Grannimals

On the occasion of our daughters birth we received many fantastic and thoughtful gifts. While we appreciate all of them there are some that will withstand the test of time and will forever be cherished. Gabin the zebra is that gift. Gabin the zebra is an adorable little knit character from the Grannimals wooly family collection by Latitude Enfant. The Grannimals are made to mimic the lovingly handmade toys and dolls our doting grandmothers of yesteryear would knit for us. I had such a bunny knitted for me and a knit hobo that I still cherish today and is proudly displayed in my own daughters nursery. These knit cuties are charming with a more modern flare.



Each Grannimal comes ready for gift giving wrapped in it's own display "shoe" box, it was so nice I seriously thought of leaving him in the box. I can definitely see these being collected and hoarded for years in someones closet... I still fantasize about one day owning the whole mint condition collection in their boxes myself! For now though Gabin is for cuddling, playing and whatever else my toddler decides to throw his way, so long as he makes his way back to his display spot every night!

I did mention that I love the Grannimals right? now on the back of every box is a picture of all the other adorable Grannimals available in the collection While I'm generally not a sucker for this kind of "collect them all" type of advertising I really couldn't help myself with this one and I seriously would have bought them all but reality and a budget kicked in... so just two more! It's amazing what you can get away with postpartum...




We added Mona the cow and Hugo the Hedgehog my personal fave to the mix..



Latitude enfant has several different lines of sweet cuddly puppets, toys and doudous (dolls for the anglos...) for children and babes alike. They've definitely got my two thumbs up for design and craftsmanship, I dare you to resist their charm!

Election Day

I find it kind of Ironic that I spent 4 years studying Poli. Sci. yet feel complete and utter apathy towards our recent elections... can't stand hearing anything even remotely related to politics... that said I fulfilled my civil duty and voted... but what was really on my mind was a fun relaxing day with my family. We originally thought we'd go out and maybe have a picnic but the weather had other plans and ours were rained in.... That's when I turned my attention to a piece of "junk" I'd found the previous week...

While out walking with my daughter, a skeleton of a dolly cradle caught my eye and I thought I might be able to breathe some life into it... after all I've been thinking about getting my daughter one for awhile, she's just getting into the pretend/mothering/dolly liking stage.


This is what it looked like when I first brought it home.... no, not very impressive.... I agree








It definitely needed a coat of paint and I needed to make a base out of something. I decided to use some model cardboard I had lying around the house from old school projects. I cut two identical pieces and stapled them to the bottom of the frame with a staple gun. DH helped cut two pieces of scrap wood for reinforcement and nailed them in on top of the board. Next I painted the whole thing with two and a half coats of white paint.

No dolly cradle is complete without a mattress and bedding! so while the bed was drying I took to my sewing machine to make some custom made doll bedding. For a mattress I cut out a thin piece of foam a friend had saved for my creative purposes... and slip covered it in some pink with white polka dot flannel material salvaged from old pajamas. I used the same polka dot flannel to make a small pillow, stuffed with fiberfill and as the top side of the duvet. To add some more colour to the bedding I backed the duvet in some light blue striped cotton. For the front I added a scrap of vintage Ikea fabric and some ribbon trim, and a fabric heart (a freebie from a recent ebay fabric purchase). Easy peasy! all that during naptime!


Needless to say my daughter was delighted though she mistakenly thought the bed was for her.... I have had to remind her several times since that "this" bed is for the dollies.... and that she has her own... otherwise it's a great addition to our playroom and sparked a whole new game, tuck a doll in, rub her tummy and sing Numi Numi (never heard of Numi Numi? check it out here) till she falls a sleep, then walk around shushing everyone because "dolly's sleeping!!



Dolly hasn't commented but she appears rather comfortable...