Crafty Tuesday - Shirts for Lindsey

One of my coworkers has a daughter that is mildly autistic. She loves orange, so I had made her some shirts in the fall with her name on them. It turned out that she loved them, and was still wearing them, even though pumpkin shirts tend not to be in fashion in the summer time (although anyone that has worked with three year olds knows, being stylish is not really a battle that is worth fighting). So I decided it was time for me give her a few that were updated.







The name in the last one is a little off center, but that's what happens when you are doing something as you rush out the door for work and want to take the thing you are sewing with you...

See what other crafty greatness is at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Monthly Onesies

Like I have said before, I am always on the lookout for good ideas for baby gifts, since I know so many people having babies. I have found it to be a challenge to come up with some gifts when people don't share the name of their baby before the birth, or when they don't know what they are having. This is mostly tough for me because I do mostly personalized gifts, which are usually gender specific. Not to mention that a lot of my baby gifts go to coworkers, so I don't feel like I can give the same gift to people, I feel like I have to change things up a bit.

I have seen the monthy onesie stickers that you can purchase and stick on a onesie to document the first year and how a baby grows. I thought those were cute, but I was pretty sure that stitched onesies would be even cuter! I knew that this baby was a boy, but not his name. I tried to match the fabrics to the holidays that occur during that month (I knew when the baby would be born, because I knew she was scheduled for an induction), so I used orange for October, brown for November, etc.

I have to say, these onesies were quicker to do than I expected! Which was a very nice surprise indeed, since onesies are often a bear to stitch on due to the small size. And I was pleased with the final result. And more importantly, so was my coworker!

These are the first six months, because I didn't start making them until the afternoon of the shower, so it turned into a mad dash just to finish and I did not have time to take pictures of the last half of the group of onesies. But you get the idea anyway:















See what everyone else has to share at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Baby Karlee

Several months ago there was someone on a forum that I am a member of who was clearing out some of her stock of bags. I thought that they were super cute, so I snatched them up, completely unsure of what I was going to do with them.

They sat in my closet for quite a while, until one of my former coworkers had a baby girl. And, coupled with a set of burp cloths, it makes a nice gift!











See what else is being shared at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Baby Miles

My coworker had her second son, who surprised us all and showed up six weeks early! He was just as adorable as if he would have been fully cooked though, and he deserved a few things to make him stand out from the other babies in the nursery!









See what everyone else has to show for their crafty talents at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Onesie Gowns, Collegiate Style

Along with the burp cloths from last week, the other part of the collegiate set was some onesie gowns. These gowns are quick and easy to make, and are my favorite gifts for baby girls.

I like to think that these are just girly enough, but will make a nice outfit for those fall football games!











See what other crafty goodness is at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Class of 2035

Can you believe that babies born now are part of the college class of 2035?! It seems like that is so far away...although I am sure it will be here before we know it!

I am always on the lookout for ideas for baby gifts, since I know about eight million people having babies these days. And when I saw some college fabric, I knew exactly what use it for...burp cloths! They are quick and easy to make, and even boys shouldn't be too embarrassed about some collegiate themed gear!

I know that these are the same, other than the school, but they were for a friend who went to KU and has a husband that is a doe hard OSU fan. And I hated not to give each school an equal chance of this new baby girl dazzling them with her presence. You know, once she exits the womb. And does a little more growing after that...










To see what other crafty goodness is out there, see what is being shared at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday - Polka Dot Tote

It's Crafty Tuesday again. And so I have...more totes to show!

I might have a small obsession with bags.





This one is not from Dollar Tree. And yes, those are my initials. I liked this one so much that I wanted to keep it for myself.

See what other crafty goodness is being shared at Carrie's!


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Crafty Tuesday: Baby Lucas

I work on the busiest labor and delivery unit in the city, which means that I work with a large number of people.  Recently we have hired several new girls, and one of them was expecting.  Well November and December flew by, and before we knew it, baby Lucas's due date was quickly approaching.  So we decided to have a little baby shower one night at work.  And, because I completely lack the ability to say no, I was in charge of coordinating the shower...and of the group gift. 

I actually didn't mind -- since I am the one with the embroidery machine, I was quite happy to do a few personalized things.  I made a few burp cloths, and then decided that most of the things that I had purchased might be better with Lucas's name stitched on them.  A little name or monogram can turn a thirfty gift into something pretty neat, if I do say so myself!

I put a double monogram onto a market tote and then had the perfect container for all of our goodies!

I was pretty happy with the way everything turned out...but more importantly, so was Lucas's mom!

See what other crafty goodness is being displayed at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Birthday Shirt

I swear, if it wasn't for my coworkers I would be SWIMMING in free time.  I'm not complaining...I work with some fabulous people that I really enjoy.  And when they ask me to make them things I am happy to oblige.  I just wish I had a little more notice...it's pretty routine for someone to ask me to make something for them -- and then mention that they need it in less than a week.  I'd probably be wise to start telling people that I need two weeks notice for anything that they want made, but I just can't bring myself to say no.

