penny carnival

12 Days of Crafting, Day 4: Make a draft snake

It's close to zero degrees here in Spokane with a windchill that's making things worse. Perfect timing, then, to make a draft snake.

 Put this bad boy on the crack at the bottom of your door and the cold air doesn't stand a chance of getting inside. Well, maybe a little chance, but I swear it does help considerably.

Draft snake tutorial here.

The Santa situation, Thanksgiving costumes and more daily life

Oh, you guys who keep coming back to read Penny Carnival after these long breaks between posts are too good to me. Even J has been scolding me. 

I'm sorry for my absence. It's been, well, nuts.

Thanksgiving was lovely, though. How about you? 

We visited my family across the state and had a fun dinner at my sister's. The kids put on a "First Thanksgiving" play, dressed in costumes we made at the 11th hour (me, anyway).

Despite some historical inaccuracies (we're going to let that slide for a few years), it was downright adorable.

The play ended with the kids sharing a Thanksgiving feast of rice crispy treats shaped like corn on the cob and a blessing that led us to the dinner table.

 
You can read more about it on my Kids' Parties site.  

I did find time to make myself a pilgrim apron following Heather Bailey's fantastic Daily Spice pattern. I say pilgrim because it had a black bodice and skirt and a white waistband and ties. No pictures yet. I always seem to be behind the camera instead of in front of it.

The plan was to make four identical aprons--one for me, my mom, my sister and her friend who had dinner with us. But I only had time for one and it turned out a bit wonky (you know how it goes when you're using a pattern for the first time) so it's all mine. Maybe I'll try for a Santa style one for Christmas (red, black, red?) ... or maybe not.

Speaking of Santa, we're in the midst of our annual dilemma. J and I feel so strongly about being truthful with our kids. It's utterly painful for us to carry on with the Santa story. We do it, cheerfully, but this year is more challenging than ever because both girls have developed a phobia of the big guy. 

It seriously goes beyond a normal fear, especially for Bo, who is 4 now. I think Magpie (who is 2) gets scared because she sees her big sister crying. We tried to go to our city's annual tree lighting, but she wouldn't step foot in the building because she knew Santa would be there. The poor kid was hysterical.

We stayed in a hotel near Seattle last night in a city that throws a holiday parade--totally fun. Fake snow falling from the sky. Toy soldiers on stilts giving out candy canes. People dressed up like reindeer and snowmen and penguins. I don't even know if Santa was there because the girls didn't want to have anything to do with it. 

I take that back. Bo was happy to meet the Snow Princess. 

My mom was with us and she tried dancing the jitterbug with Rudolph to help the girls get comfortable with the costumes, but it didn't work (and then Rudolph's helper said to my mom, "OK, lady. Let's not get Rudolph too hot in there." If you know my mom, it was a classic Nancy moment.)

I kind of wonder if Bo is so scared because we're so honest with her about everything else. She's in the heart of those years when she's trying to figure out how the world works, and here are her parents telling her that some old guy is going to park his reindeer on her roof and shimmy down her chimney one night. I think I'd be freaked out, too.

I'm seriously considering telling her the truth and focusing on the historical story of Saint Nick, not to mention all the other wonderful Christmas traditions. But here is how the conversation usually goes when I suggest this:

Megan: I don't like being dishonest with my kids.
Friends and Family: When you were little, didn't you believe in Santa?
Megan: Yes.
Friends and Family: And it was fun, wasn't it?
Megan: Yes.
Friends and Family: Then why rob your children of some of the magic of Christmas?
Megan: Umm ... I don't know.

Plus, what if she told all the kids in preschool the truth about Santa. Would we get expelled??!

Advice please. There are four weeks until Christmas and at some point I'm going to need to go into a mall.

In other news, we made our first snowmen of the year:

But it's these snowmen I'm really craving:

(Photo taken at Madeleine's in Spokane) 

And if you're going to make a snowman, you might as well do it in style, right Magpie?

 

We enjoyed a recent playdate with a friend:

 

which resulted in these cookies:

and this sweet moment in Bo's bedroom:

Bo won her first coloring contest, which bought dinner for four so we're happy to report that she's now earning her keep:

And check out this adorable Princess and the Pea toy my nieces' grandmother made for them after seeing the idea here:


 Squeal! Don't you love the little pocket for the pea?

