Super simple 30 minute bootie

My Dearest Dragon:

Who loves to crochet? I go through waves of obsessions, one minute it is painting, the next sewing, the next crochet, etc. Welcome to the artistic mind, where nothing makes sense except to yourself, and its completely impossible to organize!

So I just finished creating a dress I showed in a past blog, and then I whipped (haha no they took me forever) up a pair of mermaid tail blankets for my besties 2yr old and 8yr old.

Heres one...As you can see its Winnie approved. 

Now I am sewed out for the time being, so I took on a crochet project, took 3 times to get the right size, but now I created a cute little bootie from this super easy to follow video! Seriously this girl is great she repeats herself multiple times, so it is almost impossible to get lost. Though of course this wasn't my first time crocheting, if it is your first time, attempt a scarf first with a few different stitches to get comfortable! Just need to make sure you count your stitches, that is the most important key.

Here is my end product 

And this is the beautiful oopsie I made first 

I Love this sea green colour, but the yarn is suuppeerr chunky and even though I used a different but totally similar pattern, that is meant for a smaller bootie, and struggled with a teeny hook the booties will be sitting around until Gage is older....like 2yrs old, oops. 

However if you like chunky yarn, and why wouldn't you its lovely and warm, this also super easy to follow wonderful video tutorial is free 

Chunky yarn bootie

But to use a finer yarn like the first bootie this tutorial here is amazing! 

Easy baby bootie

Note: in this tutorial you can do different sizes with different size hooks, she gives the sizes in the description of the video so take a peek. I used a slightly smaller hook then they recommended and they are perfect size. 

Now I think I will go and make 100000 of these and give them to everyone! They will make awesome gifts, thinking about adding a matching hat! 

Hope you love them as much as me. 

What is a Dragon?

My Dearest Dragon:

I gave a short description of what a dragon baby is in my blog title, there are 3 categories, Dragon, Dragicorn, and Unicorn. unicorn being an easier baby that has a more even temper and good sleeping habits, a dragon being the opposite, and a dragicorn being somewhere in the middle. My little Gagey fluctuates between all three but usually remains somewhere on the dragon, dragicorn scale.

 

No I do not find this term offensive, who has read the series "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini? Maybe not very many as the movie they attempted was a washout. The books however, are wonderful! They describe dragons as majestic, beautiful, powerful, intense, intelligent, beings with a presence you cannot deny....that tend to have the temper that can take out an entire village. 

photo found here

Perhaps reading this series in my teenager years is why I never felt the term offensive, though I do understand why some (including my husband) might need an explanation. As mom's we are not able to say anything about our children other then they are wonderful, beautiful, amazing, perfect beings...which of course they are, but, that does not mean they are easy, and that does not mean you can't struggle, and having to struggle with a more "difficult" baby should not be looked at as negative quality in the mom or in the child itself, even though society may make us feel this way.

As a mom, you are not just "doing things wrong" or "haven't found the right trick", as we are told all the time, your baby is just got his or her own mind, and thats going to help them one day. 

I actually think this is a good quality, it's exhausting, because they tend to enjoy stimulation, life in general and are allergic to sleep, but I think with these personality traits, he will have the ability succeed at whatever he sets his mind on in the future. 

My little dragon sways deeply on both ends, when he is happy, the world shines with him, he has a presence that just lights up the room, when he sways to the other end, it is equally as powerful haha. 

My suggestion if you have this baby, as you down your fourth coffee, wipe an unknown substance off your pjs, and throw your unwashed hair into a bun, try not to look at it as a negative, attempt to see this temperament as a positive, your baby will need your patient guidance to become the very best he or she can be. 

AliExpress Review

My Dearest Dragon:

I mentioned in my last blog that I love free stuff, I also love cheap stuff! Let's be real, I like my baby looking handsome, but I mean $35/sweater that he will grow out of in a month, crazy business. Although...I have spent $35 on a baby sweater before...don't tell my husband!

Who can blame me? Super cute. 

However, if that sweater cost only $10 all the better! So I came across AliExpress as a cheap clothing option for baby, though it has much more then just clothes. I figured might as well give it a try! So I put in an order for a couple hats, baby bandana bibs, and and outfit. Well that was at least a month ago, probably longer, and i am still waiting on the bibs and hats, that is one of the downfalls of the site, always order bigger, not just because the sizes are chinese sizes and therefor a bit smaller then our western standards, but also because it might take a while to get to you! However, I did get a super cute outfit rather quickly! 

Outfit (here's the link)

I can't remember because this was a while ago, but this is stinkin cute! and it was a nice stretchy material, fitting a little small, but I also have a little bit of a pudgkin baby so I don't think thats a knock against it. 

