Clara has been a bag of emotions this past month.
I would chalk it up to teething (which some of it is)….and being sick (she and I had horrible stuffy colds this weekend)….and randomly waking up in the middle of the night for hours and pretending it’s play time in her crib (UGGGGGH), but it’s more than that.
She’s starting to throw little tantrums. The kind of tantrums that you can’t really reason with or give a time-out for because she’s too young to understand. Simply changing her diaper is a pure battle of wills and often strength. And she’s totally perfecting the fake cry. At 14 months! Oh Clara.
I know. I’m being over-dramatic. She’s just your run-of-the-mill kid and you’d think that after having two kids already I’d remember how it all works. But somehow our brain forgets.
And that’s how we get pregnant.
So.
To save my sanity I decided to give myself a visual pep-talk, and tackled a sewing project.
I was inspired by this post on One Little Minute where Miranda created a cool piece of fabric art to hang over her bed (and has some cool stop-motion photos to go along. You gotta check it out). So I did a little spin on the Keep Calm and Carry On craze and went back to good old Bobby McFerrin:
In every life we have some trouble.
When you worry, you make it double.
So….
I’m hoping the lyrics rub off on me.
Maybe they’ll rub off on you too (or you’ll have that blasted song stuck in your head all day. Sorry).
I made the shirt from a women’s tee and based it on the Basic Tee pattern and tutorial (creating a smaller size using one of her other shirts for sizing)
Shirt front, Shirt back, two sleeves, and a collar, ready to sew:
But before sewing, I added the phrase. I was inspired my Miranda’s font as well and decided to hand-letter the words…something I haven’t done forever and really love to do. If you’d like to use my letters for your own project, download and print it HERE. I traced the words to Freezer paper (check out my full tutorial on Freezer Paper stenciling HERE). I prefer printing to Freezer Paper, rather than tracing, but my printer was being emotional as well. Then I cut it all out with a craft knife,
….ironed one set of words to the front, one set to the back, painted with Tulip brand, fabric paint, dried it with my blow-dryer, peeled it off, and…
Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
I paired it with knit shorts from Target and a scrappy headband and the happy Clara was set.
I know it seems silly.
But I’m truly hoping the shirt makes me laugh. And helps me roll with the punches of mom-life. Because each stage has its different challenges. I might need to make this every year.
When life throws you lighting-bolts,
Find the sunshine.
And try to be happy that no matter who wakes up in the middle of the night….this one:
Or this one:
I’m lucky to be her mom. And wouldn’t trade these moments for anything.
Okay, break.
Go team. Go.
You can make it through your day too…
And if you want all sorts of inspiration, check out the current Kids Clothes Week on Elsie Marley. I’m adding this as my meager contribution for the season.
