Buzzmills

A Lightning McQueen(ish) party...

Over the weekend we celebrated Henry's 3rd Birthday!  Three?!  Come on, really?  Goodness, the time does fly so fast, doesn't it.  Henry's third birthday also marks three years living in our first house, we moved in a week after he was born, and I've got to say that there really has been quite a lot packed into these past three years. 

But, I digress...

When we asked Henry what he wanted his first friend birthday celebration to be he stated, "A Lightning McQueen, train party!", and then it was a train party and then Lightning McQueen and back and forth...We finally settled on Lightning McQueen.

I have no idea what it is with Lightning McQueen, we've only watched each movie once, and he doesn't have a large presence in this house, but oh Henry does love him!  Every red car we see must be Lightning McQueen!  It's because he's fast, that's what Henry says anyway.

As it turns out it was only loosely based on Lightning McQueen though and more just a car birthday party, he didn't mind nor did he notice.

I made the invitation by cutting out scraps of paper to make a collage car and then photo copied it to make many.  I printed out extra cars on card stock and connected them with brads to use as decorations... I also shrunk them down to address label size and printed a bunch out to use as cupcake toppers... The extras were put in a little cup on the food table.  The kiddos loved them and used them to decorate their hot dogs and such. I bought a few yards of checkered material and used it for table cloths, banners, and a race flag to great our guests.   I also made miniature race flags for each child to take home with them along with a little sewn envelope filled with stickers... Yellow Duct tape arrows pointed our guests around to the back of the house Where they were greeted by a clothes line filled with colorful race car shirts.  I made a car freezer paper stencil and personalized each with their age, and in their favorite color.

We had cozy coupe obstacle course races. The kids colored in their own wooden cars for car races... And there were running races too... running with cookies in hand...
It turned out to be a pretty dreary day.  There was rain off and on.  The party moved from outside to inside multiple times throughout, but no one seemed to mind the rain and the venue changes.  The birthday boy seemed to enjoy himself... And so did everyone else.

Oh, and hey, Lightning McQueen did show up after all!  Henry's request, a strawberry shortcake with McQueen and Mater on top!  He beamed!  And then excitedly played with them afterward... It was a good day!

"Modern Vintage" Easter Vest and Pants...

For Henry's Easter outfit I went pretty traditional, but with a little twist... Pants, vest, bow tie, newsboy cap...

The pants are made from some fabric I've had around for over a year now.  I'm not completely certain of what it is, it feels like soft wool, wrinkles like linen and on the remnant tag it said it was cotton...I used Dana's flat front pants tutorial and pattern.

And inspired by both Dana and Rae and their Celebrate the Boy series additions I added back pockets and a tuxedo stripe The stripe is Jay McCarroll, Habitat.  Violet thinks it looks like the TV when it gets all "wonky", that's awesome in her book. 

Once the pants were made, I wasn't going to...but I've had this vest on my to make list since seeing Jessica's version for "film petit", it seemed like a super quick sew...so I had to. I've got to say though, it wasn't quite as quick as I had hoped, but that may have been due to the sick fog in my head.  I was in a hurry.  It didn't turn out perfectly.  I used velcro for the closure instead of a button thinking that the vest could be occasionally worn reversed... Although, in hindsight, I'm fairly certain that won't ever happen.  Even still, the velcro is a nice touch because Henry can put it on and off by himself.

Once I got the pants and the vest done I asked Henry to try them on for me so I could see if they fit.  He obliged me once with the pants for exactly the amount of time it took for me to check the elastic on the waist after which he said he didn't like them.  And the vest he refused to try on at all.  Hmmm, no good.  That was his exact attitude when I attempted to try on his Easter clothes last year to test the fit.  But, just as with last year, he happily put them on and wore the entire outfit all day Easter.  Modern vintage (similar to last year's look too), that's what I call it...
and then he wore each piece again the two days following all on his own... I think it must have been all of the compliments that he got on his ensemble that made him keep it on.  Of course there were shoe and tie changes and I didn't say that he kept himself pristine, the shirt and bow tie stayed neat for about two minutes... Eh, he is a boy! I think that's it...I think making Easter outfits are fun to make (for me anyway) because you get to have fun and play around with the old vintagey looks a bit more...

