Shower for Baby Aidan

I have been posting about all the craft projects for our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. H's new addition, and I finally can post everything I made and a couple of shots from the shower because it has finally passed! Yay! She had an adorable Owl themed shower and the minute I saw her invitation I knew exactly what I was going to make. I meticulously stalked her registry to make sure that the bought items I was going to include were still on there when I was finished. I MAAAAAY have gone a little overboard on the handmade gifts, but honestly I so thoroughly enjoyed making each piece and I know that they will be loved forever. Her little bump is just the cutest!

Let's talk a little bit about the shower. Her friends and family were the warmest and kindest people! I was standing in the corner, because I didn't know anyone really, and her girlfriends from high school took me under their wings and brought me into their circle without question. That was so sweet. We had wonderful conversations from all aspects of life.....all the ladies were around the same age but we had newlyweds, engaged, old time marrieds, (raises hand) and mothers. The conversation went all over but it flowed nicely and we laughed and laughed. The family was outpouring of hugs, smiles and AMAZING food!

They played many games.....some I have played before and others were new to me. Old favorites included the pin game....I lasted a long time, but eventually got it taken from Sam....who ended up winning the game. Guess the baby food.....we were able to smell them which did NOT help at all. Let me say that when we do have kids, we are making our own baby food.....that stuff was nasty! How many Jordan almonds are in the jar and the guess how big the belly is, which I won! Hehe.....I tend to be good at this game. My trick when you think you are right (always put it on yourself) back it off an inch.....not only are you not going to be as big but it tends to work for me. I came within 1/4 of an inch! Yea. New games to me were: wrapped baby items that you had to feel and guess what they were.....man was that difficult. We all had concentrative faces trying to guess those baby items....It was harder than it outwardly appeared. Next was memory. Which apparently there were 18 items on the tray, but I only remembered 10.....not very good. We also played bingo too.

Decor was amazing and this homemade owl cake from her mother-in-law was something to be envied! It was fancier than our wedding cake!!!! I love the little owl with the tree branch!

Are you all anxious to see what I made? Have I talked too much thus far? Ok well get ready for photo overload! Above is the basket of everything she got. It almost all didn't fit in there. I had to play puzzle to make it work. From her registry I bought her these adorable Owl Crib Sheets from Carter's for Babies r Us, a couple of Pacifier's to go with another part of the gift, and as a free gift with purchase I got a cute Dr. Brown's holiday bottle as well. Now here we go with the handmade items:

Like I said earlier, the minute I saw her invitation I knew what I was going to make. This little guy stuck out to me on Pinterest and I had to make him. He is made with denim, upholstery fabric and felt with a little rick-rack and trim thrown in for good measure.

Carseat Canopies have been all the rage with crafter's and DIYers alike. They are easy as well as functional but I wanted to make mine a little different and throw in my quilting skills also. She told me at the shower she had been looking for one for months but couldn't justify the price of buying one....well now she has one of her very own. Also I found the cutest baby fabric!

Another Pinterest find, but this one was just too good to pass up. This diaper bag has multiple straps so that it can easily hook onto the stroller and then re-attach as a messenger-type bag. It's got a denim front and upholstery fabric inside so it's durable and still will work for mommy and daddy to use. The hubby has pre-requested that I make one to hold onto because he liked it so much.

I made her four burp rags with the cutest material ever! That square material has mini animal silhouettes on it. Elephants, rhinos, giraffes.....sooo adorable!

She got a couple of bibs from my denim bib stash....the construction worker and the red stripe were the last "boy" ones.....people need to have some girls here!

She needed some nursing pads as well....these were the only things that didn't coordinate with the whole gift, but I made them girly just for her.

The cute minkie taggie blanket has now found a home. I really enjoyed making this project! She also got two pacifier clips and two diaper/wipes cases.

