A Posie for Ella

Ella's Bella Dress
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

The whole time I was pregnant I wanted to make some girl clothes, specifically dresses, but I didn't know the gender of baby to be. I scanned inspirational photos from magazines, added cute crafty posts to my bookmarks, and even bought Heather Ross' bike fabric in pink. I wasn't holding my breath though, as I anticipated karma would dish me out not one, but two wild-animal sons. Not that boys are punishment, I just figured that my destiny is to have two active-explorer types keeping me on my toes. You know the routine: "Please don't saw the flowers" "Sorry, you're not old enough to have a chain saw." Luckily I'm a tomboy and my son likes to cook and do art so we have a balance. But, how to satisfy my inner girlie girl? After seeing a post by Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy I knew I had to make her Bella Baby Dress. Luckily my friend's daughter, Ella, likes to wear dresses. So, here we have a Posie for Ella. And, so her big sister doesn't feel left out, an amigurumi cat from Nekoyama's pattern via Boogaj.

Placenta Prints

placenta_sling_lores
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

I mentioned in my last post that I had a baby carrier made with a fabric that looked like placenta prints. When my friend Bethany mentioned that she was glad that she didn’t know what a placenta print was I knew I’d have to blog about it. I’ll admit I’d never seen one until today, but, my doula had described them to me as beautiful tree-like shapes with intricate branching. I imagined them as roundish and blood colored—turns out that’s exactly what they look like. Here’s a photo of the sling I was talking about--it's homemade from IKEA fabric, not placenta prints, although that would be an excellent idea (thanks Alison). Now I just need to pull the placenta out of the freezer (it’s in a bio-hazard bag) and print away. Printmaking with organs, hmmmm, opens up a whole new realm of craft.

Here is an article about making pregnancy art, including instructions for placenta printing.

The Real Life of Crafters

Birthday Present
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

I made this photo collage painting as a "quick" present for a four-year-old. I started at 7:30 in the morning and worked up to the last minute, scrambling to get the family ready and out of the house for a 1 o'clock party. I could write up a pretty little description of the process and such, but that wouldn't be telling the whole story. My children suffered for this craft, I tell you. The little part of me that remains selfish wanted to do this project and I wasn't going to let no crying baby stop me. My three-and-a-half-year-old wanted to paint too, so I quickly set him up in the few minutes I had while the baby slept. He proceeded to get frustrated because he couldn't paint an exact replica of what I was painting and gave up. I didn't have the time to explain and/or help him, and to top it off I was angry because he used up my baby-free moments. Boy was I grumpy. Baby cried a bit while I finished the project and then cried a lot while we wrapped the present. All was well as soon as we got in the car. So far, what I've learned about having a two-kid household is that everything runs smoothly as long as I have no ambition other than the basic food-poop-pee-dishes-laundry-vacuum stuff.

This one goes out to Touch the Spindle because she was wondering about the real lives of the craft bloggers.

My Guys

snuggle
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

bath
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

my_guys
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Here are a few photos of the new guy. He's six weeks old and fifteen pounds (6.82 kilo).

First photo: Here's Carlo snuggled up in a sling that my friend Meghan made, based on the New Natives organic baby carrier--I think this one is IKEA fabric, not organic, but cute none the less. I have another one she made with fabric that looks a bit like placenta prints. :)

Second photo: One of Carlo's first baths, just a couple days ago (we don't bath much), with the very cool mushroom wash cloth that Heather sent me from Japan (thanks Heather!).

And, the third photo: All of my guys, this morning in the kitchen, looking so sweet.

Little Big House

Original
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Grey Primer
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.
Red House
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

This is by far the biggest little craft project of all time for our family. Measuring in at a little more than 600 square feet this funky monkey cabin is also known as our future home. We've owned it for some time, about six years or so, and haven't lived in it yet (no heating, no insulation, a few missing walls, and only some electricity). That's how slow we are at getting projects finished. It took this long for my husband, who works six days a week, to realize that he can't do all the work himself. So, we're actually getting my brother-in-law to paint it. Yippee! A little progress is good for morale, and you need morale when you've been living at your mom's house for four years! I thought this project tied in nicely with Vicki at Turkey Feather's Finish What You Have idea. The photos, from top to bottom, are: a before picture, a work-in-progress, and a Photoshop simulation of what we think we want it to look like.