More tote bags!

I made some more tote bags for my friend’s girls.  This time I appliqued their initials on the front.  The pink one didn’t really have too high of a contrast unfortunately, but it’s still cute.  Note to self….always use stabilizer behind the applique.  I tried to short-cut on the first one, and I shouldn’t have.

I put in some Flower Fairy books (coloring and paper dolls) as part of the present too.  I’m sure they will love them!

Based on the same tutorial from Skip to my Lou, I also made a similar tote with some linen, applique and sketchy stitching as part of a contribution to the handmade craft swap at Alewives Fabric last week (amazing! super fun!).  I can’t wait to share that with you!   I loved how it turned out.  However, I can’t share those pictures until I find my camera cord.  We are installing new wood floors in my office, and I had to empty out the entire messy room.  So, my camera cord is in a box somewhere.  Hopefully the floors, etc. will be done soon and I can unpack that box.  We also painted the room a really pretty yellow and I’m so excited to get back in there and get re-organized!

Paella

As I am sitting here enjoying my leftovers from Saturday night’s dinner, I just wanted to share a picture of the yummy dinner that my husband made.  Mmmm….paella with lobster, shrimp, mussels, andouille, and chicken.  A milestone because my almost 7yo decided that he loves mussels almost as much as shrimp.

Reversible tote bag

Reversible tote bag

I used the tutorial that Skip to My Lou posted recently to make a reversible tote bag for my friend.  Didn’t it turn out cute?  I think it will make a perfect library bag.  Very quick and simple to make, and a good “first project” for anyone practicing their sewing.

Freezer paper stencils for camping 2009

Moose freezer paper stencil shirt

Last year, I made freezer paper stencils of bears for our first annual camping trip with our good friends.  I created a tutorial for it, if you want to check it out.  This year, we planned to go back to the same campground (even the same sites!), and the boys decided that they wanted moose this year.  They turned out great.  Our camping trip, not so much.  We have had the rainiest/coldest summer here in Maine, and it rained all day on the Saturday of our trip.  We decided to cancel, and we had a sleepover at our friend’s house instead.  We did a nice climb up Mt. Battie in Camden Hills State Park on Friday,  had sleepover on the rainy Saturday, and then went with them on Sunday to a state park on the ocean to have some cold swimming (ocean temp was 53 degrees that day!).  When the Best Hikes With Kids book tells you that a climb is “moderate,” listen to them. I think it’s a great book, and the boys were able to do the hike, but it wasn’t easy by any means. Goes from 200ft to 800ft in half a mile. The boys felt very accomplished!  K was like a mountain goat (he’s almost 7), it was a bit harder for J who is just five.

Climbing Mt. Battie

Climbing Mt. Battie

Reid State Park

A small update to the tutorial however.  I once again used the Tulip Soft paint.  On the bottle, it had some additional instructions that I didn’t remember from last time.  It said to hold a steaming iron about 2 inches above the image for about 10 seconds.  I wasn’t sure what this was for since it didn’t give any further information.  I didn’t think it was required for setting the image because it didn’t state that, but I wasn’t sure what would happen when you did it.  So I decided to try it.  It made the image all puffy and three dimensional.  So, now we have 3-D moose!

All four of the boys really love their 2009 shirts, even if we didn’t actually go camping.  They all still wear their bear shirts from last year too!  I love it when you can see how appreciated your crafting efforts are.