Spoons in shop.

Ever since our move a few months ago I have kept my bedtime tales shop closed.  Well it's time to dust off the key and open it once again.  Last year I made my kids a set of wooden spoon puppets.  I posted it on my old blog here.  

These are part of the set that I made for my own kids:

But I couldn't help but want to experiment more.  In the shop now is Goldilocks and the Three bears,

And a small wooden spoon family!

I hope to begin entering more as I can paint them.  But for now I'd like to celebrate by pointing you towards the giveaway I am holding on Made by Bedtime Tales!

Up for the giveaway is the following little wooden spoon family:

Just go here and comment to enter!  The deadline is Monday, April 2 at 12 p.m.

Thanks for stopping by!

a little handmade support

 A friend of mine is in the beginning stages of opening her etsy shop, and guess what one of her products will be?  Barbie clothes!  My goodness, fine quality and classy barbie clothes are either too hard to find, or gosh-darn overpriced at a commercial store.

She wants to sew clothes that are in demand.  Would you mind taking this teeny survey to help further her efforts?  It will take about one minute and would mean the world to her.

It can be found here.

Thank you!

mmmm, chocolate

Don't you hate it when you think of something that sounds yummy and you really crave it right then, but you are missing an ingredient?  Conversely, don't you love it when the random ingredients that your refrigerator holds coincide to create something wonderful?

This is what happened with the above.  Rarely do I have heavy whipping cream at my disposal.  Nor the strawberries.  Something must have gone right.

This does not include the nutella, it is a staple in my cupboard.

I also had the makings of some Cocoa Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Done and done.

And now gone.

How To - doll hair tutorial

A couple years ago I began teaching myself to make dolls.  I had to go through a few different hair techniques to find one that was durable, fast, and cute.  This tutorial I came up with was originally posted on my old blog that I shared with my sister called made by bedtime tales.

I am reposting it here on this blog simply because I wanted to share it again.  Also because I will reopening my bedtime tales shop soon with some new doll patterns and I wanted to keep the hair tutorial portion free and available to all.  

Here it is!

Howdy fellas!  As promised, here is a tutorial for sewing on yarn hair to a dolly.  Pig-tail style.  

When I began sewing dolls I searched online for tutorials on this very subject.  Let me tell you, they were complicated.  I just didn't quite understood how they worked {something about using tissue paper and sewing the hair together by machine, before sewing it on by hand...}.  Well after several failed attempts that included tiny pieces of tissue paper left in the final product, I decided to just sew it in all by hand since that's what it called for in the end anyway.  

You should end up with this:

This is quite simple, and doesn't take long at all.  And of course you can change it up however you want.  All right, let's start.

You will need yarn in the desired hair color, a needle and thread (same color as the yarn), a pencil, and a doll.

Cut up a bundle of yarn.  You will want enough so that the hair is thick.  You won't want the scalp to show through.  Try to make each piece about the same length.  You will be draping the yarn across the head over the center, so make them long pieces.

Draw a line with a pencil down the center of the head.  Start on the forehead and end above the neck in the back.  This is to guide your stitching so she ends up with a nice straight part.

I use a small clump of three strands of yarn for each stitch.  Find the center of the clump and place it on the line you have drawn on the forehead.

You will now take your needle and thread and sew a small loop around the middle point of the yarn.  Make the stitch small. Pull it tight and then stitch a second loop around it again for security.  Take another bundle of three strands and double stitch it just behind the first.  

Continue this way all down the back of the head.

Stitch it all down tight.  Don't worry if you can see the thread down the center.  We will be hiding this.  

For the front of the hair we take a small bundle (more than three strands) of yarn and stitch it down on both sides of the forehead.  Stitch it right up there to be level with the part.

Make it nice and secure.

Now to cover the thread that shows along the part, take a strand from one side of the part and pull it on over to the other.  Alternate sides you are pulling from so that we keep an even amount of yarn on both sides of the head.  I think this gives the hair a bit of a natural look.

Find the point on the sides where you want the pig-tails to be tied down.  Comb the hair on that side with your fingers, then loop the thread around it several times.  Keep it tight.  I usually make a few loops, pull tight, make a few knots, and then do a few more loops and knots for security.

What happens if you get a stray strand tugged up above the loop?  Very carefully pull on the strand.  Don't pull it all the way out!  Watch the hair below the loop and find which strand is being pulled.  Tug it back down into place :)

Now this is the fun part.  Give your doll a haircut.  Trim her pig-tails up nice and even.

Feel bad for the yarn you are wasting.

And ta da!  You have a beautiful little hair do.  I hope you try mixing things up your own way.  Make the hair long.  Short.  Braid it.  Bundle it.  Tie a ribbon round it.  Make it yours!

How To - soft head toddler drumsticks

Yes, I put a space in the word 'drumsticks'.  I've already slapped my own hand.

