kirstencan

Roller Pumpkin

Recently, while drawing, Thomas drew a pumpkin.  He's not a big draw-er, but he drew a face (adding extra eyes for beauty - or fright), an extra leg, and several extra feet.

This is one of his first representational drawings that actually look like what he's talking about - not that I have anything against the abstract.

(and, yeah, still in his pj's - on his days off from school we don't push the clothes issue.)

Do you see those legs?  I'm so proud - I've been waiting for those roller feet for a long time.  It's a developmental stage all kids go through (so says my art education professors and texts), but I'd never seen him do it yet.

Woo hoo!

The piece is proudly hanging on our magnetic wall.  And it may become something more permanent. 

Hooray, my boy!

and
Happy Halloween

to you!

Costumes - A New Hope

Alright - you ready?  Not that this will be surprising, but the kids decided to be Star Wars characters for Halloween this year, so here they are in their handmade costumes:

Two Rebel pilots and Princess Leia!  The boys' costumes started as solid orange sweats, and I added a muslin quilted 'flak vest', lots of webbing (about 8.5 yards between them), and a chest panel appliquéd from felt, suiting, and cotton.

I was going to go for a more 'realistic' control panel, made with a painted box, but decided that I wanted this all in one piece.  So everything (vest, straps, etc.) is sewn on to the shirt, which makes for easier dressing up and washing, since I think these will be worn a lot.  The boys' costumes ended up costing about $12 each.

The 'data scrolls' on the sleeves are stenciled on, and my mom helped me with the helmets/hats.  Well, actually, she made the helmets (from an old pattern from 1981: Simplicity 5299) and I added the sewing details,the felt symbols, and the chin straps.

The boys are thrilled, and after seeing their costumes sans hats made sure I knew they were expecting helmets.... and spaceships to ride in.

They really think I can make anything.  I guess that's a compliment! :)

My mom made the Leia costume (here she is balancing on one foot - she's doing well, a foot update soon).

We looked everywhere for a Leia costume pattern, but didn't want to spend major $$ for it on eBay.  My mom ended up using a Nativity Angel pattern (Simplicity 4797) and altering it a bit (shortening sleeves and adding a hood).  Instead of adding a high neck to the pattern, she thrifted a white turtleneck to wear under.  Genius, Mom!  It's made out of a white knit (on sale - Mom estimates the costume cost at $6 - including the turtleneck).

Inspiration for the belt came from this (there are 3 silver symbols, I guess it's on a little crooked in the photo).

We made the wig/hat together.  This year I wanted to incorporate hats into the kids' costumes, as it's usually COLD and sometimes snowing on Halloween night.  I had a piece of fleece left over from what I used for the back of the boys' scarves (which I bought as a remnant, so it was cheap!), and it was the perfect size.  We sewed down the middle to make the part (which is lacking in most Leia wig/hats) and simply twisted up the sides.  The coils are hand-stitched together.  A little piece of elastic is sewn to the bottom of the back to help hold it on.  It fits perfectly - the buns cover her ears like in the movie, and are in concentric circles, not sticking out like some wigs do.   (And is pretty hilarious, I think).

So, the kids are happy, people at the church carnival thought they were pretty cool, and I'm pleased with them.  You can see last year's costumes here for Princess, Monkey, and Thomas

Ballerina Down!

Ugh.

Princess was carried home from the neighbor's house yesterday afternoon.  That's never a good thing to see!  She was on the trampoline (oh, how I hate those things*) and hurt her foot. 

Turns out, she pulled a tendon off?  Possibly a piece of bone, too?  Quite frankly, it's a little confusing.  It's not technically a fracture or a sprain, but they treat it as a fracture, because it's a serious injury.  So she has to keep off of it completely for a week, keep it elevated, and use ice and ibuprofen.  I'm bummed I forgot the camera at the doctor's office, I would have loved to get a shot of her x-rays and the male nurse who carried her to the x-ray room (because of course I tweaked my back last weekend and can't carry her, so I hold her arm while she hops!).

So far, she's taking it well, the ibuprofen helps her pain, and she gets to watch more TV than usual.  Right now she's in a splint/half-cast, and we go back on Tuesday for a cast or walking boot.   It still means that we're going to have to push her around in a wheelchair for trick-or-treating, probably!  Poor kiddo.

She spent the day in the recliner, with a stool next to her stacked with books, colored pencils, and juice.

The big question was the Christmas dance recital.  She LOVES dance.  And she LOVES the song they're doing: "What Child Is This?"  Tonight was her dance class, and we took her in a wheelchair so she could continue learning the routine by watching.  She rolled her chair back and forth when they played 'freeze dance'.  A little pathetic.  I think she'll be able to perform, though.  Her teacher said she wants her on stage with or without her cast or boot, and it really means a lot to Princess.  So I guess it'll happen, but it could be interesting!

Oh, and the funny part is that this was the week that the girls could wear their Halloween costumes to class - so she looked pretty funny in her wheelchair and her costume at dance class.

Poor kiddo.  And you'd think we'd have learned from poor little Spenser.

Luckily she likes skirts...

