Adelaide doll

I feel like I am always making things to send away to others.  Once in a while I like to take time and create something for my daughter.

A few days ago I had a sudden urge to sew her a doll.  It is bigger than most that I've made, and I has more of a refined look than the colorful little dolls that usually come from my machine.

I call her the Adelaide doll.  She is about 15" tall.

I was absolutely terrified to paint her face.  I was very close to writing about her when it was still blank and asking for doll face ideas, but I couldn't wait any longer, I wanted to finish her as quickly as possible.  And just in time, I think, because my daughter's come down with a horrible fever and could use some cheering up.

I've read several techniques on how to sew doll hair, but I found them all quite complicated and I was unsuccesful when I tried them.  So I made up my own way of sewing on hair.  Granted it really only works for pig-tails, but I like how thick it turns out.  I will do a tutorial sometime on how it works if any of you are interested.

I also feel the need to admit what a horrible seamstress I am when it comes to clothing.  I stick to toys a lot of the time simply because I feel like they are little puzzles I can put together.  But when it comes to clothing I usually fumble around with different ideas, pretend to know what I am doing, and then end up making it a lot harder than I know it should be.  It's like a secret language I just can't unlock.  I really need to take some lessons.

Anyways, I think Adelaide's dress is quite pretty, but if you could lift up her skirt and see under it for yourselves, I just know I would get the funniest reactions from all of you.  I'll have to take a picture sometime.  It's pretty complicated under there....

And this post is linked to...

This is serious folks.

My daughter is becoming quite serious with her artwork.

If she finds a loose pen around the house, she will locate some type of papery material and plant herself on her tummy.  She can focus on one drawing for several days straight, coming back to it every so often to add a few more details.

Her scribbles are precious.

happy happy

Alicia at Beautiful Mess is collecting smiles and sharing them on the blog.

I love this idea and I would just like to review what makes me happy; 

what incites a smile...

Yes, nutella and a spoon.  Just a spoon.  And the nutella of course.

Eyelet lace.  Ever since I was little this has been one of my happinesses.  My baby blanket from my grandmother was surrounded in it.

Fresh peaches awaiting their jam-hood.

Grapefruit spoons.  Need I say more?

Dried pineapple and bananas.  Or basically anything my husband and I can get our hands on that can survive a dehydrator.

Radish sandwiches.  And avocado sandwiches.  With cheese.

Mmmmm!  Just the thought of it makes me smile!

Finding hair clips for my daughter like the ones I had when I was a kid.

I especially love the coral one.

Homemade bread.  In this case Amish friendship bread.  Ooooooooh am I glad I tried it.  Too bad it's so darn unhealthy.  And it sort of takes a lot of work to keep it going.

Melted swiss cheese and salt.  Umm, like with a fork.  This is one of those weird things you just have to try.  My mom got me hooked.  I actually really dislike swiss cheese, but this is just something you will have to test out for yourself.

Which makes me curious, my personal belief is that everyone has some type of quirky cravings that no one else would understand.  Do share!

And then I thought I'd share a few things that make me frown.

Like purchasing salt and vinegar chips, having never tasted them before, and learning that it isn't such a good combination...

Or finding that your beautiful mango smells like tuna fish when you peel into it...

ew.

and discovering a batch of newly hatched baby beetles underneath a leaf of your beloved pepper plant :(

Ok this one is kind of cool, seeing as I felt compelled to take a picture of the little tykes.  Just don't let them start crawling anywhere near my skin!

Good thing I have other things to focus on.  The above little girl for example.

What makes you happy?  What makes you smile?

By the way,  you guys are so nice.  All of your comments make me smile.  Just the fact that you like to share your thoughts and ideas with us makes me feel like this isn't such a one-sided conversation.

This post has been linked up!

Check out Chocolate on my Cranium ;)

Cupcake Playhouse Tips

My husband and I were recently discussing our single-bedroom housing situation (which we are perfectly happy with), and concluded that my daughter has a little lack of personal space.  She has no bedroom and her crib is smack dab in the middle of the apartment.  I had seen many pvc pipe playhouse ideas online, and decided this would be the perfect project to help remedy our issue.  Plus, pvc can be taken apart for when we decide we need a break from it in our living room.

Presenting.....

her new playhouse!

I went to the local thrift shop and purchased several sheets for less than $2.00 each.  I actually think the sheet I used for the roof was a fancy bed skirt, because it came with all the ruffles (lucky right?).  I tried to pick fun colored light sheets, so they let light into the house.  

The pipes can be bought at any hardware store.  The fittings, however, I recommend purchasing online.  They can be surprisingly expensive.

If you ever decide to take on a project like this, you will learn that the pvc fittings for making the above structure do not exist.  I found several tutorials online for card table houses, but I wanted one that my daughter could stand up in; I wanted it spacious inside.

This is what my husband and I came up with:

As you can see we would have had to find a pvc fitting that had incredilbe 45 degree angels, elbows, and Ts (I actually have no idea of all the correct terms here).  So to remedy this situation, we created the roof separate from the body of the house, and then drilled a whole through the two fittings that rested on each other, and then inserted a bolt.  This way the house is structurally sound, and yet can still be taken apart.

I added a curtain to the door to help support the whole 'privacy' idea.

Then sewed on ribbons to keep walls and curtains in place.

And here is where I cheated.  The door and windows were kind of tricky.  I basically had no idea how to make them when I started out.  I did know, however, that I wanted there to be door and window frames, so I sewed each piece of 'wood' together separately, and then used heat-n'-bond to iron them onto the pre-sewn windows.  Soooo much easier than trying to sew them all on.

Sorriest looking cupcakes ever... pom poms?  They're almost as sad as that cardboard oven...

