Christmas Crafts

 Surprisingly, I've been doing a lot of crafting lately.  I still feel that I don't have much time for it, but joining Pinterest has inspired me.  Ah, Pinterest.  I love and hate you.  Pinterest has given me many wonderful ideas, but its highly addicting!  In my last post, I introduced the cozy little blanket that I made for my nephew.  And below is the coordinating quilt that I made for Finn.

I just cut different sized strips of fabric and sewed them together.  Using my Cricut machine, I cut letters to iron on to the top piece.  I sewed them in place just to make sure they wouldn't come off in the wash.  After that I sandwiched some light batting in between the top I made, and a piece of red minky.  I didn't want to quilt the whole thing because of the dot texture on the minky fabric.  So I just used the stitch in the ditch method.  The final touch was to add the binding.  This doesn't get any easier for me.  Plus the added texture of the minky fabric was extra tough to work with.  But it is finished, and I love it.

 How could I not make that adorable quilt for this happy little boy!

 My next project was just produced tonight.  I had all of the materials lying around, so I went for it.  It's a cute little ornament with Finn's picture on it.  I took a wood block from the craft store, sanded down the corners, and added some gold paint to the edges.  After that, I cut out some Christmassy scrapbook paper and a little picture of Finn.  I glued the paper on with Mod Podge, and added a layer over everything to seal it all in.  After it dried, I screwed in a little hook and tied on a piece of ribbon.  This project took no more than thirty minutes, and now I had a new ornament to put on my tree!  I'm thinking about making one of these every year so that Finn will have an entire collection when he's grown up.

There is one other project that I have completed recently.  It is a Christmas gift for someone who may or may not read this blog, so I will hold off on posting it until after the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

Alphabet Art

Over a month ago, I blogged about the playroom progress.  It has been a busy and stressful month, so unfortunately I've only been able to complete one more project.  I wanted to add the alphabet into the space, so I framed it up and hung it on the wall.  Once again, I turned to my handy Cricut machine to help me get the job done.  I picked out some card stock in different colors and patterns and started cutting.  After attaching the letters to a large poster board, I placed it in a large poster frame.  I made sure to pick out a frame that had a plastic front instead of glass.  That way if it ever gets knocked off the wall while Finn is roughhousing, there won't be any glass to break!

Birth Announcement

There hasn't been much time for crafting at my house lately. The only project that I have been working on is Finn's birth announcements. I told myself that I would have them finished and in the mail within a month of his birth, but no such luck. They finally went out two days before he turned six weeks old. The photo was taken by Teresa Hermes when he was three weeks old. And once again, I used my awesome iScrapbook program to put the cards together. I saved a ton of money by making the announcements myself, and printing them at home.

Closet Dividers

This weekend, I worked on my first project for the nursery! I bought these plain white closet dividers at The Container Store.

The rest of the supplies I would need were already in my craft room.

I cut pieces of scrapbook paper to size, and used the Mod Podge to glue them to the white dividers. Finally, I added a number to each divider and brushed on an extra layer of glue to seal it all together.

Voila! This was a very quick and easy project. Now the little one's clothes will be well organized.

Bride & Groom

Its been a while since I've made a card for anyone. This one was a last minute creation to accompany a wedding gift we were giving last weekend. The card is very simple, but I love the paper I used. I had all of the materials I used for this card in my craft room. Sometimes I forget what great paper I have in there. I guess that means I should clean it more often! The bride and groom were cut out using my Cricut machine, which is extremely handy.

First Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Abbi!  I made this cute birthday card for our friends' little girl.