Father's Day in September

So this post is about 3 months late...

Kit is off-island on a little inter-island vacay, and as an ode to him, I'm posting the wall art "Ivy" made for him for Father's Day this year. You can really use the same idea for any piece of wall art, or as a gift to dad any time of the year, but this one is tailor-made for Father's Day. 

Supplies:

-a canvas (ours is 8"x10")

-fabric cut out with about 2" extra on each side

-modge podge

-thumb tacks

-quote printed on scrapbook paper

-acrylic paint

-paint brush

First I measured the fabric and cut it out. 

Then I put modge podge on the canvas to help the fabric start to stick. 

I used thumb tacks to keep the fabric in place. 

Then I found a cute Father's Day quote, typed it out and printed it on Scrapbook paper with Ivy's full name and the date. 

"These are the hands you used to hold when I was only 2 years old."

Then I modge podged just the back of the paper onto the fabric.
Be sure to press out any air bubbles.

Before modge-podge-ing the whole thing, I had Ivy dip her hands in acrylic paint and do two handprints on the bottom of the canvas. Note: Two-year-olds have a really tricky time doing their thumb properly in a hand print. I don't know why. 

 Oh, but first we practiced a few times. See the right thumb? Very interesting.

After modge-podge-ing the entire canvas (front, sides, and the back edges), we let it dry in a clean space. It's really dusty where I live, so it was important to find a clean place to let it dry, dust-free. 

And here it is, hanging on our wall, where its been since Father's Day, haha. 

(Kit made those two pallets above the canvas wall art. Aren't they awesome?)

Happy Father's Day, Kit!

Aloha, 

Rebecca, (and Ivy)

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Super Hero Cape Tutorial

Yesterday we made a cape. 

You heard me. 

I guess I should back up. It's not every day you make your kid a cape.

Well, we were at a baby shower on Labor Day (pun intended) and Ivy and a little friend were stealing the tissue paper and ribbon from the opened gifts and making capes. All week, Ivy's been begging to wear the tissue paper cape, but it's pretty much ripped to shreds. So I got tired of the disappointment in her eyes every time I told her we weren't going to wear the ripped cape, and asked her, "Should we make a better cape?" Of course she said, "Yes!" So we went to my fabric and she picked out this magenta fabric with chartreuse root/coral/dead tree print on it. Girl's got style.

First I cut it out like so:

Ivy is almost 3 years old, and tall for her age. 

The bottom is about 24 inches across. 

It's 22 inches from the bottom to the base of the neck, then I eyeballed the part that goes around the neck. It goes up to about 28.5 inches from the bottom.

It's 18 inches across the top (part that sits on the back of the shoulders)

I used a white piece to line the cape.

 Then I created the letter "I" in white fabric, and sewed it over a black circle. I didn't like it alone like that, so I added a white square around it. Plus, I hate sewing circles, so it was much easier to sew a square to the cape. You can see in the photo below, I just sewed straight lines up and down the circle to fasten it, rather than actually sew a circle. It will fray, but what good super hero's cape doesn't show some wear and tear from the crime they're fighting in the world? ;)

Before you sew it all together, sew on some velcro to the neck pieces. Think about which sides you're going to sew... 

Then I placed the two pieces of fabric together, so I could sew them. I did add a little "super power" to this magenta/chartreuse cape...  Black leather fringe along the bottom. I picked it up at a garage sale in San Diego earlier this summer. This cape demanded for it. Look closely at the photo below on the right-- you can see I pinned it inside, so it would be included in the stitch.

I left the nape of the neck unsewn so I could flip it inside out through there, then sew a reinforcement stitch around it once it was right side out. 

See the stitch around the neck?

So then Ivy enthusiastically suited up. Checked herself out in the mirror...

Then flew next door to grandma and grandpa's house to show them...

Showing it to grandma was super (hero) exciting.

And that's the story of Ivy's cape. 

NEWS UPDATE: Super Ivy has been spotted flying around in her cape since yesterday. 

Aloha, 

Rebecca

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This project was featured here:

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GOAL ACCOMPLISHED: The Pottery Barn Table and Chairs

On Christmas Eve, we got an awesome table and chairs from a family I work with. It was from Pottery Barn Kids, and needed some help. (Click here to see the original post and read the full story.) This is what it looked like:

It needed help. 

In March I started sanding the chairs and put some primer and paint coats on them and set a goal to finish the set. I was inspired by Shine You Light blog's Before and After Party. (See that post here.)

The table was next. It took some time. I don't know what was on that table, but it had to come off. (See that post here).

After 3 coats of Martha Stewart metallic paint, I finally finished it in April. It's been done for a while, and you may have spotted it in my chair cushion tutorial (click here), but I had yet to do a true "Before and After" post. So, 5 months and 4 blog posts later, the Pottery Barn Table and Chairs is finished!!

For some reason Ivy is planking on it in her underwear. This photo was taken just moments before nap time...

One more "before":

And here it is in Ivy's room "after"! 

Here's some other fun shots from our outdoor impromptu tea party we had with it.

And finally, I can say, I'm linking up to the Before and After Party at Shine Your Light!! Check out the party. I love Before and After photos, and they've got plenty over there! 

Aloha, Rebecca

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