Plan for the Playhouse

Front Panel:

Front Door:
Window:
Mail Box Template:
- Mail Box: light blue (or other color) fabric
- Flag: red fabric
- Letters for "MAIL" - color in contrast to box
- Mail box stand: brown/black fabric

Back Panel: Window with mesh & birdhouse
Owl Template

Left Side Panel:  garden
Fruit and Garden Templates









Right Side Panel: Tree with Flowers
Tree Trunk Template 
Squirrel
Flower Template

Inside:

Felt Story Boards

When I was a kid, I had a small felt story board that was just a plain green.  I then had a box of felt fairy tale characters.  There were pieces to build a castle with, as well as a king, queen, princes, and princesses.  There was a fire-breathing dragon, and other small animals.  It wasn't complicated all - the felt pieces were just outlines - no embellishments or clothing or anything fancy.  But, I spent hours with the story board. I loved making up stories about quests - and it laid the foundation for my enjoyment of the Knights of the Roundtable stories when I got older.  A recent search of felt storyboards on amazon.com turned up some really fancy storyboards.  They seem overly complex - and while I know they still leave room for imagination, I still think simpler is better.  I'm going to keep searching around the internet to see if I can find that old felt box that I had (I feel like it was made by a Scandinavian company for some reason...).  In the meantime, I'm trying to design a general board for Ben - thinking that I could then have felt categories - such as nursery rhyme characters.  But, given Ben's age, I was thinking we could start out really simple - teaching him shapes and colors.  All we need, for example, is a red square, a blue circle, and a yellow triangle (and maybe a more complex purple star or green diamond).  But first, I have to figure out how big to make my felt board...

Dinosaur World

Who doesn't love dinosaurs?  In thinking of different worlds to invent for Ben, my mom immediately thought he might enjoy one populated with Dinosaurs.  I always loved playing with those plastic dinosaur figurines.

So, it seems like we would want a prehistoric time mat (like the car mat) to use as a backdrop for play with the figurines.  I think the background may could be really simple - perhaps just a swamp water feature, a volcano/mountain, and a sky for the pteradactyls.  I also liked this felt board for examples of dinosaurs we could make for story boards if we wanted to go in that direction.

Pirates!

Lately, pirates seem to be all the rage.  In terms of imaginary play, pirates really are a treasure chest of fun.  You can find treasure maps that lead to buried treasure.  You can dress up, wave flags, have a parrot on your shoulder...so I've been thinking of a fun way to inspire Ben's interest in the Jolly Roger.  My mom and I have been imagining playmats with different themes, and I've also been thinking about felt story boards.  I haven't quite figured out which one would be the best, but I thought I'd collect some ideas here.

I love this Pirate Playhouse on etsy, but I don't think I'd want to create a house like this.  Instead, I might create a treasure map like the one here as a base - and then create felt/fabric pieces that could be attached and reattached.  Ideas for pieces include:
1. an "X" to mark the spot
2. treasure chest
3. jolly roger flag
4. pirate ships
4. parrot
5. pirates

This felt storyboard on amazon has some great examples of pirates with different costumes that could be used to populate the pirate world. 

Another possibility would be to make a big felt pirate ship as the base - and then create the other parts to attach and move around the ship...

Mail Carrier Bag and Letters

Mail Carrier Bag and Letters

Christmas Stocking!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner - well, I know there's still Halloween and Thanksgiving first, but still, I need to start thinking about it!  And, most importantly, Ben needs a Stocking.  For our first Christmas together back in 2000, Jake and I exchanged stockings that we'd made for each other - it's still crazy to me that he made me a stocking - ah, the early days of love...Growing up I had a felt stocking with an angel on it that my mom made for me (I think she made it).  I loved that stocking, and the image of the angel stayed with me, creating a love in me for little angel ornaments and other cute felt creatures that reminded me of the stocking.  I'd like to create something easy and fun for Ben that he can use for years and will give him wonderful memories of waking up on Christmas morning, running downstairs, and seeing his stocking full of candy, fruit, and trinkets. 

