Get your 80s on!

So i'm loving the italian films from the 70s and 80s at the minute, we watch a new one every night over dinner and a glass of wine... the style is fabulous!  One of my favourite actors is Jerry Cala', for the awkward situations that he gets himself into and his hilarious catchphrases.  Reminded me of a while ago when i made one of his catchphrases into a tshirt for my gorgeous nephew...so i decided Rocket needed one too!

It translates roughly as "cool, double cool, cool with bows on!" - umm...it loses something in the translation i think...lol!!

Love it Loud!

So I think Rocket really must be a fan of italian rap music, the reason being that he lives by the motto of one particular song ....so in the spirit of Articolo 31...

...i give you piu' volume!!!

baby braces??

No, they're not in fact!!  They are more strings for the dummy/pacifier/soother/life-saver.  Rocco likes to suck and chew them so much that I need to keep replacing them, and replacing the poppers...how does he manage to break them every time??  He has no teeth yet??!!

Rainbow vestments!

At the same time as the new muslins, i dyed some vests....as before, the colours washed up very bright and girly, so they're not going to be able to be used for my boy!!  I'll have to just find a baby girl to give them to...one that like tie-dye of course!  I have to say though...i love the random-ness of the pattern and the coverage...now if only i'd any more masculine dye colours left.....

How many arms?

So i have to admit that i've always enjoyed changing the baby, but it's getting steadily more difficult the older he gets.  He can now roll over and needs to be pinned down or he'll be away across the carpet with no nappy on...eeek!! danger!!  But one of the most difficult things is trying to change his clothes!  He is quite literally ALL arms and legs.  No sooner have i got one foot through or one hand through and there's another one pushing through the same hole, or the other side is out and flailing in the air...aaahh!!

So the motif i chose for this vest is particularly suitable for him!!  The vests were dyed as usual...it's a little hard to see but i used blue and green dyes and they made a lovely variegated effect. 

Muslin mistake!

So i needed another set of muslins (it's teething time!) and i wanted to do rainbow spiral tie-dye.  It's pretty easy...it's just a matter of laying out the material and then sticking a paintbrush on pencil or something in the middle and winding to make a little coiled pancake.  Then secure with elastic bands (i used thread).  Then it's just a matter of applying each dye to a quarter of the pancake.   

Easy peasy right?  See those gorgeous rainbows below?...I learned something painful with this craft...dont try to keep already-made-up cold water dye, it's not stable and it doesn't keep.  These beautiful rainbows below washed away to a dingy grey - imagine my disappointment when i opened the washing machine to pull them out!!!

So i was so angry that there was nothing to do but repeat the whole process the next night with the dingy grey muslins and some newly-made-up dye.  Only problem was, I didn't have any blue left...only a pale purple.  I was thinking is purple too girly for a boy??....well i needn't have worried, it didn't stay purple.....the red washed out to cerise pink (my fault, i didn't make it strong enough) and the purple washed out to pale pink.......talk about girly???  Needless to say, i refuse to waste them and will be using them for my boy just the same! lol!

Baby's 1st Board Book

Board books are cool and i wanted to make sure that Rocchino gets to read some of them in italian too.  After a quick search online i decided that the prices were prohibitive, not to mention the postage, so i thought i'd use the opportunity to my craft advantage.

I drew some dodgy cartoons of our family onto pieces of mountboard, the stuff picture-framers would use...i've since decided that a thick card would have done...the mountboard is lovely and thick but doesn't fold without breaking so i had to reinforce all the folds with tape and glue.  Anyway, i coloured the cartoons with pencils for a soft colour look and then covered the pages in adhesive cellophane to protect them.  

Now cue very expressive voice...

My name is Rocco...here I am!

This is my daddy...here he is!

This is my mummy...here she is!

These are my irish grandparents...here they are!

This is my cousin Daniel...here we are!

Allllll Done!

pebble-patterned carpet protector

Having made my nappy bag and made it huge...it is absolutely perfect for these early days when i'm carrying everything around with me for the baby...however, it's not so great when im heading out for the day and need to carry with me only the essentials.  So my sister-in-law bought me a little travel changing bag for just such moments and while it is perfect...the changing mat is decidedly white and boring....you see where i'm going with this.

Enter mini travel changing mat.  I made it the same way as the larger version, but this time used a pebble-patterned table protector. 

 

It is silly of course but i hesitate every time before plonking him down onto it because it looks so hard and uncomfortable - all that cold hard stone!!lol!

Baby's 1st uniform!

So my bambino has enrolled in the best creche in the country while i'm at work...yep, Grandma's house!! He and his big cousin (who is a whole 6 months older - oh!!) are the sole pupils and are spoilt rotten all day long, no doubt!

So i decided to make him a little uniform, with the Grandma's Creche crest on it of course!  To make the crest i used freezer paper then fabric paint....it has the 4 most important things that make it Grandma's Creche...heart for much love, stars for lots of fun, z's for naps and a banana...well...because...you need to know my mum really!  She believes that bananas cure all ills. 

