Pants, Pants and a Beco style doll carrier

I've been trying to make Levi some long pants for when we go to Tahoe.  Its too warm here most days to wear long pants though so its hard to get into "pants making mode".   I found this great fabric (in the form of a pair of women's capri pants from the thrift store for $1). so I made him some colorful skinny jeans: 

The shirt that I made him a while back matches perfectly, although it was a little short when I made it (the pattern is off).  He insisted on adding the Christmas tie.   

And my sister's friend gave me a basic, frumpy black sweatshirt that he didn't want, so I cut it up and made these!

I used the pattern from the above pants as a "size guide" but just cut these free-hand including the pockets.  I reused the sweatshirt waistband as the pants waistband.     The purple is left over from the harem pants I made. 

There are stripes up the sides and some color blocking.   

He had to throw in a spiderman pose.   

And I also made a doll-size baby carrier for my friend's daughter!  This is an SSC styled after the Beco carriers.  It has a clip waist and adjustable shoulder straps.   I think it turned out great and I think the recipient will like it.   

I still need to sew him some more cold-weather clothing, there is snow in Tahoe and its been 80*+ here!  

Holiday Parties, Sweaters, and Giving Back

 We went to the annual Christmas party put on by the company my dad works for.  Its a huge event with lots of fun activities for the kids. 

 Levi chose his own outfit, red shorts, a red dress shirt, and last year's Christmas tie.    He has been doing this weird eye thing every time I take a picture, its very annoying. 

There was a hay ride, and a train ride.  

And he got the balloon guy to make him a bow and arrow. 

He wrote to Santa during the wait to see him.  

I also went to a MOPS Christmas event, it was an Ugly Sweater party as well as a cookie exchange.
I picked up this sweater from the thrift store for $2 (the woman who wrapped it up said it was beautiful!).  Then I attacked it with a glue gun, felt, glitter, garland and bells!  

I won some peppermint bark for "best use of a glue gun".

 Here is everyone in there very ugly sweaters! 


They also gave out "Mommy Awards" and I got one for being crafty and for donating a bunch of stuff to a silent auction fundraiser.  This creepy, yet awesome award is now displayed in my sewing room.     

We made a little craft, which I always enjoy.  This one is made from a cookie cutter with a piece of scrapbook paper glued onto the back of it.  Add a ribbon and some glitter and ta da!   Easy but cute.   

 
Here is our tree by the way, its potted, we just drag it in at Christmas time.  Just a couple years ago this thing was the same size as Levi, now its twice his size (and he has grown too!)

And these are the cookies I made!   I made my own cookie cutter using a kit.  The recipe is a vegan cookie recipe and it is sooo good, they taste like classic Christmas cookies.  I made some without the dye so Levi could have some too!   Here is the recipe

 

 

 I made over 50 of them, it was a lot of work!   At the end of the cookie exchange, I had a huge box of cookies.  Because of Levi's allergies, we couldn't really eat any of them, so on our way home, we dropped them off at the fire department for them to enjoy.
They were very excited to have them and showed Levi and I around the station.  We got to see their antique map of the neighborhood, and the updated one.  He said they use that because its hard to see addresses in the dark even with the GPS, they can use the map to count how many houses from the corner a location is, or what its next to.
They also have a decorated fire truck with a sleigh on top, every night they drive around playing Christmas music and Santa rides on top to wave at kids!  Its really fun.

On Sunday, Levi was the only kid at Sunday School.  I was looking to see if there was any Christmas decorations we could play with, and I found a bag of little gifts that the previous teacher must have used for something.  So we put together 7 gift bags to donate for the "Angel tree" collection.

 

 

Levi had a great time figuring out which gift would go in each bag.  We also added some new beanie babies, stickers, pencils and notebooks along with the other small toys.   He made a card for each bag and put tissue paper on each.   

This would be easy to do at home too, just buy a bunch of small items from the dollar section at target, or even the dollar store, and have kids sort and pack them into gift bags and make cards to go in them, and then drop them off at a donation site!   Usually they ask for unwrapped gifts so we didn't seal the bags in any way, so the contents can be checked.   

It was a great lesson in giving, we talked about how fun it would be for a kid to open all of the little things we put inside.   

More elf!

Here is what Sprinkles has been up to: 

After we made cookies....

 Note the Sports Illustrated magazine.  That's a jumbo chocolate chip in there.... Levi thought this was hilarious! 

Hid in the tree (guarding the candy canes Levi tried to steal, he is allergic so they live on the very top branch)

He played a trick on Levi..... 

See his nose?  

He made a zipline down the hall, using a pipecleaner  and candy cane pen as a handle.   He borrowed the cape from "Super Levi"

Levi had archery today, so Sprinkles made his own set.    The bow is a popsicle stick and dental floss.  

 
I love watching Levi's reactions to what his elf has done! 

Elf on the shelf Day 2,3,4, and some new comfy pants for Levi

More adventures of Sprinkles the elf!

Slinky jumping!

 

Making a mess with the Christmas books, reading to the other elf.

 

And counting down the days with a tiny paper chain.   I made this with construction paper and "glue dots", which make it super easy because you don't have to wait for them to dry.  

 

And I made Levi some "harem pants".   I guess drop-crotch pants are quite stylish right now, I'm not so sure about that, but I think they are perfect for Levi to lounge around in.   I used a 5XL pair of sweatpants as fabric for these!     He thought they were comfy and wore them to gymnastics and yoga today.  

 

Elf on the Shelf and Advents

I've been gone from blogging for a while!  Its been so busy with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a Disney cruise (more on that later), and its just going to get even more busy with Christmas and a trip to Tahoe.   We just got out the decorations, and I've been doing a little sewing.  

First is a felt advent calender I made for a customer.   It has felt pockets with numbers on them, and a tree with button on it.   In each pocket is an ornament, and every day you take one out and hang it on one of the buttons!   The last one is a star for the top of the tree.  It was time-consuming to make with all the little ornaments, but I like how they turned out.  I might have to make a few more for myself!  

 

I've been seeing tones of cute "elf on the shelf" ideas on pintrest.  I've never read the actual book, but I have heard about it.  To be honest, the idea of an elf "watching you" and reporting back to Santa is a little creepy.   I don't like the whole "bad or good" aspect of Santa, because I don't believe that kids are actually "bad", they all have their moments though!   But that being said, it looked too much fun to pass up, so I made Levi an elf.      I found a great pattern and tutorial on Jane of All Crafts blog, its a lot of little bits to sew, but came out really cute.   I also added wire to the arms and legs for a more pose-able elf. 

I'm modifying the story, all I told him is that he should leave his elf under his tree and see what happens.   So just before bed he put out his elf.   He also gave him (her?) a name, Sprinkles!   She didn't have a face yet when he went to bed.



And in the morning, he will find Sprinkles on top of the mantle, replacing the stockings with new underwear and boxers for Levi.