Day of the Dead Skulls...

Jesse has been wanting to make a Day of the Dead Skull Stencil for sometime now, so last week he drew up a skull and we all took turns coming up with some design sketches. I had a blast doing it and ended up making several of them. They are still up for possible edits, but I figured I would post a few for you all to see. We made a few shirts with them and are thinking about printing them on throw pillows for our couch and on a canvas bag for groceries. We actually bought the materials to make our own canvas bag, so we will see how that goes. Here are some design pics...

 1/2 of Jesse's skull sketch.

Jesse's Skull.

My skull designs.

 I didn't get pictures of all the shirts we made, but here are 2 of the same skull design. Red on pale red and silver on blue. They turned out cool looking if you ask me.

Next up  faces with Lucha Libre Masks, so stay tuned...

Mountain Pictures...

My cousin and his girlfriend came to visit us for their Spring Break last week. While they were here we went to Manitou Springs and the Garden of the Gods Park, so I took the opportunity to snap some mountain pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

In Black & White...

In Color...

And in Sepia...

This final picture is probably my most favorite picture from the hiking trip. I love the Garden of the Gods and I'm really going to miss being able to go there whenever I want. It's just so beautiful there. Every view is breath taking. If you've never been there I highly recommend going, especially if you are into photography.

Over the weekend...

We ended up house sitting for a family that I used to do some part time nanny work for. They were going out of town and needed someone to watch their house and their dog, Ruby. Since we are now seasoned house/dog sitters and we can always use the money & the place to do free laundry we jumped at the chance. Ruby is a great dog, who always wants all of your attention which is hard for her to get when 3yr old Henry is around. She had a blast having our full attention, but seemed to prefer Jesse over me since he is a total sucker and would throw the tennis ball for her until they both felt like collapsing in a heap.

Since we were in the downtown area we figured we would walk down to the St Paddy's Day parade on Saturday and maybe take Ruby with us. Our friends the Jeongs live near by and they ended up needing us to watch the kids for a couple hours, so we took Denton & Fiona to the parade instead. I think we might have been considered certifiably insane for doing that. Google maps says it's at least a 55minute walk and I think they are judging that from a normal grown man's pace not two people caring diaper bags, snacks, and pushing a double wide jogging stroller. Plus all the hills... oh the hills! Thankfully Jesse did most of the pushing, except Fiona wanted out of the stroller and into my arms for part of the journey. By the time we finally got there the crowds were ridiculous and you couldn't get anywhere even remotely close enough to see, plus Fiona passed out (see photo below). We decided to take turns putting Denton on our shoulders and braving the crowd to let him at least see part of the parade. I think he had fun. Then Fiona woke up and they both decided they wanted to stop for snacks and play time, so we did. Our little 2hr adventure turned into nearly 5hrs and by the end the kids were jazzed and we were pooped. What a long day, a fun day, but a long day.

 Jesse & Ruby waiting for me outside the grocery store.

Sleepy Girl.

My two favorite guys, also my favorite picture.

Showing off his muscles for us.

Showing off her dance moves.

Playing Peek-a-Boo w/ Jesse.

Goofy Monster...

Our newest creation is this goofy monster. Jesse once again drew up a sketch and turned it into a pattern. I found the fabric, we both cut out pieces and assembled him. Then we sewed him up and stuffed him tight. He has some minor imperfections, but I think it gives him character... plus like I have been saying to Jesse... He's homemade. Jesse's a bit of a perfectionist. I on the other hand love this little guy flaws and all. My favorite attribute on him is his adorable grin with his gap teeth.

I've been talking to a woman I work with who is an avid sewer and she seems pretty impressed with us. She gave us a few pointers on how we can perfect our work, but other wise we're doing pretty good. I'm quite proud of us. Next up is assembly line making owls and monsters for all of Jesse's nieces and nephews... That's going to take a while. Jesse's also got some wild dreams of other things to make, which I am sure he is sketching ideas for already. We're going to be busy.

My cousin Cody and his girlfriend Michelle are coming to visit us this weekend. They're staying for a week and they enjoy crafty things too, so we figured while they were here we could all get our craft on together. I told them to come up with some ideas to make into stuffed toys and Jesse & I would help them make their creations come to life. Keep you're eyes open for more crafty posts in the week to come. This is going to be fun!

