Cookie Sheet Calendar

I have to have a calendar every year, and when we moved here in February, it was lost. I got tired of not having one and found this idea on Pinterest, here. (That's the actual page, so many link to spam.)

I had a rusty cookie sheet that I used, and eventually, I'll paint it or something and make it pretty. I also used cardboard from a diaper box rather than chipboard or a cereal box, and so my pieces are thicker. Therefore I don't think her storage method will work for mine, so I'm just going to attach menila envelopes to the back and stick my pieces in there. No one is going to see that part, so I don't care if it's pretty or not. So far I only have the June piece done, and the days.

June is my baby's birthday and Father's Day so I made special pieces for those that will use every year. I also made a few other holiday pieces cause I had the stuff. Eventually I'll have all the holiday's and each birthday will have a picture of the person.

The only thing I don't like about this kind of calendar is you can't write appointments and things on the days and you can't cross days out. I like to do that when Chris is deployed....cross days out that is.

For the appointment thing, I think I have a fix for that. Some special squares I will make up that I can right on and then erase.

But here it is so far:

Before decorating. I debated using a penny for the number one. 

All decorated. These are my actual days, no holidays included. 

Here it is hung up with the June piece on it. If you look on the left at the third and fourth squares down you will see a different print and a picture of my baby at 4 months for her birthday square, and the one below that is for Fathers Day. 

I like it. Since I used thick cardboard and cut free hand my squares are not perfect like the "Then She Made" lady's, but they work. 

Stay tuned for the update on the writable squares and maybe some holiday squares. 

Little People Bedding Update

Mady got a bunch of vintage '80's little people from my sister as I said before, included in the set were two beds. Back in the '80's they had foam "mattresses" on them, which have long since disappeared. I decided to give them new "bedding" so they would look nicer. (Not that she cares at this point, but it makes me feel better.) I didn't do foam because she would just pull it off and eat it, so I just took paper and modge podged it on. One boy bed, and one girl bed.

Before

After

Easy Peasy.

I "eye" spy quilt.

I have said before I think that I can't really sew, even my straight lines are not straight. However, I have made baby quilts for people before and they were well received. It's the thought that count's after all right? Well, I'm making another one sort of. Normally it's just a quilt, boy or girl prints for the baby to be. This baby is already here, and I'm sure has a million blankets already.

I thought about making a quiet book, but those are a lot of work and time that I don't have. So I'm making an Eye Spy quilt instead. It's small, not even big enough for a standard baby blanket, but these people are waste not want not, nothing that isn't useful, and no clutter, so smaller is better. Also, educational is very important.

So, a mini Eye Spy quilt fits the bill in my book. I'm also debating what to do with the back of it. Normally I'd just put one solid color, and in the case of a baby or small child, usually something really soft. I'm thinking though off putting different kinds of fabric for textures, and maybe some activities, like a pocket with something in it, something with snaps, buttons, that kind of thing...so a quiet book in a way too. It really depends on how much time I have.

Here it is so far. This is just the front of it, the only addition to this will be the edging that will be wrapped around from whatever the back turns out to be.

The squares are 4 inch ones, so that should give you an idea of how big it is.

Family portraits

I have these mini canvases (I think they are 2"x3") that I decided to paint our family silhouettes on. Eventually I will have more of them (due to more kids) and eventually I will have a house that I own where I will have a wall on which I will paint a tree silhouette and hang these so they look as though they are on the branches.

I did mine last year when Chris was deployed, but I haven't changed, so no biggie. I just did Chris and Mady's. Chris is easy to tell it is him, as is mine, but Mady's not so much. In photos she is very much her, but since she is so small and her features are just starting to really develop, in a silhouette she still very much has a "baby mushface". It really could be any baby, but I know it's mine.

Here they are.

(Just a note: Someone thought these were really big. They are only about 3"x2", so tiny.)

Aside from making the tree in the future, I'm also debating making one of Mady every year, and lining them all up to see how they change. She is just a few weeks shy of being a year here.

I also picked up these Chipboard books the other day from the accurately titled "Impulse Buy" section from Michael's. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, something for Mady and maybe her cousin, but what? Colors? Numbers? Seasons? 

Well, it just came to me! Stay tuned for updates on it. 

The only thing is. I won't be able to do the same idea for Mady's cousin now as there is no way I will be able to get what I need for hers in time. These may both end up Mady's, and I'll do something else for her cousin. 

Pretend Orange Juice.

To go with my baby's new toy kitchen I made her some orange juice. It really doesn't look like OJ, but it is fine for pretend.

The supplies. 

I've determined that Mod Podge makes the best lid glue. It dries clear (this is when still wet) and NOTHING can break that seal. 

That is the finished product. It is really too clear, but I didn't want to use anything to thicken it that could make mold. 

