We’re Having A…

BOY!!

There he is, in all his glory and we couldn’t be more excited! A healthy, perfect, active little boy who’s been kicking up a storm lately.

We’re completely in awe around here, but SO excited to meet this little man in only a few more months!
I figured we’ll need a few essentials…here’s what I’ve had my eye on:

1 / / I love | these | little Sophie la Girafe teethers

2 / / I’ve been coveting | this | Bumbleride stroller ever since my sister showed it to me the other day. Plus, you can add on an optional snack tray. The question is, is it better than a Bob?

3 / / Have you felt how soft aden + anais’ bamboo collection is? I think I’m in love. | These | little security blankets are perfect for little ones.

4 / / I almost bought this | onesie | as soon as we found out we were pregnant, but I figured I’d better wait until we know the gender. Now that we know, I want one in every size.

5 / / He’s probably going to need one of these adorable | birds | in his nursery.

6 / / And these | bow ties | in every color.

7 / / Another aden + anais bamboo pick, this one’s a | crib sheet | I wish I could sleep on sheets this soft.

8 / / How fun is this Dwell studio | set | of puzzle blocks?

9 / / No, I’m not putting a | candle | in our baby boy’s room, but I want our house smelling delicious when friends come over to meet our little one. I hope this candle is exactly what heaven smells like.

Of course, I’m already working on designing his birth announcement so once he arrives, all we have to do is add a few photos and all the stats!

But for now we’re painting the changing table, finalizing colors for the walls, working on a mobile, and hanging up teeny tiny onesies in his closet!

Crafty Christmas | Monogram Pillow

I made this pillow for my sister-in-law, with of my most favorite fabrics  ever using | this | method. It was easy to make, the one hiccup was tracing the letter backwards onto the wrong side of the fabric, so that when it was flipped and ironed onto the pillow, it faced the right way.

Again, I used the | Bebas | font, but you can create your own template using any font you prefer.

Another easy DIY that adds a personal touch to any room!

Crafty Christmas | XOXO Pillow

I think it’s a good sign that I’m satisfied with the gifts I made when I end up keeping one of each for myself. 🙂
I made one of these for my sister (and one for myself), while my mom got 2 that were similar. This pillow ended up being super easy to make for 2 different reasons:

– 1 –
I wanted to avoid putting zippers in my pillows. Zippers are a pain in the neck (in my opinion) and I’d rather do without them when I can. However, I still wanted the pillows to be washable, so I ended up using a method I’d seen on Martha Stewart referred to as an | envelope-back | It’s a pretty foolproof method that saves a lot of frustration (if you hate sewing zippers as much as I do), and the best part is the pillow slips right out when it’s time to wash the pillowcase.

– 2 –
The letters were simple because I used the exact same method as I did for my | appliqued onesies | I chose a thick font | Bebas | because it’s easily readable and the block letters were a breeze to sew around. A cursive font would make an elegant pillow, just a little more difficult to sew.

I used a natural linen for the pillow and white linen for the letters. My advice is to figure out where the center of the front of your pillow will be before you sew it all together, that way you can go back and sew around the edges of all your letters with ease.

 In other news…

We’re finding out the sex of our baby today!! Disregard | this | post from months ago. Who was I kidding?  I’m the ultimate planner and I kind of can’t stand knowing whether it’s been a little boy or girl doing acrobatics in my belly the past couple of weeks. It feels like Christmas morning around here and we can’t wait to share the news with our families this evening at dinner!

Crafty Christmas | Art Box

This gift is definitely one that I can’t take any credit for because I originally saw it over on | Lil’ Blue Boo | and pretty much copied her exactly. When I first saw it, I immediately fell in love with the idea, what kid doesn’t love to get a whole bunch of random craft supplies so they can create whatever they can imagine? It’s a gift I would’ve loved as a kid (and probably made a huge mess out of), but my 3 nephews are home-schooled, so I was hoping it would make for some good distractions on a rainy afternoon. I loved everything about the gift and was thrilled with the way it turned out. I made 1 big art box for our 3 nephews to share and because they range in age from 3-8, I made sure to throw in a variety of things. The box ended up being pretty inexpensive, too, about $40 for the whole thing, but once it was divided about 3 kids, it’s really not so bad.

Here’s what I put in mine:

: : unpainted wooden blocks : :
: : feathers : :
: : stickers : :
: : string : :
: : pipe cleaners : :
: : 3 different balsa wood models : :
: : markers : :
: : pom-poms : :
: : felt sheets : :
: : clothespins : :
: : removable tattoos (because what boy doesn’t love those? : :
+ a few other random items
: : I put everything in one of those clear, craft paint cans so that it’s easy to throw everything back in when they’re done and it can all be kept in one place : :

The one thing I didn’t include was any form of adhesive (glue, tape) because I figured they would already have that stuff and I didn’t want to waste space in the box.

But all in all, I hope it led to hours of entertainment for my adorable nephews.

UPDATE TO YESTERDAY’S POST:

I was browsing the Plaid Barn this morning and noticed that they still have the bronze feathers I used to create both the earrings and the necklace. Find them | here | and | here |. Throw a couple of | these | in your shopping cart and you’re set!

Crafty Christmas | Feather Earrings

Despite my lack of posts, Crafty Christmas did happen this year, it just wasn’t quite as well documented as I would’ve hoped. I did get photos of most of the finished projects, but not many (or any) of the step-by-step process, so bear with me, I’ll do my best to explain the steps without pictures.

This week is dedicated to Crafty Christmas 2012, enjoy!

My mom, sister, and sister-in-law each got homemade earrings… plus I might’ve kept a pair of each for myself.

Starting in about September I kept my eye on deals over at the | plaid barn | and ended up getting about 10 of these bronze feathers, plus a few other styles for only a few bucks. Once they arrived, I just bought some standard earring hooks at the local craft store, and put them right through the holes that were already on the feathers.

Easy breezy! Seriously, probably one of the simplest Crafty Christmas gifts I made, but they were a hit! I had enough of the feathers left over that I was able to make necklaces for everyone as well. Just bought some thin chain that was the same color as the feathers, strung it through the holes, and used a very small spacer to attach the back. They were all long enough that they didn’t actually need a clasp, just slip right over the head, which saved me a lot of trouble when it came to making them.

When it came time to package the jewelry, I cut a piece of thick stock about 2 1/2″ x 4″, rounded the 2 top corners so it’d look like a tag, punched a few holes, stuck some Washi tape on, and they were good to go!

It’s almost a little embarrassing how easy the gifts were, but hey, they were still made with love!