block o’fun

When the little boy who runs around like a wild thing was a small baby I made him some soft fabric blocks.

Cute baby, huh? Too bad he’s all grown up now.  But not really, because he’s super funny and entertaining. And is currently not napping when he should be... which is not cute. Kids.

Fast forward two years, I made one for that other baby of mine, the girl one, using the same tutorial, but, with felt and all sorts of girly trimmings, basically making it a party, a block party, if you will.

You could use any combination of fabric and trimmings of different textures and colors.  Also, here’s another bonus feature.  It’s an absolutely silent toy. A SILENT TOY! If if falls  on the floor(like it will 1,000x) it doesn’t make a noise. NOT A SINGLE SOUND. If you push a button, well there is no button to sing a terribly annoying and catchy little ditty, that is sure to be stuck in your head for the rest of your life.  A silent toy is a beautiful thing.

I got lost… in etsy-land.

Since I’m not researching and hunting for cribs, swings, and all those big item essentials the second time around, I get to spend time perusing fun things like toys and clothes… 

And you know that once you start looking on etsy, you’re in trouble… at least for the next hour or so.   Here are some  of sweet little toys that I found and I thought I’d share the fun with all of you.

{click the image to be directed to any of the shops.}

Etsy Omooreart

 

I just love the variety that you can find when you search for handmade unique toys, the major stores are generally stocked with toys that you might call generic and boring…  because obviously all little boy toys must be blue and little girls must have pink dolls*, right?  Wrongo, my friend.   You might pay a few more dollars for a handmade piece, but you know your getting something that was made by a person who loved what they were making rather than a machine… that is a machine.

And that’s all I have to say about that…

Another Top 10 coming later tonight.

*Most dolls are kinda creepy, no?

{Liv.

I made a sheep… bear.

My thoughts have been re-directed as of late to all things cute and cozy for little babies.  For obvious reasons.
So, when I received a yarn catalogue in the mail the other day, I was inspired to knit one of these  little buddies.   
This is the image from the pattern, I read over the instructions and thought that it sounded easy enough.
This was supposed to be a lamb, but I think mine looks more like a bear, which is fine with me.  I also just used whatever yarn I had and substituted the brown for  blue.  Mine also grew by a few rows in both the body and the arms and legs.  That is because I don’t care for numbers and I don’t like keeping track, but I found a handy dandy tally counter app on my phone and that helped. 
What I meant to say is… I took some creative liberties, because I don’t like following rules and I am an artist.
During the 8 hours, I spent knitting this  little bear, I realized a few things:
1.  I generally like projects that I can finish in one sitting.
2.  I struggle with following patterns, they are too restricting.
3.  Knitting little yarn friends is not going to be my newest creative endeavor.  So, don’t expect one in your Christmas gift. 
However, it was fun to successfully finish the project and as you can see from the following images, I think the end result is H approved.
 
Last night, I thought I wouldn’t ever want to make another one, but baby girl might need one of these.
Next I’m going to try to make a little sweater for baby H.  Wish me luck…

{Liv

because this child needs another toy??

Feeling much inspired after last night's wonderful INSPIRE party {a blog to follow}, I made this today. It's a travesty that this little boy doesn't have a soccer ball yet, so while it's not exactly the same, it is soft and rolls and it is big and cute, in my opinion. He loves the small blocks that I made him, so of course, he'd love a bigger one too. I used the same tutorial that I used here, except I made each square 8" rather than 4". How much fun are we going to have with this, his own giant block??