Well, the holidays are officially in full bloom around the house. I've been putting together Christmas gifts on and off again for a while, but I'm feeling the spirit of the season... it's probably the pine scent from bringing our beautiful Christmas Tree inside! Owen and I baked a lot for Thanksgiving with Val and her family... and that probably helped as well. Owen and I also made some felt rocks like I've seen on Etsy by reyaveltman...
mostly I wanted to see (a) if I could make one and (b) to see if it was something I could do with Owen... so we each made one... not bad!
O. wanted to pull at the felt before it was done a bit, so had to be distracted periodically, but mostly really enjoyed the frothy soapy wet mess. While we were running around this weekend (and speaking of felt), we made it to the Mill End Store and picked up some felt to attempt a variation of pillow I saw by Looolo... anyhow Brian has been using what he calls "the best $12 craft supply you have ever purchased" which is a circle cutter and put together this pillow case!
I still need to make the pillow part... I just made the cover without thought as to where I'd get the fill, I guess I'll have to make one to fit. It was so much fun, I think we will be making a few more to fill out our Christmas gifts. Brian cuts the circles... I sew them on... it's a nice family project :)
Today, I headed to a few Craft shows with Robyn... we had a good time.
I picked up a few cute hats and some letterpress bookplates and ornaments.
We've been doing our part this weekend to be good consumers, but I'm looking forward to sticking around home and finishing up a bunch of our "projects"... including another set of potholders. Brian picked up the knitting needles again after a several year hiatus... he knits a bit tighter than I do
... can you tell? We'll see how they look after they are felted. Maybe they'll even out a bit.
Hmm, I just like this picture, we are trying out our new waterproof camera. It's funny to me that pool season is as soon as it is too yucky or cold out to play outside. The indoor pools are awesome around here. We love them... other than smelling like chlorine for days, it's the perfect way to spend a drizzly afternoon.
Well, my friend Robyn pointed me to this awesome designer on Etsy ( Helicopter studios: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5986255) who makes adorable play mats. However, the price tag was a bit hefty for our tight budget and I figured I could give it a shot for Owen. Perfect a one (okay two) evening project.
Although not nearly as sweet as the professional version, it was fun to make, and Owen seems to like it. 
Tonight we had his animals swimming in the river and climbing "my mountain Hood" and knocking down trees.... with great sound effects. It pulls all together into a tidy bundle... Outside is blue corduroy I had from Knittin Kitten, though this is where my sewing machine started making clanking noises and I gave up on any sweet trim... this is a pretty functional piece and definitely looks so from the outside. I really would like to try the campfire (because Owen seems to like the idea of roasting marshmallows... though we've only done it once about 9 months ago) or the racecar track looks strait forward, well, except I hate sewing in circles.
