Guest Post at Nap Time Crafters {or so very yummy}

Today I'm guest posting over at Nap Time Crafters. I'm thrilled that Amy has invited me to be apart of her amazing blog. 

I'm sharing a yummy New Year' Day breakfast recipe. I hope you come visit!

Handprint Ornament {or painting with a baby}

Both mine and my husband's families have traditions of giving each other ornaments every year. There's some debate about when these ornaments should be exchanged. Regardless of this debate, my husband and I now exchange an ornament each year. With the birth of the little miss, we knew we wanted to continue this tradition with her.

I got my inspiration of her first ornament from Mandy at a sorta fairytale. Her handprint ornament for her little man was stunning. I loved the simplicity of it. I decided to take my own messy spin on it.

I used white ornaments from Hobby Lobby {they were out of clear two weeks in a row...ugh}, a crimson acrylic paint, a glass paint marker, and lots of wipes to clean up.

I stuck a sans clothing little baby in her high chair and armed myself with a paint brush and an assistant {thanks Auntie Liz!}. After painting her hand and plopping it on the ornament, the above is what I got. Craft fail!

Luckily, I had five more. Round two went much better. I liked it so much that I used two more to give to the grandparents. There was lots of cleaning up baby, myself, and my assistnat. After they dried, my assistant {who has way better handwriting skills than I do} added "{little miss} 2011" to the other side.

All it needed was a cute little ribbon and it was ready for the tree.

Come party with me!

Baby Shower Gifts {or I went a bit nutty}

So I went a little nutty making things for a friend's baby shower. She's having a girl and I know how to sew for one! Plus, being out of class has left me with some extra energy to go nuts. Hopefully these will serve as Christmas present ideas for the little ones in your life.

The little miss received a taggy when she was about a month old. It was the kind with plastic in it to make crinkle noises. It has been one of her favorite toys. Currently, I have it hidden away and it's her going out toy {what she gets to play with when we're at a restaurant or she's in a shopping cart}. I had made one for my little miss before she arrived, but it lacked that crucial crinkle. She won't give it a second look. So, I had leftover materials. I made my friend's little joy a taggy and use a pasta bag as the crinkle making material. This one is much cooler than my original creation!

This diaper strap was a quick sew from scraps. I used interfacing to give it stability. There are tons of tutorials out there, if you'd like one.

Ruffles and Stuff forever altered {dramatic much?} the way I make bows for headbands. Check out the tutorial here. I highly recommend you check it out! You can also find some cool headband flower ideas over at my flower board on Pinterest. 

This shirt was made using the Amelia pattern by Mama Stello. Its form the same pattern shop that my little miss's dedication dress came from. The fabric was a remnant from Hobby Lobby

Ah, more love shots of the amazing fabric! Here's a tutorial for this car seat canopy {and an explanation of my new love affair}.

This little guy is named Soctopus. I'll share more about Soctopus soon. :)

Brag Book {or my first guest post}

{I wanted to share with you all my guest post for Angela's Creating Christmas Series over at Love Sweet Love.}

I recently moved half way across the country. The cost of plane tickets alone are at least tripple our normal Christmas travel and gift budget. So, in order to still give meaningful gifts and stay in our very tinny budget, I'm handmaking nearly all of our gifts. 

This little diddy is a Brag Book for my dad {who is a first time grandpa to my little miss}. My dad is always wanting pictures of the little miss to show off around the office. I nearly titled this sucker "My granddaughter is cuter than yours." I have a feeling that's what my dad is saying under his breath as he brags about his new little joy.

In order to create your own brag book, you'll need:

2 12x12 pieces of card stock

1/4 inch ribbon

Photo stickers

Photo corners

Embellishments

Scissors

A scoring tool

I don't have a scoring tool. I don't often work with paper {mainly because I can't cut a straight line to save my life}. So, I looked around and came up with this little pizza stone cleaner that came with our Pampered Chef pizza stone. If you don't have something, I say shop your house before you shop the store!

You're going to want to pick a paper that has two pretty sides. I started out by cutting off the paper selvedge. I wanted my album to be 4x6. I cut each of my 12x12 sheets in half.

Then, I used my super fancy scoring tool to fold each section into thirds. 

In order to make a larger album, you have to adhere each of your four pieces of card stock together. I did this using photo squares. I added an extra square to the seam side because of the added stress. Then, you stick the two pieces together, making sure the folds continue to make the accordion. 

 

Next, cut a 25 inch piece of ribbon. I cut mine on a diagonal so it looks all fancy. Use Fray Check. You'll want to glue the ribbon along the middle of the front of the book. Only glue it to the front or you won't be able to open your album all the way.

Then, put your embellishment cover piece down. I printed this awesome free chevron print {thanks Nat!} onto card stock and then cut it down to 4x4. Decorate to your heart's desire! {I'm a sucker for lime green and glitter, so these stickers were heaven!}

I used clear photo corners to attach my photos. I also left the back side nearly empty. I'm going to send pictures and photo corners from time to time to my dad as the little miss grows. That way, this album will document more than the first six months of her life.

Tie the bow and you're set. 

What grandparent wouldn't love a brag book!

