Our Wreckorated Sofa

So we purchased this lily-white Ikea sofa with two matching ottomans earlier this summer and foolishly put it in our heavily used all-purpose play/TV/rumpus room.  Let's just say it did not maintain its  virginal color qualities for long before it was sullied with spilled juice, dusty shoe prints, pizza sauce, melted chocolate, and whatever grime seems to come from simply sitting your bum on a sofa cushion over time.  Sure, I made an honest effort with upholstery cleaner at some point and managed a modicum of recovery with much vigorous scrubbing...but I already knew the battle was futile.   

So I just gave up and put out a mason jar full of Sharpies of every color and announced to every child and adult who entered our house that the sofa was open for graffiti and doodling if anyone was so inclined.  Did I get some, "Are you freaking crazy?" looks from parents?  Loads.  Did Beeper's friends look at me suspiciously from the corner of their eyes as they tentatively uncapped a Sharpie and moved toward the sofa?  Sure. But as you may imagine, the kiddos were pretty quick to embrace this notion of doing something normally completely forbidden and this is what we have today: our wreckorated sofa....

My only two rules for drawing on the sofa are: 1) no writing anything unkind about anyone else, and  2) no scribbling over drawings.  Adventure Time related drawings have been particularly popular with the kiddos--and tagging the sofa with their names, of course.  Best of all, the graffiti really does disguise the dirt and grime and spills.  And no, the writing does not rub off on your bum.  

I have found that I love all the color it brings to the room.  It is a design in constant evolution as people add more and build on one another's drawings.  Just this morning I came in and Beeper had added a rainbow platypus with a mohawk to one of the cushions.  Yeah, it made me smile.  I ask you, how often does your sofa make you smile?

Colorful Wooden Utensils

I had been collecting secondhand wooden utensils for the past year or so with the intent of painting the handles and giving them as holiday gifts to friends.  There have been loads of tutorials on how to make these popping up all over Pinterest for years now, so I had plenty of reference instructions before I began. These stripey ones were my initial inspiration (though I decided not to go stripey because laziness superseded the desire for stripes), but I also loved the more subtle look of these, though ultimately decided to go brighter, like these.    

Being secondhand, I did boil these for about 30 minutes just to kill off any wee beasties that may be lurking in the wood, then I just taped the top edge of the handle with masking tape, painted the handles with craft paint (anywhere from 2-3 coats depending on the color saturation desired), set them up to dry (TIP: place disposable cups placed inside glass ones, then place the utensils in the cups painted end up while drying), used a non-toxic shellac to seal the painted handles (lay down newspaper and use brushes you do not intend to keep--this stuff does not clean up easily--I managed to shellac part of a fingertip in the process), and finished them off by conditioning the unpainted portions of the utensils with a combo of beeswax and mineral oil (Stephanie has good instructions for how to make your own wood oil, found here).  That was it.  Pretty simple, really.  I mean, as long as you do not shellac any parts of your body...

Animal Tees for Mr Beeper

Beeper drew some animal designs for a couple of new t-shirts for Mr Beeper's birthday this year.  The animals are two of Mr Beeper's favorites--the komodo dragon and the platypus (incidentally, also two of Beeper's faves).  The komodo dragon tee  has a little know animal fact that Beeper chose to add: baby komodo dragins roll in animil waste.   Unlike last year's tee, I left Beeper's spelling intact since it is decipherable this year and pretty damn cute in that 7-year-old-spelling sorta way.  The platypus tee is all Beeper's goofy sense of humor--no, I don't know why the platypus is saying, YA-OO!  YA-OO!  CHIP GUY!--but it cracks Beeper up so why change a thing?  Of course, Mr Beeper loved the tees and actually wore the komodo dragon t-shirt to work last week.  One of his coworkers assured him he could sell the Komodo dragon design--I guess grody little know animal facts have mass appeal.

A Gift for Miss Bean

I made our little friend, Miss Bean, this marker case for a gift recently.  She has just begun to develop an interest in drawing and coloring--her most memorable work to date being the drawing she made on her bed sheets with markers.  Okay, so maybe a gift of more markers was not the best idea but who am to quash early attempts at textile design?  

The marker roll I made for her was adapted from the design in Last-Minute Patchwork  + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson--the design in the book is made for colored pencils so I just doubled the size of the pencil slots so they could accommodate the width of a magic marker, and then made it to fit the number of markers my set contained.  I really like this pencil roll design--I have made it several times and I think it always turns out eye-gogglingly lovely.  It instantly elevates art supplies to being an extra special gift.  The coloring book, Squiggles by La Zoo, is one Beeper loved when he was Miss Bean's age and is perfect for the preschool set.  When I gave it to Miss Bean, she readily got to work practicing her squiggling technique at the front of the book, then moved onto squiggling some very colorful spaghetti on the plate image further in.   Squiggle on, little friend--just not on the bed sheets, please.

