Knitting Sandwich

one world

here's what i made for my grandparents for christmas this year:

i bought a vintage u.s. map on ebay and stamped hearts over the cities where all of their children and grandchildren/great-grandchildren live.  they stated many years ago that since they had downsized they didn't need anymore "stuff" for christmas...

...so i have fun coming up with a new sentimental gift to make them each year.

in other news i've been embroidering up a storm the past few days, and the perks of inheriting all of my (other) grandmother's sewing notions is i get to find treasures like this whilst digging around looking for needles:

oh i wish we still had packaging like this... isn't it just fabulous!?!?

-melissa

springtree road baby love

the marvelous maya of springtree road fame is expecting her second child in about a month.  knowing how i adore both maya and knitting for babies you didn't think i'd let this occasion pass without knitting a little something did you?

this is the baby cozy pattern by nikki van de car (rav pattern link).  i was totally won over by this pattern because of it's garter stitch yoke and the sweet row of buttons.

i followed the pattern exactly, except to add the button closures at the bottom, so one won't have to take the sleep sack completely off baby to change his diapers.

the yarn is scholler + stahl's winter cotton, a cotton/acrylic blend which will hopefully be just the right weight to keep a sweet springtime georgia baby warm, but not too warm.

this will be maya's second child and as a big sister myself, i know the importance of not leaving the big sister out at new baby gift giving time.  

using one of our blank books from bare books i made this big sister book for sweet miss v.

i hope she has as much fun filling it out as i had making it!

new babies are so much fun!!  sending lots of minnesota love way down to georgia!

-melissa 

Christmas card Sweatshop

Who would have thought that three scraps of paper and one stamp would turn into a sweatshop?

 

Oh but it did, and a messy one at that.  I think I will be finding tree trunks in my dining room for weeks.  But thanks to some great advice, a big potato, and this tutorial, Sabrina didn't have to suffer too much through this project. 

 

Merry Christmas!  I hope Santa is good to you.

-Lindsey

 

a trip to the dentist ends with a trip down memory lane

today while waiting for lily to get called into the dentist office i was flipping through a copy of whole living magazine and i saw a little blurb about making recycled gift bows out of magazine pages (i couldn't find a link on their website, but this tutorial is almost exactly the same, and honestly is more detailed and has better photographs).  

so tonight i sat down and made myself a bow.  it was oddly satisfying and kind of fun.  i'm thinking of making more for the holidays, but employing an assembly line approach to the process.

while i was putting the bow together i was hit with a random memory of being little and making bows out of ribbon with my mom.  i couldn't remember the details except that it had a plastic pointy-thing that you stuck the ribbon through, and then used the plastic point to attach it to the package.

a few google searches later i found one:

it's the "instant bow" bow maker, and it's exactly how i remember it!

please forgive my decadent loitering here on memory lane, i was just so excited to remember this and then to find it online!  i wonder if my mom still has hers?

-melissa

five

last week lily turned five and this past weekend we threw a little party to celebrate.  i tried to keep things small, homemade and simple, while still giving her 5th birthday the hoopla it was due.

she only invited four friends so i was able to hand-make the invitations (they were inspired by these invitations from the angry chicken).

i also put together these little personalized notebooks as part of the party favors.

here's a couple shots of the decorations - a birthday banner and the birthday table.  (and yes we were watching olympic curling while decorating for the party, what else would you expect me to be doing?)

the kids decorated their own party hats and we played a few party games - pin the candle on the cupcake, charades, mad libs, etc...

i also had the kids decorate their own cupcakes.

which of course devolved into frosting eating madness...

the party was a success by all accounts, but i was especially glad to see lily have such a wonderful time celebrating her first five years.  

-melissa

collage time

a friend of mine is getting married this weekend in beautiful rockport, ma (a trip to the sea).

i always have such a hard time thinking of good wedding gifts because i am really stubbornly anti-gift registries- they're just so impersonal. racking my brain for an appropriate wedding gift, i decided to make them a collage of the brooklyn bridge (around the matting of a silver frame) since they are in the process of buying a brooklyn home and starting a new married life here.  

it gave me a good excuse to do some collaging (have i mentioned my extreme love for cutting paper? paper weekend , paper love  (okay, i guess i have))- which i love to do but have neglected for quite some time.  

well i am off to the seaside now-

have a great week/weekend!  

-cmv

paper weekend

if i haven't sufficiently revealed it before, i have a big love affair with cutting paper. BIG love affair.  

so it was nice this weekend to have two parties to go to- aka- two excuses to get out my scissors and open the paper drawer(s).  

first was a card for a graduation party

then a card for a bridal shower

and a little travel journal for the honeymoon

hmmm... what other holidays are coming up?

-cmv

happy earth day!

in honor of earth day i sat down this afternoon and made a paper bowl out of a catalog.

i followed this tutorial by the very talented patricia zapata over at a little hut.

it was a fun little project and lead to a great pre-earth day conversation with lily about the differences between the reducing, reusing and recycling.  

then we both rocked out to a little jack johnson:

happy earth day everyone!!!

-melissa

operation valentines

i have been struggling to come up with an idea for lily's valentines this year.  but as always, inspiration comes when you least expect it.  i was making the above flower to decorate a package i was sending to a friend when *bam!*  it hit me!

i immediately went to the recycle bin and pulled out a pile of old catalogs and started cutting out everything i saw that was red and/or pink.

then lily and i got to work.

we got a brown grocery bag and just started started gluing.

we glued and glued.

and then we glued some more.

we glued until every last teeny-tiny peep of brown paper was covered in reds and pinks.

then we cut the big sheet down into valentined-sized pieces.

lily drew a heart onto cardboard to be our template and then we traced it onto each card.

now comes the time (claire you may want to look away)... for the glitter glue!!!

i took the red and traced out the hearts while lily came behind me with the pink and white making all sorts of lovely squiggly loopy designs.

and ta da!  we have valentines!!!

happy early valentine's day to all!!!

-melissa

lama the helper

so, before when i declared my love for knitting and paper and photography-

i failed to mention that these are also passions of the little lama.  every time i get the camera out to take pictures of my knitting?  he's right there.  get a new box of yarn from a swap?  he's the first to inspect it.   

everytime i have some sort of paper project?  he insists on sitting right on top.  particularly if it is a paper project involving multiple cut out letters or other types of small, delicate pieces.

such was the case last night as i was attempting to make a sign for henry's welcome brunch.

luckily in the end, despite lama's help, i managed to get it done.

what would i do without my lama?

cmv