Oh, and incidentally, this is the best picture of both Violet and Henry that we got (and none of all four of us) Oh well...that's the way it goes. 

Have a great day!

An Easter Geranium Dress...

Violet and Henry didn't need new clothes for Easter.  In fact, I probably shouldn't have sewn them any new clothes...but, I already had all of the fabric washed and ready to go.  And, I managed to get their bunnies made with a week to spare.  But, after having Henry coughing on me and snuggling with me for a week, I inevitably got sick as well.  Sewing with a sick, foggy head and giggly energetic kids running around the house aren't exactly the best combination, but I just couldn't resist.  There is just something to be said about new springy outfits!

So, I made Violet another Geranium dress.  Part of the reason I couldn't resist making her a new dress was because of this pattern.  After making my first one, I new it was such a fun and quick sew.  Another reason, I scored some pretty Anna Maria Horner Voile and Amy Butler Lark from Sew, Mama, Sew's $6 sale!  And another reason...Violet has entered into some sort of "fancy" stage.  She is really into all things ruffly, frilly, and fancy, well some days anyway... What could be fancier than a long flowy voile dress with flutter sleeves?  Oh, one with an eyelet lining!  I bought the eyelet in Kelley's destash sale.  And, one with a doily collar (I had this one still from last year when I used some others as pockets).  Violet and I disagreed for a bit about which fabric was going to be used and where, but in the end we agreed and we were both pleased with the results.

Although, I must say, as I was putting the dress together I began to worry if it was too much pattern mix match.  But, I think it all came together beautifully and with a bit of an old timey, vintagey feel (similar to last year).  I especially love the addition of the ribbon and think that it helps to tie it all together (pun intended). She really loved it, although it was too chilly to wear without a sweater over top of it on Easter.  And she totally rocked last year's bonnet for a bit too!  Oh, how can you not smile and giggle at or with this little girl! 

And, here comes Henry sneaking in on part of the picture taking... I'll share his tomorrow (hint those are his new pants).

PS. sorry for the photo overload...

Meet Basil and Bella...

Well, that's what their names are at the moment anyway...the names seem to be ever changing... But their cuteness is not.

These little bunnies are loosely based on some tiny mice that were brought by Santa and on Jess Brown's hugely popular dolls.  They've been on my mind for quite some time now.  I even drew up a picture and a plan, which is not usually my style, although it was quite beneficial and made me realize that, perhaps, "winging it" isn't always the fastest way to go.  I wasn't sure if I would have a chance to get them made in time for Easter, but with a bit of stitching here and there, I did!  

Their bodies, legs, and arms are made of linen.  I used some of my handprinted fabric for Basil's body and for Bella's body, I simply painted stripes onto my linen.  For the legs, I used some of the star strips from Violet's birthday as a stencil. And, some little yarn pompoms for their tails...The ears are made of felted wool and cotton and are crazy and wonky!  I wanted to use the wool for the ears for some added texture and softness.  I love that the ears are wild and flip back and forth, it adds character, they also happen to be a fun way to carry the bunnies around. 
Of course, they needed some Easter clothes, so Basil was dressed in a felted wool bow tie, suspenders and shorts. And Bella got a little flowered skirt and bows for her ears. Their arms and legs are super floppy (on purpose) but that made it challenging to take pictures, so I stuck them up a tree...(not the greatest pictures) The kids loved them!  Both bunnies came with us to church on Easter (where Violet noted to me that I "should sell these bunnies at the store too").  Violet has had hers as a pretty constant pal since Easter morning, and has been trying all of her doll clothes on her bunny, they fit pretty nicely.  I've got to say, I am crazy happy with the way they turned out!

Felted Easter Eggs...

Last week I noticed these sweet little felted eggs on the same page of craftgawker as my spring chicks.  Immediately I thought that they would make a great pair!

So, the kids and I decided to make some of our own.  They were eggcited (sorry, I couldn't resist) because they remembered how fun it was to get soapy and messy after the felted soaps we made in December.

We only have two felt chicks so this egg was stuffed with two chicks that we already had, "they're twins!" proclaimed Violet.
P.S. It was hard to get good pictures, because the kids just wanted to play...so soon enough craziness ensued...