christmas presents

Mike and I stayed up until 4am Christmas morning finishing everything for the spoiled rotten boys. here are all the animals we made!

















next up Batman pegs, Star Wars pegs and more gnomes!

Deadlines!

I will just say that I have been busy! I still have a set of gnomes and a set of peg guys pending, but I *think* my SIL will be ok with them being late. I was so tired last night I just didn't have the energy to sit at the table. I didn't go to sleep, I sanded wooden animals.

we made cookies and salt dough ornaments yesterday! so much fun with friends :)

I wanted to share a few of the things we made this weekend with you for people's Christmas presents.

Mike is getting so good on the skill saw! he must have cut out 20 animals for the boys yesterday. I need a dust mask to use the Dremel sanding because man was I sneezy and coughing.


I drew them, Mike cut them out, I painted and finished them. I tried using a soy wax finish because I don't have any beeswax. I'm not SURE I liked it. it did absorb it though, and it's awfully soft, and my hands felt fantastically soft! They are for my friend's son who turns 1 a few days after Christmas!


farm animals for our friend's daughter! I used a satin varnish for it because she's not a baby and I'm sure she's past putting things in her mouth.

I can't wait to get the peg and gnomes out today so that I can work on the animals.

Christmas is so BUSY! but I think I'll have a small vacation over New Years!

Also, I have a hankering to learn how to embroider. I just can't do it on youtube and tutorials! I DON'T KNOW WHY but it bothers me. I don't know if I know any embroiderererers either. and I bet I can't find a class. *sigh* I'm no perfectionist but I don't like to fail.

I've missed a computer so much! I just got a new lens for my camera, but it's not exactly the right one, so I can at least take pictures but they aren't as fabulous as I'd like.

craftwise I've been up to a LOT. I had planned on making Christmas ornaments every day but we've been too frazzled to do that. i've turned the boys lose and let them do whatever they want with the craft supplies but nothing has made it to the tree. I have been working on peg people and other projects.

The coolest thing I've been working on is with my early Christmas present. I now own a scroll saw. it's cool and everything but it's painstakingly slow and I snap a lot of blades from impatience. results are cool though.

sorry that this is a photo dump, but I want to catch up so I can share more regularly. most of these have been taken with my camera phone.

various taggie blankets for friends







set of peg gnomes I made for a friend's daughters. (will make another set for my niece)

a rare craft I made for myself! a Monster Book of Monsters for my newly acquired Nook




Scroll saw things!







Mario mushrooms and tree topper






and the most laborious thing I've ever done (possibly? recently? anywho...)

Crabbe Goyle Malfoy Voldemort


Dumbledore


Hagrid and Harry Potter


Dobby


Ginny Luna and Neville

AND.... HOGWARTS!!!






Owlery


Great Hall


the roof


outside paint job!

I hope these things make a lot of children happy this year. it was fun making them.

up next: Batman pegs and some more Star Wars pegs.... a horse + jockey and some farm animals!

October in a heartbeat...

I have been so incredibly busy I can't even begin to describe the last month and a half.
one of the saddest things in the history of sadness is the fact that my camera busted.

One of the new things I learned in the craft world is screenprinting tshirts. I'd show you pictures but see the above sentence. it was amazingly difficult and I am still not sure I ENJOYED IT. see, my dad started a new business recently. He and his uncle have been doing vinyl graphics for a long time and have decided to branch out. Honestly, the graphics keep them pretty busy but they've been wanting to dabble in t-shirts for awhile. My dad bought all the stuff and they had a few test runs, but they procrastinated on a HUGE order and we ended up frantically printing off 300 tshirts for the Lepanto Terrapin Derby at the beginning of October. They aren't pros at it yet and the process is complicated and takes a long time. we had about 10 screens and each time we let them develop and started to rinse them, they would "blow out" and we'd have to scrub the screens and re-prep them. Day before the sale Dad stayed up all night, and I fell asleep with the baby around 3am. The day of the Derby was fun but we were all tired. on the way out the door to sell t-shirts, I picked up my camera bag, and the camera fell out and landed on the kitchen floor. I can't afford a new lens so I have to use my camera phone from now on. I'm just as sad as you are.