Then free-motion script at the bottom...easy-peasy!

Car-tivity mat

So it seems that the bambino doesn't like to travel in the car, cos his chair faces backwards and he's just left staring at the blank back of the seat...seems like it's too boring.  SO i decided to make him a little activity mat that he could look at while we're traveling. 

The holes at the top are for the pins of the headrest and they're off-centre so that the seat belts don't get tangled.  I made the tree with lots of buttons so that i can put on little birds or pieces of fruit or whatever, so that it will always be different and won't get boring for him.  I did flowers for the first batch...although i'm thinking they're a little girly...seems i can't help myself!! The tree has SuperD's and my initials engraved in a heart...it's hard to see in these pics..

And here it is in situ.  The bottom of the mat just reaches the foot of where his little car seat is mounted.  The first time, the reaction was fabulous...he started to cry as i lifted him in and then....silence...his little eyes just staring at it....RESULT!!! Now i wonder how long this will last??

Dye another day

I really enjoy the cold water dyes that i scored of freecycle a while back...they are very simple to use and no real fuss.  The colour permanency is also great!!  This time i made my own colour for the burgundy stuff because i was a little worried about it turning out pink-ish...for a boy it would be a little weird.  I also experiemented a little more with putting elastic bands round bits of the muslin while dying, so giving the cool white diamond shapes.  

Let me tell you...those muslins have come in seriously handy....they've been washed 5,000,000,000 times already and the colours are still strong!

Make an impression!

So the latest thing i made (customised) for the baby room is this clay impression kit frame thing that poog bought me.  The baby's little hand and foot were just the right size to fit in it....cute!!  I'll pop a picture in it when i get round to getting them printed.  Some dodgy free-hand painting completed the camping customisation so that it matches the rest of the room. 

earthy-friendly start

So this is something i forgot to post at the time....this year Earth Hour was 31 March 2012, 20:30–21:30 and i wanted something appropriate for the baby to wear, you know, something earthy and cheery.  Well i carved up some lino stamps and then made a little onsie for our earth-friendly bambino.  

 

He is already doing his bit for the environment by wearing washable nappies (in assorted colours and patterns...i LOVE by the way!) and he will be indoctrinated in the joys of growing his own veg as soon as he can walk in wellies and handle a trowel!!

new baby pirate

Apologies for the awful pictures...i really am getting worse, but i just haven't got the time this morning to set the scene properly!!  I also could've ironed the quilt before snapping but...i haven't the time at this moment!!

So my best friend has just had a little bambino too, and she's decided that he's going to be a pirate when he grows up.  His room has been decorated with scenes of treason on the high seas.  Well i had agreed to make a quilt to match...but i had to make it in a huge hurry as he arrived 12 days early!! Eeek!  And being the leave-it-to-the-last-minute person that i am....well i hadn't started and he'd arrived!!  So, i made the quickest quilt ever, holding my baby in one arm...hence some dodgy stitching in places!! 

I didn't have time to do free-motion quilting over the whole background...so i did some little wave crests here and there to keep the layers together.  However, it does make the top layer a little bit puckered looking, so i probably wouldn't recommend doing it like that again...better to start in good time and quilt the whole lot uniformly!!!

 And on reflection the compass should definitely be smaller. 

In saying that however, i do love the little ships!!!

stamp quickies

So for a craft quickie in these busy days i decided to make some more little rubber stamps, just for fun. 

I made some little baby themed ones for using on Rocco's thankyou notes....and then little love letter and camera ones...i love this craft!

mel's nelly

So to match little Mel's chair sewed a quick wee elephant that is baby-friendly.  

Be nice to him - he's got attitude..see??

All ready to gift!

caro's mini chair

So my cousin Caro has also had a bouncing bambina on the same day as me!! So i thought i'd make her a little matching baby chair for her nursery.  

I just used the same shape of foam for the little cushion.  

And then i just added her name to the corner.

The back just has an overlap so i didn't need to take the time to make a closure....craft time is pretty restricted at the minute!!

more mini magnets

So it's hard getting time to do any major craft projects at the minute....so i chose a quick and easy one to keep me going...more little magnets for me to stick up baby photos with!  Made in the same way as before.  Although circular ones are really a lot easier to make neatly!

 

I also added one to the family magnets to reflect Rocco's arrival...lol there are so many craft projects that i need to add him to to properly reflect our family!! lol!

babybib - mini ninja

So this'll be the last of the bib posts i think...i'm finishing up with a mini ninja motif because the baby really does pull these weird ninja moves all the time!  

And the fact that he's always trying to escape, especially when he's being held....he'll just sit quiet and lull you into a false sense of security and then does a big jump trying to break free.  Luckily i've always been able to catch him!!  I love the little throwing star that the ninja is holding...too cute!!

He's certainly keeping me on my toes!!

awaited arrival

So to mark the arrival of my bouncing bambino last month i made a little addition to the crochet family faccini.

Benvenuto Rocchino!!!