A Sweet & Sexy Shower

 My sister-in-law Kim recently asked me to help her with her best friend, Amanda's personal shower. She did a great job with all the planning and just needed a bit of help with the tags and such. I was thrilled to get to help with Amanda's special day!  We played the game where each guest brings a pair of panties that describes their personality. Upon arriving each person put the panties they brought in the vase and then we strung them up like a banner and had Amanda guess who they were from. 

Below are just some of the shots of the things we made. It was a success and lots of people commented on how cute everything was. Kim did a great job and I was happy to be able to help her.

 Water bottle wraps

Tags for the wine to go with the theme:

white was sweet, red was sexy and the blush was blush 

(it is a lingerie shower after all!) 

Tags for the glasses with each of the ladies names printed on them 

Special glass for the guest of honor! 

The yummy sweets table

(I once again forgot to take a picture once we had ALL the food set out) 

Sweet and Sexy banner

"His Banner over me is LOVE..." Song of Solomon 2:4

I love to craft and I love it even more when I get to create things for others. So when I saw this post for a blessing banner, God placed someone special on my heart immediately. You see my sister-in-law and her husband have been praying for a child for quite a while now. God for whatever reason has not allowed that to happen... YET!  Well, after seeking medical help they are going forward with IVF this month!  Our whole family has been praying that they would be blessed with a baby. I don't know any couple that would be better parents!  

When they do get blessed with a little one, Angie said she would decorate the nursery in brown and pink or brown, blue, and green.  With that information, I was off to the fabric store in search of fabric for her very own blessing banner. As some of you may know, IVF (invetro fertilization) is not an easy process and it involves hormone shots. This was quite scary for Angie and Tim. I wanted to get the banner made before she started her shots so she would have something positive and encouraging to focus on. 

 

Once I picked out the fabric, I cut out rectangles in each of the patterns as well as smaller white rectangles. This is where our family would all write our words of encouragement, Bible verses, etc for Angie and Tim.  Once all the cutting was done, the rest came together pretty quickly (sorry, but I am HORRIBLE at remembering to take pictures of each step as I work!).  I sewed on the top flaps of coordinating fabrics, then the banner was sewn onto a wide ribbon. To finish it off I tied a few different size and colors of ribbon in between the panels. 

Here is one side of the finished banner before the family wrote on it. There were 8 panels for writing and then the center was a panel with a pink heart on it. As I was pinning the banner together, God placed the verse, "His banner over me is LOVE..." on my heart. That is the perfect verse for this project. It was a project to show people that we love very much that we are here for them and behind them in all they are going through. 

If I only had a girl!

...she would LIVE in pillowcase dresses!  Now, I really do love being a mommy to my 4 adorable and energetic boys. They are loving, helpful, super sweet, and stinkin' cute!  While I would love a daughter, I wouldn't trade my boys for anything. 

But, when I come across adorable crafting projects for little girls I can't help but dream about how a little girl of my own would look sporting a huge hairbow or a homemade skirt I made for her. I have always been a fan of pillowcase dresses. Several friends of mine have precious little girls that model them often. So one day, while wandering around JoAnn's in search of inspiration, I decided I would make a pillowcase dress for my sweet friend Tracey's daughter, Emma who was turning 3. I found an adorable fabric, grabbed some coordinating ribbon and I was ready to sew!  

 After a quick search on Google for a tutorial, I whipped up a pillowcase dress in no time (well, almost no time. I had to stop at one point and wait until I went to JoAnn's again the next day for some bias tape). These dresses are SUPER easy to make. And of course I had to make hairbows to go with it!  Since Emma was having a sweets themed birthday party, she needed candy hairbows!

I would make one of these for every occasion...

if I only had a girl!

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