Handmade with Love

Oh my "Judy" (the mechanical one :) has been calling my name for so long I couldn't ignore her any longer!

So this week I worked on a few b-day projects and this is the one I can reveal (since it's completed :)

L is invited to a b-day party by one of her class mates. 

Since we don't know much about the young lady we had to come up with a more neutral gift.

I had just chatted with a friend about the LOST art of letter writing and how much fun it was to receive letters, small packages and how much more fun it was to send something back and then to wait for ... MAIL.

In one of my favorite books I found instructions for this Letter Pouch and was all over it.

L wrote the girls name on some linen and helped embroider it.

We chose some nice fabric out of my HUGE stash and ...

et voila ... 

A Personalized Letter Pouch 

for Mrs. Ashley's 7th B-Day

We made hand-made stationary (potato print hearts), added envelopes and a few stamps. 

We went to Target and got a pink "Heart Pen" (thank you Target for selling V-Day items in the dollar section) and some glitter heart stickers.

L wrote a sweet, little note ...

And for $3 (plus tax) and some laying around material we made a pretty awesome gift (at least I think so).

We love this pouch so much that I was ordered to make more for other friends. 

My order states two matching Star Wars pouches, two pink/purple pouches and one with animals. 

I wish I'd get paid for this stuff :) but I totally love the idea of the kids writing to each other.

So tomorrow I'll be hanging out with Judy (again the mechanical one) to make some more of these little guys ...

A Tooth Fairy for Hannah

Ls little friend Hannah showed off her FIRST wiggly tooth last week when we saw her.
L, who by now is convinced that she "will NEVER loose a tooth EVER", decided that Hannah needed a special Tooth Fairy to help collecting the presents the real Tooth Fairy will bring.
My  BFF Judy (the sewing machine, the real one is still working her little butt off) and I sewed a bit and this is what we came up with.

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting 

Hannah's Tooth Fairy

It's a tooth with teeth ... FUNNY!!!

The mouth is the pouch for the tooth ...

I found the tutorial here.

If you try this make sure you follow the instructions precisely when making the pouch for the tooth. 

I only glued it and after L put her finger in the pouch for the first time the glued edge came undone right away.

I had to stitch it up after the fact, which didn't look as pretty. This Tooth Fairy will have to keep her skirt down at all times so nobody can see the stitching underneath ...

Good luck Hannah!

 We hope the Tooth Fairy will be super good to you!

xoxo

Your Ls and family

Addendum:

In Germany we never had a tooth fairy. I feel completely ripped off!

I wonder if I can collect my money or presents after the fact still? Has anybody submitted late-payment-requests to the Tooth Fairy and do you accumulate interest during this 20something year waiting period? Maybe this is the financial break we have been waiting for.

And then my friend said "What does the Tooth Fairy do with the teeth she collects?".

hm ... I don't think I ever want to visit her house, jars and jars filled with baby teeth .... CREEPY!!!

You are so full of it!!!

... lavender oil scented, uncooked rice

Big L's
"Buzz-Love"

Boo-Boo-Bag

Little L's
"Lila-Love"
Boo-Boo-Bag

 two itty-size heating/cooling pillows

Whenever the L's have a tummy ache I pull out my huge lavender neck pillow, throw it in the microwave to heat it up and put it on that itty, hurting tummy. This usually helps the tummy feel better. It's also good for keeping you and your bed warm on cold nights. But my pillow is way too big for them and quite heavy (poor Lulu gets lost under it).

I saw this tutorial on how to make these little heating or cooling pillows (you can also keep them in the freezer for boo-boos that need cooling) and was all over this one.
The Ls LOVE them!!!

I would give credit to the blog / tutorial that I used to make these (I always do!!) if I'd only remember where I saw it. I'll add it to this post as soon as I find it.

So for now I can only say "it wasn't my idea!" ... I only copied it and added my own initials in form of the hearts on it.