To prepare for our trip to visit my dad, I made the boys some Star Wars pegs. they aren't the best but I made them the night before (when I get all my inspiration!) the next few sets I make will be better. I have to make 2 sets for my nephews. I also need to make some gnomes and fairies for my niece.






I also took an idea from another blogger and had the boys (and a friend) come over and do flyswatter painting. it was a real laugh riot! of course the boys got more paint on themselves (or each other?) than on the paper, but it was SO MUCH FUN and washable :D




LOOK! IT IS ME!

Also, a few weeks ago, Landon was having a really hard time sleeping so I let him stay up. I was working on some Halloween costumes, so I let him make a project. he has been begging and pleading for a Pillow Pet bumblebee so we made a bee pillow. it was all his idea. i pushed the fabric through and threaded the machine. he cut the fabric and everything else :)




This month has been unbelievably busy, can you tell? I made 3 halloween costumes (and didn't take pictures because of the whole sad camera situation. but two Strawberry Shortcake costumes (WITH TUTUS OMFG) and a scarecrow costume. I also made our Halloween costumes.


I was the TARDIS, and Landon and Oliver were Decepticons and because Mike didn't want to feel left out (and couldn't find his Harry Potter costume, and I didn't think about being the TARDIS soon enough to get him a Doctor costume together. but it took 15 minutes to make Mike's costume from inspiration to finish! I own Halloween. The TARDIS lit up and was awesome. I had people stop me in the street to take my picture. but probably because they thought I looked like a lighthouse (or a phone booth?) and would nod and smile politely when I told them that I was the TARDIS from a show called DOCTOR WHO. (dr. who?? Exactly.)

And what do you say? they transform? Sara you are absolutely AMAZING! people should give you awards for what an awesome mother you are! parades! with confetti cannons!



Landon is freaking over the moon about his costume. see!


he did this for almost every single house he went to :)

but what is this? over in Communist Oliverland, he's decided he wants to be an OLLIGATOR! TRAITOR!

except, this Olligator made transforming Transformer noises all night. (well, and the obvious chomping sounds)

my kids rule.

FWIW, I also made a Sideswipe that was way awesome and transformed, but it was kind of hard to wear.

this is the prototype, the real one was silver and painted etc and cardboard.

what's next? hibernation?
I'm having a crafting weekend this weekend with my BFF. I imagine a few new sets of peg guys, since I have a few tentative orders to create, and get cracking on those Christmas presents for my nephews and nieces.

I'm so excited! I finally opened an etsy. I've sold one thing (a custom for a friend) but I'm working on peg people. they are my new obsession and people seem to love them. there are so many better pegs online, but you know, I suppose part of the charm is the childlike quality of my crude drawing ability. the point is I'm able to at least portray someone well enough that people can generally guess who they are. I've not posted about them at all. I started out making them for our trip to Arkansas a few months back, and thought they were a riot. the boys loved them and I decided to start thinking about other ways to do them. I made some superheroes to go in the superhero headquarters, and I made bad guys, and halloween guys, and i'm working on a few other ideas. my niece received a fairy box for her birthday and apparently it's also a big hit at her house and my nephews are requesting manly pegs. I'm going to start listing them soon, maybe at the end of the week.
I'm so excited about them that I'm neglecting every thing else.



Here is a sample. I'm very excited to share them in the next few days.






I heard a rumor Superman's curl is the wrong way. pretend he's looking in a mirror ok?

I'm most excited about the ones I have planned soon. I'll keep you posted.

in family news, the boys have discovered the joys of tempera paint. We splatter painted with squirt bottles and then we used flyswatters to paint on paper. In the process the boys colored each other. Oliver's hair is still green at the scalp.








pretty!
This reinforces the idea that I'm a fun and crafty mom who nurtures my kids creativity. it doesn't matter that my house is perpetually messy and could use a good mopping. fun is more important... right? RIGHT??!!