Handmade baby gifts

I love to get handmade gifts for our little girl. I have not been doing too much in the creative department lately, but thought I'd show you a couple handmade gifts that I received and that I really enjoy.

My friend Katie made some cute things for our baby girl.

She made her some pretty burp cloths, using soft and pretty flannel:

And this cute onesie, using reverse applique:

Isn't this pretty?

If you want to see more of her creations, you can check it out at Crafted by KatieB.

It's definitely worth a look!

(I 'borrowed' the pictures from her blog)

Flower Party

With a newborn in the house, I am sort of behind with pictures, but just thought I'd share some pictures to show what we did at the birthday party we had for our oldest!

Some cupcakes for her classmates and our family birthday party...

And different ones for the kids' party...

Party favors  

  

With tags that match these party invitations

More party favors that double as decoration

Little purses to decorate ...

with rubber stickers

 We made our own party leis...

with flowers I punched out of tissue paper with my BigShot and straws...

Matching summer skirts for THREE girls!

I love to have my girls wear matching clothes. But with more kids, it is definitely not easier, since I have to get their clothes in different departments of the store. So am slowly giving up on the idea of have them wear matching clothes all the time...

I decided for a happy medium, and have this one matching set for my 3 girls by making my own.

(And no, I am NOT going to make them a lot of matching sets, making something times 3 takes a lot of time ;) )

But I am happy with the way these turned out!

Baby sister:

Big sister 1:

Big sister 2:

 (The oldest, somehow this skirt appears smaller in this picture, but it is not.)

Love the patterns and colors!

I linked up to Tea Rose Home.

It's a party - Party invites

Although we have celebrated a lot of birthdays at our house, this one is a first for me and my 6-year old:

a birthday party with only Kindergarteners. 

They are all girls, and my daughter and I decided to go for a flower-theme again.

I kept the invites pretty simple, by printing the text on the front and the inside, and then used a stamp for the stem and punches to make the flowers.

Simple but sweet...

Hooded Towel

 I really like to use hooded towels for babies, and even for toddlers.

Often, store-bought ones are thin and not very large.

I bought a large, soft towel, and squared it off to make a hooded towel for our new baby.

I used an old hooded towel to see how large I wanted to make the hood, and cut off a triangle slightly larger than that, to give some room for the seam allowance.

Since I didn't have bias tape on hand, and was anxious to finish the project, I just zigzagged the raw edge, and then seamed that edge. I have put it in the washer and drier since, and it seems to hold up pretty good.

For the hood I just zigzagged the one edge that was raw.

Also, to make it a little cuter, I added some pretty knit fabric on the outside, and some large ric rac. 

This is my favorite (and cheapest!) hooded towel we have had so far :)

Pretty Pansies

Simple Scarf Tutorial

When I saw this pretty fabric at the store, I was trying to figure out what I could use it for. It has a linen-like texture, and is fairly light weight. It would be pretty for a summer skirt, but I didn't feel like lining it and I was worried that it would wrinkle a lot.

Then I thought I could make a pretty scarf.

It is very simple, and perfect if you want to add a little extra to an outfit. 

SUPPLIES

Light weight fabric (twice the desired width of the scarf plus 1 inch for seam allowance, I bought a half yard and had a little extra, since my scarf is about 8 inches wide)

Matching thread

 Cut the fabric to the right width (=twice final width plus 1 inch).

 Fold the fabric lengthwise, right sides together, and pin.

Stitch the fabric lengthwise with a straight stitch.

I also zigzagged outside the line I just stitched.

Turn the scarf inside out, and iron flat as pictured, with the seam in the center of the back.

I was going to cut off the selvage, so I stitched along the bottom, and was planning on fraying the fabric up to that line. Then I decided that the selvage looked already good the way it was, and never cut it off. 

So that is up to you.

The finished product...

I really like FAST and EASY projects, and this one definitely qualifies. 

It's also fun to have a quick and easy way to add some pretty prints to a plain outfit.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.


If you like something a little different,
consider buying this pattern I created:

It's very pretty, and patterns for 2 different kind of flowers are included.
You can use fleece or knit fabric, and there is no need to finish edges!

You can buy the pattern HERE