Mom-to-be Gift

It's not every day you get a phone call that your best friends are expecting their first baby. We got a call sharing the good news a few weeks ago and I immediately knew I wanted to put together a little mom-to-be gift basket to mail to them. Being a pretty new Mom myself, I know that you are often given lots of sweet gifts, but not always things that are the most useful. With that in mind I put together this little care package and added some little poems to make it more fun. Enjoy!

Preggie Pops
"On those days when you start to feel sick in your tummy, these will help it feel better and they taste pretty yummy!"

Belly Bands (I made my own - there are tones of great pinterest tutorials on how to make them for so much cheaper than they cost at the store!)
"You can unbutton your pants and wear these to keep them in place, as your belly gets bigger and takes up more space"

Book

"It's one of our favorites and we know it's true, Baby ****** is already loved through and through!"

Newborn gown

"Nothing in life is quite as sweet, as the pitter patter of sweet baby feet"

Stretch Mark Lotion
"This baby is undoubtedly a gift from God. This helps with the toll it takes on your bod."

Back Massager
"Pregnancy may cause you to feel all kinds of pains. Tell Mark to use this, it will help you stay sane"

Oreos (The Dad-to-be's favorite treat)
"We can't forget to add something for your mate. Maybe this will help him put on some sympathy weight!"

I found these great little cards and envelopes at JoAnns and bought coordinating ribbon to tie them all up in white tissue paper. I love these gender neutral colors and that there are lots of little gifts to open. Seriously, who doesn't love lots of presents to open?!

It was so fun to get the call when he gift arrived - they loved it! If they have a girl, I'm hoping this will help seal the arranged marriage deal I'd love to set up with her and Matt. : )

We live in Minnesota and they live in Texas so I had to be patient while waiting for it to get to them, and even more patient as I waited for the news to out in the open so I could share it with you all! I hope it inspires more great gift baskets for the parents-to-be in your lives!

Dessert of the Month Club

I'm way behind in posting about, well, everything, but I'm finally making some good progress on my latest favorite project. Around Christmas I ran across The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and fell in LOVE with their adorable patterns. I gave myself the little treat of joining their Dessert of the Month Club, so on the first of every month my inbox is filled with a seasonally appropriate little creature to stitch. I could go on and on about how much fun they are to make up, or how nice it is to have something that works up so quickly, but instead I'll just show you pictures and you can fall in love all on your own:

Excuse my randomness. April and May are coming :)

Are they not the cutest?! It is so fun to see all their little personalities every month. I highly recommend hopping on board if you are looking for a fun, quick project!

Chevron Diaper Bag

Today I'm linking up with the CSI Project to share the cool new diaper bag I made!

We had been given two diaper bags as gifts before Matt was born, but being a new Mom I had no idea what you really want/need in a diaper bag. I found this great bag tutorial on Pinterest from Sew Mama Sew! (http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2011/08/back-to-school-laptop-bag/) and it inspired me to make my very own custom diaper bag. Add in some awesome chevron fabric and I have a bag that I am totally in love with!

I made a great little bag to go with it that holds all my Mommy things, like my check card, drivers license, phone, keys... you get the idea. It's nice to not have to dig through the mess of baby stuff to find what I need, and if we're just running in somewhere quick I can just grab the Mommy bag and not have to carry the diaper bag with me!

I hope you love the bag as much as I do. I think the chevron fabric really makes it and I feel so trendy carrying it around. (If you know me, you know that trendy is generally something that is not associated with me! Ha!) And if by some crazy chance you didn't love it, here's a picture of the world's cutest baby so hopefully you'll at least feel like your trip to my blog was worth your while :)

Happy Friday, all!

Ribbon Wreath Tutorial

I was looking for a little something to sit and make while I was very, very pregnant this fall and I came up with this ribbon wreath and thought I would share it with you. It's really easy to make and I love the way it looks hanging up in our house!

Materials:
Styrofoam wreath
1 spool of ribbon for base/background color
5 or 6 spools of ribbon for the actual wreath - I used ribbon with wire because I think it will hold up better, but you could use other types of ribbon, too.
hot glue gun
scissors

To start, wrap your Styrofoam wreath in the base color, securing both ends with hot glue. I used white as my base color.

Then cut 5" (or so, I didn't measure and I think it looks better if they are not all exactly uniform) strips from your colored ribbon.

When they are cut, you want to fold each one in half and glue it about 1/4" - 1/2" from the bottom like so:

When the hot glue is dry, you'll fold the bottom out to create a flat surface. This will be how you'll attach the ribbon to the wreath.

Now it's time to glue all your ribbon on to the wreath! I put all the ribbon in a plastic bag and mixed them up so I could grab them out randomly. Then all you have to do is put some hot glue on the flat ribbon base and glue away! Remember to twist and turn the ribbon so it's not all uniform all the way around.

It's a bit time consuming, but I think it's so worth it. I made mine wreath in Christmas colors, but it's still up in my living room because I love it too much to put it down in the basement for 10 months of the year. Maybe eventually my husband will convince me to take it down. :)

Happy wreath making, friends!

