When I stumbled across Memolio - a new service that lets you create a small, durable, compact photo album of 24 photos - I instantly thought of the success of our Book of Things. A little Memolio book, perhaps filled with pictures of Stan's favourite people, would for sure keep him occupied for long pushchair rides. And they're water- and crinkle-resistant!
It's in Martha Stewart weddings but these doily garlands would be so gorgeous for Christmas. Next year, maybe.
Growing up, our heights were marked in my mums italic hand on a spare piece of wall next to the alcove where the recipe books and toaster were. When we redecorated (which wasn't often), she traced all the marks and annotations onto paper, and copied them back onto the newly painted wall.
I'm itching to get our living/dining room repainted (white, with a yellow painted floor, since you ask), and think this idea in Cookie mag is a very sweet and simple treatment for keeping track of the kid's growth.
Love this Sydney home. Oh, what a gift, to have space.
The kid is interested in colours. He's asking, often, 'Colour it?', but so far he identifies everything as yellow. I wanted to find an easy game with him to play with colours and came up with these (click the thumbnails for full-size pdf to print out yourself).
I printed out two pages each of the colour blocks and of the wallpaper background, and stuck down (blocks backing onto wallpaper) to both sides of a piece of card. I used spray adhesive because it's easy for repositioning, but I imagine you could print out directly onto the card if you had the right printer/card combination.
I cut them out to end up with two sets of 8 cards. The first game we played was pretty successful - I scattered one set of cards face up on the table, and from the other set said 'I have red! Can you find red?' etc. Allowing for the usual two-year-old chaos, it went pretty well. After a few minutes playing that, he wanted to practice picking up all the cards and laying them out again saying 'yellow... yellow... yellow...' I guess we will be able to use the cards to play Pairs (Pelmanism) when he's a little older.
For a 5 minute project, I'm already pleased with how much play these have had.
(Many thanks to Spoongraphics for the free wallpaper pattern.)
The kid will be 2 in November, I'm not doing a birthday party. My policy is (at least, until it changes), that he can have a birthday party when he asks for one. I'm pretty sure that by then a circus party like this is still going to look pretty sweet to me - although maybe not to him.
Sometimes you want big and bold. Sometimes you want small and delicate.
1. You will need: 1/2" wide ribbon for flowers (Allow 6" per flower, more for wider ribbon). 1" wide ribbon for leaves. Thread to tone (NB it doesn't need to be a very close match). Seed beads OR embroidery silk in contrasting colour. Scrap of fabric. Scrap of backing fabric (something stiff like tapestry canvas). Ruler. Needle. Safety pin or brooch pin. Small sharp scissors. And pins, I forgot to get the pins in the group shot. And a little scrap of felt, I forgot to include that too. If you have a hot glue gun, I'm sure you could use it for steps 11, 13 and 14. But I don't have one.
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2. First make the flowers. I'm using red thread so you can see where I'm sewing but you obviously will use a thread to tone with your ribbon. Cut a 5-6" length of ribbon, and thread your needle. Secure the thread at one end of the ribbon with a few small stitches. Make a line of running stitches that make 4 continuous 'U' shapes along the length of the ribbon like this:
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3. Then, carefully pull the loose end of your thread and 'ziiiiip' gather all the stitches and you end up with a little flower with four petals. Arrange the petals so that the raw edges of the ribbon are at the back of the flower, and secure the whole lot with a few big stitches.
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4. Sew a little cluster of seed beads in the centre of the right side of the flower. Or instead you could make french knots with embroidery silk.
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5. Make a few more flowers. As a rule of thumb, groups generally look more natural when they are of odd numbers rather than even.
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6. Here's how to make the leaves. The first one is a bit fiddly but you will quickly get the hang. First thread your needle with green thread. Cut a short length of ribbon (about 2" of 1" wide ribbon) and secure the thread to the centre of one long edge, using a few small stitches. Fold both cut edges down parallel to the edge of the ribbon so that you have a triangle like this. The point of the triangle is on the opposite edge of the ribbon to where you have secured your thread.
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7. Next, fold the two bottom points of the triangle into the centre again, like this:
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8. Holding all your pleats in place, pick up your needle which is still hanging from the back of your leaf, and sew through from back to front, piercing all the layers of ribbon. Pinch the stem end (where the stitch is) of the leaf and wrap the thread tightly round a few times, then fasten off the thread with a couple of small stitches. Make some more leaves.
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9. Now start to compose the brooch. Put your scrap of material over your canvas. I pinned them together.
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10. Then turn them right side up and play until you find an arrangement you like. The important thing is to squeeze them in so they are really close together, that way the flowers will cover over those messy leaf ends and there will be hardly any background showing through. When you've settled on a grouping, lift off the flowers and pin the leaves down.
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11. Sew the leaves in place through all the layers of fabric, close to the stems. Once they're all sewn down, pin the flowers in place and then sew them down too. If you sew the leaves through their 'stems' and the flowers through their centres, your brooch will have a more natural, 3D look and you will be able to mess with the leaves and the petals until they are just right. Try and get the centres of the flowers over the messy leaf ends. Don't worry about the stitching on the back of the brooch.
