twins!

(For whatever reason, I seem to be having issues getting photos uploaded into posts!)

My friend Laura is having twin boys in June and her shower was on Saturday. Since I didn't have time to make blankets, I searched high and low for something I could make that was boy-orientated. I saw these adorable cloud mobiles and knew that was what I had to make; especially since on Facebook Laura's religious preference is "all you need is love". It just seemed fitting and something I knew she'd cherish. And I was right!

I didn't make them identical (even though the twins are) because that drives me up the wall. I also knew that everyone who showed up with a shower gift would have matching sets. (I was right, they did. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not my style)


It also helps that I didn't have white felt big enough to make clouds!



Tutorial wise, so incredibly simple I had no problems following directions. Always a plus in my book. It's just a simple, quick little project with great results.

Now I know my A B C's

In the need for a few little girl birthday gifts, I just had to try this tutorial. Had to. I typically shy away from project like this only because I get to the middle of them and decide it's just taking too long. These held my interest, which was awesome!

I did not directly use Happy Together's technique involving washing/drying the letters. I try to not use my dryer in the summer time, so I came up with a solution: fabric fronts, felt backs.

Worked like a charm and it was a great way to go through some of my scrap boxes. Her tutorial was clear and easy to follow and the results are certainly charming.


Of course, the alphabet needed companions, so I whipped up some numbers also using the same fabric/felt combo.


The full set of letters and numbers are here in my Flickr stream.

ELM -- a simple little baby gift

This coming Saturday is a meet and greet for my friend Carrie's newest edition, Miles. He was born in February and I sent a gift from their baby registry around that time and wanted something a little more Carrie friendly this time around.

I guess mother's like brag books? If my neighbor is any indication, the answer is yes; her purse is weighed down with them.

I made these just using some wool felt, sheet protectors, and appliqued on some letters from scraps. (One for Miles, Lillie, and Ellen.)



If you are wondering how I did the sheet protector pages, I just traced out an inch larger than my 4" x 6" postcard in a reverse L shape and ran it through my machine. I cut that out, used pinking shears along the top, then use the open side in the binding so that I'd made a little pocket. I thought the plastic would be fussy going through the machine, but I had no issues at all.

Best part? This is going to be my Mother's Day gift(s) this year!

Shopping list:

Wool blend felt from J.Caroline
(if I recall correctly, those I used are: Lemon, Pistachio, and Moss.)

Template for Alphabet from Martha Stewart (which I now cannot find)

Scraps from my bin and sheet protectors from another life.

My poor hands!

I can delete another tutorial from the bookmarks folder! Deleting one or two a week is quite a nice thing, especially considering last week I cleaned out said folder(s) and it took me nearly 2 hours. It's nice to clop another one off and it's a nice sense of accomplishment to have something to show for it.

A few hours yesterday and a few hours today have been spent making birthday presents for two little girls in my world: a one and a two year old. The one year old, whose birthday isn't until March, is getting a house (there's a tutorial I'm not looking exactly forward to) and a set of these hair clips. The two year old, whose birthday was at the beginning of August, is getting that set of blocks from a previous entry and a set of hair clips.

That's right...this weekend was hair clip weekend using this tutorial.


Easy? Very. Just draw, sew, cut, and stuff.


A little tedious? Yes. Especially when your hands bother you from doing small pieces like that and not even the hand brace helps. (Alas, it's not just my sewing and embroidery projects causing issues, it's how I sleep.)

Worth it? VERY. They are adorable and a great way to use up bits of left over fabric from my growing stash.

Tips: the less you stuff your circle, the easier it is to get it to look like an actual flower. I used 3 strands of embriodery floss instead of two simply because I like how it looked and it seemed a bit more sturdier to me.

Kinda like Martha

After an exhaustive search for wooden blocks (not really. It was just hot and I wanted to go home), I finally found a bag of six at Hobby Lobby. The last bag of six. I was assured, though, that they would be getting more in stock this week should I require anymore. That's great news, because after this project, I know I'm going to need more.


(Note. I could just order them online and be done with it.)


I gave the unfinished blocks a light sanding then painted them with the Golden Glazes. I was going to go the acrylic paint route, but decided I wanted a softer look. So Glazes it was.

The paper just came from my scrap bin and the stickers were some letter set I'd picked up who knows when. I did screw up my idea though: I wanted to do an A-B-C and an X-Y-Z. I was distracted and went A-B-C all the way through, but you know what, it works.


The key, I've found, to Martha Stewart projects is you can't expect yours to turn out as PERFECTLY as hers. You just can't. If you do, then you'll hate your end results and chuck your project in the trash when you are done. In fact, that's how I live my crafting life: I have to know that my projects are not always going to look like what they do in the pictures. Or even in my head, sometimes. It really takes the pressure off my creativity level.

I love these blocks. These are going to my 2 year old cousin Sullivan as a late birthday present. They're also going to be baby gifts for Christmas. I'm even considering making a set for adults; I can think of a few that would enjoy a set of blocks to have on their desk to play with.