two straight lines

Last year I made these tiny photo books using iPhoto and printed by Mac.  The motivation was Lucie's love of all things tiny, and the fact that she carried around The Nutshell Library for most of the day.  I then decided to make them for other family members, and I think I ordered a total of 9 copies.  If you've ever made a photo book, you'll know that it is very hard to choose just 20 photos of your beloved children, and I ended up with 37, so what was to be a tiny add-on gift for $3.99, turned into $17 each. 

This year I'm committed to sticking to the number of photos included in the price advertised, and I'm also thinking of making them bigger, because while the tiny size is adorable, most of the recipients are grandparents and great grandparents, and it is probably difficult for them and most of their friends who they are showing the photos to see them very well.

I do like the non-fussy approach of a single photo without a caption, and I think I'll try to stick with this format.  Do any of you have photo book sources you love, with simple classic styles, a decent price point, and of course good quality?  Several people have mentioned blurb.com to me, but at first glance, it looks like I would be more likely to use those for a special keepsake album for my family, not one I distribute to 12 of my family members.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

************

Carol, comment #1 on the last post is the winner of the doll dress pattern.  Please email me your address, Carol.  I thought I replied to you in the comments section, but maybe I didn't work.

For those of you who start thinking about your holiday decor months in advance (not me), I'm going to share three Thanksgiving centerpiece ideas that I came up with for AOL's Kitchen Daily.  Yes, while the rest of you were vacationing in July, I was running around my yard like a crazy person photographing table settings.  I often wonder what exactly my neighbors think I'm up to, dining table in the back yard, me teetering from a step stool taking pictures.

I'm sharing this project first because I think it has so much potential for festive fall decor.  Besides being used to decorate a table, it would be pretty on a mantle, pinned to a wreath form (like this project from Twig and Thistle); I even think the leaves would be beautiful lining a gift box.

I've never seen this process used before-- I've ironed quilting cottons to kraft paper (read: Whole Foods bags), and I really like the results.  It seems like it could have so many applications, and for once you can be glad you forgot to bring you reusable bags to the grocery store.

Because this craft involves so much ironing, I think kids are best left out of it (although some older kids could probably cut out the leaf shapes).  The next two projects allow for more kid involvement.

You can find full details for this project including resources right here.

Looking for some last minute and easy to throw together ideas for Father's Day?  I have a Father's Day picnic piece up over at kitchendaily.com. (link there) (oops!  the link wasn't working, I fixed it)

My favorite part is the comic page place mats.

Enjoy.

I know most of you are finished with teacher's gifts by now, but I wanted to share this idea so you could apply it to other gift giving, or even file it away for teachers at a later date.  This morning was the final hurdle of our insane week before winter break, and of course we needed to deliver our teacher's gifts. 

I know this is a much debated and even a hotly contested issue.  I had lengthy discussions about it with at least three friends this year.  My initial decision was to give entirely handmade gifts to Elliot's three main teachers, but after a discussion with my best friend just a few days ago, I decided to go mainly with gift cards, packaged in a cute way, with a few sentimental items included.

She had talked with a few of her close friends, who are teachers, about what they prefer.  The consensus among these ladies was that it gets really difficult to find a place to contain all the stuff, and that while not sentimental, gift cards sure are handy.  I think it is hard for those of us who are makers to buy into this concept, but I can say that I really do enjoy receiving well chosen gift cards myself.

So, this morning I had a few hours to figure out how to creatively package the cards.  Ever since I wrote a piece a few years back for Wondertime using embellished clipboards, I had been toying with the idea of using them for gift packaging.  They're cheap, easily available and useful.  When painted they can be hung on the wall to hold a snapshot or to-do list.  My kids even love to use them...as clipboards.

I just happened to have three clipboards already embellished for a previous project that I hadn't used.  Two are just painted, the third one is painted and just has lined school paper decoupaged over the paint.  I clipped a photo from our fall program, a printout of a painting Elliot made of their class mascot Zero the Hero, and the gift card under the clip, wrapped the whole thing with striped baker's string and added a felt snowflake with a dab of hot glue.  I also tucked a personal note under the string on the underside.

