#7. Make Abby a Quiet Book

For Valentine's Day I decided to make Abby a book called, "Who Loves Abby?"  It maybe isn't technically a "quiet book," but I'm counting it to cross that item off my list.  I got pictures of my family as well as Landon's and put them in a little photo album for her.  I Photoshopped everyone's names on their pictures for fun.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  I think it will be perfect for church and it will help Abby recognize faces.  Here are some pictures of the book.

Happy 1st Valentine's Day to my baby girl!

#8. Make Christmas Stockings: Abby's

I finally came up with an idea for Abby's stocking.  I had an image in my head, but couldn't decide how it would actually turn out.  Landon told me to just go with it and see what happened.  So I did.  And I think it turned out just the way I wanted it.

This picture isn't the best, but it gives you the basic idea.  I promise the toe and cuff look better in person. 

My original plan was to put her name on the cuff, but now I can't decide.  What do you think?  And if I do it, how should I do it? 

I'm not sure what I'll do, but for now I am calling it good.  I need to get going on Landon's and my other projects.  I'm so glad I can cross this off my list and do it with something I am proud of. 

Abby's A

Here is one of my homemade Christmas presents.  It is for my baby girl, so I figured I could share it on here.  These types of projects are nothing new, but it was my first time making one.  I used pinking shears to cut the letter out so that I wouldn't have to cut the paper to fit exactly on the letter.  I think it looks cute that way, and seemed a lot easier in my mind.  I plan to hang it in her room with red ribbon.  It was only a few dollars and makes a great gift. 

Brown Paper Packages

I have been busy this week trying to cross things off my list as I mentioned last post.  Many of the things I won't share with you because they are Christmas presents, so I will probably share them after Christmas.

Here is one thing I have done that isn't a Christmas gift spoiler.  It has to do with Christmas presents, but people will see it before Christmas anyway, so it really doesn't matter that much.  I like to come up with a theme for my gift wrapping at Christmas.  Nothing too fancy or expensive, just something a bit more special than simply wrapping paper.  Here is what I came up with this year.

 

I love plain brown wrapping paper and did this bow to freshen it up a bit.  I got the idea for the flower from here, but changed it a little.

I thought the green rick-rack was a nice change to regular ribbon.  And I think the color scheme is festive without screaming Christmas.

I made the flowers by cutting three circles of descending size.  Then I sprayed them to make them damp.  Crumpled them up in to a little ball.  Un-crumpled them, arranged them, and secured them with a brad.  Let them dry completely.  Very easy.

#8. Make Christmas Stockings

I haven't actually completed this item, but wanted to share with you that I have started it.  Now that I have a child, it is critical (in my mind) that I make homemade stockings for our whole family.  I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about it, but I do.  I want her stocking to be something special that she will have her entire childhood.  Therefore, I have to get it done.  I don't want to confess to her later in life that she didn't have her special stocking until her 2nd Christmas.  I just can't live with that guilt.

I am struggling, though.  I just can't decide what I want to do for her.  If you have any amazing suggestions, let me know. 

In the meantime, I'm working on Landon's.  He picked out the above fabrics.  And this is what we are going to do. 

Pretty, huh?  He wants the front of the stocking to be a patchwork.  He did most of the cutting, I just helped a little, and he came up with the design he wanted.  Now it is up to me to do the sewing.  I think he did a great job with the picking and arranging.  I am tempted to make a similar Christmas table-runner with the extra fabric since it is so pretty, but I can't get distracted with other projects until I finish my baby girl's stocking.    

Halloween Costumes: "Rrr-eady."

Ever since I started dating my husband, Halloween has been even more fun.  We have been dressing up together and it is a blast.  Here are some of our costumes.

Devil and Angel

It made for a great silhouette.

The next year I was Angela from The Office dressed up as a cat for Halloween.  Landon was Dwight dressed as a sith lord.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from that one because I had lost my battery charger.

Last year we were Tom and Summer from "500 Days of Summer."  We came up with it on Halloween and pulled it together in a couple of hours.  We were pretty proud of ourselves.

I have a feeling dressing up with our daughter is going to be even more fun.  We are all set and now we just need a party or something to go to so we can show off our costumes.  There is a clue in the title of our post as to what we are dressing up as.  If you can guess correctly, I will be very impressed.

Bridal Shower Invitations

One of my oldest and best friends is getting married in a few weeks and I have the privilege of throwing her a bridal shower. It is this week and I've been having a lot of fun planning it. I'm just crossing my fingers the weather will cooperate because I'm planning to do it outside. Hopefully I will have good pictures to post from it in the future. This post is just to show the invitations I made for it. I thought they turned out cute for being so cheap and so easy to throw together. This picture is pretty terrible though, so it doesn't look too exciting. I thought this style would be cute for a baby announcement as well.

Gift Idea: Homemade Books

Allie (my niece) turned 6 years old this past week. It took me a while to come up with an idea of what to get her, but finally came up with these cute homemade books that I learned how to make at a church activity. She is in kindergarten this year and loves to draw and write. It was fun to pick out paper that reflects her girly girl personality. I was a little worried about her reaction, but they were a hit. She really likes them.

These are great for children, but I think if you got the right paper, adults would love them to. You can get creative with these by adding all kinds of embellishments. I would suggest putting their name on it to make it personalized (especially for kids).

Here is how you can do it!

Supplies

• decorative paper for the front and back cover
  
• computer paper for the inside of the book (or any kind of paper)
• embroidery thread, waxed cotton, or whatever you would like to do the "sewing" with
• pieces of cardboard (optional- to make the front and back cover less flimsy)

Instructions

1. Since I didn't take pictures of myself making the books, I'm going to direct you to this website instead. I figure this is easier than my explanation with only text. The figures definitely help!
2. Feel free to ask me any questions if the instructions are confusing!

Psst... For all four books, this gift cost less than $2.00!

Sprucing up the bathroom

This is a picture from our "guest bathroom." We got this shower curtain (right of photo) for the bathroom but had nothing else in there. So I decided it needed something (preferably something cheap). I got the idea from my sister-in-law, Hayley. She made something like this for her room, only I made my individual squares smaller and did a completely different color scheme/style. All this wall arrangement requires are nine 6X6 inch squares of styrofoam, your choice of scrapbook paper, and ribbon to go around the outside edge. We were stoked when we found the dot paper that practically looks exactly like our shower curtain. This was a very fun project that would be fun to do in a child's room, or even in a living/family room. It definitely made our bathroom a little more friendly.