When my daughter was born, my cousin sent her these adorable handmade flannel and satin blankies that she absolutely adores. She cuddles up to them at night, and won't leave her crib in the morning without reaching down and grabbing both blankets before she allows herself to be lifted out of bed.
My little 5 month-old niece, Lena, is now at the age where she is grabbing onto everything in sight, so my sister-in-law wanted to know if my cousin was still selling the blankets on her Etsy shop. After going online, I realized that she had closed her shop, but I thought it would be an easy enough project to tackle myself.
I went to Michael's and found 2 adorable patterns (1/2 each) and some pink satin material (1 yard.) I also picked up a few assorted ribbons to attach to sides of the blanket to give Lena something to play with as she cuddled with her blankies. After some measuring and pinning, I came out with 2 adorable blankies, and fabric to spare! I'm hoping a few pregnant friends of mine have girls so I can make some more :)
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I am really excited to tell you about this one! I have been really nervous about attempting to make clothes in the past because I can be such a perfectionist that I get frustrated and stop working on something if it doesn't go the way I planned. Somehow, this turned out just how I planned! I have a bag of clothes I've been meaning to give away to Goodwill. They've been sitting in my closet for about 4 months now (procrastination much?) After finding this "Easy Breezy Tank" tutorial on Craftiness is Not Optional, it looked like something I could try. Having never made clothes before, I was feeling adventurous and up to the challenge. After digging around, I found one t-shirt in my clothes bag that I thought would work. And that's how I turned this:  into this:  Since I didn't have a template to go off of, I simply took one of my daughter's 18-month old tank tops and laid it on top of the green t-shirt. Then, I traced around it with disappearing ink (adding an extra 1/4 inch on all sides for seam allowance) and pinned the shirt so that I could easily cut around it, giving me my front and back pieces. I followed the tutorial above for the most part, but I didn't make the elastic neckline. Instead, I made my own bias tape (just as the tutorial explains how to do for the straps) and lined the front and back of the neck with it.  After finishing sewing and lining the shirt, it didn't seem quite finished. I knew I wanted to add an embellishment to it, so I decided to make a cute flower decal, but I didn't want it to be typical. I started by tracing a pattern for a petal. I cut out 8 flower petals and lined them up in pairs, overlapping the edges some. I then took a needle and thread and sewed all of them together by sewing several small stitches on the bottom (flat part) of each petal. After they were all joined together, I pulled the thread and all of them bunched up nicely. Then, join the ends of the end 2 petals by making a circle, and make a couple of stitches to join the 2, like this:  From there, I pinned the flower to the tank top, sewed around the entire perimeter, then added a large button in the middle to finish it, and voila! Instant cute baby tank! The entire project probably took me about 4 hours, but it took a little longer with constant interruptions thanks to bedtime and an active toddler. I am so happy with how this turned out though. I will never throw another t-shirt out again! 
I have an adorable little niece, Lena, who unfortunately lives 13 hours away. She's about 5 months now, so she's been getting more interactive and beginning to chew and pull on everything, as babies do. When Haley was little, I made her cute cloth rings with ribbon on them in different patterns and styles. She loved to chew on them and accessorize by wearing them as bracelets (usually accidentally :) I also made a wooden stand for the rings to go on, which I painted with acrylic paint, so that when she was older, she could learn how to stack them. If Haley had stackable rings, Lena needed some too. Many people don't realize that, when babies are young, they don't see the full color spectrum for a few months. They like to look at the colors red and black the most because they have the best contrast, making them the most interesting. Luckily, I love fabrics in black and red, so I had a bunch to work with.   |
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It was fun finding different ribbon to work with. Babies love the texture of ribbon, and many times the toys and blankets that have ribbon on them are super expensive. This project was made using lots of fabrics in fat quarter sizes and an assortment of ribbon. The most expensive part was probably the wooden parts and dowel screws (I got the wood pieces at Michael's and the dowel screws at Home Depot.) My hubby helped cut down the wooden rod since power tools and I don't mix. I hear that Lena loves the rings and gnaws the living daylights out of them. If anything, they make great teething rings!
