Behind starburst eyes

Nov 26

Special needs pillows

by starbursteyes

My niece requires an adorable butterfly shaped pillow. Her current one has seen better days (it IS used every day after all!) But good luck trying to find one in stores or online that doesn’t cost a fortune! After over an hour of searching online the cheapest I could find was $40, BUT I had to live in the states for them to ship it to me. The cheapest one that would be shipped to Canada was $107.47. So off to Fabricland I went 🙂 Below is my first one finished (I plan to make a few for her as Christmas gifts) Image

The bottom where the wings do not touch is meant to be approximately as wide as the person’s neck, (slightly wider so it’s not restrictive, but still close to their neck so it can be as supportive as possible)

To make: Half a yard of your favorite material, Hypoallergenic stuffing and some thread.

Draw 2 butterflies on the wrong side of your fabric, keeping in mind that the wings should be larger than the person’s head. (If you can’t draw a butterfly, find one online print it and enlarge it until you have the right size to trace)

Make sure you keep the butterfly’s head almost level with the wings to help support the person’s head.

Cut out your butterflies, place together wrong side out, sew almost completely together. Leave yourself the width of your hand so you can turn it right side out and stuff it.

Turn right side out and stuff. Then carefully fold the open seams inwards so it doesn’t fray on you and sew together.

Finish by sewing the lines of the body, as they help to keep the stuffing in place which keeps this pillow functional after it’s been washed!

That’s it my dear readers, and now you know how to make this lovely and unique gift which is great for sleep apnea, facial dystonia, and correct head positioning for someone that has difficultly doing so for themselves.

Creations

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Oct 13

Creating a sensory room

by starbursteyes

On Friday the mail came and with it the latest catalogue from The Special Needs Toy company. I love that catalogue, I love shopping from it, I love the variety of items, I love the layout  it, with each category being clearly listed such as “socialization, or auditory” What I don’t love is the prices. I was a frugal woman before I became a super frugal momma and so the prices always make me cringe. I hate that I can buy “regular” toys for FAR less than toys that are geared towards helping my boys to overcome some of the challenges they face and thrive. To that end I became inspired yesterday that perhaps my frugalness (yep it’s a word 😉 could be utilized into making a whole sensory area for my boys without needing to win a lottery!

To that end I’ve been busy crafting, creating and shopping with an end goal of creating a wonderful sensory area for the boys for less that $200. So far I’m at $92 spent, and half-way finished. I’ve got multiple auditory toys, visual items such as squishy animals that glow when they’re shaken, pillows with aromatherapy aspects to them, and more. Over the next week there’ll be sewing of various items (bean bags) cutting of an old tire (to create bins with amazing textured outsides) and more. I’ll post pictures once it’s all complete, along with a total of how much it cost for me to complete. I’m excited dear readers that I can totally pull this off! 😀

Autism; second verse same as the first

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Jun 10

A blue hiker, red hat, and yellow pants

by starbursteyes

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Well today C played most of the day at his friend M’s house, so it was mostly just N and G with me. I decided that I needed to get N a new sun hat as he’s fair and burns easily and already the one I bought a few months ago is too small. In keeping with trying to exercise regularly I decided that I’d not only walk with the two of them but that I’d put G in the single stroller and N in the blue hiker that I haven’t used since right before I found out I was pregnant with G. N was a great deal lighter then! A two-hour walk with 30+ pounds on one’s back when you’re not used to it is definitely a work out lol.

 

 

 

 

After visiting a couple of stores we finally found a hat N liked, a plain red fisherman style one that I promised him I’d put a truck on. Of course while at the store N pointed out every single thing that was “lello” because everything yellow is somehow exciting. Not denying that yellow is a fantastic color, just not sure where his recent love of yellow has come from. For the last few days when I get him dressed in the morning he keeps saying “lello pansh” (yellow pants)

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Once home I sewed on a patch that had a big 18-wheeler on it onto his red hat and he seems happy with it, which is great! Then I decided I’d go through my bins of fabric, convinced that I had some yellow cotton somewhere. Indeed I did, and so I proceeded to make him some yellow pants. He was thrilled when I told him I was making him yellow pants. He watched me cut the fabric, he insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time I sewed his yellow pants. Pleased with myself at making him something he so clearly wanted I presented him with the finished product. Only to watch him have a meltdown because apparently the pants I made are NOT what he imagined when he kept asking for yellow pants. Now I’ve made dozens of pants for C, myself and many others so I know it wasn’t that I didn’t make them correctly in general. So I now have a pair of yellow pants that he refuses to wear, but hey in another year or so they should fit G lol.  

