I may be small…

…but my output is BIG!

You’d think that people who work for a place built entirely for little people (e.g. Strong Museum of Play) would be used to dealing with little people “mishaps”…

Such was the response to baby Stephen’s “mishap” as we were leaving after lunch. As I walked out the museum’s main entrance, baby in one arm and Charissa in the other, Stephen lets out a superior mini-man fart that caused a violent eruption of poop to shoot out of his pants, covering my arm and landing on the pavement. I’ve never seen people move out of my way so fast as I held him out at arms-length, poop dripping from my arm, scurrying to the bathroom. It was a disaster. I had to give him a “sink bath” (Am I the only one who’s ever had to resort to this?) since he was covered in the stuff. Anyway. Big commotion. The staff comes running in with rubber gloves and a cart full of toxic cleaning chemicals after being informed by the crowd of mothers running out with their children (okay, not that bad, but some did skip washing their hands…) Got him cleaned. All was right and good again. As we headed out for the second time, I had to take a picture of this:

Too bad I didn’t bring my fancy Nikon camera for a more “artistic” rendition of his hazardous material, now so properly quarantined… what a great way to welcome museum visitors… I wonder what they’re planning to do with it…

Tags: Kids
Posted in Funny Little People | 5 Comments »

This Evening’s amuse-bouche

Sorry for the lack of posts. I’ve been too busy this week to put anything together. So to help fill the void, here’s a video the kids made for Jeremy while he was away during our Church Youth Retreat at Delta Lake (…Cornell CBS alumni? I have great memories of this place… like playing mafia all night long and falling into the lake…) Just a heads up, this is looong.

Tags: Kids
Posted in Funny Little People | 1 Comment »

I’m Back!

Music & Bible camp/VBS is over and I can finally get back to blogging and making stuff! (By the way, have you guys been to Crap I’ve Made? I wish I thought of that blog title… ) Anyway, here are some things I’ve been working on:

A “Montessori” bag for Calvin (Charissa’s is still in progress):

Room enough for 12 markers, folder or notebook, Goodbyn lunchbox, and water bottle:

A new dress that’s got me thinking about when I want to start the kids on piano and violin:

A cardigan that’s been floating in my head for a while now:

And another upcycled project that I will share with you now:

I remember playing with something similar to these when I was little. You stand and balance on the top of the cans and pull/move with the “ropes”. My mother-in-law had given me a bunch of empty Shaklee cans and I’ve been waiting for the right project to use them. The “ropes” are just strips of fabric braided together, and if you feel inclined to make a pair for your own children, here is a quick tutorial:

1. You will need a power drill with a 1/4″ drill bit.

2. Drill two holes on opposite sides of a sturdy can (the shorter the can, the easier it will be for kids to use. Formula cans may work well too.)

3. Using pinking shears or a pinking blade, cut three 1″ by 88″ strips of fabric (you will need to sew strips together end-on-end to get the length you need.)

4. Layer the ends of the strips together.

5. Roll up the end as tight as possible,

6. and thread it through the hole.

7. Tie a knot,

8. and pull through.

Then just braid the strips together and secure the other end of the strips in the same manner.

Calvin had a lot of fun practicing walking on them:

And for those of you who know my kids, here’s a recent clip of them dancing away. They were much less reserved when I didn’t have the camera on them. Once they knew I was recording, they toned it down a bit

Tags: Crafts, Etsy, Recycle, Upcycle
Posted in Funny Little People, Sew Happy, Things for Little People | 1 Comment »

Crafting Equation and [Stuffed] Animal Abuse

I’ll begin with the latter…

Since I was “one of those kids” who liked to disassemble Barbie dolls and give my stuffed animals “haircuts”, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to see this:

…or this:

Sigh. Life must be hard for a stuffed animal. Especially one chosen to be some child’s favorite…

But continue we must to the actual content of this post, my crafting “equation”.

