stitched little elephant

halloween diy

2011-11-03T13:56:00.001-07:00

Kael's favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. So this year he's dressing up as Brobee...

Old sweater of mine, spray fabric paint, and felt...

His first halloween!

the kael chair

2011-07-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I sketched the idea for this chair mmmm back in February. didn't get to the project until ooo, May. Wanted a cool modern chair for Kael. But also that wasn't going to cost me an arm and leg. So with help from hubby, we made a chair for Kael to sit in.

One of many sketches:

Some of the materials:

Just base made: He all ready loves it!

Finished: With an accent pillow & ugly doll too.

& first use... haha.

work...ing

2011-07-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

wow. I deserve some lashings. Or no chocolate for a month. No posts for a year?? New jobs will do that I guess. Balancing an awesome new full time job, trips to daycare, making homemade healthy meals, and spending as much time possible with my little 1 and a half year old. Being a single mom 5 days out of the week with hubby's work schedule opposite of mine. And finally recovering after post-partum. That all has been a trial. How do some of those other awesome designer mommy's do it all, hehe.

Well, I made this blog to show off the stuff I like to do for my little guy. And it's time to get back to doing and posting. I've done a few projects these past months...

Zero

2010-07-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

haha Kael's 6 months old and sleeping most of the night. And I've been able to find time to get back to my happy projects. Number Monster Zero is done and One is on the way.

number monsters

2010-06-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

It's been quite awhile since the last on going project. Enter the Number Monsters. 0-9, each will be a unique monster with his or her own way of presenting their number. Here is the start of the set.

beautiful craftmenship

2010-05-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Nuzzles. Oh, these are just gorgeous, makes me want to buy a jigsaw. :) Found from the awesome grain edit blog. One of my design favs. Always great ideas there.

kael's room big

2010-05-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

Where I got all his awesome stuff. Besides the homemade goodies. :) Ikea (of course) their kids stuff is wonderful and great prices. 2modern: I won the awesome elephant canvas from a nursery drawing a while back. I love their stuff, I've got an awesome wish list of things as Kael grows. Some of his eco-friendly toys I got from my registry at BabyEarth. They have a huge line of earth friendly and recycled merch for baby and mama.

more alphabet love

2010-05-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Came across this the other day. Another awesome typeset onesie. By Milalu.com. Can't wait to see the toy line.

rockabyebaby. rock on!

2010-04-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

I just found this in a boutique in old town! absolutely love it!! Tonight Tonight is one of my most favorite songs and now hearing it as a lullaby for my little guy, oh it's just too brilliant. Made by Rockabyebaby they also do lullaby renditions of No Doubt, The Beatles, Metallica, even NIN. can't wait to get more.

Kael's room: before, during and after

2010-04-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

With the mobile finished and now hanging my little guy's room seems complete.... for now. :)

Before...

During...

After...

ottobot

2010-04-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

Did this cute little guy for a friend's baby. His name is Otto and he is now about 3 weeks old. He'll have to get just a bit bigger till he and Kael can have play dates, but in the mean time Otto can play with his little ottobot.

Materials: felt stitched from the machine and then the O and eyes stitched by hand.

the mobile

2010-04-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to find a great mobile to put in little Kael's room. Something very modern, simple, well designed, colors that match his room... etc. but also something decently priced. But alas all the mobiles i love are way passed my dollar. So im going to make what I want. Here are a few I found for some inspiration:

Love love love theses Puka Puka mobiles. Beautifully made, and very unique.

These bamboo mobiles from Petit collage are so cute. But I'd like to put something directly above his crib for him. You'd have to look at this from the side to truly enjoy it.

The verity in the color in these frazier and wing mobiles is just wonderful.

Sooooooo....

My materials: felt cut into round shapes, bamboo pieces from a broken placemat, string and thread.

And.... after a couple of tries and re-designs. I'm so picky.

Kael's Mobile. Soft and bright just for him. the felt changed shape with the weight and did some cool things. And he enjoys it.

well, time flys when changing diapers

2010-04-05T21:14:00.001-07:00

Our little guy came about a week early and boy has time just flown by. Below are our newborn and family pics that the wonderful Kim Bee and Kim Jarman did for us when Kael turned just a week old. He was such a great model for her. We love our photos.

Now we are finally getting used to the new family schedule. I was able to get back in to my studio just this last weekend and do a bit of painting. And I've got a few projects going for Kael. A mobile, crib bumper, and some other toys. So happy to back making my little guy little things to grow up with.

leftovers

2010-01-31T19:17:00.000-08:00

All the scraps from the alpha-animals.

