Polka Dot Baby Dress (0-3mo)

With inset rouching and sleeves!!

And my very first official buttonhole!

Made like this!

Yeah. I'm just a little proud over here. :D

Trial run was a success... Now the grand finale!! Stay tuned for updates! Eek!

Pink Pink Plaid

Made this pretty little set for my new little niece (Kurt & Bonnie's)! It was a quick-ish project using things I already had on hand.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  A receiving blanket (big enough to be a wrap), an embellished onesie, and a plush taggie toy.  I hope she likes them. :)

Mickey Mouse Invite

Credits:  Mickey Mouse image via Jennifer Collector of Hobbies.  Polka dot paper via Stampin D'Amour.  Red and yellow papers via Erica Zane's Eat Your Veggies kit.  Word/paper strips and scribble art are also from that kit.  Black textured paper (used behind photo) is via Design by Choukette, filed under Blog Train Street Story Pt5. Fonts used are Mickey's Merry Christmas, Walt Disney and Mickey Ears.

Happy Birthday, Jolie Girl!

Photography courtesy of Aubrey from be{posh} photography, The King & Queen font by dafont.com, Pupcat font also by dafont.com

{Other credits to come... hopefully}

baby girl birth announcement

Credits: Photography by PhotographyByLi, papers from "Fall Scarf" by Kevin&Amanda, stitching from "Spring" by Kevin&Amanda, "Stamp Duty" alpha by Lisbonlioness, "Highland Perk" font by Kevin&Amanda

baby shower invite III

Credits: Ribbon from "Home Sweet Home" by Li. Everything else from "Playful Bundle BIGGIE Kit" by Corina Nielsen.

baby shower invite II

This is a potential invitation for my little sister's baby shower. She's having a boy. I think I like it better than mine! {I hate it when that happens!}

Credits: Papers from "1st and Park Way Add-On" by Alamama's Pressed Petals and "Reflections" by It's Jayedid; stitching from "A Touch of Winter" by Erica Zane

a blankie for sister

James was blessed with a HUGE assortment of blankets when he was a baby. Really. Tons. Derek and I bought him a cute blue one when we found out he was a boy, and then he got a bunch for shower presents, etc. Anyway, I tried really hard to make the above-mentioned blue blanket his "lovey" {we don't say that, but you know what I mean, don't you?}. But no. He fell in love with another.

Grandma Julie had gotten him a simple, fleece blanket that was rectangular instead of the typical square and stretchy, which is fairly uncommon as well. It was perfect for burrito-wrapping our boy... which made for some wonderful sleeping for him. We used it pretty much every night... and as a result, it became "Blankie." He loves it. It's nappy and gross now {not to mention in need of a "bath" at the moment} after two and a half years of constant usage, but he still loves it... and so do we.

{Here is James burrito-ed in Blankie. The blue blanket beneath him is the one we tried so hard to make him love. P.S. Isn't this a hilarious picture? It was staged and taken in honor of a childhood memory of mine... trust me; you don't wanna know.}

As an homage to this love, I decided to make a similar blankie for our soon-to-be-here little girl. Mostly I don't care if she loves it as much as Jamesie loves his, but I wanted to make sure we had a blankie capable of excellent burrito-wrapping. So I went shopping {note: JoAnn's is really the only place to go for fleece; they had a HUGE selection full of fabulous prints- unlike anywhere else I looked in town} and bought one yard of fleece. Just one yard. I trimmed off some ugly parts {selvage, etc} and then hemmed it. That's all. It was uber-easy and turned out really nicely. It's slightly larger than James' blankie, but I figured a little bigger wouldn't really hurt. I think it will work well. And really, how can you go wrong with easy + adorable??

And again- here is James. This time he's modeling "sister's blankie." Looks cozy, don't you think? Yeah... I like it.

binkie clips

Our little girlie will be here soon, and I've been trying to get ready for her as much as possible. {We had a scare recently that made me realize how very unready we were... read more here.} I think we're pretty darned close. I have a couple more things to wash in Dreft and a few more things to pack in the hospital bag- then we're done! Woohoo!

One thing we bought but hope not to use super-immediately is a set of binkies {I hate seeing teeny babies with binkies as big as their faces... so hopefully she'll hold off a few weeks at least}. I looked at the binkie clips at the store but found nothing all that cute/useful, so I decided to make my own. I figured they couldn't be that hard... and truth be told, they weren't.

I bought: 1/2 yd. of ribbon {twice, as I bought two kinds... and 1/2 yd. of each is plenty}, suspender clips, and velcro. For each binkie clip: I melted one end of the ribbon {sealing it so it won't fray} with a lighter, looped the ribbon through the suspender clip's loop and sewed it tight {twice, to be extra secure}.

Then I measured about 8 1/2 inches of ribbon from that point, folded it over and decided where my velcro would go. I sewed the velcro on {there are two parts- the sticky and the fluffy- so this was really two steps}, cut the ribbon after the second velcro piece, and melted that end of the ribbon as well.

That's really it. They were easy, and I think they turned out well. Hooray for more-sanitary binkies... and crafts that start and stop in 15 minutes or less! :)

P.S. The ribbon I used was about 1" thick, and the ribbon of the assembled binkie clips measures about 8 1/2" long. You don't want it too long or it becomes a strangulation hazard. I looked at products online {like this one} to determine what length was safe.

baby shower invite

Credits: I used all sorts of random things from a variety of sources. The main items are from "Brown Eyed Girl" by Stacey's Back Door Designs, "Itty Bitty- Add On" by Erica Zane, and "Father and Son" by Joni Gray Digiscrap.

PS. It looks much better without the censor bars... I promise. :)