Super MAC

 Uber and my Dad had Micah wearing one of Bella's bibs as a cape a few weeks back. So I thought I would make Micah his very own cape... since a used bib seems a slightly gross way to be a super hero. 

I had pinned a super hero cape at some point that used t-shirts (I don't have time to find it and link to it at the moment) I didn't check the link out other then seeing it- so I am not really sure if there was a tutorial or not. I just made my own up and it was simple enough. I decided to go reversible. 

 Which actually made it super simple because you have no seems to hide. 

The M and MAC I just printed up in publisher and then used steamaseam to hold it in place while I zigzagged it on. 

Super simple, quick and hopefully will one day be fun for him. At the moment wearing it seems to be close to torturous... not sure what the deal is... I think he may be feeling more villain then hero- ha!

The Greenpoint Cardigan

The Greenpoint Cardigan - Do you ever have one of those moments when you are looking for a particular something, and then that exact thing practically falls in your lap? This happened to me three weeks ago when Adrianna, one half of the Crafterhours dynamic duo, released her first pattern. Oh. My. Goodness. It is cute. It is adaptable. It is unisex. It is downloadable. You can find it on her new shop website, "Hey June Handmade". I knew exactly what fabric I wanted to use for my first attempt. I've had a Michael Miller clown stripe in brown sitting around for a couple of years. Not a single time did it speak up and say, "make me into this!", til now..... Within two days of downloading the pattern, I had the Greenpoint Cardigan made up, it is that straightforward. Three weeks later, I did the buttonholes and sewed the buttons on.... go me..... Those buttonholes almost didn't happen, my machine and I had a mild disagreement over whether it would make them for me. It actually won, but I'm not going to talk about it. 

I could go on and on about the pattern but I'll post a bunch of photos instead. 

My grandson was my inspiration and model. He was a very good sport, even if he was bribed. 

The boy kills me and I love him so.

 

Buttoned up, it has a nice slim but not tight fit. The raglan sleeve makes for easy movement and this boy moves.

 Micah really got into modeling. He even turned back and forth so we could different views.

 Ahhhh blowing kisses?!

 NOPE! Eating brownies. You can see a bit in his right hand in the photo below.

Unbuttoned the look becomes cool and casual.

And then he was done!

Disclosure: Though this pattern was given to me by the designer the decision to make it, love it, write about it and make it again are entirely my own.

Micah's Tee Pee (the Pinterest Challenge Summer Edition)

I finally got my act together to participate in the Summer Pinterest Challege hosted by Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June (love them!). Since I am completely addicted to Pinterest it's awesome that someone has taken the initiative to get everyone to actually do something with their pins. 

For my project inspiration, I originally pinned a teepee featured on Happiness is Eva, who I started following after she used my garland for her daughters first birthday party. Hers was purchased from Angel at my Table which is an Australian company. I loved how beautiful and finished it looked. So after much additional perusing of available children's Tee Pee's I knew this was the one that I wanted to reproduce. 

My version--

I am thrilled with the way it turned out. I looked all over trying to see every random picture of these Tee Pee's I could find to figure out how they put them together. I finally lucked out when I found (duh!) the assembly instructions at their site. It filled in all of the details I wasn't sure about.  

It's large enough to grow with him as he gets older. (Uber and I can sit in there with him comfortably now...at the same time...) It's roughly 8 feet tall (to the top of the poles), 68" tall inside and 60" across at its largest point. 

I used a set of herringbone sheets (found at target), 5 bamboo poles, 5 dowels, 5 cord stops, clear vinyl plumbing tubing, cotton clothes line rope, velcro, scrap leather and leather cord to create my own version of the tee pee. It ended up running around $70 in supplies and took about a week of nap times to finish. 

close up details.  Seriously I think the photo below is my favorite. 

It was completely worth it to add such a fun (and I think stylish) play space to our living room for Micah. It sits in a corner that was wasted before and lucky him it has an awesome view of the TV. The adults in the house (and most who visit) may or may not spend time in there hanging out and wishing it were theirs. 

the lucky little boy!

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. I tried so hard to make a tutorial for you guys on this one but I got to the sewing part and was all DARN IT... they can figure this out for themselves!!! But if there is a lot of interest I can do a post on the set up and at least point you in the direction of how to go about it on your own. I really have to say the project turned out exceptionally well ... and believe me I tried very hard to mess it up! 

The Mini Version

As previously mentioned. I made a smaller baby size quilt for the shop. 

After focusing on special orders for so long it's nice to make something just because for the shop again... 

Art Board Tutorial

I just thought I would give you guys a brief run down/source list on how we made the Art Board in Micah's room.... just in case anyone wants to make one of their own.

I thought this project up when we were in the process of moving and had this huge 4'x8' pegboard that once hung in our garage. We either needed to store or get rid it, as we don't have a garage in our new place. Really it was just too nice of a piece to get rid of. Uber made it with molding that I can't seem to locate more of - it's basically a picture frame molding that used to be sold at building supply stores... not sure what it's called or why no one here seems to carry it any longer. 