I have put in another order and hoping that I can write another positive review....also that I get some of those products I am still waiting on lol. 

My Dearest Dragon:

I am pretty passionate about free stuff, I don't know about you, but this past year I had our first baby, bought a house, and got married. So free is great! My Best friends baby just turned 2 years old! So of course I had to sew her something special.

I have become very interested in sewing in the past couple month, probably because I don't actually have any time to focus on it with a newborn that never sleeps.

I created these for her toddler and her dolly.

I used two free patterns the toddler dress can be made into a tunic or a dress, and Made by Toya has a really wonderful tutorial. I obviously had to edit it a bit to get the fox face, the pattern was simple to follow.

found here

The doll dress I made the Little Geranium dress, as they really look so similar. I found even though it is such a small dress it needed to be taken in a lot to fit the doll. 

I found the pattern for this one here

I think they turned out pretty good for my first real projects....their Christmas presents are going to be something special! 

Creating the Tree Shelf

My Dearest Dragon:

Creating the tree shelf was a lot of fun! And really easy too. 

I am not sure how many of you have a old cedar mill around your place, we however are really lucky and have one only 15 minutes from our house. They often have heaps of scraps that aren't perfect for sale piled up by the side of the road that they periodically burn. 

This has been a picking ground for people looking for firewood, or scraps for artwork (I often snag some for my paintings). 

Well this is where I got the wood for the shelf 

My inspiration was

 Blog HERE

Mine obviously turned out a bit different as I don't have a wood planer to make it that thin...but I kinda like how tree like mine is. I kept the bark on the backside of the log and shelves. 

First I had to sand it down which helped get the details of the wood

Then I used linseed oil and just put two coats on, letting it dry in between coats.

This really brought out the beautiful cedar colours and details.

Then hubby dragged it upstairs and used some giant screws to screw it into the stud in the wall. It is a piece of a tree, so make sure it is in a stud!

I really wanted to keep the natural look as much as possible, so we put the shelving over top of the screw holes so they wouldn't be noticeable. 

next hubby installed the shelves....which are only held up on the log....so please do not stack your 1990's hard cover edition encyclopedia that your grandma gave to you that sad sad Christmas long ago or your nice shelf will crack in two. 

But small things like handmade teddies from Gran, and hand made art from mommy is perfect. 

Humbling Day

My Dearest Dragon:

Today I have to admit defeat to your father, this is not an easy task for me, as humble pie does not taste good.

You, my love, are impossible to put down for a nap, at this moment you only nap if taken for a 20 minute car ride or 45 minute walk, and then left in the laundry room with the dryer on (safely of course). I can tell you this has been hard on the pocket book.

I bought a swing for you when you were much younger, perhaps 2 months, and you had no interest in it. So eventually after many failed attempts I sold it.

Yesterday your dad came home with a new swing, and I rolled my eyes and said "sure lets try it" to mostly pacify him.

It was not simple and it took sitting on the cold tile floor, listening to your night time song 3 times (5 minutes long) and singing loudly to you before you eventually fell asleep in your swing...in the laundry room...with the dryer on...but hey! No driving. Whoo

I gave dad a kiss and said it worked, but had not yet admitted defeat. It was not until I tried again this morning that you fell asleep after only 2 night time songs that I admitted that perhaps dad was right and you liked the swing.

I served myself up a nice big slice of humble pie and admitted to your dad that he won. Even if it didn't work for your midday nap ;) .

My Dearest Dragon:

While you were just a little coconut in my tummy mommy was stressing about all the things I needed to plan for your arrival.

I wish I could tell you I was a laid back calm person who didn't need the nursery completely set up, have clothes for multiple age groups, all the cloth diapers prepped (which was such a fun/intimidating purchase).

But no no, I couldn't just buy the things to get ready for you, I needed it all to be done by mommy so you knew how much I loved you.

Let me walk you through the nursery for a moment, We did not know that you were going to be a boy, in fact mom was almost positive you were a girl. So we decided to go with a woodlands theme, and I LOVE IT.

Mom hand painted birch trees onto your wall

She dragged a reluctant daddy out to the old cedar mill to p/u scraps to make you the coolest shelf. She even sanded and oiled it herself....though thank goodness daddy and grandpa dragged it upstairs and set it up for me. 

She hand painted your fox photo, and cut out the tree art

And she even sat her giant preggo arse down on the concrete to hand sand and paint your basinette... (which you barely slept in)

If only that were it...but no mommy had to keep going. Sewing quilts and crocheting more blankets.