Softie from a Child's Drawing: take 2

I had done some transferring of children's drawings to embroidery at one point with pretty results. In the Spring I tried my hand at making a softie from a child's drawing. I used felting wool for that project, but had really been wanting to make a really soft softie. The opportunity presented itself recently when a very lovely four year old who I will call GB, kept making these gorgeous drawings of girls. I could see how it would translate to a softie in a fun way, so I asked her if I could take her drawing and quietly set about making it in 3D.

With the help of Miss Six (formerly known as Miss Kinder) we chose fabrics and got out the embroidery thread. I started with the legs, figuring if they came out cute I'd go on to the body and face. The project was really fun, and pretty quick. I spent about three hours on her and gave her to the mother of GB just before Thanksgiving. It was well received, and I can't wait to do more of these.

Now it's time to focus on Christmas gifts!

Treading Lightly - Drawing on Rocks

It turns out that both my girls are huge camping fans. This is great news to me, because you never know what your kids will run fast away from that you'd hoped to share with them. Some of my greatest memories from childhood are from camping trips. It was music to my ears when Miss Kinder asked me this weekend, "Am I dreaming, or is it really real that we are camping?" Her favorite part of this two-day stay, hands down, was kayaking.

LEB's favorite part of camping was the same as her favorite part of everyday: marveling at and trying to keep up with her big sister.

On one of our walks around the campsite, Miss Kinder found a feather. She tucked it into her pocket and brought it back to the site and proceeded to do some rock drawings, using the feather as a pen. It was her idea to use juice, "So it would be like the real older times, except we don't have ink."

If you want to give this a try, I'd suggest using grape juice so that your work comes out a bit darker. Miss Kinder only had cranberry juice to work with, so they dried on the lighter side.

After a dewy night, the drawings were gone, which was perfect, because we were heading home and didn't want to leave anything behind that would take away from the natural landscape for the next lucky campers. Maybe next time we go camping we'll look for berries or leaves to crush up and see if we can get create some natural paints. Leave a comment if you have tips on that for us.

Juxtapose

It's really hard to keep up with all I want to do that looks like this

When it looks like this

As the days get longer and longer, the indoor craftiness time seems to get shorter and shorter. This is great, but the blog suffers! We'll be moving our crafts outside to the garden in the coming weeks. The plan is to make a fairy house and an herb spiral. Stay tuned!

Campground Fever

The camping trip was fantastic. It was rainy sometimes, and cloudy the rest, but we all had huge fun. Our campsite had a perfect view of Penobscot Bay and was steps from the beach. We could sit at the campfire and watch the girls walk down to the shoreline in their boots and fleece jackets and did our best to keep their feet dry between stompings. 

The view from our campsite (site #2) from Searsport Shores Ocean Camping flickr site

The owners are the most committed and friendly couple, Steve and Astrig, who have created a really special place. I learned about it from stumbling on Astrig's blog where she talks about living in Midcoast Maine in a place where her home sits among 100+ campsites. As hosts go, these two are tops. Every Saturday in the summertime they host a lobster bake, once a week they have a family movie night in the lodge, and while we were there we had the chance to enjoy homemade donuts and hot cocoa complete with homemade marshmallows covered in toasted coconut. Astrig's small touches made the place super sensational. The girls favorite was the iced water, which Astrig dropped violets in just to make everyone happy.

For our part of the cleanup, my other half dusted off his carpentry skills while the girls and I spruced up the dressup area of the lodge, going through a huge trunk of gowns and costumes and selecting their favorite 15 to hang up for the season. You can imagine how much they enjoyed this "chore."  

Photo of the lodge from Searsport Shores Ocean Camping flickr site

Camping events the girls loved most were using glow sticks and flashlights, and helping gather wood for the fire. They also loved beach combing for sand dollars, beach glass and smooth stones, staying up extra late, being in the rain at night in the tent, getting as dirty as they wanted, and meeting the goats that live on the property. Oh, didn't I tell you they have two goats? This place is paradise.

