not your grandmothers fruit cake

This past weekend our little one turned two. We have tried to still limit his sugar intake, so earlier this summer I was inspired on how to make him a healthy "cake". He is a also obsessed with cars, so with that in mind I created this "taxi" cake. It didn't turn out quite like I imagined, but it was okay, and the kids loved it :o) A seedless watermelon (which I thought I had bought) would work better.

First I "peeled" the watermelon, then to you have a large chunk to carve however you want

You can see the small taxi in the front that was my inspiration. I first flattened the bottom and then just started chopping!

Here are a couple views of the final product. I used thin sliced apples for the windows (with lemon juice on them so they wouldn't brown)

It was a hit! I just sliced up the fruit right on the tray and let the kids dig in! I'm already thinking about other shapes I can carve in the future.

Big/Little Brother/Sister

I'm so excited I finished my shirts!

Now all we have to do is wait....

will it be Little Brother or Sister?

I used fabric paint and freezer paper to do stenciling for the first time. I LOVE it! I can't wait to find more projects to stencil! I embellished the paint with some stitches on my machine. I think it would have been cuter hand stitched, but I just wanted to get finished. The big brother shirt I made from scratch using two old t-shirts. And the onsies were white new-born size ones I already had.

I added the cuff and ruffle to the onsies to make them match a little better.

Oh, and since I won't be using both little shirts... (I'm not having twins!). I'll do a give-away in a couple of weeks with the one I don't need! Stay tuned!

Birthday Time!!

This Saturday is the big 0-2 for my little guy, so I've been making a few things for our little party.

Last week I gave out these invitations that I made from felt and IKEA car fabric. We are only inviting 3 little friends, so I didn't have to make many.

Today I enhanced a birthday sign that I made last year when he turned 1. I just had the letters from last year, so I put it on the white fabric and added a fun border. The best part was I made the whole project with hot glue, NO sewing! That was a fun change for me.

I also added the space on the ends to put a "theme" related item. This year we are into cars! They are just velcroed on, so I can change from year to year, kid to kid.

I also added another Velcro tab in the middle on the bottom to insert the birthday child's name. That way I can use this with any kid and save it from year to year... I think I am just going to tape it to the wall to hang... simple and cute!

Blog Swap with Delicious Ambiguity

I'm blog swapping with Jenn today! You can check out my post over at her blog, enjoy learning about her great blog! Emily

Hi Nap-Time Creation readers! I'm Jenn from Delicious Ambiguity and I am so excited to be swapping blogs with Emily today. First let me tell you a bit about myself: I am a twenty-something Canadian who used to teach English as a Second Language in South Korea and Thailand. Nowadays I am a stay at home mom to a very busy and clever twenty-two month old boy, K, who keeps me on my toes! We are currently living in Sydney, Australia and trying with great difficulty (and very little success) to not take on the slang or talk like we have marbles in our mouths! When I'm not busy baking, crafting, creating, procrastinating from cleaning, wiping butts and toddler wrangling, I am a self-confessed blog-a-holic.

Here's some of the themes you will find on my site:

I share stories and photos about what's going on in our home or what's on my mind. I also feature new followers and commenters of my blog.

Link-up party for crafts, activities, educational resources and recipes for toddlers.

Just as it says- I will share random things that I am loving every week!

Parenting and domestic tips that I think are useful for every stay at home mom/ domestic diva. Some are written by me and some are submitted by my readers.

I feature printable freebies of various topics, awesome DIY projects, giveaways and other blogs that I enjoy.

I post questions submitted by my readers or myself about being a mom, raising and educating our children, keeping a home and keeping our sanity! Readers can contribute by submitting their own questions to be featured or answering the question in the comments section under each post.

A "Tot School" post with the montessori inspired activities I have made or have been doing with my son. Once a month I will post a specific theme (ie: Colours) link-up party on educational resources for early childhood children as well as Busy Bag Activities. It is my hope that we can create a one-stop-shop by theme for printable resources and creative ideas that are useful in educating our toddlers and preschoolers.

When I'm not blogging I like to craft. Here's some of my favorites:

Peek-A-Boo I Love You Memory Game

DIY Kids Stove

Toddler Busy Bag

Head And Shoulders Book

Sensory Bottles

New Job Survival Kit

I'd love it if you'd stop by Delicious Ambiguity sometime and day hi. If you like what you see you can also stalk find me on Feedburner, Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for having me Emily. It's been a blast!

What's next?

As I think through the final few weeks before the new baby arrives (5 weeks until my due date), I'm trying to prioritize a few projects to work on. I spent yesterday's nap organizing our office/craft space,

and today I have a few other cleaning things to get done. So, no sewing, but I'm making a list for the coming weeks. I thought I would share some inspirations I've found online and my ideas for them.

First up: Big Brother/Little ??? shirts

I actually couldn't find a picture that was at all what I am thinking, but you get the idea. I plan to make the shirts/onsie because I don't have plain ones already. Then I'm going to give freezer paper stencils and fabric paint a try (will be my first attempt!) I'm thinking I may try to do some hand/machine stitching around the painting to add texture.

Next:

Growing up my mom marked out height right on the wall of our home! Because I don't see us being in the small apartment forever, I thought I would sew one we can take with us. This adorable one from Esty is cute, but I think I will make mine from fabric. I got a great deal on remnant brown vinyl for the trunk and will use felt for the leaves... more details to come!

On to a baby project:

I made a larger texture block before Jack was born, but then ruined it washing it in the machine... So, it gives me the chance to make some more! I love the top stitching on these blocks and had the same idea, can't wait to try it out.

Next for Jack,

I love this 4 in 1 reversible toddler hat from Sew Much Ado. It's been on my list since I saw her post months ago. Can't wait to give it a try.

And finally, the beautiful butterfly mobile from Pottery Barn...

I love the concept, but will probably make it with something other than butterflies to fit the decor of the kids room. I'm thinking leaves?

I'm sure there will be many other projects along the way, but these are the bigger ones... And when I finish these I can start on my list of gifts to make for Christmas... I have lots more ideas!

Make your own training pants...

Well, not sure whether potty training will work, but we are giving it a go! I had bought some new underwear for Jack, but no training pants. I knew I didn't want to use pull ups, but wasn't sure what other route to go.... So, I decided to take some old prefold diapers that I had been using as burp rags and create my own cloth/washable pants. They won't stop any leaks, but hopefully will absorb enough so that any public accidents won't be as noticeable...

I started with new underwear and old diapers, then I cut the diapers in half, and folded into threes.

I pinned the diaper inside

Sewed them in using large stitches so I can take it out when this time is over (hopefully soon...)

My finished product! Underwear with a little soaker power!

Barn Quilts

I hadn't even heard of Quilts on Barns until last summer when my Mom started pointing them out. She lives in rural Wisconsin and there are a lot of them here. I found a few examples online to show you what others have done:

My mom had the idea to make something along these lines for the side of their new shed. Her variation...make a small square that represents each member of our family. She spent the winter researching quilt designs and names and found one for each of us. We just spent the last two weeks putting those designs into reality. Here are some pictures from our work and our final results. I love painting, so this was a great project to help with.

We taped and painted one color at a time.

Even the little one got in the action!

Our finished product!!! And the proud painters...

The plan is to make a plaque with the name of the quilt square on it to hang below each one. One of my nephews is still a baby so we are waiting to make him a square, also we will need to make one for my new little one, who will be coming soon! More painting for next summer, yeah!