More Silky Burp Cloths

It has been a while since I showed you these silky burp cloths, and these and these. I cut this fabric last winter and just did not have time to get to them until a few weeks ago. I really love the combo of the leopard with the brown flannel. Soft on one side and smooth on the other.

I also found this cute purple fabric with the white flowers and knew that this would make a great burp cloth for those who love a floral. It is a bit of a modern flower and purple is a big color these days so how great would this be for a new mom?! I paired this color with the white since that purple was a hard color to find in flannel.

Last but not least is this black and white floral pattern with white on the back. I love how this floral pattern is so abstract that sometimes it looks like a zebra print. For those who are not so daring with color I think even though this pattern is larger the colors are a bit more traditional. This fabric is not as shiny as the others and would draw a little less attention.

I think these are fun and different burp cloths and ones that mom will appreciate and so will baby. Something soft to rest their head against and for mom something cute to put on her shoulder. The flannel sort of grips your clothing and stays on your shoulder pretty well.

I have some fun projects in the wings and can not wait to get them finished to show you what I have going on.

Monogram Shirt

A friend of mine was celebrating her 31st birthday recently and I wanted to give her a little something at her party...but what?! I feel like it is getting harder and harder to get gifts for people as we get older. The idea came to me....what about a tee-shirt with her initials on it?! Someone came into my work a few weeks ago with one on and I just thought it was so cute and really wanted to make one for myself. I thought this would be a really cute simple present for my friend.

I bought her a black fitted tee-shirt and asked her husband for her initials and then monogrammed them in the center top of the shirt in a small script font. I am finding black is hard to photograph in sun, it makes it look faded but I swear it is new-I did wash it to prevent shrinking issues.  

I like the way it turned out, so simple and cute with the hot pink letters on the black shirt. Something so small that people might not notice but at the same time a little personal touch if they do notice. I am totally loving the monogram trend and hope that it never dies. I have to stop myself from monogramming everything!

I might just have to try this on someone for baby bee, not sure what yet, maybe a shirt or maybe I should make a cute ribbon belt with his initials!

New Fabric/New Find Friday #80

These are fabrics that I purchased about a month ago and I have already cut into two of them. This picture was taken at night before cutting into them so that is why the colors look a bit dark. I went shopping because I was looking for some fabric to make something for a friend and ended up buying the fabric at the bottom...and a few more. I love how big the pattern is and how bold the colors are on the background without being overwhelming.

The stripe fabric in the middle is a really bright stripe and this has already been cut for a future project and I think it is going to look great for what I am planning. I have not used the top fabric yet and am not totally sure what I am going to do with it. I might need to find some coordinating fabrics for an apron or maybe it would make a cute applique on a onesie or burp cloth. Not sure yet.

These look so much better in better lighting and just wait until you see them in their finished state. I can not wait to get sewing!

Retro Onesies

These onesies were for a good friend of mine who's little boy is three months older than baby bee. We had so many events to attend for them that I did not get presents for, so these are sort of  make up gifts to show her how much we really care.

She was a huge Monkees fan growing up but I remember most in high school listening to them with her. I thought she would appreciate a onesie with the band on the front. I found an image on-line (now I don't remember where) and went about making it into a screen printed image. I think the original might have been an album cover? Not sure. Doesn't it look so cool and retro?

Her husband is a huge Star Wars fan and I though that this might be something he would appreciate. The image I found on-line (again I didn't save where I found it) was made out of a lot of lines but those did not end up showing up well when I transferred it to my screen so I ended up just making them silhouettes. The words "Star Wars" was not part of the original picture but was taken from another image and put together to make this image. I like how they turned out.

I actually printed two other onesies but those did not turn out 100% the way I wanted them to so you might see them on my etsy site at a reduced price. I would also be happy to make new ones if you would like to order one and I will be sure that they look great. This makes me want to come up with more "vintage" images that I can screen onto onesies and tee-shirts. So much fun!

Here is the little cutie wearing one of them. Look how cool he looks!! Very retro.

I don't know if you noticed but I have a new button on my blog for the "most valuable blog" nomination. You can vote for me here or click on that button once a day until September 9th. I really doubt I will win but would love a $50 gift card to Amazon!

