DIY Chalk Play Table

Surprised little caterpillar with this fun little blue table the other day, she was so excited. Last Xmas, I made her a little black board, and she played with it all the time, actually she really enjoyed making a mess and wiping it clean. I still have most of the chalk paint, have been looking for ways to use it. Then I remembered this little blue table I found on the side of the road. It's just a simple, cheap blue table, with metal legs and platic top. Nothing really wrong about it, just looked sad. Forgot to take a before picture, but you get what it looked like from this underside.

 I just spray painted the legs and the edge of the top, primed the top two coats, then painted it with the chalk paint three coats. This is how it looked when I was done with it.

Now bring out the chalks and have some fun with it. Drew some roads on it,

put some little cars along the road, (Can you tell that mommy loves wooden toys?)

How cute is this?

Look, it matches all the other blue funiture in the living/play room. In case you didn't see it, the inside of the toy shelves is blue too.

Oh, not just cars and roads, we have an airport in the center too.

Then wipe off the roads, drew some lines, it just became a little writing table. Now little caterpillar can practice her ABCs without wasting any paper.

Hmm, what wlse can we do with it? Whatever we can do with regular blackboard and play table. Now what else can I paint with this chalk paint?

Tutorial - How to Make A Family Tree Art With Photos

Finally finished the Father's Day gift for Stubborn. We just recently had our second child, then Stubborn's dad passed away two days before Father's Day. We all thought he is finally free. He had a very bad stroke 5 years ago, and has been in coma ever since. Last year, we went back to visit him with little Caterpillar, we all thought he could hear us. Maybe he was not satisfied with a granddaughter, so secretly wished for a grandson. Anyway, we got preganant right after we came back, and had little JJ. Stubborn took JJ's picture back to him last month, and we Skyped a lot. Guess he was finally satisfied, with a grandson who can carry the family name, he just gave up. He passed away just 2 weeks after Stubborn came back. Anyway, this gave me a great idea for Father's Day gift. I made a family tree art for Stubborn's office, with photos of family members and names. He didn't say much, but I know he loves it.

Here is how I did it. I looked around the web to find a tree shape that I liked, and drew it on the back of a piece of scrapebook paper. I liked the gray and yellow color theme of the inspiration picture, so I sticked with it. Forgot to take a picture before cutting the tree out, but you get the idea.

Cut out the tree and all the leaves with scissors or knife. You don't have to be exact with leaves, you are going to use the other side, so the pencil marks won't show. But with your tree, you should drew the branches thicker than they will be and cut inside the lines. And don't worry too much if you accidently break a branch, you are going to glue everything on a background paper, so it won't show. This is what left after cutting out the branches, I am going to use this for a scrapbook page, so it won't go to waste at all.

Glue the tree to the background paper of your choice, then place the leaves where you like.

Pick out portraits of family members and print them out. What I did was  copy paste the headshots into one picture, print and cut them out. I printed 12 (3 by 4) pictures on a 4 by 6 picture, you can size them base on the size of your finished art and how many family members you want to include.

Glue the headshots on another piece of scrapbook paper, cut them out, leaving some space of the bottom for names.

Glue the pictures to the tree. I put greatgrandpa, grandpa, daddy and JJ on the main trunk of the tree following that order, so that's the main stream of the family who carrys the family name from generation to generation. In our culture, only male family members got included in the family tree, but I wanted to include all the people Stubborn loves. So I included his great aunt, his aunt, and his mother's side of the family (on a side branch). Of course I have to include our little Caterpiller, she probably is the person he loves the most in this world.

Finally put everything together.

I just love to make these special gifts for my family. I framed antique lock pieces from Stubborn's grandma's wedding luggage, and made a photo collage of daddy daugher moments in the past. I refinished a table set for little Caterpillar's 2nd birthday, and have some great ideas for this year. Even though I don't say it out loud all the time, I do love this man and our little family.

Scrap Sewing Projects II

Isn't this baby cute? A whole dress costed me about $4! I went to Joann the other day looking for some velco tapes. Seeing their remnant shelves were so full, I just could not pass it by. I said here before that I would not buy new fabric until I use up most of my stash. But these two just were too cute. Look at them, it's like someone put them there on purpose. Sorry I forgot to take the before pic, the shirred fabric was already cut.

Look at these tiny owls! Aren't they the cutest thing ever? They are only about the size of a pea.

I knew there was only 1/4 yard of that green shirred fabric, but it was way smaller than I imagined. Lucky it's wide enough, and little caterpillar is still young. So, I cut it in half, it's the perfect height then. One side of the ruffle is longer than the other side, so I cut off the extra, and hem it again, so the two pieces became identical.

Here is the cut pieces. I was so lucky, had enough fabric for the dress, and barely enough for a hat brim. Look at the next picture, that's all it was left. Maybe enough to cover some buttons.  

 

Again, here is the finished dress. The way I designed it, it can be wore 3 different ways. I made it quite big, it was meant for next year. Little caterpillar already has more than 20 dresses this year.

When she is younger, the straps will be long enough to tie up right in front.

She can also tie a couple of knots in each strap and let the tips hanging freely. The knots will hold the straps in place, and can be tied at any length, so this dress is very versatile.

Since the front and back are exact same, she can also wear it as a Halter dress, tie the straps in the back. But that will be a couple of years from now. She pulls her other halter dress down to waist now. Not very safe.

What's the verdict? "It's very cute. I LOVE IT!" "It's too big mommy!" Oh, honey, I know. I love it too. I really paid attention to the details this time, as this is the first dress I made for her from scretch. I serged all raw edges, really put my new serger to good use this time.

I double stitched most of places.

I even added a little piece of ribbon to the side. Little caterpillar was very excited to find a hello kitty there. Stubborn even said it looks like store bought. Yay! Approval from both of them!

