Sandcastle Dress

Here's my week 2 project for Project Run and Play. The theme this week is "Spring Break - design an outfit inspired by your favorite vacation spot."

My favorite vacation spot: the beach - almost any beach will do. But my favorite beach is Cannon Beach in Oregon.

My inspiration: building sandcastles at the beach. Here's a little trivia for you: this year Cannon Beach, Oregon will celebrate their 50th year hosting a sandcastle contest. Although my sandcastles will probably never be contest worthy, I still enjoy building with sand whenever I'm at a beach. Below is a photo of one of my sandcastles I built while vacationing in Fort Myers, Florida a few years ago. The other photo is me working on a sandcastle somewhere on an Oregon beach as a child.  

Psychologists say that a little sand therapy is good for adults.  No wonder I can't resist a little sandcastle time when I'm at the beach!  I'm hoping to instill this skill in my grandchildren.  

Fabric:  Navy blue knit, refashioned from one of my dresses (the front bodice was always a too low for my style), plus a little white seam tape to give this dress a nautical feel.

Pattern inspiration: this dress from J.Crew Kids, which retailed for $69.  I like my price better - about $1.50 for the seam tape...OH YEAH!

My favorite part about this design is the detail on the pocket; an embroidered mini sandcastle (which I embroidered myself).

I even found the perfect button, a Nautica brand one for the top, back closure.

My granddaughter loved looking at my collection of seashells and the magnifying glass made this whole experience even more fun for her.  

When I finished taking these photos, she proudly declared to her big brother that she was having fun playing with Grandma.

I only wish I could have taken her to the beach and built a sandcastle with her... sigh! One day...xoxo Grandma

Giraffe Shirt

On Monday, I showed you this outfit  which I made for my granddaughter based on the theme, "Put Me in the Zoo."  Today, I thought I'd show you the shirt I created for my oldest grandson based on that same theme - I didn't want little Miss's big brother to not have a little love from his Grandma too.  

I'm going to warn you right now, this energetic boy was one of the hardest children I have ever tried to photograph!  

Inspiration:  Wild Animals Baby quilt
Fabric:  two running shirts, refashioned into one white tee-shirt and a little fleece left-over from making my Wild Animals quilt.
Accent:  golden yellow embroidery floss for the giraffe's mane - hand sewn & knotted
Pattern:  my own creation

My grandson just wanted me to chase him all around my backyard. Imagine a boy doing that!

After dinner, he was sitting on my couch with this book called "My Play CD Book Animal Songbook" - yes, in case you're wondering, I recommend this book, if you can find one.

He was so focused on the book that he didn't even notice that I was taking a few photos of him. Such a sneaky grandmother!

If you look really carefully, right near the nose of the giraffe, you'll also notice that he's wearing a little barbecue sauce from his dinner.  Yup, that's my boy!  xoxo Grandma

Packy the Elephant Outfit

Hello everyone! I've challenged myself to participate in Season 9 of Project Run and Play.  (Project Run and Play, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is the blogger's version of Project Runway, only all the sewing projects are created for children only).  

Week one's theme:   "Put Me In the Zoo"

Inspiration:
In 1962, I remember going on my first school field trip to the Portland Zoo.  This was the year that Packy the elephant was born. He was the first elephant born in North America in 44 years.  He is still alive today but unfortunately, he's having a few health issues - who doesn't at his age? As a souvenir on that field trip, I purchased this miniature cup and plate set depicting Packy and his mother, Belle.

I embroidered this design depicting Packy and two of his zoo buddies.

Besides the white cotton I embroidered on, I used two other fabrics to create this design:  

• Yellow gingham to portray happiness - because the zoo is a happy place to visit!
• Black and white stripes, which are reminiscent of the old bars that use to be on the zoo cages... yup, I'm old enough to remember some of the cages that had those bars, just feeling my age today!

Here's the pattern I used: Simplicity #9220

Here's a link to the stuffed baby elephant my granddaughter is holding. After I told her my story, she named him Packy.  

Here's the link to the free pattern so you can make a little Packy too out of scraps of gray fabric.

Thanks for joining me today as I reminisce. xoxo Grandma
Linked at: Project Run and Play, Diana Rambles

Lace Embellished Dress for a Baby Girl

I have a granddaughter due in a few months too. This project is for her.  I wanted to make this outfit as girly as possible, so I used lace. I absolutely love lace!  When I pinned THIS idea about using a variety of lace to change the look of fabric, I got a little excited thinking about the possibilities for those pieces of lace I've saved.  To test out this idea, I wanted to try a simple pattern, so I chose the Little Geranium dress and diaper cover, which is a free pattern at Made by Rae.  It's designed for a child 0-3 months.  Lucky me, one of my granddaughters who was visiting fits perfectly into a 3 months size. So while she was here, I finished the details on this outfit and tried it on her but she wasn't in the mood to have her photo taken - imagine a 3 month old feeling that way!  