I discovered that the owl looked really good on my recliner. I think I need to make one of these cute little guys for myself. Thanks for bearing with me. I know that it was a long post, but I hope it was worth it. I really had soo much fun coordinating this gift for baby Aidan, and I hope he gets a lot of use out of it! I will be posting tutorials for the Owl Pillow, the Quilted Carseat Canopy and the Convertible Diaper Bag so I hope that you stay tuned for that! :-)

 

DIY - Diaper Straps

It's been a while since I posted a DIY tutorial. So here I am again with another quick and easy baby shower gift! The Diaper Strap! I saw this originally on Pinterest and thought that it was so cute and different from the wipes case!

What You'll Need:
(1) 8" x 18" Patterned Fabric
(1) 8" x 18" Muslin or solid
3" strip Sew on Velcro
Decorative buttons

Directions:

1.Layer fabrics together and press in half. Open your layered fabrics and press in your short (8") edge 1/2".

2. Press the bottom to meet the middle and press the top to meet the bottom.

3. Press the top and bottom together. Sew a 1/4" seam around the edges of your strap. I sewed two lines down the middle portion as well, this is optional.

4. Sew on your velcro so that they match up. Attach your button to the top and admire your work!

These are so cute and easy to just throw in one or two diapers with a pack of wipes into a purse for a quick outing! If you don't feel like packing a diaper bag! It's even easy for dad! Just toss him the strap o' goodies and the kid and off he goes!

I hope you enjoyed this simple and quick tutorial!

DIY Changing Pad Tutorial

A couple years back I made a bunch of items for a girlfriends baby shower. I blogged about all the things I did and you can read about it here and you can see the photos from her shower here. I realized after linking to Pinterest that I never went back and did tutorials for the changing pad or diaper and wipes totes. So here I am updating you all! This is SUPER simple and quick. A perfect handmade addition to any baby shower gift.

What You Need:
1/2 yd fabric for changing pad (I used 2 different fabrics for mine)
1/2 yard vinyl (you can use a mattress pad. Frugal Hint: They sell them at the dollar store!)
Lightweight batting or fleece
1/2 yard for bias binding and closure tab
1" of 5/8" velcro tape
Wonder Under or any type of iron on material (Optional)

Cutting Requirements:
Cut (2) fabric pieces 14" x 23" (I cut one out of each the front and the back fabrics
Cut (1) vinyl piece 14" x 23"
Cut 2" bias binding strips to measure 75"
Cut (2) closure tabs 4" x 5"
Cut (1) batting piece 14" x 23" and (1) 2" x 5"
Applique designs (Optional)

Directions:
1. Note: This is an optional step. Follow package directions to attach your wonder under to your applique designs and trim. Place your applique piece in your desired areas on your front and/or back fabric pieces, keeping in mind you will be trimming your corners and adding binding to the edge. Follow the package directions of the Wonder Under to attach applique pieces to your fabric. Machine stitch your applique pieces, around the edges, to the fabric using contrasting fabric.

2. Trace a rounded corner to each corner of the changing pad, you can use a round plate to create a template. Pin together the changing pad fabric, right sides out with the batting and vinyl in the middle, and cut out the rounded corners.

3. Pin your bias binding, pressed in half wrong sides together, to the edge of your changing pad and machine stitch your binding down using the machine binding technique.

4. Fold the closure tab in half, right sides together along the 4" side. Pin the batting strip to the back and stitch the edge opposite the fold and across one end. Clip corners, turn and press. top stitch 1/4" around the tabs 3 edges. Center the loop side of the Velcro tape 1/4" from the end of the closure tab, sew around the Velcro to secure.

5. Fold the changing pad in half lengthwise (like a hotdog, with the back on the inside) and then fold it again into thirds. Center the closure tab with the raw edge 1-1/2" from the bound ends of the folded pad, making sure the velcro side is up. Pin, unfold the pad and stitch across the open edge of the tab through all layers. Flip the tab over to conceal the raw edge, press and top stitch across the flap to secure.

