Look Ma!

This post is really for my mom, who thinks she didn't teach me how to sew. She managed to get Holly and me to make cheesy pre-printed teddy bears when we were young, but our attention spans and hers fizzled out shortly after. My interest in sewing appeared again briefly, long enough for me to pass Home Ec. and make two pair of boxer shorts, which were totally cool to wear in the 90s.

So when our church branch in Sutherland decided to make rag quilts, I blew the dust off the old sewing machine and gave it a shot. The rag quilt turned out beautifully, but my very old sewing machine died in the process. I got a new one a few weeks ago and finally finished my first real sewing project. Ta-dah!

My first dress for Eliza! This was a ton of fun, so I'm thinking she'll be getting a few dresses for Christmas. I still think it needs a little something. I'm thinking two or three decorative buttons on the side of the collar.

I even did the zipper all by myself. So what if I had to read the instructions forty times...

Yes, this is a total brag post. Sorry. I couldn't resist.

A Good Rainy Day Toddler Project Tutorial

I am quickly falling in love with Pinterest. I think I may now love Pinterest more than Facebook. It may have to do with the fact that I am totally visual and like the pictures on Pinterest, or it has no advertising, or that I don't have to worry about any passive-aggressive jabs on Pinterest. You know who you are...

Even though we haven't had a ton of rainy days out here, the days outside lately have either been chillier or filled with swarms of flies, the gift we get from the local pig farm. And Pinterest has a whole lot of great ideas on what to do with kids when you are tight on $$$, the kids don't want to play outside, you have no car during the day, and you don't want to stick the kids in front of a TV.

I started with this idea...

...but fingerpaint is messy of necessity, and some genius thought it would be a good idea to put carpet in the kitchen in a rental house (actually, there are at least two geniuses out there that think that because our last rental had carpet in the kitchen too. But I digress...)

So I decided paintbrushes and potato stamps were the way to go. Noah and I created these.

I guess it's false advertising to call this a tutorial, because most of the tutorials I see online come with really awesome step-by-step photos. With mine, you'll just have to use your imagination.

Materials:

Cardboard box
Acrylic paint (the craft kind that comes in little bottles)
Paintbrushes (preferably ones you don't mind the toddler destroying)
Newspaper for covering the table and your carpeted kitchen
Scotch or masking tape
A potato
A small, sharp knife (exacto or paring knives work well)
Paint smock (if desired. I just strip my kid down and scrub him later.)

1. Cut out one panel of the cardboard box. Trim to desired size. Put child in art smock, if desired. Lay down newspaper on table and carpeted kitchen floor.
2. Let your toddler paint the brown, empty side of the cardboard whatever color he desires. Let the cardboard dry completely.
3. Lightly spell out your child's name in tape on the dry, painted cardboard.
4. Make a potato stamp in whatever design your child chooses. Noah chose train tracks, and I did a leaf for Liza. To make the stamp, slice a potato in half. With a pencil or your knife, draw a simple shape on the face of the potato. Cut away everything that isn't your design, so looking at the potato sideways, your design should be 1/2" to 3/4" higher than the rest of the potato.
5. Let your child use the potato stamp in different colors all over the masked cardboard. You may have to blot off some of the paint before he uses the stamp on the cardboard. Don't worry about mixing colors - it actually looks good if the colors mix. Be sure to do a lot of stamping over the masked letters. Let dry.
6. Peel the tape off the cardboard. Use a small paintbrush to create an outline to the letters, if desired.
7. Hang with pride on the wall.
8. Scrub the paint off your kid.