Peep Family Portrait by Tomato Mama

    Pickle and I were doing some Easter crafting yesterday and I decided to whip up some felt peeps! I had some very peep looking colors in my felt stash and I got a little carried away. ( Expect to see more in a future post. Some of them are gifts and I don't want to spoil the secret yet!)  Behold our family, peep style. I was excited to use the very Lucille Ball polka dot felt that I had been saving for "my" peep. I am a huge I Love Lucy fan so it's very appropriate. I tried to use peep colors for Tomato Papa and Pickle too.
      I had some peeps in the house for "research purposes" so I sort of free handed a shape similar to a peep on paper as my pattern. Then I used the blanked stitch to sew them up. See up close picture of process here
Felt Conversation Hearts.

    I dotted on some eyes and nose with fabric paint for a finishing touch!

A Little Door Candy by Tomato Mama

Happy Birthday! By Tomato Mama

Today is a busy day for birthdays! Happy Birthday to my Mom (Tomato-Mimi), Dad, Tomato Papa's Grandpa, and at least 4 friends ( thanks Facebook!) My little brother is turning 20 on Saturday and my Sister in Law - to be has one later in the month. Happy Birthday to you all!

We celebrated with my Mom and brother last night. The festivities included an ice cream cake ( my felt version shown is just as cute, but not nearly as tasty) and having a Nerf Dart gun fight. That's right, my Mom got Nerf guns for her birthday. She is always so much fun, and more than a little fiesty. She has a hilarious sense of humor, is a really talented artist, is so caring and sweet, and is my favorite chick movie date. 

This year though, we can also describe her as a breast cancer survivor. I'm so incredibly blessed to have a Mom like her and give thanks that she is healthy. It has been a really scary winter and to be able to have hugged her, spoiled her, and watch her play with Pickle last night is a miracle to me. Love you Mom! 

Good Conversation by Tomato Mama

Love is in the air! Valentine's Day is a week away and I'm beginning to bedeck my house in pink, red and hearts! I know a lot of people do not like Valentine's Day. Some say that it is a holiday made up to sell more greeting cards and that it should not be necessary to have a holiday to remember the ones you love. I disagree. I love Valentine's Day. I have so much love in my life that I welcome a day to spoil the people that I love just a little bit more! On top of that, it's such a cute holiday.

Conversation hearts are a Valentine's  Day staple. I usually put out a bowl of the candy variety but this year I thought I would add to my V-Day decorations with a bowl of felt ones as well.  I love to sew with felt. I love the bright colors and patterns. I have a ton of it stashed in my craft room so I pulled out a variety of colors to make these little cuties out of .

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter as my pattern. Cut two for each conversation heart out of the felt. 

I like to choose a contrasting color of embroidery thread to stitch with and use a blanket stitch around the edges.  Stop before completely closing it so that you can stuff it with poly-fil.

Close and stitch on  "conversation heart" sayings on them. I'm not sure if I am going to hang them up or leave them in a bowl. I think that they will look pretty cute either way!