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Autism; second verse same as the first

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Mar 12

Scraps of beauty part 2

by starbursteyes

Well I found more scraps that were just begging to be turned into another purse. 🙂

This one was inspired by a friend of mine, simply because I can completely see her carrying this one around while on some fantastic dig, mining all sorts of lovely gems out of the earth, popping them in this over-sized shoulder bag to be brought home with her.

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Once again I’ve done embroidery on the shoulder strap, this time a pattern that reminds me of wheat st.

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I also added a pocket to the back for smallish items such as a cell phone, it’s got the same sun as the front has on it.

 

Creations

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Mar 10

Scraps of beauty

by starbursteyes

I love to create and I enjoy sewing, because of that I have a fairly large collection of various fabrics. Like most crafters I still see the beauty in the scraps that are often just tossed into the garbage at the end of a project, to that end I’ve always kept the majority of my scraps even when they are fairly small “just in case”.

Lately I started to think to myself, what on earth could I do with my scraps, I still love those fabrics even if there isn’t enough of each one to make a whole project using just that material when I came across the idea of patchwork purses.

I’m ridiculously pleased with the couple of purses I’ve created so far using just my scraps:

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The little bit of lace at the top is actually how this purse closes as I’ve put 3 diamond shaped buttons on the front that slide through the lace to close it.

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I LOVE the embroidery function on my sewing machine makes me giddy, as you can see I’ve used a running heart stitch across the strap for both the practical purpose of making it lay flat as well as the esthetic appeal of embroidery running along it.

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Mommyhood: Fake it till you make it Secret Garden

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Mar 2

N’s Book of Colors

by starbursteyes

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My youngest son is mad for any and all types of vehicles, so I made him his own book of colors with each color being showin with a different type of vehicle. I LOVE fabric books (often called soft books or felt books, as felt is often what they’re made out of) Mine however was not made with felt as you can see, I used satin for the coveres, and denim for all of the pages.  I also used quilt batting within each page to make it keep it’s shape and be fluffy for him. He loves to flip through the pages and when he’s done he closes it up , lays his head on it and sighs contentedly, it’s beyond amazing to watch, and certainly makes the numerous hours of work well worth it! (I had no patterns or previous experience making one of these, so I figured it out as I went which we all know means it takes twice as long lol)

Autism; second verse same as the first Mommyhood: Fake it till you make it

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Mar 2

G’s first dress and bonnet

by starbursteyes

G's first dress and bonnet

Right before G came home from the NICU I found a pattern online to make her a dress and bonnet. I altered it to fit her petit size, and the best part (to me) was that instead of buying fabric to make it, I used one of my maternity dresses 😀
It was suprisingly simple to make, espically with the sleeves being two long ties instead of a traditional sleeve. She out grew it rather quickly, but I’ve got it tucked away in her keepsake box for her 🙂

Mommyhood: Fake it till you make it Pixie Girl: Eyes full of glitter and sunshine

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Mar 1

G’s Snail

by starbursteyes

G's Snail

I made this for my daughter, and while you can’t see clearly from the picture, the card attached says:

Should you ever feel sad or blue,
about what you can or cannot yet do…
Look at me and know that your pace is the perfect pace for you to go.

She’s a preemie, and sometimes she’s a bit slower to hit the milestones than a full-term baby would be. But I don’t ever want her to feel like she’s going at the wrong pace because of how fast some sheet of paper says she should be developing, instead I truly want her to know she’s doing exactly as she should at the exact right timing for her. 😀

Mommyhood: Fake it till you make it Pixie Girl: Eyes full of glitter and sunshine

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