Just a quick post with the follow up thank you notes for Leo's 2nd birthday presents. I wanted to do something that he could do the bulk of the imagery. So I got a bunch of Dover train sticker books (actually leftover party favors) and had him stick them and then draw on the cards. He got into making tracks and steam. It was a little hard to get him to make so many but helped to tell him each person he was making it for.
We recently celebrated Leo's 2nd birthday. We shared the day with his buddy Elliott who is one day older. I chose a train theme since Leo is pretty obsessed these days with choo choos. I tried not to make it a character theme as I know those days will come later. It was a fun party and I thought the two boys looked adorable in their conductor hats and bandanas. Take a look.
For the invite, I used an old illustration from a Golden book. I just loved the whimsical illustration.
I made a paper train banner which hung from the ceiling.
Leo had a ton of fun just playing with the train around the perimeter of the table, at his reach.
I loved this homemade wrapping from his friend Elizabeth.
Hosting parties with 2 kids + a bunch more is hectic but so fun. I only wish I had gotten more photos. Happy 2nd birthday Leo!
I'm a little behind with this but I thought I'd post it anyhow. These days I'm doing well to edit some photos and post something at naptime. We have a new addition to our family. Jesse Frederick was born on April 7th and he's the sweetest little guy. We love him so much. This Father's day was extra special because of him. I still have so much artwork from Leo when he was in drawing overdrive that I made a few Father's day crafts to celebrate the day. That phase has past but at least he was prolific while it lasted. So here are a few ideas....
sewn paper garland
paper airplane card and dot wrapping
I ordered a tie from Forage Haberdashery. I love it and the packaging!
Happy Father's Day Ben! Hope you enjoyed your nap and "choreless" Sunday. I'm so grateful to have you as my partner in raising these two boys.
I'm putting together a Valentine project to do with 3 year olds-2nd graders. I had the idea to make butterflies from coffee filters and clothes pins, which there lots of samples of online. I'm hoping it's a craft that even the little ones can do with some adult help. We'll see how it goes this Sunday. I thought I would share in case anyone is looking for a quick easy idea to do with their kids this year. I also liked these hand dyed Valentines too.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
