Baby Gift: Twin I-Spy Mini Quilts

 Look what I made for some darling twin boys! Mini I-Spy quilts, perfect wiping drool right now and for tummy time, strollers and car seats later. It could even be used as a tic-tac-toe mat when they're older!

 

I love I-Spy quilts for kids. So much too look at! When I was little I had a scrap quilt from my great grandmother that I still remember. I used to spend hours looking at it, and I remember my favorite part was a snoopy scrap. Hopefully these little ones will have fond memories of their little quilts too.

And a couple of little wooden teething rings to match! Not how I usually make them, but they sure are cute!

Craft Kit: Creative Birthday Gift

Daniel had a party to go to this weekend, and I wanted to send him with something useful, that the parents and child would be glad to have!  I found a cardboard suitcase at Homesense and filled it with craft supplies.

Here's what we put inside:
Ruler Box with pencil crayons inside
Unfinished wooden box
People Pegs
Beads
Mini Easel and Canvas
Scissors
Paint
Alphabet Stickers
Craft Foam
Glue Tape
Clothes pins
Notebook


I personalized it by stamping "Aubrey's Craft Kit" on paper and sticking it to the inside of the lid. There are all sorts of more fancy ways I could have done it, but we were short on time!

Quiet Book #2- Around The House

Bring something cool and handmade to a baby shower, and you can bet you'll be making it again! Here's my second attempt at a simplified quiet book. I just couldn't find another 9 hours in my schedule to make a second 8-page book! I made it in an 'Around the House' theme, since children love to mimic adults more than anything.

Since it was a smaller book, I added a memory matching game (the bag is sewn in) on the inside cover. I think it fits with the theme of household activities, and little one can pretend to wash them, or add clothespins for some extra fun. The flowers button off for practice buttoning, just like the button snake. It's a great time-killer!

A simplified version of the oven and cookies, and a new addition. I adore this little garden, with it's package of seeds and watering can! I used fabric markers all through this book to speed the process up. It's so much faster than embroidering, and more fun too.

I love this idea for practice with brushing or braiding. It's a bit girly, and I usually try to make them unisex so they can be passed down, but I couldn't resist! The back cover has a pocket to add pieces for any of the activities, or paper and pencil.

Sending it for a test run to make sure it's as cool to a kid as it is to me!

Daniel's 4th Birthday Carnival!

Some photos from Daniel's party. Such fun! My favorite touches are the popcorn boxes, the prize table and the ridiculous attempt I made at turning our shed into a big top with vinyl tablecloths.

We had face painting, tattoos, a prize table, cupcakes, and carnival music. A friend of our juggled for us (so grateful for you Rochelle, Ben, Mom, Natasha and Anna!) and played juggling games with the kids.

Game Ideas:

Squirt n' Win: Set 3 gold tees up on a foam block and top with ping pong balls. Squirt off with water guns (or in our case, squirt animals!)

Bowling: We set one of my mini bowling sets up on a long desk top (removed from the base) and let the kids go nuts.

Fishing: I bought a plastic fishing set from the dollar store (I wanted to make a felt or wooden one, but I'm not Martha...) and put them in a bucket of water.

Beanbag Toss: Always a favorite!

We gave out one ticket for trying and two for winning. The prizes ranged from 1-6 tickets.

I wanted to play a a basketball game (since we already have a little hoop) and a sidewalk chalk target with wet sponge type game, but it was SO busy! The biggest hit of all was definitely the prize table though! It was packed with all kinds of prizes (shopping for a few weeks in clearance sections made for a fun selection of great toys).

Fancy Pants

I made my first pair of pants! Think of all the money I'll save...ahhh.

I'm so grateful for awesome tutorials at Made By Rae. I love the seersucker fabric and how simple they were to make. I made some mistakes and they're way too small, but I know I can nail it next time!

Hegehog Themed Baby Shower Gift

I've outdone myself! My first baby gift basket was cute, but this one is to die for!

It all started with finding this adorable wooden hedgehog clock at Superstore. I knew it would look perfect in my goddaughter's room, although I was tempted to keep it for myself!

I found this great hedgehog softie tutorial and whipped one up right away in Michael Miller's Hegehog's color scheme.

I added a Bagsket to hold it all, and although the colors won't match baby's room, it will be a great tote for car toys.

Next month, I plan on hosting a second shower for a different crowd and I have a few things up my sleeve for my little peanut. Can't wait to show you!

Perfect Little Hedgehog Softie

Look what I made!

Cute...right? I made it for a baby gift, but what I really love about this pattern is that it's perfect for anyone. It could be made smaller and used as a key chain for a teen or it can be a money or chapstick holder for a tween or school-ager. It's a great baby toy or make a few and voila! A family of Hedgehogs for a preschooler.  It would even be a great gift card holder and it's gender-neutral. I'm in love.

 The only things I changed were that I embroidered the nose rather than attaching felt (seemed safer since it's for a baby), I made the felt spikes into loops so I can attach baby links and I did a quirky little contrasting whip stitch as a finish rather than an invisible ladder stitch because I thought it suited my little guy.

Can't wait to show you the whole gift!