Which will be sewn together to create a soft play pad. Here it is getting started. The K's a purposely placed in the pieces for his name, Keal.

brilliant maternity photographers

2009-12-30T16:54:00.001-08:00

Here are a few images from our maternity shoot with Kimberley Bee & Kimberley Jarman. They are such a great team, I absolutely love my photographs. Kim Bee did the shoot and she was brilliant, such a wonderful eye. If you do a shoot with her let her do whatever she wants, you will not be disappointed. And Kim Jarman helped us pick out the best photos. Just gorgeous, I don't think I have any photos of me and my husband that have been this beautiful, unique and timeless. I love these ladies and cannot wait for the newborn shoot once our little guy is born. Thank you so much Kim B & Kim J.

z is for zebra

2009-12-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

And Z is the end of my alpha animals! All 26 stitched by hand, small and lightweight for the little guy to hold at any age. We'll display them on a set of small mantel shelves in his room.

Now that they are all finished I've thought about adding a last little stitch on each animal. Branding them with the letter they stand for. How cute would that be.

y is for yak

2009-12-30T12:41:00.001-08:00

x is for x-ray fish

2009-12-30T12:23:00.001-08:00

I tried to find another animal that starts with X to use, as x-ray fish is the norm you see on just about all animal alphabet posters. But, I think he was more fun to stitch because of the bones.

W is for Whale

2009-12-29T22:36:00.001-08:00

And our kitty, Little Bit, on the window sill in the background.

V is for viper

2009-12-29T22:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, December went by in a blur. But my alphabet animals are just about done.

couple of onesies

2009-12-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

I posted about a number of white onesies I acquired and wanted to print or stitch something on. Here are a couple of the white onesies now revamped.

Wood block K handprinted
These are a couple of DIY screen prints. Found how to make these on Threadbanger.com about a year or so ago. Made from an embroidery circle, fine nylon and modge podge. Just paint on the nylon with the modge podge everywhere you don't want the ink to go through. Once it's dry have a friend help hold down the screen while you scrape the ink over your design with a piece of board. It's a fun way to do simple screen prints like the two shown.

The turtle is an older screen print i printed on the bottom of the surf board onesie.

This is a silhouette of Dusten copied and printed. Then stitched "little guy" on it to show our little guy will be the spittin' image of his daddy.

baby shower bits

2009-12-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

Dusten and I didn't decorate much for the baby shower but here are a few images from that day. We kept the same colors as what we're working on in the baby's room, gray, aqua-blue and orange. And the theme was planes, trains and automobiles. But the baby's room theme will be more surfer like.

u is for urchin

2009-12-04T18:28:00.001-08:00

i had no idea how this little guys was going to

screen o rama at a.ware

2009-12-04T18:14:00.001-08:00

These lovely ladies of a.ware studio, part of Alchemy Studio, do a screen-o-rama every year. You can buy a shirt, or bring your own, and pick from their awesome screens to print with. I brought a shirt for all three of us and did a set in one color. Love our little set.

t is for turtle

2009-12-03T12:28:00.001-08:00

This little guy was a bit tricky with the way his shell worked. I didn't use any patterns or illustrations besides the ones from my own sketchbook. So many of these little animals start out one shape then change a bit during the stitching.

kimberly bee

2009-11-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

My husband and I got so lucky to have this incredible photographer, Kimberly Bee, booked to do our bellé to baby photographs. These are some of my favorites from her blog. Go see all of her photos they are all just gorgeous. The first shots on Kim's blog are my good friend Laura's wedding photos. Our "belly session is in just about a week, and we can't wait. :)

s is for salmon

2009-11-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

Alaskan Salmon, yum. Hope to take the little guy up fishing in a few years.

r is for rabbit

2009-11-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Choose to go back to basics for R. Why not, he's cute. Seems like I've breezed through that last four or five letters in the alphabet. But the upcoming T is going to be tricky.

q is for quail

2009-11-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

I love the way this quail came out. Think I'll have to make a few more as Christmas tree decor. Well, once I have a Christmas tree anyway.

p is for penguin

2009-11-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

o is for owl

2009-11-14T17:05:00.001-08:00

Big eyes, big eyes.

n is for newt

2009-11-14T17:03:00.001-08:00

m is for moose

2009-11-10T18:50:00.001-08:00

I switched monkey for moose and snake for salmon to bring some wild animals I saw a lot of in my home state of Alaska. Love my little moose.

alphabet prints

2009-11-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

Searching for ideas to put in the baby room months ago, first thing was an alphabet of some kind. Animals are always a great choice. Of course I found a bunch of these in different places months ago before I came up with doing the set of hand stitched animals. I just forgot to save the links. But here are some of the favorites I found with links to them.

Found this print at Little Baby Company. But also found it originally came from Petit Collage. Which also has some other great prints.

Something a little vintage looking. Found this vibrant print at byGraviela.
Found this beautiful print at Fawn & Forest and I think I've seen it many other times on other blogs here and there. Love that they used a unicorn for U.Just recently came across this one. From PushMePullYou Design.

l is for lion

2009-11-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday. This little lion is only about 6 inches long while the little guy is over 14 now, and kicking all the time.

