Oh My...

I am in awe of how long it has been since I have last posted. And you know, it's been about that since I last sewed too!! Sad day, eh? However, it is not because I've been lazy.

You see, I had one of these:

We started up this:

{homeschool}

And now we're trying to sell this:

So we can move here with the military:

However, with all of the craziness, life has actually somehow allowed me a little time to start sewing again. I've started back up with our Quiet Book pages, I am currently working on pages O and P, and they are FUN!

I am also in the process of cutting squares for my little guy's quilt, to match this one.

So, while I may not be posting very often right now, know that I am always thinking about this little space of mine and am anxious to get back. That being said, I must admit that it has been nice to take a little breather, gain a little perspective and organize other parts of my life in the mean time. I think it is vital for us to step back every once and awhile and reevaluate to make sure that all of the many things we have going in our lives are just the things that we WANT to have going. Or do we feel needlessly bound? Thankfully, I have come to the realization that creating things for my family with my very own hands fulfills an inner need to make something out of nothing in an effort to beautify our lives. Thanks for joining me on this little journey. And if you haven't already completely given up on me, I hope you'll continue to stick a little while and see what the future of this blog holds.

In the mean time, go make something! Go play with your kids! Go do something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and I'll be seeing you soon!

They're in the Shop

Remember all those lovely vintage sheets from my thrift store adventure the other day?? Well, I felt so lucky to find such treasures (and have so very many more in my vintage sheet stash) that I though I should share:) SO, you will find lovely little fat quarter bundles in my shop. Didn't know I have shop?? It's true. I don't advertise it a whole lot but it's there and active so go ahead a take a look. You'll even find a sweet little apron there...the last of that favorite fabric of mine...

Wondering what to do with all these lovely sheets?? Here are some great tutorials/ideas using just fat quarters to get you started:

Vintage Sheet Wrapped Wreath
Patchwork Pocket Tote Bag
Vintage Sheet Quilt -- So lovely!!
Swatch Portraits
Lunch Tote

I have some very sweet blues and pinks that will join these delicious yellows shortly. Keep checking back!

Play Eats!

Have you heard about the fun happening over at at Project: Project?? Beth is dedicating the next two weeks to tutorials and reviews about all things for the play kitchen! Yesterday she posted a fab tutorial for a shopping cart.

I'll be posting something super sweet next week so be sure to stay tuned into Play Eats at Project: Project. You really don't want to miss out:)

Inspiring Creativity

I love things that quite simply inspire me. This is a favorite video of mine that I find myself turning to often. It makes me want to learn to draw and paint. It is charming and sweet and will likely make you smile:)

Stuff is Happening

Holy Moly have I been busy. I almost have the kids room completely redone. We had to go from soft pink walls to a gender neutral color. Then coordinating quilts made out of this loveliness:

Photo Credit

So, needless to say, not much other crafting has been happening. However, I do have a rather fun tutorial for you in celebration of Boy Month over at Made and Made by Rae. Stay tuned!!

The Barrel

Okay, so have y'all heard about The Barrel?!? It's an online magazine for women featuring blog articles on food, craft, love, life, raising kids, you name it! It is so fabulously done.

And in this month's issue they're featuring my felt crown tutorial in their Sew That section on page 36! Not sure if y'all noticed, but it happens to be an awesome little valentine's gift for the littles in your life.

So head on over to The Barrel and check 'em out. You're bound to run into a few new and fabulous blogs that you've not met yet.

Pay It Forward {2011}

I got this off of a friends blog and I thought it would be fun and interesting. I'm not promising anything huge or fantastic, but its a fun way to share some handmade love.

I promise to send something hand-made to the first five peope who leave a comment here. 

You must in turn post this on your blog and send somthing YOU make to the first five people who comment on your post.

The rules are: the item has to be HANDMADE and must be sent to the five people sometime in 2011. Time to share some love.

Please be sure to leave your email address in the comments so I can contact you!
Now I have to get thinking about what I will be making...hmmmm...This will be fun!

