Easy Peasy homemade babyshower gift

My dear friend is having a sweet baby girl soon. I needed something to give her besides my go-to baby shower gift, my personal lifesaver, the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. (affiliate link) So I made a couple of sweet outfits for her.

I used the circle skirt pattern from MADE and dyed cotton onsies to match. I love sewing for newborns because  it always looks like little doll outfits!

The flowers on the headbands were made by following this tutorial.  the only change I made was to not use any felt instead I used fabric circles for the base.

 

I am excited to hand this gift over this weekend and I am even more excited to see a sweet new baby in this outfit!

 

Rachel

Criss-cross baby dress

Poor Mattie is sorely lacking in summer clothes. She was born in the complete opposite time of the year from  Zadie which means I have a plethora of 3-6 month winter clothes, but in this 100 degree weather that just ain't gonna cut it! ;)

So the other night I whipped up this cutie patootie dress. 

I mean, is there anything more sweet than a cute little baby bootie sticking out of the back of one of these little dresses!! I found this great sailboat fabric on clearance at Joann's and I snapped it right up. The pink contrasting fabric was from my stash.

I used this pattern my grandma had in her collection. I think I may be slowly defeating my fear of commercial  patterns. Honestly, if I had to choose I would always go with an instant download from ETSY. With all the pictures and detailed instructions you just cannot go wrong!

I wasn't blogging around the time when I created this little beauty in the nursery, so I thought I would share now. I am no artist so the fact that this actually turned out how I envisioned it had me over the moon!!

Happy Tuesday

I love to party at these great blogs!

It's Baby Time... games for coed showers

Today is the last day of Baby Time.

And I'm going to miss it!

I wanted to finish our fun week with a few ideas for coed baby showers.

Have you ever been to one before?

I  am not sure how popular they are in other families, but in mine it is usually the biggest shower we have,

Unfortunately I am not a fan of shower games,

nor are must males.

So here are a couple of games that should please any party goer.

(See that cute banner? The tutorial is coming soon!)

A baby pool is always a great idea.

Especially if the lovely couple is not finding out the sex of the baby!

I found this great (free) website called Expectnet where people can go and vote in a baby pool.

It is really easy to manage and my SIL just posted the link on facebook so any of her friends could join in.

I didn't think it would be very cute to have a laptop for people to guess on at the party so I made a big posterboard where they could vote.

I put it right in the entry way so no one missed it coming or going.

 I also had a mason jar sitting beside it for the money pot and to explain the rules.

Everyone had a BALL guessing and it really helped everyone feel comfortable and involved from the moment they walked in!

(Side note: I ALWAYS have the guest go ahead and self address envelopes at the shower to help the parents-to-be with their thank you notes! It is not hard for the guest and it REALLY helps the parents.)

This next game was particularly entertaining because my BIL has NEVER changed a diaper!

Seriously.

All I did was have him and his dad race to diaper a baby doll, but they had to do it with gloves and goggles.(not in the picture)

I really liked this game because the guest got to be involved without really doing anything!

I really hate shower game... Have i said that yet ;)

Especially the ones that involve famous people and their babies.

I really really suck at that.

You might as well stick a physics test in front of me. I would equally fail both!

I hope I don't sound like a Debbie downer.

There are plenty of things I love in life!

Just not silly shower games :)

Well if you missed any post from this week, be sure to go check them out!

hooter hider tutorial

(My SIL just asked if I  would make another one for a shower for one of her friend's. I think she liked it!)

stenciled onsies

baby leg warmers

pee pee tepee

bobby cover

baby shower decor

Thanks for joining me in our baby celebration!

(I'll let you know when the new baby comes!)

much love

I'm linking to these great parties!

It's Baby Time!... Unisex baby shower decor

It's the next to last day of baby time.

Which makes me VERY sad :(

EXCEPT it means the time to meet the new little guy is getting closer!!!

I shared some practical, fun, and EASY baby shower gifts in 5 previous post.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Today I want to share some food and decor ideas.

My SIL is WAY more awesome than me and she is patient enough to WAIT to find out the sex of the baby!

I could NEVER do that.

