We have a little friend turning three next week. This Princess and the Pea playset is her gift from us.

I am thrilled with how it came out. My favorite parts:
1. The bed is a recycled clementine (orange) crate! Recycling is always a bonus.
2. Her party is rainbow themed, so the mattresses are on-theme!
3. I didn't buy a shred of fabric or batting--all came from my stash.
4. I got to practice with my serger.

I printed this adorable little Princess and the Pea story booklet to include with the gift. It's a really cute telling of the story! I also plan to crochet this pea in the pod set. One small pea is too much a choking hazard with the 14 month old brother of our little gift recipient, otherwise I'd just throw a green bead in there.

I hope our little friend enjoys giving her dollies and stuffies turns sleeping on the bed and discovers that many of them are princesses in disguise. :D

last post on Jono's room, I promise

I had to show off the new art on the wall. I think it's so cute with his "roads" quilt, and I love the yellow. I think it was Dana, on the Made blog, that said she thought yellow should be utilized more in little boy's rooms, and I couldn't agree more. I'd been thinking about how to put some yellow in that primary colored room of his, and this was the perfect chance!
I also ordered this vinyl wall decal on Etsy. It's adorable, but I'm not very happy with how it installed. My laundry room vinyl just melted onto the wall and looks like I painted it on. It's so secure and happy. This decal looks like it desperately wants to jump back off. I'm not sure what the difference is. I did order it from a different shop, so maybe she used cheap vinyl? Dunno. At least it looks cute in the photo, since you can't see the peely edges like you can in real life.

And finally, on his dresser, in case you're one of the few people who haven't heard me sing its praises, is my FAVORITE toddler product EVER. No kidding. I have a stoplight clock in both kids' rooms and it is seriously brilliant. We set the "alarm" at bedtime, and the red light goes on. They stay in their rooms until the green light comes on in the morning (7:05 am in our house). No early wake ups for us! This thing seriously rocks. Amazon. Check it out.

vroom!

new art for Jono's racecar room!

Painted the canvas yellow and then used the little to paint tracks in primary colors. Then for fun, hot glued the car to the canvas. Anyone want to place bets on how long he leaves that car on there? I'm thinking not long.

my neighbor Totoro

a friend's little one is turning 2 this week and is obsessed with Totoro from the movie My Neighbor Totoro. It's hard to find licensed merchandise for Japanese children's films, but Etsy and the crochet hook were able to come to the rescue. Happy Birthday, Avery!

Totoro came out super cute, if I do say so myself, but I was reminded during the process why I intensely dislike working up amigurumi crochet patterns. All that single crochet. All that sewing all the little parts together. Ew! I think I'll stick to hats worked in double and half double for a while until I recover.

My mom made these adorable snowmen stockings for David and me before we had kids.

I bought some felt stockings with simple snowflake embroidery for the kiddos two years ago, and decided this past Christmas that I needed to add coordinating snowmen to theirs. I made them similar to mom's but with different hats, mouths, and with scarves instead of buttons.

My kids have been color coded since the start of sippy cups and toothbrushes. It's easier to always make one kid's stuff the same color instead of labeling everything. Since I didn't have room for names on their stockings, I color coded their snowmen's hats and scarves for identification. Jono is blue, Charlie is green, and Hazel, pink (of course).

My snowmen are not nearly as polished as mom's are. The workmanship is FAR more variable (note Hazel's too-big bug eyes, and Jono's scowly mouth), but I like them! I think they're cute!

I ordered my felt from this Etsy shop. The sweet, sweet lady who runs it was wonderful in helping me select "happy colors" for my green, blue, and pink. I placed an order for those three colors, plus my black and cream, but forgot to order orange for their noses. A few weeks later I sent her a note on Etsy and asked how small a piece of orange she'd be willing to sell me (I didn't need her usual 8x10" square of it!) and she said, "Don't worry about it!" and dropped a 4x4 square in mail free of charge. SO SWEET! If you ever need felt, I highly recommend working with her.

I decided I needed A. some serger practice and B. something fun for the kids to give their teachers for Valentine's Day. In about 30 minutes I made 15 of these little reusable sandwich and snack bags. 5 teachers x 3 bags each, made from stash fabric. I think I'll get some Hershey's hugs and kisses to put inside them. ;-)

The tutorial can be found here on Angry Chicken. Serger not required, but faster!

Jono's room

Jono's room was done in lime green and blue guitars, which I loved, but with the acquisition of his race car bed and the quilt from Grandma (which looks like it was made for the race car bed, was wasn't--talk about a PERFECT match!), his room had morphed into primary colors and needed something new on the window.

The problem with window treatments and Jonathan's room, however, is that he has been known to hang from curtains like a monkey, tearing the entire curtain rod down, and leaving gaping holes in the sheet rock. Sigh. Little boys.

