Burp Cloths

Burp Cloths are easy to make from scraps of flannel cotton.

 

Each of these is about the width of my shoulder and about 18 inches long.

 

I added lace to the end of one of them to be fancy. I had all of this blue and yellow fabric leftover from making baby boy things for a friend (5 years ago) so I decided lace would make it a little more girly... ha!

Easy Nursery Crafts with Flannel

I'm 41 weeks pregnant so I decided to work on some easy crafts for the baby's nursery to pass the time while I wait for labor to start. I completed these projects in one afternoon using flannel prints (purchased on sale at $2.99/yard).

 

 

First up, I made a fitted sheet for the Pack N' Play with this fun "imaginary friends" print. Then I made a matching burp cloth out of the leftover scrapts (plus strips of a coordinating flannel).

 

To make a fitted sheet, all you need to do is cut out a rectangle, leaving a decent amount of edge around the outside (a few inches). Pinch the corners and mark where the corner should be, then fold and sew the corners, cutting away the extra square of material out of each corner (I used a serger which made this really easy). Lastly, trim the edges (or serge all four edges) and then turn over the edge, sewing elastic underneath, pulling the elastic tight as you sew it to the fabric using a zigzag stitch.

The other project I completed was a fitted cover for the diaper changing pad. The process for making this was basically the same as the fitted sheet. Again, I pieced together leftover scraps to make a little coordinating wash cloth/burp cloth.

Both of these projects were quick, easy, and cost-effective. Considering that fitted sheets are usually $20 and up, I made these at less than 25% of what it would cost to just buy one.

Materials:
Flannel (pre-washed) at $2.99/yard
Thread (white)
Elastic (1/8" wide)

None of these crafts require a pattern.

Itty Bitty Baby Booties

I made baby booties!

JoAnn's had patterns on sale for $1 so I picked up McCall's M6342 and a few others to make baby clothes and so far I have had a blast just making a bunch of baby booties!

 

This is a great project for using up scraps because the pattern pieces are so small!

Easy Paper Bunting

Need party decorations and short on time? I whipped this up in 30 minutes or less, for my cousin's baby shower. These are also really cute in a baby nursery.

Start with a selection of coordinating scrapbooking paper. For one-sided paper bunting flags, you can get two flags from one square sheet.

Create a pattern out of a piece of scrap cardboard. Draw a line down the center. Then measure an equal distance out from one end of the line and mark two points which will be the corners of your triangle. Draw lines to connect the points to the other end of your line. Cut out the triangle.

Place your triangle on the paper. You can position the base of the triangle against the edge of the paper. Use a roller cutter and mat to quickly cut the triangle out.

Flip your pattern piece and cut a second triangle from the same sheet. Repeat for all of your sheets of paper - you can cut 2 or 3 sheets at the same time to go faster. I used 6 sheets of paper for 12 total flags.

You need string and a sewing machine for this part.

Place your first flag pattern-side down. Using the widest zig-zag stitch and a length of about 3, stitch along the top edge of the triangle, keeping the string under the zig-zag so your stitches land on either side.

When you finish, the flag will look like this. Stitch the rest of the flags in a row, leaving a couple of inches between each flag.

When you are done, string them up and party on!

Baby Gift: Plush Lion

My cousin is preggy with her first child. YAY, so I wanted to make her a plush Beaver (since we're Canadian) but I failed. So my second choice was a lion.

I'm going with this simple design (because limbs start getting compliated and can look just not that great without much practice). I'm using fleece because it's a very forgiving fabric, and very soft. It can strech to give you curves without having to pattern out just for curved shapes.

Two humps for the front and back, with a cute mane. The mane was made by cutting a donut shape, and snipping frige off the outter edge. I'm also layering two donuts to give me depth.

I also wanted a little fluffy tail. Doesn't it look a bit like a candle.
I cut a strip of frige from the fabric, rolled it up, and sewed it to the end of a tail.

Using a Zig Zag stitch to attach the main and nose to the front side of the animal.  It's pretty trendy to allow seams to be show, gives a very home made organic look.  Instead of having a flat base, I made it curved to give it character.  It's cuter when you hold it, but now I realized it's got trouble standing cause it wobbles.

I went through different button combinations to figure out which eyes looked good on the lion.

The Finished LIon,  It's it CUTE

And of course it's got Paws ~giggle~

Baby Gift: Fleece Blanket (No Sew Project)

Baby Blankets make wonderful gifts.  But honestly these can be made for any age just by changing the print. 

