First Attempt at Baby Booties

Time for another baby shower gift idea! I've really had fun pushing my limits on what I can make myself. This time I wanted to make a pair of cloth baby shoes. They seemed like it would be completely out of my sewing skills, but I didn't have too much trouble with it (besides sewing the wrong side and having to tear out the seams AFTER I sewed the whole shoe together... nice one). I used the template here, but made them slightly smaller since it would be for a newborn. I feel like my blog should really just chronicle how I see an idea and totally copy it! Haha! I do have some ideas of my own for the near future :) Here is the final product minus the elastic step - I knew I'd forget to take a picture the next day after the hubby went out and grabbed me some elastic. I paired it with a tie onesie in the same fabric and I thought it looked so cute and preppy!
And here's the package all wrapped up! (This was after I added the elastic to the back of the shoes - I was right and forgot to take a picture of just the shoes after that step!)I wasn't able to make it to the shower since it was during the day while I was at work, but I hope she liked it! I have heard that they look like baby Toms :)

I have seen reversible versions of these shoes and I want to give those a shot!

Linking up to Frugal Friday, Free for All, and Show and Share.

Baby Tie Onesie

On to other baby shower gift ideas... I made bows for my friends' little girls for Easter, but I still needed something for the little boys. None of the boys were really old enough to care what I got them (the oldest was under 2), so I decided to make them little tie shirts/onesies. I followed the tutorial at Crap I've Made and I thought they turned out super cute!

I can't decide which pattern is my favorite! The argyle is so preppy and cute but paisley is the classic tie pattern! Ah, geez, I think I love them equally :) I bought a fourth of a yard of each fabric at Hob Lob (at 30% off!) and it was plenty to make 6 ties, 3 of each pattern and I could make many more with that as well. The argyle was tougher since I tried to line up the pattern just right. I also bought a pack of onesies for the littlest ones in a 3-9 month size (random sizing, right?) and 1 12 month onesie and 1 little 2T t-shirt at Wal-Mart so they were very inexpensive and so fun to make!

Baby Shower Cards

As I said previously I went to a boat-load of baby showers in the spring. 7 to be exact. I guess this is a nice follow up to my last year in which we went to 8 weddings. So, while I am not (or try not to be) a cheap-skate, I do like to be frugal when possible. One way I did this was to make cards for the baby showers. I have a ton of scrapbook paper, so this was basically a free project. I used two different scrapbook papers and the general tutorial here. However, I just judged the size myself and mine was just one page, not a folded card. I added little bows on a few of them with some extra ribbon I had on hand. These were great for group gifts because we each got to write a little note all over the cards. These were fun and very easy to make!



I posted this to Frugal Friday and Free for All.

Bows!

Now that I have quite a few projects to blog on, I'll probably do some mass posting over the next few weeks (which is about a post a week at my pace) and then drop off the face of the blog world for months again. It's just how I roll. So, now that we've gotten more involved in our new church, I've gotten to know the people in my lifegroup a lot better. I seriously love them! And I love their kids... which is a good thing since there were four babies born in our group in a month and a half's time! It's been so fun! I actually know a TON of people that have recently had babies and I went to 7 baby showers in 2 months... no joke! So, that being said, I have been making little baby-inspired things left and right. Love it! I made a little bow holder for a friend and her little bundle and I thought it turned out very fun. It was also very easy and very affordable to make. To start off, I made a bow for decoration (I actually made about 6 of these with different materials and turned the rest into hairbows). I found a tutorial here and thought it would be perfect! I took some pictures of one of the bows while I was working on it, but it will be easier to just check theirs out.




I added the bow (which is different than the one I showed pictures of above) to a frame that I painted. We had a picture of the hubs' trip to Africa in this, but the glass broke in the move, so we repurposed it. I also bought some ribbon and modge-podged (gotta love that stuff!) the same fabric (which matched the little one's nursery bedding) onto the middle of it. I then glued the ribbon to the back and held it so it dried nice and tight. Note: I glued this to a little ridge on the back so it wasn't laying flat against the wall if they were to hang it. I doubt it makes much difference but just something to think about. I also added a little knob (from Hobby Lobby, my favorite place ever, at 50% off) at the bottom so they could hang her little headbands there if they want.
I had a blast making this! They've already shown me all the bows they hung on it and it gave me some major baby fever, especially for a little girl!

More baby craft ideas to come!

Sunday Celebration!

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

I will stand, I will stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I stand

Wedding Gifts

The two weddings I was in this summer were an absolute blast! Since I had bought gifts for their showers, I was pretty frugal for their wedding gifts. I bought a wooden C and F (their new last initials!) at Hobby Lobby and a few sheets of scrapbook paper. I also bought some brown craft paint and ribbon. I painted the letters brown to start off with.


Then I used my handy dandy modge podge to adhere some fun scrapbook paper to the top layers of the letters.


I wish I had a picture of the F too! It had some paper with a picture of the Eiffel Tower and I was really happy with how it turned out. All I did after this was staple some ribbon to the back of the letters for them to hang it up.


I thought they turned out super cute and I got to personalize them for my dear friends!

Here's a picture of the three of us when I went to visit a few weeks ago :)
Aren't they gorgeous? And I swear the ruffles on my shirt don't seem nearly as obnoxious as they do in that picture :)

And to end this post, here's a picture of my Prince Charming and our not-so-little furchild...


I'm linking up to...
The Shabby Nest
Just A Girl
DecorMamma
Young and Crafty

Long Time, No See

I thought we would actually have more time after the summer was over. No dice. But it's been fun! I've had the chance to do a few more small projects...

After our wedding, I swear we had about 8,259 picture frames. I'll be honest, I wasn't great about putting pictures in frames for our first year. We knew we would be moving, so I pretty much only put up my absolute favorite pictures and left the rest until after I moved. Now that we're moved in, I have been dying to make a gallery photo wall. We had a lot of 8x10 pictures (we take advantage of it everytime they're free at Wal-Greens), so we've been looking for frames around our house that work. We had received one for our wedding that had not been used but it had been scratched in our move.


We liked the frame, but even without the scratches the silver wouldn't work in our room very well. We did have some leftover paint samples so I mixed an off-white with some pearl craft paint - just experimented with some of the colors. After I did a once-over with a foam brush, I took a very tiny paintbrush to get into the fine detailing on the sides. It turned out pretty good and our gallery wall is coming along. I hope to put that up soon!