Week 32 Project

Yet another baby gift... This taggie blanket was my first attempt that this pattern. It came from Suzanne over at JustAnotherHangUp. I altered it a bit, but I think he came out fairly adorable, not quite as adorable as my friends Chris and Traci's baby, Grayson, but still.

Lionus Taggie Blanket, Done!

Week 31 Project

One of the many baby gifts I didn't quite finish during this past holiday season for a "baby boom" among my friends, includes this Giraffe. He's complete and has been delivered, so now I can share! I made this little guy for my friend Annemarie's second child, Morgan. The "monogrammed" M looked a little bigger than I expected after I stuffed him, but I like him anyway!

Morgan's Giraffe, Done!

Week 29 Project

**** I'm sure you are shocked to learn that I did not quite meet my 2012 new year's resolution. I know, I too was surprised when Christmas 2012 rolled around and I had only posted 28 projects. Soooo, I'm gonna take 2013 and wrap this 52 week project. I will say the end of 2012 was kinda hectic. In transitioning to my new job, I also accepted three other jobs, quit two of them and then worked two jobs for about three months. I was kinda busy. ...Back to the blog posts*****

I had four friends give birth in the span of five weeks during the holidays. I finally wrapped up some of the gifts I had created and got around to going to visit some of the mommas and babies. So I can finally post about this project that I started at my friend Mindy's house... like 5months ago?!

 I got the pattern from Suzanne over at http://justanotherhangup.blogspot.com/  It's called Maggie the Taggie Owl. I had heard about taggie blankets and seen them in stores and I thought Suzanne's pattern was too cute. Apparently babies love all the different textures and tend to rub the silky tag of regular blankets and some smart mom somewhere decided to make a taggie blanket to sooth her child.

And now I present  my taggie owl. I made one for Tommy and one for Max. I hope they love them!

He has a few different types of ribbon for feathers and his back is made of super soft brown minky.

Taggie owls made and delivered to babies before they can walk, Done!

Week 27 Project

I took Cy up to Columbus is visit Robert at OSU this weekend.

I'm actually standing two stairs higher than they are in this pic. How unfair!

I sent Mary a text to let her know we were coming up and see if they could find some time for the Overbeck kids. We booked some Ionno time on Sunday and in her reply message she requested a necklace board like the one I have in my room for Ri!

Before we left to go buy supplies, I noticed that Ri had changed into her shirt  that I made earlier this year! I don't know if she wears it often, but I love that she was rockin' it on Sunday!

This was a super easy project since I had done it before.
Ri picked out the spray paint; pink, of course!
We did make one modification, due to Maria's father. My board used push pins. It works for me, but I'm not in grade school with a five year old brother. The idea of them falling out and being on the floor where the family often walks barefoot, didn't sit well with Jon. I thought about it and while I won't say he was right (if you know Jon, you'd know why), but I will say he wasn't wrong... We used 3M Command hooks. They were a great option now that the come with clear adhesive. We even used them to hang the board and the "GirlsRock" sign. No nail holes! I've used Command products to hang a lot of items in my house, especially now that I have ancient plaster walls. And no, 3M isn't paying for this post, although that would be awesome... 

Maria handed me her necklaces and directed where they should be hung one by one.

So easy, so fun.

Love spending time with the Ionnos!!!

Ri's necklace board, Done!

A Day with the brothers and the Ionnos!

Week 24 Project

My brother Cy is the artist in the family. His strengths include drawing and painting. My drawing skills peaked in 3rd grade. So, I solicited his skills in drawing some patterns for me.






Simple shapes, but I wouldn't have been able to do them. (Couldn't find the right light, sorry for the bad pic)





I used some of my fabric stash and created some cute little 2D stuffed animals. I love their cuddle factor! I have a nice button collection, but since I'm making these for little bitty people I didn't want their to be a chocking hazard.



Stuffed animals friends, Done!

