Eric Carle

Tonight Jane and I were looking online at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. I was sighing and telling her how much I would like to go there. Especially since right now they have the art of Virginia Lee Burton on display (The Little House is one of our favorite children's books). Jane said "we can go there next week". I told her we couldn't go because we live in Washington and the Museum is in Massachusetts which is a long way away and she said, "that's ok...I can take a nap on the way". That is going to be one long nap.

If you are a fan of Eric Carle, check out the ideas over at the Crafty Crow in honor of the 40th of anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Jane has been enjoying listening to Bill Martin read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?". He actually sings the words to the song and Jane has been singing it this way now too. "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" was the first book Eric Carle did illustrations for.

To make your own "Brown Bear" inspired artwork, check out these children's collages from Skip to My Lou. I think I might make these with Jane when we get back into the rythym of our Monday, Art Days.

Tee Shirt Re-Vamp

When my kids are painting, I always take precautions to keep the paint on the paper/object rather than on their clothing. However, I forgot to protect my own clothing recently and ended up with two permanent red paint spots on my shirt. The spots were small but unsightly and I decided to cover them up with a little butterfly applique. I ironed on a small square of Heat 'n Bond to a scrap of blue fabric, then cut out a butterfly using this template from Martha Stewart, and ironed it on over the stain. Ta-da. I am so proud of myself for salvaging my shirt.

Winner!

Congratulations to Connie! You are the winner of the cabochon earring giveaway. I will contact you via email for your address to ship them off. Thanks to everyone who entered.

Last Day to Enter Earring Give-Away!

Today is your last chance to enter to win a pair of yellow rose cabochon earrings. Post a comment below. I will draw a winning name and announce it tomorrow! Good luck.

Belated Birthday Giveaway!

Happy belated birthday, CraftPad! June 18th marked CraftPad's second anniversary and I'd like to celebrate with a little give-away! I mentioned awhile back how much I love my red rose cabochon earrings. My best friend, Zennie, ordered some supplies and we made several pairs of earrings and rings for ourselves and our friends. (Thanks to Homemade by Jill for the tip). To win a pair of yellow rose earrings, post a comment below (with your email address) by Friday, June 26th. I will randomly draw a winner and contact you for your mailing address. I'll send the earring off to you ASAP. Thanks for celebrating with me!

Denyse Shmidt Quilt at Pottery Barn

I was pleasantly suprised to open my new Pottery Barn catalogue and find a beautiful wedding-ring style quilt from Denyse Shmidt. I love her fabric lines: Country Fair, Katie Jump Rope, and Flea Market Fancy. The Pottery Barn Quilt runs from $299-$449.

If you are ambitious you can make your own version of this quilt using Denyse's fabric lines and following her Single Girl pattern .

Mermaids

Jane had a friend over yesterday and the girls decided they wanted to do some arts and crafts. I set out all the supplies on our picnic table outside and printed out a few copies of this mermaid template from my Kids Craft Weekly newsletter. I helped braid the yarn hair which Jane glued on one and she decided one needed button eyes. Ideally, they are supposed to be glued to Popsicle sticks to use as puppets but I didn't have any Popsicle sticks on hand. Here are the mermaid friends. They are named Jane, Mama, Dada, and Clark.

Trophy Cupcakes at University Village

I love the retro storefront and yummy treats served at Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford and I am so excited about the new shop which just opened at University Village (Seattle) this month. Since U. Village is one of my favorite spots for kid free shopping excursions with friends I am totally excited to be able to dine on cupcakes while I'm there. I love the atmosphere at the original store and the fun kitschy party supplies they sell so I am anxious to check out their new location. Anyone up for an outing?

Rebecca's Quilt

It is so nice to finish a project. Baby Rebecca's quilt is complete several days after her birth and I am excited to bring this gift to her. I used combinations of white, pink and yellow fabric remnants from my stash and embroidered the R by hand. I really like the sunny color combination. I quilted the finished product on my machine so it is far from perfection. I hope baby Rebbecca enjoys snuggling up with it.

More Nurse Nancy Inspiration

Check out these adorable Nurse Nancy style aprons and hats Lier from Ikat Bag made for her daughters. I love this idea. So much simpler than sewing an entire dress. And easier for the children to put on. She shares her template for making the nurse hat as well. I've got to make one of our own. Thanks so much to Lier for sharing your idea.

