Ombre Wall from P.S. I Made This.
Tablet Case Tutorial from Luv in the Mommyhood.
Girl’s Breezy Tunic Tutorial from Elegance and Elephants.
Bon Appetit Printable Tag from Eat Drink Chic.
Two Methods for Making Boxed Corners from Sew 4 Home (I use the first method, but press the seam open).
Painting on Fabric with Lucie Summers of Summersville.
Since I’ve been working most of the summer, the kids have sort of been on their own for craft projects. I thought I’d share some of the things that have inspired them lately.
Luckily, Jen from Kiwi Crate offered to send a free crate for our review. It’s a package filled with ready-to-make crafts that comes right to your door. I helped the kids get all the supplies sorted, then they pretty much made the craft on their own, following the simple illustrated instruction booklet. This is a stellar idea. I thought the craft ideas were creative and the supplies were of high quality. They were thrilled to get a package in the mail and tore it open right away and made this cute firefly craft on the spot. The firefly comes with a plastic bottle and decorations. Then after the kids assemble it, they put it on a zip line and place the small glow sticks inside to make it light up while flying. My nine-year-old declared it “awesome”. The other project in our kit was a painting project with educational facts about bugs, which looks fun too. You know I’m all about coming up with creative ideas to make things on your own, but sometimes you need a little help! These kits would also make great gifts.
Now my nine-year-old is on a full-on crafting kick, started by this website, My Froggy Stuff. The woman who runs this YouTube channel makes videos about crafts for dolls. All kinds of dolls, big and small. She makes beds, kitchens, and really anything you can think of for dolls. My daughter watches the instructions, then gathers supplies (often improvising with what we have on hand), then makes the projects pretty much on her own. There is a commercial before each video, but you can skip through it. And of course this site links up to other YouTube channels and other sites pretty easily, so there are the issues of the open web. But both my kids LOVE this site and it is keeping them busy! It gets them thinking of projects of their own too. You can see the little bunk beds below that my daughter made. She’s made a paper house and is working on all the furniture for it.
The winner is #87, Kelley! Congratulations! Be sure to visit Miss Matatabi for all kinds of Japanese goodness.
Girl’s Ikat Pocket Dress, $62 from Harriet’s Haberdashery.
Vintage Phone, $42 from Callooh Callay.
Wooden Buttons, $2.99 from Charm Necklace.
Walnut Pendant, $52 from Bird of Virtue.
Cross Stitch Wooden Pin, $25 from Miniature Rhino.
Nani Iro Double Gauze, $10 for 1/2 yard from Mountain of the Dragon.
Foldover Vegan Clutch, $54 from Milk and Honey Handbags.
Oakshott Fabric, 12 fat eighths, $39 from Hyggeligt Fabrics.
Striped Washi Tape, $4 from Pretty Tape.
Right now I’m working on a project using vintage sheets, like these Vera Neumann sheets pictured above, so I had vintage fabric on my mind over the weekend. And I’ve been reading some of my childhood books and remembering how much I love them! I thought I’d share a few things.
Pictured above is a snowball quilt that I bought on ebay for not much at all. The fabrics are amazing and the entire quilt top is hand pieced. When I got it in the mail, it reeked of smoke and was yellowed. So I soaked it in the tub (which resulted in nicotine-colored water) and it’s back to white again with no odor. It’s on my someday list of projects to make it into a quilt. Love this snowball design.
Also, I ordered some things from this Etsy shop, and the owner sent me a few extra vintage goodies. Like these patchwork stars, pictured above. Perhaps the best part about them is the paper backing, which appears to be some type of farm newspaper. It’s nice to see this snapshot of someone’s life and time. Maybe my half-finished projects will be passed along one day to someone who can make something from them! They are certainly stacking up.
I’ve also been reading one of my favorite childhood books to my kids, The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter by Evelyn Scott (still available used, but expensive). I loved this book as a child, which you can tell from the crayon marks and torn pages. It’s the story of a bear family during the seasons. As my daughter pointed out, the bears are all girls (except for the father and the baby) and each girl bear has her own tree house with its own style of decor. I loved looking at the houses and thinking about which house I loved the most. I loved the whimsical painted furniture of the Dutch-style house, the clean lines of the modern house, and the cozy draped beds of the fancy houses. Looking at it now, I realize that I’ve never been able to settle on just one style! I always fight with myself about the materialistic nature of loving design, but I still do love pretty things. I’ll blame this book.
And another book that I had as a child and recently ordered used is the book pictured below, Tony the Magic Pony, written by C. Parma and illustrated by J. Sengler. Not only is the main character’s name Ellen, but the book has unique and charming illustrations. The little girl lives on a small island, but wishes for a magical pony, who helps her rope another island and make more space. I loved everything about this book.
I really do think the illustrations in our children’s books are important to helping our kids appreciate art. I had no idea how much I was connected to my childhood books until I had children of my own and started reading the books of my childhood. Like these here and here that I’ve blogged about in the past.