Oooo look!  She found the chocolate chips I strategically placed so that I could get a picture!

This was such a fun project!  Although, I will not lie, this giant cupcake was tough to sew without a pattern.  But I know it will definitely be used, so the trouble was very worth it.

If you have any questions let me know!  I'm no expert, but I did a lot of research first, so I might have a few more tips if you get the hankering to try one of these for yourself!

-Becka

This post has been linked up to one of the
most fabulous craft blogs out there!!!



hosted by Jenn!

A couple quick fixes

I've been blessed enough to find some amazing finds at the thrift store and church swaps.  With such tiny kids around, sometimes you take what you can get.  We are on a super tight budget right now, so to find summer clothes for my growing girl I sometimes have to get creative.  We found some new plain white Gerber tees at the thrift store.  Three brand new tops for just a couple bucks!  But white and plain as can be...

I've figured out what to do with two:

This first tee I thought was pretty tight.  I used an awesomely simple Crafterhours tutorial to fix that!  I simply added fabric down the sides.

I love the peek of blue.

The second I chose to save as a layering shirt.  I thought it would go great under this sweet tank (also thrifted), but I had to take in the sides of the tank first because really?  my baby is not that wide.

So how did I take them in?  Well let me tell you :)

I laid it on top of a nice shirt that fits her loosely, so that it will fit well layered.  I then pinned along where I would want the new seem to be.  This is all done while the shirt is inside out.

I noticed at this time there was a funky split on both sides at the bottom.  I wanted to keep these so that there would be moving room.  

I sewed along the pins I marked, and ended just above this split.  I then trimmed the edges 1/2" out and added a zigzag stitch so as to help with fraying.

I folded the edges around the clip in twice and sewed them down, reinforcing along the top of the split.  It looks a little messy, but I was just copying what I found on the original.  Actually mine looks cleaner on the inside.

And here's the finished product.

Honestly I've never refashioned much before, but I'm finding that in just 20 minutes sometimes you can fix something up nicely so that it is perfectly wearable.

Now what to do with my last tee?  I've always wanted to try freezer paper....

Easy doll dress

When we first moved to this apartment I scouted out all of the stores within walking distance.  Across the street a little way was a cheap old dollar store.  Cheap cheap.  I went in for a dollar broom and some scrubbing sponges.  Imagine my surprise when I looked above the cash register at checkout and saw on a shelf up high a baby cabbage patch doll!  Totally flabbergasting, no idea why it was there.  Anyway, I forked out the $10 (I got the idea this wasn't a regular item) and figured I could change this bald little boy doll into a girl without too much of a hassle.  

So now I've made a sweet $10 cabbage patch doll into a great gift for my daughter with loads of little dresses to come.  I did a bit of research online for quick and easy tutorials.  Here are a few I've found.

This first one was found at Wiener dog tricks.  I used the tutorial to make the dress above.  

Totally my kind of tutorial.  Easy and simple.  There isn't even a pattern, you just use scraps.

I added the button to hide a bit of the stitching, and pinched the sleeves into little pleats because her shoulders are so small.  I'm in love with the old fabric.

The second tutorial can be found at Obsessively Stitching.  The idea is that you use baby clothes you already have.  I haven't tried it yet, but it is definitely on my to do list.

And the last one I want to share is also from Obsessively Stitching .  She shows how to scale down a baby onesie to fit a doll.  This one looks a little more complicated.

I'd like to point out that if you are wanting to create your own doll or children's clothes, it's quite possible to use something you already have as a pattern.  Turn the old outfit inside out and cut out pieces that are similar.  Work your way through it and you can quite often come out with something you had no idea you could create!

That's what I did with this last outfit.  The little baseball uniform is what the doll came in, so I just took some of my scraps and copied it.

Keeping it simple?

Isn't it crazy how holidays just seem to creep up faster than you can plan?  By the time I realized it was Easter I figured it was too late to go all out.  Having just a one year old kinda helps in pulling off a simple year.  I stopped at the dollar store and bought a few candies and eggs for an Easter egg hunt, mostly for my husband's and my enjoyment in watching her search for the colorful eggs.  

But while at the store I saw an adorable dish cloth that was the perfect size to try this project.  She loves to help me out as I cook.  Yesterday the corner of our pizza was devoid of any cheese, she's a natural at snitching cheese whenever the food presents itself.  So of course I figured if I splurged and bought it this could go nicely as an Easter gift.  Something about the colors remind me of a popular bunny food.

As you can see I drastically changed the design.  I wanted the straps to all be connected for the ease of little arms trying to dress themselves.  I got the idea from here, but changed it to fit what I envisioned in my head.

Then my sister suggested I add ruffles.  And how could I not?

If you give a Becka 10 min.

If you give a Becka 10 min...

Then she might decide to sit down and make a rush check on some of her favorite blogs.

And while perusing one of them she will notice that their entire post is about doughnuts!  

All of the pretty pictures will make her think that she needs one too.

So she might ask you if you will run across the street to the conveniently located Dunkin' Donuts and grab her one please.  And she will remind you that her favorite flavor is maple :)

She will be so happy when you get home, but when she pulls it out of the bag and sees it resting on it's white tissue paper, she will remember that she likes all things sweet to be eaten with a nice glass of milk.

So she might ask you to make a dash to the grocery store as well.

And then as she is walking from the kitchen with her treat in hand she will see that her lovely one year old has decided to take a well-timed nap.

So she thinks this might be a good chance to enjoy her doughnut while sitting at the computer perusing some of her favorite blogs....

And notice that someone just posted about Easter candy!

~~~~

*The first link and doughnut pic are from Bakerella , and the second link and Easter pic are from Little Bit Funky !

*This post is dedicated to my little sister, who loves giving children's books :)