New Children's Juvenile Fabrics Arriving

Things have been quiet for the summer, but I have just recieved several new juvenile patterned fabrics and I'm so excited about starting on some kid's aprons!  Just sharing the fabrics today, will show completed aprons later this week!  Here are just a few:


For little girls:

Cute elephants--love the colors:

for bigger girls??  Says "girl bugs"!  Cute!

Love the color in this one, besides, I love giraffes!

And who doesn't like cats???

What do you think?  What's your favorite? 

Have Little Ones? Need party gift?

Last weekend my grandson, Padraic, had a birthday party. All the decorations were about flying around the world in a hot air balloon.  Maps from all over the world adorned the walls as miniature airplanes and a mass of small hot air balloons hung suspended from the high ceiling! (I'll try to get a tutorial of the hot air balloon decorations from my daughter--maybe in tomorrows post!)

Do you have little ones in the home?  Then I know that you have frequent birthday party invitations floating in and out of your hands.  Everyone loves a party!  Ever thought of having a cupboard or drawer where you keep gifts ready for parties?  I do.  There is always that time when you have no time, you are super busy and your child reminds you that "the" party is this afternoon!   That's when you go to the cupboard and unlike 'old mother Hubbard' you do not find it bare! Don't for get to stock it with gift bags and bows! A second idea, for the cupboard, is to use the cupboard contents for times when you need a reward for your own child.  But if you use it in this way, make sure the cupboard is a secret from the kiddos, it just wouldn't do to have them begging for rewards!  :)  Also, the cupboard saves you time and thus saves you money, no more running around to the store and using up all that gasoline for each party!

I've listed a few ideas to begin stocking your cupboard:

Cupcake necklace by Padraic

Triple YoYo Hair barette by PruittCreations

Jumping frog pencil bag by PruittCreations

 By the way, if you visit my shop, check out the marked down/ CLEARANCE  section for tags and cards!

Spool Tree Ornie

Need an activity for the kids? 

Have old empty thread spools?  

You will also need, wrapping paper scraps, a piece of felt, tape, glue gun, scissors, leftover beads, ribbons, and bobbles.

Be careful with the glue gun--It's hot!  Maybe adult help would be nice!

HOT GLUE!

Now, have at it!  Cut paper and wrap around each spool.  Secure with tape.  Fashion a "tree skirt" from the felt. I made mine out of red felt cutting the edges with a scalloped edging.   Hot glue the spools and the 'skirt' in place to make a "tree" then decorate with ribbon, beads, and bobbles!  I fashioned a hanger through the middle of my spool with floral wire to make a hanger, but I am sure you could do this with ribbon too!  Be creative!  That is what the 30 Days of Christmas Fun is all about!!!!!  

Only one more '30 Days of Christmas Fun' linky left--this next Friday!  Don't forget to link with us on Friday!  Show us your ideas, decorations or what the kids made for the holidays!  We want to see!!

Friday Link List 

Happy Holidays!!

Friday Faves - It's a boy!

In honor of my 26th grand baby, Gideon, born last week, I am featuring beautiful baby blankets and quilts available on Etsy!  Some of my favorites!!!!

Alphabet Animal Baby Quilt by theSweetSierrashop

Baby quilt by peeptree

Owls baby quilt by grannysbabyquilts

FAT CAT baby quilt by zestylemon

And I have a couple listed in my own shop including cuddle blankets!  Take a look here.

PruittCreations baby quilt

Oops!

Gideon's a boy, no pink for him!  Maybe the next grand will be a girl!

Vacation . . . Pause

Yes, I am still on vacation from this blog site!  I am currently working on book illustrations and documenting the process in my other blog, Abigail's Attic -- find it here!  But, I have a new line of items in my PruittCreations Etsy shop and I was excited to share them with you--just in time for school to start! 

Children's Tote Bags!!

I made quite a few of these for a summer craft show and now have listed them for Back-to-School! I also bought this cute wrought iron stand from another vendor at the show.  Isn't she adorable!!  I used her to display my new bags!

Several other styles available.  Thanks for taking a peek in my shop!

Oh and this is for my blog team's august challenge!

The Blogging Business Artisans Challenge theme is from Erika of Artful Rising. The theme is Back to School: Back to school supplies, clothes, accessories, art, anything related to the back to school madness!

After the 20th of the month, there will be a link on our team blog for all of these challenges.  Visit us there! 

Now, back to illustrating and my other blog--See you back here in September!

NEW crayon roll-up!

I found this cute kitty novelty fabric that I just loved. 

It put away in my stash and I forgot about it!  Pooh!  Why did I do that??  Anyhoo, I found it again, last week, and made a cute crayon roll-up to put in my shop.





Flat out!



Fold over to protect tips!







All rolled up!

Now it's all ready to pop in mom's purse or diaper bag for those out of the house excursions.  Crayons won't mess up the inside of her purse nor will they fall out of the carrier!  Great idea, huh?

Available in my PruittCreations Etsy shop!