There is a jar of all the scraps from cutting out each animal. The plan for Thanksgiving weekend is to create a soft play pad out of all those unique scraps. Can't wait. But this weekend is the baby shower and I've got special projects ready for that. Stay Tuned.

k is for kangaroo

2009-11-04T07:02:00.001-08:00

j is for jellyfish

2009-10-29T08:26:00.001-07:00

Hehe. I have a feeling that this little guys tentacles and arms will be partially pulled off a year from now.

23 onesies

2009-10-28T21:45:00.001-07:00

Ooooh got some project ideas flowing. I received 21 used onesies from a coworker who had twins a little over a year ago. They run from newborn to 12 months. And two more newborn onesies from grandma. :) So this will be the start of the onesies project.

finished baby shower invite

2009-10-28T21:28:00.001-07:00

I'm overall pretty happy with the way my invites turned out. It wasn't quite as pictured in my head but it was still fun to work on and each was slightly different which made then really unique. The colors are the same as the baby room, a blue-green teal and gray with orange accents.

Now to hopefully get the projects for the baby shower done. Those include spray painting of little wood and metal cars, trucks, planes, and boats for decor. Tough part is trying to find cheap enough toys.

where the wild things are

2009-10-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Who didn't love this book growing up. This book was a favorite of mine when I was little and is a must on my list to get the baby. And now with the movie out, which I cannot wait to see, it just looks so beautifully done. I found this wonderful blog of illustrators and artist works inspired by Maurice Sendak's illustrations from the book. Below are some of my favorites from the blog Terrible Yellow Eyes.

i is for iguana

2009-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

invite first color

2009-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

I wasn't too happy about the ink I used. A water-based speedball brand ink I got at the art store. The print came out a bit messy then originally planned. But not too shabby for haven't done a lino-cut in about five years and with a homemade press. It was a wonderful feeling to be back into a print studio again.

inking the first block.

finnshed printed invites

The home made press. Made from the directions of a Readymade Magazine published a few years ago. We don't have a place for it just yet so it's sitting on my husbands computer desk.

h is for hippo

2009-10-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

He could almost pass for a rhino too. hehe.

Baby Shower invites

2009-10-19T08:01:00.001-07:00

This will be a two color invite cut from two separate pieces of linoleum. First the design was sketched out. Then design digitally, transferred to the blocks with carbon paper and I finished cutting the blocks this weekend. Although I wont have the exact same look as a letter press invitation, this still has a unique and personal touch to it. And now I can try out my new press my husband built for me.

g

2009-10-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

There's a mini giraffe in a house plant.

f

2009-10-17T18:51:00.001-07:00

This little guy was tricky. I cut him out without quite a complete plan for the back legs. But, he turned out great. He just rocks a little on his belly a bit.

e

2009-10-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is the third elephant I've made. The first, of course, is in the title image. Made from scraps of fabric leftover from stuffed monkeys I made for my twin niece and nephew. And the second was made for my niece for her second birthday.

d is for duck

2009-10-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

oops, forgot this one

2009-10-10T22:55:00.001-07:00

I was so excited to share the first of the animals that were finished that I forgot to share all of the animals cut out. These are all 26 animals in alphabetical order, just not put together. With a few substitutes from the original sketch. M is now Moose and S is now Salmon. Had to throw in a few animals from my home state of Alaska.

c is for crab

2009-10-10T22:45:00.001-07:00

Crab took a little longer to put together because of the way I made the legs. The felt was doubled, cut into triangles and then pinched while stitching to the bottom of the body. Just a little tricky to hold them just right. But now he can stand on he's cute little legs instead of his belly.

b is for bear, brown bear

2009-10-10T22:35:00.001-07:00

I wanted to keep these very simple in design and construction. They just look so sweet. And like a type of meditation creating each of these.

a is for alligator

2009-10-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

The first animal in the alphabet. All of these little guys are hand stitched from fabric squares and felt pieces I've collected in past years. The scraps from cutting the animals out will become a small cushioned play pad for baby.

a b c d ...

2009-10-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

First thing that I wanted to find or make was an alphabet. And I couldn't decide on a print or maybe a set of painted letters to display on the wall. Then I thought, why not a set of stuffed animals. One animal for each letter. Learn and play.

hello!

2009-10-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to start this blog for months. And now finally, yea, getting it going. When my husband and I found out we were expecting this little one, and after the shock, the first thing I thought of was all the neat things I can make for him. Thus, the reason for my little blog here. To show all the wonderful toys, cloths and decor I'll be making and where my inspiration came from. So, please enjoy. I'm looking forward to sharing my work with you. Love, Jt.