for a two year old

Today was our buddy Lincoln's second birthday. We celebrated with cupcakes and time in the sandbox and lots of play with his new little kitchen.

I wanted to make a gift that he would really enjoy -- one whose fun wouldn't wear out immediately, that would be useful in at least a couple of ways for a while. I have a cache of crafty ideas waiting for just the right recipient, and this one I found in Alicia Paulson's book Stitched in Time seemed right up Linc's alley. I hope I was right!

Using iron-on transfer sheets for the printer, I printed out some pictures from the past year: friends' faces, mama and papa, the dinosaur at the zoo, one of our chickens Lincoln took a shine to, and a few others. I ironed them onto some white twill, and with some polka-dotty quilting cotton for the backs of each card and felt to stabilize the middle, I made 14 memory cards (two of each photo). I sewed around each picture and pinked the edges to curb the fraying. 

To finish off the gift, I whipped up a little felt bag for storage, and (sloppily) embroidered the front. 

Happy birthday, Lincoln! I hope you like your present. 

crafting

The other night, the mamas I hang out with and I had a baby-free craft night. All the pops took the babes for the evening, ate some pizza and did some wrangling while we had Thai take out at the dinner table (!), drank "champagne", made necklaces and gossiped. It pretty much ruled.

Using this massively easy tutorial by the most lovely Hobo Mama, we three cranked out some new accessories that are chew-on-able, cute and cheap so as not to break out hearts when they inevitably get smeared with...something. 

For our project, we used wooden beads (a multipack from Joann) and voile from Anna Maria Horner's  Little Folks collection, the luxuriousness of which cannot be overstated. When I bought the fabric, the woman at my local shop asked what it was for and when I said we were having a mamas' crafting night, she threw in a couple extra pieces of fabric that were lying around. It pays to be a regular at Two Thimbles, you guys. 

At the end of the night, everyone seemed pleased with her finished product, we were full of Thai food and the Papas got to commiserate. George has already taken to playing with my necklace as he nurses, which is a lot better than his other, much more embarrassing nursing habit (please tell me other mamas have older babies that -- ahem -- twiddle?). Thanks for the tute, Hobo Mama!