Check out the monster below from sketch to finish.

Sketch

 

 Flattened out before he got sewed up & stuffed.

Hanging out on the stairs.

Hanging with his buddy the owl.

Coloring cards for kids...

We used to be on our game and send homemade cards or post cards to all our family members... yeah well we sort of got off track there a little bit. Kudos! to everyone who is good at keeping up with that stuff. I remember my great grandma sent birthday cards to everyone, every year, and she never missed one person once. By the time you get into greats and great greats and their spouses and step kids and all that... well that's a whole lot of people to remember and if she could do it when she was in her 90's. What the heck is our excuse? Anyhow... we recently received the most adorable handmade Valentine's day card from our dear friends the Jeongs, so to thank them Jesse drew some pictures. We turned his pictures into Thank You cards and left them colorless, so the kids could color them instead (it's more fun for them that way). We also turned one of the cards into a birthday card and sent it to Jesse's nephew Aiden for his 2nd birthday. I think they turned out adorable. The kids and their parents all seem to like them. Now we just need to come up with a bunch of different designs and save them for an easy print out anytime someone has a birthday. Here's what we've got so far...

 Batman Card.

Puppy dog card.

Birthday puppy dog card.

Pirates... ARGH!

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has a really cool new exhibit all about pirates. More specifically the Whydah pirate ship that crashed off the coast of Massachusetts in the 1700's. Jesse and I have a dual membership and it's about to expire, so we figured we should get some more use out of it before that happens. I heard about the members only preview of this exhibit and figured it would be a perfect place to take Kayden. Jesse got off work early and met us there. There was a short film teaching us the history of the ship, paintings, buried treasure, replicas, and all kinds of info about pirates. Inside the exhibit they made you feel like you were really on a pirate ship, the sounds, the sites, and even the smells of an old damp wooden ship completely surrounded you. I think the boys favorite part was the one free treasure box to each group. Inside the box there was an eye patch, a hat, some coins, and tattoos... everything a pirate could want. I think we all had a good time.

Little Ms. Owl...

Now that we have our sewing machine dusted off, oiled up, and in proper working order we decided to try our hand at making something else. In September of 2009 when we went to Texas to visit Jesse's sister and her family. While we were there Jesse got the idea to make his niece London her very own owl doll. Well obviously we never got around to actually doing it until now. But... This week Jesse drew up the owl, researched pattern making a little bit, and then turned his drawing into a big pattern. I went shopping in the scrap bins at several different stores and scored some great deals on fleece and corduroy. Then I cut out the fabric and sewed up our little birdie. The owl was quite a bit more complicated than her monster predecessor that's for sure. I definitely got frustrated and had to rip out stitches and re-sew parts several times, but I am proud to say that we finished her and she is awesome. We'll probably end up keeping her since she is our first, but we do intend on making more. We will surely have our pattern perfected and another finished before Ms. London's 3rd birthday this May. I know. I know... It's about time. Enjoy!

P.s. Her chubby little owl belly is my favorite.

 Original sketch.

Wings out!

Side View of her awesome belly.

Back view

Wings tucked in.

Better view of her tail.

Buddies

Moonlighting with Monsters...

In an effort to do something creative every weekend we are trying to come up with new crafts to challenge us, so this weekend we chose to make a stuffed animal. Bare in mind that I haven't sewn more than a small hole in a clothing item in years and Jesse has well never sewn. Oh, I take that back he told me tonight that the last time he sewed something was a wind sock in his middle school home ec class. Anyhow... We have a sewing machine, but no needle and no place to  put it really so we ended up sewing it all by hand. Jesse got the idea after drawing adorable little monsters on an envelope for his nephew's 2nd birthday. He drew up a rough pattern and we went to work. It wasn't until after he made the pattern and we cut the fabric that I realized we didn't really leave room for a seam allowance. Oops! I showed Jesse the basics of simple sewing and we haphazardly slapped together a Monster from his sketches. Lucky for Jesse that I'm still a bit of a pack rat, especially when it comes to craft supplies. I had random fabric from my days at Michaels and almost every color of thread imaginable from my great grandma's old sewing kit. Our poor monster turned out to be bow legged and scrawny armed, but he's still pretty cute if you ask me. Obviously we have more to learn about pattern making, but I think we did a pretty good job for our first attempt. You be the judge...

Sketch

Finished Product