Father's Day 2013

Oh, man!! I could eat these kids up! There is such a sweet love between these brothers.

Last year’s Father’s Day, I made a book to give to Mr. JCrew. It was a book of just him and Little JCrew pictures. It may not have been his preferred gift, but I liked it!

This year for Mother’s Day I got a fruit basket.

This was more of a gift for Mr. JCrew to store all his fruit and veggies, but I wanted it so that I didn’t have all the food taking up precious counter space. I LOVE it. I was picky about looks and how much it could hold. It holds everything! It can be found here. (And it's currently on sale!!)

But for an actual Father’s Day gift, Mr. JCrew got himself a new grill. I was not ready to spend a lot of money, but we found one on sale and he was happy.

That was about a month ago. I couldn't let the holiday pass without doing something. So, the boys and I made Mr. JCrew a magnet. We can display it on our fridge, or if he’s brave enough, he can take it to work and put it on his file cabinet. 

I painted Mr. Brigglesworth’s feet first and made a heart shape on the canvas. Then I painted Little JCrew’s feet and made another heart shape.

I did Little JCrew’s last because I knew that once he saw paint, he’d be all in it and I wouldn’t be able to finish.

Sure enough, that’s what he did. I let him paint and then he started painting his feet.

I now have a copy-cat in the house! I have to now be careful about using a stool to stand on so I can reach into a tall cabinet. I turn around and there is Little JCrew with a stool, STANDING on it like Momma!!

I thought him painting his feet was cute, but not when he wanted to get up and go get juice! I had wipes on hand to quickly wipe him down and the paint is super easy to clean up.

With the paint out, we also made my dad his Father’s Day gift from the boys. My dad was a cattle buyer and his degree is in Animal Husbandry. I could have gotten creative with making animals out of the kids’ hands and feet, but I settled on a tractor and trailer.

I did Mr. Brigglesworth’s foot first and was surprised at how big his foot is! It took up almost half the page. I was anticipating my trailer to be smaller. Once I had both boys footprints, I drew lines and wheels to turn it into a tractor and trailer.

I thought it turned out cute! Next up was to write words on both pieces.

We added a little detail to the feet with the boys' initials.

I cannot say thank you to the men in my life enough. My dad has been there to support me and my endeavors for the past almost 31 years. And Mr. JCrew has put up with me gracefully for the last five and a half! Both men treat my little guys the best that I could ask for. Little JCrew and Mr. Brigglesworth adore my dad and adore their dad. We are always thankful, not just on Father’s Day.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there.

And before I let you go, I have to share with you a new thing Little JCrew is doing. He can now "cheese" for the camera!

I was taking a picture of him and Mr. JCrew. He noticed me and said, "cheese!" He is a ham!

Have a great weekend!

Adding Onto My BabyFood Jars

 

I painted the bottoms of 13 babyfood jars to turn them into vases. Then I painted five of them bright colors to use as crayon storage. I didn’t throw away the lids. No, sir. Treasure jars need lids to keep the treasures inside.

I’ve been wanting to find something to paint with chalkboard paint. I’ve had this itch in my hand to do it. I’ve even entertained the idea of painting a sliver of chalkboard in the kitchen, but it makes me nervous, so I back off and look for something else to do.

To satisfy the chalkboard affair, I decided to paint the lids of the babyfood jars.

The JCrew boys can then label their treasure jars with the date it was collected or what is actually in there. Or they can put their name on it.

I’ve had the tops painted for a while, but was on the search for chalk. I didn’t want to make a special trip anywhere for it, but never saw any other than sidewalk chalk.

I got out the chalk and Little JCrew helped me decorate.

He actually stacked the jars to make a tower.

Then they fell.

I love the chalkboard paint. It’s one of those things I love so much that I want to do it everywhere. But I have to remind myself that less is more. I have to put down the brush and stop.

It’s funny that I waited so long to post about this. It was perfect timing actually. Little JCrew already has a treasure jar full of random things my dad put in his pants when he wears pockets over to their house. Last Friday Mr. Brigglesworth wore pants with pockets so he came home with pockets full of treasures!

I did not discover the treasures. Mr. JCrew did. When I got home he said he had to show me what he found in Mr. Brigglesworth’s pockets. He thought my parents were playing a joke on him. I took one look at the random collection and said, “They are his treasures!”

Now both boys have the start to their collection. And don’t worry, they don’t play with their treasures right now. Definitely not age appropriate to play unsupervised.

Lego and Train Table

Look what I made as a Christmas gift for the boys this year!

My original idea came from my favorite blog younghouselove.com

www.younghouselove.com

They designed a train table to slide under the couch and out of the way. I shared this idea with my mom and the Pre-School teacher in her said a leg-less table top would not get the playtime a tabletop with legs would.

At the consignment sales I saw lots of train tables but none were anything I liked. I know I am picky, but I couldn’t get myself to accept one. Train tables are too small in my opinion and overpriced. There are some that limit your creativity when building the tracks. There might be a house or a road in the way where you wanted to lay your track. My mind is too Type-A to ignore the painted house on the board and lay my track over it. It just bothers me.

That’s when I went back to my idea of building a train table. This one would have legs. As I thought more about it, I wanted the table to be more than just a train table. It could be a table to build puzzles on, play board games and build Legos. The purpose for the table grew and the design ideas flowed. I wanted to glue some Lego baseplates to the table to build HUGE creations on it. Somehow we needed to build a table frame where the table top flipped so one side could be the train table and the other side could be the Lego table. When I bounced this idea off of Mr. JCrew, he loved it but I don’t think I explained my vision clearly. He asked how I was going to make the table flip and it might be too tall for the kiddoes if I accommodated the flipping part of the table top.

