Crafty

Joel’s audit is going on, so he has been working like a mad man. What’s new? Ha! They are doing well, so it’s all worth it.

So how have I been keeping myself busy? Well, you know, endless piles of laundry, allergen free Grahamie food making, butt wiping, snuggle sessions, walks to the park, grocery shopping, preparing for our big move…AND being crafty.

I wouldn’t refer to myself as a crafty person or anything. I do like to scrapbook, and embroider here and there, but I’m no Martha Stewart, that’s for sure. However, lately it seems every day I’m doing something crafty, and I’m not talking making insect pages with Graham. LOL

As I mentioned I made Graham’s Halloween costume. All. By. Myself. That was a big feat for me because I cannot draw worth anything. Thank goodness the drawing required was at an elementary education level. I knew I’d be waiting for the cows to come home before Joel would have time to help me. He’s rather crafty actually. You should see what he made for me when he proposed. Anyway.

So, back to it. I bought a brown, size small, men’s hooded sweatshirt, and cut the hood and sleeves off for the sack. I had to sew up the collar and the sides to get it down to size.

I took a pair of Graham’s sneakers he was just about to outgrow and painted them blue. Don’t tell Graham he’s nearly out of blue finger paint. LOL

Then came the hard part. The part I was convinced I needed Joel’s help for then literally told myself *in a sing-song voice* “Anything you can do I can do better…I can do anything better than you…” That seemed to be the confidence builder I needed!

So, I headed to the information superhighway and used this pic as my inspiration:

To make his paper pattern:

Then tried it on Graham. It looked great on the first try. So, I cut the pieces out of felt and glued them on, stuffing the nose and ears. I think it turned out pretty fab and it was really easy.



Well, I am, but this time of the back. The sweatshirt had a pouch, which I thought looked kind of authentic as the back of a Mr. Potato Head has the compartment for all he other pieces.

The other craft I have been working on is Graham’s Christmas stocking. I got it just before Christmas last year and you can see how far I got by last Christmas. Um, yeah…so I sewed his name on it and safety pinned it to a store bought stocking. Awesome.

Anyway, I vowed to get it done by this Christmas. I’m trying. I really am. Last week, I set a rule for myself that had to finish one little piece every night before bed. So, that lasted two nights. It takes about 2 hours to do each little thing. That’s a big commitment at 10 at night.

I have made good progress. See?

And since I took this pic, I have finished the Santa’s hat cuff, beard, and mustache.

I know it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s done. I’m really happy with how it’s coming along. In 2001, I made one for Joel.

Every year it makes me so happy to look at it. It took me about 100 hours to finish and I think I will spend a lot more than that on this one.

One of my friends actually suggested I make one for myself when I finish his one. Um, no, I don’t think so. Maybe Joel could work on that. I think it’s only fair, don’t you??