Wagon Dolls

Recently, in a blog thread discussion, I mentioned wagon dolls.  A friend wondered what they were.  So. . .  here they are.  Although the picture is not the best and is taken from an old snapshot, maybe you can see what these cute homespun dolls look like. They were originally designed by Vicki Lauritsen out of Geraldton, Western Australia in 1994.  She fashioned them after reading a library book about children's toys on the wagon trains. Thus the name!

These are lovely soft dolls for playtime. They stand about 22 inches tall. I made several of these for my grandkids some years ago. They are made of muslin with an embroidered face and the best part about them is their hair. It's strips of fabric and buttons. The strips are cut with pinking shears. The fabric strips make for a floppy head of hair and the most adorable part of the doll, in my opinion. (Although it takes a lot of time to finish this part.) Clothing is a simple dress of homespun fabric with cute little striped bloomers. 

I originally found this pattern in an international quilt shop series book called The Calico House by Joanna Brazler.  It features the creative talents of a group of women who work and frequent The Calico House quilt shop in Perth Australia.  I have made several of the projects in this book and highly recommend the book (if you can find it--it was printed by That Patchwork Place in Bothell Washington, 1995).

Fun Fabric!

I found this fun fabric at an estate sale!  It's  a Robert Kaufman fabric.  I just love the kids saying what they want to be.  This might make a great children's apron!  (It's now for sale in my shop.)

So you ever shop estate sales?  Tell us about one of your favorite finds!

Pros and Cons

? . . . ? . . . ? . . . ? . . ? . . ? . . . . . ? . . . ? . . . . ? . . . ? . . ? . . .



Abigail's day mostly done, she found herself again in the wing chair enjoying the warmth from the fireplace. Tonight, as she lifted her feet to the footstool and pulled the Afghan over her legs, she was well into thought.



"Am I too old? I still love kids. Being a foster mom or adopting just appeals to me. Where could I do the most good? After all, I have a large enough home and am fortunate enough to be able to afford all the expenses. I could care for a child, easily. I could love a child. I really enjoyed having Patty here with me for a week. But then, I was tired. It does take a lot of energy to follow after a little one and make sure they are always safe and entertained."



She pondered adding another log to the fire, but thought better of it because it was almost time to turn in. As the warmth from the fire was dieing down, the afghan felt so good. She sure enjoyed her quiet time; would that be sacrificed with a child in the house? Thoughts were flying in her head. Tomorrow . . . tomorrow she should make a list of pros and cons, and talk with Suz about possibilities.



(This is part of an ongoing story of Abigail, which started with my Jan 4th blog post.)

Juvenile Illustrations

I have always liked art! I took every art class I could in junior high and high school that was available. I love to create! But I have been known to say that my own illustrations, sculptures, and paintings seemed a little "juvenile" in style. Not really realistic, with correct detail; not really abstract; just juvenile. That's O.K. Style is just that----style!!! Not a measure of good or bad, but a matter of taste! And because I like this kind of art, I love children's books! I purchase them just for the art (well, the story needs to grab me too!) I always have a few books around to share with my grandchildren when they come to visit. (I've added a couple of children's titles to my recommended book list in the right column of this blog.)

So, today I am featuring one of my favorite Etsy sellers of "juvenile style" art! I picked these two especially for mother's day (coming up very soon.) I hope you enjoy her creations as much as I do. She calls them: "Little art for little people (and big people too!)" I hope you will visit her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5262259

Enjoy!

P.S. We are looking for an illustrtor and a publisher for two stories that my husband and I have written for children! Any leads?

Little Blessings!

We are so privileged (and BLESSED) to be the grandparents of 23 grandchildren!

Andy and I have a blended family of ten children, so 23 grandchildren is not so many! Of course they range in age from 3 months to 21 years! They grow up so fast! I've written about several, from time to time in my blog-- see previous posts. With mother's day coming up soon, I decided to write about my blessed life as a mom and grandmother!


What is a mother? To me,without writing a WHOLE BOOK!, it means having unconditional love for your offspring, regardless of their ages, and regardless of how you obtained them -- biological, adopted, or 'step children'--although we NEVER use that term in our family! If they call you mom, they are your children and I choose to love them! It also means, being there for them when they need someone to affirm them and ALWAYS forgiving slips in behaviour! (I always told them, when they were growing up: "I might abhore your behaviour, but I will always love YOU!") I read a little book by Jerry Cook, called Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness. Although it is specifically about Christian love in the church, it's become my motto. (I've added it to my recommended books section in the right column.)


My kids? I'm truly blessed with three homemakers, two who home school our grandchildren; a financial advisor, an IT guy, a graphic artist, a children's pastor, a financial trainer, a math teacher and a project manager. All of their spouses are awesome people and I love them just as much. Are they all done having kids? Well, no . . . several more grandchildren will be on their way, including a few that will be adopted! A new experience for me!


So . . . be sure to honor your mom this season and if you are a mom, recount to yourself all the little blessings, all the memories, all the surprises and you will find that you, too, are truly blessed!


P.S. Photo taken by Mommy Annie of my grandson Roman with his daddy, Aaron.