Vintage Inspired Airplane Quilt Clips

Transportation themes are popular for boys, right behind jungle and sports themes. And these vintage inspired airplanes are a beautiful touch to a nursery.

These airplanes fly straight up when hung, as if they are lifting the quilt up, up, and away!

For the red airplane, I started with my newest shade, tomato red. I love the richness of it. I then handpainted the propeller, window, and stripes in white.

The blue airplane is a deep navy blue. The wings are chambray blue, a pale blue with a gray base. I then cut out a star to trace onto the wings and painted those white. (I think next time I will have some stars laser cut to be layered onto the wings.) The propeller is a nice dark yellow, and the window is white.

Would you like your own set of vintage inspired airplanes? I would be happy to create a set for you as quilt clips, wall hangings, curtain holdbacks, wall letters, a growth chart, name sign...nearly anything.

Contact me today for your inspired children's room decor today!

Hristos Voskrese!

Jacob, Tyann, Joey, Mike, and Noah

Our annual Easter family photo. Looks like sitting on the couch is becoming our usual pose.

This is our living room, with my husband's grandmother's artwork in the background. Nina came to the United States from Russia when she was 8 years old. The family tale includes that her family came from a line of royalty...maybe she was a Russian princess?

Nina was wonderfully and artistically talented. Her art was to create rugs. Yes, rugs. She would purchase burlap the size of the rug she wanted to make, whether a small picture size or a large area rug.

Then, she would take wool fabric, many times picking up wool clothing from garage sales, stripping it to small pieces. Nina dyed the wool to the colors she wanted and set to hooking the wool, creating the rug artwork.

Click the picture to see the details.

Nina's pieces were her own masterpieces. Sometimes she even created pieces mimicking a famous painting. My husband's favorite piece of hers was her rendition of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Unfortunately, that piece was lost after Nina passed away.

We had the piece hanging in our living room professionally framed and cleaned so that we can enjoy it. The scene is of an idyllic countryside, including a horse and buggy, a small village, and birds flying over the mountains. Nina's attention to detail is amazing.

In memory of Nina, Hristos Voskrese (Christ has risen!). He has risen indeed!

The Bag Lady

Me and my bag

Yes, I am known as "the bag lady" at our local post office. It's a secret nickname the postal workers call me because of my giant bag I carry packages in, and one day a clerk let it slip. Whoops!

But being known has its advantages:

• No waiting in line.
• They know I just need to drop off packages.
• When I do wait in line to pay for an international package, they know what I need and run the transaction quickly.

How big is my bag? Well, it could easily fit two 2 year old kids! I have fit nearly 30 packages in it at once. A giant bag is so much easier than balancing a stack of packages, and my 8 year old can take it in if I need him to.

My 2 year old niece and the bag ready for the post office.

Where did I get my bag? It's not a bag that's available to just anyone. The bag is from the clock and watch company Seiko. They sent these oversized canvas bags to the fine gift stores that carry their large clocks. And, lucky for me, I was working for one of those stores when I first started the Little Elephant Company. The owner was nice enough to give me one of the bags when I asked, as I saw the potential for the bag immediately.

You know you want a package carried in my giant bag sent to you, too, right? ; ) Shop Little Elephant Company today for inspired children's room decor today!

Quilt Clips, Wall Letters, Growth Chart and More for the MiGi Blossom Bedding

It's no wonder that the MiGi Blossom bedding is one of the most popular bedding sets right now, because it is beautiful.

Since it came out, I have done many, many sets of quilt clips for it. The birds are a snow white with iron oxide brown eye. The wings and and flower are in Valentine pink and sprinkled with iron oxide brown and pale pink dots. The center of the flower is white with iron oxide brown streaks.

And, a wonderful mom shared a picture of the set of quilt clips on the wall with her bedding. So pretty!

Remember, the MiGi Blossom design is available in all of my items, including wall plaques, lightswitch covers, growth chart, wall letters, peg rack, hair barrette holders, and more.

And...it is now in the purple tones as well!

Visit Little Elephant Company today for your MiGi Blossom decor. You can also order from my Etsy shop. If you don't see what you want on my website or Etsy shop, please don't hesitate to contact me!

5 inch wall plaques and single lightswitch cover

12 inch Victorian font wall letters (also available in the stock font)

Growth Chart and Peg Rack

Name Sign and Hair Barrette Holder

9 inch Wall Letter Hair Barrette Holder and Hair Barrette Holder

Purple Tones in Hair Barrette Holders

Pinterest anyone?

Follow my Little Elephant Company Pinterest board for awesome ideas for your child's bedroom. And feel free to follow my other boards, including my photography and design, our vacation houses in Branson, Missouri, and our journey this spring building our new house (and my new studio!).

Don't have a Pinterest account yet? Let me know, and I would be happy to send you an invite!

Special Coupon!

It's winter, and what else would an expectant mom rather do than prepare for baby to arrive?

So all the felted and regular safari quilt clips are a special of 35% off through the end of February! Use coupon code GOINGONASAFARI to receive the special. Let's go on a safari and forget about the ice and snow and all that cold.

Why safari? Well, besides the warm thoughts of sunshine, tall grasses, and rainforests, the safari theme is also popular for both boys and girls.

Please note that this does not include any handpainted designs. Be sure to use coupon code NEWLEC for your order to receive 25% off all items.

Visit us now at www.littleelephantcompany.com!

PBK Jackson Whale Quilt Clips

One of my favorite bedding companies, Pottery Barn Kids has some of the cutest sets. But not only are they so very adorable, they are high quality sets that last through several children.

It is not uncommon for someone to purchase a retured PBK bedding set second hand and then ask me to make a set of quilt clips to go with it. And last week, I found out that my PBK Baby Boats quilt clips went along for the ride to the second owner (the new mom was looking for instructions on how to use the quilt clips).

I think the PBK Jackson bedding sets will be another one of the sets that will see many baby rooms for sure. A soothing light blue with navy and basil green accents, Jackson is a fun pattern for little boys.

So my Jackson whales are custom laser cut to match the whale shape from the bedding itself. I paint them a base navy coat, and then I add in the dots...lots and lost of dots. I use the tip of a screw to put on all those itsy bitsy dots, if that helps with the visualization!

Then the fin is a nice lipstick red, with a white eye and stitched mouth. Cute, cute!

If you would like your own set of Jackson whales, head over to my website, as I have them listed there and ready for you!