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!