A Pair of [wrinkled] Doll Dresses

I made these two little dresses as Christmas gifts for my nieces--that is, for my nieces' dolls.   A dress and a set of button barrettes for each (1 barrette for them, 2 smaller ones for their dolls).   The doll's dress pattern is from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew by Liesel Gibson (love this book--but more about that later).  Liesel designed this little doll dress after one of her other dress patterns for a child--and sewing it made me realize I really could set about making some actual clothes for real life people.  Except for all that ironing involved with making clothing.  There is way more ironing, even when making a simplified doll's dress, than when you make a plushie.  And I hate ironing.  Mostly because I do not do it well--I always inadvertently iron in creases (see above photo for further evidence), or never seem to really get out all the other wrinkles I am there to get out in the first place.  Maybe I just need a better iron or to learn how to iron better or somewhere other than the basement in which to do my ironing--or maybe I just need to keep focusing my efforts on making toys?  

Happy 2012

I suppose I should have done this before 2012 actually was upon us, but things have gotten a little lackadaisical over here with the holidays and all of this nothing we have scheduled.  Regardless, I like to have a little look back at the year and what  I managed to create and make and accomplish in my little crafty corner of the world--just because I perpetually feel like I did not manage to accomplish half of what I intended, given the way life has a way of interfering in all your best laid crafting plans (and also, the need for sleep). However, I did manage 6 or so tutorials (favorite among them was the Nature Explorer Bag), saw the publication of 4 books that contained some of my designs, put out my own little crafty project set (Spring Variations), and did some serious re-stocking my Etsy shop in time for the holidays.  

Of course, I already have some big plans for the next year, including a new project set (Autumn Variations), 1 or 2 other plushie patterns I have had lurking in the recesses of my brain for some time now, and, of course, a few more tutorials for all of you.    No doubt I will find plenty of distraction along the way to keep me from doing all I set out to do, but that is part of the crafting game.  You make some, but you can never make it all...there's a little fortune-cookie-style wisdom for you.

How about all of you?  What are your crafting plans and goals for the new year?  Got a little crafting glimmer in your eye just waiting to come to fruition?

A Bit of DS Inspiration

I realize I am probably about the only crafter who did not know about it, but I just discovered the Denyse Schmidt Daisy Mae fabric line at Joann Fabrics.  Luckily, it was all 40% off when I came across it because as you can see I sort of fell in love with much of what was there.  Not sure yet what I am going to make with it but holiday gift-making is just getting into full swing over here so I suspect some of this will make into some little lovelies for family and friends (although I did actually return to Joann a couple of days later to buy 2 more yards of that blue diamond print so I could make myself a pair of pajama pants with it--it is so retro and old-mannish--which reminds me of this old man's pajama shirt I used to wear with jeans in college--ah, the grunge days of yore...).

A Full Advent Forest

We finally have a complete pine tree advent calendar forest.  I began this project last year as part of a project I put together for the Women's Day Christmas issue, but I only made half of the trees, mostly because I got lazy.  Of the 12 that got made, Socrates got hold of the number 4 tree and made off with it, never to be heard from again.  So, this year I set myself to finishing the whole set of 24 trees, including the long-lost tree #4.  And so this is it.  Done.  And actually, it wasn't that hard or even that time consuming--just a bunch of hand-sewing the trees into cones while I watched old episodes of Nurse Jackie. If you are up for the challenge--or maybe just want a few trees for decorative purposes, you can find the project links for it here.

(Side note:  I am so hating the yellow walls in my living room.  They came with the house when we bought it and honestly I am not sure how I have been living with them all these years.  They are so urine-yellow.  Barf.  First resolution for the new year is to paint them a lovely creamy white...)  

Make This: Halloween Shadow Puppets

Inspired by Kate's shadow puppet tutorial over at Minieco, I designed a dozen shadow puppets of my own to give to the kiddies along with some mini flashlights at our upcoming Halloween party.  I essentially used Kate's tutorial to make these, except I painted my wooden dowels up in black stripes (using the same method I used to make my stripey pick-up sticks) because I love all things stripey, and made my shadow puppet designs just a little bigger with a few different designs.  You can download my shadow puppet templates here, if you care to make some for yourself:

DOWNLOAD SHADOW PUPPET TEMPLATES

You can also find Kate's tutorial with her own downloadable templates here.