How to ... Stroller Refashion

Another copy-cat project.
Actually, I may be the fastest copy cat there is for this one. I read this post by the Crafting Chicks ( LOVE, LOVE this blog!!!) at 7:30 PM and at 9:00 PM I have this to show off.

Before 

 torn stroller cover

I was ready to trash the stroller but it's the Ls favorite,

 so when I saw the tutorial I was all over this one.

Making the pattern

Pinned in place

Judy Time

 with the tutorial in the background :)

After

et voila ... 

a brand new baby doll stroller

Baby likes!!!

I used reupholstering fabric and doubled it as well. It'll make it through the Ls play time plus the grandkids (in 30 years from now) should still be able to get some use out of this one :):):)

Thank you to Jamie from the Crafting Chicks for this great tutorial!

How to - School "Lunchables"

The requested Jessie lunch box arrived today via Amazon.
I am kind'of bummed out that I didn't start getting into these school-preparations a bit earlier since I would have totally made her a lunch bag myself. I found tons of awesome tutorials and they don't look too hard, even for a sewingly-challenged person as I am.
Well the next one will be "mama made" for sure.

Anyhow, Jessie it is for this month :) and now we needed some snack bags and sandwich "cozy's" to make the daily snack or lunch a bit more fun. Here are the additions to the Lunch Mat I made a few days ago.


These are three fabric, reusable snack-bags made out of fat quarters I have laying around everywhere.

I cut apart a plastic snack bag and sewed it on the inside of the snack bag. This way we could use it for moist snacks like apples and grapes as well and it still should be easy to clean / wash.

I also used part of a receiving blanket for the inside fabric hoping that this would create some sort of insulation.

Lulu felt quite left out so I made her a lila Dora snack baggy. She was VERY happy and snacked all day on her goodies :)

Her "blue" cheek looks much better. 

Now everybody just thinks I haven't washed her face in days but thats better than the 

"WHAT did you do to her face" looks I got!!!

We are having way too much fun with these preparations as you can see!!!
Wait until you see the fabric skirts we made out of their fabric paintings from a few days ago. They'll be the talk of the Ice Cream Social of L's new school for sure (it's fine with me, they should know right away that we are a little "different" from the rest of the clowns :)

How to ... Earning Chart for PC Time

L is really into computer games lately (Danke Jule!!! :)

Feeding her online pets and cleaning an online toy room is much more exciting than to feed your real dog or clean up your toys even though your mom asks you 100 times for it.

She also is learning about time.
I put 1 and 1 together and came up with this magical piece. It totally works!!!

She cleans her room like crazy and remembers her chores all by herself.
This is a the coolest earning chart ever ... that or the reward is so tempting, she'd do anything to get 5 extra minutes to play "Dora and the Magic Rainbow".

All you need is:

- 2 paper plates
- a few magnets (I used small magnets from Home Depot and Super Glued them to the plates. We have the "stick on" type but those didn't seem strong enough.)
- acrylic paints
- chores which need to be done :)

... and voila ... the perfect chore chart is born.

Paint one plate in one color with the acrylic paint. 

Cut the second plate in quarters and if you'd like split up the quarters again. 

Paint each piece in a different color.

The whole plate is one hour that she can earn per day. 

L chose her own chores (and some I did).

Stick or glue on the magnets so the plates will stick to the fridge,

write down the chores and the minutes earned
and ...

... let the fun begin.

  So far so good!
Tonight she even cleaned up Lulu's mess to get the bonus 5 minutes.
It's MAGIC!!!

How to ... School Lunch Mat

I made this today for L for her school snacks and/or lunch. Remember our fabric paintings ...

I found the perfect use for one of the master pieces.

 I saw this tutorial and went to work. 

Thank you Creative Kismet for the inspiration!

Add her favorite princess and a bit of sewing action ...

Front Side

Back Side

Fold it up

... and again

Loop over and ready for the lunch box

The perfect lunch buddy for my Kindregarden'er!!!

L's comment: Thats nice mama but I am really into Toy Story right now. Can you make one with Woody and Jessie tomorrow?
Mama: ...WHAT?????