Yard Sale!

While the little guy still thinks it's awesome to climb through that big window, Emmie has used it for so many different things. Most recently?? A Yard Sale window. Needless to say, she is my yard sale buddy:) I train them young.

Tutorials!!

Hello friends!

So, after some doing I finally have a nice little Tutorial Database for you, complete with pictures and quick links. You'll find the link to my tutorial page above on my navigation bar. Each new tutorial will be added as they are created here on Hippos and Dinosaurs.

Hope this makes it easier to find what you are looking for!

Also, I am leaving town for a few days, but I have some pretty fun posts scheduled for you, but if I don't get back to your emails right away, it will certainly happen in the near future.

Ciao!

The Perfect Heating Pad Tutorial

Remember that whole me being pregnant thing??? Right. Well, sadly, for me that means a whole lot of sciatic pain and complimentary pain in my sacrum. It's just part of the deal for me I guess. However, the pain is lightened with my perfect heating pad. 


Why is it perfect?? Because it is just the right size, with just the right amount of rice that is equally distributed and  it's completely fabulous and cozy. Oh, and the added bonus?? It only took two hours to make two of them.


This tutorial will give you instructions for making both an adult-sized heating pad and a child-sized one.


So let's get started!!


Here's what you'll need:


For a Large-
8.5" x 10.25" flannel (short end on fold so entire piece is 8.5 x 20.5)
about 3lbs white rice


For a small-
6.5" x 14.25" flannel (short end on so entire piece is 6.5 x 28.5)
about 2 lbs white rice


For both:
matching thread
1/4 - 1/2 cup measuring cup
(you'll need a little less than a 1/2 yard for both heating pads...I just used up some flannel scraps I had)

First, fold fabric right sides together. Sew one long side and the short side together, leaving a long side open.
**TIP--on the open long side, sew in 1.2 inch from the short sides, this will give you a nice corner when you turn it.

Once you've sewn all the edges, clip the corners (like above) and turn your bag right side out and push out the corners.
Now it's time to mark where your pockets will be.

Large: mark 4 lines every 4"
Small: mark 3 lines every 3.5"

Sew these lines, starting at the closed edge and stopping 1/2" from the open side.
Now fold in and press the opening closed.

Here's the fun...and messy (I currently have a lot of rice surrounding my sewing desk...) part. Time to fill your pockets with rice. Do one pocket at a time!! Fill it, then sew it closed. And do the next pocket.

Large: fill each pocket with 1.5 cups rice
Small: fill each pocket with 1 cup of rice.

Snip all of your threads and you're done!

Now all you have to do is find a recipient, or go throw it in the microwave for 2.5-3 minutes and enjoy the warmth all to yourself.  I find myself warming this sucker up when my husband has to work nights and there's no one in my bed to keep my feet warm. Works like a charm.

Sharing the love at some of the following:
Monday:
Keeping it Simple-- Motivate Me Mondays
Skip to my Lou-- Made by You Mondays
Sew Can Do-- Craftastic Monday 
C.R.A.F.T-- Making Monday Marvelous
Tuesday:
Today's Creative Blog-- Get Your Craft On!
Creative Itch-- Sew Cute Tuesday
Tip Junkie-- Tip Me Tuesday
Wednesday:
Sew Much Ado-- We Did It Wednesday!
Blue Cricket Designs-- Show and Tell
Friday: 
Simply Designing
Kojo Friday Fun Finds 
Fingerprints on the Fridge-- Feature Yourself Friday 
Tatertots and Jello-- Weekend Wrap-up
Weekend:
The Girl Creative-- Just Something I Whipped Up
Under the Table and Dreaming-- Sunday Showcase

YOUR Favorite 2010 H&D Projects

Well, I just thought I'd jump right on to that bandwagon and share you Hippos and Dinosaurs' top five post of the year. This has been a fun year and I have so much more planned for 2011. I still have tons of Christmas gifts to share with you! Anyway, without further ado, here's H&D's top five:

5. Fun Family Napkins We love these and use them all the time...they're definitely not so crisp and white anymore:)

4. Upcycled Napkin Rings Still a great way to store those napkins up there

3. Hidden Pictures Activity Book My daughter was just playing with this the other afternoon. I love that it was free!

2. Carseat Tent This project is continually getting hits. I still love it and look forward to making one for this next baby...though it'll have to be super lightweight since it'll be about 90 degrees outside...