A Halloween Crafting Compulsion: Part 2

 

Pretty creepy, huh?  I love this Halloween crafting project.  I mean, who does not want their own faux cured head on their dining room buffet?  Another brilliant Martha project.  If you happen to have a styrofoam head laying around, it's ridiculously simple to make using mostly stuff you can find in your kitchen--you just dip some crumbled papertowels in old leftover coffee, let those dry, and then paste them to the head with this flour/coffee/corn syrup mixture.  Put the head on a an old silver plate tray you pick up at your local thrift store (which is also where my styrofoam head came from), arrange some similarly stained gauze around the base of the head, et voila!  Your own dismembered and unwrapped mummy head.  Sure to delight small children and horrify your adult guests--or maybe vice versa.

You can see more photos of my dead head here and find the project with Martha's full instructions here.  

A Halloween Crafting Compulsion: Part 1

We are planning for a little Halloween party here later this month, so you can just brace yourselves now for the posts to come about the search for the right supplies and the mad crafting that ensues.  It's all Martha's fault, really.  I mean, she has so many good ideas for Halloween out there that it is hard to choose just one or two--so why not 5 or 6 or 10?  Damn you, Martha and your wily crafting ways.

Exhibit A--the two projects above.  The first are the creepy-cool skeleton invites, instructions and downloadable templates found here (plus many more  genius invite designs here).  I did not have any brads handy when I made these so I just used some small grommets instead--worked just as well.  The black envelopes came from Paper Source, if you care to know.  The second is the creepy-crawly snake wreath--instructions here.  Not hard to make at all--bought the snakes at Target in the dollar bin, painted them with black craft paint, then had Mr. Beeper do the grapevine wreath up with some matte black spray paint. I just used thread and needle to attach the snakes to the wreath--worked fine aside from the fact that grapevines really like to snag your thread and thwart your sewing efforts.  This is the first wreath I have ever made.  I know.  Wreaths are just not my thing--but they are sort of a crafting staple (sort of like how Meg describes owls), and it seems that if you do enough crafting, you will be compelled to make one at some point.  Resistance is futile.

More Halloween madness to follow...

Harry Potter Magnetic Play Set

I made Beeper another magnetic playset, at his request--a Harry Potter themed set.  I used my tutorial here to make it.  Making it was easy-peasy--finding all those Harry Potter images via Google image searches was the hard part.  But still--not that hard.  Although he does keep asking me to find other characters and creatures I neglected to include like Lucius Malfoy, the Basilisk, Professor Trelawny, and Buckbeak...oh, and also scenes from each of the Triwizard Tournament challenges...and maybe Honeydukes...and some spell books...and, and.... 

Sleepover Pals and Wee Wonderfuls Book

I finally did it--I managed to get something made.  These are the Sleepver Pals from Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love by Hillary Lang. 

  I made them for Miss Bean's 3rd birthday gift since it seems that putting a trio of little dolls to sleep in their conjoined sleeping bags would be something she might enjoy.  And look:

They roll up all nice andy tidy for easy transport and storage--unlike most kiddie sleepovers I have born witness to.  The second I saw this design in the book, I wanted to make it--it's that slumber party in a package that gets me.  I also have a fondness for simple little dolls like these--especially with their balls of hair and those pouffy little sleeves.  

I did make a couple of changes to Hillary's already awesome design--I replicated the felt hair on front and back so I could give them awake faces on one side and sleeping faces on the other side--just because I figured Miss Bean would like that.  I also did not line my pre-quilted fabric since the quilted fabric I chose already had such a pretty fabric on the flip side it seemed a pity to cover it up.  This did present some subsequent challenges which I managed to deal with by binding the edges of the individual sleeping bags with yellow binding tape.  

And there are still about a dozen other doll designs I want to make from this book, like...

...Koji, some sort of dino creature made from corduroy...

...this little elephant as handbag...

...this doll in a kimono with buns in her hair that look like panda faces...

...and Betsy, a cloth paperdoll on a pillow with a little pocket in the back to store her wardrobe of outfits.

I really, really love this book--one of my favorites, actually.  There really are no bum designs in here--they are all lovingly realized and I would enjoy making any of them.  The book itself is really nice too--hard cover with a lovely yellow binding, good illustrated instructions, full size templates in the back.  I read on Amy's blog a while back that one of her girls is so enamored with the book that she actually sleeps with it--which did not strike me as crazy at all because the book is so good it is the sort of thing that makes you want to curl up next to it and fall asleep with it--so it can be close by to inspire your own dreams of doll and plushie-making. 

Like, that maybe one day you could publish your own book, so beautifully-realized, filled with 2 dozen or so of your own designs....you know what I mean?

Look What You Made...

Counting Bean Bags made by Liz at Living My Sweet Life
(the numbers are freezer-paper stenciled--brilliant!)

Girl Pin Cushion from the Child's Sewing Kit made by ThisYoungMama
(so nicely done I almost wish it was a whole doll!)