I feel like this accomplished everything I was going for-- practical, useful, and a wee bit sentimental.  I hope they like it as well.

*************

Teachers-- what say you about teacher's gifts?  I'd love to hear your opinions, as well as ideas from non-teachers for favorite things to give.

A few weeks ago I made a pin board for above my freshly painted bookshelf.  It was one of those quick and satisfying after dinner projects, I literally had the whole family helping me saw down an older much larger pinboard and staple on the new fabric.

The fabric is probably something I wouldn't have purchased off the bolt, but when I saw it covering Joelle Hoverson's headboard in an old issue of Blueprint, I ordered it right away.  I've been saving it for just the right thing.

The idea is that right here next to our game table I can pin up my kid's artwork, photographs and notes from friends and family.  Now I just need to make some cute tacks to go with it.  For now, I'm just enjoying it as a backdrop for my new thrifted angels.  The three little stockings belong to my pets and are probably a few of the first things I ever sewed.

My partner in crime Kathryn and I were charged with figuring out a way to dress 14 kindergartners as geese for today's Thanksgiving performance.  It needed to be nearly no-sew because last spring we made 26 little vests for the preschool, and it ended up being an insane amount of work.  I decided for these we would cut capes from cotton flannel and leave the edges unfinished.  The kids then helped us tie dye them, which was inspired by these Wovenplay wings.

After they were handwashed and hung to dry, I sewed ribbons at the neck and wrists so that when the kids raised their arms it looked like wings.  I thought they turned out really cute, but they weren't nearly as cute as the kindergarteners performing goose poems, songs and stories.

***************

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I won't sugarcoat the holidays, for me they're a mixed bag of happy moments and disappointments;  But when I stop to think about it, I realize just how lucky I am, I have so much to be thankful for.  Today alone-- adorable kindergarten performance, out for ice cream with the family, a visit to our favorite local bookstore, my husband's famous garlic bread with our store bought ravioli, my five year old reading his new book all by himself while we made dinner, early bedtimes.  A good day, friends. 

For Halloween Lucie was Ponyo, the half girl/half fish character from Hayao Miyazaki's film that was released in the US this summer.  The story is loosely based on fairy tale The Little Mermaid.  Throughout the movie, Ponyo wears a short red dress and is barefoot, so I had to take some liberties with a costume to be worn in Michigan in October.  I found nude colored tights and pale shoes for her, and I made her a red woolen cape that is lined with Cake Rock Beach fabric.  After the photos were taken, I added a long sleeved cream colored shirt under her dress.

The cape is from the same pattern that I used to make Elliot's cape and the ones for his classmates a few years ago.  I've mentioned before that it is from an old issue of Ottobre (4/2004), and although I've received a lot of questions about it, I'm unable to share any details of the pattern on my blog. 

I bought the dress for a few dollars on Ebay, and it came with a really ugly polka dot sash with bow and giant sparkly button on it.  I replaced that with some beautiful green variegated yarn I had on hand as a "seaweed" sash.

There is also a green bucket throughout the movie; at times when Ponyo is a fish, she is in the bucket, and later she carries it.  I had this green bucket already, but I filled it slightly with solid fabric, and some additional yarn, and I used a glue gun to keep all of that inside the bucket, as well as to attach several sea creatures that normally reside in our water table.

I made her bloomers out of cream colored fabric I had on hand, and they were a bit of a pain to sew, most likely because I started them at 11PM on Thursday night.  I don't have the pattern handy, and wouldn't recommend it anyway.  Either the directions were terrible, or I was really tired.

I love this costume so much, and Lucie really seemed to enjoy playing dress up.  She was pretty thrilled that we could go door to door in our neighborhood and have people give us candy.  She insisted on being carried from house to house, but would demand to be put down when we got about 20 feet from a front door.  It was such a great night with the kids, seeing the magic through their eyes.

More crazy cuteness at flickr.  (click through from my sidebar, for some reason I can't get a link to work right now)

from Mi Bandito to yours. 

