belly cast complete with pressed ferns and flowers!

Here is a project that's been sitting unfinished in the basement since before little dude was born (he's less than a week from being 9 months old already!). I hope it makes y'all feel better about your own unfinished creative endeavors to read over and over how mine gt started, abandoned, and at last completed at some later date.

I had a whole bunch of ferns and leaves and flowers pressing between layers of cardboard and newspaper and stacks of beautiful art books for many many months on the laundry room floor. Irking me each week as I stepped around them but I had no one to blame but myself!

One Saturday I was helping my daughter give a mod-podge update to an old pencil box and figured I might as well have a go at the belly cast since the supplies were out.

Now while I love love love how the fern looks I am not about to tell you attaching it was easy. The main stem was quite stiff and snapped when I went to lay it across my, uh, lovely curves. I had to hold it down with my fingers while it dried and it is really the glued down leaves that are holding it in place, with a bit of a gap where they meet the stem. So the final result is rather fragile and I must admit I will probably not be able to keep it for my entire life.

The smaller, flatter leaves worked better. Even the smaller ferns or using just the top part of the fern is more flexible and forgiving. I think covering a belly cast with fall leaves for an autumn baby would be gorgeous.

I intend to put some small holes on either side at the top and hang it on a wall with some ribbon but since that step is undone for the moment, you get to see it photographed on the floor!

The one thing I would advise people on doing the belly cast is to have the person laying out the strips do an extra layer along the edges, the outline so to speak. My cast was a little thin in some places along the edge. And really, I would advise doing 2 layers for the whole thing, nice and thick, smoothing out the strips as you go. My friend was very thorough about smoothing them out and the result was quite nice; you could not see the individual pieces anymore. I almost did not want to decorate it after all.

you blogged it: story stones

We recently enjoyed an extended visit from the cousins. I assisted my mom-in-law with finding some great craft inspirations for keeping the kiddos (minus the two babies) busy.

Now I get to share our "you blogged it, we did it" stories!

One activity we did was story stones. I first found the idea on one of my favorite craft sites, WhipUp. Full credit goes to Red Bird Crafts as seen on both Etsy and in the blog world.

We hand selected the best rocks from a heap at the nearest landscaping supply place. We filled up a bucket for a mere $2! The stones aren't polished or anything but they were a good size for this craft.

Ours ended up being a bit more influenced by the characters and illustrations already adorning the fabric, but that's ok. Only the adults were wielding the fabric scissors so it worked out better this way. The kids were more than happy to select the perfect rock and spread the Mod Podge out. The googly eyes were a fabulous and funny touch.

 I hope to revisit this craft soon for myself and use more abstract fabrics to create shapes that could be used in storytelling. In fact, I was reminded of one of the final pages of the super-cute children's book Penguin. Everything Penguin "says" is drawn as little pictures. It's a lovely picture book that has become a favorite at our house. May it inspire your own story stone adventures!

My husband made this cute one!

modge podge mania

In a sudden burst of energy that I will attribute to nesting, I have been devoting my energy to organization projects that will in no way affect the well-being of anyone else in the family, especially not the awaited baby.

One of those projects is the art room. It recently lost its function as the home office. After it lost its desk to the daughter's big girl room, I was left with a box of office supplies. The box is still waiting for attention, actually. With no computer down there it didn't make sense to leave the printer I haven't used in years down there. With the printer gone, it made little sense to have a dresser full of paper for said printer. And since I am going to be doing more sewing than scrapbooking, it makes sense to shift which supplies are most readily accessible and think harder about how to store and organize fabric. Plus, I have that sewing machine to locate in a new home. And so on.

So I have been quite busy moving and rearranging and re-purposing furniture. And sorting and recycling and Goodwill-ing and trashing and Freecycle-ing. I am finding it quite refreshing to purge and organize.

Part of all of this has been to attend to a project that has been on "the list" since I made it in July. And that was to modge podge some storage boxes and create labels for them. So for the past few weekends I have been working on covering those boxes with leftover posters from the Library. A fun new purpose for my old graphic design projects.

 An introduction to my chaos! In my defense, the contents of the boxes had to be dumped out before I could mod podge them.

In the closet (special thanks to the husband for adding more shelving a while back!)

On the shelf (once part of the office, now for sewing supplies)