GwendyLicious Branches Out!

I’m so excited – I’m selling my handmade goodies at another store!  I couldn’t believe it when Andrea of Whimsies in Warren contacted me a few months back, telling me she’d love to stock my items after seeing some of them at Small Circle.  At the time I was still pregnant and I knew it would take a while to sew up a batch of items, but I slowly got working on some inventory and finally dropped them off last week.

It was so nice to meet Andrea.  She has a cute little shop just off Main Street and sells an eclectic array of handmade items.  I love that she paints and restores many of the pieces, working on furniture as customers browse.

I always get a bit nervous about what kind of impression my things will make on people – they are, after all, an extension of me!  And I do realize that people have different tastes.  But I needn’t have worried – Andrea loved everything, and I already have some other ideas in the wings.

cedar sachets, aprons, cup cozies, therapy bags

Her favorite items seemed to be the mancala boards and orange spice wheat therapy bags.  Ironically, she sold one of each the next day!

I also made a drop-off at Small Circle – some wishing wands and dancing ribbons, which seem to be a hit.  Yay!

If you’re in the area stop by and check out the goodies and the wonderful people that own the stores.

*If you don’t live in the area and would love to purchase some of my items, browse my handmade posts and take a gander at GwendyLicious, where I have pictures of many of the things I make.  Then drop me a line!

Scrambling to Get Ready for Easter

I like to plan ahead, but these days I’m lucky if I remember to write out my to-do list, nevermind start crossing things off.  I feel like I just conquered Valentine’s Day and… oh crap, Easter is just around the corner!  It is my second favorite holiday after Christmas and I want to impart the meaning to my children, making it both fun and memorable for them.  We’ll definitely be doing our Benjamin’s Box activities in the week leading up to Easter Sunday.

With all the holidays and special occasions one after another –  many of them belabored as we celebrate them at different times and with different people – I really want to get away from all the candy. Yes, I know there are Peeps and Cadbury eggs and all those traditional sweets, but just because they line the shelves – and we see yummy things to create with them – doesn’t mean we have to buy them!

Anyhoo, here are some ideas I’m hoping to put together this year:

credit: probablyactually.wordpress.com

Last year I made these bunny treat bags for the kiddos so I’m going to re-use them.  They’re pretty small, so we’ll see what I’ll be able to fit inside.

credit: ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com

During school last year we had these butterfly snack bags.  I still have the clothespins and will use them again, filling the bags with trail mix.

credit: susanweinroth.typepad.com

The kiddos love Goldfish crackers and the carrot-shaped packaging is cute.

credit: thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com

Along the same lines, these crepe paper carrots are so cute!  The Easter version of a surprise ball.

credit: onecharmingparty.com

For warm-weather play or bathtime fun, these sponge balls would be a hit.

credit: yummyearth.com

And since Easter wouldn’t be Easter without jelly beans, Yum Earth Naturals makes a healthier alternative.

credit: katherinemaries.com

It was fun putting together an Easter egg hunt lunch for the kiddos last year and I’ll probably do it again… if only to re-use our plastic eggs!

credit: thecookingphotographer.com

credit: foodjimoto.com

Almost every year we do some sort of deviled eggs and birds’ nest cookies, so I’d like to make them again this time around.  We’ll probably be having Easter at my sister’s house and we’re not sure yet on the menu, but we’re thinking something brunch-y.  Perhaps I’ll make hash brown cups, French toast casserole, baked oatmeal or NY style crumb cake.

What will you be making and doing for Easter this year?

*See my Easter Pinterest board for more inspiration.

Doll Diapers – another big sister gift

Poor Josiah… he often gets jipped in the gift department.  Girls are just so much easier to buy for!  Or, in my case, make for.

A while back I pinned these really cute doll cloth diapers – I love all the little details!  Now that Gwen will be a new big sister I thought it would be a great idea to whip up some cloth diapers for her dolls since we’ll be using the real deal with her baby sister.

I decided to find a simpler pattern and use flannel on the inside rather than the more-expensive chenille.  I used a 40% off coupon for a yard of flannel at JoAnn’s – just plain white so it would be versatile – and paired it with some of my cotton prints.  I got some inspiration from both Bee In My Bonnet and Probably Actually, both of whom utilized Skip to My Lou’s doll diaper tutorial.

For the first diaper I cut out the pattern pieces and sewed around with a small seam allowance, but found it was a little snug on one of Gwen’s bigger dolls.  For the rest of the dipes I did what one of the other mamas suggested – trace the pattern, leave it uncut, and sew on top of the pattern line, thus eliminating that extra allowance.  I ended up running out of velcro but tried to make it as adjustable a fit as possible with a long width of velcro across the front or two strategically-placed pieces, rather than two smaller spots on the sides.

They’re so cute!  I packaged them along with Gwen’s doll carrier – and an Angelina Ballerina book, since I got the whole set at a consignment shop and have been gifting them periodically.  She’ll be getting Angelina’s Baby Sister when the time comes!

In other news… I went to the doctor’s today and am 3 cm dilated!  Much better than two weeks ago when nothing was happening.  She decided to “sweep the membranes” to see if anything happens, during which she said she felt the baby’s fingers up near her head!  So weird.  She said I could go into labor today or tomorrow, but so far I feel fine.  We’ll see!

Gwen’s Doll Carrier

I was so excited about how Josiah’s doll carrier turned out and curious about how my changes to the pattern would come together that I sewed up Gwen’s carrier yesterday.

I gave her a choice between two fabrics and she chose this floral bird fabric, a favorite of mine from JoAnn’s that  I get whenever it’s on sale or I have a coupon.  In fact, I used the same fabric for my first zippered pouch.  The other fabric she didn’t choose is another favorite of mine; I used it on her crayon roll and tooth pillow, among other things.

