Quiet Book Peek

Here's a sneak peek at one of the projects I've been working on recently, a modern quiet book.  It's for Ellie's 2nd Birthday.  I'm hoping to get it done weeks before her sister arrives.  For a few weeks I had fun sketching out quiet book ideas I wanted to try.  I have some traditional, but many of the ideas I made up.  For all pages I'm making the patterns up as I go.  Most of the quiet book pages are going to have some cutesy saying on them when completed.


Here's the first page I finished.  You stick your hands through the holes to be the elephants' trunks.  It will say "I love you a ton" (...awe, cute):  

I love this page.  The bees have Velcro backs that you can stick on the flowers or beehive.  It will say something like "bee happy" or "you're the bees knees":

Here's one I've seen a few times online.  The mailbox.  The flag goes up and down and you open and shut the mailbox.  There's also an envelope inside that you can stick notes in.  Predictably this will say "you've got mail" (which is also a super movie):

DIY Hand Soap

I made my own hand soap recently.  It only took a few tries :)  My hands get so dry washing them frequently, despite the "moisturizing" refill soap I had purchased.  I would have to apply lotion constantly.  I used this tutorial.  


My downfall was choice of soap (which actually was pointed out by the tutorial author, I just didn't read closely).  Don't use Dove Sensitive skin--it won't thicken.  I ended up looking for the brand the author suggested--Yardley.  Bonus they had a lemon variety (I love lemon soap).  One batch will make a lot of soap, 10 cups worth.  It can take forever to gel--like a whole day--and then the texture can be a bit funny and you may want to try to beat it (I wish I had a stick blender) to make it more smooth.  Funny texture aside, I love my new soap.  It smells better and is much more moisturizing than the refills I was buying.

I have been loving the mason jar trend for a while now.  I particularly liked the jar turned soap dispenser--what a clever idea.  I could have made it myself (after acquiring some tools and supplies), but bought a fancy lid from Etsy with some of my Christmas money.  I didn't have the right size jar on hand at home so found one for fifty cents at the thrift store.  I think it's super cute in my kitchen.

Quack

Usually I'm pretty cheap (if frequenting thrift stores didn't make that obvious).  However, around December and January I sometimes buy fun things for myself.  Getting cash for Christmas and birthdays certainly has it's perks.  Isn't Etsy so much more exciting when you aren't window shopping?

Anyway, here is my newest friend.  I couldn't resist.  I love qwarky kitschy things.  Also I love ducks.  And it was like $8, which is pretty cheap for Etsy.

Upon receiving my duck scissor holder I recovered the little pin cushion.  The other fabric was drab.  I think the polka dots are much more fun.  Here's a look at the inside:

The only bummer is all those pegs are just a tiny bit too big to hold my bobbins.  Drat.  That's okay.  I'm still storing the bobbins in there anyway, it would have just looked neater had they fit on the pegs. 

I've been humming around doing small projects here and there.  Realizing you only have 3-ish months left of craft time can do that to a person.  Infant + toddler = craft hiatus... at least until I figure out how to get them on a similar schedule.  

One such small project was I finally recovered my old mouse pad.  I've seen a few tutorials around, but I just used heat'n'bond on fabric cut out to be bigger than the mouse pad and then used a rotary cutter to trim it all nice and neat.  I thought it might be bad ironing directly onto the mouse pad, but nothing was hurt in the process.

Resolutions

For many years each January I've written down a list of resolutions.  Frankly it was more of a wish list.  A few months ago I saw a neat-o idea about having a goal word for the year instead.  I'm totally adopting that.  This year my goal is "simplify".  With a new baby coming soon I think it's fitting.  

First project with my new goal is slowly working through my home and donating things that I don't need or use.  I have a closet full of things that are good but I don't wear for one reason or another.  Ideally I want my closet to only have pieces I love and wear often... hopefully full of pieces I make!  Or from other talented people (ps Marsha, I love my scarf.  I noticed the lovely hand stitching even before Gavin and Lesa mentioned it).  

Last night I finished a new top.  At first I felt a little like a jail bird (thick horizontal stripes), but I'm liking it more--it's hard not to as it's really comfortable.  I used this tutorial.  

It went together very smoothly when you ignore the fact I snipped through the fabric when trimming the neckline (thank you heat'n'bond for saving the day).  I think if I make another (sans stripes) I will make it a few inches longer.  My bump is taking up more space these days.

Handmade

I have a small goal to make at least one homemade item for Ellie (and any future kids) for Christmas and their birthday.  Last year I made Ellie a hedgehog softie and a hat.  This year it's a hat and mittens (ignore the wrinkles, they need to be laundered).

I found this new favorite fabric shop in town and last Saturday my friend and I checked it out.  If you are cheap and like thrift stores this is an awesome store.  We dug through piles of remnants and both left with some fun fabric.  I got this snuggly soft pink fleece remnant for $2.

I used the Snow Pixie pattern for the hat (deviating on the edge finish).

And for the mittens I started using this tutorial, but deviated a bit.  Perhaps on a whim, perhaps due to a mistake cutting the sleeve part too small.  It's really hard to say.  I had some leftover material from the braids I did on the hat and added loops to the mittens so I could add mitten clips later if needed.

I love how the braid detail turned out.  To make the rope I took long strips of roughly 2 inch strips (with the most stretch width wise), sewed together, and flipped inside out with a chopstick.  It took a whole night to hand stitch it to the hat, but it was worth it.

Treat Package

Today I delivered some treats to someone.  Pumpkin cookies.  

Although I had meant to grab some paper plates at the store this week I plum forgot.  

I did have cardboard from the cake mix I used in the cookies and parchment paper (wax or brown paper would work too).  So I improvised.  

This is the long version of a short story--it only took two or three minutes.  I cut out two pieces of cardboard and sandwiched them together so you couldn't see the cake box pictures.   Here are the remaining steps I did:

Carpet Bag

Last night I finished my purse!  This is a project I had started years ago and then put down and never finished.  When I pulled it out I altered my original vision of the bag a bit to fit my current needs.  

It's kind of a fun upholstery fabric, and the grey seems fitting for winter.  I've got a thing for asymmetrically placed knots on purse handles--not sure why.  It is, however, handy to include when you have an ugly seem where you lengthened the handle strap.

This is a terrible picture, but here's a glimpse of some of the inside.  

It has two side pockets, a magnetic closure, and some mommy friendly additions I included in the redesign.  I was so sick of finding my daughter's sippy bottle sideways (leaking) in my bag (no-drip sippy cups are a joke sometimes), and the spare diapers always swim around my bag.  

After a day of use I am enjoying my new bag.