i make stuff

woodland themed playroom - the tree stump pillows.

how about this lucky little guy?
His loving momma asked me to sew a few pillows for his amazing woodland themed playroom. I'm completely envious of the beautiful tree bookshelf behind him, made by Scott from Woodcurve.

on another front.. the house building is coming along. I've been designing and planning things that will make it home (hence my absense from blogging).
A wonderful creative space for me and the kids is in the works.. so when we're home & settled I'll be back to posting more often.
So hang on for now. I'll check in every now & then. Thanks for stopping by!

twinery hop - giveaway.. a special gift for my little man

If your visiting my blog via the hop.. thanks for stopping by! If you're coming by way of Parker's Prints you're on the right track. If not, make sure you start at the beginning over at the twinery's blog and be sure to check the bottom of the post for giveaway details (GIVEAWAY CLOSED) .. now for my post...

On Saturday my little guy, Zaya, turns one, wow. I can't believe I just typed that.. breathe.. ahhh.. i just can't imagine were all the time has gone.


I've been planning and working on this for sometime now (hence my absense from the blog..), making a city play mat.  His favorite pastime is to push around a little car.. it can easily occupy him for 5 mins, while that might not seem like alot of time to most.. when trying to get things done.. it's a wealth of free time for mommy.

so here it is.. little guy and all.. 
   
The green fabric background is a soft minky fabric.. and I used quilting cotton for the appliques. The park got a special treatment of twinery twine..
 
 
I used cappuchino twine to mimic the ropes for the swings 
and peapod twine for the stems of the flowers.


the mat is full of sweet details... the zayaville sign, all our favorite animals, daddy's work, numbered neighborhood.. and that sweet pink and purple house up in the corner? of course, it's big sister's house.

 


i used alot of heat n bond, my sillhouette cutter and backed the blanket with another layer of minky.. super soft and great to play on hardwood floors as well as carpet. We're already enjoying this toy.. and hope we get a ton of use out it!

so, do you want to win some beautiful twine from the twinery?  I have one ultimate sampler pack to giveway.. all you need to do is leave a comment on this post and for an extra chance to win "like" my facebook page. I'll be picking a winner at random on Monday September 26th at 9pm/central time.. so be sure to enter by then!

thanks again for visiting.. your next stop is i love it all with Monika Wright enjoy!

Twinery & Scor-pal blog hop... an ice cream greeting.

hi there and welcome! I'm so happy you could join us for the 1st anniversary celebration blog hop with The Twinery & Scor-pal.

          

If you're stopping her by way of Scrapping with Lisa you're on the right track. If not, make sure you start at the beginning over at the twinery's blog because there are terrific prizes for those who complete the hop by commenting on each blog.

You'll have five days to browse and enjoy the hop..
so take your time & have fun!


Lately i've had ice cream on my mind.. earlier this month we indulged and bought an ice cream maker.. and it has been pretty amazing.. and as i ate my way through coming up with a project for scor-pal and the twinery.. it became all too obvious. I'd make kraft paper waffle cones!


but not just any waffle cones.. ones with sweet greetings inside..


Using the Scor-Pal, I scored kraft paper to mimic a waffle cone texture and wrapped them into cones.  Next, I stitched small fabric spheres for the ice cream, stuffed with polyfil and attached a piece of twinery twine to the ice cream scoops. I glued my messages onto the twine and embellished with beads and felt balls to weigh the message down.
 
AND what a sweet surprise!
 
there you have it.. an adorable greeting. i'm seeing an ice cream party in the near future with these as invitations.. yummy!


I'm so glad you all stopped by and hope you enjoy the rest of the hop! Working with the scor-pal was so fun.. who knew such fun tool exisited? If you enjoy working with paper.. it's a must!
And I hope I've inspired you to give the twinery baker's twine a try! Be sure the check out other things I've used twine for.. twinery projects.

As part of the hop.. the twinery and scor-pal will be giving away great prizes!

              
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. SO Don't forget to leave a quick comment to quailify for the prizes.. The deadline for commenting is 11:59pm EST, Friday, August 19th.
Your next stop on the hop is Both Sides of Paper

thanks again for stopping by!

the whole world

Cyra has been curious lately about where we live.. where we have gone.. and "the whole world" "do I live in the same world as you mommy?" you can only imagine my response when going on only 4 hours of sleep.. :)

so I thought it was time to hang a map of "the whole world".. I found this adorable children's map via uncomon goods. Framed in a poster frame, bought at target.. I thought down the road.. it would be fun to use dry erase markers to mark places we've been.. places we'd like to go..



it's my new favorite addition to our playroom.. and I'm guessing it might be her's too..

upcycled spice cans

i recently reorganized our spices.. and had these sweet tins left over.. I held onto them.. thinking it would be a nice addition to Cyra's play kitchen.. when I saw this project I knew I had to do something similar..




so I found some sweet vintage labels on flickr.. resized them in photoshop and printed them on label paper..


20 mins later.. start to finish... cyra has a brand new, old toy.

To make them extra durable.. consider using clear packing tape to laminate them.. here are JPEGS of the label files. (please note.. these are not my original images.. so do not sell anything using these images.) hope you enjoy..

lemon
tomato paste
green beans
sirup
tomato
tomato II

abc crayons

cyra recently had a couple snow days.. so we had plenty of time to peel & sort our old crayons to make a very special gift.. last time I upcycled crayons it was a mess.. and when i discovered the lovely blog Wee Two Three, this mama simply melted them in the tray.. now why didn't i think of that? well here you have it. we sorted and broke our crayons

set the oven to 250... for 20-30 mins.. and waited very patiently..


and we now have a wonderful set of abc crayons... that are sure to make a little one happy soon.

lovely wool felt crown

isn't it lovely? this was a birthday present given to her by her favorite twins.. kira & nola..
thier talented mother helen, of curly birds, blogs about her craftiness and just started selling these amazing crowns on etsy.. head over & take a look!

favorite things.. rainbows with pink and purple

Mommy : "cyra, what's your favorite thing?"
Cyra: "rainbows with pink and purple."

it's that simple. when trying to be inspired for our next project.. we often forget the best inspiration is right in front of us, our kiddos. There is nothing better than creating with our little ones.. to me, it's just heaven.

rainbows too often do not include the "BEST" two colors according to Cyra.. so we are on a movement to change that. here is our rainbow.. magnetic, interchangeable.. and totally fun. And most important of all.. it includes pink.. AND purple.


you'll need:
scissors
felt (all the colors of the rainbow)
needle & embroidery floss
fabric glue
ruler
rotary cutter
scrap fabric
strong small magnets
poly fill
download rainbow template

after downloading the template and enlarging to desired size.. start cutting 2 pieces of each color on the fold. Once you are complete lay out your rainbow and use the ruler and rotary cutter to trim the edges so they appear to be even.


next you'll start with a blanket stitch, using corresponding colors, stitch the two pieces of each shade together creating a arched pillow form.. fill as you stitch along.



now you are ready to add the magnets.
Cut small squares out of your scrap fabric.. Using the fabric glue, attach the magnet to the back of the color hoop.. for the larger hoops I used three magnets in the ends and the middle.. and for the smaller colors I used two.
Glue the fabric on top and gently stitch around each fabric square.. between the stitching and the glue, your magnet should remain in place. Make sure to stitch everything securely.

now it's time to play.. build, rebuild and and have fun!