Category Archives: kid fun

More Steggies and how I work.

Posted on March 21, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

So I decided, in the spirit of dinosaurs to make Nate a Steggie from One Yard Wonders.  So I set to it tonight.  I learned I’m not too good at following a pattern, and when I didn’t know what the instructions meant about making a dart I probably should have Googled it after all.  So our poor little Steggie needs some tweaking tomorrow but he’s still going to be a cutie.

There’s been a lot of talk on my online course about how people work, and manage their time.  With 2 little ones at home, and a job it’s been challenging for me to maintain a blog and start an Etsy store.  Now I’ve also added a craft show in May so the pressure’s on.  When I started my blog to help me be creative I hadn’t returned to work yet so it was a bit easier with the extra free time.  However, it did set a sort of standard for crafting and now I try really hard to keep up the pace with posting and creating.   That said, here’s my new system.  I escape downstairs, either while the kids are sleeping, hubby watches them or after they go to bed and I load something to watch up on my desktop computer, put on my headphones (which allow me to hear over the noise of the sewing machine) and get to work!  Yesterday my husband watched the kids a whole bunch, hence my productiveness, and the headphones help block out the sound of the kids which would either distract me or annoy me.  Ignore the mess, and the glare from the OttLight but here’s what it looked like when I left just now.  (That’s deflated Steggie lying next to the book)

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My productive day with taggies and steggie!

Posted on March 20, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Well I managed to get some time to myself today and was a mad sewing . . . machine?  I made 3 taggie blankies, and I must say working with that soft wonderful minky stuff is a bit of a pain.  Then I made my son a shirt.  I’ve had the plain white one sitting there for ages and ages.  Since I was in a taggie sort of mood I whipped up a taggie steggie!

This was the last taggie blankie I made and words cannot describe how totally soft and wonderful the white fuzzy side feels!  Plus the fun bright retro fabric is pretty cool too.

Got a few things lined up to work on while watching a movie.  Let the productivity continue!

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Juice totes and my son’s counting book in progress . . . . finally.

Posted on March 14, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Although it feels like I haven’t been very crafty lately somehow I’ve managed to create things.  I finally assembled my German juice pouches, from Spain, into a cute little tote that I now use as my work bag.  If work is at a school is it a ‘school bag’?

When I came upstairs with it my husband said, ‘Oh cool, are you going to sell that one?’.  I nearly died, after all that drinking and saving and trying to explain with gestures to the maid at the resort the pouches weren’t garbage . . . AND packing them to fly to England and then back to Canada!  No way.  This bag is mine!  Plus they say ‘kirsch’!  How cool is that?

I’m going to visit my cousin tomorrow for the night, I’m packing the cover and some pages for Nate’s counting book.  Some embroidery is needed so perhaps I can get that done while the gaggle of our 5 children play.  Here’s a shot of the #1 page, there’s a robot on it.

I’m taking her daughters some crayon cozies gone wrong, I cut them a tad too short and they only hold 15 crayons instead of 16.  They’ll still like them and I figured rather than waste fabric I’d make them anyway.  I also made them  some little juice pouch totes as well.  Lately some of students in my class have been bringing them for lunch so the lunch lady has been saving them for me.

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A brilliant idea for lost lonely single socks.

Posted on March 11, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

As if losing my own socks wasn’t enough, then there was a husband’s socks for me to lose.  Now there’s 2 little ones and more socks I have to keep tracks of!!  So I’ve been keeping this little pile of lonely socks lying around for months ‘just in case’ the other sock reappears.  Then I had an idea.  Wednesday I brought home a paper box from work and started my project.

I cut off part of the box to make it angled to sit on the floor nicely.  With a Sharpie I drew some big circles on it, I was going to make flowers but then I figured two boys would probably go for something a little less girly.  So I turned the circles into mouth of goofy looking aliens.  They’re sort of our family, a big daddy alien, a eyelashed mommy alien, a boy alien and a little baby alien.

Cut out the holes with a blade or sharp knife.  Then I painted them in, while watching LOST.  I just used craft paints, nothing special.

Back to the pile of socks, pictured here.  I also used a lonely single scratch mitten since we don’t need those anymore.

Since, coincidentally, I had been researching bean bag fillings I decided to use rice.  You can rinse them and air dry, if it breaks open it’s pretty easy to clean and if Nate did try to eat it no big deal.  The socks were pretty easy to fill, I just used a spoon and sewed them shut with the machine since it was fast, hand sewing would work.  Cut off the excess sock and you’re ready to go.

I hoped for an action shot today but it was harder to get than I thought.  Wesley turned the game box into a machine and was driving it around the house while stacking the ‘bubbles’ (aka the socks) in a pile in a corner of the kitchen.  Oh well, the point was for them to have fun and they did.

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My newest idea, and a thrift find!

Posted on March 2, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I was struck with an idea last night while in the kitchen with the kids.   I think it might have been inspired by my sewing machine cover on my chair.  I had the idea to make a little pouch thingie for the back of the kitchen chairs to store some creative supplies within arms reach of my son when he’s sitting down.  I also figured it would come in handy once he’s at school for completing homework, we can keep pencils and other supplies right there and not have to worry and fumble around looking for things.  So I went to my trusty sewing machine once the kiddies were in bed and whipped this up,

I still need to play with the design a bit, I’d like it to roll up and be portable so you could grab it and go, in the van, to Grandma’s off to the park, whatever. I’m hoping to make it fairly universal so it would fit almost any kitchen or dining room chair. It attached with ribbon that I just tied, thought that was more universal than sewing loops. The fabric is from IKEA, I wanted something kid friendly but not too loud and obnoxious for the kitchen. I have no idea how one is supposed to make a pattern but I relied on my trusty chart graph paper and sketched and cut a template out yesterday while the kiddies ran about.