Bath Towel Additions

This is part of a gift that was given to a friend's new niece. She wanted me to embroider the baby girl's name on a towel she bought. She also had some wash cloths so I thought it would be cute to put the name on one of the wash cloths as well.

We went with a green color for the letters because of the green lettering in the embroidery that was already on the towel from the store. I put the name on the bottom corner of the towel so when the towel is open and baby is about to be wrapped up it is visible at the same time as the image at the top of the towel is visible. I mimicked that idea with the name on the washcloth, putting it on the bottom left corner of the cloth at an angle.

I used the same font on both of the towels, I just stitched them in different sizes. I really love the way it turned out and hope that this little girl loves her personalized towels, especially as she grows up living in the house with siblings. She can always call dibs because it has her name on it.

These would be great for a large family where everyone can have their white towel with their name on it so no one confuses towels, I hope to do that with my family one day. White would be easy to bleach to keep the towel looking white too.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #79

So do you need a traditional first anniversary present (paper) or something cool and different at your wedding reception? How about some custom poetry? I know this is not fabric or a new sewing find but I think this is a cool new phenomena happening in St. Louis right now, poetry on the go with Fresh Poetry Ink.

A designer that I work with has a blog and while reading it she mentioned that her daughter and friend were hitting the streets of St. Louis with their typewriter and rug and composing poems for passersby for a donation. A new cool twist on street musicians these cool cats are street poets. You give the title and they do the rest in ten minutes.

I have a friend who LOVE poetry and old typewriters and thought that she would get a kick out of this. I even thought it would be a great going away present for her to have a poem written. I really wished that I could have gone around town to find them and ask them in person for a poem but having a baby makes it hard to drive around at night - unless you are trying to get baby to sleep. Alas I had to email them and ask them to write a poem for my friend. They did and I did pay them, and my friend LOVED them. I mean she told me several times about how cool they were...success!

I think this would be a great 1st year anniversary present for that special someone in your life. You name the topic and they write the poem for you. They have even done weddings, how unique would that be to have someone at your wedding writing poems for your guests.

GO visit them and maybe even like them on Facebook!

Best Blog?!

My husband listens to a lot of talk radio while working, sometimes sports, something Catholic radio and other times news. He was listening to KMOX a week ago or so and told me about a contest they have going on. It is the Most Valuable Blog in St. Louis contest with the prize being a $50 amazon gift card.

I don't ever feel adequate as a blogger but I love to do it. It is a bit of release for me to put something out there on the internet, like birthing a baby a few times a week only easier. He kept telling me I should enter and I thought to myself humm can I nominate myself with out feeling stupid? If he is telling me to do it I probably should. He is not always happy I spend time late at night writing blog posts but mostly because it sometimes affects my happiness level and productivity around the house. Ahh he will get over it and he obviously knows how much it means to me if he wanted me to enter.

Whew was that word vomit or what? Anyway I nominated myself and also sent it to two people whom I thought should nominate themselves as well (just so I wouldn't feel too silly plus I thought they had a chance to win). So if you would be so kind as to go HERE and vote for me it would make me very happy.

Thank you!

Poppy On The Patootie

I love these little bloomers for baby girls. I was admiring one that a friend of mine had a few months ago and was sort of sad that I could not yet buy one for my kids (I am sure the boy would hate me one day for making him wear something like this). The next best thing to owning something is making it for someone else. You still feel all good inside when making it and knowing that someone cute is going to enjoy it.

When I got an order for a pair of these I was really excited!! I could not wait to get it finished and give it to the client hoping that they would think it is as cute as I did. I was lucky, she did! I hope that Poppy's family likes it as well. What about that name, too cute isn't it?

I know this might not look like much but I don't think it needs much more, who needs to draw attention to that part of our body- really. I am usually not a big fan of having something written on the bottoms of older kids or adults clothes but something about a little girl having something small on her bottom is okay with me. Cute to see this poking out from the bottom of a dress to covering up that generic diaper.

