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?

Normally I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but this year my I am making craft resolutions.

one. finish all in progress knitting projects or undo them

two. start and finish all knitting projects that i promised friends i would make

three. sew more challenging projects

four. improve my embroidery skills

five. make ice cream, bake bread, pretzels, macaroons & croissants

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.

 The Holiday Ornament Swap mail by date is December 7th and if you haven’t started creating your ornaments yet or if you are in the mood to create some of your own ornaments here are a few ideas.

Knit a Santa Hat Ornament

Sew a Felt Snow Ball Ornament

Sew a Star Ornament

Bake Stained-Glass Cookie Ornaments… you may not want to send these and just eat them.

Here are four things to knit or make for you Thanksgiving Holiday hosts … if you really like them.

Table Applique+ Quilted Runner

Felted Oven Mit

Napkins

Coasters

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!

Ever get to the point where you want to pull a “Jessie Sapno” and freak out about not having enough time? Well, I have been on the brink of my own “Spano freak out” all week but before “Preppie” had to bring me down to earth, Friday arrived and I am able to spend the next two days finishing up all the projects I started or couldn’t finish this week. Here is what I have put on my list to accomplish this weekend.

finish hippo for noah charity

finish heirloom hat for Max

make project bags for knitting friends, who donated to the noah

finish one  square for the moderne log cabin blanket

take a nap

read living your yoga

make & bake new york time’s no knead bread

Oh, and maybe have a drink or two with friends.

Step One: Take your complementary fabric and measure it to cover the width and the length of the pillow, cut the strips of fabric.

Step Two: Sew the panel and strip together, leaving you with a Side A (David) and Side B (lots of little Davids). Measure your plain white linning fabric to match the size of both the panels.

Step Three: Sew lining Side A to Side A and then repeat for B.

Step Four: Flip Side A and B right side facing each other and sew top and two sides together, leaving the bottom open for the pillow.

Step Five: Sew up the edging of the bottom about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch or insert a zipper.

Step Six: Stuff the pillow inside the D.t.G pillow case and cuddle.

A few months ago I walked in to The Needle Shop, a local fabric store, and found this awesome David the Gnome fabric. If you are not familiar with D.t.G because you didn’t have Nickelodeon as a kid, then you may want to skip the rest of this post or But if you did have Nick and loved The World of David the Gnome then come back tomorrow to check out how to make this awesome D.t.G gnome sized body pillow!