A Prairie Bonnet for My Little Girl ♥

I made a prairie bonnet for Cora today.  She asked for one this summer to keep the sun out of her eyes.  

I love watching period piece films.  Cora watches them with me sometimes, occasionally asking me to make her something that one of the little girls is wearing.  My poor kid has no idea what year it is in the fashion world.  I know she'll figure it out soon enough, but for now, I am going to enjoy how cute she looks in this!

She also asked me for a petticoat and bloomers for her birthday.  I can't wait to see it all together!

I had no idea how to make a prairie bonnet, so I just measured her head and drew a pattern that I thought would work.  I made this from a recycled bed sheet.  It's a bit snug around her head ear to ear, so I'll have to increase it a bit there.  Otherwise it turned out ok.  I made it long enough to cover her neck in the back, to protect it from the sun.  I may change the brim a little bit too, so it covers the sides of her face better (didn't want to block her peripheral vision completely! =) .  My niece wants one now too, so I'll see how the changes go on the next one. 

Cora's bonnet already saved her from a branch lashing in the face though!  She was pulling crab apples off of the tree as I was taking her picture.  The tree fought back!  I happened to click the photo right then for an action shot.  Straight hit to the bonnet!  Better than the face right?!?!  So, needless to say she's already fond of it!

I Finally Built a Light Box!

I have been procrastinating building a macro light box for sometime now. Thanks to Thea at That Yarn Store, I have been given a little push to finally get it done today.  She has been posting lately on her adventures in becoming a better photographer. Check it out for some laymen's, non overwhelming and helpful ways to start being a better photographer.
When crafters start selling online at Etsy, photography becomes kind of a necessity.  Did I mention I suck at this!  I know that my cardboard light box won't transform my abilities, but it does make a statement that says-"Hey I'm trying!"
There are a lot of tutorials on how to build one of these.  Just Google how to make a macro light box.  Amazon also sells a couple for pretty cheap too, like this one.  Just read the reviews before buying (helpful advice in those).








I want to stop having Etsy photo envy and start taking some better shots of my own.  It can't hurt to try! I still need to get a better light source, but Gus my needle felted mouse gave me an A+ and an apple for my efforts! =)

Build a Fairy House

I have wanted to build a fairy house for forever.  My younger sister Cera loves nature and crafting, so we decided to give it a go!  We collected a few rocks from around my dad's farm and gathered up some branches, moss and anything that we thought looked neat.  We started pretty late at night so, we had a sleepover and one night to think of what we were going to do with all of our new found treasures.  I could not wait until morning to start build this thing.  I had a million ideas going through my head.  I was up at the crack of dawn, equip with my glue gun and some fairy furniture sketches.  We found a huge piece of fools gold and some pieces of bark to make archways over the rocks with.  We started by covering everything in moss and stuck a few fake flowers into it.  It already looked pretty cool.  We put moss on the ground all around the fools gold house, and made stepping stones with some smaller rocks leading up to it.
This house was looking pretty cool, but not quite lived in yet.  It was time to build some furniture.  The night before we had made a couple fake mushrooms, plates, cups, and a cake out of polymer clay.  I knew we were going to need a table and chairs. Cera wanted the fairies to have something fun to do, so she made a swing-set.

The ideas just kept pouring out!  Before, I knew it we had the chop saw out and were cutting up sticks we found lying around the yard.  We made beds, a lamp, a couch, a table and chairs, a swing-set, a sink from a seashell, and some brooms to sweep up the kitchen with. It wasn't even noon yet and the fairies could have moved in already. To top it off we put a door going into the tree with a ladder and some steps leading up to it.  There is a spot behind the main rock with the archway that we put a tea light candle at night (safely!).  The whole house was glowing beautifully! The kids think the tree is now full of fairies!  Who knows, maybe it is! =)

We had a lot of fun making this!  Building a fairy house was a great activity to get the kids working together outdoors, looking at nature in a different perspective.  You don't need to get as crazy as we did with a chop saw...a glue gun, a little nature, and some imagination would be plenty to make your very own fairy house.  This was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  I can't wait to make an indoor play version!

Be sure to post your fairy house pictures on the Whim Wham Craft Blog Flickr group.  Help out the homeless fairies in your neighborhood and Build a Fairy House! =)

Did Whim Wham fall off the face of the earth?

No.  I am still here, but my apologies on the lack of posts.  I went on a vacation, and found out there was no internet where I was staying.  (Not so relaxing for me, but probably a break I needed to take.  I just would have prepared better had I known.)  Anyway, lots of fun stuff going on here!
I had a nice vacation.  I still did manage to work a little though.  I got an Etsy order while I was vacationing and  happened to be where the customer lived, so she asked to meet me.  It was really nice to meet a buyer in person.  It was an unexpected and very cool part of my trip.  It's so nice to put a face with a name! =)
I also hit some garage sale's.  Only I would garage sale on vacation!  They were having a neighborhood garage sale where we were staying at my friends house, so I couldn't resist.
My daughter got a pet parrot for $10, that she absolutely loves.  She really lucked out because he costs $350 in the store and Mom would have never spent that much on a toy.  I guess since real parrots cost so much, people pay this????  Anyway, he is pretty cool and almost as annoying as the real thing!

I also lucked out an found a cool vintage sheet and some nice eyelet pillowcases.  Gotta love the vintage fabric finds at garage sales! =)

We also went to a baseball game, a drive in movie, went bowling and made some huge sidewalk chalk drawings.
Overall, we had a really nice time.  Now back to reality and all that I have been neglecting!