Mooshy Belly Bunny made by Kristena at Thimbly Things
(described by Kristena as a jail-break-bunny)

Child's Sewing Kit by Linaloo
(love the denim cover with the applique heart)

Spelling Bean Bags by Tappity
(made with such a lovely array of repro feedsacks I feel a little nauseous with envy)

Nature Explorer Bag made by Kendra
(actually, she made 3 and she made them to be beachcomber bags for her kids)

Counting Bean Bags by The Crafty Kitty's Eco Crafts
(made from some luscious Cloud 9 Organic Fabrics and then
stashed in a fabric box designed by Stephanie to fit the bean bags--
and I love the blanket stitched numbers)

Rainbow Sunshine Plushie made by Larissa at MmmCrafts
(the chenille lion's face adaptation of my design just makes me smile)

Cloth Napkins by Kay at I Got a Notion
(like the letters done up in an array of calicos--very homey)
Some of you have been busy again--busy making stuff from my tutorials, busy making lots of counting bean bags especially, and busy making them all your own in that way you have.  I love to see what you put up in the Beeper Bebe Projects Made by You Flickr group--and love to flaunt what you are doing around here.  Because it should be flaunted and shared.  In my perfect world, everyone would stop what they are doing to admire all the things so many people are out there hand-making, everyone would give handmade gifts, everyone would understand the value of handmade, and everyone would have a scotch and soda with a twist of lemon at 6:00pm sharp each day.  Mmmm, scotch and crafts...

And just in case you got disoriented there for a moment after viewing so many awesomely realized projects, you can find the instructions for any one of the projects right over here.

Have Yourself a Lovely Crafternoon with the Kids...

I am smiling as a write this--see:  :-)   

I have some very happy news to share with you--I am in my very first book!   It is one of two books recently published--Kids' Crafternoon Sewing and Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft.  Both books were curated and edited by the lovely Kathreen Ricketson of Whip Up and each contains 25 projects designed and created from many talented crafters around the world.  Let me tell you a little bit more about the books...

{Pet Pillows designed by Karen Jester}

{Limby the Button-Eyed Dude designed by Lizette Greco + Grecolaborativo}

Each book features projects that can be completed in an afternoon by kids--most of which are designed to be completed largely independently with limited on-the-scene support from parents or other big people.  While the projects are aimed at the 7-12-year-old set, there are many, many projects in here I know a 14 or 15 or even 16 year old would be interested in making for him or herself.  Oh, and that is the other good bit--the projects are aimed to appeal to both boys and girls.  Nice.

{Illustrated Softy Badges designed by Lisa Tilse}

The books are actually part of a series of craft books, all aimed at kids, of course, that Kathreen put together with Hardie Grant.  Books with projects based around beading and felt will also be released at some point in the future (and I also have projects in each of those, thank you for asking).  

{iPod Creature Cosy by me!}

{Sassy the Sock Softy also designed by me!}
Oh, and here are my two projects in the sewing book: the iPod Creature Cosy (2nd above--made from recycled sweaters and customizable to the size of your own MP3 player needs), and Sassy the Sock Creature with its tongue sticking out of its mouth all sweet and snotty-like (above--made from a stripey sock, can be handsewn too!).

It is a really thoughtfully put together book--clearly designed to make the projects as accessible as possible to kids. Above are the illustrated instructions in the books, just to walk a kid step by step through how to make the projects (Kathreen's husband did the illustrations--personally, I like that--a family effort gives it all more heart). And there is a pocket at the front of the books with the template pieces for easy access.  

Here are just a few of the projects I love in the Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft book...

{Book Invaders Bookmark designed by Elod Beregszaszi}

{Pet Menagerie designed Nancy W Hall}

{Home Sweet Home designed by Cate Holst}

{Sewn Cards designed by Alison Hudson}

Do you like them?  Want to make some of these projects with your own kids?  Curious about the other fantastic projects in the books?  Good--because I have a copy of the Kids' Crafternoon Sewing book and the Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft book to give away--one to each of my readers.  All I ask is that you leave a comment by end of day Tuesday (July 26th) telling me what you like most about these books, or which project you can't wait to make with your kids or just for you (no shame there), or why you think it is awesome Kathreen put together these books in the first place, or whatever comment you choose to leave related to the books--and I will announce the two lucky winners on Wednesday, July 27th right here.  

And if you are not so fortunate as to be one of the lucky winners, there are other options so listen up, people: you can either crash the blog party Kathreen has arranged around blogland (find the sites and dates here), or you can order your very own copies either through Booktopia or Amazon UK.  

Imagine me dancing around all joyful-like with the books in my arms right now, elated as hell to be part of the crafty group represented in the book--because that is what I am doing (or let's be honest--maybe I am just folding some laundry right now but, well, you know what I  mean...)