I Spy Bottle

I Spy Bottles - I think these home-made bottles are so cute and fun!  I experimented over the weekend making one for Ben.  I used rice and black/orange Halloween sprinkles.  I put in plastic spiders and some little plastic pumpkins I had lying around from past years.  Right now Ben is too young to truly enjoy the fun of discovering all the treasures inside the bottle, but he does like the sound the rice makes when he rattles it around.  I'm going to start collecting little things to make more holiday I Spy bottles and get more creative with coloring the rice and using beans and other filler that will be pleasing to both the eyes and ears.  When he's a little older and more sophisticated, I think it would be fun to take photos of the objects in the bottles so he can then be on the look-out for the objects he's supposed to be spying.  Happy Hunting :)

Eco-friendly Nursing Pad

I stumbled on this free tutorial and thought about the nursing pads that Anne purchased while nursing Ben. I wondered if, in fact, this might be a sewing project should another baby arrive.

http://sosewsomething.com/2011/05/20/washable-eco-friendly-nursing-pads-a-free-tutorial/

Country Books

I have a lot of old travel guides lying around - many from trips that Jake and I have taken together, and some from trips that I wish we could have taken!  Used bookstores won't buy the guides because they're outdated, so I've thought about just donating them to Goodwill, but there's the same problem - do people want outdated guides?  So, the other day it dawned on me...I could break the guides up and make little books about various countries.  Down the road when Ben is ready to learn about geography, we could have little lessons on various countries - he could look at the maps and color photos, we could cook food from the country (or get take-out depending on the degree of difficulty)...he could learn about traditional clothing from each place, customs and holidays, and maybe some phrases in new languages.  I figure this project is going to take me awhile, so the first thing to do is figure out what these books are going to look like, and how I'll bind them together.

I'm going to start with the first guide I pulled from my stack:  Puerto Rico.  It will be my test country.

My next step is to search around the internet for book ideas.  I want to be able to include pages for him to write on - maybe questions that he can use the internet or other books to answer.  Maybe a place for him to include his own questions and thoughts about a specific country.  I could just include blank pages, or the book could have rings that open and close for the addition of new pages (like a small binder).  Do I laminate the pages?  Lots to think about here...so I better get started.

Stencils!

I like stencils, but have never really worked much with them...I was thinking I'd like to put some on Ben's clothes...or decorate cloth that he could play with...I'll have to think of something, but in the meantime, I've been looking at this site:  Free Stencils - here are a couple of my favorites:

Car Mat

My mom and I have been designing a car mat for Ben.  I want roads (of course), as well as a water area for his animals and green spaces for houses and trees.  My mom found a number of examples on-line, but this one was truly outstanding.  It's modeled after the town of Santa Barbara - I particularly love the Old Mission-style Courthouse (I've been there in person and it's beautiful).  My mom likes the parking spaces for the matchbox cars in front of the buildings.  The detail is amazing...some people are truly creative - and I have no problem piggy-backing on those efforts.  Here are more pictures of the mat up-close: Car Mat.  I'm looking forward to designing a similar one for Ben and playing with him and his cars for hours.

Playhouse

Like most kids, when I was young, I enjoyed playingunder tables and building forts.  I always wished I had a playhouse out back, a treehouse, or some other special place that I could make my own away from the adults.  I think Ben would also enjoy such a place.  My mom and I found this amazing example of a felt playhouse: Felt Playhouse.  I love the detail.  We were thinking we could drape it over a card table - and then also make the top something that Ben could play with when he wasn't inside the house (under the table).  We'll have to check out the measurements and see what works - but in addition to the creative ideas on this house, I think we could make some pretty cool walls and decorations on each side of the "building."  I'm looking forward to designing this one - and watching my mom implement it!!  Perhaps I could even take on a small sewing project of my own to help out - making the flowers could be fun.