Jonah's EB Auction

If you are a big blog reader like I am, chances are you've come across Patrice's blog about her sweet little boy, Jonah. Jonah was born with a rare skin condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa (or EB) where his skin blisters and come off when ever he is touched or bumped. The boys I used to nanny for are just two weeks older than him so I know how hard little boys can be on their bodies and can't imagine the dichotomy of wanting to let them play but being fearful of them getting hurt. They spend hours each day washing him and bandaging him up so he can play and live as normally as possible. It must be so hard to live with, but he and his family do their best and always trust in God. It's a great reminder, especially now that I have a son, to praise God no matter what comes your way, and to truly be thankful for what He's given you.

Jonah is turning three shortly and his family and friends are hosting the 3rd annual Jonah's EB Auction. All the proceeds go directly to DebRA to fund research to find a cure. since I've been reading about Jonah for so long, I decided to donate a quilt this year! I'm really excited about it and hope it raises a lot of money and that it goes to a home where it can be loved to pieces. :)

It's a little boy quilt with cars and robot fabric, mostly from Alexander Henry's "Beep Beep" line. Go check it out and please bid on it!

http://jonahsebauction.blogspot.com/2012/02/cars-robots-baby-quilt.html

Thanks friends!

Brittany

My love

What better day than Valentines Day to introduce the new love of my life!

As I said before, Matthew Stephen joined our family on Thanksgiving morning. He was over a week late and after 21 hours of labor and over 3 hours of pushing the doctor went in after him and he came out screaming at 7:01am.

I've talked a lot on here about my desires to become a mom and I have to say that these two and a half months have been everything I've dreamed of. Matthew is a relatively easy baby who really only fusses when he needs something. I feel so, so blessed to have him here. His name means, "Gift from God" and I am often reminded of how true that is. It hasn't been all good and easy (seriously, how did I not know about growth spurts and how they turn your mild mannered child into a ravenous and cranky creature?!) but we're figuring each other out and I certainly wouldn't have it any other way. In case you can't tell, I'm crazy about this little boy! :)

Now for the fun part: pictures!

(I'm trying to learn how to post from my phone so hopefully this works)

Matt on his birth day

His first smiles at 5 weeks old!

In my favorite hat at 2.5 months old. We call it his Elmer Fudd hat :)

Snuggling with Daddy

Curled up with Mommy in his first week home.

I'm finding a little time to craft here and there, so hopefully being able to post from my phone means I can share more of all the projects I've been up to!

Happy Valentines Day!

SUYL Singles!

Hello, there, neglected blog. It has been a crazy few months since I last blogged. About the last time I put up a post, we found out that we were pregnant! What a year it's been. We were thrilled to introduce little Matthew into the world on Thanksgiving morning and are loving every minute of being parents. Craftyness has definitely slowed down, but I have lots to show you all now that I'm coming out of the fog of having a newborn ;)

BUT, that's not what this is about! Kelly is linking up singles again and I can't resist the opportunity to tell you all about my sister, Kristin.

Isn't she pretty?! ;) Kristin is 24 and lives in the Minneapolis area. She works in a clinic as a CMA. She loves her job, and I have to say she is awesome at it. She has a real gift for taking care of people and making them comfortable.

She loves to travel although I know she doesn't get to do it as much as she'd like. Last year she spent some time backpacking over in Ireland and had the time of her life. She just got back from some time in California, too. You can tell just how smart she is that she chose to get out of Minnesota in January. ;)

Kristin is on the right next to the bride, me :)  

She loves her family and is thrilled to be a new auntie. Although Matt is only 10 weeks old, she is already doing her best to spoil him and is by far his favorite aunt! (Okay, so she's also his only aunt, but still!) She enjoys cooking and trying out new restaurants and food. She loves animals and looks forward to the day she can have one of her own.

She is so much fun and I feel so blessed to have her as my sister. I just know God has a fantastic man in mind for her and I can't wait until he brings them together!

Fabric Tuesday!

Wow, posts two days in a row?! That's almost unheard of! :)

Happy Fabric Tuesday to all my friends from Quiltstory. I love heading over each week to see what others are up to - it is so inspiring!

My big (BIG!) project right now is a quilt for my master bedroom. I saw Ty Pennington's new line and fell head over heals in love with the green and grey. I'm doing the Rain or Shine pattern from Elizabeth over at Oh!Fransson's book. I finished up my first block this weekend and even though it was a lot of work, I'm loving the results! Lining up my center points needs some serious work though... I've never pressed my seams open, but with all the bulk created in the middle with these points I think I'm going to have to.

I wish the colors showed up better in this picture, but trust me when I say they are a wonderful shade of green, not yellow. I decided to use a solid in each block as well to cut down on some of the business. This block has Kona Coal in it. Others will have Kona Cactus and Kona White. the sashing will be in Kona Ash. I can't wait to get more blocks made! Maybe if we get all the snow they're talking about I can be "forcefully" held up at home with my sewing machine :)

Happy quilting, friends!

