Things to be Grateful for...

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll notice that many of my posts centre around crafts, recipes, and the day trips that I take with the kiddies.  Today, I'm writing about what I am grateful for.

The other day, I was reading this post by Suzanne from a Girl for All Seasons.   She had posted some pictures of a quilt block and asked her readers to answer 3 questions (tell her something real about yourself, give a photography tip, and tell her about something you are grateful for) in order to win some lovely fabric and letterpress cards.   I missed my chance to win but I posted a response anyway.   Why?  Well, when most bloggers do a giveaway (including yours truly), they always ask you to "follow" them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, etc etc.  So, it's a refreshing change when someone just wants to know something about her readers.

This is what I wrote: 

Happy Blog Anniversary! I was going to write a reply yesterday but there was a little hand tugging on my pants leg. And of course I never came back until now… now that my little angels are sleeping. Speaking of sleep, today I was super grumpy that my little one woke me up before the sun came up. And I mean grumpy grouchy and very crusty. Not one of my finer mom moments… It was also a wet, miserable, snow and rain day here in Toronto, Canada. So that didn’t help much either. When #2 took his lunch nap and #1 actually wanted to nap with me (what a sweetie!), I ended up giving myself a break and took at nap with him. When I woke up, the sun was shining through my window in the most beautiful way. And as I lay there, looking at my sleeping son, I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be able to see my kids grow up. Then, #2 woke up and called me from the other room. And when I saw his sweet, smiling face, again, I felt so grateful. It was such a nice moment with the two kiddies that I didn’t bother to reach for my camera. I just recorded the moment in my mind (and now on your blog!).  

Here are my two favourite people under 4 feet tall. 

Here is my favourite person above 4 feet tall

So that's what I am grateful for today! Oh, and the kids went to bed early tonight. Yay!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you are grateful for today!

Toddler Backpack: Dump Truck for Shannon

I love making toddler backpacks.  This one is for Shannon's son.  She originally wanted to buy him a choo choo train backpack but decided on the dump truck design. I wish I could've been a fly on the wall when she gave this to her little boy.   She sent me a note afterwards which really made my day. Her son loves it and will only take it off long enough to put more stuff into it. Awww!!!! Now that's what I like to hear :o)

This past summer, I had made a backpack for little J (blogged about it here).  The face of the backpack is the same but the details are different.  Shannon chose to use dark brown as her accent colour instead of white.   Hence, the piping, zipper, side pocket trim, and strap webbing are dark brown.  Also, this one is a true toddler backpack sized for little bodies.

I'm making a new backpack this week and will post pictures once I have them ready.  I've also been "told" by Joshie that I need to make him a "mean T Rex" backpack so he can bring it with him on his first day of school.


I create and sell toddler backpacks through my Josh & Teo ETSY Shop.  However, if you know how to sew and would like to tackle this project, visit Made by Rae's website to purchase a PDF copy of the pattern.  

Happy Sewing!

Another Toddler Apron and a Birthday Party at Loblaws

A couple of weeks ago, Joshie was invited to a cooking birthday party.  Yay!!!  We love those!  His friend A was having her party at the Loblaws on Queens Quay.  So of course I made her an apron.  

I'm all about the personalization so she got a nice big A on her apron.  I used a font called "Ravie" for the A.  For details on how to do an applique, I put more details in this post.  She's quite the fashionista (yes at 4 years old), so I went back to an old favourite of mine:  brown plaid.

I used D rings for the neck closure but next time, I might do snaps and put 3 or 4 on the strap. I used bias tape for the ties and enclosed the entire apron.

I wrapped the apron in tissue paper and stamped a little card.

 

I tried to get Joshie to model the apron for me but he wasn't cooperating as soon as I pulled out the camera.  Meanwhile, Baby Bunny was standing patiently to the side, watching me try to get a smile from Joshie.  Then Bunny said "try" and I asked, "really?  you want to try to model it?"  He nodded his head, so I quickly put the apron on him.

The party was so much fun.   The kids made their own pizzas, decorated cupcakes, made fruit skewers and wore chef hats and aprons.  Joshie was quite impressed by the automatic soap dispenser and wanted to wash his hands all the time.  Poor Baby Bunny had to stay at home because he wasn't old enough to go to cooking school.

Here's what the pizza looked like.  It was really good.

Joshie spent a lot more time eating his pizza than his fruit or even the Birthday Cake!  Shocking!

After the party, we went to A's house and had an impromptu play date.  I got to play with girly toys instead of my usual trucks and superheroes.  It was a great day!