Saturday projects with Daddy

Almost every Saturday Micah asks his Daddy if they can build something.  Usually he agrees and they come up with something, anything to build.  A few weeks ago they made these letters.  Last week they made a little wooden chair.  The projects usually consist of whatever materials we have on hand, thus they are typically built for the joy of building, not for usefulness or longevity (such as the letters!).

I love that Stew takes the time to build things with his kids.  Regardless of the project itself, he engages his children, does what they love to do, and finds ways to teach them about life while they work.  They all love it - Stew included.  We are pretty excited that we will have a garage and a yard when we move and be able to continue (and increase) their "projects".

This week's project?  New flooring in the dining room of our new house.  Our landlord agreed to let us tear out the carpet and install laminate instead.  We all agreed that small children and carpet in the dining room was not a good combination!  So while Stew works, I'm sure Micah will be helping as much as he can, and maybe the rest of us will play in the backyard.  So excited to move.  Less than 10 days!

Merry Christmas, Micah and Halle!

This year Stewart and I gave Micah and Halle a play kitchen for Christmas, that Stew and my Dad built together.  It is by far their favourite new toy, and is getting lots of use.  It helps that almost everyone else also gave them play food and kitchen appliances to go with it.

Halle and her nameless doll

 Halle's

new doll

needs a

name.

Any suggestions?

birdhouse

Over the long weekend, Stew and Micah built a birdhouse.  Micah loves working on a project with his Daddy, especially if it involves tools.  That evening all he would talk about was the birdhouse -- it didn't even matter that we'd spent all morning out at the petting zoo/farm!!

a crafting report

on the brain
:: pink tutu skirt for my little girl
:: brown knit baby sleep sack
:: knit scarf for myself

on the go
:: knitted leg warmers for Halle (started, restarted, and ready to be restarted again!)
:: quilt made with my African fabric (squares cut, arranged, ready for sewing)

nearly done
:: knit sleeve for a Starbucks cup--also known as my first attempt at baby-sized leg warmers (needs to be sewn together)

already in use
:: pink knitted lap blanket for Halle's carseat

so much crafting

Like I said yesterday, there has been a lot of Momma-crafting going on around here lately.

First were the headbands.  Then I got the itch, and along came the birthday banner.

I hot-glued ribbon letters onto a felt background and sewed it onto a ribbon

Next came the mini felted crowns for my Jesse Tree ornament exchange (we're roughly following this idea).

all done, except for strings to hang them

Next came the felt holly garland (idea courtesy of my sister-in-law Melissa).

Yesterday I made the baked dough heart ornaments, also for the ornament exchange.

my red paint ended up bring rather pink, so I'm thinking I might repaint them

Also started yesterday, but many days from completion, is my far-from-perfect knitted i-cord garland for the Christmas tree (idea from here).

two feet done, many more to go!

a headband how-to

I've been doing a lot of crafting lately, and I must say it is nice to invest at least a little of my time into things that don't get immediately undone.  So much of what I do seems to be gone so quickly... the meals I make quickly get eaten, the laundry I wash and fold gets unfolded and dirtied again, the floors I sweep and mop get covered in dust and dirt, the toys I pick up get taken out and played with.  I love being a Mom, but I also love making things that have a life span longer than the 10 minutes it takes to eat supper.


And so: baby headbands.  I've now made several for Halle and a few for baby girl friends of ours.  They are so simple to make.  Here is a little "how-to".

First, choose some stretchy lace - these are the ones I had on hand. Measure and cut the lace to fit around your baby's head, plus a little overlap (1/2 inch extra is good).

 Pick out some fabric flowers--either small ones like the ones shown (all about 1" in diameter), or much larger, as you like.

Pull the flowers apart, removing all plastic stems, centres, etc.  Secure the layers of fabric together with a small amount of hot glue.

Hot glue a button, pearl, or jewel in the centre of each flower.  Use only a little glue, and if possible glue to the side of where the button holes are.

Hot glue the edges of the lace overlapping to make a complete circle.

A closer look...