*every doctor or nurse that saw us was like 'Trampoline?  Was it yours?' and would start in on the lecture until they saw that they were preaching to the choir.  I guess they see kids every day who've broken bones or had spinal injuries on trampolines.  I've been really strict about letting my kids on trampolines (neighbors' - we don't have one) until this summer, when we got new neighbors, and everyone is over there a lot. Everyone here has a trampoline.  It's hard to keep them off.  But you know, what?  My kids aren't doing it anymore.  Unless they're jumping by themselves.  It's not worth it.  Be careful out there!

Re-packaging

A couple of weeks ago we got to meet our new nephew, Sam.  The kids were super excited, and boy is Sam a cutie.  I made up this little muslin (and freezer-paper stencilled) drawstring bag to hold the IKEA finger puppets we got for him.

This is a prime example of the benefits of repackaging!  This looked so much better than the cardboard and cellophane wrapper they came in (and took very little time).  And now the puppets have somewhere to 'go'.

So, speaking of gifts, packaging, and listening to my daughter practice Christmas songs on the keyboard got me thinking...

What do you do about gifts for your children?  I've heard a few cool ideas recently, like only giving three gifts to symbolize the gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Another one was four gifts:  Something you want, something you need, something to play with and something to read.  I'm loving that idea (thanks, Whitney).  It reminds me a little of Little House on the Prairie and how excited the girls were to get their very own tin cups and mittens for Christmas - very unlike today's society.

Now, being a total plan-ahead-er, I have Christmas about done for my kiddos - (not DONE, but at least planned) I keep my eyes open all year long.  And I think we're doing okay this year - nothing excessive, and some handmade and thoughtful gifts (and books).  It almost fits the four gift idea, actually.  Last year my mom made them handmade dolls and I loved that she did that - and they were huge hits with the kids.  I know she has some more handmade love up her sleeve for this year, but I wanted to make sure everyone got something handmade from me, too.  I'm sure you'll be hearing more about that later. :)

So maybe next year: Something you want, something you need, something handmade, and something to read?

Anyway, you've gotta admit that Christmas is out of control in our culture.  Starting this early in the stores (Kristy put it perfectly when she posted about "diluting Christmas"), and convincing us to buy things we don't need (or want, really).  As crafters (and moms) we have to think about Christmas a little early, but this is out of control. I want to get away from that.

Any ideas to share? 
Also, has anyone ever tried making reusable drawstring bags for Christmas wrapping?  I'm not sure that would work with the kiddos so young, but it's an  interesting idea...

 

Live and In Person

So, I'm totally lucky, as I got to meet a blog-friend in person for the first time!  I wish we could all get together more often.  Seriously, why don't we all live closer?

Chelle was in town and stopped by for lunch.  She is super cute and fun!  We had a bit of a whirlwind lunch (Thomas was home sick, so all the kiddos were about and attention-seeking), lots of talking (by Princess, too), and a mandatory doll-dressing session.

She brought Princess these mini-books for her dolls ("because dolls need books, too" - I totally agree).  One is in Dutch, super cool.

'The Girls' have been busy reading and love them already.  They send their thanks.

Chelle also brought us this poster from the National Book Festival she got to go to - very cool.  Princess is thrilled that it has dragons on it.

I gave Chelle this brooch - as a bribe to not publicly disclose my housekeeping skills (or lack thereof).  I mean, my back had given out, and my fam is sick, but I did my best!  Yeah, a rough weekend, or the lunch would've been way 'cuter'.  :)

Oh, and Chelle, I forgot to get out the brownies I made for you!  Sorry!  I cannot believe I forgot the Necessary Chocolate!

(And they were really yummy, too! Note the were.)

 

Fall Books and Movies

So our fall books and movies are in heavy rotation now.  The kids ultimate fave Halloween book is Big Pumpkin, and a new fun one we got this year is
The Wee Witches Halloween (by the author of But No Elephants - also a fave).

We put the holiday movies away during the year, so the kids are really enjoying:

It's the great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
The Nightmare before Christmas (seriously, every time I hear the music I love it more - Danny Elfman is a genius)
Ichabod Crane
Max and Ruby's Halloween

Aaron and I are waiting to have time to watch 'The Burbs' - a favorite that we save for a Halloween treat.
...

I've been reading quite a bit lately, here's the list:

Uglies and Pretties (the other two are on hold at the library - don't read the summary on the back - they're really good and not what I was expecting)
Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature (fairly entertaining, but 'eh')
Book of a Thousand Days (lovely book - not my favorite Shannon Hale, though - Princess liked it, too)
The Eyre Affair (funny, will probably pick up the sequels)
The Golden Compass (just finished it - love it!)

Also trying to (finally)finish the Series of Unfortunate Events (I'm on #10) just for the sake of being able to tell Princess I've finished them.  She is working on the Lord of the Rings series (at the end of Return of the King - her dad is so proud!:) and the Charlie Bone series.

Next up is finishing the sequels to the Golden Compass, and then reading the Twilight series (finally!). 

What have you been reading?

More Stencils

I had to come up with some items to display for sign-ups for my little freezer paper stencil class at church.  It was a good excuse to stencil some new stuff!

