{A Boy & His Train}

If there is one thing that Milo loves more than elephants, it's trains.  We have no less than 7 different train sets in our house and at any given time at least one is spread out on the floor. 

As Milo's 6th birthday is approaching I realized that his toddler room was ready for a make-over.  He came home from the hospital at 16 months old to his "fishy" room.  SO now that he is a big boy in Kindergarten I figure it's time for a change.  Milo and I had a conversation and the decision was TRAINS.  He needs a room he can grow with so I don't want a little boy train room for him, we need a big kid train room.  No Thomas painted on the wall, no Chuggington bedspread.  I have some ideas but it's a work in progress.  I've started a train board on Pinterest, you can find it HERE if you are interested.

One thing I know I want is photographs of real trains and all things railroad.  Labor Day weekend would provide the perfect time and setting.  Last week I wandered into an Osh*Kosh store and found the little blue/white stripe engineer pants on sale and I could not resist.  Perfect for train pictures, now what to pair with them?  I first went toward the obvious red shirt but then had a different idea.  I dug through my box of knit and found the perfect fabric.

Mustard yellow and navy blue rib knit

I used the great Flashback Skinny Tee pattern from Made By Rae. 

I love this pattern, it so versitile.  I made the short sleeve version with contrast neck and sleeve bands for a ringer tee look.   For the hem I just surged around the bottom with yellow thread.  I added some navy fabric paint and a freezer stencil of a steam train engine.  Painting on the rib knit gave a great effect because when the fabric bends at the ribs some of the yellow shows through and gives it a more vintage-ish look. 

The perfect photo shoot outfit was complete.

 

On Saturday I grabbed Milo and Grandma and we went out for a little photo fun.  I found the perfect setting on the train tracks near the edge of town where the train crosses the Rio Grande River.  There also happens to be a train yard too.  I was able to get some great pictures of Milo and the train tracks to use in his big boy room.

 

After Milo's pictures were done he went with Grandma to throw rocks in the river while I ventured down to the train yard.  There may or may not have been a little trespassing going on :0)  I got some great pictures of all things train, from railroad tracks, to steam engines, to train axels, signs, and old rail road related buildings.