Elemental plush doll: Water

Here's my second elemental plushie in its Water version!



Again, this one is made of an old t-shirt... in this case the one I gave birth with. It's a gift for my daugther so I wanted to make it extra special.
It's filled with scrap pieces of felt and cottons.



The face features are Waldorf doll style inspired. Decided to make the eyes white for more fantasy!



The hairs are sewn in by 2-3 thread of wool at a time. Used a whole package but I don't know how much it is...



The tail is made out of an old tee my mommy used to wear all the time for a LONG time. The points are scrap pieces from the cousins from our master bedroom and are firmly stuffed with scrap pieces of fabric. An elastic holds the top of the tail and I've put a single seashell out of tan felt. It's taken off like a piece of cloths to reveal a pair of blue legs



I could have put way more details on her... But it's for my toddler to toss around so I kept it simple
Again, this is a prototype of plus I want to start selling in my etsy...Would you buy one for a child in your life? Would you buy one for yourself if it was more intricate??
I also welcome constructive criticism

Babies...A trailer.

I really enjoyed this 2:26 min long trailer... You cannot not smile after that!

Shameless Etsy Shop Promotion

I'm not doing that often (the pub)... But I've just updated my etsy shop with some vintage dresses I found over the time.. There's also felt food and jewelry... Please take the time to take a look!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade RoseGrenouille.etsy.com

24 week belly picture

Being pregnant a second time

24 weeks 1 day, April 21st 2010


Now that I know what to expect, I'm even less stressed about giving birth then the last time...But I'm more stressed about the "after"...
Will this baby feel loved enough?
Will Mariann be jealous?
Will I have enough patience for 2?
How much is this baby's gonna affect Papa's studies?

~22 weeks, April 3, 2008

But I'm not stressing so much about that. I think it's just sane to be a little bit worrying. This pregnancy is almost the same; Only variation is my constant back and knee pain (inflammation) instead of constant morning sickness.

Else everything is the best it could possibly be. The baby is perfect so far. I'm really grateful for having such an ease to conceive and bare babies!
I'm really irregular, and have periods maybe 4 times a year... I was thinking it would be hard having kids when I was a teen. I'm so glad I was wrong!

Oh, and I find this appropriate: HAPPY EARTH DAY everyone!

artist unknown

Green Man Mask PATTERN and TUTORIAL :)

We're the 21st already!
Beltane is arriving fast enough! Finally, no more snow around!

I love the Green Man. It's a great figure and he's lovely to draw. I've been wanting to make a mask and I've looked around... most are papier maché, leather, rubber... not really kid-friendly... So I've looked into my felt stash and came up with this:

I made this yesterday just for fun, as I'm nowhere to have an occasion to wear it.

what you need...



I've cut a basic mask form, giving it some kind of whimsy because I'm not entirely covering it with leaves.



I've cut 5 big oak leaves, 2 mediums and 4 smalls.
Of course, you can add as much as you want!
I only had two shades of green felt on hand.

I've placed them until I liked it and pinned them in place.



I've simply stitched in the middle of the leaves for about ¾ of it.

You could sew them with a machine as well...Hand sewing those really took no time...then I added some ribbon to attach. Use whatever you feel like.





just click on the image save it and print :)

This is really simple and took me around 45 min to figure and do!
Hope some of you will try it.

The ugly dogs Pretty Itty Bitty dress!

Rae from Made by Rae offers a free pattern on her [gorgeous] blog.

It's the first dress I made!

Now, for the chosen fabric, I feel like I have to explain myself:
My daugther LOVES it. She adores dogs. "Dog" was her first word. Even before saying "Papa".

When I dig it out of a box full of fabric my mom gave me, she hugged it and didn't want to let it go (until Papa took a cookie out of the cloche...)



so many dogs.....

So I decided to try the Itty Bitty pattern... My printer was out of ink so I drawn in freehand on a paper...



It was really easy to use, really fun to make! I wasn't stressed much about screwing it since the fabric isn't that pretty... But I think it turned well enough!

It's lined with white cotton from one of Papa's shirt and has a sort of petty coat as well. I've found a ribbon and sewn it there since I had no piping.

I'll surely try this pattern again with a fabric that I like!

Being/Becoming a Mother...part 2

Part 1 is here

Having the best "Job" on earth.

I do.