I'm trying to incorporate more music into my activities with my kids.  Not only because I'm sure that if I get them started now that they will turn into musical geniuses, but also because it's just something new to do (I'm a boring momma).  I purchased some fun instruments from a thrift store for a couple of dollars, a tambourine and mini xylophone among them.  They came without drumsticks so I thought I'd make my own baby-safe set.  Here's how it goes!

You will need two foot-long dowels.  These are a little over 1/4" thick.

A glue gun.

Two 5" x 5" squares of fabric for each stick.

Two long 1" thick strips of fabric for forming the ball (Maybe 2' to 2 1/2' long.)

And two short strips of fabric for tying off.  (Not pictured here.)

Please don't take all of these measurements too seriously.

First you'll dab a big drop of hot glue on the end of the dowel.  While it's still hot tie a knot over it with the end of your 1" thick fabric. 

Now begin wrapping the fabric around the knot to form a ball.  Add a drop of glue every once in a while as you go.  Try to keep it in a nice tight round shape.

Glue up the end.

Now you'll want two squares of fabric for each stick so that it sort of rounds out the curves on your wrapped ball.  Place your fabric ball in the center of your two squares of fabric and wrap them around it.

Like so.

Now keep the squares pulled tight as you wrap your tying fabric around the neck of your stick a few times and tie it super tight.

Trim the edges of the squares under the knot.

And woohoo!  You've got some non-pointy sticks for your toddlers to bang around with!

Good job :)

a braid and red

My sister came to my home with her hair like this.

How could I not take a picture?  Two braids from the side tucked back into her ponytail.  I love it.

And while we are talking about love, here are a few of the past outfits she's worn in my presence. 

Red jeans.

Nude heels.

And her sweet little church outfit, complete with a flannel shirt under her calm-colored cardigan.

But for fear that you might have a mistaken impression of her, here is the truest photo of all.  

That snowman didn't have a chance.

And she was in heels no less!

for the kids

My husband's latest project has been these miniature guitars for the kids.  They are exactly half the length of my full size there.  There are a few tweaks that he would make on future tries, but I think for his first go at an instrument with no professional guidance, these things are pretty dang neat.  You'll notice they only have four strings, so yeah, we sort of tuned them akin to a ukelele.  But please don't be mistaken... these are guitars.

This summer I'm hoping he'll be able to make me a real guitar.  Oh I just can't wait!  I'm just giddy with the thoughts of wood-burning and painting my own guitar!

And sometin' else I was so excited to to share were these small trays I found at a thrift store.  There were six available that all matched and like a dummy I only purchased four.  What was I thinking?  I'm hoping next time I go back that I'll be able to still find the last two.  Not only do the kids think they're neat but I can't tell you how much easier it is to think up a little meal to fit these little compartments.  Almost like it's begging for a member of each food group to fill it up.

What's a trick you got going for coming up with kid's meal plans?  Please share.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Becca

a braid and a ballerina bun

My sister and I were playing with our hair and makeup.  I've discovered there are some people who just can't pull off red lipstick.  I am one of them.  My sister on the other hand, (pictured above) can.  

This is a hairdo I've done on myself before that I tried on her long luxurious locks.

Braid from the bottom with a ballerina bun on top.  If doing this on yourself just bend over and braid your hair up the back and secure it with a hairband before you start the bun.  

I like it because it's a fun way to dress up a casual hairstyle and outfit.  

How was your weekend?

practicing with falling snow

It was snowing pretty heavily yesterday and I had a break so I took out my camera to practice my shutter speeds and focusing.  I will not pretend like I know what I am doing when I am taking pictures. I took some photography in college and I have amazing friends with amazing tips.  And while I feel like I understand the concept behind a DSLR camera, when it comes time to pulling it out and applying what I know it all just flies out the window.  For me it's point, focus, fiddle with the knobs, look at the screen, then try it again and fiddle with different knobs.

But I'm trying.

So anyways I wanted to take some type of pretty blurry snowflake pictures yesterday and I wanted to share one thing that I learned with you.  The first pictures I took looked horrible.  All I could focus on was the trees in the background because my camera wasn't picking up the tiny darting snow flakes.  (Unfortunately these photos offended my eyes so I erased them before thinking that I should share one with you.  So I don't have an example.)  

I knew that I wanted to focus on the falling snow between my home and those trees.  I tried darting my camera around trying to catch a snowflake... but that didn't really work.  I probably just looked dorky.  Instead I figured out that if I focus on something closer to the house than the trees, like the bush below my window, then when I raise the camera back up, whatever was the same distance as the bush from my camera will now be in focus between me and the trees.

So I guess that's my tip: Focus on something closer than your backdrop, then point your camera at back at the snow.

And here is a photo with a slower shutter speed.  Those flakes don't look so harmless and benign when they are hurtling towards the earth do they?

If you have any more tips leave a comment or a link please.  I'd love to learn more :)