What's next? I am working on a reversable bucket hat with the tiny left over pieces, so little caterpillar can wear this dress with a matching hat. Will show you the hat when it's done. Just need to go to Joann again for some interfacing. Who knows, I might find more cute fabric.

Scrap Sewing Projets I

What to do when you have an extra sleeping bag or comforter, but no place to store it? Make a pillow out of it and put it in plain sight.

Stubborn just came back from China, and a family friend gave little JJ a sleeping bag. It's those very thick one meant for winter, but now is almost summer.

I could just put it into a box in the attic, but I was digging for some fabric scraps for another project, and found this already finished pillow cover. I made it for little JJ's crib, it was made from a piece of very small scrap. I didn't have time to make the pillow filling for it. Then it hit me. WHY DON'T I PUT THE SLEEPING BAG IN THIS?

Hey, it fits! Looks like I made this pillow cover just for it, isn't it? I got lucky there. 

And it fits in the Nautical theme perfectly! Do you see the lighthouse art on the wall, and the homemade boats mobile? There are more nautical decoration coming. This boyish sleeping corner in our pink master bedroom is almost complete. 

Cute Fish Purse

The day I saw this amazing fish purse, I knew I will make it one day. When Chinese New Year approaching, I needed to make a gift for a friend's granddaughter. She was adopted in China when she was a baby, now she is the love of the family and very healthy happy young lady (7yr old). I thought a cute fish purse is the perfect gift. Fish in Chinese culture is a wonderful symbol, especially around new year time, it represents abundant wealth and fortune and bless the family. What do you think of my version?
I just got a phone call from my friend the other day, and said her grand daughter loves the purse so much, asked whether she could bring it to school the next day! That totally made my day! What a wonderful way to use some of the small scraps! I didn't show it to little Caterpillar and Stubborn, knowing they would love it too much and won't let me mail it out. Now I know how it goes, I will make a smaller, yet even cuter one for my girl. Probably use some of my nice Chinese fabric.

I said before that I am in full nesting mood now. A couple of weeks ago, I brought out little Caterpillar's carseat, and decided to make a boyish cover for it. It was all pink and brown, very girly. So I got some sample fabric pieces from my stash, and made this simple cover. Finally I finished the edge with bias tape, and sewed the openings for the harnesses. Doesn't it look cute for a baby boy?

Living Room Update

Even though I am supposed to be on bedrest, I still cannot control my nesting urge sometimes. Months ago, I bought enough materials for two toy shelfs for the living room, but only had energy to build one. But now I cannot stand the toy mess in the living room any more, I had to finish the second one. Since I cannot lift heavy stuffs, I just painted the boards in the basement, then brought them upstairs one by one, and finish building it right in the living room. Here is the before picture of the west wall of the living room. What a mess! When did I get all these toys for just one girl!
We don't have a family room or a separate room to set up as little caterpillar's playroom, so I have to make this small living room a multi-functional room. Here is the after picture, kind of. Well, it's not all done yet, but it does look more organized. Now everything has its own spot. The shelf on the left is the new one. Look closely, you can see it's not done yet. I need to trim the sides a little bit to make it even with the first shelf, paint the raw edges, and polyurethane it. Look at the height difference here, it doesn't bother Stubborn or little caterpillar, but it really bugs me! But I am exhausted, and it doesn't worth risking having my baby premature. So, it just have to stay this way until this baby is out.
Here is what the left side looks like now. I made that alphabet art a couple of nights ago. I found it online, and printed out the individual letters, cut them out, and taped them to a piece of white board. So easy! Cannot remmeber where I found it online though, it was months ago. Whoever created this art originally, THANK YOU! My girl loves it! The blue floral bins on the upper right shelf are so easy to make also. They were just these boxes from BJ's. I built these toy shelves 18" deep to accommodate her music table and some other big toys, and these free boxes are the perfect size. Some self-adhesive shelf lining paper and several minutes later, this is how it looks like! Much better! And each of these bins costs me about 50 cents! I just need to make some pretty labels for them. They each hold a different type of toys, like building blocks, musical toys, pulling toys, teaparty toys, etc.
This is the right shelf. As you can see, her favorite toys are on top of the shelf, so she can play with them anytime she likes, without digging or pulling them out of big boxes. And notice I removed the horse painting, and tied a piece of yarn to display her arts. Aren't they cute? Little caterpillar is very happy to see her masterpieces proudly displayed on the wall!

Before I show you the other side of the living room, I have to show you some of her toys! I just love wooden toys! Almost all those plastic toys came from friends! Look at these, my girl is more into cars, airplanes and dinosaurs than dolls!
She loves that cashier machine, and sings to that microphone all the time. And everytime she sees someone playing piano on the TV, she starts playing along on her little piano. So cute! We might need to get her a real piano in a couple of years.
These globes are my favorites. I can show her where grandparents and other relatives live. The big and midium ones are from thrift store, the tiny glass one was a party favor from a wedding.

OK, now the east side of the living room. This is how that tiny corner looked like during the holidays. I wanted to set up a painting table there, so I took down the xmas tree 2 days after. Moved the animal alphabet art up a little bit, so I could hang the little DIY blackboard and some buckets right under it. Now she can do coloring, finger printing, and draw with chalks on the blackboard, right at one table! The activity bag hanging on the wall holds her coloring books. All I need is a walllamp above it. It's kind of dark. I love this ikea lamp very much, but not enough to drive 1hr to get it. I will get it next time we go there for more stuffs.

There you have it, my living room is taken over by my girl! And I am happy about it and supporting it. This is the exact situation I said I won't allow before I had her. But you know what, my love to my baby totally won! I don't mind toys in the living room any more, just need to have them under control!