Friday, April 18, 2014

The Welcoming of the Easter Bunny Fiasco

Every Easter I think of the time when I was really little that I spent hours cutting out individual letters that said "Happy Easter Easter Bunny!" and then I taped them together in a banner. The first row said "Happy" taped beneath that was "Easter", then came "Easter" below that and the last row was "Bunny".  I worked so hard on this sign as I had recently learned all my letters. I had to have my mom help me spell all the words correctly.

Now, my parents thought I was going to hang this in my room or maybe put it on the dining room table. In their heads that made perfect sense. I mean, the Easter Bunny does roam around your house hiding plastic eggs with hints in them to where your Easter Basket could be found. And of course the first clue was in an egg sitting on the dining room table.

But no, little me wanted to make sure that the Easter Bunny so this as soon as he got to the house. So I put the banner on the floor right next to the door. Because as a small child I figured that the Easter Bunny had to come through the door since only Santa came down the chimney...right??? I did this right before going to bed. Now our house has a short hallway to the outside door, so my parents didn't see the banner there throughout the evening after I had gone to bed. So the next morning they woke up bright and early and said to the dogs, "Want to go outside?"...at the time we had golden retrievers...so you can imagine what large dogs scrambling to the door will do to construction paper taped together by scotch tape.

I'm sure my parents were a little bit worried about what my reaction would be to seeing this banner destroyed. I was very concerned about making the Easter Bunny feel welcomed in our home. (As a side note, this wasn't just for the Easter Bunny. I made sure Santa had cards for himself and to bring back to the Mrs. and that the reindeer had carrots, that if Santa wanted to take a bite of one too he could.)


So I woke up the next morning and ran to the dining room table to find my first egg with the first clue on how to find my Easter Basket. My mom came over to me and said, "Honey, I know you worked really hard on your sign for the Easter Bunny last night, but something happened to it." I immediately ran to the doorway and found the sign in shreds on the ground. I almost started to cry. Then my mom handed me a note, She said, "The Easter Bunny left this for you though!" She then proceeded to read me the note that explained how the Easter Bunny walked in the door and didn't see the sign because it was dark. He was so sad that his very big bunny feet (because in my head he was the size of those bunnies in the bunny costumes, not the size of a regular bunny) ripped up the sign, but he knew a lot of work went into it. He told me how he loved it and hoped I'd have the happiest of Easters.

"OH MY GOSH!" I thought I was the coolest kid in the entire world because the Easter Bunny left me a note. I was beyond excited, not even a little upset that the sign was messed up. My only regret now is I don't think I still have that note.

So long story short, I have some awesome parents who found very creative ways to make sure their little kids had great holidays and could keep on believing for a little bit longer. Happy Easter Weekend everyone!

Friday, February 14, 2014

To Be A Kid Again

Remember perler beads from when you were a kid? Those little beads you would put together in a pattern then your mom, dad, teacher, etc would iron it together and they'd melt?

That's the project that Terence did for my Valentine's Day gift. He made a few of my favorite things!


He made a Luigi, a Sulley, a Professor Layton and a minion. These are so cute! I will turn them into magnets and they'll definitely brighten up our fridge. I can't pick a favorite, I love them all!

We're really just big kids. I posted earlier my gift to him was a big stuffed animal.



A Very Digby Valentine's

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything! I guess I just went through a "I don't want to blog about this" phase. But I figured the perfect come back would be for Valentine's Day! Happy Hearts!

I know last year I blogged out my fiance's and my tradition of making each other Valentine presents each year. Last year I made him a basket for all his video game controllers.

The video game tradition continued into this year. Awhile ago, Terence and I downloaded a video game called Animal Crossing: New Leaf onto our 3DSes. Terence has played other console's versions of Animal Crossing way before we even met. His favorite character is a very cute little dog named Digby

Now, Animal Crossing figures/toys are much more common over in Japan. I was able to score him a little Isabelle figure (Digby's sister who runs the town hall) for Christmas.


But Digby is really, really hard to find. All I could find was a key chain.

So for Valentine's Day I knew I wanted to tackle a Digby. So I went to Walmart and got a bunch of felt squares, buttons and embroidery floss. I already had thread of various colors and stuffing. This gift cost me $6.50 total.

When I got home I got straight to work. My goal was to make a Digby that was the same size as the Isabelle I got him for Christmas. Umm...that was an epic failure. His head turned out OK, but his body just didn't come together. I almost cried. I was so disappointed in myself, because I thought this was going to be an awesome present...and I just didn't have the talent to pull it off.

Then I decided I would start over and change it up a bit. I first decided I would make a small pillow that was just Digby's head. As I started working I realized I could make a body that fit too. The more it started coming together the more excited I got. I'm actually really proud of this project.


Really, the only thing that bothers me at all is that the colors are a bit off. Digby is a darker dog in the game, however, I couldn't find the right colored felt for this project.

I do suggest if you've just started out with sewing and making toys...use felt! It's really easy to use, it's so easy to "hide" the stitches. If you've got a color thread that matches the color of the felt you can't see it unless you look really close. I mean, there was a reason Jim Henson made Kermit, Erinie and Bert out of felt.


After the initial disaster of the small Digby, this was a fairly easy project to do. It probably took me a total of somewhere between 3-5 hours. I did it in small spurts so I'm not sure exactly how long I took.

I love this little tradition we have because I love crafting and it always makes me excited to make gifts for those that I love. It's just more fun that way.

Terence is currently working on my gift! I'll share that next (and try not to take a 7 month break from the blog!)