Boys Travel Room

My son has a transportation/travel themed room. And these two things I saw this week have got me re-thinking the entire room. Ack. My husband is going to want to shake some sense into me. I seriously can't help it. Just look at the fabric. It's drool worthy. And the paintings just melt some part of my heart that only a mother of boys can understand. Here's to dreaming.

Travel Wall Art from Fall Down Tree's Etsy Shop:

The Wheels Fabric Collection by My Mind's Eye from Riley Blake: (Thanks to My Little Gems for sharing it with me.)

Now to convince my husband that the room needs something more.

Chalk Mat

*Update: I just completed the Tutorial for this. Check it out here.

One of my dear friends gave me a Chalk Mat at my baby shower. Not for the baby, but for the toddler. Perhaps it was that miraculous gift, or perhaps something else that has our son behaving near perfectly every Sunday since. Perfection for me at this point would be not talking loudly and not starting his own prayer every time we tell him "It's time for prayer, fold your arms". But what can I say, the moments we haul him out to the foyer are few and far between lately.

No matter his behaviour, he loves this new toy! If it was the Chalk Mat though I hope that my sister-in-law is enjoying it's magical abilities. I managed to sneak one of them into the Christmas package for her son!

Most of the materials were a kit provided by my friend but I chose to use laminated cotton instead of cotton. The laminated cotton means the chalk dust can easily be wiped off the entire thing, and the damp sponge doesn't soak through to the inside. It looks fabulous too! It's also super easy to sew. I'll tell you more about another experience with laminated cotton soon.

Chalk cloth, available on a few online fabric sites, makes it possible to write on this. I wish I'd thought to actually draw on it before taking pictures and sending it off.

My son loves to draw roads, or train tracks to drive his cars around on it.

I'm sharing this with my blog party usuals: DIY Day with A Soft Place to land, Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog and Look What I Made with Creations by Kara.

Look What I {Had} Made!

I love Newsboy Beanies. I've wanted to buy my son one since I saw these on Etsy.com. I've wanted one for myself too - especially this one.

Then one day my Husband returned from a quick errand to Michaels where he'd purchased yet another item for me. This time he had a skein of yarn and crochet needles in hand. I gawked. Was he serious? Did he really think he could crochet? (I tried knitting - the project hasn't been finished for nearly two years, so I seriously doubted his patience and commitment.)

I watched as he began, saw his first finished project

only hours later and was amazed. It was a doily, not imperfect, but very impressive none the less. His second doily (made for his grandma for Christmas) blew me away! My hot computer geek has skills. That's when I realized I didn't need to order the beanies I wanted, he could just make them for me. So we ordered patterns, bought yarn, and he got going!

Newsboy Beanies for the boys:

Newsboy Cap for me:

I had found a button in my craft stuff for my hat. It was cute, but before I even put it on the hat, it disappeared thanks to the toddler. My sister-in-law made that awesome Posy Pin for me for Christmas and it was just perfect for my hat! Click on that link for a tutorial.

After completing his first doily my Husband showed it to everyone - insisting that I wasn't the only crafty person in the house. After installing laminate flooring, painting, putting in new baseboards, closet systems, designing our friends web site and doing much more for myself and others I can attest to the fact that I already knew that!

I'm linking up these awesome creations to DIY Day at A Soft Place to land, Get Your Graft On at Today's Creative Blog and Look What I Made at Creations by Kara.

Quick Pearl Necklace

In a hurry to get things made for Christmas I found myself making a necklace for a family member. It has been a long time since I've made jewelry. Nearly a decade. The last necklace I made was just before my mission. I had fun making this one. I'd do things differently next time, like actually try to space it properly. I used crimping beads to the freshwater pearls in place. I think I'll try some sort of glue in the future to make it more fascinating. I do like the look though and plan to make one for myself soon!

What I used:

1 Strand Freshwater Pearls

1 Package Crimping Beads

1 Magnetic Clasp

Jewelry Wire

Flat nosed pliers

How I did it:

Attach two long strands of wire to one side of the magnetic clasp. I used crimping beads for this as well. String pearls with a crimping bead on either side on both strands and stagger the spacing on either wire. Crimp the beads on either side to hold the pearls in place using the pliers. Once you have the length you desire attach the other side of the magnetic clasp. So Easy!

I'm linking up to Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog and DIY Day with A Soft Place to land. Also linking up to Look What I Made at Creations by Kara!

The Topless Undershirt

As a nursing mother I'm always looking for ways to make things a little bit easier when out in public. The other day I came across Blush topless undershirts and thought they were a great idea. But of course, like all things out there you really want to try before you buy. So I pulled an old white Shade camisole out of the drawer, and serged the top right off. I didn't even cut or hem or anything. No one is going to see that part. It works great! Best of all - it was free and so easy to make. I'm planning a trip to WalMart or Target to buy some more tanks/camis in fun colors. While Blush might have a good product, I just can't pay $15 for something that ought to cost $3.

The Car Cozie

For Christmas I went all out and made many of the gifts. Between that and the two kids (baby is doing fine) I've had no time for the blog. You'll see my creations in future posts. For now, take a look at the adorable car cozie that my son got for Christmas!

Sharla over at My Little Gems provides an excellent tutorial on how to make an adorable Car Cozie. Thanks Sharla!

I followed the tutorial closely. I chose not to do an alternating fabric. I got a little confused following the pattern when it came to sewing the ribbon on. Uh Duh. It's meant to be sewn on one side only, hence the folding the ribbon in half. I think I skipped a little on those instructions but I really wasn't thinking it through either. I ended up sewing the ribbon on either side only to roll up the cozie and realize my mistake! At least it wasn't too much work to unpick.

See how the ribbon attaches to one side?

There are 6 pockets that fit big cars. You can even fit two flatter cars in one pocket.

Ah, "Green" Herbie, driving on the road.

I used a play mat fabric so that the opposite side of the cozie could be used for cars as well.

We tested this out the first Sunday after Christmas at church. Wonderful! He played with it the entire meeting. It's not going to be one we use every Sunday, I'd prefer the coloring, the chalk mat and other more reverent toys be used. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I'm linking up to Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog and DIY Day with A Soft Place to land. I'm also joining a new blog party (Thanks Kara!) over at Creations by Kara: Look What I Made! A Special Thanks to all the hostesses of these parties - they inspire me to keep creating!