Now that my daugther naps only in the after-noon, but for 2 hours instead of 2 naps of ½h, we've established a routine of some kind... I actually get "me time" during the day! I know I have at least 1h ahead, yay!

So what do I do during mornings? Chores, and play time with my daugther. She actually loves to wash the dishes "with me". She has her snack while I fold laundry. She does her own thing, principally pretend play in her kitchen or with her doll, while I sweep the floor. She watches as I cook for lunch.

But it is draining. When she goes to bed at night, around 7h30, my energy level is quite low. I feel the need to meditate and take the time to feel that growing person inside me.


It's funny as I never pictured myself as a Full-time-Mom before getting with my BF. Probably because my mom raised me alone, sometimes having 3 jobs at a time. When I thought of having kids, I pictured myself alone with them... something was missing, just like the way I was raised.

And because I always had good grades, people around me somehow had great expectation about a career, or a least, as they say, I could do what I want. Well, I found out what I want!

Crafting, again and again...and a bit of beltane prep

It's one of those weeks where I craft tons and can't show any; they are all for swaps and posting the items here will spoil some people's surprise!

I've embellished 5 tees, 1 I made from scratch!
I'm making various stuff for Beltane (3 items done so far), and one for a Garden swap (2 items done). I'm also into a Punk Toddler Swap but I'm waiting on my partner still.

Cow Diaper made by Ilovesnails

I've started using the cloth diapers... the more waterproof ones since my covers are still where we lived before. My daugther seems happy in them :)

I'm also slowly thinking of what we will be doing for Beltane. The BF will be over the head with studies of course...

But I'll find some nice toddler friendly activity; maybe a mini may pole or just showing her own to dance with ribbons, green man mask out of felt... We'll be cooking together, of course!
We'll probably dress up and dance around. Hurray for Youtube, having great pagan songs my daugther loves (she sings, too!)

Beltane Song

From the Pagan and Wiccan Parenting Page

Good Bye Winter,

Good bye Winter,

Good bye Winter,

Good bye Winter,

We wish you'd leave us now.

(replace the following words for "Winter:" snow, slush, snowsuits, cold wind, and any thing else the children come up with.)

Come back Springtime,

Come back Springtime,

Come back Springtime,

We wish you'd come today.

(replace the following words for "Springtime:" green grass, flowers, birds, and any thing else the children come up with.)


In very deed, Come Back Spring!!

Meditation...Everyone has their way...

Sometimes, sitting around doing nothing is the only way to satisfy my toddler; She wants my complete attention.
But I don't really like doing nothing. So I sit in lotus and start doing simple breathing and yoga exercises. My daugther loves it and tries to copy me, which is really cute. Then something else will catch her attention and off she goes. Oh, but mommy can't stand up and do something else.... So, since I have to sit still, I take the moment to meditate.
I close the door of my bedroom, which is a totally children friendly place, and close my eyes.
Sometimes I think about issues we have... but most time, I clear my mind from everything. I concentrate on my breathing and my daughter's.
From time to time, she comes and sit on me, or stand up in front (or in my back) and play with my hairs, poke my eyes or touch my ears, trying to say the right word for each. But I don't open my eyes and let her do, until she's off again.
That way I get way more energy than if I had lay down; my back hurts a lot!
So it's a nice compromise for not being able to actually do real yoga.
I find it more easy to let myself meditate around my daugther's distraction than if it was complete silence in the morning or the night.

Cloth diapers!

Today I received the greatest package of diapers awesomeness !!

newborn

with a belly snap!


Medium

With details


Large, currently drying to be used tomorrow (or even today)


My daugther trying to put a new born one on one of her dolls


Potty Training


Nighties, she also included supplementary layers for those


Extras: Fabric cube and the cutest pink monkey

A bunny with an owl


there was also a dress shirt and some glittery fabric

thanks a lot Ilovesnails it was wonderful swapping with you!!

Going to the Sugar House

The weather was truly gorgeous, at last!

My daugther made new friends :)

(she's SO modeling on that one)

and ate lots of sugary goodness

She had her own little chocolate hen



And was kind enough to share


She even kept a bow long enough to take a picture....


...thanks to daddy's pencil case...

I really enjoyed going to the sugar house as a child.. It's truly a part of spring and Easter time. We only went for taffy on the snow... But that's my favorite part! I can tell Mariann loved it too, yay!