I'm sure she would want me to tell everyone that she didn't make the doll, but she's an accomplished seamstress so I know she could make any doll she wanted to.   

Now that your computer has crashed from opening all those photos ... come back soon because I'm working behind the scenes on lots of good stuff. Twelve--count 'em! twelve!--tutorials for Christmas crafts. That starts Dec. 6, but hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to say before then (but don't hold your breath). 

   

  

A book bag for a baby boy

Yes, he's still swimming inside his mommy's tummy. And, yes, it'll be a few years before he signs his name on a library card.

But Baby Julian, the little man my friend Carolyn plans to deliver sometime next weekend (she's hoping he'll cooperate with her schedule) will need a book bag one day.

That was part of my baby shower gift for Carolyn this afternoon. 

The image I embroidered is courtesy of the generous and talented Sarah Jane, who shared some adorable back-to-school designs with readers of Sew Mama Sew. I had to sort of freehand it, though, and go over it twice because my method of transferring the image onto my nubby knit fabric failed miserably. A little wonky, but I don't think little Julian will care.

(FYI: Sarah Jane is the genius behind the kid art in my entryway.)

The bag itself is just a simple rectangle, lined with muslin.

Happy reading, Baby J. One day.

Stick-bound book tutorial

I've got food on the brain (when do I not?).

Our garden is on the verge of exploding. So far, we've been able to eat what it grows but I think within the next week it'll start outpacing us and J's co-workers will mysteriously find zucchini and patty-pan squash sitting on their desks in the morning.

Enter this recipe for ratatouille from The Leftoverist (A.K.A. Sarah, a friend of mine from high school who I've mentioned here before). I've got it roasting in the oven right now. The smell of the basil is killing me (in a good way)--not to mention the smell of tomatoes that's lingering on my fingers. 

I plan to eat it this way tomorrow.

I'm convinced that Sarah needs to write a cookbook. Her photos alone are stunning, not to mention the artwork her sister Naomi has done for the blog.

Now, if I were to write a cookbook, it would be this big:

In other words, itty bitty. 

This little booklet is one of the make-and-take crafts I'll be teaching at the county fair I mentioned last week. I'm running a booth as part of my gig for the local newspaper as a blogger for its "Down to Earth" Web site.

Everything will be made from secondhand materials, so I've been hitting every thrift store and garage sale in town over the last few weeks collecting supplies. Even the hole puncher we'll be using to make these books was a 99-cent find from The Classy Rack (don't you love it when thrift shops get clever with their names?). 

I figure this little booklet, which is bound with a twig and some twine (or yarn or strong string--whatever you have handy), could be used for grocery-shopping or to-do lists. If I were really great at entertaining house guests, I would print out the recipes of the food I made for them while they were staying with me, bind the recipes together this way and then give the book to my friends as a departure gift. As it is, my last house guests were lucky to get clean sheets and take-out pizza.

If you can find a use for this little booklet, please enjoy this tutorial:

1. Choose a front and back cover for your booklet. The paper should be cardstock-like, so consider using cereal boxes, softback book covers, old calendar pages, etc. In the pictures here, I used the front and back cover of a small coloring book from 1967.

2. Choose some filler paper. I like to mix blank pages with pages from old books, dictionaries or graphing paper.

3. Find a twig, pencil, chopstick or other short stick and a piece of strong string or twine that's about 15 inches long. (The length of your string will depend on how tall the book is that you're making.) 

4. You will also need a hole puncher, scissors and either a clothespin or paper clip.

5. Arrange the papers in your hand like a book, sandwiching the lightweight paper inside the heavier cardstock. Tap the stack on the table so that the edges of the left side are even and hold everything together with your paper clip or clothespin. 

6. If the papers aren't already all the same size and shape, trim around everything so all the pages (including the front and back cover) are the same size.

7. Punch two holes on the left side of the stack, a few inches apart.

8. Lay the stick on the right side of the holes. 

9. Poke one end of the string through the top hole of the book, pulling it through so that about half the length of the string is sticking out the front of the book. Wrap the string around the stick once or twice, then poke the string back through the hole toward the back of the book. Pull so the loop around the stick is snug.