I'm such a sucker. 

Last year several of my coworkers had babies.  Which means that this year all those babies are having first birthdays!  Paxton was the first little man to have a birthday, and since his mom loves owls, he got an owl shirt.  Tori was the next one to have a birthday, and her mom wanted something pink and girly...just not too girly. 

Not a small request, because there are so many ways to interpret that.  But after several emails back and forth, a design was settled on.  And this was the finished product:

Overall, I was pretty happy with it.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but given that it's only for one day, I thought it would work just fine!

See what everyone else has to share for Crafty Tuesday at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Gifts for Lily

My cousin and his wife have a lovely little family, that recently grew by one adorable tiny human.  They had their second baby, a girl.  And one of the best things about new people?  The opportunity to make baby gifts, of course! 

These are the things that I made for Miss Lily. 

I did some burp cloths:








An infant gown:


This was before I added the ribbon in the middle.  At first I thought that I would just leave it like this.  But I really think that the ribbon makes it just a little cuter...



(I don't know why it looks so stretched out in this picture - other than because it's just a quick snapshot with my iphone - in person it's a much more normal shape around the middle where the ribbon is...)



And a set of sibling shirts:






It had been a while since I had stitched a onesie, and I forgot how difficult they can be sometimes, due to their small size!  I also did this after I had spent many hours working on other things, so when the little mistakes happened on the butterfly I decided to keep going and just make it work.  I figured that tiny humans grow pretty fast, so I'm hoping that no one really notices my errors!

See what everyone else has to share for Crafty Tuesday at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Burp Cloths

Now I realize that it's actually Wednesday.  But I didn't have time to upload photos yesterday, so crafty wednesday this week it is!

I took a break from sewing...not on purpose, but just because January and February were really hard months for me school/schedule wise.  I hardly had time to remember my own name, let alone get motivated to do anything else. 

But motivated or not, there were a few things that I just had to get finished for gifts.  And burp cloths are an absolutely PERFECT use for my new serger.  Which I picked because I remembered the lovely and amazing Carrie talking about how much she loved hers.  And anything that's good enough for Carrie is MORE than good enough for me...especially when it comes to crafting! 

So these are a few of the first burp cloths that I did with my new serger.  She is a great little machine...or at least she is once I figured out how to thread her -- which I will admit took me almost two hours, many attempts and even more four letter words.  But it was well worth the effort, because having a serger made these SO EASY!

These are so easy and quick to make....a perfect last-minute baby gift!

Crafty Tuesday: Placemats

It should be clear by now that I am a lover of ALL things personalized.  Seriously...if I had the time (and a big enough machine!) I would personalize EVERYTHING.  And because of that, I seem to feel the overwhelming need to personalize things for other people too.  Maybe they also love all things personalized and maybe they don't, but most people are gracious gift receivers, so if they don't want their name on things as a gift, they have been kind enough not to say so.  At least so far....

My sister is getting married and she (I hope think) is also a lover of all things personalized.  Which makes gift giving for her pretty easy...at least for now.  For Christmas I made her some placemats with her soon to be last name. 

I don't mind saying, I LOVE the way they turned out! 

They are all the same color...I'm not sure why they look like different shades here, other than the fact that I am using cell phone pictures.   Apparently it is just too difficult for me to pick up my camera and take some nice photos to share with you.  Forgive me.  Please  And in case anyone is wondering, the design I used can be found here.

For more things to get your creative juices flowing (or just make you wish you had more time to craft!) see what is being shared at Carrie's! 

Crafty Tuesday: Market Totes

I have a new favorite gift to give...personalized market totes!  I think they make a fabulous gift, especially filled with a few goodies (and wine!).  They are really nice as shower or wedding gifts, but I gave several as Christmas and birthday gifts and am thinking of using one to hold baby items and as part of a baby gift as well. 

Not bad right?  Don't tell me otherwise...I would be heartbroken!

For more amazing crafty goodness, see what Carrie has to share (and what is being shared) here!

Crafty Tuesday: Deco Mesh Wreath

Now that the holidays are over, I can share a few of the Christmas gifts that I made.  No one that I actually know really ever looks at this little corner of the internet (that I know of) but just in case I didn't want to spoil any surprises...

One of my coworkers started making deco mesh wreaths...and selling them for an ungodly amount of money!  I was pretty sure that I could figure out how to make them for MUCH less than she was charging...and I was right!  I only managed to get one made this holiday season, a gift for my mom, but I was pretty happy with the way that it turned out.  And the good news is that I have plenty of mesh for next year's gifts already on hand!

And this was the helper for wreath making...

For more fabulous craftiness, see what Carrie is up to for Crafty Tuesday!