What Every 5 Year Old Needs, Besides for a Dog

I'm no longer in the 'attending weddings' circuits, I have now found my social calendar filling up with invitations to 5th birthday parties.

The most recent 5th birthday party we attended had a ballerina tea party theme.

Fortunately, we know a thing or two about tea parties and being a ballerina.

The  birthday girl, whom we've entertained for the occasional play date or two, is an admirer of Riley {I overheard her whisper sweetly in Riley's ear, 'I love you, Riley'}.  I jokingly suggested to Grace {who is not so much an admirer of Riley} that we give Riley as a birthday gift.

Thankfully, Grace did not take my suggestion seriously because there is no way Riley would have fit into this bag {though, I am sure a few of her dog hairs did}.

So, in addition to a few store bought items (summer jammies and a puzzle for those of you who are curious), I included something homemade.

What does every 5 year old need, besides for a dog?  A tooth fairy pillow, of course. 

Want a tooth fairy pillow of your own?  Invite me to your birthday party or head over to my Etsy shop.

Pillow Talk

Even though my week has admittedly not been cushy, all of my projects have been.

I finally got around to whipping up a few new pillows {I used my unusual piping technique to make them}. I made the two blue pillows. I've had the fabric since February SO now I can finally check that off my to do list.

For my birthday I got a state throw pillow from Red Envelope. I am usually a DIYer for projects like this but the quality and design were absolutely flawless from Red Envelope {and they were half off at the time}. Not to disappoint, I did add a DIY touch, I embroidered a heart to mark our fair city.

What happened to the freezer stencil pillows that had been on this sofa before? Well, I moved them to the bedroom. Can you guess what side of the bed is mine :)

Riley didn't seem to care that I switched out the pillows. Apparently, these are just as comfortable.

And, in preparation for my meeting with the children's boutique, I have been whipping up tooth fairy pillows.

The teeth came marching in two by two, hurrah, hurrah.

This tooth has a cavity aka seam that still needs to be closed.

Cushy projects or not, I am glad to wrap up this week and enjoy the weekend.

Let the pillow fight commence:
 

Trying to turn a negative into a positive.

A few weeks ago, I proudly shared a post about my personalized tooth fairy pillows. I have been making tooth pillows for friends and family SO when I had someone commission a tooth pillow from me, I felt validated that they really were good.

With a first sale under way, no detail was spared.  This canine tooth was the best one I had made.

Now, this is where I admittedly erred.  Since the purchaser of the pillow was related to someone I know, I shipped it prior to receiving payment.  After several emails, trying to collect payment, with countless promises the check was the in mail, I came to realize she had no intention of paying me.  Lesson learned.

Though I was {and still am} really upset with the outcome of my 'first sale', it motivated me to turn this negative into a positive.

There is an adorable children's boutique in my town, one I have always admired.  I decided to email this shop, sharing pictures of my tooth pillows {since it's plural, would that be teeth pillows?}.  Within hours, I got the sweetest response back from the shop that they want to meet me to 1. see them in person and 2. discuss the possibility of selling them in their store.  Hooray!

Though we can all agree that being stiffed on a homemade personalized gift is not cool, it lead to something that could potentially be very cool.

Tooth Fairy Pillows

One of the things I treasure from my childhood is a tooth fairy pillow my mom lovingly made for me. Losing a tooth is a big deal. Having a special pillow paying tribute to this milestone makes it even more special.

So, even though Grace was not {and still is not} ready for a tooth fairy pillow, I knew I wanted to make one for her when the time came. When I came across one of the sweetest tooth fairy pillows made by Fiona Dalton, it inspired me to try and make one of my own.

My second attempt at a tooth fairy pillow was for my nephew. Arg. I went with a pirate theme. I am not even sure now, how I decided on pirate. Maybe it was because I had a bandana on hand? Maybe it was because I wanted to embroider a skull and cross bones? Regardless, it was the one and only pirate I made.

By then, I was hooked. I was inspired to create even more 'tooth' themed pillows. This was around the time Grace was really into Super Why, hence the inspiration for Super Tooth - Plaque fighting hero by day, tooth fairy pillow by night.

Then I ended up making a tooth pillow for a friend's son, who is a HUGE dog lover. It seemed only fitting it should be in honor of the canine tooth {otherwise known as the cuspid tooth or fang tooth}. And that was the birth of the Canine Tooth {clever, right}.

I am {or try to be} modest about my crafts SO when someone commissioned me to make a pink canine tooth, I couldn't believe it {this was the first craft I was paid to make!}. Not sure what a pink tooth says about dental hygiene but still cute, right?

Much like the rest of my crafts {see my Crafter ADD post from yesterday}, even though I had about a dozen 'teeth' cut out ready to turn into pillows, I lost steam for this project until recently. I am now back on the tooth fairy pillow bandwagon. Now to come up with some fresh teeth. Maybe Wisdom tooth?

Ideas?