Fun Baby Book Idea

I got this great idea from one of my favorite sites- younghouselove.com. I wanted to make a fun baby book for Eli marking his first year (Derek and I are really trying to do this for each year for all of our children- we're a few years behind with the girls!) Anyway- on YHL, they take a picture of their daughter, Clara, every on a piece of fun material dressed only in a onesie. Then, John (the dad), uses photoshop to put the week on the onesie so it looks like it was silkscreened on there. Check it out his handiwork here. I loved the idea but didn't think I'd be able to do it weekly (having 3 kiddos and all) so I opted to do it monthly. A few weeks ago, Kaitlin and I set up our first photoshoot with the boy while our boys were off doing manly stuff (they may of actually been at the store buying stuff for supper...can't really remember...but they came back with beer so that makes it manly, right??) Anyway- check out some of the great shots we got that day. Eli was being super cute (as always) so it was easy! The plan is to do a iPhoto book and have 16 shots on the left page from that month then the monthly picture taking up the entire right page. I'm really excited about it!

Happy Boy!

He's Here!

Ok- so it's been awhile...a long while...but my boy finally made his debut February 5th at 12:47am! He share's his first name with Derek's grandfather and a middle name and birthday with his Boppa Martin- Elias Daniel- our sweet Eli. The girls are so in love with him and are always loving on him and wanting to hold and snuggle him. So far, he's been a really good baby- really only cries when he's hungry or during his nightly fussy time (between 8 and 9 pm) but he's quite the snuggler and has cheeks that would rival those of a chipmunk storing food for winter. Labor was fast (it started around 6:00pm Feb 4th) and delivery was faster (5 contractions and all 9 lbs 4 ozs of him was out!) We're so excited to finally have him here and have loved getting to know our little man. Here are some pics from his first couple of weeks here.

Right after he was born












The girls meeting their brother for the first time












Our first picture as a family of 5 (!)












Sweet boy












Sweet big sister

The Ultimate Baby Shower

With Katie's newest beastie getting ready to make an appearance in February, a few of her friends (me included) got together and decided to throw a shower back before Thanksgiving.  During one of our planning meetings, someone commented "I don't think I planned this much for my wedding!", so overboard might be an understatement.  Since Katie is so crafty, we decided that this shower better be crafty too.  I took some pics to share with you all, now that the shower has happened and is no longer a secret.  Here we go!

OBJECTIVE:  Crafty, Boy themed baby shower
THEME:  Owls (to play off all those super cute nursery details you've been seeing)
REQUIREMENTS: 
Food - Katie has been craving fruit the whole pregnancy, and what's a party without food!
Craft - to personalize the event
Game - a great reason to pass out prizes


Shannon was a wonderful hostess, and set up the space beautifully for the party, as well as preparing a lot of the food!


The Registration Table, featuring baby photos of the other two beasties, thank you notes, advice cards, a raffle basket and party favors.

We were so fortunate to have the super creative owner and designer of Paperlicious on our Shower Team!  Amy designed and created a whole coordinated package of everything we needed printed to make this shower great.  With the invites Amy included a great little card asking guests to talk about why little boys are great.  When guests arrived, they dropped their cards in this bowl.

To kick start Katie's diaper supply, we had a raffle for anyone who brought a package of diapers with them.  Amy designed and printed beautiful little tags to tie everything together.

Our guests put their names and addresses on envelopes so Katie would have her thank you notes pre-addressed.  Amy designed the Thank Yous to coordinate with the invitation and gave the whole package to Katie at the end, making the thank you notes as easy as could be!

After guests checked in, they got to do a craft.  Mandi, the sewer of the group, stitched up 14 of these flannel burp cloths (soft on baby's face) for party-goers to decorate with shapes.

Guests came to the cutting table to trace their shapes onto coordinating fabric, which Mandi had already applied fusible interfacing to so they were iron ready.

And with a little heat from the iron - appliqued burp cloths!  This was a different take on decorated onsies, because Katie has already been so blessed with gifts of baby boy clothes.  She won't need to add to Beastie #3's wardrobe for several years, so we wanted to provide her with something useful.

Here's our tree and clothesline with the finished burp clothes - which perfectly coordinate with the nursery fabric (we know they're used to wipe drool, and...other things, but now it can be done in style!).  Amy also did a great job with our tree to display the finshed pieces!

After guests finished their assignments, it was into the kitchen for food.  Since Katie has been craving fruit like a fruit fly, we decided to do chocolate fondue.  We had strawberries & blueberries...

Pineapple, Bananas, Pretzels, Marshmallows...

Brownie Bites & Cheesecake Squares.  Lots of good things for dipping!

We covered our savories too, with cheese and cracker plates, a veggie tray, Yellow Pepper Cheese dip, hot artichoke dip, swedish meatballs, olives, baby pickles & mixed nuts (can't have a party without mixed nuts!).

We all ate well that day.


For dessert, we had homemade Cherry Pie (by request from the guest of honor)...

and a homemade Owl cake.  Kandi's cake decorating talents floored us, with all of her elaborate piping and frosting tints.  Not only was it beautiful, but delicious too!


After food, it was gift time.  There's Katie with Beastie #1, who came to share the festivities for her new baby brother.  She is an expert gift opener.

Our game tied in with gift time - "Katie Said It...Bingo!"  Again, Amy brought us these beautiful Bingo cards, and the tag to tie it all together.

