Raising a foodie

I love food.  It's my hobby, it's my interest, it's my passion.  I love shopping for food, I love cooking food, I love looking at food and reading about food.  One of the things I look forward to most as my daughter grows is cooking with her and sharing my love of food.  I am taking steps now to mold her into a food-lover.  We'll see if it works. 

Elliott had her first sushi this weekend-don't freak out-it was only an avocado roll.  She liked it though--but of course she loves avocado and rice, so, it was no surprise to me.  Elliott has never refused any food I have put in front of her, but her favorite, hands-down, is any sort of fruit.

In keeping with sharing my love of food with my little one, I created a "foodie book" out of an unused small photo album I was given that was gathering dust.  (I have seen similar small albums at the dollar store.)

Here's what you need:


a few old food magazines

small fabric-covered photo album

water-soluble pen

fabric paint

scissors

one 4x6 piece of card stock or photo (for tracing)

Mark your desired title on the front of your photo album with your water-soluble marker (you can use any kind of marker or do it free-hand but the water-soluble craft marker is great if you make mistakes like someone I know, *cough cough*).  I chose "bon appetit" as my title since it's a great phrase and the name of my favorite food magazine.

Go over your marked title in fabric paint and let dry according to instructions on the bottle.

In the meantime, use your 4x6 piece of card stock or photo as a guide to trace and cut out uniform sized pieces of your magazine.  I tried to choose photos where I would only have food pictures--no words.  Choose colorful and visually stimulating pictures.  Slide those clippings into your photo album and voila--a book is born!

Here's what the pages look like:

This is a quick, simple and cheap craft that your child will really enjoy--and you can customize it to suit your/their interests.  If your interest is cars, make one about cars--indoctrinate your children with what you like as much as you can before they start thinking for themselves...  and yes, I know how wrong that sounds--but we have a short window of time, so let's embrace it! ; ) 

Upcycled bluejean baby book!

Does anyone else have a stash of jeans you can't wear anymore?  I have had a stash for quite some time--I always wear my jeans out in exactly the same place--the buttocks.  Yep--it's true.  I get these little holes that start around the back pockets and then grow.  I am proud to say they they still would fit me, but I can't run around with holes around the back pockets.  Maybe some people think that's cool, but it is not a good look for me.  Ha.

So, what is a girl to do with these sad, unused, and abused jeans?  Upcycle them, of course!  I thought it may be neat to make a busy book for church, and found this fabulous example of exactly what I wanted to make.  Well, exactly what I wanted to make with some modifications, naturally.  I cut all of the "picture" pieces out of felt and other notions and hand stitched all of the pieces onto the denim.  Where I used a template, I included a link below for your reference.

Here is our new quiet church book:

The cover--"E" is for Elliott, of course.

The flower stem is green ric-rac and the pieces are all made from felt.  I also added interesting textures by using buttons for the owls' eyes and a button for the center of the flower.  I love those owls.  You can get the owl template here.

These two are my favorites.  I am planning a watermelon themed first birthday party for Elliott and so watermelons are on the brain!  The seeds are teeny black seed beads, and the rind is again, green ric-rac.  The westie outline is from SewAmazin with my own little embroidery to make it more like our westie, Brian.

This flower is made of ribbon on a shiny background with, again, buttons and green ric-rac.  I am so in love with this little hedgehog!  You can get the template at Megity's Handmade.  His little nose and eye are black seed beads.  Oh he's precious!

I showed this book to Elliott and in true baby fashion, she took a good look at each page and then threw it across the room.  Sheesh.

Sewing on Saturday

Today I made a dress for Elliott out of napkins. For real--napkins--and some old ribbon I had in my gift wrap drawer.  Today she wore those napkins proudly like the classy little lady she is!  Here's the finished product:

I traced a dress Elliott currently wears and adjusted the measurements a bit to create the shape and winged it from there.  (I am happy to report that the whole process, start to finish, took about 45 minutes.  A great nap time project!)  I may eventually make a tutorial for those of you who have extra napkins lying about. Yay!

A few weeks ago, Jessica from Sew Homegrown shared how she uses spools to organize her daughter's pony tail holders.  Brilliant, right?  I made a barrette organizer for Elliott's hair clips a while back, and am now re-thinking the design--in an effort to include mounted spools for pony tail holder organization.  Here's what I made:

It's simply an old frame (that I spray painted) with the glass removed and the insert is wrapped in fabric and quilt batting.  I added some thick ribbons running vertically before securing the frame's insert, and I won't lie--the vertical ribbons are affixed with duct tape (a girl's best friend).  This was a very simple, cheap and quick project and it really has kept us organized. 

By using a flatter and wider frame, you could attach spools along the bottom of the frame (or anywhere, really) and utilize both organizing techniques in one.  Maybe I'll get motivated to do that soon!

Any other clip/barrette/pony tail holder organization tips/ideas/suggestions?

Clothing Upcycle

Ever heard of upcycling?  Upcycling is turning things you may otherwise throw away into new and usable items.  I took some inspiration from my sister-in-law Jennifer who made 4 fabulous dresses for our sweet little girl out of  ribbed tank-tops and some fabric.  Jen embellished this one with a neat applique (she's great with accessories) that just made the sweetest little simple dress. 

Precious, right?  Here is a tutorial for these sweet types of dresses if you're interested in making something like this with better explanations than I could ever provide.

Well, I thought I'd use the shirt I wore tonight and match it with some fabric I have had in my stash for well over a year to create a dress to wear around the house.  The shirt I am speaking of is actually the shirt I am wearing in the profile picture for this blog, and it has been a favorite of mine for the 7 years I have had it.  Yes, 7 years.  The shirt has seen better days--it's severely faded and was sporting a rather large hole on the bottom in front.  It was time to retire the shirt I had loved so dearly.  Inspiration struck in the form of cherry-printed fabric!

Here are the ingredients:

You'll need one old t-shirt and some fabric--enough to cover up your lower body.  I included piping in this photo thinking I'd use it but turns out it was more trouble than I cared for so I quickly nixed that idea.  I used two pieces of fabric that were 36" wide x 22" long.  (In hindsight, I would have used pieces that were not so wide, but I was flying by the seat of my pants--err, dress.  The 36 inches of fabric was a lot to gather, and well, it makes my hips look twice as wide as they actually are...  "Hindsight" is 20/20, and man, you should catch a peek of my hind side in this dress!) 

You'll want to cut your shirt to the place that you want your fabric to start (keeping in mind the 1/4" seam allowance).  I cut four inches off of my shirt, removing the unsightly hole.

Keep that 4" scrap for other crafts, like this headband.  And yes, Ma, that is your Olfa mat and cutter.  Holler if ya need 'em!

(Oh, and look at the inside of this shirt.  I am reminded that the outside of this black shirt would not have been nearly so faded had I taken the extra time to turn it inside out before laundering.  Where was that hint from Heloise when I needed it?   Lesson learned!)

Sew your fabric together, right sides in and iron the seams.  Then gather the skirt, and pin the shirt in and sew---and voila!

A beautiful dress!  Great for gardening and around the house activities.  I am sure Ralph Lauren would not approve of the way I have disgraced his shirt, but hey, it's not in the trash--so there!