To Wear to a Christening

Thomas is getting baptized in just under a month and I have to get in gear and organize the whole shebang, and pronto.  I ordered a cute not-too-girly looking romper for him to wear -- my boys look sweet and girly enough on their own, thankyouverymuch -- and found myself looking at shoes online to go with the outfit.  Um, shoes?  Don't I make those myself?  Oh yeah.  I'm so silly sometime (read rediuclous and blond).

So, now I'm off to see if I can find a cute sewing pattern to work up.  Do you have any favorite patterns that would look nice paired with a simple christening outfit?  I ordered him this one.

My first thought was to use one of the shoe patterns I already make for my Etsy shop, and in a somewhat funky patterned fabric.  Not too over the top or bright, but not your run-of-the-mill standard issue, either.  You know those people who show up in a handsome outfit but with funky shoes?  That.

Which shoes would you go with for a christening?

Capturing Babyhood

This weekend we hired our wedding photographer for the third time -- to take our family portrait again, now that we're a family of four.  The last time we had family portraits taken was when Nathan was five months old, so in keeping with tradition, we hired Robert again, since Thomas is already (!) five months.  Actually, he's five and a half months. 

In all honesty, I don't know why we don't hire him every year.  I've been taking Nathan for portraits at Walmart each year (I'm sure our photographer would wither up and die if he heard that), and paying an arm and a leg each time.  Some photos came out good and some just okay.  But Robert's photos come out amazing every time, and I love that he shows me what he's getting as he's taking them.  He is such a talented photographer.

It's so important to capture our babies' babyhoods.  They're over so regrettably fast.   In less than two weeks, Thomas will be 6 months old and his babyhood will be half over -- and I'm already feeling sorrowful for it.  Sure, he'll still be baby-ish for close to another year, but how I wish he could stay this little, sweet and innocent (and immobile!) forever.  My heart is already starting to break.

But my mom raised a good point the other day that gave me some perspective.  If babies always stayed babies, we wouldn't cherish this time the way we do.  This really is the best time of my life, even though some days all I feel is the exhaustion, hard work and the balancing act I play each workday. 

I must remember this feeling during those occassional night wakenings that last up to an hour (I know), poop explosions (they're not that bad, really) and the exhausted feeling I usually have these days when I wake up in the morning feeling like I haven't slept at all.  Thomas is such a happy, joyful baby.  I need to capture his babyhood and remember what I'm feeling now forever.  This is what life is all about.

 

Some Extreme Cuteness... Sewing Pattern Preview!

In a fit of creativity, I let loose recently and came up with my very own sewn design!  Meet Who the Taggy Owl!

Thanks to my two little ones, my job and this house, it takes me quite a while to accomplish anything extracirricular -- but in this case, it was a good thing.  It gave me the time to simmer on the details and let the elements come to me -- which they righteously did.

I love the tufts of yarn on the tips of his ears...

...his hand embroidered eyes, which can be sewn on or ironed on with fusible web.

...his wings with contrasting fabric, made heavier with fusible fleece and crinkly with cellophane lining.

...ribbon tags on the bottom, which Thomas always makes his way to after going to town on the ears.

I just love him!!!  And I hope you do, too.  The sewing pattern will be available here soon.  I just need to double check the instructions and edit and add all the step-by-step photos.  You know, because I have time for all that with these two adorable boys keeping me busy.  :)

Stay tuned!
 

Woven Wrap Chopping and Hemming Services at Sew Sweet Studio

Sew Sweet Studio now offers woven wrap chopping and hemming services!  If you want your woven wrap shortened, send it to me, and I will chop it to your desired length and professionally hem it. 

I will move the middle markers if they had been sewn on after the rails were hemmed by the manufacturer (like Didymos's wraps).  For wraps with middle markers that are incorporated into their rails' hems (Girasol, Natibaby), I will leave the original middle markers in place and add a small piece of ribbon to mark the middle, if that's what you desire.

There are lots of reasons to chop and hem a woven wrap:

• Your wrap is too long, but you love the color or pattern and just can't part with it, even though you rarely use it.
• You love your hard-to-find wrap, but don't like the long length -- and, stalk the Facebook swap as you might, you just can't find it in a shorter length.  (I know, first-world problems!)
• You're tired of dragging long tails in parking lots and stores and would prefer a shorty.  Hemming your long wrap is much more affordable than buying another, shorter wrap.  Plus, you'll get a scrap out of the deal, which you can sell or use to make something.
• Your baby is now a toddler and you have no need for really long wraps.  Make 'em into shorties!