Photo of Lollipop the goat, from Searsport Shores Ocean Camping website

One packing note: I remembered from my old days as a scout to pack your clothes by day and seal each day in a gallon-sized ziplock bag. This prevents overpacking and most importantly, it keeps everything dry. This was really helpful because it was wet most of the time, and when we got home I didn't have to wash the clothes we didn't wear since they were sealed up and didn't smell like a campfire. 

This End Up

Miss Kinder insisted that her best friend receive a riding pony-on-a-stick, a request I couldn't deny her since the pair of ponies-on-sticks are the favorite pretend play item of choice by her and V. when they are at our house. 

picture from amazon

I have managed to keep my handmade pledge all year, and I wasn't sure this one infraction was all that bad. I eased my mind on this front in two ways: I bought the pony locally, and then I set my mind to making a box for it that would conceal its identity and allow me to make something as well.

So, what kind of box can you make to hide a stick pony? And it came to me. Ta da!

Softie from a Child's Drawing

For V's birthday, I took one of her imaginary animal drawings to make a softie. Using some colored wool, I needle felted it into shape and then did a blanket stitch to make a small pillowy animal for her. 

This animal is named Stripey. It eats stripes, drinks polka dots, and is the protector of all jungles. How could I not try and bring it to life a bit?

Twirling into Spring

I've been wanting to make twirly skirts for both Miss Kinder and LEB, because they like them and because it's a good way to practice on my sewing machine. I found two tutorials online that inspired me to cut into the IKEA hippo fabric and polka dots that I'd been saving for something special. 

I approached the project carefully. I got all my materials out, read and re-read the instructions, and dutifully used my seam ripper when I did something wrong. The resulting skirt has me prouder than all get out. It's been very well received.

I'm the kind of mom who likes to indulge the dancer in both her girls, and who also demands that they not be precious about dresses and skirts. I've always maintained that they should play in their clothes, and that getting dirty is a pretty important part of most days. That said, there is no reason that the dirty clothes piled up next to the bathtub shouldn't be as girly as a girl might like. 

I love how Miss Kinder immediately began to dance in this skirt. I also love that she remembered to put good shoes on her feet in case of a quick game of tag or if she needed to scale some big rocks on the beach. 

The View From Here

I found my camera. The culprit was a pile of crafty things I stashed away, of course. Works in progress. Under the felt was some fabric, which had some embroidery under it, which had some origami under it, which was covering the camera. Tsk, tsk. 

Here were some pictures I found on the camera of what we'd been up to on the day leading up to our visitors. 

New journals for the girls to write in. LEB chose blue, Miss Kinder went with pink, and Miss Kinder's best friend V went with red.

Socks for my own two feet. Miss Kinder took this picture, and about ten others of me in various places in the living room, knitting socks. 

Early morning bubbles on the porch. 

Needle Felting Kids Drawings

Inspired again by Lisa at 5 Orange Potatoes, Miss Kinder and I decided to make felt bracelets from two recent animal drawings. We followed Lisa's tutorial with one exception -- we used roving wool for the insides and did some needle felting! 

Disclaimer: The felting needle is super duper sharp. This activity involves poking a sharp needle in and out of the roving wool and requires concentration. Probably you shouldn't let your nearly six year old do this. But I did. I watched her like a hawk and her temperament has always been careful and not impulsive. I know I wasn't much older than six before I was using a pocketknife and learning to whittle sticks. I'm done with my disclaiming now.

We cut the felt bracelet shape out and I embroidered the outline of her animal onto the felt. Then she chose the colors and we pulled out small tufts of dyed wool and began to poke the needle through them and into the felt. The fibers of the wool poke through the felt and sort of hook onto each other, and you get a lovely wooly color block. 

The more you poke, the more the wool flattens down and takes shape. You can use the needle to shape the wool, being sure to go carefully. Once I got the basic color down, I let Miss Kinder take over the poking, so she could do some.