I like to also sew on the button/pearl to make sure it is nice and secure and less likely to come off and be a choking hazard.  In theory this shouldn't be necessary since it is all hot-glued, but especially if they are gifts I want them to be well-made.  Sew on the button and through all the layers of the flower and elastic.

Now, use the hot glue gun again to glue the elastic to the flower.  Again, this isn't really a necessary step, but I find it makes the flower less floppy.

I didn't take photos of the last step, but next I cut a little piece of felt and glue it to the back of the headband, over the thread and where any glue might rub against their head.  This just makes it softer.

Voila!  A finished headband.

finally getting around to it

Yes, I'm finally working on a birth announcement for our Halle girl, now that she's almost seven weeks old.  Better late than never.

(This isn't the final product...)

the view from my window

There was quite the action going on outside my window on Monday evening.

First there was the building of armor,

then came the displays of manliness,

a short fencing match,

and a little boy, who although he looked adorable in his armor, was very unimpressed with the situation.  (If only you could see his face!)



And now, this morning those two were back outside in full armor.

Except this time the little one seems to be having much more fun.

Our New Home

Here they are!  The long-awaited photos of our new home.  It is a beautiful suite with lots of windows and natural light.  As I mentioned a while back, we had to expand the kitchen to make it big enough for us... and the finished product turned out wonderfully.  (A big thank you to Stewart and my Dad for all their hard work!)

the original kitchen

the finished, renovated kitchen

the guys added a corner cupboard and wood counter-top, the white shelf above it, plus an open shelf for my cutting boards and cooling racks

our living room (door leads to our office/spare room)

Micah's play area

view from the kitchen

Handmade Momma

Introducing my new Handmade Momma blog!

I will continue to blog here, with pictures of Micah, family news, and whatever it is that I normally post about. And in my attempt to become more intentional about crafting, I have begun to post about creative domesticity over at Handmade Momma.

My hope is that blogging about my creative pursuits will help me spur me on to create more often, hopefully inspire you as well, and maybe even be a place where can share ideas, links to crafting resources, etc.

Here's to creativity!

Micah's Lullaby

As many of you know, I am not a musical person. At all. In fact, I am, perhaps, the least musical person I know. And I know a lot of people. I can’t even clap and sing at the same time-- at least not to any sort of appropriate rhythm. Actually, I am so not musical, that I don’t even know if rhythm is the right word for that. Every Sunday I have to choose: Should I clap? Or should I sing? If I momentarily forget about my singing/clapping struggle and begin to do both, it’s not long before I remember my awkwardness and quickly stop clapping (and lower my voice!).

All that to say, that I made musical history last night.

I, the musically inept one, wrote a song. It’s really really simple, and I couldn’t tell you what note it is in, and I’m 100% sure that I sing it way off key (if it even has a key to start with!), but I wrote a song. It’s a lullaby for Micah. And it works.

I made it up as I was trying to get Micah to go to sleep last night, then I sang it to him again at 4am when I was putting him back to bed. And he just closed his little eyes and went to sleep. Wahoo!!

So here are the lyrics to my little song. It even rhymes!

Micah, Micah, we love you.
Momma, Daddy, Jesus too.
God will hold you in His hand,
So you can drift to Sleepyland.
Now close your little eyes real tight,
And have sweet dreams all through the night.

Now that I’ve shared my song with you, never, never ask me to sing it. The only solos I sing are for Micah, and occasionally Stewart will overhear them. But that’s where I draw the line! :)

baby on the brain

Last night Stewart and I did a little pumpkin carving. You can tell we have baby on the brain these days, because what did we carve? A welcome baby sign.

Pink or Blue?

After today’s sermon from Proverbs on the sluggard, I decided it was time to quite procrastinating.

I finally got around to turning this pile of fabric:

into these reversible baby blankets:

And since Stew and I have decided to wait until the baby is born to find out his/her gender, I made one pink and one blue. Although my personal inkling is that I won’t be needing the blue blanket, I thought I should make both. Especially since there is no scientific basis for me thinking that the baby is a girl. It’s just a hunch. :)

What gender do you think our baby is?? Please leave a comment!