Yesterday Sister asked if we could make a dress for one of her Barbie dolls.  Sure, I thought, I can find some stretchy material and artfully arrange it around Barbie such that it slightly resembles an outfit but this was not what Sister meant.  She meant actually sew a Barbie dress and at this though I balked because my sewing machine and I are incompatible.  We’ve tried to make it work (created some curtains together, hemmed a couple of jeans) but our relationship has never become what you’d call serious.  In fact it spends the bulk of its time in the closet cleverly disguised as a clothes rack.  But for Sister I would try again.  After all, how hard could it be to make something for an 11 inch doll.  …… Ahem.

We worked on it most of the day off and on (mostly off when I snuck away and ate oreos to relieve stress) but finally after much broken thread and bobbins that inexplicably stop producing stitches it was completed.  Sister loves it.   I see mostly flaws but I wanted to share it with you today so that I could also share this wonderful tutorial without which this sewing challenged mom could not have made her little girl’s day.

BTW – I also found these other great links for doll clothes which I may also try …. after I get another package of oreos in the house.  After all, there’s no use starting a project unprepared.

Making Your Own Doll Clothes From Socks

A Peasant Blouse for Any Doll

Lot’s of Doll Clothes Links

ATC? What’s that?

Art you spend hours on then

give? away?

Why?

What’s the point?

I need a point.

Try it?

Why?

I might like it? Hah!

Fat chance of that but okay

just once … for you …

because you like it.

I think it’s silly

a waste of time ….

a …. a …. release …..

hmmm, nothing to do with

nothing but … fun …

a little (maybe a lot)

rewarding.

Okay ~ you got me.

This is my first attempt at an Artist Trading Card.  I printed two copies of the picture (taken many years ago in a college photography class), wove them together and modge podged the top after adding the words.

It’s not exactly what I envisioned but all in all, I was pleased. And the recipient seemed to like it well enough.

Each Wednesday, Grandma and Papa bring my niece for an afternoon of play.  The kids do well enough together on their own but today I thought it might be fun to have a project.  Brother’s been learning about cave dwellers and our art book has a great picture of the Lascaux cave paintings.  A quick search turned up this fun art project.

First the making of the mud … I mean, paint.  We collected the dirt ourselves but left the lard making to Crisco.  I’ve been down that road before and it ain’t pretty.

See all those bowls?  You can never have too many shades of brown.

We hung open paper bags in a little alcove outside my front door then had the kids go into their “cave” and start painting.  Technically speaking letting them paint directly on the brick would have been more realistic but the Lascaux paintings have been there for hundreds of years and I wasn’t sure I wanted muddy drawings on my alcove for that long.

Ultimately this experience taught us that although cave paintings may look primitive anyone who can get mud to look like anything other than mud is one heck of an artist.

Sister’s creation - complete with sunbather, surfer, fish & shark in the water.

Brother’s slightly more abstract creation.

A local art show hosts featuring all sorts of professional art and music hosts a youth gallery as well.  In years past I’ve not paid much attention to the event but this year Sister is old enough to enter and (wonder of wonders) actually wanted to enter.  Even so she seemed reluctant to share any of the art she’s done in the past deeming each piece imperfect in some way or another AND she seemed reluctant to create any new pieces held back by an invisible thread of fear that they too would fall short of perfection.  Finally she produced a simple pencil sketch of a goose head that while great for a sketch didn’t really qualify as an art show entry.  It lay on my desk for a couple of days.  I was unsure how to tell her that an art show entry deserved more time than the 3 to 5 minutes she’d spent…. or even if I should tell her.  I had no suggestions for something better and I did want to support her effort - slight though it was.  Then lying in bed last night just before sleep overtook all thought, it came to me - a project divided into small pieces so as not to overwhelm; a subject she consistently drew with confidence and a chance to use most every medium in our arsenal.

The finished piece consists of nine 5″x5″ squares and the word “Heart!” mounted on a 16″ x 20″ piece of matte board. 

Descriptions from right to left and top to bottom:

Watercolor heart, Bead “necklace”, Humpty-Heart Dumpty in ink and colored pencil

Clown heart in marker and foil shapes, a sunset scene in chalk,  Curly cue Heart done with markers that change color

Checkered heart in crayon, Glitter heart, and Pipe cleaner with colored pencil border.

Though I cut out the letters she’d drawn and mounted the finished squares Sister completed the rest of the project on her own.  (That is to say she did all the drawing and gluing and such while I sat nearby and praised each artistic choice.)  She started at 9am and we delivered the finished work at 4:25.  She was so proud.  I was proud that we made it through an eight hour project together without a major meltdown and from the experience I gleaned these nuggets:

Lesson #1 - It may seem a little thing to the untrained eye but this artwork represents a great accomplishment.  Sister would never have stuck with an ordinary project of that size but somehow because each portion was so small and because the goal of each was clearly defined she worked with gusto and was even heard to say, “Mom, I’m glad you thought of this!  It’s so much fun.” …. more than once.  This is important lesson for me - the mom, the teacher to understand.  I am comfortable with large tasks finding it easy to organize the parts.  Goals in my world are rarely unclear or poorly defined.  But these skills do not come easy to everyone.  To some they must be taught … cultivated - Sister is one of these.

