Growing in Leaps and Bounds!

I have 7 grandnieces and nephews.  The youngest of the 7 will be celebrating his very first birthday next week and my husband and I will be attending his party.  I love to make something for these occasions because I feel it is a unique and special way of commemorating a special day. It will be a one of a kind gift and since I always second guess anything I buy as a gift, I know that something handmade is a perfect and confident choice for me.

 I thought long and hard about what exactly I would make for a one year old boy.  I made him a personalized stool for his christening.  I made him some appliqued onesies when he was born, so what could I possibly make him that would be useful and attractive?  Hmmm....a growth chart!
So I took a trip to the hardware store and bought a canvas dropcloth.  I use drop cloths for art projects with my students and love the color, texture and durability, not to mention the cost!

I toyed around with different themes appropriate for boys such as space, cars, forest animals, etc., but decided on frogs.
I cut and hemmed the cloth, sketched out the design, added the calibrations and painted.  I added some polka dotted ribbon to the sides for a little contrast and pattern, a dowel to which I will a a cord to hang it and 2 large beads to keep the cord from slipping off and, "voila", I have a perfect handmade gift for my little grandnephew!

The finishing touch will be a little message on the back signed and dated by me.  Happy 1st Birthday, Michael!

A Few of My Favorite Things

It's time for me to write about one of my favorite things, teddy bears.   I don't know when my obsession began, but for as long as I can remember, I have always been enamored of those furry, chubby cheeked, shiny black eyed huggable creatures.  They surround me everyday, in my bedroom on a wicker trunk, in my den on an old fashioned record player and on a shelf in my kitchen. There's something very comforting about having them around.

One thing I like about as much as I like looking at my teddy bears, is painting them.  In addition to painting the bears on my Christmas ornaments, I also paint bears on children's stools.  Although I usually do a sketch before I begin painting, sometimes I just begin with a rough idea and let the muses lead me where they will. 

I recently painted stools for a set of quadruplets, 2 boys and 2 girls.  I painted a fairy bear in a garden of flowers and butterflies for Lily, a bumble bee bear in a garden of sunflowers and bees for Edda, a sailor bear with a toy boat and anchor for Timmy, and my favorite, a fisherman bear with fish and frogs for Wyatt.  The woman who commissioned me to paint these stools is a friend and former colleague of mine for whom I have painted several ornaments, stools, rocking chairs and a table for her grandchildren.  I have painted lots of different bears for her, so I wanted to do something different for these four stools.

Although I will paint a copy of one of my stools for someone if they ask, I enjoy the challenge of creating new and different themes because each bear I paint has a slightly different look, different color fur, and no two are alike.  Each has its own personality and sometimes I don't know what the bear will become until I begin to paint.  Another colleague of mine, who uses my stools as her go-to baby gift, simply tells me the child's name, lets me know what the mom or dad's hobbies or favorite sports are or where they went to school, etc., and lets me take it from there.  Sometimes people just tell me colors and the sex of the child and let me do my own thing.  Those are my favorite stools to paint.

It's a wonderfully creative process for me to go through each time I paint.  Although I've been doing this a long time, I never tire of the journey!