WREN handmade

Happy Holidays!

Hi,

So I realize it's been VERY quiet around here. I seriously don't know what happened to the days since the summer when I posted Leo's birthday party. I thought I would pop up though to wish everyone a  happy holiday season! This year has been extra hectic since we are renovating our kitchen right now on top of everything. I want to post some pictures of the progress of the kitchen as it's very exciting, as least to us!

Even though half our main floor is under plastic and sawdust we still put up a tree. Leo loves turning on the lights each day. We continued with mostly paper and Polish straw decorations.

And our other news is that we are expecting another boy around April 1! We are looking forward to meeting the little guy. Hope everyone is having some peace and joy this year.

Abstract paper tags and ornament

I have been doing lots of art projects with Leo for the last several months. Mostly drawing but also some abstract painting. To make it safe for a 16 month old I use food coloring/water in a little cup with a q tip instead of a brush. It works well and isn't toxic if he decides to put it in his mouth. Here are some circles that will become tags.

I also made a big ornament (or kissing ball) out of the the decorated circles. I had Leo paint or draw on 20 precut paper circles. I got them at Paper Presentation. I've made tons of these balls over the years, including these I made at Martha Stewart Living. The how to is the same whatever size you choose. 

This makes a nice gift for a grandmother or special friend. Happy Holidays!

A stripey 1st birthday!

We celebrated Leo's 1st birthday this weekend and it was a great time. We live far from family but amazingly we had lots of family members here to celebrate along with our friends. The theme was stripes and we asked the attendees to dress accordingly. Just about everyone wore some sort of striped combination and it looked very festive! 

I ordered striped party supplies from Shop Sweet Lulu, which has very cute stuff. We had various snacks and cupcakes and mini pb and j's. It was fun to mix and match the stripes.

I love all the different stripe patterns going on.

I customized some store bought blowers to go with the theme.

We filled lots of balloons with helium and I made a stitched paper garland.

A custom birthday hat which of course Leo wouldn't wear even for a second.

The birthday boy was in awe of everyone singing to him!

I made a "1" iron-on for his shirt which he wore with seersucker shorts.

Friends and family watching intently as Leo took a long time to open his gifts.

And finally I make a backdrop behind the food table of Leo's monthly photos. I have mentioned these before, the onesies are from Culpeper General. It was hard the last few months to get Leo to sit still for the photos so I'm pretty glad to be done with that project! It looked great and is so nice to have a complete set though.

All in all a nice celebration of the past year with our little guy!

Backyard update

This summer we've enjoyed our backyard so much. Here are some shots from throughout the summer. I've definitely learned some things about planting vegetables for next year. I didn't harvest the broccoli soon enough and it started blooming, and I wasn't supposed to cut the leaves, oops! Apparently if you cut just the head the plant will keep sprouting for a few months. Also our raised bed needs so much water! It is currently pretty dried up but there are still lots of baby cucumbers so hopefully there's still some life left. The herbs and tomatoes have been great. I think they are totally cost effective since you can use a little bit at a time all summer. Anyhow, it's been a learning experience. 

Camping trip

Hi,

I can't believe how the summer has flown by. We have been away quite a bit and had lots of family visiting.  One fun thing we did recently was go on a 5 night camping trip in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It was Leo's first time camping and he loved it. Lots of new things to touch and ways to get dirty! We camped in Watkins Glen State Park and did some hiking and exploring small towns during the days.

In Watkins Glen the Gorge trail was amazing!

We cooked lots of good food over the campfire.

I picked a bunch of wild raspberries and we make hobo pies with them, yum.

All in all camping is a nice (and inexpensive!) way to enjoy the outdoors and relax. 

Renegade 2011

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth at Renegade this year! Saturday was pretty miserable with the mist and rain but Sunday was beautiful and we had a great crowd. I almost canceled because of the forecast and I'm so glad I didn't. Here are some pics of my table. Wish I could have shopped more but I was pretty tied to my booth.

These larger scale hairclips were new and sold out! I will try to stock my Etsy shop with these (and other crochet items) soon.

Renegade Craft Fair this weekend!

I am once again participating in the Renegade Craft Fair here in Brooklyn. It's this weekend June 11 +12 from 11am-7pm both days. Drop by and say hi, it's always a great sale. I'll have booth #140 sharing with Marcie McGoldrick Design. Crossing my fingers for good weather!

Backyard

I've been working on the backyard quite a bit lately. We moved here in the fall so this is our first spring and summer here. It's definitely a work in progress. At some point we will replace the chain link fence with something nicer and we'd love to put in brick cobble stones. But for now we are loving just having an outdoor space of our own, a rarity in New York City. I figured I would show pictures now and then late in the summer when things have filled in.

Trying out tomato plants, hope we get some good ones!

I planted a mini vegetable garden in a 3' x 3' raised bed, we'll see how it does! I've never tried this before.

Even when we looked at the house, we always loved this little hidden door in the back. It leads into the garage.

The previous owner had nice pergolas built both for our entrance and the backyard. I've planted wisteria for both. Hoping it takes over and covers the wood. This should be a cool before and after if it works.

There is a nice hydrangea bush (no idea what color the blooms will be), a holly bush (which is unruly and takes over) and a peach tree. I planted impatiens under the tree.

It's been so nice to have a spot to go in the morning and have my coffee or work on crochet projects or sewing outside. There is always a baby calling me away though just when I get into a project. Oh well, he a good distraction.

Crocheted mobile

I was happy to contribute a project to the book Vintage Craft Workshop by Cathy Callahan. The book is finally out and it's great to see it in print. We were asked to reinterpret a vintage craft, you can see mine in the spread below. I used a similar pattern to what I use for my crochet necklaces but scaled them up for the mobile. It's really fun to see all the vintage projects and new interpretations, check it out!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a very sweet first Mother's day. We had a picnic in the park with a few other babies and parents and the weather was beautiful. Leo (all by himself) picked out some nice treats for me; a few great Liberty patterns, some Fika jam and chocolate and Harney and Sons tea. I guess he knows his mama, ha!

Happy Mother's Day to all especially both Leo's grandmas, you are a blessing to us!

These lilacs are from the backyard and are SO fragrant.

Sun hats

 I have been wanting to make a sun hat for Leo for some time now. He is so fair he pretty much needs this any time we go outside. I found a great hat pattern in the Little Things to Sew by Oliver + S. The first one I made was too big but the second one (extra small) fits great and now I have one for when Leo gets older. I added ties to the small one but it isn't even really necessary if it fits pretty snug. Overall pretty easy and so cute!