artsy-crafty babe

my budding photographer

For the past few weeks I've let Lily play around with my little Canon Elph.  She LOVES it.  Tonight I finally got around to taking a look at all her work.  The girl took over 420 photos!  Lots were blurry, but some turned out well.  There were LOTS of photos of feet - hers, mine, ours and lots of photos of plants & flowers.  She also created quite a few still lives, many including shoes and toys.  Of course there were photos of us, some, um, not so flattering *cough*, some really cute and candid.  Life is interesting through the eyes of a 7 yr old.  I definitely have a budding photographer on my hands.

day 25 :: art

me & my boy putting brush (and fingers) to canvas

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope your day is filled with lots of love, smooches, and chocolate!!!

Above are the Valentines we made for Sarah's swap.  I think they all turned out great, but Alex's cracks me up - his is the one on the far left.  I cut out the heart and he did the rest.  I love his explanation - "this guy is bouncing with three pickles in his hands".  I love that kid!! 

Lily made the two at the top, Ava decorated the one in the middle, and I made the one on the right.  It was fun, I only wish that we were all well enough to make more. Hopefully next year we won't be sick and will be up to making many more! 

family project

Last week Lily brought home a project that was to be completed by then entire family.  My first thought was "ugh" (bad mom, I know).  We (I) put it off for a few days. 

I finally got over myself and we attempted the project.  The goal was to decorate a turkey however we wanted, using whatever we wanted.  I asked Lily what she thought we should use.  She wanted to use fabric (I wonder where she got that from?).  So, we went through my scrap pile for appropriate colored fabrics.  I'm glad I save everything because those itty bitty scraps were perfect for this.

There was lots of cutting and gluing involved.  Alex had a ball cutting all the little bits of fabric, that was right up his alley.  Lily and I, with a bit of help from Dad carefully placed all the little bits of fabric on the turkey.  I think it turned out quite nice, but the best part was that we all did it together - and it was FUN!

craft therapy

I had a nice weekend.   It was nothing special, just laid back and relaxing.  Poor Lily was sick for most of the duration, but we made the best of it.  On Friday afternoon when I picked her up from school, one of her first requests was to spend some time crafting with me.  When she felt up to it (after the tylenol kicked in and there was no fever), that's just what we did.  Yep, my girls got it! 

The first thing we worked on was the cuff.  This was a great exercise in button sewing.  She learned how to thread her needle, tie a knot in the thread before starting, and make a knot using the needle when she's finished.  She did a good job!  Yes, I did quite a bit of needle threading and knot tying at first, but by the time she sewed on the last few buttons she had it.  Then she moved on to her chicken.  Remember when she came up with that one?  She actually cut it out and sewed it up months ago, but then she lost interest.  All she had to do was stuff it, then add the beak, wings, and button eyes.  I think it's brilliant.  She originally said that the chicken was for my mom, but she has since changed her mind and decided to gift it to her teacher.  Her final project was the  "pocket".  That one was all her, no help from Momma at all.  Honestly, I couldn't be more proud of my little crafty girl!!

Of course, Lily wasn't the only crafty one this weekend.  I got lots finished up that I'll share a little later.  Now I'm off to make myself go to bed even though I'm not the least bit tired (stinkin' time change!).

Day off

Today is Monday, yet I can't even remember what we did this past weekend.  I tell ya, my brain is fried!  Since we're all home today, I thought we'd spend some time as a family creating.  Lily wanted to paint.  Oh boy.  I'm always hesitant to let the kids paint due to the mess, but they really do have fun (as do I). 

In the end, we made a huge mess, along with some great art.  I hope that these are the things they remember when they look back on their childhood.

All of our new art work will find a home on the gallery wall.

Oh wait, now I remember what I did this weekend - I worked on wristlets!  I'm kind of stuck on them at the moment.  I made two more similar to one that I made last weekend, and I started working on some red gingham ones.

These are available in my etsy shop, if you're interested.  Okay, now I'm off to take a nap.

That's my Girl!

This weekend I taught Lily how to sew.  When I asked her what she wanted to make first she replied, "a chicken".  A chicken?  I told her that we should start with something a little more simple, like a pillow or something.  She went through my scrap basket and chose something hot pink, of course. I cut out a circle, demonstrated a few stitches, then let her go.  She did better than I thought.  There were a few mess ups, which was to be expected, but overall she did great.  I was most proud that she didn't get frustrated and completed the project.  Too often when we start projects she gets frustrated and wants to give up.  One thing that I really want her to learn is that it is okay to fail.  This is a lesson that I am still learning myself.  Once she sewed up the sides of the pillow she stuffed it and sewed up the hole.  She would have been happy with just that, but then I suggested we make a face with buttons and a little embroidery.  She picked it all out herself.  I helped her with the buttons, getting them started, then tying the knots at the end, but she did the majority of it all her own.  She even did the mouth almost all by herself.  I am so proud of my big girl!  I feel so lucky to get to share this with my daughter. Oh, and we did all this sitting on the floor of my sewing studio, of course! 

Next up on Lily's sewing agenda - a chicken.

Something finished!

Here's the completed WIP I posted last week.  I'm loving all the colors!  After working on this bag I realize that I don't have the ability to sew or cut a straight line.  None of those squares lined up!  And sewing ric-rac?  I seriously need to work on that.  The ric rac kept folding up underneath my presser foot causing a big pain in the butt.  Despite the snafus, I really like this bag.  I'm pretty sure I'll be making more of them.  It's so much fun to me to pick out all the fabrics. You should see the floor of my sewing room right now - fabrics scattered everywhere sorted into groups for possible bags.

When I'm working on a project, Lily always wants my scraps.  Since these scraps were so pretty, I came up with a project for her to use them.  She made a collage.  It was a super simple project, great for kids.  All we did was paint the canvas, then adhere the fabric scraps with a white glue/water mixture.  Lily did it all herself.  The only part I helped on was to cut out some shapes (the hearts and a few stars).

It is now hanging in our bathroom art gallery.  Well, it isn't much of an art gallery, but it works for us.  The long wall in there is perfect to hang our "art".  Below her collage is a painting she and I worked on together (mostly Lily) last year.  At the same time I started the painting on the right, which I've never finished.  Now that I see this picture I realize that I should finish that painting because it looks pretty silly as is.  Oh well, yet another WIP.