I rarely make anything “just because it’s cute” and that requires more than a couple hours. Usually, several components have to come together before I sacrifice hours of my life where I should could be doing laundry or cleaning the bathrooms It goes something like this:

need + inspiration + takes less than 2 hours to complete + materials on hand =
Jen makes something

This is how my “All Ruffled Up for Spring” wreath came into being.

need

Shortly after I hung the very pink wreath I made last summer, I found the beginnings of a bird’s nest:

I didn’t want the birds to actually settle in considering that we’re starting to open and close the front door as the weather gets warmer. So, a need for a new, less-twiggy-and-bird-attracting wreath.

inspiration

Sometime last year, I came across this gorgeous wreath:

I immediately bookmarked it with intentions of making it someday…

Then about a month back, I was pleasantly surprised to see daffodils popping up in our landscaping:

At that time, Jeremy’s dad had parked his yellow viper in our driveway. Yellow is such a happy color!

A couple days ago, I got this perfectly ruffled carnation:

Well, the yellow daffodils have since dried up. The viper is no longer gracing our driveway. And that carnation won’t live forever. But that wreath…

takes less than 2 hours to complete

But that wreath does not take less than 2 hours to complete. According to the lady who made the wreath, it took her 12 to 15 hours… not to mention cutting out 286 circles… I don’t know. I really like that wreath (and kudos to the lady who made it!) but I just don’t think I have the patience to see it through. However… I do know how to make ruffles… and make them fast…

materials on hand

No felt. But I have plenty of fabric. So much so I think I need an intervention. I’m so addicted to pretty patterns… and it doesn’t help that there’s a designer fabric store within walking distance from the kids’ school…

So a need for new front-door decor, a desire to have something yellow in place of daffodils, a beautiful model to keep me inspired, and plenty of material on hand, my own version of a ruffled wreath was born:

This took me a little less than an hour to do. If you feel so inclined to make one too, here is a quick tutorial:

The “All Ruffled Up for Spring” Wreath

You will need:
- 1.5 yards of fabric (I used 42″ wide quilter’s cotton)
- scissors or rotary cutter and mat
- ruler
- 18″ wire wreath (I got mine at Jo-Ann’s for $3.99)
- needle and thread
- sewing machine
- hot glue gun

1. With your fabric still folded selvedge to selvedge (the way it comes right off the bolt), cut 2-inch-wide strips across the length of the fabric. (Your strips will initially be folded in half.) For my wreath, I cut a total of 26 strips:

2. Open up your strips, and two-by-two, with ends matching, sew the strips together:

3. You now have a very very long strip (Mine measured 91 feet long! I didn’t actually measure it. I just used my calculator…)

4. Now set your sewing machine’s tension and stitch length to the max (e.g. tension set at 9 and stitch length set at 5.0) and sew straight down the middle of your very long strip. It should ruffle up nicely as you go along:

5. Take one end of your ruffled strip and start folding it back and forth, about 2 inches at a time (similar to making a gigantic squiggle and then squishing it together) until you have a small ruffled-flower-like thing:

6. With your needle and thread, secure the layers by passing through a few times:

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 a small section at a time until you reach the end, placing your ruffled flower bunches in the wreath frame as you complete them:

8. With your hot glue gun, secure the ruffles onto the frame. Alternatively, you can hand sew/secure the ruffles onto the frame.

9. If you’re like me and ended up with some uneven spots, you can fill in the gaps with some pretty fabric flowers! (I’ll be posting tutorials on how to make some next week!):

And here are some library totes that came about through the same crafting equation:

Calvin and Charissa love going to the library… a mini Wednesday ritual for us

Tags: Crafts, Sewing, Tutorial, Wreath
Posted in Funny Little People, Sew Happy | 3 Comments »

Milestones

“Oh, almost forgot, I am modeling a tie-appliqued shirt that I designed. All by myself. That skull-and-flame fabric is pretty cool.”

