Now that Yashar is a little older he has started to get in to all those smaller toys - little animal figurines, cars, wooden blocks, finger puppets, lego.... And at the moment everything just gets thrown in to one (actually 2 now!) big ugly fabric toy boxy type thing. Not awesome.
It's not only the ugliness that gets me, but I want it to be organised so we can pull out one type of toys - say the wooden mechnics set - and play with that. Now everything is just mixed in together, we spend ages searching for the pieces and most of the time Yashar doesn't bother looking in the toy box at all!
So my idea is to have little bags to easily separate the types of toys. I want them to be able to sit in a toy box, or be ready to grab and go to Grandma's and to have a window so I can easily see what is in it. This is the prototype - I designed it, got the fabric and then was lucky enough to have a friend who is an amazing sewer to sew it for me :) I like how you can see both the toys and the pretty fabric lining through the clear window.
Ok, so this fabric is definitely very girly - but I always seem to have a very hard time finding nice boyish or 'non girlish' fabric! And this was so pretty! Plus, I am hoping to give all the nieces and nephews some of these as well for Christmas! Don't tell! :) I have some changes I want to make to the design (maybe shorter, the window a little smaller and maybe something to make it stand up itself more - you can see in the photo below that it is a little too floppy at the moment) and I am hoping to finally make it to the Kadikoy fabric market soon (woohoo - can't wait!). I'll keep you updated :)
And I am off now to add these prints to the shop. Yay! **All finished - you can find them here and here**
9 comments:
Your illustrations are so beautiful! They remind me so much of my childhood, which was a lovely one, thanks to an amazing momma. I love how you capture the innocence , exuberance, and light that kids have. "The Light Garden" is such an appropriate name; it's like these little boys and girls you draw can't wait to hug the world, since they know it'll hug them back.
I don't know if you were or if you are currently, but you'd definitely make a wonderful children's book illustrator. Your drawings are definitely whimsical and make people smile. Hmmm...I give it five years or fewer 'til your name is on bookshelves ;o)
Lovely prints! and i love the little baggie idea! when my son was little I had sewn a small carry along baby towel for him. I had several small pockets for his little treasures...at that age, they love putting small things into pockets and taking them out again. It keeps them entertainted for ages! another thing you can try is painting an old baking sheet. then you can carry small magnets (make sure he doesn't try to swallow them) to keep him entertained in the car!
Wow UNchecked other. Thank you! You really managed to capture in words what I always seem to find myself trying to express in my illustrations. The pure joy and hapiness I often see in my son's eyes never ceases to amaze and inspire me.
I would so love to illustrate a children's book - it is definitely a dream of mine :) Fingers crossed!
Thanks GB! And that sounds so cute - Maybe I can incorporate some pockets into the design somehow!
And that magnet idea sounds interesting. I would love to try that. ... a couple of silly questions - what do you mean by baking sheet? Im thinking of a thin sort of oily paper sheet - but didnt know if it meant something different in the US? And what did you paint it with?
I love your idea of fabric bags although I did something different. Kamran and Lili have a lot of smaller toys as they are now 5 and 6 and although their expedit unit is fit out with baskets it was still tough to find what you wanted. I canvassed the family and found a lot of the clear zippered plastic bags that sheets come in and used those. To be even further ummm... what is the word? Oh yes, "organized" I then grouped like toys together and assigned them a basket. We now have a doll basket, a building toy basket and so on...
My son is four years old and we have been living in little toys hell for two years I think... I wanted to make little bags for them this Fall. For the past few weeks, I have been developping a prototype in my head. The clear window is such a great idea! I will try that. To help them stand on their own, I would maybe make a square bottom (I can't see in your picture if it's what your friend did). I'll send you pictures when mine are done!
Baking tray...the metal kind? spray paint it any color (eg. green) and then add details with acrylic paints. the magnets will stick to it... :) or you can make a road scene and have truck magnets.
Ooh - I like the sorting by basket idea too!
And thanks GB - I'm definitely going to try that!...and hehehe - of course - a baking tray! One of those little differences in terminology :) Thank you!
Catherine - you had me laughing :) I like the square bottom idea - looking forward to seeing the pics!
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