free mulch? sign me up.

I'm sure there are other communities out there where this is a thing: the public works department chips up downed tree limbs and trimmings from parks and public lands, and makes the chips available for free. Research to see if your community offers the same.

 

There are several of these stations around town. We stumbled upon one while out for a bike ride a couple of summers ago. Now when I need mulch, I pack the kiddo, a shovel, five plastic bins and a couple of Ikea's big blue bags in my car and head off.

It's been a pretty awesome resource for our yard. Thanks Public Works Department!

c is for chasmosaurus

After last week's craft fail, it was nice to have a couple of craft successes. This is one!

This chasmosaurus shirt is part of our gift for an upcoming birthday party this weekend (second part to be featured here, soon!). Our little friend is a big-time dinosaur enthusiast.

Those of you without a Silhouette cutter will be happy to know that this was made without one. I used freezer paper and an X-Acto blade, after first designing the image in Adobe Illustrator. Free dinosaur graphics are everywhere on the internet, though, so it's possible to do this project with other dinosaurs, without Illustrator. Chasmosaurus fans can use this design for your own personal projects (not for sale!).

You can print directly on the freezer paper. Cut it to fit your printer and make sure you'll be printing on the textured "paper" side, not the slick plastic side.

To save ink, I turned the opacity down to 30% so that it would print a light gray instead of black. You could also just print the image in outline, but I like to have a filled-in figure for whatever reason.

After it's printed, cut it out with an extra-sharp X-acto blade on a self-healing mat or a surface you don't care too much about (like an old magazine or a drawing board). The sharpness of the blade is especially important for those tiny letters.

Then iron it on your shirt and paint using a short-bristled brush! As I've mentioned before, the beauty here is that kids can help with the painting part. My kiddo helped paint this for his friend, so the gift is really from his own two hands.

Here are some of my previous freezer paper stencil projects, in case you'd like some more ideas or a bit more step-by-step.

(1) flour sack towels
(2) viking t-shirt
(3) toddler art pretzel shirt

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these images larger just by clicking on them . . . but you probably already knew that, clever you.

giveaway winners + discount code

Happy Mother's Day to all of you awesome mamas out there! I had 42 entries in my contest by midnight Friday, which made your odds of winning one of the two pieces of measuring tape fabric pretty darned good . . . and yet, only two people won this time around, and I'm always left wishing everyone could win.

Here are the two folks I'll be sending fabric to this week:

Jenny (comment: "I have to say: DOLL FACED PILLOW. I wish I could say WTH??? But really and truly, I have an aunt who used to make that stuff for me when I was a little girl. 
I like your blog and this tape measure fabric is wonderful!! Thank you so much for the chance.")

KRubin (comment: "This is perfect timing! My best friend just found out that she is expecting a little girl and will begin working on the nursery soon! I think it would make a great addition. This may be cheating, but I'm really proud of myself! Last week, I completed my first year of graduate school!"

I've already sent out e-mails to these two ladies, but if I don't hear from one or the other (or both) of them by May 17th, I'll be picking someone new. UPDATE 5/13/2013: both people have been in contact, so I'll be shipping fabric to them today! The rest of you can take advantage of the following:

Being that it's Mother's Day and I really like hearing from readers new and old, I'm giving the rest of you an exclusive coupon code for 50% off the measuring tape fabric in my Etsy supplies shop. This will expire on May 18th, so order up!

Head on over, put the fabric in your cart, and when you're prompted for the coupon code at checkout, enter SEWMAMA. That's it!

Thanks again, everyone, for another successful Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I was a little late (3 days) getting my giveaway post up this time around, so the amount of responses was impressive. Welcome to all of you new blog followers; I hope you'll like the post I've got planned for next week . . . CLIFFHANGER ENDING!

giveaway day may 6th: win measuring tape growth chart fabric!

Update: winners announced! Click here!


Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day has inspired me to give away 2 pieces of my measuring tape fabric to  blog readers! Want to win one? Just add a comment below letting me know one other blog post you've liked on my blog -OR- add a comment below letting me know one way you feel you've really measured up to a challenge this week. Deadline is midnight, PST May 10th 2013.

Two lucky winners will each walk away with enough measuring tape fabric to make his or her own measuring tape growth chart. Note: this is not a finished product, but the fabric you can use to make your own. With free shipping, this is a $14 value.

Sorry; free U.S. shipping only. Others can buy the fabric in my Etsy Shop or on my Spoonflower page.

Winners will be announced on May 12th, and notified by e-mail if possible (I'll click the name by your comment, and follow any e-mail link available; otherwise, just check back on the 12th to see if you've won). After five days, non-responsive winners will miss out, and new winners will be selected from the pool of entrants.

Want to know how to put one of these growth charts together? I did an earlier blog with step-by-step instructions.

Okay! Get to entering! Thanks for reading, and good luck!

free printable letterpress - style poster

I made this to put in my kiddo's room, and decided to share the love! Feel free to print for personal use. (conditions appear after the jpgs)





If you post on your blog, please link back to me and give credit. Selling electronic files or prints of this design is prohibited. Basically, be fair, be honest, respect others' work!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


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cozy coupe gas to electric conversion (free dash sticker download)

There's nothing quite like an early morning garage sale to get you going! The bebe and I ended up going across town to this one because the Craig's List ad promised lots of kids yard toys. I had my eye on a Radio Flyer wagon (which turned out to be a different model, and more money, than I'd been dreaming of). Instead of the wagon, we hauled home this sweet ride, a turquoise and orange Cozy Coupe with a $5 price tag. One of these was on my wish list as well, and my little guy LOVES it!




Ooh, I had a ton of fun cramming it into the front seat of the car.

It had been outside a bit, so the dash stickers and warning tag on the back were peeling and flaking. Not something I wanted the kiddo putting in his mouth (and you know he would).






It was the perfect opportunity for a Cozy Coupe gas-to-electric conversion! I did a bit of research to see what the dash of an electric or hybrid vehicle looks like, and then put these new dashboard displays together.








And of course, because there was a half sheet of sticker label paper left after designing the dashboard displays, the kiddo also got this "I'm Great!" Oregon license plate!






I added a line on the bottom edge of the plate sticker that has some of the safety warnings of the original sticker, just so that we remember the weight limit and the ban on steep hills and whatnot.

Download your own sticker label sheet here:
Cozy Coupe Dashboard Stickers


For best results from home, print on 8.5 x 11 inch, full-sheet label paper, using a laser printer. Or have a print shop print these for you on vinyl for truly weather-safe labels!

Have another idea in mind for dashboard stickers, or need a different license plate? Contact me for details.