So, the criteria for his new window treatment was simple--something that was not easily reachable and that was unable to be harmed or to harm him, should he manage to get hold of it and pull it down. I found this tutorial for a cornice board made from foam core poster board instead of plywood. Lightweight, cheap to replace if need be, adds a splash of color without much work. Perfect.

Love the racing flags fabric. It works so well with the theme!

baby shower gift for Mr. Levi Dammel!

Happy Valentine's Day

I finished my Valentine's decor this weekend. I love it! Super simple, inspired by this blog and a throw pillow I saw in Better Homes and Gardens magazine this month.

"This one is my favorite, Mommy."



even the back of the bunting is pretty!

I still have tons of leftover fabric, so I'm sure you'll be seeing some more of these adorable prints popping up in future projects.

toddler proof door knob cover

I'm sharing my most useful crochet pattern today! If you have been to my house, you've seen our yarny doorknob covers. We much prefer them to the plastic ones you can buy in the baby safety section of BabiesRUs, Target, etc. I practically guarantee that no child under the age of three will be able to defeat these. If your kiddo is older than that, it depends on your child's ingenuity. My tall, strong, destructive 3.5 year old is helpless against the crocheted doorknob cover. He can crack the plastic ones off doors in no time flat. Try it!
supplies needed:
small amount of worsted weight yarn (I usually grab some random acrylic from my stash)
size H crochet hook
yarn needle
scissors

row 1: ch3, 12 dc in 3rd chain from hook, join with sl st in first dc, ch 2, turn (12 stitches)
row 2: 2 dc in each stitch around, join, ch 2, turn (24 stitches)
row 3: *2 dc in first stitch, 1 dc in second stitch* repeat *to* around, join, ch 2, turn (36 stitches)
rows 4-5: 1 dc in each stitch around, join, ch 2, turn (36 stitches)
row 6: decrease to 18 stitches by dc2tog all the way around , join, ch 2, turn (18 stitches)
row 7-8: 1 dc in each stitch around, join, fasten off yarn, weave in ends. (18 stitches)

cut a length of yarn about 12 inches long and weave it in and out through the stitches of row 7. stick it on a doorknob and tie a TIGHT knot in the length of yarn. trim yarn ends, and voila!

Your doorknob cover will fit loosely on the doorknob. That's the idea. A toddler does not have the strength to squeeze the cover against the doorknob hard enough to create enough friction to get it to turn--that's why they work!

If you try it, let me know! I'd love to know how the pattern worked out for you.

Gunny

This morning while I was home from church with sick baby men, I spent some time cutting out felt faces for Gunny #1 and Gunny #2. The boy Gunny is an almost exact replica of Cheri's at I am Momma, Hear me Roar. He will be staying with us. My friend Elizabeth is getting Gunny #2. I bet those girls of hers will provide plenty of yummy un-picked-up-toys for her to eat.
Instead of sewing a pillow case-like pouch for Gunny like Cheri did, I used thrifted men's shirts. They automatically fit a hanger perfectly, and made less sewing for me! I used spray adhesive to attach the girly Gunny parts on the back of the pink shirt, but wasn't thrilled with the results, so I took the time to sew the boy Gunny pieces on his shirt. I turned the Gunnys inside out, serged off the arms and shirt tail, flipped them back right side out, and voila! Gunny!


Here my darling daughter demonstrates just how it is that Gunny eats toys. The shirt's buttons can be unbuttoned on the back side to retrieve toys that are ready to be returned, or to insert larger than mouth-sized bites.

Can't wait to see how well Gunny works in our home, and in Elizabeth's!

This would be a great no-sew project for those of you who don't sew but still want a Gunny. Grab a shirt from your husband's closet, turn it inside out, tie a knot at the top of each arm, use some iron-on hem tape to close up the bottom, turn that puppy right side out and glue on a felt face! Easy peasy!

cheery

I fell in love with this pillow as soon as I saw it on Made. I had admired that striped yellow Ikea fabric but had never bought any due to lack of project inspiration for it. Thanks, Dana! I grabbed a yard, made this little yellow beauty, and threw it in the rocking chair. Helps with the January blahs to have such a sunny new throw pillow.

For those of you who are facebook friends and remember my comment last week about loathing geometry, it was this pillow's fault. In order to change a striped fabric to a chevron pattern, you have to cut strips of the stripe with precise 45* angles. Painful, even with a rotary cutter. Well, at least this non-math girl found it painful.

This is also the project that prompted my facebook complaint about my husband saying one of my craft projects-in-progress was going to give him a headache. Good news, though! He said that the finished product is "not that bad". LOL I'll take it.

