Owl Stuffie

I wanted to make an owl stuffie for my sis-in-law's baby shower.  But I looked all over blog land and couldn't find an owl pattern that I liked.  So I decided...why not draw up my own pattern?  And I love how it turned out.

 It has a long strip of fabric between the front and back so that it has dimension . . . you can kinda see that in the pic below.  I hadn't hand sewn the opening closed yet, but you get the idea.  I love all the different textures of fabric that I found in my stash - suede, corduroy, fuzzy, and felt.

Baby Shower - Cat in the Hat Style!

My mom and I threw my sis-in-law a Cat in the Hat baby shower over the weekend.  (she has an awesome blog by the way, so make sure to check it out)  It was so much fun to prepare for, but I'm so glad it's done - itsn't it always that way when you're the host?  Anyway, here are some pics from the day.

 Isn't my fireplace awesome!!!!  My husband finished it last week.  It used to be ugly painted brick with smoke damage from the previous owners.  So we slapped up some charcoal tile and he made the pillars and box seat and mantle to finish it off!

I found the idea for "wishes for baby" online.  So we clipped the cards to the ribbon on the mantle for everyone to fill out. 

 Kojo Designs was my inspiration for picking this theme for the baby shower.  They gave the awesome idea to cut up pages of the book and make them into a pennant banner.

 We had red, teal, and white candy in glass dishes and Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes. 

 I saw these cupcakes on several different blogs, but only one gave the crucial tip that the cotton candy melts really fast - like in 30 minutes or so, so dont' put that on till the last minute when guests are about to arrive.  I had a hard time finding plain red cupcake liners - I found a primary colors pack but would have had to buy multiple packs to get the red.  So I made cupcake wrappers out of red cardstock - and then I taped the "thing 1" or "thing 2" label to the front.

Here's our preggo guest of honor - isn't she adorable!  My mom found this frame at a thrift store and painted it teal.  We had all the guests pose with the frame and the Cat's Hat (that I made a while back here) if they wanted to.  Here's a couple more guests...

 

 And my mother-in-law makes awesome diaper cakes - I told her the theme ahead of time and she was able to make the design work around that.

And of course, we had to get the proud Daddy-to-be with a shot in the frame and hat.

Yarn Carrot

I saw these yarn carrots the other day while blog hopping . . .

 Make a cone out of paper and tape it closed - then wrap yarn around it - SIMPLE!

Paint Chip Egg Garland

I saw this idea from Modern Parents Messy Kids on One Pretty Thing the other day...and knew I had to go digging for my paint chips.  I love how it turned out!  Depending on the ages of your kids, they could help with this.  Mine are too young for scissors, but my son lined up the eggs after I cut them and had fun helping me.  You could even do this with scrapbook paper instead if you don't have paint chips handy.

I ended up with enough eggs to make two of them.  A long one for the mantle, and a short one for the mirror in the entry way.

As I've been trying to decorate for Spring/Easter, my children quickly remind me what I can and can't put out at their level.

Grrrrrrr - sometimes I hate Blogger

Is anyone else having the image upload error caused by Google Cloud Picker?  It won't let me upload any images and says there was an error.

I have a couple Easter/Spring posts to do but cant!

"Hoppy Spring" blocks

Here are some blocks I made (with the help of my husband - I snapped my fingernail back when I was cutting the shamrocks when one of the blocks flipped up...so now I'm a bit hesitant to use the miter saw again.  I can still feel the nail bending backwards when I think about using the saw)...some day I'll use it again on my own!

Anyway, the blocks are cut to 2.25" wide and all different heights with "pharmacy" font sized to fit the block.

Another Crocheted Earwarmer

Here's another crocheted ear warmer I made for my mother-in-law's birthday. 

Tutorial for earwarmer
Tutorial for flower

Baby Shower gifts

I already posted the self-binding receiving blanket I made for my sister-in-law.  Here are a couple other things I made her as well:

Tie Onesie - There are 2 patterns I like here and here. . . one is smaller and works better on infant onesies and the other is a bit bigger and works best on 12month + sizes in my experience.  I don't remember which one I used this time since I just have the patterns cut out and use them over and over.

Denim Baby Book - more info here.  I love the piping added around the edges - it gives it a softer look.  And Kari had given me some of my brother's old shirts to re-purpose, so I used them in the applique shapes of the book.  How fun is that - the baby will have a book made from his dad's old clothes!

Spring Flower Garland

I wanted to make a flower garland like I did with my valentine's hearts...but I didn't feel in the mood to cut out lots of felt flowers.  So I used my Cricut and cut out some flowers out of cardstock. 

Then I sewed them in a line with my sewing machine.

I made this while my kids were sleeping, and when my 3 year old got up from his nap, he saw them and said "wow! good job, Mom" and went off to play with his toys.  At least someone notices the things I make without me pointing them out...like I have to with my husband. :)

Army Bunker Tent

This Army Bunker Tent came out awesome, but I had it in the works for almost a year...I just couldn't ever get excited about working on it since I knew it would be an intense project.  I saw the idea on Obsessively Stitching last year and knew it would be something I wanted to make for my son. 

It's made out of a twin sheet set from Wal-Mart (I don't know if they still carry the same one anymore...I bought mine a year ago when this tutorial came out - just in case they stopped carrying it by the time I got around to making it.)  The frame is out of PVC pipes - and my table scratches really easy, so I cut up a scrap of fleece and used that as a "table cloth" under the pipes.  And the best part...the fabric and pipes all fit into the pillowcase when you take it down.

Since everyone's table is different, the tutorial doesn't give dimensions, so that's what took me a year to get in the mood to make it.  I had to measure and fit it to my table, and I had a hard time with that, but now I'm happily done!

I basically copied everything Care did when she made this...the freezer paper stenciling on the pocket of the pillowcase and mini drawstring bag to keep the army men

...and the freezer paper stencil t-shirt. 

It was a bit tricky to make, but well worth it - my kids love playing in it.