Happy Birthday Lena!

Here's a quick idea for a birthday celebration. 


Our little guy made his Nanny a homemade card. His Mommy made some cupcakes. 


For the cupcakes I cut the letters of her name out of scrapbook paper, leaving one vertical twice as wide so it could be folded around the toothpick. Tack it down with a glue stick. Stick each toothpick in individual cupcakes and you're done! A personalized presentation goes a long way. 

Happy Birthday Lena!

Have you made a special someone a surprise treat lately? I would love to hear about it!

Sneak peek...

Here is a little teaser for a fun project I am almost done with!
Here is my inspiration:

Click HERE for more info.

Here is what I started with:

Before

This close up is most true to color. 

Please excuse the poor photo, still figuring out my new camera, thanks MOM AND DAD!!!

Orange, of course!

Check back in a couple of days! I am close to being finished but need to run to the store to get one last finishing touch. What have you been working on lately?

It's been a while...

I know, I'm lame. I didn't finish the Advent project for my sister. So no more promises...I'm just going to post when I can and stop stressing about it. Here is the latest family project I have completed:

I thought it would be fun to turn one of our favorite photos into a fun silhouette. Using Photoshop  I was able to create a fun piece of art. There is still so much for me to learn about the program but at least I feel like I can do some basic things now.

Have you used photoshop to create an original piece of art?

Thank you Auntie

Gone fishin'

Thank you Auntie for the oh so cool onsie! Doesn't Kieran look dapper? 

Nice tummy.

Advent 6

Card Pouch

This is for all of those store cards that you have but don't use very often. Keep them in a cute little pouch. Now you will know right where they are when you need them...

Advent 2

Kieran's hand ornament! 

This was so much fun to make and super easy. Here is a quick tutorial with a bunch of pictures. 

1. Trace your little ones hand on a piece of cardstock.

2. Tidy up your hand. Kids are squirmy, take a look at your little hand to see if it needs a bit of tidying up.

3. Cut out the hand following your revised lines.

Awe...so little

4. Choose fabric for both sides of your ornament and grab some double sided iron on interfacing.

5. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of one piece of fabric. Be sure to iron both sides of the fabric to insure a strong bond. (Following product directions.)

6. Peel off paper backing.

7. Iron on the second piece of fabric. 

8. Trace hand onto one side of bonded fabric.

9. Cut out just inside your lines. (Unless you used disappearing ink...)

10. Punch a hole in the palm of the hand. This will be what you thread your ribbon through.

11. Use a large punch to create a color coordinating paper disc.

12. Label disc with year and child's name.

13. LAST STEP! Thread a piece of ribbon through the hand and disc. I though it would be cute to add a jingle bell too.

I think this is a nice way to track an important little person's growth from year to year. It will definitely bring a smile to our faces in the future years when we dress our trees with this little whimsy hand. I hope it makes Auntie smile this year.

**Kieran received a handmade (of course!) cloth nativity scene in his Advent calendar (from Auntie Louisa) today.**

Advent 1

 Mini bunting! I think it's pretty cute, do you?

This is a quick and easy project. Just cut out a bunch of little triangles using scrapbook paper (or fabric, but use pinking sheers in this case). I made a template to trace out of cardboard.

Stitch the triangles together using 2 spools of thread in your machine.

And that's it! Pretty simple for a cute bunting that could be used in all sorts of places...Christmas tree, mantel or in a window. I think it would look nice pinned onto my sister's bulletin board maybe. 

Kieran enjoyed helping me package this teeny tiny gift.

**Kieran received a sweet Christmas book in our Advent Calendar from his Auntie.** 

Advent Calendar Tutorial

If you have never made an Advent quilt, this one is a good one to start with. It is really quite easy and can be completed pretty quickly. You will need to start with your color scheme. I had some very nice ivory wool in the fabric closet so that was an easy starting point. From there, I decided to go with bright and festive colors. This way, if my sister wants to use the pockets to hole things year round, she can without it screaming Christmas.

1. Choose heavy weight background fabric and felt for the pockets.
2. Make a template for the larger "back" square. I used a 4 inch square.
3. Make a template for the smaller "front" square. I used a 3 inch square.
4. Layout your color scheme and cut 24 four inch squares and 24 three inch squares.

5. Stitch the "front" square to the "back" square using a straight stitch. (Be sure to center the smaller square, you should probably pin them but I did not.)

Be sure to remove only one at a time from your layout, otherwise it  will be difficult to find your original layout.

6. Hem all 4 sides of your background fabric. Make sure you have laid out the pockets so you know what size you want the background. Mine was 23 inches wide before hemming.  Be sure to allow for a large turnover at the top for a dowel if you are not going to use tabs.

7. Pin the pockets onto the back ground fabric keeping even margins.

These flat head  pins are great if you have a little one in the house. They are very easy to spot when cleaning up. 

8. Stitch pocket to the background fabric. 

Take your time, I didn't and things got a little out of line.

9. Using leftover felt, stitch tabs to the top of your quilt.

Yes, it was that dark while I was sewing...sleeping baby.

10. Ta da! You are done! Now you just have to make something for each pocket...

 

My goal is to post each day's gift...check back each day of Advent to see what my sister in opening! 

Advent Calendar

The Advent Calendar is finished. 

Please forgive the poor photos. I worked on it while Kieran was sleeping so we kept the lights dimmed.  Have I mentioned I am really hoping someone falls in love with our loft so we can get our move on? 

I will post a full tutorial in the next few days. Now I'm off to the kitchen to make pumpkin cupcakes, yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sneak peek...

Tomorrow I will be finished (I think I can, I think I can) with my first ever Advent calendar quilt of sorts. Like many others, Advent Calendars have been a Christmastime tradition in our household for as long as I can remember. My Mom really stepped it up a notch when my sister and I went off to college. She sent us a piece of mail every single day, years in a row. Including the year that I was studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. Getting something from home every day while so far away is very special. Did I mention I pretty much have The Best Mom in the Universe? Well...I do. Many if not all of these cards and small gifts were handmade and always tres creative. Last year we had a newborn so that counted me out of most handmade gifting. 

Not this year! I'm back in the game. My sister sets the bar pretty high...this year she made us a very cool Advent Calendar (seen here) and I know she has some unbelievable goodies to go in it. Since it's not a competition, and I would never win if it was, I'm going to give making a quilt and filling it with handmade gifts a try. It's about time that I get myself in gear and make a little something for my big sis. 


First, here is my inspiration:

Abbey Goes Design Scouting

You can find her post here. Don't you just love the organization?

Here is a sneak peek of what I've been up to:

Any ideas of what to fill the pockets with??


And here is a shot of the little dude last Christmas, yes he was sound asleep in a sea of pointsettia. 

3 months old