The Peacock Tutu

I have a thing for peacocks. Our zoo has peacocks roaming free, and I cannot remember a visit , from my own as a child and now as a parent, without the sounds of peacocks calling. I hear they are excellent at eating bugs and deterring snakes, but husband won't entertain owning a couple...  yet. {Wink}.

I decided I wanted to make a tutu with a train reminiscent of a peacock tail. If I can swing it, it will be Little Tomato's Halloween costume this year... though she has a mind of her own, so we'll see how far I get with that one.

Getting to it:

... Using the brown, cream, gold, and copper tones for the body of the tutu, I 'sculpted' the tulle from a standard tutu length front to a long train in the back, adding accent tulle streaks of green in the train and small splashes of copper and blue at the eye feather locations. Then, to add a little fancy, peacock feathers and brown organza ribbon bows to the tutu. I was pleased with the end result, though it took a little reworking here and there.

The end result:

Littlest Tomato

Nope, not a sister. Just this little doll I whipped up the other day.

Littlest Tomato

She has been complete for some time, but I was completely stuck on how to dress her. So, dejected, she has been moping about my sewing room willing me to 'clothe her in cuteness'. Finally inspiration struck in the unfortunate chocolate stain on a cute Little Tomato shirt. While the shirt was ruined, the soft jersey ruffles on the arms were pristine and just begging to be repurposed. So I grabbed the scissors and away I went! 

So, finally making her debut, Littlest Tomato! In her party dress and pigtails, she is ready for fabulousness. Her 'likes' are tea parties with all the girly trimmings, balloons, carousel rides, polaroid cameras, and Little Tomato. They're buds. :)

If you are interested in making your own, check out Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang. It is a great resource with a variety of plush patterns, not just variations of the same doll. Littlest Tomato was constructed with similar techniques, but I created my own pattern for her. 

Playroom Tour

Two long months later, the painting is finished! 

See this post for details of the design process.

Light paint + natural light = larger looking room.

I knew this, but it is still amazing how much of a difference it makes.

In case you are wondering: 

Not decals. 

Supplies:

Triangle & Ruler.

Pencil.

Painter's Tape.

Paint.

Sharpie Paint Marker (if applicable).

Sketch out your design to scale. I did mine on the computer, but this can be hand drawn as well. As long as the design is to scale, it will keep proportions of the design accurate to your room.  

From your sketch, draw your design on the walls with a pencil. I used a triangle & a long 24" ruler to keep everything level and square. For the sun, I did the old-fashioned trick of a central point attached to string with a pencil at the end. I drew the largest radius first and shortened the string for the inner concentric circles.

Don't be afraid to improvise! 

If you notice gaps in the design, or you didn't account for that outlet (or wall base, or light switch, etc.), don't fret. That is why you start with the pencil (and a nice big eraser). 

I added a hot air balloon, relocated a car, added a van, and threw in an airplane.

And I like it better.

Once your drawing is complete, it is time to tape! 

For the non-square items (ex. hot air balloon, helicopter, vehicles, sun, etc.), I did not tape, but rather applied several coats very carefully with a steady hand. 

I used Frog Tape for this project, and while it was certainly not perfect, it did a much better job than anything I have used before.

Paint.
I used the Sherwin Williams- Color to Go paint. This paint is about $5 for a quart.
I purchased 5 colors, so for this complete cityscape it was under $30.
And plenty left over for future projects.
(Imagine what this would be in decals...)

Plan on spending a lot of time on this kind of project.
As my colors were very saturated, I needed 2-3 coats + touch-ups after removal of tape.
I also did outlines of black using the Sharpie Paint Marker. It worked great.

There you have it.

Additional details:
Target Itso Bins. I used these for color inspiration (and storage).
I felt color was needed on the floor, but could not find any rugs that would coordinate.
So I got a few carpet tiles, cut into a pattern, and duct taped together on the underside.

The airplane banner:
Light grey felt fabric with thin strips of an accent green felt as piping on the top & bottom.
I used iron-on transfer paper to print the alphabet letters and ironed the letters onto the felt.
I adhered the banner to the wall with adhesive hanging strips (giving the banner a wave off the wall).

Another Little Project Gone Out of Hand...

As the cardboard house and Christmas present have shown, I tend to take a simple idea and go a little overboard with it. (Okay, let's be honest, way overboard).

This month's out-of-hand project was a complete redesign of the playroom.

As soon as she began walking, our daughter started taking over the living room. To contain the chaos in a room with a closable door, husband and I converted our office into a playroom. Which basically meant just taking our stuff out and putting her stuff in. Until recently the room donned blue-green walls and plain white curtains that the previous owners left to us. I have been itching to redo it for some time.

So... I thought the first step would be to upgrade the storage in the room; a small Rubbermaid tub as a toy-box and bookshelves is fine for a toddler with teething toys and blocks, but not-so-much for a little girl with art supplies, puzzles and dress up clothes.

When I realized that replacing storage in the room meant unscrewing the child safety straps holding bookshelves to the wall, I thought it was a great opportunity to spruce up the paint in the room. (You see where this is going- it is my own little "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" moment...)

Being the designer I am, I didn't feel just an accent wall would be fun enough for a play room. I mean, this was my opportunity to go crazy with a room! So I started playing with options in Photoshop. I drew my color palette from the Target Itso Polka Dot bins (love, love, love them), and my first renderings played with the idea of oversized dots on the wall.