6. Refold the changing pad (hotdog then in thirds) and mark where the other half of the velcro needs to be placed along the back side of the changing pad to hold it closed. Pin the velcro to the changing pad, unfold and zig zag stitch around the edges of the velcro to secure.

Admire your work!

Front of the pad

Back of the pad

Folded and ready to go

Twist on a standard baby bib - Denim Bib DIY!

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you should just go back to bed? My hair decided to look like the cowardly lion this morning when I blew it dry, my morning caffeine still has me feeling groggy, and when I got to work I realized I put my underwear on inside out....TMI? Well it's just been one of those Wednesdays! At least I was productive this weekend and finished a craft!

With the invention of the internet and Pinterest, having your own ideas isn't as common as it once was. While perusing the DIY and crafts section I saw this super cute twist on baby bibs from Thimbly Things. I just about died, as I had some scrap denim that has just been lying around my house waiting for a project. I figured I could make some bibs to have in my gift closet. Even after making 8 bibs I still have some leftover for some other ideas I am planning! Stay tuned for those! Anywho, without further adieu.....le tutorial:

What you'll need:
Bib Template (I printed one off the internet that was actually an infant size, oopsies! Hey it still works. You can use your own stash for templates as well)
Denim
Scissors
Pins
Quilters Cotton (16 different patterns; (2) coordinates per bib) (I made 4 boy bibs and 4 girl bibs)
Sewing Machine w/ detail stitch options
Coordinating thread

Directions:

1. First fold the denim in half lengthwise, pin the template down and cut around one side of the template. I had 4 pant legs, so I did this eight times. Actually I did each step eight times, I was tired at the end! Haha

2. Cut one fabric large enough for the back, about a 10" x 11" square in my case and cut the coordinating fabric 2" by width of bib, mine was about 9." Take your 2" strip and press a folded over 1/4" seam on both long ends to avoid frays and zig zag stitch it into place....about a third up from the bottom. Note: If you wish you can use Steam a Seam Lite to help make your pressing easier. Cut it 1-1/2" x length of fabric and press down centered inside the fabric. Fold over your 1/4" seams and press down. Then press to adhere to denim.

Select your coordinating thread to go with your patterns and sew detailed stitching on either side of the patterned fabric. Depending on the pattern this can be time consuming so choose wisely. Also my denim was a stretchy denim, so some of the more dense patterns wanted to pucker and I had to press them flat. So keep that in mind.

3. Place your bib and back fabrics right sides together, pin and trim the back fabric the same size as the bib. If you wish to re-pin for easier sewing, please do. Sew a 1/4" seam around the entire bib, leaving about a 3″ opening at the bottom of the bib for turning. Make small perpendicular clips around all your curves for easier turning, just make sure not to cut your seam. The area on my neck, where the snaps go was very small so I trimmed the edge in that area to about 1/8"

4. Gently turn bib right side out, using closed scissors or a blunt edge tool to carefully push out the narrow curves.

5. Press bib, pin your turning opening and stitch along all edges about 1/4″. You can use a decorative stitch here also. I used a wavy stitch with a denim blue color thread and a coordinating bobbin thread to the back fabric.

6. Choose a closure and attach as directed. I chose hand sewn snaps because the area where they would go was just too small for velcro, but if you have more space you can definitely use it!

Once your all done admire your new and super cute bibs! My favorite one has to be the boy one with the construction zone fabric on the front. I really like the girl bib with the ABC back and arched pink stitching on the front!

Day Ten - Joy

I always find joy in a finished project and holiday projects are no exception. No waiting until the last minute this year! These babies are wrapped and under my tree! Score!

Day Three - Gift

I don't have any stories for today's photo, other than I was able to get some early wrapping done and under our tree!! Woohoo for getting stuff done early! Today's photo challenge is Gifts, so I decided to take the opportunity to capture my pretty bows and paper. Christmas trees, snowmen and gold. Instead of curling ribbon I chose to do wire ribbon bows for a little extra touch!

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