Week 14 Project

    Mario was not very happy the last time I saw him. I had made this shirt for his sister Maria and failed to think of him. He told me "I don't like you very much right now" I would have been heart broken except every kid I hang out with at a certain age doesn't "like me very much" and then they the get over it and go back to thinking I'm awesome. However, I did feel a little guilty for leaving him out. M&M are like two peas in a pod... leaving one of them out does deeply affect the other.
 

This was his "model face"

  

       Mario loves to emulate his dad, Jon, in anyway he can. His dad fishes and so Mario loves to fish. Jon's a handsome enough guy, but as far as I know he isn't a model. Mario isn't a model, but he is a ham. It was hard to get a good pic of him in the shirt I whipped up (literally took like 30mins!) But I'll share the ones we caught of him modeling in my room this Easter before they hit the road home.

Such a heart breaker

Is he throwing gang signs or rock concert symbols?

A few close ups of the shirt.

Fishin' Shirt Done!.

Week 13 Project

Note: My wonderful friend Mindy, (here is her crafty blog), made this awesome banner for my blog. Thank You Mindy!

     Not much of a story for this project. I took a dyed onsie from this post and took a hint from Kim's pics of Lilly's Ruffle Bum update. Apparently, I didn't know the effect diapers have on a baby's bum or Lilly has a great bum... probably both. I added two additional rows of ruffles (everybody now hears that little hamster in the insurance commercials say "row, row, row" right?!) to really cover the bum. I added another of my flowers, this one made from ribbon.

Teal RUFFLE Bum, Done!

Week 10 Project

~This is Maria~

Maria is my cousin Mary's daughter. She calls me Aunt Laura. I call her my niece.

Its a lot easier than calling her my 1st cousin once removed. None of my siblings have any kids, but I've been an aunt for a while now.

At this point in her life, Maria's biggest passion is BTR. What you don't know what BTR is? Then you probably know BSB or NKOTB or Menudo, or the Beatles, or the Jackson 5, maybe even the Osmonds. If you know none of the musical groups I just mentioned, you're probably a guy since these are all boy bands. The Boy Band of the day is BTR... Big Time Rush.

A few posts ago I took a basic t-shirt and embellished it with a flower and a skirt. Mary said she wanted one made for Ri (Maria) but with a BTR theme. I loved getting this commission!

So, I took some of this,
    and added it to the bottom of a BTR t-shirt,

 Ri's mom, Grandma and I had a mini photo shoot of her the the front yard after the St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown. Over all it was a pretty good day!

 Big Time Rush Shirt Dress, Done.

Ruffle Bum Update

Remember back here when I blogged about Adam's birthday tie and his cousin Jake's "I have a new sister" tie. Well I also wrote about Jake's sister Lilly's Rufflle Bum Onsie. Her mom, Kim, was kinda enough to send me the cutest pictures of Lilly wearing it!

She's the cutest thing with the most amazing chubby legs! She'll hate how much we all talked about this when she's older, but when else are chubby legs adorable? 

P.S. I'm gonna need Kim to show me how she "collaged" these three pics in this cute frame.

Week 9

             I probably have about 5 projects started around the house. I try every weekend to get one done, but I somehow can't seem to accomplish any of them. So, this weekend's plan was to not turn on the television. At all. No exceptions, even the marathon of one of my favorite shows. I would have done really well, if it weren't for March Madness. I didn't turn the TV on, but it seemed to be on everywhere I went. My good friend's had some people over Friday night. I went, but it was to see friends, not really to watch the game.
Anyway, I've always been really good when I have a deadline. I remember writing the final paper for my History of Rock and Roll class in college the night before it was due. I stayed up all night and walked into the room at 8:02. I was the last in line to turn in the paper, but there was still a line so I wasn't late.

My friend Annemarie's son, Cameron, had his first birthday party today! I, of course, choose to make him something. Note, the New Year's resolution was to make something each week. It didn't promise it would be something different.  I wanted to make him a tie shirt, but I want to try something new. I want to dye the t-shirt. I took inventory of the fabrics I have on hand and decieded to try a teal color, kinda gender neutral, right?