I had debated using a contrasting fabric for both the pocket and the straps, but in the end I used the same brown and white polka dot.  I think it goes nicely with the overall color scheme, especially since it matches the birds.

This time around I traced the pattern onto the back of my main fabric and cut around outside the lines.  Next, sewed the pocket on front of the main fabric  piece.  Then I stacked all three body pieces (interfacing, linen muslin for the reverse lining and patterned fabric), sewing right along the pattern line, leaving an opening in the bottom to attach the straps and an opening in the top for turning.  After making the straps I sewed those into the bottom, closing that hole.  Turned the whole thing right side out, ironed it flat, then topstitched.  I liked this method much better but still had some puckering with which to contend (I’m seriously considering squaring off some of those curves if I make it again!).  Also, since I sewed on top of the pattern line, rather than inside a seam allowance, the carrier itself ended up a bit bigger – which is just fine with me.  Oh… and not only do the pearl snaps look pretty, they work better than the velcro, and after making Gwen close her eyes so I could try Josiah’s carrier on her, decided they should be placed on the same side of the straps as the buttons.

I can’t wait to give these to the kiddos!  I decided to box them up with my old Popples and give them either on Valentine’s Day or Baby Sister’s birthday, whichever comes first.

Countdown to Valentine’s Day and a Doll Carrier

A while back I was trying to think of something I could make for the kids as new sibling gifts for when the baby is born.  They love pretend play things, things that mimic Mommy and Daddy, and when I saw this doll carrier from Little Things to Sew I fell in love.  I can totally picture Gwen putting one of her dolls or stuffed animals in a carrier, just like Mommy with the new baby.  I’m hoping it will help them feel included even when they won’t be able to do everything with their new sister.

I’ve had the sewing book checked out from the library for a while now and have renewed it once already; everything else took priority!  I read the instructions for putting the pattern together, and while it seemed simple enough, there were a bunch of little steps and I kept putting it off (and I had yet to brave the buttonhole).  Well, seeing as I can’t sleep these days, I decided to stay up and see how it came together.  I started with Josiah’s first – he probably won’t be as excited about it as Gwendolyn and I already knew what fabric I wanted to use, so his was the guinea pig version.

Whaddya’ think?  I used linen muslin for the front and a cute blue barnyard fabric for the lining and pocket.  The straps are a piece I’ve had laying around for a while; not sure what it is but it’s similar in feel to the muslin.  I have two big canisters of buttons that used to belong to my grandmothers and I picked through those and found four orangey ones to use on the straps.  The directions say to try it on your child to figure out velcro placement further down the straps, but I want this to be a surprise, so I looked around at what other people did and put a couple pieces at different increments; I can always add more later.  I just happened to have a tan velcro that matches the straps nicely.  I’m very pleased with how it came out but already have some ideas for how to simplify the process when making the next one.

Some tips: The pocket lining pattern piece from the book doesn’t make any sense; when I first used it to make the pocket it didn’t really go along with the directions and made for a tiny pocket.  Instead, I cut out two pieces of the same size using the main fabric pattern piece – much better!  Oh, and I used denim for the lining for a bit of extra boyishness.

I’m not horrible at sewing around corners, but since I’m nowhere near professional there’s some puckering here and there.  Ironing does help, but next time I’m going to trace the pattern onto the fabric and sew along the tracing lines, leaving enough room for sewing on the straps and turning the carrier right-side out.

I didn’t like the suggestion for basting stitches near the top; it makes the end product look messier and next time I’ll just leave the opening without the guideline stitching.  Making it less curved might make for easier edgestitching, too.

I did in fact get to use my buttonhole foot, and while it was easy enough, it seems like the needle skipped some stitches… and then it broke in the middle of it all!  Is there a neat way to cut out the actual buttonhole?  It seems messy and I’m afraid the stitches will eventually come out.  In any case, it’s good enough!  For Gwen’s I may just use pearl snaps in place of the velcro and/or buttons – like in this version of the same carrier - though the buttons definitely add charm.

There seemed to be some debate as to whether the velcro gets placed on the button-side of the straps or the reverse.  Looking at the picture in the book I can’t really tell, and some people said it goes on the same side as the buttons… but it seemed to hang more naturally doing the opposite.  Guess I’ll see when I put it on him!  One down, one to go…

*      *      *

I can’t believe it’s February already!  Since this is my due date month I’m telling myself “any day now.”  Josiah was born at 37 weeks and this weekend I’ll be at the same point.  So I wanted to have Valentine’s Day squared away just in case! I filled the kiddos mini mailboxes with jellybeans, clearance “ornaments” filled with scented bubble bath and name bracelets that I whipped up for them when I had the plastic beads out.  The kiddos will be at their grandmother’s for Valentine’s Day, but I already have the morning planned out with a paper heart trail leading the kiddos to the table where they can open their mailboxes and adopt my two Pretty Bit Popples, which I’ll have sitting on the table.  We’ve started doing the countdown to Valentine’s Day with Bible verses and acts of love for each day.

I’m always on the lookout for meaningful yet not-too-expensive gifts for Phil and went with one of The Dating Diva’s ideas: 14 Days of Love.  I’m not too crazy about how many of their ideas involve candy or dollar store crap, but I went with the idea and made it my own.  I rolled up each of the little sentiments, tied them with embroidery thread and put them in a little jar.  Each morning he has to find the one with the correct number (#1 for February 1st, #2 for February 2nd and so forth) then find the corresponding gift bag.  I just used all the bags I could find that had pink, red, purple or something similar, warning him that none of the Victoria’s Secret bags contain any actual Victoria’s Secret merchandise. *grin*

*For more ideas see my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board.