 My little kidney bean is 12 weeks old! I can't believe how much he/she has grown, even in the last 6 weeks since I got to first see him/her. The doc says everything looks good and development is right on track (aside from the fact that the little kidney bean is measuring 2 days larger than the estimated due date.) I'm so afraid that this baby is going to be the size that my husband was when he was born - 10 pounds, 12 ounces - yikes!!! I still hurt just thinking about it....my poor mother in law, God bless that woman. My stomach is beginning to show even more and more lately too. It's so true that you show more with the 2nd pregnancy. I feel like I look as big as I did when I was 5 months pregnant, even though I've only gained 2 pounds so far. I know I'm not that big yet, but my body is definitely responding early this time, probably because it's done this already once before. I can't wait to find out the gender! I'm hoping they'll take a sneak peek in 2 weeks when I go back to talk about the "c" word....shudder....I'll have to tell you more about that later.... 
Recently, I realized that it had been way too long since I had made something, and my need to  craft came back with a vengeance (as you will see over the next few days :) After browsing through the awesome (and easy!) crafts on Martha Stewart's website, I found this adorable pattern to make a Black Apple Doll, and knew that I had to try it. It was kind of perfect timing since a friend of mine had a daughter who was turning 4 today, so it was pretty much a sign that it was meant to be :) After I finished the first doll, I had to make a second for another friend with a little girl who will be turning 4 in 3 months. Now, I'm kind of addicted to this project and will probably end up making a whole family for Haley and Baby #2 in the next few weeks. For someone who has only ever made maybe 2 stuffies, this project was really easy, AND I didn't have to buy anything extra. I already had a bunch of loose fabric and scraps sitting around. and the only other thing I needed was stuffing and acrylic paint for the face (which I already had as well.)  I think she came out really well for my first try! The head is a little square on one side where I had to whipstitch the head closed after I stuffed the doll, but besides that, I'm really happy with her. I half expected the first doll to turn into some kind of lumpy monstrosity, but seriously this project was so easy and it's great for gifts. And, I just love the little smirk and rosy cheeks on her face :) This is also a really great project to personalize. I added the flower in her hair and a little pocket on her dress. If I was feeling more adventurous, I would have tried to make her some jewelry or little boots, but I didn't want to ruin a good thing. Now I have to see if I can wait 3 months to give my other friend's daughter her doll....ugh, I don't know if I can wait, I'm terrible with surprises!
Oh boy, it's been too long since I last posted. These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of doctor's appointments for Haley and I - ear, nose and throat doctor for Haley to fix her ear issues, OBGYN for me to check up on the rapidly growing little bean inside (new baby pictures to come!) - and also some new crafts I've been working on that I'll have to post in the next few days. I told you in an earlier post about how Haley has had problems with her ears for months and how she has been on a ridiculous amount of antibiotics to clear everything up. Unfortunately, the ear problems have continued (despite 5 rounds of different antibiotics and a set of shots) and she had to have surgery to get tubes put in her ears yesterday. While I wasn't looking forward to my daughter going under the knife, I just wanted all of her sickness and ear problems to go away finally. She's been such a trooper through all of the sickness she's been dealing with lately, I don't know if I would be able to handle everything as well as she has. After taking her to a specialist, the doctor told us that Haley didn't have ear infections, but that she had a ton of build up fluid and general yucky stuff built up in her ears that was making her hear as if she's hearing under water. I had been wondering why she had suddenly stopped calling me "Mama" and started referring to me as "Baba" instead, and the doctor explained that that was how she heard "Mama" pronounced because of all the built up fluid. So yesterday, I helped load Haley in the car with her pj's and blankie, and said my goodbyes as my husband took her to the hospital for surgery. I know getting tubes is a pretty standard procedure for kids her age, but the word "surgery" can be pretty scary sometimes, especially when it's concerning your child. I had to pick my mother-in-law (who Haley calls "Yaya") up from the airport as Haley was having the surgery, but my husband called right after to let me know that the surgery went well but that Haley was confused and groggy from the anesthesia. It was hard to hear her pitiful cries in the background, but good to know that everything went well and that the ear issues are (hopefully) cured for good. Haley stayed home with Yaya yesterday and today so that she can recover in her own bed in the comfort of her own home. I know beyond a doubt that she's getting spoiled completely (she already got a bag of clothes from the family in Pittsburgh - thanks guys!). She's been sleeping a lot the past couple of days, which is expected, and while she's still been very clingy and whiny, I know she'll be back to her normal, happy self any day now. She even called me Mama this morning :) 
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This is such a cute project, and so easy! It took me about 1 1/2 hours to do, and I think it'd be faster if I tried making another one now that I have it down. The roll holds about 29 crayons (odd number?) which is plenty for a kid who needs some variety when coloring. The best part about the crayon roll is that it's portable (and personalized!), and there's no more loose crayons in the car/diaper bag/purse. All of them are displayed for you or your little one to choose whatever color you need, then easily stored for another day. 