1. The Number One post of 2010 was definitely The Play Kitchen. By far my favorite project of the year as well. 

Happy New Year my Bloggy Friends!! Looking forward to whatever 2011 will bring!!

Spontaneous Art

I am all about setting up an environment for my children where they can feel free to create something beautiful on a whim. This came naturally for my daughter and she spends hours (yes, hours) a day creating things. My son, however, is just coming out of the "eating the crayons" stage and more into the "Look mama!!! Papa's airplane!!" stage (that's his favorite thing to draw). Well, months ago (as in, back in March) I bought an easel at a flea market for only $3.00. It had good bones, it just needed a little spicing up. So I took it home and finally got around to making it look like new again. It is just so hard to do a big project like this without the kids seeing it.

Here's what it looked like before:

And with a fresh new coat of paint, some new boards (my husband found and cut dry erase boards at Home Depot! We used the backside of one to spray the chalkboard paint on) and some tightened bolts we now have a beautiful new easel.

You'll notice that the new boards are larger than the originals. I didn't think it would hurt to have MORE space for creating.

We'll be adding accessories to this as time goes on: a tray to set cups of paint in, perhaps a dowel across the top to hold a roll of paper, and some clips to hold down the paper. For now, though it is getting a lot of use and a lot of love from the little ones in my life.

Cost:
     easel: $3.00
     spray paint: $6.00 (with some to spare)
     hardware: $3.00
     dry erase board: $12.00
        
               Total: $24.00

Not bad when compared to what they retail for! And I love that there are no plastic pieces that can break and are then very difficult to replace.


Sharing the love at some of the following:
Monday:
Keeping it Simple-- Motivate Me Mondays
Skip to my Lou-- Made by You Mondays
Sew Can Do-- Craftastic Monday 
C.R.A.F.T-- Making Monday Marvelous
Tuesday:
Today's Creative Blog-- Get Your Craft On!
Creative Itch-- Sew Cute Tuesday
Tip Junkie-- Tip Me Tuesday
Wednesday:
Sew Much Ado-- We Did It Wednesday!
Blue Cricket Designs-- Show and Tell
Friday: 
Simply Designing
Kojo Friday Fun Finds 
Fingerprints on the Fridge-- Feature Yourself Friday 
Tatertots and Jello-- Weekend Wrap-up
Weekend:
The Girl Creative-- Just Something I Whipped Up
Under the Table and Dreaming-- Sunday Showcase

A feature:)

Just realized I got a feature on one of the most inspiring children's decor sites on the block!

Thanks, Ohdeedoh!

It's true

Looks like another redhead is on it's way. I'm looking forward to having an excuse to make lots of itty bitty baby things that I get to KEEP. 6 months to go. I'll try to keep the gory details of the preggo life to myself and only share the lovely handmades.

Jackpot

The ladies in my church have a monthly social and at every one of those socials we have a swap. As a natural purger of things, I LOVE this swap. It's always an excellent opportunity to take a load of stuff we no longer need and get someone else to enjoy it. I also LOVE thrift shopping, but its definitely hit and miss, and usually, I don't find anything at our swaps. But good gracious, I sure did hit the jackpot this month.

I could see a sweet Christmas dress coming from that set of three red and green fabrics up there, there's wool, corduroy and a home dec weight. Maybe a dress that uses one of those pretty green trims. And aren't those Strawberry Shortcake and Raggedy Ann and Andy ornament panels fun?? I think Goose will enjoy doing those with me. Anyway, I just love me some free beautiful things:)

Artwork Display

This is looooong overdue. My daughter has the tendency to tape her artwork (and there is plenty of that around here) all over the house: from the mantle, over her bed, on various kitchen cabinets, you name it. So I needed to create a place for her to display her work where she knows it will be seen and she can be proud.