It’s a very high tech process. Hopefully I can get to making a second one tomorrow.

In unrelated news, every other Tuesday I have my ‘night out’ with my bff! Lately I’ve taken to dragging her to thrift stores. Last Tuesday I found this and loved it!

It reminds me of my Nanny and all my summers spent at the trailer at the lake. Trailers and cottages always seem to have random vintage/retro stuff in them like this. Plus my Nanny, like most Grandparents, was happy to keep things around as long as they still worked, even if they were older than me. My favourite was the avocado green electric knife she had that didn’t actually turn off unless you unplugged it from the wall . . . because that’s safe!! I miss you Nanny, thanks for teaching me to knit and showing me how to cook a turkey, love you.

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Another project from the other night.

Posted on March 1, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

The night I managed to get 4 projects done this was the second one, a baby lap taggie blanket.  I made these for my son about 4 years ago before he was born and I’ve been making them since to give as baby gifts.  They’re the perfect size for in the stroller or car seat.  Something to keep their legs a little bit warm, or out of the sun, and it has fun tags to play with.

I really like the cute little marbel print on this one.  In the past I’ve used fleece for the inside, this was the first time I tried that super soft minky stuff.  It was a bit of a pain to work with but it is waaay nicer to touch.

I was at a baby shower yesterday and along with the adorably cute baby girl clothes I shopped for I added in a pink taggie blankie I had made.  I was flattered when it was the only gift passed around the room and everyone ‘ooohhh’ed and ‘ahhhh’ed over it.

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Moda – yet another crafty addiction

Posted on February 5, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Ok, shopping online is way to easy and fun.  You can find things you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise and then one day you check the mail and SURPRISE! you’ve got a little present waiting for you!  Too cool.  This week I got some fabric in the mail (not the first time that’s happened) for this child’s activity bag project. I thought it would be nice to make a little tote bag for the boys with some fun activities in it that we can . . . tote around with us. So off to ebay I went to order what I needed, and a few days later it arrived!

I’m still dying to make this stripey table runner but I’m having a terrible time finding a 1 Figgy Pudding Honey Bun and a 1 Moda White Jelly Roll. But guess there’s lots of time before Christmas.

I finally got the fabric I needed for my Valentine themed craft. I’m hoping to get it finished over the weekend, but here’s a little glimpse of the felt embroidered pieces that I’ve already finished.

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Posted in embroidery, kid fun, sewing

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Why staying at home with the kids rocks.

Posted on February 3, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Today is my day off, I work every other day, so 2 days one week, 3 days the next and repeat!  Last week on one of my days off we stopped at Michael’s to pick some things up and Wesley just randomly asked to go see the bird houses.  He said he wanted to get one so I figured we’d run with it.

We grabbed some sealer to spray over it once it was painted and some birdseed to fill it with.  He started by painting over the windows, which I had covered in tape, but he was really into it.  After some redirecting, he got the hang of it and was painting the wood.  He started with blue paint but I wandered off to put Nate down for a nap he ended up pouring some pink and white into it and stirring it up.  So it ended up mostly purple.

After many, many coats of varathane I figured it was good enough and we filled it with food and I hung it outside.  Then I had to move it so we could see it from the kitchen window and avoid going out into the freezing cold.  I haven’t seen a bird at it yet but hopefully someone will notice it’s there soon!

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Cheap fun! and reuse before you recycle!

Posted on January 15, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

The other day I thought I was pretty smart when I got out a roll of transportation stickers I had kicking around and made Wesley a little paper with a road, train tracks, an airport, water and a train station (that looks a lot like a dog house I know).  He had a blast sticking on all the stickers and making a cool picture.  He asked to do it again a few days later.

Today after setting up my lovely table from IKEA I brought the box upstairs to flatten out and draw some roads on.  We made roads to Grandma and Grandpa’s, our house, Nana’s, some of our friends houses, the preschool, the indoor play place we hang out at and “Daddy’s friends’ house”.  I tried to get some specifics about who those friends were but that was the only answer I kept getting.   So while Daddy indeed have friends, apparently Wesley isn’t too concerned with their names.

That's 'Mommy's van' and 'Daddy's car' in the dirveway.

Of course after I had drawn all those places and added some trees, bushes and flowers Wesley requested an airport.  Into city planning mode!  I found some space behind the preschool for it.  Hope Grandma and Grandpa don’t mind.  When they got their 17 acres out in the country they probably didn’t think an airport was going in across the street.

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Christmas tree action shot, and a match for baby bro.

Posted on December 14, 2009 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Managed to get Wesley to sit still long enough to take a picture of his shirt.  He thought I was taking a picture of the front end loader and dump truck he parked in front of the Christmas tree.  I did take a picture of them but I moved slightly to include Wesley in the shot.  Once the flash went off he realised what I had done and said ‘No! Not me! The trucks!!’

tree shirt

Then I got ambitious and made a matching onesie for Baby Nate.

onesie

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