The table top doesn’t flip while staying hinged to the legs. You push the table top up from underneath and flip it yourself.

This is the first time I went to Lowes without knowing exactly what I needed! (sooo against my Type-A personality) I found a piece of wood that worked for the tabletop first. Once I knew the dimensions, I was able to know what lengths of wood I needed for the table frame.

I needed to build a frame that had a lip for the top to sit on and a lip that held it in place from side to side. The legs were easy. I just bought an 8-foot post for $5. It was outdoor wood, but that was okay. I cut it into four pieces (2-foot each).

Two feet seemed pretty tall. Too tall for little people to be able to play. So I cut off four inches from each post. This created some blocks that Little JCrew likes to hoist into the yard.

I used my table saw to make the other boards for the frame. I was really nervous putting it together. I had no instructions I was following and nothing written down. This was not how I operate!!

I laid the pieces out and then started putting them on the legs. I nailed them in place first and not all the way. I wanted to make sure I could take it apart if it wasn’t lining up perfect. I got lucky and it did on the first try. No adjustments needed!

The legs were not sturdy enough to drag the table so I added brackets. (You have to plan on boys dragging the table where they want it and possibly sitting on the table!)

The brackets made the table durable and able to withstand the roughness of kids.

I used the stain I had from refinishing the damaged table top to stain the frame of the table.

I then had the fun of painting the table top. I got three sample-size pant jars for $3 each at Lowes.

Why waist a pint size when you don’t need that much. The train side is green and the Lego side is blue.

I bought four 17-inch baseplates to glue down for the Lego side. I didn’t want the whole table covered up, but the majority of it to be.

When I glued the Lego plates down, I used Lego pieces to hold the plates together.

I’m so glad I did. Had I put the base plates touching, they would be too close together for a Lego piece to connect correctly. I at first used hot-glue, but it dried too quickly. (I was trying to glue all four spaces and then lay all four plates down.) I then used Gorilla glue.

Underside View

The table is tall enough that I put baskets underneath for their train pieces and Lego pieces.

All that’s left is for me to paint the scenery onto the train side of the table.

Mr. JCrew has already requested a bridge and waterfall. Whose table is this?

(Update: Here is how I painted it.)

Oh, and those neat chairs I have at the table will become a project down the road. They were one of the ones I didn't get to while on leave.

I’m so excited for the functionality of this table. Most train tables are much smaller and are not a Lego table too. I can’t wait for the boys to start using it!

- Lindsay

New Project

I'm glad the report the funk was short-lived and is gone. :)

I got my supplies for my next project. Can you guess what I'm making?




Hint: It's for the boys.


- Lindsay

Sewing Pillowcases

A pillowcase is one of the easiest things to sew. So, why did it take me so long to get it done? I've got a Little JCrew that loves his mommy's attention is why.

I had a baby pillow that needed a pillowcase for Little JCrew. I went and picked out fabric, so the first step was taken care of. But the fabric and pillow both layed there for a while.

I measured out the fabric and pinned it together. Then I was stalled again. I got the sides sewn together in the next free second I had.

The last step was to hem the edge. Finally, done!!! And I love the fabric. It's such a fun pattern. I already visualize him carrying it everywhere and napping in the car with it.

I made two. One fun one, and one more formal. :)

Burp Cloths

While I was making onesies I discovered I also wanted to make burp cloths. I had a ton of burp cloths and really didn’t need any more, but I had extra fabric… and really, why not?

I made a couple for myself, but also made some for gifts. I’ll post the gift ones today in hopes that the girls won’t read this post until after their showers this weekend. (one is Saturday, the other in Sunday.)

I love ruffles, but since Little JCrew is a boy, I had to alter the ruffle to look manly. I like how it turned out.

With the “man-pleats” I cut a long piece of green fabric about an inch and a half wide. I hemmed the edges and have a one inch strip to start accordion folding.

I handmade the pleats and they took a couple minutes each to do. I held the pleats in place with straight pins.

I knew I was going to create several burp cloths, so I made a ton of pleated strips all at once. It made the process quick and easy.

The next step was cutting a piece of fabric to place along the middle of the burp cloth. My first three burp cloths I used the same method. I used the iron on adhesive to set the fabric middle on the burp cloth. I was nervous of it bunching if I didn’t. But that wasn’t the case. With my fourth burp cloth, I tried without the adhesive and it did just fine! Lesson learned. I hemmed the edges of the middle fabric and then sewed the ends to the burp cloth directly.

Next I placed the man pleat to the edge of the middle fabric. I did not sew the middle fabric edges down because I knew I would be sewing the pleats in the same location and didn’t need to duplicate.

I sewed the man pleat in place and then started a seam down the middle of the pleat to sew the pleat and the middle fabric onto the burp cloth.

I tried to take the needles out as I approached each one. It’s not good for the sewing machine to go over the needles, nor was it good for the tension.

Finished product is pretty; and I like it much better without the adhesive behind it. It’s much softer.

I then got another idea to switch up the orientation of the fabric. It doesn’t necessarily have to follow the strip of the burp cloth.

It’d be real cute to put a name on it, but this is just as good.