10. Repeat that step with the bottom hole.

11. Pull tightly and tie the ends of the string together in a double knot on the back side of the book. 

12. Trim the ends of the string. Or don't. Whatever.

You're done!

The stick binding isn't practical for, say, a journal or anything else you'd be opening often and writing in at length. But it's kind of a cute, earthy way to present something special, like maybe a wedding program (grrr ... there I go again re-doing my wedding seven years later). 

While I have your attention, I just have to put a plug in for some amazing Spokane talent. Last night, J and I attended a fundraiser for a food co-op that's opening soon here. For an extremely reasonable price, we were treated to some top-notch entertainment, including book readings by 2006 National Book Award finalist Jess Walter and columnist Cheryl-Anne Millsap, both of whom are fantastic people as well as talented writers.

And then pianists Brad Greene and Kaylee Cole took our breath away. You can hear some of Brad's music on his site and Kaylee's here. I know we're all busy people, but if you get a sec give them a listen. 

Hope all is well, my bloggy friends.

 

The princess party

I will spare everyone the details of my inner turmoil over Bo's princess birthday party yesterday. You already know how I feel about the princess trend, so, yes, it was kind of hard to see my daughter go so bananas for all things pink and princessy over the last few weeks. There's no doubt that it has caught her attention, though, so we just tried to avoid the Disney stuff and focus on the fairy tales and the magic of it all. In the end, it was a very sweet birthday party and, needless to say, Bo was over the moon. Which is kind of the point, huh?

Here are some shots of the fun we had ...

First the princess cupcakes, starting with a crown:

And then a glass slipper:

And my personal favorite, the pumpkin:

And here's how it all looked together:

Bo wanted to put the top cupcake in this cute little birdie I found the other day at Goodwill, so we added it later:

I had a grocery-store bakery make the cupcakes and frost them, and then I made the fondant toppers based on some ideas I'd seen on Flickr. I know in the past I've touted the ease of making your own fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, but--holy cow--that box of fondant you can buy at Michael's is even easier. And it doesn't taste that bad, especially if you're 4 years old or so.

To decorate the table, we used our handy-dandy "hip hip hooray" banner from last year:

I made princess party hats using the same method we made rainbow hats last year, except I added a bit of tulle and star garland to fancy them up a bit. 

We don't like to go overboard with gifts, and Bo was just as thrilled to get some simple things she really likes, like a pack of bubble gum, a bicycle helmet (pink, of course), and a battery-operated keyboard I found for $5 at a garage sale (FYI, we're totally regretting that one this morning. Don't do it!!).

I knew, though, that what she really wanted was a princess dress. So this is what I made.

Cinderella, following McCalls 5494:

I used cotton to try to tone it down. It's quite a full dress, though, and sewing the bodice to the skirt was like sewing a quilt because it was so thick. 

By the end of the party, she had to try it on.

And she pretty much hasn't taken it off since.

I also made her a Princess Fiona (from Shrek) dress.

Yes, the sleeves are ridiculously long. They're supposed to be flowy and Medieval, but they're really just hard for her to deal with. I'll shorten them when I get a chance.

But my favorite gifts Bo received were the homemade cards from her friends and cousins.

She loves them, too, and keeps asking me to read them to her this morning.

Wine totes for teachers

Today was supposed to be Bo's last day of her first year of pre-school, but the poor girl has spent the morning throwing up. That means summer vacation starts now, although we won't be heading to the county pool anytime soon.

I'm sad that she'll miss the school picnic and any sort of last-day-of-school discussion (I have a feeling she's going to ask me every day for weeks whether or not she has school today). And, of course, I hate to see her dealing with the discomfort of being sick. As someone with a weak stomach and two and a half pregnancies plagued with morning sickness, I feel your pain, sweet pea.

There is something about caring for a sick child that really makes you feel like a mom, though. I think I'm going to sew myself a Girl Scouts-like sash and start attaching badges to it for various accomplishments in mommyhood, like "grocery store tantrum," "up-the-back-and-over-the-shoulders diaper blowout," and "inappropriate-but-funny comment made in public." Should I sell them on Etsy? 