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12. Nearly there! Don't pull my favourite trick and stop when the fun part is done and never finish your project! The next thing to do is trim the backing fabric to a small rectangle. Use that messy stitching on the back as a guide to the size. Basically you want it to be pretty much as small as it can go without going less than about 1/8" from your stitches. Be careful not to cut anything except the backing fabric! When you've done that, cut the other layer of fabric so that it is about 1/4" bigger than the backing fabric all round. Be extra careful not to cut anything except the fabric!
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13. Fold down the fabric all the way around the backing fabric and sew in place.
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14. You could skip this last bit if you're pushed for time (crafting to a deadline!) but it's nice to neaten it up by adding a little square of felt to the back. Cut it to size and sew in place with neat stitches, then sew on the brooch pin or safety pin.
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There it is!
This is definitely one to file for future (immediate future) reference. Use an egg-timer to set a time limit on tantrums.
These Birdball peanut feeders are beautiful. Sleek, modern - and made in the UK. They're designed to be accessibly to the small birds, but deter the big thugs, and those pesky squirrels. I'd love to have a few in different colours (they produce a nesting ball, too), but failing that several in white would just look great in the garden, all year round. I'm also hoping that having a white 'target' to point out will make them easier to spot than the traditional camouflaged variety for little ones.
It's a never-ending battle to limit the amount of injection moulded plastic that comes into a home since after a child. I know that Ikea furniture is hardly built to last, but at least these hacks feel so much more personal - and therefore more likely to be handed-down to cousins or younger siblings than your standard mass-produced fare. If I were to make one, I'd need to find a way to incorporate a washing machine - the kid is obsessed.
Fairy tale play kitchen
More play kitchens
Vintage style play kitchen
Billy and Traby play kitchens
Ah, brilliant. A tutorial on turning your 'normal' trousers into the maternity kind.
So much good stuff here.
I love 
I just adore this. I love that it is so colourful without veering off into nursery school territory.
I saw this project at Party Perfect, and got on the case pretty much straight away.
This was more than a weekend project: I suppose it was about one full weekend getting the photos, and another 4-ish hours doing the layout in iPhoto. And thank you, Apple UK. There were a number of options for getting the book printed but this was easiest (no special software to download) and I trusted it would be a really nice product. We got two copies. One to keep 'nice', one to read. I had intended to hold it back for his birthday, but just couldn't wait.
I'm glad I didn't.
You know, after years of trying to rid my life of metal hangers, replacing them with wooden hangers, I've backtracked. The reason? Thinner hangers mean more clothes fit on your wardrobe rails.
And oops, another project just snuck onto my 'someday (soon)' list. Fabric covered hangers at DesignSponge.
Can't wait til the kid is old enough to appreciate this. Cardboard airplane (plus dens, rockets, forts and building bricks) from Paperpod.
Argh. I can't believe I am doing this. I admit, I tend to be a 'half empty' type of person but I want to change that about myself so here it is. Inspired by teh mighty herself.
1. Speak another language to conversational level
2. Learn to swim front crawl and do a basic dive off the edge
3. Take Salsa classes (or tango, or any other kind of dance) with Brad
4. Have another kid
5. Fly a kite with Stanley
6. Listen to music every day
7. Renovate a house
8. Learn to play piano again
9. Sew a dress that I am really proud to wear
10. Grow our own vegetables
11. Keep chickens
12. Keep a dog
13. Go on a yoga retreat
14. Learn to sail a boat
15. Host a party
16. See the Taj Mahal
17. Eat at a Michelin starred restaurant
18. Make Stan a quilt
19. Make me a quilt
20. Make a garden that we use and enjoy
21. Take a two week vacation - somewhere warm, with friends and without computers
22. Visit the Pyrenees again
23. Organise a community event
24. Persuade Brad to grow a beard
25. Work hard enough and creatively enough that we don't have to worry about income
26. Live outside of the city, have space
27. Take Stanley to the lakes in Ontario
28. Learn how to take really good photographs
29. Light sparklers with Stanley
30. Go camping as a family
31. Get back in touch with old friends
32. Be self employed
33. Be courageous
34. Swing on a trapeze
35. Bake bread
36. Scan grandparents photos before they are lost forever
37. Go horse-riding in Andelucia
38. Be expansive in love
39. Go to two classical music concerts per year with Dad
40. Learn how to do cryptic crossword puzzles
41. Start a book club
42. Volunteer as a visitor for Age Concern or similar
43. Sing in public with Brad on guitar
44. Help somebody plan a wedding
45. Celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in style - and our 20th in even greater style
46. Spend 3 nights in Paris in a fancy hotel, just me and Brad
47. Have a flat tummy
48. See my child(ren) happy in love
49. Teach a class
50. Skydive
51. Stand on top of Pont du Gard
52. Have £0 credit card debt
53. Find another occasion to wear my leopard dress
54. Get my eyes lasered
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