I am working on something equivalent for boys...not sure what that is yet, boxers? Nah that just seems silly. Maybe just something on a onesie? Humm any thoughts?

A Bib for Vianney

I was busy over the weekend cutting into yards and yards of fabric. Once I get a bunch of things cut I hope to spend the next few weeks sewing, sewing, sewing. It is so helpful when I can just sit down and cut for hours and then sit down and sew for hours. When I go from cutting to sewing I often times find myself getting distracted and end up leaving the room for ice cream or something else silly and then an hour later realized I was just wasting time! ARG

Speaking of getting distracted....sorry. :) So here is one of the few girl bibs that I have made, you saw the others here. There were a lot more boys born recently than girls and I was so glad to pick out some girly fabric again rather than just work with the boys.

This baby's parents are friends who live out of town and we have yet to meet their first girl, and now they have had number two! The baby girl's name is after St. John Vianney and I think it is such a sweet and unusual name.

I hope that this little girl enjoys her bib and I can not wait to hear more about her as she grows.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #78

I saw this cardstock when looking through the Silhouette website a few weeks ago and thought that it would be a great thing to try. I have not made note cards in a very long time but always think about how great it would be if I had some fun stationary on hand to mail out to friends as thank you notes or just as "how are you doing" notes.

There are four different packs of colored cardstock that are adhesive backed so all you do is cut it out and stick it to your scrapbook or note cards. How genius! I went with the "winter" color pack and I was surprised to find out that it was the exact colors of the colored note card set that I have at home. Happy coincidence.

I might just have to force myself to cut something out of this and send it to a friend just to see how it works. Or maybe I will use it to finish my husband's scrapbook that I made him for our wedding. This would be great to cut out little shapes to embellish the pages. No matter what I do you know I will be back later to show you how it turned out.

Boy Bibs

You saw last week that I have been working on new bibs and I am totally in love with making them. Good thing too because I know a few new babies being born soon and these just seem perfect to give to the new little ones. Great to catch the spit up and drool that comes with being a baby. Today I wanted to show you a few boy bibs that I made. They are all made the same way so I will save you from looking at two boring posts that look the same and combined them into one.

I know two people who had their babies with in a few weeks of each other and both named their baby boy Charles and call him Charlie. So these bibs are actually for two different families.

This bib is for another baby boy that was born just a few months ago. I used a different font for the large letter this time and I love the way the S looks. I can't tell you what about it I like but I just love the curves and think it mimics the embroidered S.

There will be some more bibs to come in the future and other fun baby items. I can not wait to show you what I have been working on. I am just loving combining all of the different craft tools that I have to make cute baby items. There are also some non-baby items coming up as well.

Baby Gift Set Part I

I am working on a first year gift set for a little man from his Godmother. We are doing an initial with name onesie, a 3,6, and 9 month onesie and a one year onesie with his name on it. I finished the initial onesie and as soon as I have the other four finished I will post them for you to see.
I was wanting to finish this one asap so that the baby could wear it for any newborn pictures while he is still little. He didn't wear it for that but did wear it under his baptismal gown. What a cute idea!

This bib is my gift to this sweet boy. I wanted to use a different fabric than the other items but have it coordinate so I choose a polka dot pattern in the same colors. If he ever has to wear the bib with one of the onesies he will look smashing!

This is what happens when you have no time to take photos in the morning. These are not my best pictures but I think you get the idea.

I am excited to show you the second part of the baby gift set. I think this set is great for the new little one in your life so they are set for all of the important milestones during their first year.

New Fabric/New Find Friday #77

I found this picture back in my file and realized that I never posted a NF post about it. We have been so hot and sunny here lately that I forgot what cloudy days are like. They make me want to take a nap and sleep for hours then get up and watch some movies while laying on the sofa. Too bad I can't do that today. I am thinking of doing some chores before heading off to work. TGIF

Here are the fabrics, they are two pieces of terrycloth. The one on the left is a light blue color which does not come through so clearly on my camera, maybe because it is being out shined by the bright orange. You might remember this orange terrycloth from the Bjorn cover I made for a friend here.