Anyhow, what we were supposed to bring Bo's teachers today as end-of-the-year gifts were these wine tote bags I sewed last night. The photos were taken before the barfing commenced.

FYI--yes, that is a half-empty bottle of wine in there. The plan was to stop at the store on the way to school for fresh bottles.

I'd originally planned to make the three teachers each an apron, but these took less time and fabric. Besides, what teacher doesn't need a bottle of wine after nine months with a bunch of preschoolers? 

I followed this fantastic tutorial by Sewing Republic (found via Shabby Chick). The directions were super easy to understand. Next time, I think I'll make the strap a bit more narrow and the tote a bit more snug around the wine. 

 

Emmeline apron with a twist

My apologies for my chronic absenteeism lately. In between the regular rigamarole, we've been spending every extra minute in the yard--getting the garden ready, raking up the leaves we were too lazy to pick up last fall, you know the routine.

The garden is ready for our over abundance of seeds and starts now, but Mother Nature isn't. We've been dipping below freezing a bit this week so I'm holding off until this weekend's expected heat wave. We're expanding our growing space a little this year and adding a few new crops, like raspberries and corn. Growing corn breaks my gardening rule No. 1: only grow things that cost way too much at the store. But I'm hoping it will look pretty cool. You know, all "if you build it, they will come."

Speaking of saving money, I've recently become one of those crazy ladies who clips coupons. Is anyone else part of that sisterhood? Fred Meyer had to pay me $0.81 yesterday to buy a package of lasagna noodles.

I did manage to sew an impromptu Emmeline apron this week for one of Bo's teachers, who is leaving the school to take a new job. 

Sometimes I worry that I feel my girls' pain too deeply, as if it were my own. I'm concerned about what this will mean when they're teenagers and they come home sobbing about some boy who's gone and broken their hearts. Ugh. I can remember that ache like it was yesterday, and now that I'm a mom I think of how my poor parents must have felt.

But Bo is still only 3, so her biggest heartbreak right now is me only letting her have two marshmallows instead of three today.

Except for the pending departure of Miss Kathleen, or so I thought.

I love this woman. She's like our very own ray of sunshine every morning when she greets the kids (doesn't hurt that her hair is a flamingly beautiful shade of red). 

Miss Kathleen is taking a job in which she will help homeless women and their children transition to permanent housing. OK, OK. I will hand her over for that extremely worthy cause. But still, I think I will miss her as much as Bo will.

When I explained the situation to Bo, I expected her to lose it. We'd just seen a homeless man earlier in the day, though, so the thought of not having a place to sleep or enough to eat was fresh in her mind. So instead of crying over the loss of her teacher, she literally jumped out from under her bed covers, and then jumped on her bed cheering, "Yea! She's going to help the man!"

So much for wallowing in self pity. I could learn a thing or two from this kid.

I wanted to make Miss Kathleen a goodbye gift, and an apron seemed appropriate.

She can use this side when she's feeling more serious ...

Or this side when she's missing the kids at school ...

And just so she won't forget Bo, I added a pocket Bo helped make to the playful side. I asked Bo to draw a picture of Miss Kathleen and then I traced and embroidered what she came up with, like we've done before.

Here's Joe Cool herself, taking it all in:

Does anyone else think she kind of looks like the little boy in the movie "Love Actually"? Don't tell her I said that.

Little Orphan Annie II and another blogger's giveaway

Writing deadlines and crafty projects are piling up, so rather than waiting for me to sew another Annie dress (as I mentioned here), I asked my friend to let me photograph the red one I sewed for her daughter's birthday the other day.

So here's my loose interpretation of what Annie wears to her adoption party with Daddy Warbucks. 

I didn't want to make it exactly like the one from the musical/movie because, well, I kinda think that one is goofy looking. This one is still goofy, but maybe a little bit more comfortable to wear.

The black and white flower was a last-minute trick to cover a last-minute snip I accidentally made along the ruffles.

And allow me to vow to never--NEVER--use 1/4-inch bias tape with jersey knit again. Thank you. It feels good to get that off my chest.

