A Few Old Friends, Part 4

What dollhouse would be complete without a few accessories? To go with the furniture, my mom also took the time to crochet and sew rugs and linens (though the linens didn't quite make it to today).

My mom sewed this using a little burlap as the base and embroidering the pattern with yarn. How awesomely 70's is this?!?

Not everything was handmade--here's the one remaining chair from a dining set that was in the kitchen. Again, fantastically retro.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the best two gifts ever--toys that made an imprint on my heart and a love for craft and DIY. I'm so glad to pass these on, figuratively and literally, to my little girls.

A Few Old Friends, Part 3

Here are some of my favorites from my childhood dollhouse--the bedroom furniture. These toys were so well loved, which explains why there are a couple of drawers missing. I played with the dollhouse and its furniture until it just about fell apart. Then my sister played with it just as much as I did.

My parents made a dresser and an armoire--my dad doing the mini-carpentry, and my mom doing all the finishing and decoration.

As I had explained in the last post, the draw pulls were made from sewing pins, and I love that my parents took the time to put in nice shelves into the armoire.

 But the piece that really stuck with me was the bed and the crib. My mom even sewed a little mattress to go on the bed, using scraps from her fabric stash.

More on some of the accessories, like the rug pictured above, in the next post!

A Few Old Friends, Part 2

When I try to get to know people, one of the questions I tend to ask is, "What is the best gift you've ever received?" Hearing the answer often gives me some insight into what's truly important to them. These next few posts are about the best gift I've ever received, a dollhouse filled with homemade furniture that I received from my parents for Christmas when I was 4 years old.

I recently went back to my childhood home and brought back a few of these treasures for my little girls. Here are a few of the gems from the living room.

 If you look closely at the drawer pulls on the furniture, you'll see that they're actually the heads of pins with the pointy side clipped off.

I still have vivid memories of watching my dad cut these pieces out and my mom staining the wood.

I'll show you the bedroom furniture in the next post.

A Few Old Friends, Part 1

I had the opportunity recently to go visit my dad back home.

While there, I saw a box in my old closet that contained a few old friends. These were some of the toys I played with when I was a little girl, and I decided to bring them back for my little girls to play with. 

Not only does the drawer come out of the cash register...

...but the crank actually turns the little record on the phonograph.

I used to play with these "old friends" with my Barbies and also in my dollhouse (more on that in the next post!)

Needless to say, A is fascinated by these little guys.

Ohhh, Ohhh, Godzilla!!

One of my favorite things that I picked up for A was an activity book of cardboard punch-outs that made all sorts of fun things--games, finger puppets and scenery. I found this book and A loved punching out all the little characters with me.

While my family was visiting over the holidays, we worked on one scene in particular--a cityscape, complete with skyscrapers, a roadway with little cars, a cute little mountain and lots of trees.

Of course, a certain uncle of A's got in on the action, and before we knew it, our fair city was being attacked, one cardboard building at a time. (Bob the Dinosaur, how could you?!?)

I'm not sure what was more fun--punching out the scenery with A, or watching her--I mean Bob--trample our fair city.

Back on the Creative Wagon

It's been some time since I last posted. To be honest, this has been a particularly tough holiday season. But with each end comes a new beginning, and I've started to feel creatively energized again.

A asked me to make a flower for Little Lammy, her stuffed animal. She was about to have her lunch and she needed a flower in a vase to set the table just so. It was just the request I needed.

I think it's going to feel good to get back in the creative saddle.

Laundry Detergent + Boxed Wine = LOVE.

I love interesting, smart packaging. I love to explore the reasoning behind it, the engineering to make it and the printing used to make it shine once it hits the shelves. I love it even more when it's coupled with something seemingly mundane like laundry detergent.

As I was walking through the grocery store this past weekend, I happened across the latest packaging from Seventh Generation for their laundry detergent and was fascinated. Have you seen this?

It has the same feel in your hand as a plastic jug, but it's actually a shell of pressed cardboard. 

Inside, there is a pouch, not unlike they do with boxed wine, so that there's less waste.

I LOVE this.