baby projects

I've been making lots of gifts for the recent baby boom of friends having children. It's been so fun. I love making something special for my friends to show them how excited I am about their new arrival. Here are some of the recent projects and links to tutorials I used (cause who needs original ideas anymore? .... thanks pinterest)

This was a blanket I made for a friend of Jeff's from work. I got this idea from a gift that one of my friends gave me when H was born. That blanket is his favorite and he takes it with him to daycare everyday. It is actually a really easy project. It only requires a yard of flannel and a yard of the soft, bumpy fabric. I've made a few of these but this was my first attempt to embroider...I used this book to learn the stitches, but I totally free handed it, so that was not the best idea.



Since I have a boy, it is really fun to get to buy/make girl things. I've been wanting to make a tutu for a while and found a great tutorial on you tube that I used. The best part is there is absolutely no sewing involved! So when I found out my friend was having a girl I immediately ordered some spools of tool on Amazon. Just an FYI it is much easier to use spools than to get a yard from a fabric store.



My next project was a onesie for my nephew Bryce. I had my sister's friends all make her or buy her a special onesie for Bryce that symbolized them. I saw this one on etsy a while ago and knew I had to make it. Since there wasn't a pattern this was my first time drafting my own pattern and figuring it out myself. I ended up making two of these in different sizes and on one I left the edges raw and on one I pressed all the edges. The one with the pressed edges turned out better.



Finally, I saw this adorable tutorial over at Lil' Blue Boo (I totally have a blog crush on her) for a sock bunny and decided to make one for H for Easter. It turned out so cute! I don't have a good picture of the one I made for H, but here is his holding it at the Easter egg hunt today.





I've got a few more baby gifts to make, but don't think I'll be able to get much done until after my comprehensive exam on April 25th. So, please don't come early babies!

crafternoon

I got busy over the Christmas break finally sewing some things and tackling projects I purchased supplies for YEARS ago. The project I am the most excited about is tackling the new curtains for the playroom. The curtains in there came with the house and the room used to be a dining room so they were pretty formal looking and not playroomish at all. Here's the before and after:

BEFORE


AFTER


I wanted a faux roman shade look and got some ideas online and came up with my own pattern. I've never attempted curtains before, but they turned out pretty good!

I bought fabric years ago to make Christmas place mats and I finally got around to that too!





I used a book I got with embroidery stitches and figured out how to applique the little people onto the other side of the place mats. They turned out pretty cute.

I also finally completed one of my pinterest projects I've been wanting to do. I got a basket at the dollar store and got some jute and glued it around the inside and outside of the basket.









So, three projects down, 93 to go!

Christmas so far

Week 1 of Christmas vacation has been glorious! Lots of good family time, hanging out with friends, sewing, cooking and nap taking! Can I get an Amen?!





We've had lots of good time with our cuddle bug who loves to be in the middle of whatever is going on!y

I made some quilted Christmas coasters for my mom with the leftover Christmas fabric from the bows I made for our tree last year. They turned out pretty cute. And I found some chocolate wine to go with them.... I don't know if it is any good, but it sounds good! I'm in the process of now making Christmas placemats with the fabric I bought to make them 2 years ago.



We did Christmas early with my mom because she is traveling to PA to be with my sister and bro-in-law for Christmas this year. H sure had a lot of fun opening his presents!









We took H and his friend E from church to Jumping Monkeys this week to play on all of the inflatable toys. It was a lot of fun! We were both sore afterwards from the obstacle course - totally getting old....









H's favorite parts of the outing were the ball pit and dancing with E and Santa Claus before we left. It was so much fun. Both kiddos were in tears when we had to leave. Enjoy the dancing video below and Merry Christmas!!

Vacation!

I have 3 weeks off this summer - I can't believe it is half over already! Sob! It has been such a good time to spend with family and get some projects scratched off my 'to do' list. We spent the first part of our vacation visiting Papa Bill & Jo Jo in New Orleans. We had a great time!



Eating 'Yay Yays' at Cafe Du Mond, MMmmmmm. I apologize for the picture quality, it was about 3 days into the trip before I realized my lens was foggy...oops.



Eating snow cones! Yummy!



Fortunately, H wasn't big enough to cruise this around the block... I'm not ready for that!



We went swimming at least twice a day everyday we were there, it was so nice! H really warmed up to the pool and thought it was hilarious that Molly (notice dog in background) always jumped in the pool with us.



My 16 year old dog, DJ! It is kind of amazing that she is still alive. She seems significantly older every time I see her, I guess that's what happens when one year is actually 7.