They came out really cute, and were sent out as small gifts to some loved ones. In a couple of years, she'll be needle felting without supervision and who knows what she'll come up with!

Drawing with Kids: Still Life

Miss Kinder tried her hand at drawing a still life. Even at five years old she was able to sit for a good amount of time and concentrate on her lines and trying to make the picture the way she wanted it. She loved picking out objects for her picture and arranging them on the table. 

At first she thought it would be better to choose items she thought would be "easy" so she picked a green mug, a rubber ball and a penny -- but then she spied the shell and the cactus and swapped them. After she finished her drawing she realized the mug wasn't so easy after all.

Setting up a still life couldn't be more easy. Have your child pick out a few interesting objects and arrange them on a flat surface. Set up your child with paper and a pencil. I tried playing some soft music for her, but she immediately told me that she couldn't concentrate, so maybe quiet is better. Then, let them do the rest!

In other news, Belfast, Maine appears to be officially unsnowy! We have mud! No more of this beautiful stuff, hopefully, for seven months!

Drawing with Kids: Contour Drawing

We checked this book out of the library and have been reading about artist materials and working on all kinds of drawing. Miss Kinder, age 5, particularly enjoyed the section on contour drawing, which happens to be the first exercise in the book. 

Contour drawing, if you aren't familiar with the term, is basically drawing the outline of your picture. (My favorite contour drawing artist/illustrator, as a side note, is the lovely Leanne Shapton.) The exercise in the book is to create a contour montage, which involves tracing the outlines of a few interesting pictures of your choice. 

We taped the magazine pictures she chose to the back of her paper (dancing woman, stack of money with eyes and cat face) and then taped the paper to a window so she could see the outlines most easily. After tracing the images, she spent some time tracing her pencil lines with a black pen and erasing any extra pencil marks she didn't want. Then she used oil crayons to color it in.

One of the rules the book emphasizes is that tracing isn't cheating, which I loved sharing with her. She and her peers seem to think that copying in any form means you are not interesting, or that you are trying to ruin the game or their drawing. She was very excited to see that this exercise specifically required tracing which allowed her to feel that her picture would have more of a resemblance to what she wanted it to look like, yet the end result is very different from the initial image so it's not merely a copy. 

I foresee more of these in our future.

ATC workshop by Miss Kinder

Friday was Miss Kinder's big day to teach some local kids all about Artist Trading Cards. We arrived for the big event on time, to see we were being welcomed with great enthusiasm!

I had recommended to her that we approach the Starrett Center in Belfast to see if they might be interested in having her come in to share her ATC's and make some with the kids, and they were super excited. She was nervous, but settled in and helped me to explain a little about them and pass out lots of examples from her collection.

Everyone was eager to start. We passed out lots of blank precut cards and they got out the markers and pencils to give it a try. After they got comfortable, we cut out more paper and they brought out the really fun supplies: stickers, dried flowers, gluesticks, ribbon, fabric scraps, origami paper and watercolors. 

We told them all about the Rockport Library and the binder you can swap your card into and take one of your choosing, which generated a lot of happiness. We had participants from age 3 to age 58 -- one of the greatest things of doing ATCs!

This one above is called Duck Village, and I was coveting it. The clever eight-year-old who made it wasn't ready to trade. But one of the teachers, Linda, kindly traded this beautiful ATC with Miss Kinder for one she brought to show everyone of the NYC skyline. Miss Kinder loved Linda's ATC, and was tickled by its name: Eggrise over Fingers.

Sunrise Surprise

Most of the time I don't respond well when my girls bounce out of bed at 5 am. Both parents in this house are certifiable night owls, a fact that matters very little to young persons. Every once in a while, something wonderful happens. My girls wake up early, and I am not grumpy. I get up, get my coffee, and just enjoy the sunrise. Really.