I started with this white swimsuit cover-up that my youngest daughter gave to me to refashion. 

I cut out the pattern pieces making use of the hem on the bottom of the skirt - because I love when I don't have to hem something, don't you?  Then I pinned the lace onto the bodice.

Once I liked how the lace looked, I sewed all the lace directly onto the bodice trying to keep the stitches close to the edges of the lace.  Then I preceded to sew the dress as instructed.

Here's a close-up of the finished bodice:

I used clear buttons so the lace remained the focal point of the dress.

The diaper cover was cut out of the sheared top part of the cover-up.  I love how the sheared fabric made the diaper cover so cute!

Once this next granddaughter is born, I'm guessing this outfit will fit her right around August.  
To see this on my granddaughter, go to THIS post!  xoxo Grandma

Shared at these linky parties: The Dedicated House: Before and After,  Nap-time Creations, Bacon Time, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Creating My Way to Success, Diana Rambles

Felt Carrots for Easter

Looking for a cute Easter decoration? Below is a tutorial for making super easy and versatile felt carrots.  To start this project, you'll need one piece of orange felt.  (FYI: one piece of felt creates 7 carrots of various sizes). You'll also need a scrap of green felt or green ribbon no wider than 1/4".  These carrots make super cute accents to any Easter project.  And, children also like to play with felt food, so this is fun for kids too. If you want a felt carrot, download this pattern and let's get started making your carrots:

Add to the top of your carrot a little greenery cut from felt.  Roll the felt into a circle and stitch the end to hold it in place.  Now add it to the middle of the opening.  Stitch the opening of the carrot closed making sure you stitch through the greenery several times.

This is how your carrot should look with the felt greenery. 

Pattern variation: you can also add ribbon for the greenery by folding ribbon into thirds and stitching it in place, as seen in the first photo on this post. 

*I'd like to publicly announce the winner of the American Girl Doll outfit.  The winner is Cheryl Bush of Michigan.  Once again, thank you to all of your who entered and left such sweet comments. xoxo Grandma

It's Time for a "Pet Party"

All of my grandchildren (you read that right, ALL of them!) will be in town just in time to help celebrate my second granddaughter's birthday.  We'll actually be celebrating her birthday a tad early but I'm positive she won't complain because this grandmother is planning a party with all her cousins.

I choose the theme for the party to be "pets." I purchased a stuffed puppy or kitten for each child that they can take home. I found all the little stuffed animals for under $1 each. I do love a bargain!  I also designed this Pet Adoption Certificate that I'll give to each of the older grandchildren. You know, you've got to make the pet adoption a done deal! 

Then, my little party goers will need a snack to feed to their pets, so take a look at the treat headers I designed for this party.  You can download the bone accent HERE.  I cut out the bone shape and added them to a 4 1/4" x 5" cardstock, which I folded in half to create a 2 1/8" x 5" header. I also adhered some pet scrapbook paper onto the header.  Then I stapled the header onto a baggie of coco puffs - extremely edible for human consumption.

I also decided that their stuffed animals needed a pet blanket. So using flannel, here's what I made.  If you'd like to make a pet blanket too, follow these simple steps:

• Cut out two 13 1/2" squares of flannel per blanket.
• Sew the squares together, turned them right side out.
• Iron the squares and voila, a soft pet blanket. 
• An optional step would be to top stitch the blankets at 1/4" from the edge.

And of course we needed a costume component to really make this party shine. So, the last element for this party is a cat mask. I found kits for these masks at Target after Halloween on sale for $1 each.  Why waste my time cutting out all the elements to make a mask when these were all ready to assemble?  I had two of my grandchildren who are here already visiting try on the masks for size.  They fit purr-fecty, don't you think?

I think it'll be pretty wild when all six grandchildren arrive, so I'll post this right now so you can share in the fun.

xoxo Grandma
Shared: Creating my way to Success, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Nap-time Creations, Diana Rambles, 2 Crochet Hooks, Smart Party Planning

Downloadable Easter Tags - Free

First, I get to announce the winner of the child's book called, "My Far Away Grandma"  
Thanks for all those who entered!  Congratulations to Corinn Cattermole.  Please e-mail me with your address.  Remember, if you didn't win, the book can be purchased at this site.

Now onto today's creation...

Here's an Easter tag that I've created and is all you have to do is download and print in full color onto heavyweight cardstock (un-check the "fit to page" before you print).  Say it with me, "Easy, easy, easy!" 

I get to have three of my grandchildren here for Easter & am so excited!  What kind of Easter plans do you have? xoxo Grandma