So I did it....

I went out and bought the fruit pattern- the pineapple just looked too fabulous and I really wanted to work on the apple this weekend. I'm very excited. Check out buggabugs store- if you check out her website, you will be able to get a free pattern! Check out the details here. The patterns are very straight-forward and I love it!

Maybe it's not another craft phase?

So I tried out Ms. Felt Cuisine's pattern for strawberries and was surprised at how easy it was. I spent the most time trying to keep track of my thread that kept going missing. (I was sitting on the couch "watching" tv.) I ended up making 4! I can't wait to give them to Babybear. I attempted to take photos, but I couldn't get the lighting correct. I did make one alteration. Ms. Felt Cuisine used tan thread for the seeds, I went with the traditional black.

But now that I know that this isn't going to be a craft phase, I think I'm going to go ahead and contact various online companies about getting the wool felt so I can be all ready. I'm not sure I can wait for this book. I want to order this pattern by buggabugs on etsy, but don't want to if it's already in my book...... dilemmas. Maybe I'll just get one of them?

On a second note, I wanted to share a review about a new product. This company, flipclips, transfers your video clips into a flip book. It's ingenious. When you sign up, they give you a promo code that is equal to the price of a small flip book. I was a little skeptical b/c I wasn't sure how great the quality of the book would be because most of my digital clips were from my 5.0 mp camera.

They were well organized and I liked that they used USPS. I also received the book much faster than what they had originally estimated, which is always a pleasant surprise.

But the best part was that I was very impressed with the quality of the book. I chose a video of Babybear giving me his first flower on a playdate that I got to go to at the local apple orchard. It was the first time Babybear had ever given me a "flower" AKA dandelion and I was fortunate enough to have been recording it when he did it.

My sister got married last fall and there are some video clips that I plan to be converting into flip books for stocking stuffers this Christmas.

And so I wait....

Freak of Nature got me checking out "felt foods" online and it made me think that this was something I could do.

So after some research, I placed my order for a Japanese Felt book- free shipping is always a plus, but since it's direct from Japan, it will be about 2 weeks until my new project arrives. It's all in Japanese, but it shouldn't be a problem based on reviews from other crafters.

Meanwhile, I found a felt food producer who also offers the following tutorial.

I am amazed at all the talented people out on the web, such as Miss Jill, and the kind ones who post tutorials and share their ideas.

I'm hoping to make a strawberry sometime this week.....

"Making" cookies

To celebrate the Fourth and more importantly a lazy "no-work" day together, Babybear and I "made" cookies together. I had to laugh when Babybear woke up from his afternoon nap and I told him we were "making cookies".

When I was growing up, my mother's version of making cookies consisted of the real thing- peanut butter or chocolate chips, flour, sugar, and whole company of goodies. My mother whose second language is English worked full-time as a registered nurse, raised four children, and still had time to make any type of cookies we desired- peanut butter, sugar, banana, chocolate chip....

I respect the "Martha Stewart" in my mom and am proud to say that she passed that "gift" onto me. But while I can bake and cook, it may be a gift that has been for naught because my version of chocolate cookies were... well courtesy of Tollhouse. Babybear was able to break off 24 equally cut portions of chocolate cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and 16 minutes later was able to watch them cool and decorate with his "shakey-shakey's"

See last week, Babybear had found the sprinkles and walked around as I got ready for work, saying, " Coo-coo". Finally, I figured out that "coo-coo's" were cookies when he said, "Momma, no-go work. Stay here me! Shakey-shakey coo-coo's" Heartbreaking.

So, in the end, I swallowed my mommy-guilt about not making the cookies from "scratch", about not being able to stay home with Babybear everyday and all day, and for giving him Target brand red-dye sprinkles. Babybear could hardly contain his excitement when those cookies were laid out, waiting to be decorated. He actually stuffed them into his mouth faster than I could frost.... Babybear gleefully busted out all his red-dye "shakey-shakey's" onto the table, the floor, and eventually some of them got on the cookies.

My version still got us to where we needed to be- with frosting on our fingers and faces; there was lots of laughter as he dipped his fingers in the container of frosting and across his face and his shorts. We finished about one dozen frosted cookies later, but what about the rest? Well, the evidence is still somewhere on Babybear's face.

Kudos

Kudos to a dear friend of mine- who I appreciate for being a freak- she does the research and I enjoy the fruits.

After a long overdue visit to Freak's abode, I realized that wooden kitchens are not just for little girls. My 2 and 1/2 year old son, Babybear, loved loved loved her daughter's kitchen. I guess I had always figured that little boys wouldn't care for kitchens. I was wrong. Freak of Nature also recommended wooden play food because Babybear still puts things in his mouth.

Thanks to her diligent research, I can now wake up to wooden cheese sandwiches crafted by Baby bear (Wake, Momma. Wake! I go kitchey.....) We purchased the toys at a local toy store- trying to support local shop owners and am waiting for the fruit kit to come in.....

*Note- the links are not to the local store we went to, but they seem to have a lot of great products. Their construction cutlery was recently featured in Parents magazine.