This past weekend my sister and I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law in St. Paul, MN. Since we both came in from different states we decided that we wanted the menu, games and decorations to be simple and fun. My sister with help from our mom, handled the menu and made three delicious salads and finger sandwiches… I promise to post all of those recipes as soon as she emails them to me.

I handled the game, which I wanted to make completive, fun and creative and non-traditional, so I thought of “Baby Project Runway.”

Here are the rules:

Break the party up in to design teams based on the size of your party. Give each team a onesie and access to fabric, ribbon, scissors, fabric glue, safety pins and a needle and thread.

In the same style of the show Project Runway, explain to them that they have (number) of minutes to create a onesie for a style, ie Rock ‘n Roll, Hippie Chic, Jetsetter, etc with the supplies available to them (I put everything on one table).

When time runs out give everyone a stuffed animal or baby doll to wear the onesie and have a fashion show, just like they do on the show. Oh and the judge or “Heidi” is the Mom-to-be.

I think I might have missed something, so post if you have questions about the game.

I had such a great time at the shower and it was so nice seeing all the love my future niece or nephew has waiting for it. I almost forgot! For my baby gift I made the felted slippers and the Classic Baby Cardigan from Debbie Bliss’ Essential Baby.

Today I was reading unapologetically cute’s post musical monday: friends with benefits and agreed with them that it would be nice to send letters to your friends to let them know how amazing they all are.

Then I found this great post from the purl bee about making and sharing friendship bracelets with friends for Valentines Day. So my goal for February is to not only write notes to friends, but include something small and handmade that surely let them know how much I appreciate them. How do you let your friends know you appreciate them?

Over Christmas break I began to help my friend plan her wedding and after about five phone calls to hotels, I began to call myself a “wedding planner.” Now, I’m not saying I’m going to be the next J.Lo but I do think I’ll be able to help throw a pretty great wedding celebration. I’ll plan to keep you all updated on different diys but for now, here are a few great blogs that I have been looking at.

joy ever after, great for inspiration and diy projects

tie that binds, great for styling and invitations

etsy’s handmade weddings, great for seeing the whole wedding and you can purchase what you love

my wedding pintrest board, great for all the little things I find

Here are a few more suggestions for homemade ornaments.

Chickadee Tree Topper and Ornament from The Wild Unknown

Sweet Stitching Letter Ornaments

Falling Stars Advent Calendar I know this isn’t displayed as an ornament but think about making just one or a few stars with friends or family members’ names on them.

Pssst… if you don’t have time to make them, you can always buy them. Check out Design Sponges guide to ornament purchasing here or you can purchase the one pictured above at Yellow Bug Boutique.

Today I am just so excited and here is why.

I get to be an Aunt. My brother and sister-in-law are expecting the newest O’Neil this March.

Bon Iver/Justin Vernon (on the right) is now a Grammy nominee.

My 2012 tea towel was shipped to me yesterday but I still haven’t decided if I get to have the fun of putting it together or if it should be a gift.

I will be taking my final exam this weekend to finish up my yoga teacher training course. Hopefully I will be able to pronounce everything in Sanskrit. I hope “wahoo” things are happening in your lives! Oh and if you need something to do this weekend, think about having a dinner party aka a home cooked meal with friends.

How neat is this In Your Arms jelly bean video by Kina Grannis. It took 288,000 jelly beans and 22 months to make. If you’re like me and that video gave you a sweet tooth, you should check out this recipe for Liquid Cheese Cake.

The recipe is from Christina Tosi who works with Momofuku and just released the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. In the cookbook–the recipe is used in various ways (as a base for ice cream-yum, a layer in a cake-yum), but I think I will happily follow Tosi’s advice and eat spoonfuls straight from the pan.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Ingredients
One 8-ounce package cream cheese

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 large egg

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 300°. In the bowl of a standing mixer, paddle the cream cheese on low until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and mix until it is completely incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, gently whisk together the cornstarch and salt. Add the milk in a slow, steady stream, then whisk in the egg.

3. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the egg mixture to the cream cheese, beating until the mixture is smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Pour the cheesecake batter into an 8-inch-square baking pan lined with plastic wrap. Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, gently shake the pan: The outside edges should be firm and the center loosely set. If the cheesecake has not reached that consistency, allow it to cook for an additional 5 minutes.

5. Remove the cheesecake from the oven, set aside to cool completely, then serve.

Today may be Halloween but the Winter Holiday Ornament Swap is here! Freshlyblended will not be conducting the swap this year, so Alisa will be this year’s host-stop over at her blog to learn more about Alisa.

To sign-up for the swap got to freshleyblended’s swap-bot and either create an account or log-in. Please make sure that you read through all the guidelines before you sign up and don’t forget to mark your calendar for December 7th’s due date.

I will have lots of ornament ideas posted here on the homemade goodness and will take suggestions about what to post, if you don’t have time to create but think you have a great idea and directions to share. Check out Flickr to see what folks created last year and don’t forget sign-up deadline is November 7th and to think real hard about adding this to your to-do list because you will need to: create, package and send 8-10 ornaments by December 7th.

To celebrate Halloween this weekend, I’ll be attending a zombie ball! Which is a great excuse to pull out my dress that I wore to the Gayngs Prom a few years ago and transform it from “gaudy” to “zombie.” I think I’ll be using this zombie makeup guide to help me out, but all in all I may just use a lot of fake blood.

If you don’t have a costume already, here are a few easy ideas. For a Northwoods wedding, Guy: a flannel shirt, blaze orange and jeans. Gal: a flannel dress a bouquet of supermarket flowers.

Marty McFly and his Mom, Guy: wear an orange vest, collared shirt and jeans. Gal: vintage dress and primped hair.

Or go as a character from Portlandia and carry a few bird cut-outs to put on random lamp shades or tote bags.

To quote a friend of mine, “sometimes you just want to do a little cross-stitch.” I laughed when she first said it, but after seeing this amazing Cross-Stitch iPhone Case project from Purl Bee, I think I’d agree with her!

Erin, crafter and author of the blog post, takes you through all the steps to go from the blank “canvas” (above) to the lovely case (below) in the blog post. Even though I have an iPhone 3, I am tempted to purchase the 4 just to make this case!

This past weekend I was up in Northern Wisconsin knitting, walking around the lake and visiting with family. And even though this isn’t an unusual summer happening, I did find it nice to reconnect with everyone in person.  So when I was on GOOD and noticed “connecting with people” was September’s 30 Day Challenge, I decided to take it!

Now, I’m a little late but this weekend I did #4: “Ask a Relative What They Did Today” and #2: “Have a Conversation with a Service Employee.” And this week I will try to complete the rest while keeping up with the daily challenges. Want to know more about GOOD’s challenge, then check out the video (above) or go to their website. Just think of how many DIY opportunities this challenge will present!