Weekly Recipe Organizer

I'm trying to think of a good way to organize my meal plans for the week.  I like looking ahead for the week and knowing what I'll be eating.  Plus, it also helps me get organized for grocery shopping trips over the weekend.  We have hooks on the side of our refrigerator.  I intended them to be used to hang aprons (and I hung my apron there this morning).  But, this recipe organizer looks like it could be hung from the other hook: Hanging Weekly Recipe Organizer

Sewing Project: Montessori Placemats

Right now Ben sits in his highchair at the table for most meals.  He seems to understand that it is a place for eating and generally does pretty well.  I know it'll be awhile before he's at a booster seat and actually AT the table with a placemat, but when that time comes, I think he'll be ready to help learn how to set the table - and I think placemats like these would come in handy - teach him where the plates and forks and cups go, and give him a sense of responsibility at mealtime. 

Homemade Baby Food

With a food mill and a food processor, making baby food at home has been really fun.  Frankly, it's also been a good way to get rid of some of those vegetables in my refrigerator that I can't eat on my own or figure out a good meal to make with.  But, I do need some inspiration - or a reminder of what new foods I should be introducing to Ben.  So, I wanted to keep track of a few websites.

Wholesome Baby Food
Homemade Baby Food Recipes

Vintage Bibs

I found a pattern for "vintage bib" on the allfreesewing.com site ..... it looks easy...famous last words.

Update (8/25/11):  The bibs have been sewn!  Photos coming soon - both with vintage ties and velcro closures.  My mom did an amazing job.  They are super-absorbent and Ben loves them!

Fabric For Sale

Just purchased some fabric scraps from a site called "Clothilde.com." Most of the packages contain 5" squares for quilting...but I found on that is 10". I hope it will work for either the letters or the blocks. And, I hope I like the patterns......

Vegan Treats

I went to the library to get a book on hold - Shimura Trouble; a Rei Shimura mystery that takes place in Hawaii (best of both worlds). While there, I scanned the new book shelf and found two books with promising vegan recipes: Veggie Burgers Every Which Way by Lukas Volger and Vegan Bake Sale by Carla Kelly. Don't know where to start reading!

Bibs out of Towels

Ben has been going through bibs like crazy lately.  Rather than spend a lot of money buying more bibs, I was thinking perhaps we could make bibs out of old towels.  I found this how-to: Bibs out of Towels - which is making me want to go out and search for really cool vintage towels - which would cost money and kind of defeat the purpose of getting bibs at a low price!  But, definitely an idea...on the look-out for used and cheap towels!!

Journals and Sewing

I've always wanted to start a journal ... so many beginnings and very few middles ... no ends. I hope this blog will keep me on track to ends. I've determined that the one thing I love doing is sewing. I've never had enough time and patience to become really good at it. But, I still love it....most of the time. At present I am working on the Amish Ball for Ben. It's a lot harder than it looked online. I think it's one of those "practice makes perfect" things. I hope Ben is happy with imperfection!