Mom bought the Martha Stewart Organizing Magazine to get us ready for spring ... and my move... and in it her people used a peg board in a kids bathroom which made me think how awesome it would be in a kids room.    

So we started with this already built frame. 

From Ikea we picked up:

The shelf - EKBY JÄRPEN/ EKBY BJÄRNUM - in the 7 1/2" depth

Bins - RATIONELL

Rail- GRUNDTAL

Paper - MÅLA

I just played with the heights for these until I was happy with the placement. Then we centered them and used toggle bolts to hold the the shelf and rail in place. 

The Grundtal Rail has screws on the ends of the bar so when the paper needs to be replaced we can just undo those and slide on a new roll. 

The bins are all held on by small pegboard hooks- this way they can be rearranged in the future if the supplies being stored need more space. 

The sheet metal was a bit more tricky- home improvement stores didn't carry a large enough piece so luckily Mum deals with First Coast Sheet Metal (no website but you could look them up if your local. I would recommend them) through work, so she ordered a custom piece cut to the exact size I needed with rolled edges- I am sure you could just look up a company in the phone book and have the same thing done. It was relatively inexpensive - around $40 which if you price out the smaller pieces sold in Home Depot or Lowes you would be up over that price and would still have to figure out how to cut it yourself.

I'm sure they could have drilled holes for us but I am not that on my game so Uber had to do it when I got the metal home and marked the back. 

He used a nail punch to dent the metal where he would be drilling

And then slowly gauged up with the drill bits 

The tear bar is a short piece of aluminum that I found in the metal section at Lowes.

The sheet metal and tear bar were all secured with a bolt on the front and a washer and nut on the back. 

The sheet metal serves a couple of purposes- smooth drawing surface, magnet board and can also be used as a white board. 

I used my silhouette machine to make these chalkboard vinyl labels (since I had vinyl on hand from the stair numbers) but Martha Stewart sells the same thing at Staples. I used a chalk pin to write on the labels so they can be redone in the future.

 And of course don't forget to secure the board to the wall so you don't have to worry about it falling over on anyone. We have ours leaning too - the bottom is about 6 inches out from the wall. 

I can not express to you how much I LOVE this project. It's really fun and I think it will grow with him. I have all sort of fun ideas for magnets!!

And no post about the boys room is complete without a picture of the boy himself- his dad taught him how the drill works.... not really something I appreciate....he is crazy about tools

Should an 19 month old be able to lift a drill? 

Well he can and he is very proud of himself.

Micah's Room

So this is way too many pictures... but whatever I LOVE the way his big boy room turned out so you will just have to deal with it! 

It's not too different from the nursery everything that Isabella doesn't need stayed with him. But there is a whole lot of new stuff- most of it things we (or someone... ahem... grandpa) already owned  and they all made their way into his room to make one super fun kids room. We decided (Uber talked me into) not to paint anything since it's a lot of work and he would have been the one doing it, so this is the reason for the builder grade white/cream walls... I do miss color... but it's temporary and left more money for some new fun things!

I just have to say this toy shelf is looking really empty ... but that is only because if you could see the living room when these pictures were taken he had dragged everything out and strewn it all over ... so don't feel bad for him and think he needs toys!

 Yes it's a bear rug in a child's room. It's awesome and he LOVES the thing so why not!

 Dad's Zebra window is finally getting the amount of light it's always deserved. This west facing window gets crazy sunlight so the black in the Zebra gives enough shade that I leave this window open all of the time. There is so much sunlight in this house compared to the town home. 

 The mischievous boy ran through while I was taking pictures-- can you tell which ones were taken after his arrival? 

 Transitioning him to the bed turned out to be relatively stress free - of course Uber took care of it so really I don't know first hand - haha - there is usually a safety rail there I just removed it for the pictures. Also do you see all of his quilts? This boy is spoiled!

 Have you noticed the gondola? That is another Grandpa addition it's really awesome and it moves and has little passengers which thrills Micah.

 The Art Wall - this has been the project I've been waiting to complete before showing you his room. I LOOOOVVVVVEEEE IT! It turned out better then I could have imagined

 Uber and I might have more fun playing with it than Micah does.

 I'll give more details as to how we made it next week sometime.

 I'm guessing anyone who reads our blog also reads Crafterhours but just in case you don't I want you to know these awesome vinyl clothing stickers are totally Susan's idea she even sells them here. But since I have a silhouette and vinyl on hand and needed a few icons she doesn't have I tryed making some myself... though now that I look again at her pj's I think I may want to try again- much cuter! I was working off her first version as inspiration no pj's there... Or maybe she will decide to add swim trunks and shoes and I can just order them from her? She has lots of neat colors... colors are more fun then black! 

These are meant to help his dad find Micah's clothes...so far he really likes them!

Well that is it for Micah's room I will try and get posts together for the rest of the house asap. Maybe I can even get mom to show you the craziness that they have accomplished at their house- tons and tons of projects- and she hasn't shown you a single picture! Yes that's right I am tattling!