“So cool that I even had my mommy make a matching onesie for my baby brother.”

“Yeah. My mommy is pretty awesome (and nutty). She even made cool favors for my friends (lip smackers, flower head bands, sparkly heart bracelets, and golden-books pins for the girls; hand-drawn superhero t-shirts and funky monkey pins for the boys.)

“My daddy is awesome too. He paid for my very expensive party at Bounce-it-Out so I could eat pizza and cake on a cool inflatable throne and bounce all night with my friends, even after the party was officially over, to get our money’s worth!”

“I’m not the only one who’s reached a milestone. My 6-month-old brother Stephen recently started eating mushed-up food. And if you’re wondering why his mouth is so dirty… well, mommy says that feeding Stephen is like war: you’re constantly aiming for a wildly moving target. My mommy doesn’t have very good aim.”

“I know. Scary stuff. Don’t worry Stephen, in a few months, you’ll be able to eat dumplings and hamburgers. I think. Actually, I’m not sure if you’ll be big enough. I don’t think mommy knows either. She seems to be winging it with you, third time around…”

“Baby Stephen also has an interesting way of sitting… or rather, not sitting. He doesn’t like sitting. I don’t blame him. Sitting doesn’t really get you anywhere.”

“But what does get you somewhere is crawling! And baby Stephen is one smart cookie. He skipped over all that sitting nonsense and moved right into crawling. Since mommy is too lazy to take a video and upload it to You Tube, I’ll just put up a picture of my cool baby brother rockin’ some shades!”

“Far away, my god-sister R also reached a milestone. She finally learned how to poop in the potty! To congratulate on her fine achievement, I had daddy email her a picture of me pooping on the potty!”

“Actually, she asked for my picture. I think she likes me… per the conversation she had with her mommy the other day…”

R: Mommy, I poopied on the potty! I’m old now! I’m older than grandpa.
J: No, you’re not older than grandpa. If you were older than grandpa you’d be married and have kids.
R: I wanna marry Calvin!
J: Oh you wanna marry Calvin? Do you like Calvin?
R: Yeah, I like Calvin.
J: Why do you like Calvin?
R: Cuz Calvin’s mean.
J: Um, ok. Well Calvin’s not mean. Why do you wanna marry Calvin?
R: I wanna marry Calvin cuz he knows how to poopy on the potty. He learned how to do it. I learned too just like Calvin. Can I see a pic of Calvin pooping on the potty?
J: Uh Mommy doesn’t have a picture of Calvin pooping on the potty, but we can ask Auntie Jen if she’s willing to let you see one hahaha.

“Hehe. Last but not least, my mommy reached a milestone!… of sorts… she finished her very first quilt!”

“From up high, it looks like a gigantic potholder!”

“She was thrifty in using up a lot of scraps. She was also cheap, lazy, and scared of buying, sewing, and stippling batting so she used a piece of fleece-backed-jersey-knit leftover from something else. She was also too lazy (did I mention my mommy was lazy?) to cut her own binding so she cheated and used biased tape instead… and ended up coming one inch short… which explains the the little cover-up loop that makes the quilt look like a giant pot-holder. It’s okay though. A lot of baby blankies these days come with the loop so it can be attached to a stroller handle, hence, preventing the blankie from completely falling off the baby and onto the road… and yeah, my mommy only wished I could talk this well Just kidding! (says my mommy). Hoorah for speech therapy!”

“Preettty…”

“I think this blog has also reached a milestone… in terms of how much you had to scroll down to reach the end of this post…”

Tags: Birthday, Kids, Quilt, Quilting
Posted in Funny Little People, Sew Happy | 3 Comments »

A Compromise in the Works

So after much debate, I’ve decided to re-open my Etsy shop. Except, instead of selling dresses, I’ll be selling kits, of my dresses, so you can make them The kits will contain pre-cut fabric, all embellishments and notions, and instructions. Going this route will allow me to keep all the stuff I make (which I always have a hard time parting with), focus on creating, and fulfill my role as mother, wife, etc. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Yay! Plus, others will get a chance to make something simple and special for their own little girls without the time-consuming task of figuring out, marking, and cutting out patterns… which is ideal for beginner sewers or those looking to get into sewing (ahem ).

