My latest project - Burp Cloths

If you have been around newborns, you know they spit up, throw up, and drool quite often. I'm not the biggest fan of bibs, especially since newborns don't have full control of their arms and most the time push the bib in their face. So, I needed lots of burp cloths. I saw some fancy ones at Segals (my fav baby store in Beaverton) and thought, "I can make those!"
I bought pre-folded cloth diapers and sewed fabric down the center and ribbon in the sides. This was a perfect project for me, as I only had to sew a straight line! And with some of the ribbon, I got fancy and tried different stitches that my machine can do. It was fun to experiment. The great thing about these, too, is they make great gifts. I ended up making some for 4 different co-workers' baby showers and our friend's daddy baby shower. The two in the picture were the ones I kept for myself.

After I ran out of the diapers, I searched Etsy to get inspired on another way to make burp cloths and found this design. Again, I can make those! I went to Jo-Ann's and stocked up on Minky Dot fabric and some flannel. I cut both fabrics 9x15, sewed around them leaving a 1 inch allowance, sewed a large x in the middle so the fabric can't separate, cut the fringe, then sewed around again for extra durability. This is how mine came out:
I think my favorite is the Oregon Ducks fabric! Many friends will be getting one of those!

Diaper cake - by Carla!

Another part of this blog is to showcase my friends' crafts as well. Carla made this adorable diaper cake for my baby shower. It turned out so cute and I can use every single thing it's made from!
She started with Seventh Generation chlorine and bleach free diapers. Size 1 for the top tier and size 2 for the bottom. She decorated it with fake flowers (I'm saving those for another project), pacifiers (the only kind Audrey will use!), ladybug and butterfly patches (and she gave me plain bibs to iron them onto later!), ribbon (who can't use extra ribbon!), a couple small toys (that hang out in Audrey's crib) and a stuffed elephant piggy bank on top! You can order a pre-made diaper cake from Babies R Us and the retail price ranges from $49-$109!! I think that Carla will have to make more in the future, because now all our friends want one when they have babies!

Onesies

Before Nathan was born, I had read in a Martha Stewart Kids magazine that some moms had made onesies with their babies birth info on them and used it as a birth announcement. Thinking it was such a cute idea, I did the same. I typed up all the info into word art on Word and reversed the print so it looked backwards. I then printed it onto iron transfer paper and ironed it onto a onesie. Here is Nathan's picture from his birth announcement when he was two weeks old.

Now I needed to do something with this cute outfit to save my handiwork. I decided to put it in a shadow box that I could hang in his nursery. I added some other keepsakes from the hospital, like his hat, comb, bracelets, and I'm a Boy stats card. I added cute stickers, just to make it fun.

Once Audrey was born, I knew I had to do the same for her. Here is her picture at four weeks old and shadow box. I lined hers with pink paper and added pink flowers. Also, the nurse had put her little foot print on the stats card, as a keepsake. I think it turned out really cute.

Bibs

On Ben and my anniversary vacation this year, we went to San Juan Island in Washington. I was 4 months pregnant at the time, we actually got to find out the gender of the baby the day after we got back home. So naturally, I wanted to get the baby a gift, but it needed to be gender neutral. 

I ended up finding a book, Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. It has 20 sewing projects from toys to crib bedding and diaper bags. I decided to start with the bibs, thinking they would be easy. Let me tell you, to a sewing novice, they were not! With time and lots of patience, I have finished 3 as gifts and have the fabric cut out for one more for Audrey.

Here is Nathan modeling my first bib that I made for Whitney's new baby boy Riley.

My crafting adventures

I have loved handmade things since I was a little girl. Great grandma made me Barbie furniture out of yarn and plastic canvas, grandma sewed my American Girl doll clothes, and my mom and I had so much fun going to the Christmas craft bazaar each year. I remember my first sewing project was a Barbie sleeping bag and pillow. Barbie loved to go camping with them!

I also really enjoy making gifts for people. At the end of each school year, I melt broken crayons into soap molds and make new crayons shaped like seashells for my students. It costs me nothing and all summer long as the students color with them, they can remember their kindergarten teacher. Hopefully that crayon stays off the walls! My favorite wedding gift was a cookbook of handwritten recipes from a grad school classmate. Even though I love and appreciate all the registry gifts, there is just something special about Mary Ann sharing her family recipes with me. Nathan's "blankie" is a handmade fleece-tie blanket made by my mom's former assistant and her daughter, who went to the school I taught at. Those people are not a significant part of Nathan's life, but he knows that someone made the blanket for him with love. There is something about handmade gifts that makes me so happy. I love to give them and love to receive them.

So this blog is being devoted to all the things I make and the things that others make for me. I think it will be fun to see my skills improve (especially sewing, I'm still working on the whole "straight line" thing!) and also it will be fun to showcase my friends' fabulous skills. If you like the things I make, leave a comment, I'll probably make one for you if you ask! If you have suggestions, let me know as well. I am open to constructive criticism.

Let the crafting begin!