Birthday Bash

We celebrated my son’s first birthday last weekend. Because we’re still settling into the new house, I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to make decorations, but I was able to make him a birthday crown…

and a happy birthday banner…

Baby Boutenier

We’re going on a cruise to Mexico with the extended family next week (yay, warm weather!) Since we’ll all be together, my mom thought it would be a good opportunity to take a family portrait with four generations. So everyone is bringing something nice to wear that is black/white so that we will sort of match. A friend of mine from church is letting me borrow her baby’s little tuxedo for my one year old. It’s adorable! There used to be a little silk rosebud sewn on, but one of her babies ripped it off several years ago. So I decided to make my own. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think? I used scraps from a couple of other projects to pull it together, silky fabric and tulle for the flower, and eco-felt for the leaves and stem.

Froggy Gift Bag

plain paper bag + pre-painted wooden froggy + sharpie = super cute birthday gift bag in under 2 minutes for less than a buck.

Mei Tai Baby Carrier

My little Mr. Man has gotten too tall to spend extended amounts of time in our beloved Moby wrap without coming close to giving me a fat lip by banging his head on my face. That, coupled with the increasing difficulty I was having in reaching around him to do anything told me it was time to move him to my back. I looked all over to find a pattern I liked for a carrier that could do back carries and settled on this one: http://thosemartins.com/bmt/

It took 3 or 4 hours of work spread over about 2 weeks to finish it, but it was worth the effort! We’ve taken it on long walks, hikes, errands and to church. I still use my wraps, and would love to learn how to do a back carry with my woven wrap. But for a beginner like me, this felt much more secure in getting him up on my back alone.

Me and Mr. Man hanging out

It has its pros and its cons. I’m still thinking I will make a soft structured carrier (my own design, I’ve been working on it for a while now) for my hubby to use with the boy. He’s much more comfortable with buckles than he is with tying knots with the straps. I’ll probably switch to that myself once the rainy season hits because I don’t want to worry about my straps falling in parking lot puddles while I am getting him in or out. But for the time being, we LOVE it!

Baby Burp Cloths

I’ve been making lots of burp cloths this year. I found a great tutorial on homemade by Jill and started with a set for my baby while I was pregnant. Then I decided that I would make some for all of my friends who were expecting (and we’re in that season of life right now where it seems every time I turn around I am hearing that another one of my friends is having a baby!) I love the shape, the fringes on the edges, and the super soft flannel.I decided after making the first set that it would be simpler to use an extra layer or two of flannel instead of batting in the middle, so I chose two patterned pieces for the outsides and used white flannel to add extra layers so they would be nice and thick and absorbent.

I forgot to take photos of the other ones I made before I gave them away, but take my word for it, they were cute

And Baby Makes Three Memory Book

Our home fellowship threw a baby shower for one of the couples in the group in February. My contribution, in addition to the plates and napkins etc., was a handmade guest book for everyone to record their words of encouragement, congratulations and advice for the parents-to-be. I didn’t have much time to work on the binding, as at the time I had a ten week old of my own to look after. So I ended up improvising with the twine, making big knots on both front and back to hold the pages together. If I had it to do again, I would probably do it a little differently, but I am still happy with the way it turned out.