New Quiet Book

This is my first attempt at a quiet book for Mady. I had one when I was a kid that was a house that opened with a bed on one side and a closet full of clothes on the other side. There was of course a little doll made to look like me that I could dress in the clothes.

This...is nothing like that. I can't sew very well, and as a first attempt, I guess it isn't bad. Some of the pages actually had many incarnations as I am the most creative in the middle of the night and once I was able to stay up a bit later realized they just weren't what I wanted, so I made all new ones. (I'm a serious night owl, much more alert and creative the later it gets. No matter how tired I am all day I get my second wind around 9pm, but with a baby I can't stay up that late "sigh".) She's worth the sacrifice of course. :)

This one is all about colors and textures. The next one will have activities like zipping, snapping, buttoning, etc.

These are not attached together yet, I've decided to use binder rings, I just need to get some.

This was the first page I did. I thought of changing it as it has no real picture, but there are so many different fabrics and textures I decided to leave it just for that. 

We are not Chicago Bears fans, but he is orange and I wanted more orange stuff. 

Did you make yarn dolls when you were young? We did all the time, that is what is on the blue page. 

Hard to see it, but there is a sheep on the white page above the soccer balls. (My husband was a soccer player and wants Mady to play that rather than do something like cheerlead. I'm just planting the seed in her mind.) 

I used a cookie cutter to get the shape of the deer. I had the least amount of brown stuff, but this was a late night creation, so more creative than midday stuff with limited tools. 

Leg warmers

I decided that Mady should have some leg warmers. This shirt I was going to donate because my neck is so stupidly sensitive that I can't even stand tight collars on anyone else. Instead I cut the sleeves off to make leg warmers, the neck to use for something later and the once long sleeve turtle neck is now a t-shirt that can be used for messy activities.

She wore them just fine until they started slipping down around her feet. Then her dad took them off her. I didn't even hem the tops, no need to.

Blackberry Mini Pies and Our First Radish

This was 100% an experiment. I had some left over pie crust from when I made my husband a pie (my first!) and so I decided to make him and our baby little mini pies with muffin tins.

He loved the pie I made and so I figured I'd just do it the same way, but smaller. They looked really cute and I pulled them out of the oven. I stuck my finger in the middle of his just to make sure it was cooked through. I licked off my finger...something...wasn't right. No Sugar! Dangit!

My baby wasn't feeling well and she was all in my hair and so I was rushing and just missed it. So...what did I do? I dumped sugar on the top and stuck them back in the oven for it to melt. Haha!

I have no clue how they turned out because even though I made them two days ago...he still hasn't eaten it. He says he will "eventually".

Here is a picture.

A baby sized one and a daddy sized one. 

Also, we picked a radish from our container garden the other day. It looked pretty good, but we will let the rest grow some more. We planted beans, lavender, radishes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and carrots. A cat keeps digging stuff up and pooping in the containers, but since we live in an apartment basically it's hard to tell who's cat it is. Chris ate the radish and said it was very good (no cat poop in this container).

I keep wanting to call it our "pot garden" because the stuff is planted in pots...but well, we all know why that's not a good idea. 

Radish

Box of Sunshine

I love Pinterest and am a serious addict. I got the idea for a Box of Sunshine here, but I went a bit crazy when I went to the store for yellow things and so I had to get a much bigger box. Plus, I was running out of time and so I didn't end up adding all the cute little suns or anything, but when I start sending care packs to my husbands old battalion the next time they deploy, I'll probably be a bit more sunny in that area...though...they are going to Afghanistan I think, so maybe I should make it a box of sunshine, but include some little clouds for shade? Haha. (My husband is still military, but won't deploy for a few years, hopefully, and we still have friends in the old unit, and they should get some love from home too.) :)

Here are the contents of the Box of Sunshine that I made. This one was going to someone that I know here in the states that is going through a hard time, so it was OK to go completely nuts and send a huge box of anything I wanted, no religious restrictions or anything like Afghanistan will have. It still cost a ton though.

My baby and I cleaned out Walmart and The Dollar Tree of all the yellow items we could find that fit the situation. After this was taken I also added a smilie pencil, notepad, and pin. I decorated the little yellow bag (but if I put a picture of it up it will give away who it went to and I don't think they want the world to know) I painted the bird house yellow and white and turned the beads into earrings. (below) I also included a CD of uplifting, female empowerment music. (obviously this was going to a girl.) The little painting of a sun was done by my (at the time) just turned 10 month old baby girl. She is almost 11 months now. 

There is a sun on one (obviously) and a prism (for rainbows) on the other. Not the prettiest earrings I've ever made, but I was going for the most yellow in the least amount of time. I had to get it in the mail!

So there you have it. My Box of Sunshine. Thank you Pinterest for the idea. I couldn't stop smiling and it took me a while to fall asleep I was so giddy after I laid it all out and took the first picture. That much sunshine would do that to anyone!