Miss Kinder got out some markers and drew the colors she saw, noting that all of the rainbow except violet was represented. 

I went outside to capture a photo to go with her drawing, but got some video instead. So if you are an early bird, or if you are a city bird, watch a little movie clip of my backyard during sunrise time and listen to what a sunrise sounds like here in Belfast, Maine.

Quilt Making: a Metaphor for Parenting

Over the weekend Miss Kinder, who is nearly six, took a keen interest in the sewing machine. We took out a practice piece of fabric and got the basics down. Raising and lowering the arm, pressing the pedal with different amounts of pressure, and backing up. 

It shouldn't have surprised me that after fifteen minutes of practicing she boldly announced that she was ready to make a quilt. I am the Exact Same Way. Even so, my first response was, "well, that's a big project." I started suggesting to her that we try something small like a pillow or a coaster. She looked at me-- or should I say-- she looked through me. 

I then actually heard what I was saying to her. It sounded a lot like, "I know you'll never finish this project and don't think you can really do it." I wondered what the real harm would be in starting a quilt that never gets finished. I have about five pair of knitting needles with blankets, scarves and other sundries attached and in progress. I won't tell you about the shelves of other starters, in many crafty mediums. If she never finished the quilt, what of it?

It was an energizing feeling to acknowledge that I feel most comfortable when my parenting is focused on encouraging her actual interests and not, as an example, trying to cultivate an appetite for making coasters. And, big projects start the same as little ones. 

I retracted my let's-scale-back-your-thinking comment, and announced, "Hey! I've got precut squares we can use!" And so she began.

In the first session, she completed three strips of five pre-cut squares and sewed them together. Yesterday she did another two strips. She did the work of facing the squares together, putting them in the machine, and feeding the fabric through. My job was to cut additional squares as needed, and cut the thread for her. That is how this 5x5 square came to be.

The next part of the quilt, she informed me, was going to be a larger purple square going around the rim of this patchwork one. She showed me the fabric she wanted. I agreed to cut the squares, but only if she told me how many I had to do. So I drew a grid and she counted and gave me my orders. 

I'm completely impressed by her focus and her assuredness on what she wants this quilt to look like. The ball is in my court, and I'm game!

Birthday garland

A friend from my days in Inwood has kindly allowed me to share her lovely birthday tradition with you. In lieu of gifts for her girls, she makes a simple request: bring a flower. She uses these offerings to create a beautiful garland for the birthday girl. 

I love how this simple garland marks the celebration of friends and the birthday girl herself. I loved watching Shannon create the garland while the kids played. Once worn, the garland really makes the photos of the birthday girl shine. The garland can be dried and used as a decorative wreath afterward, which I think is all kinds of terrific. 

Creating a Birthday Garland

Gather your supplies:

*  florist wire

*  wire cutters

*  scissors

*  flowers!

Instructions:

Wind the flowers around the florist wire going in the same direction. Because guests are bringing the flowers, you will be dealing with many stem types. Start with the sturdiest stem (usually the sunflower) by poking the wire into the stem and then wrapping the wire around the next flower stem. Repeat. To connect the beginning stem to the last one, wrap the remaining florist wire to the initial wire at the start of the garland. 

Pencil and Sketchbook Holder

Miss Kinder and I have been going over ideas for what to make for a certain six-year-old girl's birthday this Saturday. Originally, she was all fired up for some more nesting dolls, but then reconsidered and wanted something different. We looked and looked, and looked some more, and her eyes lit up when she saw this pencil and sketchbook holder. 

Now, a better person would have carefully followed either the detailed step-by-step tutorial on Skip to my Lou or the one on one red robin. I got antsy, and decided I had the gist of it. I think I should consider matching my thread when I am going to wing it, so that my mistakes don't show up so, well, yellowy.

For the clasp/closure, I borrowed an idea from another great project. It's a coffee cozy from Erin at House on Hill Road who ingeniously uses a button and a ponytail holder. McGyver crafts!

