Weekend Crafting

When it rains it pours!  It seems that all the birthdays and other special occasions get bunched up around here & that always leaves me scrambling to figure out what to do for gifts.

Making a trip to Target (our usual gift getting place) has been a big challenge lately... I am 'THAT' mom!  It seems that someone is complaining, crying, climbing, grabbing or screeching at all times of our trip.  I get the looks and I usually get stuck in the loooonnnggg line that is having some kind of technical problem with pricing, etc and by that time of the exhausting trip, I begin to melt down right along with the kids!  Because of that, I attempted to make the gifts for this weekend's celebrations from items that I already had or could quickly pick up while Mike was waiting in the car with the kids.  It was fun and released a creative outlet that I especially get while I am pregnant... Come see what I made!

The first project was for Mike's childhood best friend's first baby (did you get that?!).  He was born earlier this week and Mike was headed to their house the day they came back from the hospital, I could not send him there empty handed.  I fell in love with my friend Jessica's (yes, the sewing friend I always refer to) homemade versions of the 'Taggie Blanket' and had to attempt it myself.  I just made them according to how I remember seeing her do it, but you can go check out her's and follow the link to the tutorial that she used if you are interested in making one yourself... Babies love the different textures of the 'tags' and they are the perfect lap blanket size to throw in the diaper bag. 

This baby boy is another J... Jackson to be exact!

Next project was for a birthday party for the only little girl in Kyle's playgroup... Little Olivia, she turned 1! 

I found an easy tutorial for making a simple pleated skirt at Homemade by Jill (you have to click on the link from her page to view the tutorial).  I had purchased some must have jersey knit cotton fabric with a bright owl print a few weeks ago from the clearance bin and knew I had to use it to make little Miss O something, so here it is!

The denim is from an old pair of jeans that were in the donation pile... I also plan to attempt a maternity pencil skirt with the remainder of the jeans (also from the Homemade by Jill blog).  I will keep you posted if I ever get to it. 

The plain shirt was bought on clearance at Target and I embellished it with matching ruffles.

These are the best concept... I can't wait to make some for our next baby!  They are leg covers that are great for crawlers or new walkers- basically they are tights that don't have to be removed during diaper changes.  They are made from women's knee high socks (which happen to be on clearance at Target too, but are only $2 regularly).  They are super easy to make, I followed this tutorial.

The final celebration of the week that we attended was for a 3 year old girl... Tatum.  It was a Princess Tea Party and what is more fitting then a box of cupcakes for her tea table?  I have seen felt food before and decided to make some felt mini cakes after seeing some pictures of them on the internet.  I free handed the pattern by using a cupcake cup as a template and after messing up the first one, I figured it out...

They look kinda yummy, you know you want to taste one!

This felt food thing is a little addictive... They are just too cute and fairly easy to make!  The kids are already asking me what kind of food I can make them.  For now though, I better go spend the rest of the week with hubby... I am sure he is sick of my crafting!