The Lego Play Mat

We have a ton of Legos around here and that means that I end up stepping on one at least a couple times a week. Little Sir’s favorite place to play with Legos is in his bed. It is not unusual for him to wake up in the morning with a Lego print on his skin somewhere from the tiny Legos that have hidden in his blankets.
To solve (or probably just help it happen a little less) this problem I decided to make a Lego Play Mat using this tutorial from Make it Perfect. Not to be left out Little Miss asked for one too and I also made a few (four) for a friend. I used some specialty fabric for Little Miss and Little Sir and for my friend I used thrifted sheets.This is a simple project that most beginner sewers should be able to do, the instructions are very clear, and there plenty of pictures for reference. I would suggest that after cutting your first circle to place it’s right side facing the right side of the lining fabric. Then fold it up and set it aside until you’re ready to sew. It didn’t occur to me to do this until after I had cut out my 12 circles, which weren’t exactly perfect, and matching them up proved to be a bit tricky and some of the circles had to be trimmed. I am very excited to have the projects finished, I’ll be giving them to the kids after school I hope they’ll really like them and Yay, this is another Pinterest project!

Art Journal: Self Portrait

I was so inspired by the Chuck Close self portraits on For the Love of Art I knew that I HAD to make my own. I used my avatar photo for the self portrait part and have been doodling away in the squares whenever I have a few minutes. I have been doodling in pen (more zentangle-y?). I can’t wait to start adding color. I’m not sure that I’m going to used colored pencils like Kristin suggested. I think that watercolor or markers would work better for me.
BTW, if you’re keeping track (I am) this is a pinterest project.

My Little Pony Jumpsuit Lounger

Or what I’ll call a custom Forever Lazy. I used McCalls 6475 and My Little Pony licensed fleece. Booties that Velcro on are included on this pattern, but I opted not to make those.
Everything went together smoothly in an evening. The instructions were very clear and the order of sewing things made everything easy. This would be a good beginner pattern because it is mostly straight sewing and fleece is so easy to work with, the most challenging part is installing the zipper and there are very clear instructions that include hand basting to make sure it’s in the right place and doesn’t slide around when you do sew it on with the machine.
The fabric yardage recommendations are pretty good with plenty of room to arrange and cut out the pieces. The yardage includes fabric for the jumpsuit and booties, since I didn’t make the booties I had enough fabric left over to make a drawstring bag.
I definitely recommend this pattern, I will be using it again. I think it would be great made out of cotton terry cloth. The pattern is available in children’s and adult sizes.

Cupcake Baby Hat

My cupcake baby hat is finally available in my Crafterella Cupcake shop!!!I am so excited that it’s finally finished! AND, just for you guys, I’m having a special promotion from now until February 11th., enter the coupon code BLOGFRIENDS and receive a 20% discount in my Crafterella Cupcake store.

Friday Finds

Welcome to my new monthly feature, Friday Finds!!! I’ll be sharing some of my favorite finds(stuff I loved so much that I bought it) each month.
My favorite find of January was this light up globe (vintage 1982 – is that really vintage?!?)It works great, but it does have some damage here on Africa and also on the top. I think I can patch it up with some tissue paper and Mod Podge. If not I am making it into a light up Death Star(scroll down).
One of our local thrift stores last day of business was today and they we selling most of their clothing for 25¢. I managed to only spend $4.00, but it took a lot of restraint. This pair of gray cords and these camouflage cargo shorts looked perfect to recon into some tote bags.I was really excited to find this 100% cotton velveteen jacket in my size, now I need some fun accessories. Velveteen is apparently difficult to photograph, it is not nearly this bright in person. I won't bore you with all the t-shirts I brought home.
And finally some treasures that I found cleaning in the basement. My vintage (from the 80’s again) rainbow unicorn bandanna, my witch boot cookie jar, and my Victorian boot vase. I actually have a fairly large collection of shoe figurines, but really no where to display them.What is your fabulous find of January?, I’d love to hear about it.
Have a super crafty weekend!