Monthly Archives: January 2012

Felted Coasters

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

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These felted wool coasters keep liquids off the table and are by far baby Josie’s favorite toys.  The patterns are knit in the round and then shrunken and felted in the washing machine.  It is a lovely way to use up the ends of yarn balls and fun to see the circles transform in the machine.  The wool felt makes them waterproof and they are easy to hand wash when need be.  These are adapted from Chris de Longpre’s free pattern at Knitting at KNoon Designs. Hooray for free knitting patterns!

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Red

13 Friday Jan 2012

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I found these red silk slippers upstairs in my stash of clothes for the kids to grow into.  I had forgotten about them, and Ada will finally fit into them.  They originally had fabric soles, for inside the house.  I had our shoe repair man add a layer of rubber to the bottom so Ada wouldn’t slip on our steep stairs.  The red kimono is another Pearl River Mart find.  Thanks Aunt Vasna!  It is not fair that the adult version of these are not half as cute.

Winter Collage

12 Thursday Jan 2012

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We have finally taken down the holiday cards from the mantels.  Instead of throwing them away, I like to cut out the images for Ada to make into collages.  The finished pieces are great as thank you cards too (if you haven’t yet gotten around to those).

Upstairs

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Ada got some clay for Christmas because I was so tired of cleaning up little bits of dried playdough from our socks.  She also got a pair of scissors to practice cutting in one of her new Kumon books.  When I went upstairs yesterday I found this.  She had quietly been cutting little pieces of clay with the scissors and putting them into a box in order to make these intricate little flowers.  Proud Mama.

Spiral Cushion

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Chris and I are still pretending we can have nice furniture and children at the same time.  But it has been three years, and I haven’t yet refinished our dining room chairs.  I found the pattern for these beautiful knitted Spiral Seat Cushions in Joelle Hoverson’s More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.  The book is amazing and full of easy knitting projects.  Joelle founded Purl Soho- one of the best knitting, sewing and crafting stores in Manhattan.

This project is great to do when you have kids around, as you can easily pick up where you left off. The cushions hide a multitude of sins on our chairs and they are easy to hand wash after Ada’s dinner in a big-girl chair.

Sparkle Jar

09 Monday Jan 2012

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If Ada had her way everything we own would be covered in glitter.  So we came up with our own version of the snow globe.  Kids can help choose the buttons, glitter and fabric for the tops and then fill the jars with treasure.  Messy and hot parts should be left to an adult.

You will need:

*Recycled glass jar with tight-fitting lid

*Waterproof contents: (buttons, bouncy balls, glitter, and small plastic animals work well)

*Hot glue gun

*Fabric and string to cover top

1. Put treasure in jar and then squirt in baby oil to fill.

2. Line inside rim of jar with hot glue and screw on.

3. Fill outside ridge between top and jar with hot glue, to be sure no oil will escape.

4.Cover top with fabric and tie with string.

The baby was mesmerized by the slowly falling sparkles and the jars are beautiful in the sunlight.  Glitter contained.  Magic.

Graffiti

06 Friday Jan 2012

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One of our favorite gifts this year was a set of fabric markers and shirts to decorate.  The kids had a blast and got to keep the markers and wear the shirts.  Thanks Aunt Emily!  There are lots of fabric marker options, and the glitter pens were especially popular.  Look for ones that dry quickly without ironing so the designs can be worn right away.

Last year we used fabric markers to decorated fabric totes from Ecobags and t-shirts from American Apparel.  These make fun projects or favors for a party as well as great gifts.

A Little Help

05 Thursday Jan 2012

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Our paperwhites are blooming! The leaves are getting a bit floppy so we helped hold  them up with some string and our pink plastic chopsticks from Pearl River Mart. The pink makes Ada happy, and everyone needs a little help sometimes right?

We love Pearl River! It is the best resource for colorful and cheap party supplies, lanterns, slippers, chopsticks, paper parasols…Sometimes we just walk around on a winter day for inspiration. There are dragons and lanterns are on the ceiling, so look up.

Ada’s Mantel

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

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We stripped off 100 years of paint before we moved in, and there is still cleaning to do.  Why would anyone paint over marble?  Ada’s group of three metal statues.  Aunt Sandy told us it is good feng shui for a horse to be running out of a room.  We aren’t sure about whales.

Vanilla Sugar

02 Monday Jan 2012

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We made vanilla sugar for holiday gifts.  It is a super easy recipe that kids can help with.

You will need:

*Vanilla bean, one per jar

*Sugar

*Recycled jar

Place vanilla bean into jar, using a funnel let the kids pour in the sugar.  The vanilla will infuse into the sugar and make it delicious.  The kids can decorate custom labels- we got blanks from Papersource.  The gift tags are made from Elmer’s glue and glitter on office supply manilla hang tags. Be sure to let them dry before tying on.

The sugar is great for coffee or baking, and you can add new sugar to the jar as you use it.   We love ours in pancakes!