For Mother's Day, I thought it would be fun to make a fairy garden with my son to give my mom...

I did some googling to get some ideas, and then Nolan and I went shopping.  When we started looking at plants, I found the coolest looking succulents-- which looked prehistoric to me (especially the Stone Faces, Split Rocks and Baby Toes)... 

So staring at the plants in the store with my 7-year-old son, a Dinosaur Garden suddenly sounded a lot more fun.  And really, if it was coming from a him, it seemed more logical than a fairy garden.

Here is the end result!





Best of all, now my mom has a place to play with her dinosaurs

So I visited my local Goodwill with the intent of finding something ugly that could be beautifully functional... What I found instead was this guy...

Initially, I walked away telling myself that I didn't know anyone who needed it.
But I kept thinking, "Someone's grandpa made that..." He was priced at $5.99 and was half price. For three bucks, I couldn't leave him behind.

My initial instinct was to cut his head off and make him into a motorcycle. But over the course of the next few days (while I formulated my plan), he kept staring at me with that sad eye...

Fine, horse. You can keep your head.
I debated cutting the "mane" off, but since me+jigsaw=bleeding, I decided against it.

So I sprayed him silver and black-- still biker enough to satisfy my urge to play "Count's Customs" while also being surprisingly gender-neutral.
Then came time for the face...  I knew it needed better proportions, so I sketched out a big eye that I decided would work...

This is when I discovered he was a she.

For the mane, I stapled a layer of back fleece under a layer of fleece in black with flames and cut the entire piece of fabric into strips. Then I tied some strips randomly over the top ridge to give it some volume, and gave her a fun haircut.  The tail was then a copy of the mane.

Now to find a new home for her...





Thanks for looking!

Does anyone have any ideas for crafts that involve lacing that would end with a gift-worthy product in the end?

My son is autistic, and one of his therapists is leaving next month... W want to do something as a going away gift for her, and I thought something that he made would be nice.

He is good at (and also enjoys) lacing cards and the wooden lacing bead set he has... My original thought was to do a small leather project like a bag or pencil pouch with the seams laced together. Admittedly, though, I know nothing about leather or the kinds of adhesives that might be involved.

I know y'all are brilliantly creative (I've seen your work), so I am hoping someone may have more inspiration than me...

Help a girl out? Thanks!