Tooth Fairy Pillow

Way back in November I mentioned that we had our first loose tooth in the house and that I had made a tooth fairy pillow. Since then my five year old has lost two teeth, and I'm so glad I got the little pillow made in time. I shared a roundup of tooth fairy pillow ideas a while back, but I went out on my own for this one...

The tooth is handstamped using a stamp that I carved myself. I love him! This was my third attempt at carving my own stamp for a project and the first time that I really had success with it.

The back has a little pocket for the tooth...

I should have embroidered the word "tooth" on the pocket, but it was an afterthought, so it's written on the pocket with a fabric pen.

I used some ribbon for the hanger. We hang it on a dresser knob by my daughter's bed, but it could be hung on a headboard or doorknob.

My daughter loves having somewhere special to put her tooth when it falls out. And I love that I finally carved a stamp that works!

Enjoy your week!

Pint-Size 241 Tote

My youngest turned three a few weeks ago, and she requested a couple of handmade items for her birthday. Last week I shared the bubble dress that I made for her. Today I'm going to share the other gift she asked for... a bag "like mom's." I started thinking about which bag would work best for her to carry her "treasures" − a stuffed bear, a set of plastic keys, and an old cell phone − around in. I decided to go with Anna's 241 tote pattern. I've made two of these in the past (which you can find here and here), and it's just a fun bag to make. I started thinking about how much I wanted to shrink the pattern. I almost went with 50%, but then I figured that someone must have tried this already, and I was right! A quick internet search brought me to LRstitched, where Lindsey had sewn a mini 241 bag for her daughter about a year ago. She had shrunk the pattern to 75%, so I decided to go the same route. It's the perfect size for a three year old...

Love it! My daughter picked out the fabrics herself (Well, by "herself" I mean that she picked out the ladybugs and polka dots, then I gently guided her to the pink solid. Otherwise, we would have had some purple panda bears in there :)

Fabric:

• Spring Ladybugs from Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle
• Scattered Dots in Summer from Remix by Ann Kelle
• Kona Cotton in Bright Pink

I will say that it gets a little tight sewing the topstitching around the side panels when you shrink the pattern to 75%. I had to pick the stitches out twice, then I almost said to heck with the topstitching before I gave it one last try. It's difficult, but it can be done.

And no bag would be complete without a matching zipper pouch...

And she was very happy to find three dollar bills and a little mirror compact inside :)

Next post, time to share that tooth fairy pillow I mentioned way back in December...

Valentine-y Jello Cookies

Last year I posted my St. Patrick's Day Jello cookie recipe. This year we used the same recipe to make pink cookies for Valentine's Day.

Just sub in cherry flavored Jello for the lime flavored Jello. Easy peasy! Enjoy :)

StraightGrain Bubble Dress

I don't even know where to start. I haven't posted anything in over two months! Not that I haven't been busy making things... I have, and I hope to show you over the next few weeks. We had a wonderful Christmas, a great start to the new year, and just got hit with 19 inches of snow and no power for 48 hours courtesy of Nemo. My oldest lost two teeth and my youngest turned three. That sums up our last couple of months in a nutshell.

Speaking of my youngest turning three... when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she told me that she wanted me to make her a dress and a bag. And she was very specific about the dress... she wanted a "bubble dress". I had shown her a picture of this particular dress back in August, and she remembered it! I couldn't believe it! This adorable bubble dress is a free pattern and tutorial (Yes, you read that right... free!) from An of StraightGrain. It is fully lined, and it went together so unbelievably easily.

After lots of fabric deliberations, she chose a pink cotton gauze covered in little bears. (It's from Kokka, and I bought it here.) The pattern is available in sizes 2, 4, 6, and 8. My daughter just moved into a 3T, but I decided to make a size 4 because the size 2 pattern looked a little small when I held it up on her. I'm so glad that I went with the 4 because it's a near perfect fit with a little room to grow.

The tutorial calls for an elastic/button closure at the back of the neck, but I ended up going with a little hook and eye clasp.

The bodice is split down the back almost all the way to the skirt. Shes been wearing the dress with a long sleeve shirt and leggings underneath.

I used my "ultimate ruffler" foot on my machine for the first time. I'm so glad I made that purchase last spring. It made this project go together so smoothly.

The secret to getting the "bubble" at the bottom of the skirt is that the exterior skirt is larger than the lining skirt. So genius. It looks so cute!

I don't love sewing garments. I'd much rather sew other things. So I had some anxiety when the dress request was put forth, but this pattern/tutorial resulted in one of the smoothest sewing projects I've ever made (read that as very few visits from the seam ripper).

So... I give this bubble dress pattern from StraightGrain very high marks. It's adorable, my daughter loves it, and it's a relatively quick and easy sew that looks like a million bucks. You can't go wrong with that.

As usual, my oldest now wants one, too, so you'll probably see another one of these around here in the near future. I mentioned that my little one also asked me to make her a bag... More on that soon :)