This is a EASY project and can be made by anyone 7+, which means kids can be brought in for slave labor, I mean for learning experience.  ~cough cough~

So this is one of those times that making your own doesn't necessarily make it cheaper, but here's a few reasons why you should do it anyways

• Can double the layers making it warmer
• Decide your own prints
• Mix your own prints
• Pick your own size
• Homemade is just always more personal

Here I've got a Winnie the Pooh and Kermit the frog print.  I'm using two layers, but this can work with a single layer as well.

I asked the fabric store to cut me a larger piece because I dont have confidence that they will cut straight lines when they are rushing through customers.  I placed my kermit fabric on the bottom and the Winnie the Pooh print on top and cut out a *perfect* rectangle based on the lines provided on this print.  Of course fleece does stretch, so try to lay as flat as possible.

You'll want to cut the edges to fringes (cut both layers together) around the entire blanket.  Remove the corner squares. Next tie off each of the fringes, if it's double layer than tie both layer's fringe together

The tying process can be done while watching tv on the couch.  Just make sure to do sections around the whole blanket first to keep blanket from shifting to much before it is complete. 

Vola, a wonderful soft and personally made blanket for loved ones to enjoy

Urban Craft Uprising 2010 Report

"Seattle's largest indie craft show. Our mission is to build, foster and support a fun, indie DIY crafting community." according to their website.  http://www.urbancraftuprising.com/

This place isn't your grandma's little craft show (trust me I've been to many and have much ranting to come out of those about how some of the work could be done by a young grade school student).  These are real artists who make the mose creative pieces from all sorts of materials and tools including high tech machinery.

Over 100 booths of work ~almost~ all made my hand.  I shall continue now to display some of the different artists I saw.  This isn't the average work that anyone can pick up without intense love, persistance, and creativity.

Vinyl Toys - Apparently this guy was playing with resin making a cupcake, when his friend suggested to him to expand on it and it EXPLODED and these were recently released at New York's Comic-Con
http://rampage-toys.blogspot.com/

This artist had these slightly creepy plates and cups of human figures popping out to touch you.  It's got such emotion, but I'm not sure everyone wants that face starring at them all the time.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanKniffinDavidson

I loved this jewerly making pair.  One partner does the glass work, while the other does the metal work.  Harmony to make masterpieces.  http://www.hammerandtorch.com/

Clear stamps are becoming so popular lately, countless magazines on card making require the use of stamps for all their submissions now.  If you look closely at the picture there's a sign that says "HANDMADE".  I asked her about her process. Something about negative printing and UV lights.  Oh whatever more importantly I asked if she takes custom orders.  ~giggles~ 
http://www.bluediamondstamps.com/

Ok this booth was geeky in such an awesome way.  They had Periodic Table Elements turned into Cuff Links.  Spirographs necklaces, as in you can take it off and play with it with pen and paper.  And these special gloves with electric conductors (or something techy like that) which allows you to use your Ipod or other touch screen devices even with gloves on.  And what was even more clever about the sellers is that they sold kits that you can use to mod your own gloves in case you didn't want to use their generic gloves.  http://www.polymathdesignlab.com/

And last we come to the stand in which a forked over my dollars to.  Die cut Metal and Plastic jewelry pieces.  Gothic style of course, one of my favs.
http://www.fableandfury.com/


So last year I noticed that felting had started to become popular, so what's up this year?  It looks like Yarn might be the new thing.  I saw two booths just selling yarn.  Hmm

Favors with a Message

A fun way to do party favors is to make the favors part of the decor by using them to spell out the reason for the celebration! I made these favors for a baby shower (if that wasn't obvious).

Each gift is associated with one letter so each guest can pick which letter they want.

Monograms are all the rage now! Even if your name doesn't start with B, it's still cute.

I also made a couple of brown-wrapped packages for game prizes.

Materials:
Fabric - soft light blue cotton fabric with a tight weave that doesn't fray easily on the edges
Ties - raffia strands
Paint - gold fabric paint
Favor Gifts - small scented votive candles in glass

Tools:
Paint brush - flat square edge with nylon bristles
Fabric shears
Scissors
Pencil or chalk and the means of creating a circle (large bowl, pin and string, etc.)

Instructions:
1. Determine how large of a circle you need to wrap each favor.
2. Trace circles onto your fabric with white chalk or a pencil.
3. Cut out the circles carefully with fabric shears - they don't have to be perfect circles but the edges should be smooth, without notches or frays.
4. Steam press the fabric circles.
5. Wrap each favor by placing it in the center of a fabric circle, gathering up the edges and securing with a strand of raffia, tied with an overhand knot and then a simple bow.
6. Trim the edges of the raffia strand with scissors.
7. Hand-paint letters on the front of each favor with fabric paint.