The process was much simpler than I had thought it would be. I filled a bowl with hot tap water and added about a tablespoon of salt. I added about half a bottle of RIT dye, and put in two white onsies and two white t-shirts. I made sure the fabric was completely saturated and then I "stirred" it about every 15mins for about an hour. It came out darker than I planned, so next time I'll just take it out sooner. A simple wash and dry and the color is set.

I've tweaked my tie shirt process with each one I've made.

 I apologize for those of you that received earlier models.

The new ones are much better!

I've turned the edges of the tie under so they won't fray or look choppy when I used my pinking sheers.

Cameron is a pretty cute kid. His mom is one of my oldest friends, she's not old, we just been friends a long time. We worked at King's Island together back in high school... back when work was fun!

Dyed T-shirt with coordinating tie, Done!



Week 6 Project

Maybe 5 months ago I leaned how to do ruffles.

I recently learned a second way to do ruffles.

Wanna know where I put these pink tulle ruffles?

On the bum of this pink onsie!

 

I wanted to do ruffles on the bum of a onsie for a girl that would be crawling.

I've been around kids and babies my whole life, but I had to call my cousin Liz to be sure of the age

that those squirmy girls start crawling before I bought the onsie. 

I can hold my hands out to about "this big" to know when they crawl, but I didn't know how many months they are when they are "this big".

I made Grace's Princess Halloween costume this past fall. Liz and I were astounded at the price of tulle (it was supper cheap; I'm talking like $1.50 a yard) and over bought and now I have a full bag of tulle left!

Simple project that I might do many more of.

Ruffle bum Onsies, Done.

Week 5 Project

Postponing Posts....

So occasionally my weekly project will be in preparation for an upcoming event, say a birthday, so I won't be able to post until after the event, but I don't want you to think I didn't fulfill my promise to create each week. I do, I did, I promise, honest.

Back Story

One of my dearest friends is my R.A. from college. Kim is generous and kind. She is thoughtful and sweet and has the biggest heart. I think the main reason we're such good friends is that no matter what, we have fun. I probably don't tell her often enough that I really value our friendship.

I went to visit her this weekend. Saturday evening, Kim and I went  to to grab some groceries and for no real reason, we laughed the whole time we were at the store. We have fun when we're talking on the phone, riding in the car or when we stay up all night crafting with her sister, Mindy. (Mindy, by the way, is my craft buddy extraordinaire. Love her!)

Mindy and her other sister, Angie, had a baby shower a few months ago when Kim had her second baby. We were told not to bring gifts, but who follows those rules?!? So I didn't "buy" her anything but I did craft her something.

 

I made the tie shirt for Jake and for Jake's new little sister, Lilly, I made the onsie. I had originally planned on just the ruffles on the bum, but I played around with some fabric and the flower happened. I sewed that sucker on soooooo well. I was a little terrified Lilly would rip it off and choke on it. There is NO way she will, unless she's a super hero. I used like, a whole spool of thread.

Anyway, the reason this post got postponed is that Lilly and Jake's cousin, Adam (Mindy's son) got a tie shirt for his birthday last weekend. A bow-tie! (and a truck)I couldn't blog about it before he got it. I mean, he could have read it. He did turn 2.

Mindy did me a huge favor and took some pics of the kids in their shirts.

Jake and Adam at the window, possibly looking at the actual fire truck that showed up at the fire truck themed party. The truck's appearance wasn't planned,  it just happened to be in the neighborhood, but seriously, how awesome?!

Jake at Adam's birthday party.

  

                              

Adam's looks like a little crooner in that center photo..

Thanks for the photos Mindy!

Cute Tie Shirts, Done!

...Arriving at Week 3 Project

All of the "work"  and drama of this past week makes me feel like should have arrived at some grand project. While the project is done, its not so much grand, but I do love it!  It all started with a simple white T-shirt...  

 I made this little flower from some fabric and ribbon.

and added this fun ruched trim

      

               Ta-Da!  Fun little dress, perfect with leggins!

One of my favorite little girls, Grace, agreed to help me model. She's awesome!

Toddler T-Shirt Dress, Done!