Mama Made It: Baby Ponchos for Disney

Our last trip to Disneyland was in January, in the middle of winter. Since we were expecting to see at least one night show during the trip I wanted the babies to be warm and did not want the hassle of falling blankets while walking (because you know that after a day in the stroller the last thing a baby wants is to be in the stroller at the end of the day!). I found a poncho tutorial from the Make and Takes blog and knew it would be perfect for our trip. I raided my fabric stash (thank you fleece that was on sale at Joann's during Black Friday 2011) and got to work. I preferred the no-fringe version for my boys and added the Mickey applique to give it some Disney magic. The project was so easy that I was able to complete both ponchos over the course of 2 nap times which is a huge accomplishment!

When the boys wore them around Disneyland they were bundles of cuteness and a hit with random folks. 

Dale, with his Mickey Poncho at Disneyland, complete with ears.

Mama Made It: felt food! chips and sandwich

Felt food has gotten popular around the internet lately and with an almost 3 year old who loves to pretend to cook I don't know why I did not jumped on the bandwagon earlier. Here is my first project. It only took one nap to finish.. I was inspired by the ever popular brown bag lunch tutorial on Skip to My Lou but scaled it down into a 1 nap project instead of a 2-3 nap project (yes, I think of my crafty time in terms of nap; one nap lasting approximately one hour). It would have been faster if I was brave enough to dust off my sewing machine but I did not.

So, I made a bag of tortilla chips (Goofy called them Doritos!) and a PB & J sandwich (with grey PB because I ran out of brown felt).  And just like his daddy, Goofy wanted to make a chip sandwich, because, you know that's the only way to eat a sandwich.

Mama Made it: Crinkle ball for baby

During one of many diaper changes, I observed that my baby boys love to play with the plastic wipes pouch because of the crinkle sound that it makes. This got my mind rolling to make a crinkly toy for my babies. I grabbed a couple items lying around the house:

Keep the hands (and creativity) moving

For as long as I can remember I've always loved crafts. Anything that involved my hands and creativity was right up my alley. As a child it was fun to wander up and down the craft aisle in the local Pay Less Drugs (now, known as Rite Aid) and imagine the possibilities of what could be made.

 
When I was in 6th grade our class learned how to crochet and my mom once again helped me to figure it out. In terms of handicraft skills that are passed down the generations, my guess is that you are either a knitting family or a crochet family. Our family was definitely a crochet family. My great grandmother, so I am told, would crochet lace and all sorts of doilies and other things that can be found around the house.

Aside from 6th grade I haven't picked up a crochet hook in years. I think I did crochet a scarf in college, but that was it. So this winter I was inspired to crochet again when by chance I happened upon a ruffled scarf pattern online at the crochet spot.  A search through my sewing box, several You Tube videos later,  and I was back in action. It felt great. Just like an old friend, the familiar rhythm of creating something with your hands.  A scarf was perfect for a first item. It was good to practice the basic stitches and short enough to  give instant gratification and satisfaction. (Which is important when the only time to crochet is basically during naps and bedtime!)

Now my only problem is figuring out what to do next....