Travel Toys and Activities

#1- Crafts

I just realized that I still haven't posted photos of all the bits and pieces we took on our trip with us! Some were mainly for the plane, and some mainly for the hotel.

#2- Squinkies

#3- Activities

A couple of tips: save some "new" things for the way back, bring comfortable headphones for airplane television or iPod's and consider wrapping everything up in wrapping paper for little ones-it can keep them pretty busy!

#4- Thinking

#5- Busy Toys

#1- Crafts: Blackboard and Chalk (in a chalk holder) with eraser, crayons, notebook and stickers galore!
#2- Squinkies: I love these because they're tiny and lots of fun. We put them in a small tin from Michael's to keep them together.
#3- Activities: Jacob's Ladder, Button Snake and a lunch tin filled with puzzle erasers in a home theme.
#4- Thinking: Usborne's 'Things to do on a Journey', key chain measuring tape and tiny package of Megablocks (they were very popular in the hotel!)

 #5- Busy Toys: Wiki Sticks (Daniel's favorite of the trip), Silly bands (second favorite!), play doh (great for the hotel) and a locking diary. I thought the diary would be a huge hit, but the lock was too cheap and didn't work at all. Next time I'd buy a separate lock and key for entertainment.
#6- Things That Go: The roll up mat was pretty good on the airplane's tray table, but we used both of the car toys much more at the hotel. I really liked the little Tonka ramp because it was small and easy to pack, but lots of fun at the hotel.

I Spy Quilt (or: Quilting Madness)

Wow. Quilting is SO hard!

I have so many adorable fabrics, that I love and haven't wanted to part with. I though I could just whip up a simple little quilt (I can hear all you seasoned quilters laughing) for Daniel using lots of prints and keep the fabrics I love forever. The problem is, I'm not very precise and I had no idea what I was doing!

I'm pretty sure none of my squares were the same size. I learned that scissors are a bad tool for quilting. I should have bought a big cutting mat and quilting ruler before I started. I own one now! So I did what any reasonable person would do when that have completely botched a project- call my sewing-savvy Mother in Law! She resurrected it for me and taught me a lot of little tricks on the way.

Now, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, offset lines and all! I think Daniel is going to love it. My plan is to give it to him on the plane to keep him busy and cozy. But we all know how obsessive I am about travel activities....

Tutorial Test Drive: On The Go Activity Mat

The Fiskars blog has a neat tutorial for a roll up play mat. I loved the ideas for the car wash and the gas station so I adapted it for our upcoming trip.

I wanted something smaller than the project called for because I know how quickly we can mess up our 3 sq feet of airplane space! I found some Mega Bloks Streetz cars at Toys R Us that are Mirco-Machine size rather than Matchbox size. They're so tiny and perfect! The finished play mat size is about 8x11".

I also used a lot of hot glue, rather than stitching everything. It doesn't look as pretty but it takes the skill level down from advanced to intermediate and was way faster! It also allowed me to leave the car wash 'open' so the car can tuck inside for a wash up.

Rather than a pond and a construction site like on the Fiskars tutorial, I made a tunnel and a house with a garage. I didn't have any tiny construction vehicles or boats, so I thought it would be more fun to have a tunnel to drive through (just a little felt rectangle stitched down) and the little garage to park in. I made the garage by snipping the corners off a rectangle, stitching that same end down and then stitching the sides the same as with the tunnel.

I also left out the pockets for the cars because I found a little container with 7 spaces that will hold the cars perfectly and take a little while to master opening. Every minute he's busy on the plane is a good thing for me!

 The Fiskars tutorial is awesome, and looks far more professional, but I am so glad I cut some corners to make it faster. I had this done in an hour and a half and I think Daniel is going to love it!

Traveling Gnomes

I am always thinking of ways to keep Daniel entertained when we are shopping, in the car or at a restaurant. We have the standard travel toy ideas down. Stickers, doodle board, crayon roll, photo album, something with buttons, calculator, pipe cleaners, I-spy bottle, magnet games and on it goes.

When I was a little girl I had these cute
little dolls that clipped into jewelery that I would bring when my mom was meeting a friend for coffee. They were SO fun! I wish I have never sold them and I really I could remember what they were called. I was after the same sort of idea for Daniel, but what jewelry can you put on a boy?

I decided on a little, Waldorf gnome that fits into a pouch on a necklace. It was one of the first toys I've made that he actually liked. Well, for a few hours anyway. The little girl I take care of liked it so much that I made one for her too.

I read that it is wise to make the body first, because you can more easily make the head to fit the body than vice versa. I just winged it all. I free handed the bodies onto pattern paper and then cut and sewed. I usually make dolls too skinny so it took a few attempts. I wish I had made the hats a bit longer so I could knot them at the end; I like how the hat flops over when it's knotted. The head is just a ball of wool roving tightly wound. They joy of making little dolls is not having to fuss with the head!

I originally made a wool felt leaf for the gnome to fit in, but it just didn't work out that well. Since taking the photos, I've made him a crocheted pouch like the girl gnome. I crocheted a rectangle long enough to fold over into a sleeping bag. Before tying off, I chained to make the necklace and slip stitched it to the other side. Then to finish, I folded the rectangle up and stitched the sides together. It's a much better fit than the leaf!