page. You will be sewing three sides on each page: top, outer edge and bottom. Everything but the spine. Start at the spine at the top of the book, go down the outer edge, and across the bottom back to the spine. Repeat for all three pages. Trim up your felt edges as needed and you’re done!

       

If you make one of these little Valentine books, stop by the Facebook page and share some photos!

Don’t sew or don’t have time? You could win my sample book shown above!

Just leave a comment here on this blog post. I will be including one felt envelope and letter made from my mail pattern. This book is for children aged 3 and up do to small parts. We don’t want any little ones eating felt chocolates! I recommend adult supervision at all time with any younger child.

Your entry must include: a valid email address (so I can reach the winner) and who would be the recipient of the book if you won. Please use the blog’s comment form, not the Facebook form.

The nitty gritty: I have two hairy dogs, a golden and a chow, so if dog allergies are an issue, please be aware! I’ll take a lint roller to it, but they are shedding like whoa right now! And, you need to have a shipping address I can send the book to, obviously! Comments are held for approval for all first-time commenters, due to spam, but I’ll try to approve them as quickly as possible.

The contest is open to entries until around noon Eastern time on Thursday, January 19th. I will announce the winner that afternoon. I will send it off to the winner the next day if they reply promptly with their address.

Good luck!

Weaving Heart & Cupcake – Valentine Quiet Book

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I created a pattern for a sweet and simple mini (6″ square) quiet book to share with you all. I will be posting instructions in sections as I complete my sewing. Do you have a little one you’d like to give a Valentine to?

Tutorials:
Front/Back Cover
Flowers & Chocolates
Weaving Heart & Cupcake (this page)
Book Assembly & Giveaway – coming soon!

Yes, I said giveaway! I’ll be sending off my finished book to one lucky reader in time for Valentine’s gift giving.

These pages use: 12″ w x 6″ h hot pink felt background, a hot pink square slightly smaller than the 6″ page, felt (in light pink, red, lavender, white, brown, and wine), purple ribbon, a ribbon scrap, sew-on gems, sew-on snaps and embroidery floss.

   

Weaving Heart: This is a very simple page to make! Lay the two halves of the heart on the page in a heart shape as shown. I made the pattern so there is about a 1/4″ extra at the ends of the strips. This leaves some wiggle room for weaving. Weave the two halves together before you pin them so you know you have it just right. Snip the slits between the strips a bit longer if needed. Once they are pinned down, sew the top of each one down in a half circle, leaving the strips loose.

 

Cupcake: This page features a tasty cupcake you can decorate! I made mine chocolate with a raspberry center (“ras-ras” according to Jax) and you can decorate it with pink frosting, a cupcake paper, whipped cream and a cherry! You could definitely make multiple options from the same pattern in different colors. I designed the page to be a pocket to hold the parts.

First you need to cut a square of felt to be your pocket. Pin and sew down your cupcake and heart filling to the pocket piece.

To make the cupcake paper, first cut the top of your felt pieces with pinking shears to make a zigzag. Sew some ribbon strips to the front piece to look like the pleated paper. Sew half of a snap to the top of the back piece and sew the halves together. Lay the cupcake paper on the pocket to see where the other half of the snap should be placed, then sew it down.

For the frosting, you’ll need to first embellish the front piece. I chose to make stitched sprinkles in two colors and added 3 sew-on gems. Sew half of a snap to the top of the back piece then pin the two halves together. You can add a loop of ribbon like I did to be a little candle. Sew the two sides together and add the other half of the snap to the pocket as you did before.

The whipped topping is sewn together with the snap sewn on the back. I then wrapped the two sides of the cherry around the whipped cream and sewed it in place. Sew the other half of the snap to the pocket.

I sewed my pocket to the page with the sewing machine as I was planning to sew the book together right then anyway. You could hand-sew it if you prefer.

I love the cupcake! I might have to reuse that pattern to make a full cupcake page. Jax is into anything food or baking related, so I know he’d like it.

Our next post will be on sewing it together and our big giveaway of my sample book!