To get your woven wrap chopped and hemmed, visit my Etsy shop, Sew Sweet Studio, and click on Woven Wrap Chopping and Hemming Service.

Like Sew Sweet Studio on Facebook for updates on services and new products, plus woven wrap scraps to choose from and specials.

Kid's Craft Idea: Colored Rice Art Activity

Nathan's in a fun crafting phase now, and he's eager to try new things.  Although he's getting bored with standard variety crayons, an activity he never seems to get tired of is gluing colored rice to construction paper.  He's getting better at making designs on paper with the glue and I can see his coordination improving when it comes to sprinkling the colored rice on the wet glue.

 

 

 

I dyed all this rice a few months ago to use with Nathan and my friend's kids when they came over for a visit.  Each child got a small plastic cup full of each color: red, yellow, green and blue.  They managed to share one bottle of glue and get colored rice all over my dining room floor.  But, hey, that's what vacuums are for.  I knew in advance it wasn't going to be neat, but also not prohibitively messy.  I like to keep my messes somewhere in the middle.

Now the colored rice has been recycled many times and is of the rainbow variety, no longer in separate cups by color.  Even better!

Here's how I made colored rice for this art activity:

In a small ziptop bag, mix:

1 cup of uncooked white rice
1/2 tsp rubbing alcohol
a few drops of food coloring

Make up a bag for each color.

Mash around until the food coloring is spread evenly throughout.  When it comes to the food coloring, more is better if you want saturated colors.  The first color I tried came out weaker than the others because I was timid with the food coloring for some reason.  Get wild!  Really go for it!

Then spread out the rice on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet (or counter top, if you don't need the space for something else) to dry.  It's helpful to shake the wax paper before the rice is fully dry to keep it from sticking together and forming clumps.  Even if clumps do form, they're easy to break apart with your fingers.  You could even get your kids to do it.

The alcohol keeps the dye from coming off on your/your kids' fingers, but if their fingers come in contact with the glue and then they touch the rice, all bets are off.  The color will transfer.  FYI.  But it's food grade, so what the hey.

Have fun!  Let me know if you give it a try.  :)

Send-in-your-scrap Wrap Scrap Baby Loafers

Hi friends!  I just wanted to drop in with my newest offering -- Wrap Scrap Baby Loafers that I make with your own wrap scraps! 

 

Check out the listing: Send-in-your-scrap Custom Wrap Scrap Baby Loafers

 

For the send-in-your-scrap custom option, your scrap will need to be at least 8" long by the full width of the wrap, or a combination of 8" wide scraps that add up to about 27" or so in length. If you have a bunch of small scraps and are not sure if they're enough to make loafers, take a photo of your scraps with a tape measure running across it and send it to me through Etsy. Let's talk about it!

 

I also have a new listing for Wrap Scrap Baby Shoes in Girasol Carson's Cove Diamond Weave Puff Weft.

 

 

 

I'm loving these summer colors.

 

Thanks for looking and supporting handmade!  I'll be back this week with a fun kids' art activity/craft idea using colored rice and glue.  How could that possibly be messy?!

 

Your truly,

Kelly

Yarn Along and Busier than Usual

So it looks like I'm making this week's Yarn Along post do double duty.  It's interesting how, when I'm at my busiest, I have the strongest urge to craft, write and create. It's been hard keeping up at work (I'm a freelance writer with a steady gig for a great client) because of my nusing babe, and I've been using nights and weekends to catch up and stay afloat. (Does he really have to nurse every hour and a half? The answer is yes, and he has the rolls to prove it.)

When I should be coming up for air, I just want to make stuff. But there are kids to care for and play with, meals to cook, a husband to spend time with, and then I should be getting to bed earlier... I'm lucky that I have a husband that shares heavily in the duties around here. But I still pine for more free time. I know that someday all I'll have is time, so I'm trying to shake it off.  The creating is happening, just really slowly.

I'm coming up with a new sock design that is a women's version of my Handsome Men's Slipper Socks:

And have been slowly working on my first sewing pattern. You may have read about a silly little contest on my Facebook page to guess what the pattern will be, based on a photo of the pattern shape. Sally guessed it right -- it's going to be an owl lovey! -- and she will get the very first copy of the pattern when it's ready. Yay, Sally!!

Time to go rest.  And maybe knit a little bit.  Who knows, maybe sometime during 2013 I'll be able to release a new pattern! [I wrote this last night but posted this morning, oops!]

Happy knitting, my friends.

Kelly