This was so very simple to create. At Home Depot they have a section of particularly cut and finished wood. These were the perfect size (they have longer ones, if you're interested). Then I picked up the bulldog clips from Office Depot. These are the magnetic ones, which are perfect because they have a nice flat back to glue to the board. I used my handy Gorilla Glue to adhere them to the wood. Then I put picture hanging hardware on the back and voila! It was so easy and the little one is so proud.

Where I Blog

So I really love getting a peek into people's homes, just to see how they do stuff from day to day. So, here's a small peek into my home. We don't have an office and I don't like having a computer in my room (I have a hard time telling it no and I fear I would never sleep:) ) So we are currently keeping the computer in the kitchen and I think I love it. It is completely central in our home and I can hop on and send an email real quick randomly when needed...or wanted, without it really disrupting our day. It's also great because I can watch anything I want from Hulu or Netflix while I cook or do the dishes...although, right now it is definitely Project Runway.

If you're interested in seeing some other blogging spaces head on over to Centsational Girl.

Apples and Sunshine

I have been saving my jeans for nearly 6 years now. Back when I started saving them I wasn't sure what I would do with them, considering that at that time the only sewing I had done was patch up a pair of pants in college. My uncle always made these super heavy denim quilts. They were always so heavy and warm. And incredibly durable. I thought that might be fun...

Well, I live in Arkansas, people, where it is currently topping out at about 100 degrees everyday. The last thing I need is warm. However, with the Fourth of July and fireworks just around the corner, I am quite certain that we will need a nice, big blanket to sit on.

There are pieces from many of my most favorite fabrics. Apples from this beloved backpack. A sweet yellow vintage from a favorite flea market outside of Cortez, CO. And a vintage red flower from my mother's stash. I backed the quilt with a lovely white daisy sheet found for $3 at my local Saver's.

And what's more? I knew I wanted to use flannel for the batting because I didn't want this to be a bulky blanket. So I searched high and low for used flannel sheets at the thrift stores. Couldn't find anything. So I priced out how much it would cost to just buy flannel at Joann's. Nearly $25 (not on sale). Ouch. So one fateful Saturday we are driving in a part of town we've not been before, I see a church rummage sale, I spot a queen size, white flannel sheet, I offer $1, I take that baby home. Whoo hoo! So the whole quilt cost me approximately $7 (with some pieces that I picked up in the Joann's remnant bin). Not bad. Not bad at all.

I am loving the way I quilted it with the double lines just outside the seams. Someday, I'd love to try my hand at a pretty stippled design. Someday.

Beauty...

...is in new fabric:)

I love me some fresh new fabric. I had told myself that I would not buy anymore fabric until I finished more of my WIP's, however...I just finished a large custom order and had a few dollars just sitting in Paypal and begging for me to put it to fun use:)

And so I listened and got this:

The green birdie fabric will be some curtains for the kids bathroom. And the sweet blue hedgehogs will most certainly be something for Goose. A skirt? Perhaps an explorer bag for her birthday? I'm considering making a pillow out of that avocado green on the right...Everything else I pretty much just loved.

And because Sew Mama Sew is so awesome, they gave me 3 fat quarters during their promotion this weekend! Look how pretty! I'm just in love with that floral...which kind of surprises me a bit....I've never been big on florals...first step to getting old perhaps?

Pins and Needles

SO many cute pincushions!! I was so overwhelmed by all of the different pin cushion ideas out there. But I NEEDED to make one. Mine was a small basket stuffed with batting and haphazardly covered with fabric. It was laughable really, but it was all I had in a pinch about 5 years ago when I really started sewing. So it was time. And I found the most perfect little pattern. And really rather simple too! A free pattern by the great Anna Maria Horner. Have you seen this pattern yet? So cute. And it only made sense to use some of her beautiful fabric.