I followed Simplicity 6882, which I think will be even cuter with less a Annie-looking color scheme.

By the way, this might be the only Annie dress ever made from organic fabric. It came from the bountiful stash Klay gave me a few weeks ago. 

My friend tells me her daughter likes her costumes very much. Her daughter is one of those kids with a spunky little spark about her. Apparently she won't change into the red dress unless her mom--in the role of Miss Hannigan--has sufficiently punished her for not scrubbing the floors until they shine like the top of the Chrysler building. Cute, cute.

On a separate note, Jeanne from A Bushel and a Peck, left a comment on my last post about a giveaway she's offering. Check it out--top prize is a $100 gift certificate to her store and $100 to Anthropologie. Um, yeah. I'm all over that one. 

Here's a little sampling of the goods in Jeanne's shop.  

It's a hard knock life

Ever since my days as a teacher, I've believed in the power of attacking subjects from different angles. If a kid develops a natural interest in butterflies, for example, sing songs about them, study the science behind them, draw pictures of them, make up stories about them, etc. In the classroom, you want to provide every opportunity for all different types of learners to engage. I imagine preschoolers can benefit from the same approach at home, so I try to do that with my kids now, too.

Except when Bo gets interested in something like poop. There will be no paintings of poop hanging on the clothesline in the kitchen.

While poop is always a favorite topic of discussion for Bo, the obsession du jour is the musical "Annie." The Broadway production was in town last weekend. We went, she loved it, and now I can't stop singing the songs.

A good friend of hers saw the musical, too, and according to her mom has always wanted to be an orphan. So for the little girl's fifth birthday, I sewed up two costumes--an orphan's work dress and the famous red-and-white number Annie wears at the end of the play.

I cannot believe I let the red dress out of the house today without taking a picture (the birthday party was this afternoon). But here are a few shots of the orphan dress--blurry because it's being worn by Bo while singing "It's a Hard Knock Life" (lots of floor scrubbing going on).

I need to make another version of each dress--for Bo to keep, of course--so I'll post photos of those one day soon. In the meantime, poor Annie is being attacked from all angles--art, acting, music, math ("Annie had one dog, but then she lost the dog ... how many dogs does she have left?" Just kidding. Bo burst out crying during that scene so I won't torture her with that little game.)

I didn't use a pattern here. Just sewed a basic lined jumper with a ruffle on the bottom and added an apron to the front, plus a few patches and pockets made from Klay's recent fabric donation. I meant to make bloomers, but I ran out of time. The dress is a little big on Bo because her friend is a couple of years older. 

Yes, she's wearing lipstick here. C'mon. What orphan doesn't wear bright red lipstick??

Carolyn's crafts

Writing this blog has introduced me to so many amazing crafters around the world, but it also has connected me with creative folks in my own neck of the woods.

Carolyn is one of them. Our paths crossed before Penny Carnival was born, but it's fun to catch up with each other here. We're both journalists. We're both mothers of young girl(s). And we're both fans of the "moms who drink and swear" group on Facebook (tee hee hee). 

So I always love to see what Carolyn and her daughter Joey are up to. A few months back, I posted a photo of a skirt Carolyn sewed for Joey following Oliver + S's free tutorial.

Lately, they've been working on these darling projects:

A puppet theater that hangs in a doorway in her house--

A non-felt pencil roll. So cute and such a great way to finish up smallish bits of leftover fabric. She put layers of flannel inside to give it some heft.

And these charming puppets--

I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but from left to right, that's Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Pooh, and Joey. 

I recognize the artist's work from a masterpiece she drew on my chalkboard wall last time she came over to play.

Thanks, Carolyn, for sharing your beautiful work. Let's rendezvous at a fabric store sometime soon.

Speaking of young artists' handiwork, Bo's drawing style has been evolving over the last few months. She started by drawing faces--a circle head with two round eyes and a straight line across for a mouth. Now she adds an oval underneath for the body with two stick arms, two stick legs and an enormous bellybutton in the middle. I love it.

When she was just doing heads, I followed an Amanda Soule idea and embroidered one of her drawings for J as a Christmas gift. He uses it as a book marker now.