Gift-Giving from the Heart

I have noticed my crafty side really coming out lately. We leaders of our mom's group at church wanted to do a really special gift give-a-way at our last meeting of the semester, which was Thursday. We wanted to put special things together that we could show the moms and explain how to do it at home to make special, home made (or home-put-together) gifts, that would also help cut the expense of gift-giving. Then we gave away what we made. We called it gift-giving from the heart.

I put together a couple things - a spa basket filled with good-for-you, paraben-free face and body care products, scrubby bath mitts, washcloth, and floating bath candles. I found a cool sparkly star-shaped basket at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off so I filled that up with my goodies.

The second thing I did was much more time consuming, but also less expensive. I made felt Christmas ornaments. I bought felt and embroidery thread for super cheap and then went to town. I used cookie cutters to trace some shapes onto the felt (I have angels, Christmas trees, stars, and candy canes). I really wanted snowmen so I had to draw my own pattern for that one. Cut a front and back for each ornament, plus any other decorative things you might want to put on your ornaments (like a scarf and hat for the snowmen). You can also use sequins, buttons, and other decorations to embellish your ornaments. Important - stitch your embellishments on the front side before sewing the front and back together! Then stitch the fronts and backs together (some people like to stuff the ornaments with fiber-fill, but I left them unstuffed). I used a blanket stitch to finish everything off, which I actually didn't know how to do, so I looked it up on Google and found this video. Plus, I also found a blog post with some great info as well - Futuregirl.com's blanket stitch tutorial. To finish, use ribbon, string, twine or something to make a hanging loop. Thread the ribbon through a stitch or two at the top and tie. They really came out cute!

There were so many other great things that everyone came up with for giving: homemade bath salts and soaks, lots of baked goods, a movie night bucket (popcorn bucket with movie rental gift cards, candy and popcorn - you could also put this together with a great family DVD inside), handmade barrettes/hair bows, handmade glycerin soap, there was so much more I can't remember it all but it was a really great time and the moms loved all the give-a-ways.

Sorry I don't have more pics, but here are some of the ornaments.

Dresses are coming!

In preparation for the upcoming and much anticipated handmade fair, I am making baby and toddler dresses! Here is a reversible one that I recently finished. Look for more at the fair (Littleton, CO on Oct 4th) and afterwards in my Etsy shop!

Appliqued Onesie

Well I finally have a sample of an appliquéd onesie! I just finished this up today and am pretty happy with the results. I did it on an old cheapie onesie of Laina's, so the quality of the actual onesie isn't the best and I think that translated into reducing the quality of the appliqué. I also didn't cut out perfect circles and that makes a difference, too. But I think when I get some nice new onesies and sharpen up my circles it will really look nice. Then I can start thinking up fun designs and adding them to my shop!

One tip I wanted to pass along to anyone who does appliqué or wants to try it is to use a paper coffee filter as a stabilizer. To get nice results, it's recommended to use a "stabilizer" behind the material. Well stabilizers are a wee bit expensive, and I found this tip somewhere online that a coffee filter works just as well! Just iron it flat, put it behind the material, sew your appliqué, and then tear off the paper when you're all done. Super easy and super frugal!

Birthday Bib

Maybe I'm going a little crazy with the birthday stuff...
My friend, Lauren of Stella Bini, offered to make Laina a bib to match her birthday dress.
It came out so cute - thanks, Lauren!

Fabrics Galore!

I have uploaded some of my fabrics into my Photobucket album. So far I have just photographed and uploaded the gender neutral and boy fabrics. Soon I will get to the girly ones.

Click here for my Fabric Album

I decided to go ahead and take semi-custom orders on embellished prefolds. I will probably be able to do custom wipes orders, too. Hence the need to showcase my fabric collection :)

In other news, I am also working on perfecting my appliquéing skills so I can offer appliquéd baby onesies and shirts! I am really looking forward to offering this as I think it is really fun to do and they come out so cute! I will get some pics soon.