Identical twins, but not sweaters. Jill, they are SOOOOO adorable!

Margo in her Little Red Ridinghood sweater made by her mom Gretchen. Lovely!! Looks like it came from Anthropologie for kids!

This week was all about pillow shams and pillow cases. Above is Miika and buddy Sami fusing plastic bags together to form the backing for picnic blankets. The fused plastic is like thick plastic fabric. So we cut it to the size of the shams, sewed it together and the girls drew pictures on the back with permanent markers.

Whalah! Nice, little one-person blankets that keep keep you dry if the ground is wet or kinda dirty. Nice for the Memorial Day Parade. The only thing I forgot to do was add some string or ribbon in for tying and carrying on their shoulders. We’ll add that later.

I’m always dropping my phone or leaving my keys somewhere. And I can’t stand having them in my pocket…sometimes I don’t have pockets. So, it dawned on me that an apron was the perfect solution. This one is my second one because Miika told me she was tired of seeing my green one. In it’s previous life, this apron was a mini skirt. Fanny packs are out and aprons are in!

This past Monday at Mom’s night out, one of the moms agreed with me about bulky keys and phones and made one too. I feel a workshop coming on…and a new trend. There’s a magazine called Apronology published by Stampington if you need inspiration. When we moms are carrying kids and groceries or walking the dog, pushing the stroller, etc, we need our hands free. We need to be comfortable. In fact, I’m thinking of just ditching the purse and going with an apron…gotta make some more…can’t wear pink every day!! And this isn’t June Cleaver’s apron either, it’s a statement! Wearable art! Find a piece off clothing that already has pockets and just embellish. My first one is made from an Old Navy shirt.

Making family handbooks…

Nathan is taking in in one of his favorite books with Haywood and Fin.

Anna is reluctant to take credit for her beautiful handbook that she made with her mom and brother, Luke.

After our 21 Group left, it was time to pack up as much of the workshop bits as I could fit into the van and I took the workshop on the road to Gigi’s Playhouse in Aurora for a Mom’s Night Out. We had so much fun collaborating and creating. Five moms came and went home with masterpieces featuring their family photos. Here are a few of them:

Gina, mother of 3 girls, created this beautiful trio of princesses.

Margo is this precious, little fairy. Her mom was able to recreate a miniature of what the actual dress looked like, using scraps from my bins and an old pair of mother-of-pearl earrings from the bottom of my button bowl. So gratifying to see my trash come alive in someone else’s hands and imagination. This was a photo copy of a newspaper clipping Modge Podged to a cereal box and given a coat of tinted Modge Podge on top. A touch of colored pencil on the cheeks and whalah! A gem!

I went to sleep feeling so happy on Saturday night. Tired, but happy. Our evening workshop was scheduled from 6pm- 9pm. But everyone was working so hard that time flew to 11:30pm before we knew it. I think my head hit the pillow around 1am. But what I’m learning from ALL these workshops is that it takes time to create. At least 3-4 hours. And that’s OK, because people are stretching and expanding what they can do. It’s such a complete feeling to see this happen.

The aqua cabinets here were salvaged from the building that we manage. All the kitchens have been renovated and these were headed for the side of the street…perfect for fabric scraps and whatnot. They cost me $9.99 worth of paint.) A little left over paint went on the treasure box.

Oh, and inside the box? Miika’s surprise for her friend…a homemade jumprope and lots of  “bits” from our workshop. I think every little girl loves to get a box of treasures!! We hope you like it Lily! We had lots of fun making this.

During spring break, I offered morning workshops. Here are 2 of our visitors who went home with beautiful Easter baskets made from T-shirts and cereal boxes. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing kids create challenging projects and then to see how proud they are of themselves. This basket is not easy…definitely pushes all the fine motor skills. But it gets kids to the next level of their abilities. It’s appropriate 8-12 year olds. Last week we did this for our afterschool workshop which was attended by mostly first graders. They all got through it, but definitely needed assistance. You should have seen them beaming when they finished…it was so intense that I forgot to take pictures!

35 down and 65 to go. I’m working on a visual menu of project offerings. I feel like Julie in the movie about Julia Childs, trying to cook through 365 recipies. No deadline though…that’s too much presssure.

Yesterday Paul was out of town and my mom was watching the kids….so I escaped to the workshop to create a little collage made from a matchbox and repurposed magazine pages. It’s a giving box which is as much a gift as the treasure inside. This can be adapted to bigger cracker boxes, cereal boxes and any other kind of box. When you give a box like this, the recipient can in turn give it to another person, keeping it moving and giving indefinitely.

Stay tuned for more ideas…

Yesterday I plunked down a big check and in exchange I picked up a pair of keys from a conference table. The deal closed and a door opened. And I say “I” because it’s my idea, my dream. Paul is standing behind me, not in front. This is definitely NOT his idea. He’s more of a 9–5-kinda-guy…do the job, collect the Friday check, go home. Me? I’m miserable in a 9-5 box.Why are the walls always gray cloth in the 9–5 world?

This is the front 1/2 of the new workshop in the raw. The walls are not really quite this gray—a soft green actually. However, I did buy 3 cans of Benjamin Moore, Morning Sunshine today. This green is way too gray and corporate. The tarps are down and I’m ready to roll.

I’m giving The Little Bits Workshop 6 months to fly, if not we’ll rent it out and I’ll go jump in a 9-5 box and join the sad army of moms who drop their kids off in the morning and pick them up at night. Believe me, I’m going to give it every bit of energy I have! Because the door is wide open and I’m foolish enough to walk into a dream…praying I don’t wake up too abruptly.

They couldn’t have been from more opposite neighborhoods. The first bag was in Wicker Park. When I found the address, I took a deep breath and thought OH, NO, what have I done. I pulled up to an “Adult” store on Milwaukee and called the cell number. The guy with the bean bag lived in an apartment over the “store.” He had a black hood on, was about 6’4″ and had a pale, white, goth face. He came down with the bag, I thanked him and handed him his $10. He grunted, “You’re welcome” and shut the rusty red door. I felt like I was making an illegal deal. The kids were in the van so I stuffed the bean bag in a big garbage bag so Miika wouldn’t see what I was “buying.”

The second bag was in Downers Grove in a lovely middle class neighborhood. I pulled up to the split-level ranch and the mom of the house came to the door in a “holiday” sweater apologizing for the cookie dough on her hands. She took my check with the tips of her doughy fingers and wished me a Merry Christmas.

Both bags were black. I sprayed them down with bleach water and went shopping for some fun fabric to recover them. Here’s how they look now:

I realize that Miika would probably prefer a Hello Kitty bag and Nathan would LOVE a Sesame Street bag…but I don’t want to look at those, plus they’ll outgrow those themes fast. I found this very cool fabric at Hancock the other day. I can’t wait to give the bags on Christmas morning!

Oh, and as for the cost…well… the bags were $10 each plus the fabric which was a lot more than I wanted to spend….$47. But I still saved money. Nice covers on etsy.com are $68 each for just the cover. Plain old bean bags are $35-ish and nice ones on line are $80+. So I ended up spending $67 for 2 bags, not bad!! It took 3 yards of the swirly polka dot and 1/2 yard of the gold circle on the ends. Now to keep them out of site for the next 6 days!!