Mother's Day Gifts 2011

It was that time of year again. Time to create presents for the mom's in my life. This year TWO of my sister in laws were mommies so I made these frames for them. 

I didn't take pictures of the presents I made for my mom and my mother in law. They actually aren't fully finished yet for a couple of reasons. 1. Bryan needs to drill holes in the frames and 2. they are just adding on to the picture frames of all their grandkids from this post. My mom had one new grandson born this past year and my mother in law gained 2 new grandsons. Needless to say, they needed more frames added to their gift from last year :)

Sweets Themed Baby Shower

My sweet sister-in-law, Kim is expecting her first baby mid-March. She LOVES candy and so when deciding on a theme for her baby shower, a candy theme immediately caught her eye!  It was so much fun planning the invites, candy bar, centerpieces, and wall decorations! 

 Candy Bar - all Kim's favorite kinds of candies in various glass containers.

Guests took home bags of their own candy mix!  It was a hit!

 Centerpieces - Diaper cake, paper plate lollipops, and washcloth lollipops

 Favors - a little lollipop with tags we made

 LOVE the Dum Dum topiary! 

It was super simple to make and looked adorable!

Basket for books for Josiah

Nice jar for raffle tickets for those that brought diapers and wipes

Valentine Chair Bags

 I saw these bags on this blog and I knew immediately I had to make them for the boys!  Such a cute way to remind them how much I love them during the month of February. They really weren't too hard to make and the boys loved waking up each morning to a little treat inside!  

I had lots of leftover felt so I made a few "girlie" versions of the bag with ruffles for some friends. I sold them for $20 each. One of my friends came over and told me they sell these at Pottery Barn for WAY more than that!  Might have to make more of these for next year. Mama could get lots of craft supplies with just a few orders!

Coloring Book Bag and Crayon Roll

For my nephew's 4th birthday I made him a coloring book tote bag and a crayon roll. These are great things to take with you anywhere and keep a child entertained! 

Inside view of the bag (with pocket to hold crayon roll). 

 Crayon Roll

My Crafting To Do List...

I have already been busy searching for fabrics for next year's Christmas gifts (hey, I am going to be a mom of 4 children ages 6 and under come March and Christmas comes VERY quickly!) I figure if I make things little by little I can be stress free come November (here's to wishful thinking! LOL).

So far on my list of things I need / want to make:
coloring book tote bag - for my nephew's bday in January (crayon roll is already made)
Valentine chair bags for all 4 boys
burp rags for my SIL
a book sling for Zachary and Ethan's room (made from the 2 valances I don't need)
baskets (again, out of a valance that goes with the boys new bedding)
nursing cover for myself :)


Next Christmas gifts:
Lego sacks for 9 boys and 4 girls (their's will be Barbie sacks)
BBQ aprons for my BILs
aprons for my sister, mom,  MIL and SILs (and Bryan too)

Better get busy!

Mama's Got a Brand New...

SEWING MACHINE!!!

For a couple of years now, I have wanted a sewing machine for Christmas but other crafting gifts has preempted it - my Cricut, my Gypsy.  Since our family is about to grow to 6, we are in need of a large vehicle so I figured Christmas wasn't going to be a big deal this year.  Boy was I wrong!

My hubby surprised me with a fabulous sewing machine!  The 26th of December that puppy was out of the box and I was reading the instruction manual.  After quickly figuring out how to thread the bobbins and the machine, I was off.  I had some fabric scraps on hand and I set about finding patterns I could download.

I soon got to sneak away to JoAnn's for some fabric and I found some amazing things!  I found fabric to make the boys tote bags for their Awana books, fabric on clearance for purses and for next year's Christmas gifts (Lego sacks) and the like!

I have had the machine a little over a week and have already made the following:
3 purse type bags for "my" girls (my BFF's daughters)
2 tote bags for the boys' Awana materials
2 Buttercup bags
a crayon roll
a nursing cover

Christmas Crafting

So I made all the gifts we gave away for Christmas, however, I didn't take pictures of ANY of them :(  So horrible!  I guess I need to get back into blogging so I am in the habit of taking pictures of my creations.