I honestly didn't know that they made orange terrycloth but thought my friend would like this color better than a lot of the other colors that they had. You would be surprised at the colors that they do have. Terrycloth is one of those fabrics that reminds me of towels but I have seen my mother-in-law successfully use them as tablecloths (with a cute runner on top) to help take care of the constant milk spills that would happen on their table while the kids were growing up and now that the grand kids come over to eat.

These might have a future in becoming burp cloths or I might even experiment with making a towel. We will see what the future holds for these not so soft but absorbent fabrics.

New Baby Item

I have a new item that I have been slow to debut mostly because I have been busy making them for friends who are having babies. We know about 20 women who are having babies and I am so excited to have so many little ones around the same age as my baby bee.

The new baby item is a personalized bib! I am still working on what type of bib is the best so you will see different ones below as I see which will work and I like the best. I have applied the baby's initial and embroidered their name over it. I just have a soft spot for personalization especially for babies.

These little boys are going to drool or eat in style with their personalized bibs. As I said I was playing with different bibs. The one on the left is just a plain cotton bib in white and the one on the right is a white cotton bib with a coordinating binding, this bib is larger.

Look I even got a picture of Bennett modeling the bib for me. It looks like he is not bothered by the bib...that is a good sign right?

Here are the female bibs that I worked up. I realized later that the all white bibs were a bit smaller than the other bibs. They fit on baby bee but he is also a tiny baby, I have a feeling that baby Stella only wore hers for a short time. The bib on the left is for a baby that is yet to be born so I hope this baby gets to use this bib a bit before she grows out of it. I like the colored binding but I feel like it limits me to the fabric that I can use as the letter and I think it stands out too much and takes away from the letter and name.

There will be more of these to come...like I said we know about 20 babies on their way. I also am going to be adding this baby item to Etsy.

Pinterest Challenge

One of the million blogs that I read is Young House Love. I have been following them for years and love watching them change their house one room at a time. I was reading their blog the other day and saw that they issued a Pinterest challenge. I just decided the day before I read this challenge that I wanted to tackle one of the things that I pinned last week. So because I was already going to do it, and how fun are challenges, I am going to participate.

The pinned item that I am going to make is a pressed penny charm bracelet found HERE originally. This is totally different than most of the things I make, jewelery is not my usual medium but how fun to try something new right?! When I saw this bracelet I knew I had to make one. I used to collect pressed pennies and have 11 of them and had no idea what I was going to do with them since they were just sitting around taking up space but didn't want to get rid of them. This is such a great I idea that maybe I will get even more when traveling to add to this bracelet. I went shopping and picked up a chain, jump rings, and a clasp.

Then I gathered the tools that I needed from my toolbox, an awl, hammer, and needle nose pliers. I ended up borrowing another pair of pliers from my hubby, that helped a lot when opening all of the rings.

I really love the way it turned out!! I am a huge fan of charm bracelets, I have loved them ever since I was a little girl. My grandmother had one and I always wanted to know what the charms were and where they came from. I have a traditional charm bracelet and I just love the sound of those charms hitting one another while you wear it, maybe because it reminds me of my grandmother. Good memories.

So I followed the instructions from the original blog and it was really a lot easier than I thought. I was thinking I would have to ask my husband's help poking the holes in the pennies but that was actually not as hard as I thought. I did not follow the step of sanding down the hole openings and if I find that they get caught on things I might go back and do that but as of right now I don't think that I will.

I skipped every other link in the bracelet and even have space at the ends for more! I stopped getting these when on vacation because I thought it was pointless to have them. Now I am trying to think of the next place I am going that I can get a pressed penny! I  really like how it turned out and can not wait for a chance to wear it out, hopefully baby bee will leave it alone and not pull the pennies off of the bracelet.

I hope to make a lot of other things that I have pinned on my wall. Some are going to have to wait a bit longer for me to try but I am so glad that I could actually use one of the ideas that I pinned.

If you would like you can follow me on Pinterst HERE. (I hope this link works to find me) If you want to see more people who took the Pinterest challenge be sure to visit Young House Love and Katie, Emily, and Lana as well as all of the others that posted their links to the challenge page . Thanks YHL for giving me a kick in the pants!