Merrick's special Day

**please note; my good camera is still, yet again, in repair, I appologize for the photo quality**

One year ago I gave birth to my darling little boy. I still owe you his birth story... Soon!

I'm happy to start our birthday ritual for the first anniversaire for Merrick. I makes it extra special for Mariann and will be totally the norm (yet still magical) for him. And Mariann enjoyed it as much as Bébé frère!

As gift, I think I spoiled myself more then the kids... I bought already cut stalkers and stained them with watercolors. It looks so great in their playroom and Mariann loves to make the puzzles... For now Merrick enjoy tasting all the pieces!

I made one for each element. The little wooden sun was painted by Mariann on Ostara and Merrick loves chewing on it. I put it there in infase the fact that he was born in Summer, on a very hot and sunny day :)

We already had the playsilks and wooden animals.

And here's Mariann gift, which she was very very proud to give!
I cut 3 rectangles and ran them throught my sewing machine, then I asked Mariann to embrodery each page with each colors of the rainbow. It took about 4 baby brother's naps, she would keep her interests for about 3-4 pages at a time. I then handsewn two pages together so the wrong side don't show.

We can see a little bit of the necklace I made. I took blue glass beads and a pentacle charm (for protection) and some hazeltree beads I made from wood harvested in our own backyard. I simply cut each beads (with a tool I just can't find the english word in my head right now...) and a nail and hammer. Right now it sits on my work table, waiting for me to re-do it. Shirring elastic was not a good idea, apperently!

I don't really have a great picture of the crown... I'll take one later.

So, I've embrodery his initial in blue, like his eyes, and sewn felt oak leaves, the king of tree, nothing less! It represents well the time he was born, I find. On the side there is a spear and a branch of wheat which represent the day he was born; Lughnasad or Lamas, the first of the three pagan harvest festival. On the other side, still with felt, I sewn a wooden shield and an axe, symbol of his name, which means Powerfull Conquerer or Ruler of the Sea, and which as value him the nickname of Little Viking by his godsfather and Mamie. All the growling, and the fact that he's so blond and chubby, only added to it!

I also made them paint on canvas, of course Mariann loved it, as always... But Merrick, not really. We still have 2 great paintings on the wall!

And here he is in a tunic I made the very day. I actually took picture to built a tutorial to show you how. And no, it was white no more by the end of the day!

We had our family for super and he even got a spoon of chocolate ice cream. He got a booster seat and was so proud to sit with everyone at the table!

Do I have a 1 year old boy already??

Hope all my pagan friends had a great Lughnasad! We made a corn bread yesterday and it was pretty good with mapple syrup. I'll share the recipe soon.

A request for a Pixie Suit

I had a request for another Pixie suit you can find really tiny ones here and here.

This time I made a reversible hat, one side brown, the other side with leaves and buttons.



It was made for a smaller baby, so it's tight on Merrick, but he's cute non-the-less.



and he hates hoodies, no matter how cute he is with it!



It's made in a sweater I found in a thrift store. There's a little left... Enough to make one pointy hat for a doll, like the pilot cap attempt that was way too small!

It will be of down under. Somehow I'm really thrilled when something I make goes so far! Hope it keeps the little boy warm in their upcoming winter.

Perfect Daddy Bag

I keep telling myself to make something in order to sell. Every one around me does the same. Everything I make a gift to someone, someone says "You're so talented, you should try to start your own business!!"

Most of the time, I agree. I should start selling something.

Something, but what??

What would I like to make repeatedly? That the market isn't overload with already?

I've looked around to see if many people make play diaper bags. Result of my research: fiew people make real diaper bags. One person sell play ones in etsy, and one blogger made one (she offers a tutorial, too!).




Like Mariann's, this one is equipped with a felt bottle, a bib, wipes, diapers and layette. It's made out of a vintage plaid my mom wanted to throw away (!) and one of her pair of pants. I feel it's more masculine, thus the title, Daddy Bag. But it could be for a girl as well, too!

Label: Twill tape + black sharpie.

I think there could be a market for those... I'll put some up in my etsy shop to go with the elementals I'm making.... We'll see, I'll give you some news!

Meanwhile... if anybody wants it before I put it in my etsy, just email me! ;)

The pixie suit

From a previously worn sweater from my mom, once again, I made a totally different thing. Something for Merrick this time.

I'd add pointy hood to anything. Anything really.

(yes, that is Starcraft II on the computer screen. On is "studying" desk)

I made it too thigh on the body, it's pretty slim fit!
The super light fabric and the huge hoodie makes it perfect to wear him in my sling for September outdoor walks. + I love the hood pointing out of the sling.

