Sew fun

Awhile ago I saw these shirts on Pinterest.  Since My Girl likes elephants and Buddy Boy has been trying to fly, I thought that they were the perfect thing.

So I made my own versions.  I love how the sleeve is the elephant trunk and the arms are the airplane wings.  So much fun.  Here is the airplane shirt for Buddy Boy.  At first it was WAY too big, but now it just fits.  Hopefully he won't grow too much in the next few weeks.  I have extra grey to lengthen the arms or body if needed.

I did the propeller and the rest with a freezer paper stencil. I had the metallic silver fabric paint, but the red is regular craft paint. I think that the fabric paint is better. It's thicker and more flexible when dry.  The red looks fine now, but I'm not sure how it will wear or wash.

And here is an action shot.

Now for the elephant.

I really like it.  It was a little short so I added a bit of a ruffle on the bottom.  I thought I had my bases covered.  Pink, check... elephant, check... ruffly bottom, check...

 Then I ran into a problem, an absolute refusal to wear long sleeves.  She wouldn't even try it on.  I'm really hoping she changes her mind when it gets cold.

Sailing, sailing

Dad likes sailing, not that we have really done much together, but that doesn't matter.  His uncle had a boat and he did some sailing with his family as a kid and teenager.  We rented a little Hobie cat for an afternoon on our honeymoon, but that was awhile ago, and I wasn't very good at it.  I had a hard time getting the concept for some reason.  Anyway, we are now the proud owners of this little 8 foot el toro sail boat.  The shovel on top tells you it's an el toro.  One of the advantages of this boat is that it is small enough to put on top of our minivan.  It needs a little work on the paint and varnish, but is otherwise in good shape with all of it's parts.
 

I think it will be a lot of fun.  As you can see it isn't very big, only one or two people.  One website said it was perfect for two children to sail.  It will be awhile before I let the kids go out by themselves on this thing.  My girl needs to learn to swim first.  When they are old enough to sail on their own I think we need another one so that we can race, assuming I learn to sail the little things before then.

There are a couple of reservoirs nearby that will be perfect for sailling this little boat.  I'm looking forward to it.

Do you like the new haircut?  She says she looks like Dora the Explorer.  I like that there is a lot less complaining about combing.  We both win.

A big bead

Awhile ago I ran across a book on wire crochet jewelery.  I was interested.  I like wire.  One of the projects was a bead like this.  It reminded me of the beautiful jewelry by Niiro, the Entangled collection.  The example in the book was a 1.25 inch cube.  I went with a smaller oval bead.  It was pretty easy to do, just chains slip stitched together wherever they cross.  You start with a larger hook and go smaller and smaller until you completely cover the wooden bead you started with.  After I decided the wire was thick enough I tucked the end in and tapped it all down with a hammer to pack the wire all together and smooth it out.  You can still see a little bit of wood through the wire, but I'm done.  I like it even though it is pretty big and I'm more of a small simple jewelry person.  I also need to string it on something a little better than balloon ribbon.  I'm still thinking.

Not a crown

Some friends were over and Buddy boy and his friend made these.  All the kids were playing dress up.  The girls were playing princess so I thought they were making crowns.  No...

the princesses (and one prince in pink)

Does this give you a clue?

Yup, it's a Calvin wig.  He loves Calvin and Hobbes, including their duplicator.  There are days when he wants to be called Duplicate #5, usually when there is something he doesn't want to do.  I'm OK with that.  If the duplicate comes and cooperates it's all good.