I tried to get some good shots of Elliot in costume, but it was all silliness, which I suppose can be expected of a 5 year old.  He is going as a Bandito this year, and because his class is learning all about zero (and he has a mild obsession with Zero the Hero who visits his classroom), we decided to call him Zero rather than Zorro.  You can see a zero on his cummerbund as well as the fabric lining his cape (Michael Miller's Clown Donuts is the print).  I used a remnant of black ultrasuede for Elliot's eye mask and sash, and it worked so beautifully.  It's really fun to work with.   I briefly considered Bedazzling his sash, but decided to use metallic puff paint instead which worked great, and was super fast.

 

I had so much fun making my kids costumes this year and only had a little bit of cursing making Lucie's bloomers for her Ponyo costume.  I'll try and post photos of hers later, but right now she is napping and a tiny bit under the weather.

Hope all of you who celebrate Halloween have a fun, safe & dry holiday!

Just wanted to pop in very quickly and show you my finished goody bags.  This is the first project I've done using the Reprodepot Pattern books I mentioned a few weeks ago.  This is pattern 54B from the Folk Book used in conjunction with the labels that I am offering free on my site.  Also, be sure to pop over to the Reprodepot blog, where they're offering three Halloween specific patterns that would also work nicely for this project.  These labels are stapled over cellophane bags that are 5" wide.

OK, back to costume making...

I wanted to post this before winter is entirely over and mittens are, at least for a little while, long forgotten.  Because as relentless as the winter sometimes seems, the time will come for sure. 

Elliot has a December birthday, so this year due to moving and general newness at his school, we decided to postpone his birthday celebration until January.  I sort of figure that during the busiest season of the year, people have very little time or patience for a child's birthday party, let alone a child who has just transferred into the school.  I have to say this was a wonderful decision, because his party came near the end of January, when in snowy Michigan parents and children alike are willing to do just about anything to get out of the house on yet another weekend morning. 

We headed out to the Kalamazoo Nature Center with thirteen friends for Winter Tales themed birthday party.  The birthday boy planned the menu- chocolate cupcakes, hot chocolate and pizzelles dusted with "snow."  Be warned that you should know how you will prepare and transport hot chocolate for thirty odd people (well, the people weren't odd) before you promise it to your five year old.  But with the purchase of a pump pot disaster was averted and very dark hot chocolate was delivered for the birthday boy-- who didn't even consume it, because it was, um, hot.

It seemed a very nice time was had by all, even though at times it was a bit chaotic.  Following the telling of the folktale "The Mitten," a brief animal scavenger hunt, and some gift opening, we handed out our favors and sent the kids free to run, er, I mean roam about the place.

So, the favors.  The nature center provided a goody bag with the price of the party, but it was just trinket-y stuff, you know the kind of stuff kids just love, and parents love to hate.  Elliot and I decided to give a little something else and happened upon some plain cotton tote bags on sale 3 for $3.  (I've since seen them at JoAnn's for 3 for $8ish, but with the 40% coupon this is a fairly good deal)  He wanted to take them home and paint them right away, but I prefer a more planned approach to crafting, so while he was sleeping I ironed a few cute gender neutral prints to some HeatnBond Ultrahold iron-on adhesive and cut them into a mitten shape.  I then ironed this applique to the bags.  They were very fast, I may have done all 14 of them in 1 1/2 hours, and I'm not a terribly quick crafter.  Someone like Hillary could easily turn out a few hundred in that time frame.

I wanted to show these here, because aside from the obvious use as tote bags, I thought these could also make nice reusable gift bags and really would be less expensive than the paper ones that many people buy for $2 or $3.  In addition to ironing on patterned fabrics, you could also freezer paper stencil, add a button closure, etc.  And they could be used again either as tote bags or gift bags.  And of course, they aren't restricted to being used for children only.  They come in many shapes and sizes and could be used for upcoming holidays like Easter or Mother's Day.

It's been really fun seeing these pop up here and there at school.  And it's nice to know that they will be used a bit before they end up in a landfill.  I was really surprised by how much waste was created by having a birthday party away from home, and this is just one nice way to cut down on the waste.