Lesson #2 - Sister is so social that tasks done alone are drudgery but I can easily make a task worth doing or even fun simply by being present and engaged.  For a mom, who like most mothers, is a multi-tasker extroidonaire sitting in one place doing “nothing” but offering encouragement to a single soul seems like a waste of resources but it is important nonetheless.  In fact, it is far more important than the laundry left undone and the dishes in the sink.

Lesson #3 - Variety is the Spice of Life or Ditching School Makes Things Fun.  This one I knew but it bears repeating.  The curriculum is great as a guide but all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy indeed.  Sister enjoyed the day because it was different and I enjoyed it because she was happy.

A local museum hosts a free family art class every other Saturday.  Today’s theme was the art, particularly sculpture of Ancient Mesoamerica.  Sister surprised us (and our tour guide) by correctly defining “effigy” (in the representation of a god sense) and then later refused to make one because, “They don’t look real and what’s the point in making something that’s not real.”  Instead she chose to produce a candle holder/birthday cake and a snake.  Will made a totem, “because it’s easy.” 

I paid homage to the God of Naptime - because napping is a thing near and dear to my heart and there has been far to little of it around here lately.

I was most impressed with Brother’s creation as he truly seemed to grasp the Aztec artistic style.

At 16 weeks my belly is starting to get a bit large and once comfortable pants are decidedly uncomfortable.  I finally broke down and purchased a couple pairs of maternity jeans and must admit they look great … at least they would look great if they were made for the under 5′ 9″ crowd.  Apparently, petite women don’t have babies at least as far as the fashion world is concerned.  Anyway, I took the jeans to be hemmed but then there was this ice storm and other things happened and over a week later I have yet to actually wear my purchase. 

If you are like most women you will understand that my wardrobe does not contain a single size of anything.  It contains instead a wide variety of sizes intended to accommodate diets, un-diets and the phases of the moon.  Because of this, I didn’t get desperate all at once.  Instead my choices narrowed over time until finally only a lone pair of slightly stretchy pants remained.  It was the thought of choosing between hubby’s gray sweats or wearing brown corduroy for the 4th day in a row that led to this epiphany.

One pair of Hane’s boxer briefs plus one pair of past their prime jeans and voila!  Twenty minutes later - maternity pants on the cheap.  They won’t win any contests but they’re comfortable and should last until I’m back to my normal size(s) again.

I’m sure your wondering why someone who can obviously sew when necessary took her jeans to be hemmed in the first place.  …. Yeah, me too.

To be fair this was midway through our bedroom rearrangement (That story coming soon.) so there were a number of items that got dumped here for lack of a better place.  Also, I am aware that the pictures on the wall are not artfully arranged.  In fact they were not really arranged at all.  They were hung there for safety’s sake.  I have tried storing pictures using various stacking methods and leaning against the wall methods and packing away methods but every method was either too labor intensive or left my frames scratched/dinged in some way.  Now I hang my art on a single wall until each piece finds it’s proper home.

Ahh, that’s better.  See the shelves?!  Hubby hung those for me so I could collect all my crafty supplies from their scattered locations into one place.  I also have supplies stored in the 3 Sterilite containers.

I love these because the clear drawers make it easy to find what you need.  I also like that they roll and when moving time comes none of these supplies will have to be repacked.  I just tape the drawers shut and roll the unit into the moving van.

Here’s the view from where Brother was sitting (above).  I knew I wanted as much working surface as possible and I had three folding tables but three tables (four if you count the kid’s computer desk) in such a small space wasn’t working until we tried varying the heights.  The big white table is at counter height and makes a great layout space and cutting surface.  The blue table is desk height perfect for all sorts of general work and the sewing table is slightly shorter which works for Sister who wants to learn how to sew and I can always move the machine up to the blue table if I have a big project to do.

This configuration also left room for the kid’s computer in the corner.  (Yes, my children have their very own computer and this is their homepage.  Impressive, eh?  I made it myself. )

A metal magazine rack my parents picked up at a garage sale several years ago works great for keeping paper and cardstock sorted.

And this handy wrapping paper rack, which I found at Lowe’s after I’d already taken the other pictures, is really designed to hold plastic wrap and such on a cabinet door.

To complete the ensemble I re-labeled ev-er-y-thing using this cutie font from here (Thanks Julie for the tip.)  My hubby laughed out loud when I told him to “check out the labels” and my sister mocked me openly but I know that you, internets, will understand the need for this bit of crafty icing.  It had to be done.

I know.  I’m a tad behind but I had so much fun making Mother’s Day cards this year that I had to share.  But I couldn’t very well do that until I was certain each card arrived at its chosen destination.

I always forget how satisfying crafting is until I get back to it again.  Now I suspect that getting back to it will be much easier because though these were done on my kitchen table future endeavors will be created in the very best mother’s day gift ever … my new craft room.

Wait for it…. pictures to come.