I’ve been tackling some larger projects, so I haven’t posted in awhile. One of them is this zoo blanket. Jack and Tess love to get out all of their animals and arrange them on the floor to “make a zoo”. I thought it would be fun to design a blanket or play mat that had...Continue Reading

My nephew Leo just turned 3 on Sunday. He loves music, so I made him this trumpet, which gave me a great excuse to use some of my “new” vintage buttons. As usual I just made this up as I went, and the whole thing was a big experiment. I think it turned out well...Continue Reading

My wife’s grandma just gave me her Tiffany Cigar box full of buttons during our visit last weekend. She said she was never going to use them, so I gratefully accepted the gift. The kids already love playing with them just in the box. Then I drew up some animals and pictures that they could...Continue Reading

My wife’s Birthday is coming up, and I just finished making her a wool felt embroidered brooch. I got this great idea from Tiny Happy, a really cool craft blog. I pretty much copied her design, which wasn’t too creative of me, but I really thought my wife would love it. Also, I’m really new...Continue Reading

Here’s a sewing experiment I just did, using up a lot of scraps and some felt. I learned a lot as I went, so the next one should be better and easier. But it’s still a fun little friend.Continue Reading

I’ve seen little books like this all around, but now that I have a sewing machine I finally got to make some. I made the covers from thick art magazine covers, and then used a paper cutter to cut the pages. Then just fold the papers in half, and sew a line down the middle....Continue Reading

I’ve just made my first article of clothing with the sewing machine! A skirt for my daughter. I found this cool (and easy) skirt pattern on the bolt fabric blog. I even ended up with a pretty straight top seam! How’s that for some sewing lingo.Continue Reading

I just made some more stuffed animals for the kids. Simple natural canvas fabric, and the I drew on them with some non-toxic fabric pens. They’re really liking them so far!Continue Reading

Yesterday my son and I had fun cutting out some scrap paper and turning them into little animals. It was really a fun way to use old paper. We kept making more and more animals until we had a full zoo. Here are a few of them.Continue Reading

I’ve been wanting to make some wire animal sculptures for awhile, and finally got around to it. I thought it would be fun to make the heads out of wood and paint them. They’re definitely Alexander Calder and Joan Miró inspired. Also below is a quick video of me making one, if you want to...Continue Reading

Here’s a little climbing toy I made. I used to have one when I was a kid and loved playing with it. I just hung it in the art room. We’ll have to see if the kids can make it climb when they get up from naps.Continue Reading

This is a post of some of my older toys that I thought would be fun to put on the blog. Elephant Puzzle Wood Dolls An embroidered pillow doll I made for Tess Little wood toys for kid’s Easter eggsContinue Reading

My mom just got her old Pfaff sewing machine all tuned up so I could have it. It’s going to be fun making stuff for the kids. I made the lion this morning, and also an outfit for one of my wooden dolls from a holey Paul Smith sock that I never had the heart...Continue Reading