Painting with Paige

It's Wednesday afternoon. Dance has been cancelled due to a power outage, Paige is asleep and Kingston Parish's Brunswick Stew is thawing for dinner. I have been given extra hours tonight and I know exactly how I want to spend them... with my mug of hot chocolate and laptop. It is amazing how long it has been since I read or wrote a blog. Its also been quite awhile since I created any artwork.

I have created art with Paige, though, which is better by far. Messier.... but better. On a cold day in  February P and I were out of activities. We had read every book multiple times, made the sound of every stuffed animal in her basket and chased the dogs around and around the house. Not sure what to do next, I stripped her down to her diaper, covered the floor with old towels and dropped a squirt of red tempera paint on the paper in front of her. She delicately dipped her pointer finger into the blob of paint and slid it acros the paper creating a red streak. She looked at me, surely surprised to not hear me tell her no. The second time she tapped the paint a couple times before spreading it. And the the third time, she leaned forward and put her entire hand into the paint, spreading it and moving it, squealing as she did. As she worked I continued to hand her papers with more paint blobs. She painted a total of five, and then finished by painting her diaper, legs and stomach. Once she decided it was time to get up and start walking I decided it was bath time.

After her artwork dried I made them into Valentines for her father, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I'm sure this is only the start of more handmade Valentine's Cards to come!

DIY Onesies, AKA, My Feelings Toward Pinterest

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. My crafty artsy side loves pouring over the DIY projects thinking, I could easily do that... or, I could totally do that differently. The logical side realizes that I have way more craft ideas than time. I look at Pinterest images, ponder how I could use them and then add them to my to-do list. Yes, that's correct. I add crafty, for-fun items to a list of items that continues to grow and stress me out. When I have a few nap time minutes to tackle a to-do list item I find myself analyzing over which is more important... load of laundry, lesson plans, thank you notes, create cute storage boxes for magazines (that I don't have time to read) using cereal boxes, wash the dog. Clearly storage boxes are what I decide to tackle. So I find myself eating bowl after bowl of cereal so that I can make them into trendy little boxes. Luckily, the mass consumption of cereal has lead to the load of laundry being unnecessary since I now can't fit into the dirty clothes and must buy pants to fit my cereal increased waistline.

It happens time after time. For example, I'm newly home from the hospital with my newborn baby and she's sleeping. By all standards I should be sleeping too.... or, I could check Pinterest. And that's where I see them: freaking adorable monthly onesies for your baby to wear so that you can photograph her growth. And I'm hooked, I HAVE to make them. I start my sketches and send Brent to Babies R Us the next time he makes his trek across the bridge. After receiving the onesies I get to work. Ignoring the laundry pile, uncooked meals, crying baby, ok, just kidding. But you get the idea. Life stopped, and I blame Pinterest. As it turns out, they were very easy to make, so I thought, I should post a DIY!

Therefore continuing the cycle! I saw them on Pinterest, and voila, not only do I feel the need to create monthly onesies I add in complete DIY instructions so that I, too, can post on Pinterest and have some other pinner avoid their to-do list by creating. It is a vicious cycle.

These onesies are super easy and fun to make. I am only making three at a time so that I can be sure the size is correct. (Who wants to see a 9 month sized baby in a 3 month onesie?)

You need the following materials:
- Plain, pre-washed onesies
- Various fabrics, look at colors and patterns that work well together
- Wonder Under Fusible Web
- Scissors
- Puffy Paint

I started with a simple design that could easily be changed each month with just a number substitution. Feel free to one-up and make your's harder, whatever floats your boat. From there I picked 3 fabrics that could be used for each month. Again, I like a simplistic color scheme, you feel free to do as you see fit. I placed my drawings on the fabric before cutting so that I had enough material. (Knowledge learned as a middle school art teacher.)

The next step was to apply fusible web. I could give you directions for how to do this, but since it's on the package that seems silly. I always use Wonder Under on any of my projects. I think it is the best. (So maybe they should send me some free samples for promoting their product.) After the material was cool I began the process of tracing my design and cutting it out. At this point I think I'm suppose to insert helpful tips, such as turn the design over before tracing and use sharp scissors. The next step is to arrange the design and iron it to the onesie. I like to arrange the entire design, then take everything off leaving only the very bottom piece and iron that and let it cool. I repeat the process again, assembling the whole design, removing all but the one next to the bottom and iron. Tedious, yes. But that way I can continue to make sure it all fits and make changes as necessary. Rush through it if you prefer half-assed craftsmanship. It's up to you. This could be your last step, the webbing will hold for the 10 photographs you are going to take of your precious baby. Or, clean the edges using puffy paint. I think the paint makes it all stand out better. Let it dry (please! No one wants a puffy paint smeared baby) and you're done!

While I have your attention.... how cute is she?!