As Katie opened her gifts, guests covered the squares on their Bingo cards according to Katie's response.  The blank spaces were for guests to fill in themselves what they thought Katie would say.

And the winner got a prize!


We sent guests home with an edible party favor - Owl Cake Pops!  They perched on the registration table in a nest (foam block) covered with sheet moss.  The Owl Pops were my creation, which I'll detail in another post, since this was the first time I've taken on cake pops of any kind and I want to share the fun.  And of course we tagged them with coordinating tags, made by Amy! 

This shower was so much fun to throw for Katie, and we're all very excited as we wait for Beastie #3 to make his appearance in February.  Feel free to grab ideas and make them your own, we'd love to see what you come up with!

A Baby Thing (or two...or three...or ten)

So I'm officially 20 weeks pregnant (well- I was 30 weeks this past Wednesday.) Which means less then 10 weeks until Baby Boy gets here which means less then 10 weeks to get myself (and my family AND this house) organized and working like a well oiled machine (riiiiight- just wanted to see what it felt like to write that....) Anywho- maybe because it's the holiday season or maybe because of the baby's imminent arrival or maybe because I know my time will be at a premium once he gets here but I'm feeling rather crafty lately! I thought I'd post a few things I'd like to do before Baby Boy arrives mainly to organize it in my own mind and so I don't forget the things I'd like to make. So enjoy and if you have a bun in the oven too or are looking for some fun baby gifts, then check out the tutorials I found!

Nursing Cover

Changing Pad Cover

Binky Straps

Wooden Monograms

Easy Swaddle Sheet

Crinkle Toy

Blanket with Mitered Corners

Baby Hat

Crib Sheet

Wet Bag

It's a....

BOY! Yipee!
We went for our ultrasound yesterday and found out we're adding a boy to our crew! The little ladies are really excited! Some of the names they suggested: Samuel (nice), Justin (my brother's name), Ashton (Olivia's new BFF in kindergarten), or Lilly (that was my 3 year old's idea...) While all the above are nice, I don't know if we'll be going that route. Now that we know, hubby and I can start discussing nursery and name ideas- yay!! Right now the nursery is our guest room. Over the next 5 months, it'll be changed into a sweet nursery for our little man. Where will the guests go you ask? (ok- so maybe you're not asking, but our guests- mainly my mom- are...) They will go up on our 3rd floor...which was supposed to be the man cave but then turned into an extra playroom and will eventually become a guest/media room. It's scary up there...toys and craft paraphernalia are strewn about. It was the landing zone for the kids when I had a mom's small group at our house and the babysitters would take them up there. I had BIG plans to clean it out up there when my mom was here in July for 3 weeks (sniff- miss you mama!) but I got too busy crafting, and playing, and reading, and going out on date nights with the hubs (free babysitters RULE! sniff- miss you mama!!) So there it sits- in all it's destructive glory...I'm waiting for the nesting urge to kick in- then I'll really whip this place in shape- until then- I'm going to take a nap...

:o) Katie

An Original Gift Idea?

I've been invited to a baby shower this weekend, and that has prompted me to be on the lookout for good baby gifts this week. I love my traditional duckie gift card to Target, but being a crafter that likes to torture myself with terrible deadlines, I'm feeling prompted to handmake a custom gift for this particular friend. In my perusing of tutorials and handmade gifts for baby showers, I feel like I come across the same things over and over again, and they're starting to feel over done. In the South, embroidered and/or monogrammed gifts seem to be a favorite, but this baby boy's name is to remain a secret for a couple months more, so that idea is out. Being an obsessive compulsive designer/daughter of a contractor, I love things that are pretty, and they're 100% better if they're functional, so I'm pretty excited about this idea I found today.

This is a tutorial for a portable fabric high chair that will strap a child to almost any kitchen or dining room chair, yet folds up small enough to fit in a diaper bag. Now after watching Katie with her beasties, I can imagine that any one less giant thing to carry would be a huge relief for any parent, and being able to divest of that giant plastic booster seat would probably be as exciting as no longer needing to carry a diaper bag

This

Source: ThisMamaMakesStuff

Or This?

So, to add to my list of gifts I shouldn't try to sew four days before a baby shower, The Portable Fabric High Chair from This Mama Makes Stuff.

So there's no telling if I'll actually attempt this before Sunday or not, but at some point, I WILL make one for a gift because it's so clever, and not over done. When I do, expect frustrated posts, and pictures of course!

Boy-oh-Boy!

Today I went to a baby shower for my sweet friend, Miranda. Seriously- this girl is the sweetest, most sincere, beautiful person...who is pregnant with her 3rd child, a little boy, due next month- and looks like she just ate a big lunch. Seriously- she has the most adorable baby bump ever- it' would make me sick and not like her very much if she wasn't everything mentioned above- which she is. Anyway- I wanted to make her something special for the new little guy and decided to make something off my SoMeDaY cRaFTs list so I made her the covered wipes case. I was pretty easy and turned out really cute! I coupled it with a pack of diapers and she loved it. Of course, I wanted to make her several other things but my sewing/embroidery machine is misbehaving so I need to take it to the "doctor" this week. I'll post pics of those creations when I get them done. They included a monogrammed burp cloth, a monogrammed bib, and a cute little onesie with an appliqued necktie- a must have for every little boy's wardrobe! Anyway- below is the pic of the wipes case- I love the material!!