Sock Puppets

Recently, Ellie asked me if we could make sock puppets. I just happened to have some socks that I was getting rid of, and I had the same thing in mind. I Googled "sock puppet tutorial" and I found great instructions for a no-sew sock puppet here at Simple Up. The puppets came out fantastic. We just used old socks, scraps, and craft stuff that we had around the house. (And a hot glue gun.) Ellie wanted to make a prince and a princess, and we had a little puppet show after we made them.

Ellie named the princess "Buttercup." (Now she wants to watch "The Princess Bride." Is that okay for a four-year-old?)

The prince...

And the puppet show...we use one of our chairs as the stage whenever we do puppet shows...

Catching Up

It's been a while, I know. So, I have a few things to catch up on...

Sometimes I take Ellie and Robin for wagon rides around our neighborhood. We go up North Avenue to Laurel Avenue, which is a really pretty street. We have some favorite things that we see...some stray cats; some gardens; our friend Annette, who is a poet and gardener; and my favorite tree. I don't know exactly what kind of tree it is, but I want to have one someday. I think it's some sort of ornamental Japanese maple. The reason I love this tree so much is the amazing color that it turns in the fall. It's a firey, orangey, coral sort of color. When I started my gratitude journal last year, my first entry was about this tree. It just blows me away. I took pictures of it in the summer and the fall. (My photos don't do it justice.)

Over the summer, I went to Ohio to visit my friend Polly. I hadn't seen her in so many years, and it was a short but wonderful visit. When I was there, she gave me some things for the girls--one being a complete set of vintage Danish modern dollhouse furniture. We're going to give it to the girls for Christmas, and we're on the hunt for an appopriate dollhouse to go with the furniture. I made some blankets and pillows for the beds. Just a quick 5 minute project with scraps...

And, I've been working on a little bird ornament. I made him from scraps, too. I was thinking he could be a prototype for future items in my someday Etsy shop...I hope to turn him into a pillows and soft toys.

Seymour

We had to put our cat Seymour to sleep back in August, so I thought I'd do a little tribute to her here. She was a sweet and quirky cat. At one time, she weighed 16 pounds! But the last time we took her in to the vet, she was down to 4 1/2 lbs. It was so sad. The vet never really figured out what was wrong with her. We thought it was psychological because she seemed to go downhill once we had kids. The vet seemed to think it was severe IBD. Poor kitty, she was always getting sick. Nothing seemed to help--we tried all kinds of different food and medications. In the end, the vet's office kept her for nearly three weeks. They did all they could to rehab her, but her quality of life was horrible.

I want to remember Seymour when she was healthy and plump. And I want to remember how much Ellie and Robin loved her. Ellie could not get enough of Seymour. She always wanted to play with her and snuggle with her. And Robin just chased Seymour and grabbed her fur and tail any chance she could.

We all miss you, Seymour. You were the girls' first pet, and they won't forget you!

I'm Back

Hello,

Sorry I've been gone so long. Hope you haven't given up on me. I haven't written for a number of reasons--but mainly because I'm working again. I'm writing part of another book for Disney, and I'm doing some grantwriting for our local community college and its art museum. So...for a while I was getting up early to work and squeezing in work whenever I could. Now, we have a wonderful new babysitter who comes twice a week, and I'm regaining my sanity. I haven't been able to do any creative projects, and I've definitely cut back on my thrift shopping.

I did have one little find recently, though--these cute Pyrex bowls with glass lids and Amish designs.

And...yesterday I got a wonderful box of vintage sewing goodies from a fellow Freecycler! (Makes me want to sew so bad. Makes me want to walk around the fabric stores for hours and look at patterns, notions, fabric, etc.) Here are some highlights:

Pretty floral trim...

Vintage Simplicty dress pattern from 1969...I love A-line dresses.

Vintage Simplicity sewing book from 1962...

Vintage Fruit of the Loom rickrack...

Hopefully, I won't be gone for so long next time.

The Farm Store

I know I've mentioned the farm store several times on my blog, so I thought I would share some pictures with you. I love going there, and so do the girls. They like to visit the cows and the chickens. I'm sorry I didn't get better pics of the chickens. They really are so beautiful--I love the light brown ones and the black and white striped ones. When we leave, Robin always says, "want chickens back, mom, want cows back." Ellie loves all the cats that run around the farm, too. The best thing about the farm store is it makes me want to cook.

Also thought I'd share this photo with you. Ellie and I have been making birdhouses out of Legos lately. Ellie likes to make them for our little owl fingerpuppet, which was a gift to Robin from our dear friend Schools. Hooty is his name.

Bunnies

So I got Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts out of the library. There are lots of pretty projects in this book, but most of them are too fussy for me. I prefer simple stuff. I like the fabric guide in the beginning of the book, and the CD of patterns that comes with the book is really great.

I made these patchwork bunnies for the girls. The bunnies are based on the menswear bunnies in Martha's book. I made them from fabric scraps that Ellie picked out. They look kind of rough in places, but I guess that's what homemade stuff is all about. I always thought I was so bad at sewing because nothing I made ever came out perfect. I still kind of feel that way, so I have to keep telling myself it's okay. The beauty of it is that it's made by hand.

And now for something completely different. I am getting my new car on Wednesday. It's an '03 Honda Civic LX sedan. Very cute. Can't really go wrong with a Honda. Looking forward to turning in my rental--a bulky Dodge Avenger-police car-type-of-car. Won't miss it at all.

Robin's Birthday Party

Just a quick note before I feature Robin's birthday party--my car was totaled. So...we'll be car shopping this week.

Robin's party was a bit early this year because I wanted to have it before my sister has her baby next week. I tried to do a Maisy theme. I can't bear to go out and buy any party stuff--I feel like it's so wasteful--so I just made a few things. I made this birthday banner when Ellie turned one, and we've used it for every kid birthday party ever since--just change the name each time. I cut out the letters from Origami paper.

A few Maisy coloring pages...(guilty pleasure, I still love to color)

Maisy goodie bags...filled with granola bars, cereal bars, fruit leather, and organic lollipops from Traders Joe's. I love consumable party favors.



Vegan vanilla cupcakes (My Favorite Cupcakes from Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet cookbook) with Maisy cupcake flags.



Lemon thyme zucchini flatbread--a Weight Watchers recipe--with zucchini from the farm store.



Tomato, basil, mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil from the farm store. I wanted to get the mozzarella from the farm store, too, but the cheese lady was late that day and there was no cheese to be had.

I made Maisy invitations, too, but I don't have a photo for you. And...we got a new camera today! Hooray! It's a Nikon Coolpix. I hope I'll have better photos in my future posts. Ellie dropped our Canon Powershot on the floor a while back, and it no longer worked after that. I've been using an old camera ever since.