The dress pictured above is a new design I’ve been working on. Originally, this dress was going to be made into a kit. But they no longer make this fabric pattern. So I had to go with something else…

Anyway, here are some other shots of Charissa… in a dress that she can finally now keep!!!

Special thanks to my friend A for giving me the idea and helping me get it together

Tags: Etsy, Growing Up with Charissa, Kits, Sewing
Posted in Funny Little People, Sew Happy | No Comments »

Boys will be boys…

The other day, while fabric shopping, Calvin says to me, “Mommy, make me something!” Poor kid, the only handmade thing he’s gotten from me so far is that felt pillow I sewed together as practice… and it’s already starting to pill like mad. (Not like Charissa has it any better. She gets all my shop “rejects” and experiments to prance around in, and then she has to pose for me in the nice stuff that she will never get wear again…) So to settle my guilt, I let him choose his very own fabric to be made into pajama pants. And he picked this:

I tried showing him other designs and patterns to see if I could get him to choose something a bit “better looking”. But he was very adamant about the skulls and flames… boys will be boys…

Speaking of which, he had his first dental checkup the other day and loved it! (I think us bringing him along to our past cleanings helped him feel at ease about all the whirly tools…) Since he was so cooperative, he got to pick a “prize” from a little booklet. And of all things, including cool dinosaur figurines and cars, he chose vampire teeth… that are too big for his mouth…

He’s been chasing Charissa around with this thing hanging out of his mouth for the past two days. She hates it. “Ewww! What is this?!”

Despite his boyish taste, Calvin has a very gentle and compassionate heart. He always helps me open the door when I’m carrying groceries into the house, without me ever asking him to… and he puts his shoes away neatly on the shoe rack after taking them off and helps Charissa with hers too!

Tags: Boys
Posted in Funny Little People, Life | 4 Comments »

Natural Disasters

With kids, you never know what awaits the minute you try to head out the door. As we were getting ready to run some errands yesterday morning, I spotted this on our kitchen wall:

Calvin got a hold of some stamps he received from a birthday party on Monday and decided to do some home decorating himself. He hasn’t done anything like this in a looong time. Previous disasters include pulling off the keys on my laptop, twice, and using a dark blue permanent marker to draw great big circles on every single cushion on our light beige microfiber sectional. I’ve found the best solution to dealing with these “natural disasters” is a good sense of humor (and of course, some discipline to teach them that what they did is not acceptable!)

Tags: Kids
Posted in Funny Little People, Life | No Comments »

Just Add Water

So this post is meant to be a form of encouragement for those of us who are feeling the pressure, stress, and guilt of (not) being the perfect mother, or even a good mother at that…

I haven’t bathed my children in 5 days!

(I hope my in-laws aren’t gagging in horror right now… don’t worry, they’ll be clean - enough - by the time we go bowling tonight… read on…)

Don’t ask why, it just didn’t happen. So my solution to two dirty kids? Just add water - and a bar of soap we swiped from some hotel. Not only do they have fun “cleaning” one another, they even went as far as cleaning their deck toys.

I think we’ll still throw them in the tub for a real bath later on tonight…

Tags: Kids, Motherhood
Posted in Funny Little People, Life | 1 Comment »

Mug Shot

We took the kids to get their passports today at the post office and this is the “pose” Charissa insisted on:

Doesn’t she look guilty? (We eventually got her to take another shot because we worried that this one would get rejected since part of her left eye is covered.) I toyed around and made this:

Tags: Children, Funny, Kids
Posted in Funny Little People, Life | 1 Comment »