When we got home we got busy doing a lot of the things I have wanted to to but haven't been able to do when I am working. We went to the library and checked out a bunch of books. H LOVES to read. I wanted to make him a bag where he could keep all of his library books and also need to make myself a book bag for school next fall. So, I was experimenting with making a tote bag and didn't want to purchase fabric in case I totally botched the pattern so I deconstructed an old pair of capris to make this bag



It turned out better than expected, but I wish I had made it with a liner. I've been busy working on my sewing projects, I even got a jump start on some Christmas projects I want to make for gifts. Still no guarantee they will be finished by Christmas though.

The other big development is that we started looking at houses a few weeks ago and just signed the contract on our first home yesterday! We are really excited and hope that everything works out for us to close on this house at the end of August.



We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to live in a house like this! It is an incredible home in a great location next to really good schools. It is easy to imagine kids growing up in a house like this!

Looking forward to living up my final week of vacation and going to Pennsylvania to visit Elyse & Stephen and celebrate the big 30 with Stephen! I heart you vacation!

babies!

Not mine...but, I've had fun making blankets for my friend's babies. Now that my friends have seen the blankets I can post pictures on here. Well, Chels has seen pictures of the blanket, it isn't done yet. The miniature version is done, but I was not going for miniature when I started making it.

The first blanket I made was for my dear friends Bobby & Tyra who have been in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia for MANY months. It was such such good news to hear that baby Desta was finally coming home last month.



I love the little buntings that have been all over craft blogs lately and couldn't wait to make a blanket using them. It reminded me of the verse in Song of Songs that says "He brought me to his banquet table, and His banner over me is Love."



I used minky fabric on the other side of the blanket because it is the perfect weight for babies.

The 'work in progress' blanket for my sweet friend Chelsea's baby Carter (due in July) was my first attempt at piecing fabric for a quilted look.



It is minky squares on one side and flannel on the other. It will look a little different once it is actually finished instead of pinned together... but you get the idea.

Congratulations friends on your sweet baby girls!

budding artist

Here is my little budding artist at work





He loves getting dirty about as much as he does the actual art project...


our first finger painting experience





The cake he decorated for me for mother's day, complete with hand print and finger smooshes.



And face painting! okay... cake eating.


The cake was a surprise from Jeff to celebrate my getting into grad school! I'm starting a Master's program in the Fall for clinical psychology. I'm nervous, but really excited!

Looking forward to more toddler art projects this summer!

Weekend projects

I've had a fun weekend of sewing, hot gluing, ironing, craft shopping, Easter basket shopping and LOADS of playing with H. Next week at his school is a special week where they focus on young children and do all sorts of fun activities and have a different dress up day each day. Tomorrow is crazy sock/hat day. Since H won't keep a hat on his head I decided to make him some crazy socks.





Aren't they fun? My model is Mr. Quackers. Technically, he is for Easter. But, H saw him at the grocery store and LOVED him. Especially because when you push his beak he quacks. H carries him around yelling "Quack Quack Quack!" It is pretty adorable.

He had outfits for most of the other days, except Hawaiian shirt day (never a good idea), but he will be having surgery that day. He didn't have anything for Rock and Roll day, so I found some cute iron on stuff and made him a shirt.


Thanks again Mr. Quackers!

I also made a pillow for H's rocking chair. We recently got a great antique rocking chair for his room from Jeff's grandfather and while it is very roomy, it can get kind of hard when you are holding an extra 25 pounds on your lap. I love this fabric!




He likes it!

I finished a baby blanket I've been working on and started making some other gifts, but I'll wait to post those pictures until they have been gifted. =)

What did you make this weekend?

Toddler art work display

H has been making some artwork at daycare and enjoying coloring at home. I wanted a place to display his artwork and since he likes to rip everything off the fridge, that is not an option. I saw a frame that a friend had made using picture hanging wire a while ago and thought I could run with that. I found a frame at Salvation Army, got a little can of spray paint and everything else I had on hand. Here's how to make your own art work display:

Here are the supplies you will need

frame, small can of spray paint, sand paper, picture hanging wire, clothes pins, (not pictured - acrylic paints used later).

First thing is to sand the frame and wipe down. I didn't do a good job of documenting the boring parts. Next, apply the first coat of spray paint. This was my first foray into the spray painting world and it was pretty easy!


Don't mind the starfish... just another windy day in South Texas.

While your frame is drying, get out some paint you have on hand, I used acrylic and paint some clothes pins. Since H's room is primary colors, I wanted to make some bright, fun ones.



After the frame was dry I used my picture hanging wire and strung it across the back and wrapped it around the staples that were still in the frame from where I removed the ugly artwork that had previously been in it.


clip on your painted clothespins and WAH-LA!

When I hung it up in H's room he was so excited to see his artwork hung up. He wanted me to hang EVERYthing on there! =)


Super easy, cheap, and it looks super cute in his room! Success!