Spool People

I have been working on these little guys for 3-4 hours a night since Sunday. They were fun, but oh, how happy I am to be done with the Easter gifts. It's been a love-hate relationship.

I first spotted them on etsy. I loved them immediately. They reminded me of the old school Little People that I played with when I was little. The girls absolutely LOVE playing with them at grandma's house. Round body, no arms, no legs, and a head. Somehow, limbless, they're still the favorites .

With my obsessive compulsive disorder kicking into high gear, I called my mom, mother-in-law, and grandma within minutes to see if they had any old wooden spools. To my delight, they all did. My mother-in-law sent me all she had and my mom let me pick out a dozen or so of my favorites from her collection. Both my mother-in-law and moms spools came from their moms. So each doll is made from the old sewing spools that the girls great grandma's, Ola and Mable, actually sewed with. I marked on the bottom with an "O" or "M" so we will always remember where they came from. My other grandma just had back surgery so I'm hoping when she's all recovered I can make a few more using her spools as well. Three different great grandmas spools...what a legacy! It makes me so excited! I just love one of a kind things with sentimental value.

I made a set with three beds, 2 tables, and 20 spool people: 1 Grandpa, 1 Grandma, 1 Joe, 1 Jamie, 1 Gabriella, 1 Gwen, 10 friends, 3 Bears, and Goldilocks. I don't think I'll ever tell the girls who is suppose to be who, I'll just let them use their imagination to pretend how they want.

The doll house is actually a CD holder dollhouse from Michael's. I got the idea here and thought it would be perfect. Small and put-awayable...yes, I made that word up, but that is a huge criteria for toys around here. Can it be put away so I don't have to look at it all the time? Yes? Okay, good, I'll take it.

I hope the girls enjoy their town full of spool people. I'm thinking I might put a few in Easter eggs and hide them along with the other eggs. We'll see. But for right now, I'm just glad I don't have to paint another face on any wood heads for a while. Not so crafty with the paint brush over here!

Surprise

Surprise is right!

If you want to see what knocked my socks off the other night, click here.

How exciting is that! I found this site about a week ago and it is fabulous!

I have big plans to make that play house for our old table that has just become my sewing table in my bedroom. I first need to finish the Easter presents. Which by the way are almost complete, I should be done tonight. Thank goodness! I'll post pictures soon.

Easter Dresses

I remember saying in January of last year that I had a goal to make the girls their Easter dresses. It never happened. I don't know if it had to do with having a six month old, or having not used my sewing machine in months. Whatever it was, I never even thought about it after that day in January. This year, however, I knew I would absolutely make their dresses.

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted the dresses to look like. I found the fabric at my favorite fabric store and looked for the easiest pattern I could find. I modified the pattern to fit my idea. The dresses turned out to look like what I saw in my head...except I pictured sleeves. But do you know how hard it is to find a spring dress pattern with sleeves? Easter is a little early this year to have a sleeveless dress, but nothing a little white cardigan can't fix.

So I finished Gabs and still have Gwen's to complete. I said I would have them finished this week, so I better get working on it tonight! My problem is, I hate to start something and not finish it. I can't stand the thought of putting everything away, then digging it all back out again, then putting it away, etc. My house turns to shambles and dinner doesn't get made. I need a craft room! But at least I have one dress to show for it. I can't believe my mom would make 5 of everything for us girls! Two is sounding crazy at this point.

Easter Baskets

The last several years we have spent Easter in Utah with Joe's family. I'm ashamed to admit that we always just borrowed Easter baskets from Joe's mom for the girls. With this being our first year at home for Easter, I thought it was time to get the girls their own Easter baskets. Then the thought came to me that I should make them. And once I've had a thought, it is hopeless for me to concentrate on anything else. I was now going to make them no matter what.

I thought about making fabric baskets...that seemed much too difficult. I thought about metal pails...but the colors I found were all wrong. One day, while walking through Target I saw these plastic serving bowls for $1.99. I loved the colors. They were springy, but not too pastely. I thought about how I could do a handle, and saw a string of beads in Joann's. I remembered that we have a huge bead warehouse near by that I hadn't ever been to. I decided it was time to check it out. There were beads everywhere, and I walked out with three strands each for $2.15. I bought some memory wire to serve as the handle support.

Joe drilled the holes for me and for FHE Gabriella strung her beads on her basket. She picked the yellow basket with pink beads, Gwen's is pink with blue beads, and we even made an extra for some future date that is a blue basket with green beads. I used rub ons for their names and added the ribbon to hide any visible wire.

So here are their 2008 Easter baskets, straight from my own head (I know, shocker I didn't copy someone). Their not perfect. I wish the handles would stay standing on their own, and I wish I would have been patient enough to wait for vinyl lettering to have been ordered, but I can always replace the rub-ons with vinyl lettering later. With those few exceptions, that I will fix for next year, I am pretty pleased with the results. I'm especially pleased they only cost about $7 a piece to make. A nice, cheap, but personal project, that's my kind of project.