I need to sew and decorate.

That would TOTALLY cramp this type A planner's style.

I am so envious of her ability to wait.

Anywho, that meant we couldn't go with the plain jane pink or blue baby decorations.

We actually REALLY cheated in this department because we stole most of our decorations from a shower they had the day before ours.

And since the host of that shower was a balloon artist (or balloonatic as she called herself :) we had a lot to steal.

We did do a few simple things such as:

My MIL put together these little diaper animals.

Aren't they cute!?

She is so stinking creative!

She did say she got the pattern for how to build them off the internet.

So if you love them start googling! ;)

She also used a time-out chair, she got the soon to be parents as a gift, to hold the paper products.

I think it really adds dimension to the table!

I built this little "baby" out of fruit.

(Don't tell but part of my finger may be in there somewhere;)

That was A LOT of slicing but well worth it for the end product!

My MIL also baked these AMAZING cookies!

You think they look cool?

You should have TASTED them.

DELISH!

Like, now that I have looked at a picture I will probably dream about their sweet chewy goodness tonight!

If you want the recipe go here.

It was a really fun shower!

Come back tomorrow for the last day of Baby Time :*( 

I have some great games to share with you.

they are perfect if....

you usually hate shower games (like me)

or for a coed shower.

See you tomorrow!

I'm linking to these great parties!

It's Baby Time... Boppy cover

If you missed day one, day two, day three, or day four go take a look!

Today is the last day of baby gift ideas...

And I truly did save one of the best (and easiest) gift ideas for last!

If you have been a nursing mom in the last several years there is a good chance you had a sidekick called

THE BOPPY.

It is really the most amazing invention.

To bad they think so too.

Thirty bucks for a pillow?!

It makes this thrifty mamma cringe.

Good thing I use it like TEN time a DAY right now!

I am complaining about something I am not going to change with this post ;)

I will give you a tip though. 

When I was looking for other options I did find a nursing pillow 

(with a free pattern for a cover included)

at JoAnn's. 

It was expensive too but you could always use a coupon!

Anywho, back to today's gift.

My SIL has already received the boppy pillow but she still needed a cover.

I figured who wouldn't want a one of a kind cover over one anyone could buy.

So to google I went.

And I found this great tutorial that includes a PATTERN! Woo Hoo!!

I pulled some fabric out of my stash and an hour later I was done.

Seriously. It was that easy!

I tried it on my boppy pillow and it fit like a glove.

And just because I'm proud,

I wanted to show you my second- ever zipper!

I am seriously nailing my New Year's resolution this year. ;)

So, I want to know, do you have any babies in your life you have been crafting for? DO you have any great (easy) baby gift ideas? I am loving creating for my new little niece or nephew. (I am DYING to find out) It is making even MORE excited! Any of you expecting any new babies in your family?? Tell me about it!

xoxo

I'm linking to these great parties!

It's Baby Time... pee pee teepee :)

Can you believe it is already day FOUR of BABY TIME!

Dang, time flies when your having fun right?!

Today I have something special for those sweet baby boys

These are pretty self explanatory, but if your anything like me...

well let me just explain ;)

You use it to cover a little boy so he doesn't pee on you while changing his diaper.

(duh right?!)

(Sorry about the horrible pictures but I of course procrastinated and did not finish until late the night before the shower!)

I know I keep saying this but this was SO easy.

And I just used scraps I had in my stash.

These were the HIT of the party!

Everyone got such a good laugh out of them and I hear they are useful to boot!

(I wouldn't know. Thankfully little girls are kinder with their pee pee!)

I followed this awesome tutorial.

If your baby gift is missing a little umph...

this is exactly what it needs!

I hope this gives you a little inspiration!

Come back tomorrow for an easy peasy gift every nursing mamma needs!

much love 

I'm linking to these great parties!

It's baby time... stenciled onsies

It's baby time again!!

If you missed day one go back and visit.

Today's craft was SO STINKING FUN to make.

Seriously.

I don't think I have ever been so excited to give a gift.

To bad Zade-babe was being a little turkey and I missed them opening it.

Such is life ;)

Have I told you yet that these were REALLY fun to make?!

