More Hand Made Birthday Fun

The first photo is Angelo playing while wearing the elf hat I made him using Amy Karol's pattern in her book "Bend the Rules Sewing". I posted about a sewing miracle a while back on Face Book. This was one of those miracles- I ran into a lot of obstacles due to my sewing stuff being packed up in the attic. I spent many hours looking for the (thankfully already cut out) pieces, and the book, which I eventually checked out from a "not as local", but still pretty darn local library. Once I had the book, material, the right color of thread and my sewing machine finally corralled into my kitchen, the actual sewing went pretty smoothly. It is made of wool felt, so I didn't have to finish the seams or anything! I made it a little bigger than the template so he would be able to grow with it (per the book's clever suggestion.) This is the only hand made item I actually was able to sew him for his birthday. I wish I'd been able to make more, of course, but I know that without a dedicated and organized sewing space, the obstacles were just too annoying for me. I did manage to draw some very simple pictures and staple them between some construction paper for a hand made coloring book. I didn't scan those, but they were largely based on the types of drawings they teach you to make in one of Angelo's books (so, it is for very young children and the drawings are very basic.)

Here, you can see that he is wearing a bow tie. A super-adorable, bow tie made from vintage material that I got at Baby By Stevie's Etsy store. This is the least blurry picture I got since he was so engrossed in play. :) He asked for a bow tie, by the way. Insisted it be a bow tie, when I thought he was talking about a scarf when he referenced a picture on a book. I was pretty happy to oblige. I also went to Etsy and got him some Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay. It is all natural, gluten free, and made with organic essential oils. It is now a lovely blend of colors and scents, of course. :) We all enjoy it even if only Angelo is playing with it. I'll show you what we did with his dried up play dough later. :)

I found some very yummy all natural gluten-free cupcakes in our Giant Eagle's gluten-free freezer. They are made by French Meadow Bakery. As you can see, Angelo really enjoyed them. :)