Now we are ready to put on our bowling shoes for the party and fill up on cake!

Wintery Lix

At least a foot of snow has melted in the last week, and there is no doubt that we are headed away from winter and right toward spring. This year, despite all the snow and cold, I've really never had that feeling that winter just won't quit, or that I need spring and summer to get here. I think this has more to do with being well outside the grip of PPD and finally, firmly rooted into my own skin again. 

Just before the warmer temperatures took over, we made this lovely, lick-able sun catcher as seen on Way up High in the Monkey Bread Tree. The beads, elephant, and painted Buddha got plunked down in a cake tin and then we filled it with water and left it overnight on the porch, resulting in this icy magical delight. It was amazing how magical they found it, staring at each object through the ice with new eyes, waiting for the ice to melt away.

In other news, much crafting has been happening behind the blog curtain. Much of it is for the purposes of gifting or swapping, so no pictures just yet. Also, last night I finished the honkin' biography of Charles Schulz, Shultz and Peanuts, which was incredible. (image from the Charles Schulz Museum)

In particular, I was really drawn to the parts focused on his lifelong immersion in anxiety and sadness and how resistant he was to treatment for fear of losing his talents. In my daughters' lives, this is one myth I'd love to see shattered. 

Swaphopadoowop

The Kids ATC Swap was very exciting and was my first foray into swappy craft blog land. The biggest issue with it was that in the end I realized that I actually wanted to be the swapper and swappee. Lucky for me there are tons of these around, and I have gotten myself hooked in a way that keeps me making things (which I love) and getting mail (which I love almost just as much.)

Two new swaps are on my to-do list, and I promise there will be exciting photos forthcoming!

One is We Wilson's tea towel swap, which has been fun. I am swapping one recipe and two tea towels with one person and I've been trying some new things for me, trying to make them really beautiful. I can't say more just now about this because I don't want to spoil it for my partner who might get really bored one day and poke on over to this here blog. 

The other I just signed up for is an Easter Bunny Children's Swap at Wee Pereas. I stumbled on it while adding a comment to 5 orange potatoes. It's an Easter/Spring swap for mamas and their little ones. This is great because I can pretend that I'm excited mostly for Miss Kinder, but really I'm just as eager, if not more so. 

There's still a few days to sign up, so what do you say? 

All Dressed Up

LEB has a favorite dress. It was a hand-me-down from big sister, Miss Kinder, who got it from her Grammy three or four years ago. It came from Hanna Anderson, and has been through a million washings, spaghetti massacres, and off season wearings. Though meant to be a summer dress, LEB prefers to wear it year-round, baring her arms all through the Maine winter. The most often heard question in LEB's presence is, "Aren't you cold?" to which she proudly replies, "No! I'm a beautiful princess ballerina!" 

Because she loves to dance and twirl in this dress, as well as go bowling and sleep in it, I knew I couldn't cut it up to make a pattern. Since it was only four pieces, I took my chances by tracing it the best I could onto newspaper in an effort to recreate it in a new fabric. 

Once again, Alewives to the rescue with a lovely peacock-like print in a 

light corduroy. I used some light blue bias tape for the hem and took my time, knowing that my beginner sewing skills would be tested. And, ta da! --

She decided that the Camper shoes were the best accessory for this outfit, and has worn them more in the last 48 hours than I have since we left NYC for Maine. It's hard to think of where I might wear these shoes here in Belfast. Perhaps to the theatre?

Lessons learned: I think the seams aren't super strong, and I need to look up how to make them stronger. Also, the dress I used as a template had two buttons in the back and I have no idea how to do that, so I cut a simple V in the back and BARELY got it over her head. I should probably think about how to do some type of closure, or my dresses are going to be pretty limited. Considering that LEB can wear a dress for three days straight, including sleeping in it, what if she has a growth spurt and her head grows so much that the dress won't come off!?