Too plain.

Then I looked at some options of vinyl wall decals. When I saw this Ohdeeoh room tour with the city skyline, it reminded me how much I adore the illustrations of Laura Ljungvist.

I had my inspiration. 

Paint Swatches and Laura Ljungvist books.

I sketched up elevations of the walls and begin painting.

This is just a sneak-peek photo. I am still working on the long wall cityscape, and some finishing touches in other areas. To be continued!

Interactive Backdrop?

Little Tomato's big Christmas gift this year was a 'labor of love' from mom.

{Any suggestions on what to call this would be welcome! At the moment I will call it an interactive backdrop.} 

I envisioned this project when I saw these fabulous felt playhouses on Etsy and a blog. Since Miss M already has a cardboard play house, I envisioned something that would coordinate with her house and would be an interactive play and learning experience. I sketched out a design and began working...

The project is essentially a PVC pipe frame which is 5'-6" x 5'-6" in size with a fleece sleeve which slips over the frame. The sleeve has appliqued scenes on both sides which were made to be interactive.

Side A: Vegetable Garden

• The tree has velcro attachments which allow three-dimensional felt apples to be picked from the tree. I will also be making lemons and oranges to attach in the future.
• The vine has velcro attachments which allow three-dimensional felt tomatoes to be picked from the vine. I will also be making eggplant and cucumbers to attach in the future.
• The corn stalk husks are pockets for corn cobs. I have not been happy with my attempts at making the corn out of felt, so I plan on purchasing this fabulous pattern... and learning how to crochet in the process!!
• Part 2 of this project (I ran out of time before Christmas!) will be to create dirt rows to lay in front of the garden for root vegetables. I found some great examples here and here to use as a guide.

We hope this will plant the love of gardening into our little girl before spring, so she will be a seasoned pro in the garden next year!  

Side B: Night Forest

• The pond has a pocket in the water to place fish.
• Pillow logs and flame were made to place in front of the nighttime scene for a campfire. 
• Part 2 of this project will be felt marshmallows with holes in the center to place on dowels for roasting and felt chocolate bars and graham crackers to make the perfect mess-free smores!

Next year, we plan on including the little one on our camping adventures, so during the cold winter months we will have plenty of practice telling fireside tales and snuggling under a blanket at her pretend campsite! 

Happy Holidays!

The Cat's Meow

Isn't this mask just the cat's meow?

I modeled this one after the leopard cat, which has dramatic markings around the facial features... but I think I will be creating another iteration on it now that I found this stunning photo. The combination of white and chocolate along the eyes will be pretty fun to play with. 

Back to the sewing machine!

Cookie Time!

Cookies!

Last week I made a felt cookie and dough set for my cousin. Cookies are an extremely easy felt food project to complete, especially since it really doesn't require a pattern (aside from cookie cutters).

 See this tutorial for the basics. 

I made a few modifications to the tutorial:

 Instead of separate 'uncooked' and 'cooked' cookies, I just stuck with the one set.

The felt red icing is sewn onto the cookie with a satin stitch to make it look more crisp.

I used contrasting pink thread satin stitches to make sprinkles on the cookies.

Enjoy baking! 

Feel, Past Tense.

... into a story board! I haven't had time to add too many pieces for the stories yet, but at the moment the little one is wielding an impressive forest of trees, a cute little house and a couple of lovely ladies ready for some fascinating adventures!

Upping the Creativity in our House

While I love a beautiful blanket of snow on a Christmas morn as much as the next person, I did not sign up for the five foot drifts that graced our home this season. As we were cloistered indoors over our holiday vacation, husband and I decided to collaborate on a 'weekend project'... which went a *little* overboard.

Since the recent release of the Disney Pixar movie "Up" to DVD, I have seen the move *at least* 50 times. No joke. This is due to the fact that our little toddler has developed a massive addiction to the movie, and blistering-cold weather has prevented our outdoor time. Thus, naturally, Mom & Dad chose to take her newfound love and make the most of it. We decided to build her a cardboard "Up Playhouse."

Now, husband will tell you, "I just wanted to stick a couple of boxes together, cut a couple of holes in them for windows, and call it her Up house. *YOU* took it to Crazytown."

Together we put approximately 90 man-hours into her house. Husband was the engineering mind, investing duct tape, wrapping paper rolls & reinforced corner panels to the structure. I was on design duty; planning the architectural features and finishing the exterior by adding paper siding and shingles to the house.

The entire project is composed of used cardboard boxes, cleverly recycled into the walls and rooflines of her new digs. All support pieces are from empty wrapping paper rolls & packing materials that came with said boxes. Mr. Sketch scented markers made a comeback this week, as I drew endless accent lines onto the strips of paper to be glued to the cardboard as siding (with my trusty bottle of Elmer's glue). I'm not going to lie... we went a little crafty-crazy with it.

The interior isn't finished, but is already coming along with it's own cardboard fireplace and "Ellie painting" of Paradise Falls. And, of course, the house wouldn't be complete without a mailbox. Our piccola's handprint will be added to the mailbox in the future, but apparently paint on the hand was a traumatizing experience for the little princess, and we had to abandon ship after her hysterical screaming... Nonetheless, despite the handprint hiccup, I think the project was well worth the smile on her face as she took our hands and pulled us to the front door, wanting to share her new house with Mom & Dad.