{I'm so every excited to have done my first guest post. I hope to moonlight at other blogs in the future!}

Car Seat Canopy {or my new fabric love}

I have a new love. It's pink, white, and soft. Plus its really adorable. And it has whales on it. Who doesn't love whales? What is the new love, you ask? Its fabric!

A shinny new Joann's with amazing selection and a really terrible cutting counter staff {or at least a new staff that needs some more time to learn} opened up near me. Walking around like a kid in a candy store, I was drawn in to this amazing whale patterned flannel. That's right, its soft and adorable. What isn't to love?

One of the first couples that reached out to us once we moved to Texas is expecting a little girl in February. I couldn't be more excited for them! Their spunky, too smart for his own good, loving three year old boy has been "learning" how to be a big brother by hanging out with my little miss from time to time. He's great with her! There are lots of hugs, kisses, and the occasional rolling little miss up in her blanket like a burrito.

Well with her shower fast approaching, I have been busily creating girlie items to spoil my friend and her little joy with. I'll share more about the gifts later. For now, I want to show you what I made with my new love!

For my shower {Well, really my Sip and See. Little miss showed up a bit early. But that's another story for another time.}, a friend made me a car seat canopy. The wind here in North Texas is just ridiculous, so the canopy has been wonderful!

Since this little joy is coming in February, the winds will be chilly. I chose to use a fleece for both sides of the canopy. I used a little less than a yard {only because the white was a remnant that was .9 something or rather of a yard}. That also let me cut the straps from the whale fabric. I kind of just reverse engineered the canopy I was given as a gift. 

I started by pinning right sides together. Then, I used a bowl to help me round the corners. 

After sewing, I snipped the corners to help them turn better {while annoying...this really helps!} I then turned and top stitched the whole thing. 

To make the straps, I cut two pieces 8 inches by 2 inches. I sewed a tube and then turned right side out. I then tucked in the raw edges on the short sides and top stitched the whole thing. I added velcro and then attached the straps to the canopy using three separate stitching points for each strap. I did this because those stitches were going to bare all the weight of the canopy {And if her little joy is anything like my little miss, there will be a great deal of baby tugging they'll have to endure as well.}.

I determined where to sew the straps on by placing the canopy on my car seat and pinning. I know every car seat is different, but i figured it will be close enough.

Swoon

Come party with me!

Covered in Mod Podge Button {or thanks husband!}

I rock at Microsoft Office products. I can research with the best of them. But computer code is a completely alien thing to me. I'm trying to learn, little by little. As I encounter something new, I try to do it myself. 

However, more often than not, I have to get my engineer husband involved. He's been wonderfully patient helping me out. And I'm starting to have more successes than failures. But this whole making a button business was totally over my head.

So, with my design input and a football game, my husband was sweet enough to make me a button. I'm pretty stoked! Hopefully one day soon I can make my own. But for now, I'm going to be thankful and a little bit proud of myself for having a button at all!

Just incase you want one too, here's the code. 

{ <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://coveredinmodpodge.blogspot.com/"><img
src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-aA-xubv9jJM/TuKbPXVdvHI/AAAAAAAAAMI/W5YpMjrRKxE/s144/CoveredInModPodge.JPG"
height="150" width="150" /></a></div>}

Ta Da!

My First Guest Post {or YEPPIE!!!!!}

I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday! I hope you will take the time to come visit me over at Love Sweet Love. I'm so excited to be apart of the Creating Christmas series. And I'm thrilled to be doing my first guest post. 

Anyway, come visit and learn how to make a Brag Book! It's a great grandparent Christmas gift!

Christmas Onesie {or turkey turned present}

My little miss just turned six months old. This little sucker is growing like a weed. Its making me very glad all of her clothes were either gifts or bought second hand. But, its also making me want to make the most of every outfit. When I made her Gobble Gobble onesie, I limited it to about a three week lifetime. I wanted to see if there was a way to stretch out its use.

I wanted to breathe new life into this cute little number.

So, I set out to Christmasify it {yes, Christmisify is a word}. I figured a baby with a present on its chest is pretty darn cute. Plus, the present conveniently hides the typography of this onesie's past life. And, for good measure, I figured I'd add a ruffled butt.

 

I started by cutting a 7x7 inch square of my Christmas fabric {from Joann's}. Then, I cut two 8 inch long pieces of my ribbon {from Target's Dollar Spot....score!}. I sewed each piece of the ribbon down, as close to the edge as possible. 

 

I wanted to give the present more stability, cut out a piece of craft fuse. I then folded and ironed 1/4 inch on each side. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about fraying or sewing. I followed the directions to adhere the craft fuse to the wrong side of the fabric.

I sewed the present to the onesie using a zig-zag stich. This wasn't a easy sewing job. The knit of the onesie plus the awkward shape made for a lot of stretching. If you're going to try this, I recommend going slow.

Just because I find it totally adorable, I added a ruffled butt. I used 2 inch wide strips that were one and a half the length of my onesie {18 inches}. I used a gathering stitch, pulled to ruffle, and then sewed the ruffle to the onesie along the gathering stitch.

Now, this once Thanksgiving themed onesie has new life as a Christmas onesie.

If you make a similar onesie, I'd love to see it! Please post a link in the comments section!


Come party with me!