The Very Hungry Caterpillar Obsession

Three years later and she still loves Eric Carle’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar:


February 2008


April 2008


August 2009 (playing with Matthieu and Christina who brought us the French version with them from France)


September 2009


October 2009 (reading the Pop-Up version with Alexis)


December 2009




January 2010


May 2010 (reading the French version with Alice)


December 2010 (reading the German version with Diane, a present toted from Germany for us)


January 2010 (reading the French version with Natalia)


“Reading” us her version of the book (such a fun coloring book!)

Sweet Dreams Felt Banner

I wanted to personalize our daughter’s room with all different types of artwork, not strictly the photos and paintings typically found in bedrooms. From the beginning I knew that some sort of 3D felt embroidery projects would be involved, as at the moment that is my favorite creative medium.

When I saw these fantastic felt letters last fall I knew I had found the perfect special project.


Being the rebel that I am I couldn’t do our daughter’s name. Instead I wanted to do something to create or inspire. I first made a “create” sign for over her desk (you’ll see a photo of that soon) and then set about making “dream” for over the bed.

When I finished “dream” I realized that it was WAY too small for such a large space as over her bed. So “dream” quickly became “sweet dreams” and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

If you too want to do this project, read Made By Rae’s Felt Letter’s post for directions.

Here are my deviations from her project directions, plus some additional helpful tips:

1) I used a 500 pt font (instead of the 400 pt that Rae used) for our letters; next time I may go even bigger.

2) When I printed out the letters I formatted them as “outline only” so as not to waste lots of printer ink (thanks to my friend Alissa for this great tip!). I also used heavy-weight card-stock instead of regular printer paper.

3) I then cut out each letter, pinned each letter outline on top of two layers of felt (to cut both the front and back sides of each letter at once), then cut out around the paper outline. (This way I skipped the time-consuming letter tracing step before cutting out the felt letters.)

4) I used embroidery floss instead of plain thread in bright, often contrasting colors (first I matched the embroidery floss colors to that of the felt, then I mixed up which letter got which color). I like the chunky look for the whipstich that resulted.

5) Be forewarned that this project is time consuming. Each letter took me between 30-45 minutes. Granted I was chatting with friends while I worked, so it may have been much faster had I just focused on the task at hand. I personally prefer having company while working on craft projects. Makes the time go so much faster, don’t you think?!

Have fun and good luck!

Working in Bed

Typing her letters (with the computer on her lap!) and looking like she’s three years old going on thirteen… Kids these days!

She loves her new room. What might have been a difficult transition turned out to incredibly smooth and easy because she directed (asked for!) this change. She’s sleeping in her own bed entirely by herself (from 6pm to 5am last night!).

The only shakeup has been the bedtime routine, which has been throwing mama for a loop this week. Settling down and being calm before bed has become impossible. I have high hopes that as her room becomes more familiar (and, dare I say, boring!) we’ll return to our easy, relaxed bedtime routine.

I keep telling myself that next week will be better. And, if not next week, then definitely the week after that. Ah, eternal optimism.

Glittery Clothespins

Remember the colorful photo banner we made for our daughter’s birthday?

Instead of taking it down and putting it away, we decided to move it upstairs into her room to hang along her bed so she could continue to enjoy the photo memories.

To add a little sparkle to the project, we decided to decorate the clothespins with silver glitter. (Similar to these gorgeous ones for sale on Etsy.)

First we covered one side of the clothespins with plain glue, then we placed silver glitter on top.

We let the clothespins dry for a few hours before covering them with glossy mod podge so that the glitter would stay on the clothespins instead of making a big mess in her clean bed. (At least that’s the theory. We shall see how it works out.)

Once they were dry, we brought them upstairs and re-hung the photo wall.

Super easy, cheap, and so sparkly and fun.

As our daughter would say, “Ta da!” Little girls can be so cute and dramatic.