I borrowed a couple of onesies from my very cute neighbor-baby (we got rid of all of ours at our yard sale):

Jack on a thrifted tie (for Aaron):

I found a blank (!) shirt in Princess' drawer (it's Alice).

And at the last minute I whipped up this little bag from muslin - as an idea for neighbor-gifts and to appeal to some of the older ladies:

Here's my little setup (in Monkey's room before I turned it in) - I made a flickr mosaic of some of my stencilled stuff and then printed it as an 8x10 (which managed to cut the top and bottom off of the mosaic, but I didn't have time to do it over).  The handout lists some places to get ideas, and what they need to bring. 

Hopefully people will sign up.  I think some people would prefer if I just had 2 or 3 stencil ideas to choose from - but I think they should think for themselves and be able to bring their own idea to stencil. Stretch those creative muscles!

So, we'll see what happens, as that could totally backfire...

Wardrobe Refashion - I

Last week I cut the legs off of Princess' jeans.  They were in great shape except for the newly torn hole in the knee.  I briefly thought about patching, but she has enough jeans, and is definitely a skirt girl.

Alright, a skirt it is:

(her pose)

Inspired by Estea's skirt, except I used part of the legs that I cut off for the insert panel instead of patchwork. The basic tutorial Estea linked to doesn't have a panel, but they're really easy to add.


For the hem, I sewed 5/8" around the bottom, and then used my seam ripper to fray the bottom a little (a trick from circa 1993 - when everyone did that to the bottoms of their jeans).

The panels make the skirt very usable - not too tight. The panel in the back is a lot smaller - I just laid it out so it formed a natual A-line shape, and this is how it worked. 

She loves it - and this was my test to see if it would work with my jeans - they're next! :)

Art vs. Craft

Once this summer, when we were out drawing on the driveway with chalk...

Princess made this (cool bird and...) this drawing of a pirate/viking ship and oversized mermaid.  I loved it.  I began thinking of other ways to use that idea.

I was going to embroider it onto a pillow, but decided to do this instead:

It's appliqué with machine and hand embroidery.  I used Princess' design and had fun transferring it to fabric.  I did change a few things, and embellished some, but tried to preserve her idea.  It was really fun.

Really fun.  I want to do more!  Having an art background, I feel like I finally did something artsy!  That feels good!  I've been 'crafty' more than artsy since having kids.  And that's okay, I've learned a lot, and this project wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken that machine quilting class, or learned how to appliqué, you know?  I remember discussing Art vs. Craft in Aesthetics class in college - but I don't think we discussed combinations of them...

Anyway, I like it, and I gave it to a friend for her wedding last weekend - I hope they like it! It suits the bride.

Living Green(er)

Today is Blog Action Day!  What a timely day to post about my Green Class.

Here's the scoop:  pretty good turnout and I think I blew a few minds.  Ha!  Seriously, it went well and I had people coming up to me saying that I'd mentioned things they'd never thought about before.

Cool.

I cleaned up my lesson outline (a little) and if you're interested you can download it here.

...

I've been interested in the environment since my 8th grade english teacher (one Mrs. Festler) assigned us research papers.  I picked the ozone layer as a topic.  I'm not nearly as 'green' as I'd like to be.  Not even close.  But I'm trying, and getting to dig a little deeper into the issues to research this class was fun and very motivating.  I'm going to try harder.

I say this in the lesson, but you can't do everything.  You just can't.  But you can do something. 

Do something!

Think outside the box!

That was my main point - don't do things just because our culture/media tells you it's okay - look at all of your options and be responsible in your choices.

I believe we have a responsibility to take care of the earth. 

I mostly talked about things you can do to conserve/reuse and how to be a good consumer.  I found the consumer research totally interesting. 
Your money = your support.  Know what you're supporting!  Check out the Better World Shopper book, or their website for tons of good info, including:  Top 10 essential changes you can make, Ten Best companies in the world, Ten worst companies in the world.

Speaking of worst companies... it took a little digging, but I found a list of all of the brand names/companies that Altria (aka Philip Morris) owns - and it sure wasn't on their website.  You can check that out here. It seems like a lot when you look at it, but really, almost all of it is pretty unhealthy.  You could do worse than cutting those brands out of your diet!

What I like about the Better World Shopper book and website is that they list their sources, and share the process they went through to get the results.  I mean, you hear 'Walmart is bad' but not details.  In the book, they give you specific reasons why you shouldn't shop there - and you shouldn't!  STOP! 

You can make a difference.  Yeah, a lot of environmental problems come from large companies, not individuals, but there's a lot of us individuals! Do your part.  No one else can do it for you.  And support companies who are doing theirs.

Pick something to change - and do it today!

Pick something:  unplug your cell phone charger, buy a manual lawn mower, commit to driving less, walk more, hang dry your laundry, shop at locally-owned stores, use less paper, buy reusable water bottles, use cloth shopping bags or support companies who are doing good stuff.

My new goals are to actually start taking the tote bags I've collected to the stores and sew up a bunch of cloth napkins to use instead of paper. What are yours?

Want to learn more? 

Here are some sites that I found interesting:

myfootprint.org
climatecrisis.net
parents article
10 steps
parenting article