THE roman shade

Seriously, I'm not sure when exactly I started this project. At least eight months ago, maybe as much as a year. Pathetic. This baby sat in the UFO (unfinished object) pile for so long I wasn't even sure I'd still like it if I got around to finsihing it. Good news! I do! I love it!

This is curtain recycling project. I made the roman shade from the curtain panels that I bought at Target years ago and that used to hang on this very same window. When I moved my bed to underneath that window late in my pregnancy (the only furniture arrangement that would accommodate the co-sleeper) I could no longer have long paneled curtains. Eventually, after pouting about having no window treatment and missing my pretty red linen paisley curtains, it occurred to me to re-make them. I'm so glad I didn't get rid of them! That is SO not like me.

So, ta-da! I finished that darned roman shade. And it only took a year. Ish.

oh, and yes. I know that I should take a picture where you can see the whole wall, including the bed. But that would require me to make my bed and tidy up the nightstands. Frankly, I'm just too lazy.

yarny Chucks

for my super cool friends Phil and Cynthia's newbie. Welcome to the world, Noah Coffman!

yarn is Hobby Lobby's I Love this Cotton. Pattern is a freebie from Ravelry called "crochet baby converse" designed by Suzanne Resaul. Cute little pattern, worked up nicely. Might give these another go for baby Dammel.

operation Dollhouse

When I was five years old, my daddy built me a mammoth dollhouse. I loved it, and was thrilled to learn that it had survived the years in my mom's shed. We loaded it up and brought it home when we were there for Christmas. This spring's project is dollhouse renovation!

Here is a (nearly) before picture. The only thing I did before I remembered to document the "before" was to rip the wallpaper off of a few walls.

I sort of propped the peeled off wallpaper up against the walls I removed it from, so you can imagine what a true "before" would have looked like.
As it stands in my garage right now, demo is complete. I removed the wallpaper and all of the door and window framing. Too many pieces of framing had fallen off and gone missing, so I get to start over and re-frame.

Order of events for the rest of the process:

• all over sanding
• a coat of polyurethane on the floors and baseboards
• cut, paint, and glue on window and door framing
  
• prime and paint all walls and exterior, using mostly leftover paint from rooms in my house
  
• and (the part I'm most looking forward to) DECORATING!

I have all of my furniture from childhood, as well. Much of it is in disrepair and will need to be replaced, but the living room and bedrooms are in great shape and super adorable. I plan to make bedding and curtains and all the trimmings.

By kiddos' birthdays (mid-June), this house will be ready for this little family to move in and enjoy some play time.


I'll keep you posted as I make progress!

little hostess apron

I finished this (and it's identical twin, but with red trim instead of black) a few weeks ago, but forgot to post them. Fat Quarter Apron tutorial from Prudent Baby.

Nativity blocks!

I saw this blog post this week and had to make nativity blocks. Here's what I came up with:

We have had this set of blocks for a few months. I bought them because they were on sale but have just been "eh" about them. They're nice wooden blocks, but they're SMALL. Turns out they were absoutely *perfect* for this project! Woo hoo!

I picked up a package of Oriental Trading Co. nativity sticker scenes at Texas Balloon and Novelty. If you haven't been in there yet, you must go! Stocking stuffer jackpot!

Blocks, plus stickers, plus a couple of coats of mod podge equals four adorable sets of Nativity blocks!


There are slight variations among the sets depending on which blocks I could find in which colors. Some of the blocks had been misplaced by my toddlers, so sometimes I had to improvise to get a full nativity set. I am thrilled with how they came out, though. They were quick, easy, and super fun! My favorite type of craft project. ;-)

I'm keeping the blue set for my kids.


The red set has Lucy and Ben's names on it.


Mom can pick which one (yellow or green) she wants for her house, and then the fourth will be donated for a charity raffle at MOPs on Friday.

from Saturday's photo session!

recent yarn work

The teddy bear and newsboy hats on the top row are two of the oh-so-fabulous patterns written by Speckled Frog Designs. Her stuff always comes out so well! The other two were random freebies off of Ravelry. Love the pink beanie with the butterfly detail (hard to see in the picture). The elf hat and booties were a cute idea poorly executed. Oh well.

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to Arlington to see Mom and my brother and his family. Mom has the world's BEST quilt shop (Cabbage Rose, in Fort Worth, TX). She and I had a Saturday morning outing to play with fabric and I brought home some cute prints to whip up a pillow case for each little. I finally got around to sewing this afternoon and they're so cute! Jono's is the full-sized Cat in the Hat one. Hazel and Charlie use toddler sized pillows. Hazel's is the orange and pink trees and birds. Charlie gets the transportation. I'm about to go roll them up, tie a ribbon around them, and throw them in the stocking stuffer stash. :D