Some freezer paper stencils and a preview

Working moms and stay at home moms alike know how easy it is to neglect ourselves. For me, by the time I have done my job at work, spent all the precious time I can with my daughter who I miss all day, given the hubs (L) a bit of attention, rubbed the dog's belly and done any one of a million different things that needs to be done around the house, I'm pooped and there is no time for anything but precious sleep. Life just doesn't leave much time for personal pursuits.

I'm not complaining, I love that my time is taken up by these beautiful people here:


Seriously one cute baby and one hot husband I have if I say so myself! And not pictured is Superdog. I'll have to tell y'all about him another day. Best. Dog. Ever.

On evenings after the baby is in bed, and I can ignore the dog hair on the floor (hey L can ignore it so I can too!) or any of the other things I could do to keep our house out of complete chaos, I head to my sewing/craft room. That's where I spent a little bit of time getting my creative juices flowing and have some fun making stuff. Most of what I do these days is for D, and I love it that way. Making handcrafted toys/clothes/decorations for my family makes me feel good. I'd like to share some of my projects in this blog.

I discovered freezer paper stencils online a short time ago. Basically you transfer a design onto freezer paper. (This paper stuff you find with the tinfoil at the grocery store that is plain paper on one side and shiny plastic coated on the other.) Cut out the transferred design, making it a stencil. Then, place the shiny side down on a shirt or whatever you are embellishing, and iron it. The plastic on the paper adheres with the heat of the iron, providing a great seal to the stencil. Paint/dab fabric paint, peel off stencil, and TA DAH! There are many many many great tutorials on freezer paper stencils on the web. THIS ONE is a pretty clear one if you want to try it too!

Here's a shirt I made for D, from a KISS stencil her Daddy downloaded:




Delilah's Daddy likes little girl clothes that are a bit unusual. Here's another stencil he picked - not the kind of of thing you usually see on a pink toddler shirt, but L thinks this is way cool:



I'll show that one when it is all done!

Until next time....here's a peek at another project I have been working on...a felt doll following a pattern by the awesome Mimi Kirchner. (Her Etsy site makes me drool) When she is finished I will be happy to upload her picture.



If you are intrigued and want to check out the pattern and what the finished product is supposed to look like, check it out at the Purl Bee website (they have tons of cool stuff over there!) here.


Ohhh, and, I am not a hot photographer, but I'm making do with my point and shoot. Be kind!

New Blogger.....

I work, I play, I eat. Not necessarily in that order.

Yo, I'm Janimal. Momma to a sweet little girl named Delilah. Employee to an awesome company in the HR Dept. Welcome to my little corner of the internet world. I thought about creating a blog about being a working mom, or about crafting, or one about cooking. But I just can't separate all the parts of my life so well. So here it is, my mishmosh blog. Check back in for my ramblings on motherhood, my attempts at creativity, and whatever I can manage to publish that will amuse you but be appropriate enough for coworkers to see!