The Vegan Challenge

Jake and I talk about changing our eating habits all the time.  We need to lose weight, we need to just be more healthy - but at the end of the day, we've never made the time to learn about better nutrition or to cook healthy meals.  Then a good friend of ours found out that his brother has a very rare form of cancer. Because treatments were unclear, one thing he decided he could do was change his diet - he did tons of research and determined that a plant-based diet made the most sense.  I'm sure he also made a lot of other adjustments - and his wife, brother and his wife, and parents followed suit to lend their support.  After just 3-4 months, they all experienced incredible health benefits.  The major changes seemed to be the elimination of all aminal products (including meat and dairy), as well as the elimination or refined sugar.  They also pay close attention to the oils they use in their cooking, avoid processed food, and do many many other things.  They've all lost weight.  But, my friend's father was able to stop taking medication for high blood pressure that he'd been on for years...after hearing these very personal experiences first hand from a close friend - Jake and I decided it really was time to make our change.  And so I started reading more books about becoming vegan.  As a life-long lover of meat, and a foe of vegetables, this is a huge deal for me.  I've been borrowing cookbooks from the library, and we decided on two meatless days and one vegan day per month.  I signed up for a bi-weekly Farm Fresh to You produce box to help me explore new vegetables and inspire me to cook more.  Luckily, my mom has been around a lot - and given me the time, freedom, and inspiration to keep at it.  Chopping up all those veggies can be time consuming.  In the past 2 months, we've definitely cut down on our meat intake significantly, and increased our vegetable consumption.  I'm not attempting to cut out refined sugar yet...but the area I'm having trouble with is dairy.  The cheese and eggs are killing me.  I've found some non-dairy substitutes that work fine (butter, for example) and others that just aren't the same (cream cheese).  I may need to go cold turkey to just love my taste for it. Other than just general better health, I'm hoping that cutting out the dairy will improve the fertility challenges I've faced because of autoimmune irregularities.  I'm also hoping it'll help my mom with her arthritis, and both of us with high blood pressure.  But, we have to stick to it, of course. 

And that's where the 30-day challenge comes in.  I turn 35 on August 16.  I thought this would be a symbolically good day to start the challenge (well, maybe the 17th, so I can have my final indulgences - though I don't want to see the process of depriving myself or giving anything up - I want to view it as a positive improvement).  I've ordered this book, which I hope will be full of inspiration...and I hope to keep track of the really good recipes I find on this blog, as well as my thoughts on how this very big dietary change is affecting me, both emotionally and physically.  I'm a little scared!

Monthly Calendar

It's hard enough to keep track of my own schedule, but since Ben's birth, I've also had to keep track of my husband's big events, our joint events, Ben's appointments, and my mom's travel schedule. I was using just a regular month-to-month wall calendar, but I didn't have anywhere to put it. So, I kept losing it. And, then one day I left it on the living room coffee table, and Jake spilled water on it - and when it dried, all the pages stuck together. So, I had to throw it out. And come up with a new solution...I think making a calendar that I can put up on the refrigerator makes sense. That way everyone will actually look at it every morning - and we can all use it, instead of just me making notes on a calendar and having to remind everyone all the time of the dates. One of my favorite paper companies - Paper Source (http://www.paper-source.com/) has absolutely beautiful calendars. But, the truth is, I don't need to spend the money right now for that. So, instead, I think I can just print out a calendar...luckily there appear to be many free calendar sites on the web. I don't need anything too fancy, so it looks like this one will do the trick: http://www.myfreecalendarmaker.com/generateCalendar.do?type=2&date=09%2F03%2F201 - I just need to take the time to generate a calendar for each month. I'm inclined to do the rest of 2011 all at once, but the truth is I'd probably put August up on the fridge and then lose the rest...so perhaps I'll just do it month by month...

Getting Started

 I feel like I always have grand ideas about a scrapbook I'm going to put together or a new baking recipe I want to try.  I'm also constantly coming across websites with great ideas for books to read, places to go, or little art projects.  While I jot down notes and keep idea books around, I feel like I often forget where I've seen things or lack the ability to organize all the ideas.  So, I thought a blog might help - a place just for me to keep track of everything I want to do in life.  And then I had a baby.  And at the same time, we remodeled our house and added a little library/craft space with all my books.  And then my mom came to stay with us to help out for a long time, and she brought her sewing projects and amazing ideas for toys and clothing for my son.  Our list of projects began to grow.  Then I thought she also needed a space to keep track of everything she thought about, instead of just short emails back and forth to each other. 

In college, I read Virginia Woolf's book/essay, "A Room of One's Own" - her famous line "A woman needs money and a room of her own" has always stuck with me as a testament to the need for personal space - a place to retreat to and, of course, to be independent.  The little library has become such a place for me and my mom.  And now, I hope this blog will be our virtual space, to help us organize all the projects we will do, together and on our own, in our physical world.