Basic card

I had this cute little flower I stamped while visiting my mom a while ago, but didn't have any particular plans for it. However, I recently needed a batch of thank you cards, and this made a very simple, cute addition to a card.

Birthday Onesie

A friend of mine asked me to embellish a onesie for her little boy who will be turning one in just a few weeks. I was more than happy to oblige, and came up with this design:

I love the way he turned out. I think I need to make one for Boston. It was such a quick, cute craft, and it made me happy to be able to do something crafty since my time is so limited.

Father's Day 2011

(I'm only slightly behind in posting my projects)

For Father's Day this year, since it is Justin's first as a father, I wanted to make something for his desk at work that would be a reminder of what a wonderful father he is.

I used a block of wood that I had in my craft box, painted it, cut out a phrase in vinyl that I made using my Silhouette (LOVE that machine!), and added a picture of our adorable boy to complete the project.


(I used some stamping ink to distress the edges of the block once I sanded away the paint)

Now he has a great "manly" picture frame for his desk at work. And he can even change out the picture as Boston gets older and as we add to our family.

Embroidery

One of my good high school friends got married recently. We are a little tight on cash, so I decided to make something with things I had on hand. I've recently decided that I wanted to get into doing some embroidery, and this is my first attempt at an embroidered picture.



And here it is framed.

The frame ended up not working quite as well with the picture, but it is what I had on hand... Hopefully they'll like it. I know it is something I would hang in my home, I'm just hoping they'll feel the same way :)

Flowers

These are actually from last summer, but I thought I should document them.

A sweet couple who live in our ward had a daughter and a son get married here last summer. They asked me to make some hair bows for their grandchildren that would match the dresses for the two wedding parties. I was thrilled. I really haven't done a lot of hair flowers, but I have enjoyed trying out different styles and seeing what works.

These are the two I was able to come up with:

There were actually two little girls that needed flowers for their hair, so I made two of each kind. The family loved the flowers, and I was excited to be able to help out. I had a lot of fun making them, and look forward to being able to hopefully make some for my own little girl some day. But for now, I am perfectly content making ties and other boy things :)

Valentine's Table Runner

This is the first big craft project I was able to complete since Boston joined our family. I didn't have any Valentine's decorations, and I wanted something simple and not over bearing. I saw this table runner on Moda Bakeshop, and decided that I wanted to make it using hearts.

Here is the final product!

A close-up of a few of the hearts:

I had all the fabric on hand as well as the batting. I was able to get rid of a lot of the scraps of batting left over from my rag quilt. I liked using some non-traditional colors as well as the pinks and reds. It turned out cute, and was a lot of fun!

A soon-to-be new mother with too much time on her hands...

I have been so excited about having our first baby. As soon as I found out we were going to be having a baby I was making lists of things that I wanted to make for him. I may have been a little over-ambitious, but I have successfully made everything I wanted to make before he got here.

I wanted to put everything I made for Baby Boston in one blog post (I've posted all of this on my other blog) so that I could remember it. I also will provide the links to any tutorials I used where applicable.

The first project (and the one that took the longest to complete) was this wonderful quilt





I found this tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop and I just knew that it was the quilt I wanted to make. I decided to make it out of flannel because I wanted it to be extra snuggly. I have never quilted anything in my life before, but after watching this video I felt like I could do a stipple pattern using my machine.



Once I got all the right tools on my machine, the quilting went very quickly. I got stuck when my thread would continually break, and I was a little afraid that I wouldn't be able to get it finished before this little man made his appearance. However, with a new needle, some lubrication and a lot more patience, I was able to finish the quilt and I think it is just beautiful. I can't wait to wrap our baby in it!

When I finished this quilt, I pretty much swore off quilting...but now that it has been a few weeks, I find that I want to try quilting again...We'll see :)

The next project is some artwork for the walls in Boston's nursery. I created these animals based on a blanket that I purchased several years ago while I worked at Kohl's. I bought it knowing that I wanted to use it for my future children, and I love that I was able to use the cute animals as inspiration.







Each animal is made of fabric with stitching added using embroidery floss. I bought the frames from IKEA, and made each animal to fit. I used Wonder Under to attach each animal to the fabric backing, and then decorated them accordingly.



All three pictures lined up, waiting to be hung.

The next project is one of my favorite gifts to make for friends who are having babies.



Hooray for burp cloths! I know, it is kind of a boring craft, but I can't tell you how excited I was to make them for myself. When I first started making these I used this tutorial to learn how, but have since made my own adjustments that work for me.

This next project was inspired by this tutorial, I just wanted to make it a boy specific theme. I also wanted something that we would be able to hang on our door to announce to the world (OK, maybe just our apartment building - in case the screaming child wasn't a clue enough...) that we had welcomed our baby boy into the world.

It was super fun and easy to make - even though I had to cut out all the stars by hand. It really did not take long to make, and I love the final look.

This final project is something for which I did not use a tutorial. I decided that I wanted to make a mobile using the same animals I used for the art in Boston's room, as well as a few others from the blanket.


(I haven't officially set the animals, so the ribbon is kind of sitting funny - but I was just so excited to get them in the hoops)

Each animal is made of just the cheap-o felt you can buy at JoAnn's or Michael's. I used my sewing machine to stitch them up leaving a hole to add the stuffing and ribbon. Once they were stuffed, I finished the stitching with the machine, adding the ribbon from which they are hanging.

Here is a close-up of each animal.

(I think he is my favorite)




I found the ribbon at Michael's in the dollar bin that sits outside their front door. It could not have been more perfect! In case you can't tell, it is felt ribbon with white stitching on either side of it. I think it gives the mobile a perfect look.

That is just about everything I have made for his nursery. I have embellished a few onesies for him to wear, but didn't feel like posting pictures of each of those. In any case, I was able to get everything made that I wanted to, now we are just waiting on this baby!