smile

I finally got Aubrey to smile for a photo! I told her to look in the lens to see herself and she did!

Photo update

There's an app on the iphone called Instagram that lets you take photos, the add filters and post on a live feed (and through twitter and facebook). It's a nice easy way to share photos throughout your day. I thought I would post them here to when I get a bunch at a time. Here's some from this week:

 

 

 

She can pedal now!

 

 

I tried curling her hair today. The right side curled and kept but the left side wouldn't even curl! So weird!

It Arrived!

We got our elf in the mail today for the North Pole!

Santa sends elves to homes so they can watch the kids for Santa.
He reports back to Santa if they have been naughty or nice!

Spoiler Alert:



I was too cheap to get one for $30 even though it comes with a book all about it. Look up Elf on a Shelf. So I made one from felt and a painted Styrofoam head.

advent calendar update

I revamped my mantle and had to retake the photos:

 

Well, it took me all day yesterday, but I sewed 25 stockings for our felt board nativity scene advent calendar.  I was having a hard time thinking of a way to wrap each piece as they were all different sizes and couldn't be folded. Then I came across this stocking idea using socks and I thought it was great but I didn't want to buy socks so I made stockings out of felt I already had. I like this idea because now I can reuse it every year (unlike wrapping paper etc.). It's also a great way for Aubrey to learn her numbers. 

 Which one looks better? (Above) minimal or (Below) with snowflake wreath?

I went to the dollar store today and picked up two different size snowflakes and glued them on to wreath frame I made from shaping a wire coat hanger into a circle. I also picked up the the little white birds. I still want to make a wreath out of clothe pins to clip Christmas cards onto, but that's still in the works.

last of the felt food? For now.

Last night I finished my peas and made some fortune cookies. I was given the take out container with some cookies inside and thought it would be great to hold some fortune cookies for Aubrey to play with. The cookies were by far the easiest of the felt foods to make!

 Cut out circle ( I used an individual yogurt cup), fold in half and sew the curved edges together. You can include a felt or paper piece sticking out for the fortune. Then fold in half and stitch to hold in place. That's it!

 For the peas, I cut out two pea shell pieces and stitched all around leaving an opening for the peas. To make the peas I cut out circles then baste stitched around the edge of the circle and cinched to form a little ball. I glued the peas in the pod.

 I also finished my quiet book. I have had all materials for a long time and delayed it, wondering if Aubrey was too big for it, but I decided she wasn't and I could always add or replace pages with more challenging subjects. I used the stiff felt for the pages, and regular cheap felt for the shapes.

I had found all these page inspirations online and forgot that I had also saved the actual templates - so I did it the hard way, from eye. I should have used the templates. They are here.

 Season tree: Green leaves, flowers, fall leaves.

 Counting petals and hair clips

 Tying a bow and hanging laundry

 Write a letter and basket weaving.

and of course a felt board doll with clothes.

Dresser

 

 I found this dresser for free on Craigslist last weekend and I've been trying to decide what to do with it. Do I refinish it and restore it? My first intent was to leave the everything as is and paint the drawer fonts a gloss white, but after seeing the image I found online of the same dresser in great condition, I'm scared to paint it! If it was restored and kept original, it could be worth up to $500 (might have to find some original hardware though as it's missing on mine!).

Fall Colours

I rented a lens this weekend (one that I want to buy) so on Saturday it was the perfect weather to take Aubrey to the park and try it out. She also had fun playing in the leaves.

She still doesn't like the sand!

 What a face and pose!

advent nativity felt board

 

I wanted to do a felt board nativity scene this year and turn it into an advent calendar. 

I took my Ikea easel and put felt on the dry erase board by gluing it along the top so that it can easily flip back over the top so it can still be used to paint on.

 

I printed out all the pieces here and then glued felt pieces to the back side of the pieces. Now I have to figure out how to wrap etc. each piece up and display as an advent calendar.

I don't quite have enough room for it all!

a few photos

 

Last night Aubrey was making tents for her dolls.

 

While I made a 2 minute chocolate cake for me. I found this recipe here. I just didn't have the salted caramels.

 

This morning we made a letter for Santa. After thinking awhile about want she wanted for Christmas, she said an airplane, then got excited and said "and an apple, a juice box, a banana and a pear"! I'm sure that won't be a problem! We hung the letter on our front door.

 

Aubrey is watching for Santa's birdies to come take her letter away.

And guess what? They did!

Play food

 

I have started to work on one food a day. Making felt food to go with Aubrey's play kitchen for Christmas. I keep finding so many fun things to make and I already have all the materials, so I might as well make them, right? These pretzels looked fairly easy to make, but stuffing them was not so delightful!

 

I started out by making the little ones (which I now am calling mini cheesecakes) and revised my plan and came up with better looking cupcakes to fit in her pan.

I still have some dough and cookies to make.

getting closer!

 

I feel like I'm remodeling my kitchen, only a little tiny version.

At Restore (a used building supply store) I found these sheet of small tiles, perfect for the play kitchen backsplash and this bathroom sink size makes for a great play kitchen size sink. I had to take the base off to make it fit under the shelf though. I was pretty happy with this find and the price of a total of $12. It will make for a more realistic kitchen I think.

Kitchen

I found this mini hutch on Craigslist yesterday and picked it up. It's only 24" x 34" so it's a cute little child size hutch. It even came with the little antique tea set - all for $20. I'm so excited to turn it into a play kitchen for Aubrey for Christmas!
The plan is the cut the doors down so the fit side by side and put hinges on them so one opens like an oven and one like a fridge. I'm also going to cut a hole to drop a sink in it.