Nurse Nancy Inspiration

Do you remember Nurse Nancy? She is a favorite around here. Jane loves to read the Little Golden Book, Nurse Nancy, and to play hospital with her own friends and dolls.
I have been contemplating how to go about making Jane a little Nurse Nancy costume to wear. I found some inspiration on ETSY when I stumbled upon these vintage play doctor boxes for candy pills (which Nancy gives to her own patients in the the story) and this sweet and simple little girls dress styled after Nurse Nancy's blue and white stripes.


I am fairly confident I could make a dress using a similar pattern and a little white apron, but I need to do a little research on making the little nurse hat which Nancy wears.

Thanks Mom

Thank you for picking me up a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes mom! I have been skimming through the photos and getting inspired to bake something delicious. I am anxious to try out the Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes and the Mint-filled Brownie cupcakes. Yum.

Garage Sale Find

My neighborhood garage sale is this weekend and while out looking around I happened upon an old Fisher-Price Schoolhouse. The set included the teacher with her desk and chair, her three students with their desk and playground merry-go-round, slide and swing, and all of the magnetic aphabet letters and numbers! No missing magnets. I love the little ringing bell on top and the clock with hands that you can move.

A Little Golden Book

I picked up the UP Little Golden Book at the grocery store last night and set it out for Jane to find this morning. The modern Little Golden Books which feature popular Disney/Pixar films have really great artwork. The style reminds me a bit of Mary Blair and for $2.99 the books are a great deal.

We've been growing our collection of Little Golden Books for the past several years and usually pick out the Classic stories which were published oringinally in the 1940's. Here are our some of our favorties:

Jane recommends:
Seven Little Postmen
The Color Kittens
Nurse Nancy
Little Mommy
Good Night, Little Bear

Clark recommends:
The Jolly Barn Yard
The Fire Engine Book
Cars and Trucks

I recommend:
The Little Red Hen
Animal Orchestra
The Bunny Book
I Can Fly

Simple Cakes to Impress your Friends

You can make a beautiful and delicious cake which impresses all your friends from a store bought cake mix. I do this all the time. If you want to give a plain cake mix a little something; just add one simple ingredient and you will be surprised how much it adds to the cake. My favorite combinations are:

devils food cake + peanut butter chips,
vanilla cake + chopped strawberries,
chocolate cake + mini chocolate chips and
vanilla cake + semi-sweet & white chocolate swirled chips

And even better, your frosting can come from a can. I actually prefer the taste of pre-made frosting to homemade buttercream. It is light and fluffy and easy to spread.

Quilt How-to from Katie Did

I have mentioned my love for Katie Did in the past, and I wanted to point out this great quilt how-to she has for making a really simple and beautiful quilt on your machine. So clever and simple. I love it. I want to make one. Who's having a baby and needs a pretty quilt?

Love Note

I just love this hand embroidered love note from Katie Cupcake (via Craftzine). She hung it up in her bathroom. I totally want to make one.

Star Wars Gift Wrap

When it comes to wrapping gifts, I like to use paper and let Jane decorate it herself. I wrapped up this birthday gift for her cousin which includes these STAR WARS finger puppets and asked Jane to color the "wrapping paper". This is what she created! She drew Darth Vader in the top left corner with R2D2 next to him, Yoda below in the left corner and a Storm Trooper next to him. I love her interpretation of the characters.


P.S. If you are wondering about the little YODA box in the top right corner, you can print one and cut it out yourself (or Chewbaca) at StarWars.com.

Simple Gifts to Make and Give your Favorite Teacher

Its the end of the school year and I wanted to come up with a simple homemade gift to give Jane's wonderful preschool teacher to thank her for a wonderful school year. For Jane's teacher, I scanned some of Jane's drawing onto our computer, printed them on card stock, folded them in half and added little envelopes to create a stack of personalized note cards. I am planning to give theses along with a lovely storybook for the teacher to use next year in her classroom. Here are a few other simple gift ideas to make and give your favorite teacher before summer begins.

1. Personalized Note cards

2. Candy Jar

3. Homemade Bookmarks

4. Appliqued Tote bag

5. Homemade Goodies (My Favorite Zucchini Bread, Best Ever Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons or one of your own specialty's).

The Good News & The Bad News

The good news is that I finally got my Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts book in the mail the other day after ordering it for myself for Mother's Day! I totally love it. There are great how-tos on just about every crafting technique.The bad news is that I got an email from Amazon telling me the other book I ordered, Sublime Stitching, will not be shipped out for three more weeks. Boo hoo.