Catching up

Long time no blog! It doesn't feel like that long ago, but I think I'm also in denial that it is March already. I live in the Midwest and we are gearing up for another big snowstorm this week (and we got 4" last night...) so it feels much more like I should be getting ready for Christmas than getting ready for spring. Although I haven't had much time at the computer, I have had lots of time to get some projects started!

I ordered a great blue, grey and black fat quarter group from Fabric Worm with some of Alexander Henry's Beep! Beep! line in it that came the other day. I couldn't resist making a quick quilt out of it! Here it is up on the board, waiting for the backing fabric to come so I can finish it up!

A few weeks ago I showed you the cross stitch I finished. I got it back from the framers (Michaels) this week and I love it! I had originally planed on just having it up with my winter decorations, but after what it cost to frame it ($130! and it's only 10"x10"!!) I think it has a permanent home on our wall now. :)

Finally, I've had the knitting bug lately and have been spending many of my nights curled up on the couch with my needles clicking away. I have a few things hanging out on needles now, but here is one I actually finished. It is SO cute and now happily tucked away in the hope chest waiting to be used :)

I hope to be back tomorrow for fabric Tuesday. I'm using Ty Pennington's line to make Elizabeth Hartman's Rain or Shine quilt (the picture is from on of my favorite blogs to follow - the plaid scottie) and i am loving it already! It's the first quilt I'm making for my husband and I for our master bed and I am itching to get more of it done. It's quilt the tedious quilt to make, though, so we'll see if I can finish it sooner rather than later! :)

Happy Monday quilting friends!

Love Doesn't Melt

It's fabric Tuesday again! I haven't spent hardly anytime this year quilting because I've been hard at work on this guy. I have a slew of snowmen that are displayed all over our house over the winter season, so when I saw this kit just before Christmas I snatched it right up. I finally finished it last night and am so excited to get it off to the framer tonight!

How cute is this little family?!

It's the perfect size - 10" x 10" - for a seasonal decoration

I took the pictures pre-washing, so excuse the wrinkles. I'll be sure to post more pictures after it's framed!

For once, my timing was perfect, too, and I have new fabric to play with to get me back into quilting. I'm diving into one of these bundles tonight and have lots of ideas swimming around! We'll see how much I can get done by next week :)





*Both images from www.fabricworm.com - one of my favorite online fabric stores!!

Twin Quilts - Fabric Tuesday

I'm a day late for Fabric Tuesday over at Quiltstory this week, but better late than never, right?!

I actually have two quilts to share this week. For those of you that don't know me, I am a nanny to the most amazing twin boys who will be two next week. I am someone who has always wanted to be a mother, so as I'm in this period of waiting for that to happen, I get to be paid to do it for someone else! (If you are ever interested in what life with twins is like, I keep a blog about our day to day life for their parents to read if they are traveling or for family to keep up with all the milestones that happen in the first few years of life. It's mctwinboyz.blogspot.com) Anyway, these boys are such a joy to me and I really love getting to be such a huge part of their lives. For their first birthday last year I decided to make them each a quilt. 

Up first is Aidan's quilt. Aidan is such a silly little boy! He will talk to me all day long and is already starting to know how to make little jokes. At some point during the day he usually says, "Tilly Aidy!" (Silly Aidan) after making a face or putting something somewhere it doesn't belong. Today he was putting his milk cup by his ear. :) Aidan is definitely the more physical boy. He loves to run and jump and throw balls. When he was still a baby he used to try and climb and get into everything, so I started calling him my monkey. Here is Aidan's monkey quilt:

It's a crazy 8 pattern with all kinds of fun monkey prints

It's hard to see, but the back is a big animal scene. The boys recently discovered that if you go under it in a sunny room the sun shines through and you can sit under there and look at all the different animals. It's very cute :)

Aidan and I on his first birthday

Now it is the ever coveted "Bon-key Ban-key" that he needs every night and at nap time. There is nothing better than seeing your work get destroyed from so much loving!

Up next is Patrick's quilt. Patrick is the thinker. He prefers to play by himself when we're at home and could sit and read books all day long. He likes to turn the pages and gets very upset if he opens it up to the title page and I don't read him all the words on the page! He will sit and say "Read! Read! Read!" until he's sure he's not getting gypped. :) When we go places, he is a huge flirt and loves to bat his beautiful blue eyes at all the ladies. I'm not kidding, he will pick out the skinny blonde adult in the classes we take and sit on her lap at song time and look back and smile at her. It's really funny and very cute! Patrick's quilt was born out of the thought that because he is so smart and such a thinker he will go on to do great and wonderful things, like maybe be a rocket scientist!

It's the same crazy 8 pattern as its twin.

Here's P, as we call him, and I on his first birthday.

He loves his blankie, but not quite as much as Aidan. Because he is such an independent kid he doesn't need the objects to attach to as much. He still goes straight for it at nap time and will usually ask me to sing Twinkle Twinkle when he sees the stars on it.  :)

Thank you for checking out my twin quilts! I'll be back with another project I have in the works for the boys second birthday next week!

Happy Fabric Tuesday!