A little Hoodie for a little being

Mariann had a tiny, 2 month sized hoodie, made in a lovely Owl print. It was given by my sister.... and was pink. I loved it a lot... but apparently, no pink for boys (but I'm seriously considering getting it out of the box anyway...). So I took some black fabric leftover (knit I think...) and came up with this:

Hopefully enough I only have one size of zippers and it was the right one!



Now excuse the blurry pictures... He was pretty active, and this is our best shot!

It won't fit long... but it's the price to pay when you make tiny, cute little piece of clothing!

Having fun photographing a new born

Newborns are so fun to photograph. Even awake, with their sudden mouvements and their crossing eyes you can still get great shot. Add some props; a blanket, a basket... And turn off your flash!

He's 6 days old on those. Can't believe how much he changed already!

...sleeping photos are still a must...

I have about 3 pictures with the letter cubes...
...Someone had fun stealing them from the "set"...

After some editing ( I only crop and enhance luminosity ), you've got a lovely souvenir for the rest of your lifes...



...And I'm sure I'll say this very soon:

I can't believe he was so small!

Merrick's rag quilt (how-to)

While I have a little break from nursing, I'm going to show you how I made my first rag quilt, for little Merrick!

I bought a bag of lightblankets with a jungle theme, and a soft plushie fleece blanket that had a lion embroidery on it. I've calculated how many squarres and how large I could cut with the fleece blanket and designed the squarres to cut from my light blankets accordingly. 20 in that case: 5 greens, 7 yellows and 8 animal pattern in my case.

I've matched every squarre from the light blankets to one of the plushie blanket and sewn an X with my sewing machine using a regular straigth stitch.



Sewn 4 rows of 5, right side facing OUT....



...Then sewn them together



Cut every CM or so around the edge (which I've sewn 2 times with a straight stitch) and also cut in between all the squarres

And launder it a few times.



Here it is, in all it's fluffyness!

My First Waldrof Inspired Doll

I told you yesterday, here it is, not naked anymore!

I decided going for a Boy doll for my nephew, as I'm pretty sure he doesn't have one yet. He's only 4 month old, and for now he won't care much other than chew on it.... But as he'll grow and start playing a bit of pretend play, he'll have other stuff to play with than plastic trucks and soldiers (not that I think my sister would buy him soldiers though!)

I could have made him anything, but went for the Waldorf companion doll.
There's TONS of great one on etsy, and they are expensive! This one cost me barely nothing to make, and it's because I cheated.

Waldorf dolls are usually 100% natural. But I didn't have access to wool roving and bio cottons etc... And no money to get it from the internet. So this little guy is filled with cotton balls, the skin is from an old maternity t-shirt (what an hideous color for a shirt! lol) T-shirt and jeans from what I had too, and the socks are a pair of mariann newborn's that I slightly cut. The wool hair is acrylic I think...
It cost me about 4$ to make, and I spent the weekend on it.



First time I make so tiny cloths! So this is my first pair of pants :P



That's it for our new temporary resident!

There's TONS of resources on how to make one yourself, and for free!

There's also many books, pattern for clothing and lots and lots of doll makers (etsy made a special section for them!) if you don't want to make one and want one :P

And of course... Mariann stole it. Many times. As I was attaching the hair (strand by strand....) She'd take it, give it a kiss, and give it back. This little guy received a lot of love already!... I was able to get picture because Mariann is currently napping... Else she would have been part of the pics!

Now I'm gonna start on hers, as it's gonna part of her bday gift. I'm not buying anything, all her gifts from me would be handmade.
Can't wait to show you ;)

What I'm up to...

I wanted to make a birth gift to my nephew, who is now 3 month old and that I haven't seen yet! He lives 8h of car away... But I'll see him sometime this summer, hopefully, after BF's summer class.

I didn't want to make him another plush, or bibs, or onesie... And frankly, I don't know at all what my sister own. So I went for something I think he doesn't have; I'm doing Cloth cubes!

I'm doing 5 of them, with a letter from his name on each, and an image of something beginning by the letter (in French) for each. I'm gonna had ribbons and various stuff to make it interesting but I'll keep it simple.

I'm also having a huge list of goodies to make for my friend Zombie_Queen. I'm very exited about that! ...around 15 items you won't see before the end of the month!


Oh, and I received those, do you like them??

Fairy Clothing (For outdoor play)

I was involved in a garden swap last month, and those are 2 of the item I made for my lovely partner :)

For the little boy!
I tried it on mariann and it was too small, which is great since the kid is several month younger and apparently it fits perfect!

I wanted to make something that hides the head and the shoulder as well as back of the neck. I use a very light cotton fabric

And this is for the girl who is a tad older than Mariann.
It's made out of 2 t-shirt I had.
(oh, and the yellow belt was for the mommy :P better pics of that another time!)

Don't you love the belly button poking through???

I love the pose!



The hood now has purple pompom and 3 wooden buttons attach the front.

I was inspired by items she had on her wists but they are all straight out of my head :)