Busy Hands Homestead

Life has been busy - incredibly busy.  In between running errands, loading kilns and my monthly coop shift I sat down for a few minutes to make ornaments with Ivory and Sylvan.  These are quick.  They are simple enough even for Sylvan to remain engaged through out the duration of the craft.  Materials: assorted colors of felt pieces ribbon thread sewing needle scissors How To: I ask the kids to choose their colors and then I cut the shapes for them: 1 set of leaves (or more if desired), 2 flowers, 2 stars and 2 small circles. The flowers, stars and circles are cut while holding two sheets of felt together Make a loop out of ribbon and tack the open end together String the large flower, the star and the small circle onto the needle (Sylvan can do this with assistance, Ivory on her own) Scrunch them down against the loop and return the needle to the center through the flower, tacking the stack of felt to the loop String the remai...

Ivory threaded the needle up and down through the button holes.  Tacking down the tulle, sandwiched between the button and a layer of sparkling felt.   I stitched the whole thing to hair clips.  There they are:  We are ready to go to celebrate a birthday!

March is over.  March is OVER!  The last weekend finally wrapped up a few of the months activities, and of course, it was also Easter.  Three weeks ago I watched the flames fade into the lightening sky.  The wood kiln crackled and popped.  And then we waited.  The door was finally un-bricked and all the ceramic wares were still warm to the touch. We unloaded  scraped and stacked.  I frantically wrapped sculptures, mugs, cups and bowl into pieces of newspaper.  I still had to drive home, pick up the kids, shop for the Easter goodies (last minute - of course) and drive down the Bitterroot valley to our weekend destination.  I checked my email when I got home and found out the results of another of March's projects - the winners of the Second Annual Bathing Beauties Bead Challenge .   Check them out.  The first place winner is AMAZING! I packed the car. Loaded up the kids, the dogs and two sto...

This afternoon, during nap time, I put together a small draw string bag complete with a super plush lining (which was a pain to work with).  The lining is perfect for muffling the clinks of it's content and maybe just fancy enough to be a bag of jewels in Ivory's princess filled world.  In it's aftermath however, I will be sweeping up purple fuzzies for days to come.  "Why", you might ask, "are you spending that sacred nap time sewing a silly little draw string bag?"  It wasn't just nap time, but double nap time.  That is right, both of the children are asleep. Well, because the kids got this for Christmas: A super awesome, positively amazing marble run crafted by my husband in his shop behind the house.  (Yes, I have better pictures of this.. but, just look at Sylvan's super excited face, and that is why I chose this one over all the others.) So now we have a marble problem.  There are somewhere - underneath furniture, in corner...

Many, many months ago I ran across this image on Pinterest: Keepsake Hug Pillow "This is a great gift idea for grandparents", I thought to myself and I dutifully pinned it onto my craft ideas  board. Perfect, because it can involve our entire family, because I have a giant stash of fabric and perfect because the final gift folds in a small envelope I can ship across the country. I don't however have a fancy sewing machine that would make nice neat letters and numbers, and as time went by I kept coming up with new ways to design our hand print pillows.     We traced our hands onto a thick cardboard folder.  I cut them out and then traced them onto Wunder Under.  Ivory pealed he paper backing off of the fabric hand prints and I ironed them into place.  While I sewed one, Sylvan paraded the other two around the house.  Each of our hands a single petal of a flower. Red, orange and yellow thread added a little detail.  And...

My little girl's arms and legs are suddenly long and lanky.  The clothing that fit her so well around Christmas time suddenly is just too small.  So I have decided to sew Ivory sunny summer wardrobe. These are the results of the last three days: A sun dress with knotted straps.   A summer dress with straps that tie over the shoulders.  The bodice has a print of delicate ferns, dragonflies, snails and beetles.   Ivory is so fascinated by all things buggy and wormy right now, so I hope she loves it!  (This dress is made from a small scrap of fabric a friend gave me, an up cycled man's shirt and a cotton shower curtain for the lace!) A twirly circle skirt. A twirly circle skirt that is reversible! And a skirt that contains the fabric Ivory fell in love with at Jo-Ann Fabric's.  Her favorite fabric was the pink with the little speckles, because "It looks like a cup cake."  This skirt is going to get a matching red shirt wit...

I am making invitations for Ivory's birthday party.   Late last night I considered all the crafting materials I had stashed around the house, pulled out a few bits and pieces and curled up next to my husband on the sofa to make a prototype.  The card turned out bright and lacy: perfect for a little girl's get together in, what is here, still the beginning of spring.  Supplies: white cards and matching envelopes (I am re-purposing Christmas cards I made and turned out ugly) colored card stock,       - a rectangle, smaller than the card      - a green heart for the leaves      - a circle for the center of the flower (mine are an 1 1/2" in diameter) a sewing needle thick thread (hand quilting thread works great) a glue stick one button for each card 20 inches of lace for each card Place the beginning of the lace in the center of the card stock circle.  Tack it down with the thread. ...

      I really wanted to make a stuffed tree with a few little birds sitting in the branches for Sylvan's first birthday. I had finished the trunk, cut out the canopy and needed to make the birds before I sewed the rest of the tree together. So, this Saturday I stubbornly sat in front of the sewing machine and attempted to sew a bird. I was frustrated, really wanting to go outside into the sunshine, but sometimes, I just can not quit (even if I should). Try one had a small pointy head. Try two over compensated and I ended up with a bird with a giant head and small body and ugly duck bill. On the third try I finally created a little stuffed bird that was closer to what I had imagined.       So here is the pattern I came up with: Print onto a full sheet of paper and it should be to scale.  This is a perfect scrap busting project.  Cut two bird shapes, 4 wings and one belly. Sew the pleats into the top of the bird head...