All I did was dye each of the onsies and then I created stencils out of freezer paper.

A little fabric paint and Wha-la

a super cute,one-of-a-kind  baby gift.

(P.S. My brother-in-law loves to sail :)

If you want some great tips on dying and stenciling go here.

And...

Of course I have to show you my fail. :)

I tried to hombre dye this one.

Brent said it looked like the baby already pooped in it.

Bahaha!

That could have hurt my feeling if i didn't totally agree!

(To bad I gave it to them anyways. I mean the baby will probably poo in it anyways right!)

I hope this gives you a little baby-spiration!

(yes, i totally went there)

Come back tomorrow for the second half of this gift!

xoxo

I'm linking to these great parties!

It's Baby Time!

It's baby time here!

Don't worry, you didn't miss anything, I'm not pregnant.:)

But, my brother-in-law and his sweet girlfriend are!!

This weekend they had two baby showers.

One co-hosted by yours truly.

(Pictures to come)

I have been a busy bee the past few weeks making some precious baby gifts.

While working away I came up with a great idea...

Why not share these easy peasy, yet super easy crafts with YOU, my lovely friends?!

I consider myself a novice sewer (well crafter in general) and each of these crafts were very easy to accomplish.

The first gift I wanted to share, I have a mini tutorial for.

Yay me, except I forgot to take pictures of one part ;)

Nursing wraps, or as I like to call them- hooter hiders, are ESSENTIAL to nursing moms.

I use mine ALL the time.

If you try to purchase one you should be prepared to shell out around $30!

WHAT!

When I looked up tutorials on how to create one each set of directions I found was far to complex for

my taste.

Let's be serious, mine ends up bunched in a ball shoved into the diaper bag pretty much all the time.

The cute little pocket on the inside has never been used.

Honestly, I didn't even notice it until Zadie was 6 months old.

SO, I decided to create a tutorial for a super-simple nursing wrap.

Here we go!

You need:

1yd of fabric

(I recommend a pattern that with hide the inevitable wrinkles!)

2 D rings

1/2 yd of 1/2 inch boning

Sewing machine

thread

1. Cut your fabric into three pieces measuring 35x25, 28x5, and 10x5

2. On the largest piece of fabric fold the bottom under 1/4 inch and iron. Then fold over 1inch and iron again.

Hem the bottom edge staying as close to the top as possible to catch both folds.

(This will give you a nice finished hem.)

3. Now follow the same steps and hem the two sides.

4. Set the main piece to the side for a bit and grab the longer strap piece.

Fold in half, width wise, and iron.

6. Hem the two sides, leaving one end open to turn the strap. Cut each of the corners at an angle.

Turn right side out

and press.

 Now top stitch along the three edges.

(leaving the end not sewn alone because it will be hidden.)

5. Grab the smaller strap piece and follow the same steps, but leave BOTH ends open and only top stitch up  two sides.

Slide the D-rings on and pin the ends of the strap together.

Sew a seam as close to the rings as possible to prevent the rings from sliding.

(The baby is wiggly enough to not have to worry about a wonky strap!)

6. It's time for the boning...

(don't be scared :))

Cut your boning down to 13 inches, rounding the corners so they wont rip the fabric over time.

Fold the top of the main piece of fabric over 1/4 inch 

then 3/4 inch

iron.

Now we need to mark our fabric for the straps and boning.

First mark the center of the fabric with a pin.

Measure out from the pin 6.5 inches each direction and pin.

Here we go for my do-do moment. I got so into the project that I forgot to take pictures :(

Sorry! 

But, to make up for it you can follow this link and skip to step 7.

She gives very clear instructions and she has great pictures on how to add the straps and boning!

Here is my finished project:

I love how it turned out!

And...

The happy parents-to-be told me it was their FAVORITE gift from the shower!

(later, not in front of people... and they may or may not have been buttering me up to be a free babysitter...;)

Anywho, it was fun. It was easy. It is WAY useful. And it is cute to boot!

I call that a win!

Come back tomorrow for more baby-licious fun!

xxxx,

I'm linking to these great parties!