Easy DIY Baby Blanket #2

I made another "easy baby blanket" but didn't take the time to take pictures step-by-step.  I will have to make another and be sure to break it down for all of you interested in learning this easy go-to baby gift!

One side of the blanket is a cotton fabric and the other is a very soft fabric.  This time, I used a thicker soft fabric which made it a little challenging to sew through, but overall I think it turned out okay!  A few lessons learned since my last one (posted here) is that it's very important to keep a steady rhythm on the sewing machine.  I didn't do that on my first one and the stitches are not nearly as nice as they are on this one.  I'm still no pro, but hopefully it won't fall a part:)

I also learned that the corners will look better if you sew both sides down.  If you are using thick fabric, since the corners tend to have the most fabric, don't be afraid to cut some of the fabric out that wouldn't show anyways so that it will fold down better and fit under the machine.

I'm looking forward to making more of these blankets!  They are super cozy and can be made in such a variety of colors and fabrics.  And they make great baby gifts!

Umbrella Baby Shower

Last weekend I attended a baby shower for my friend who is having a baby boy in June.  The shower theme was "Here Comes the Son."  My other friend and her mom and sister threw the shower and did a fantastic job using umbrellas as the theme.  It was such a fun shower!  I captured a few pictures, but didn't catch every detail.  Here are a few:

Tables set up with umbrella and flower bouquets

The Cake

Another shot of the room

Baby bottles with lemonade - it was so refreshing to have lemonade after the long winter we've had!

"Diaper Thoughts" - we all shared cute quotes that the parents will read when changing diapers, there were some pretty clever ones!

Me with the momma-to-be

Fruit platter - super cute!

Pretty place settings

Pretty flowers - felt like spring despite the snow outside

Umbrella coming out of the flower display

Lovely friends

Another lovely friend

Home-made cookies made by the hostess - she did a fabulous job decorating!

Gorgeous flower bouquet in the front of the room!



Another fun game we played was Bingo.  The Bingo cards had different baby items on it and we crossed the picture off during the present opening as the mother-to-be received that gift.  The game-prizes were umbrellas, which is perfect for a spring baby shower! 

Such a fun day filled with bright colors and a special reason to celebrate with good friends.  Now we just hope to see pretty flowers outside rather than another foot of snow in April!

"Diaper Strap" for Baby

Another DIY creation down!  I got the idea of making a "diaper strap" from this blog.  What a clever idea!  For mom's out there, is it ever a pain to haul the big diaper bag to a changing room and find a place to set it without setting it on the bathroom floor?  If you've ever encountered this problem, the diaper strap may be for you!  The strap holds together wipes and diapers so you don't have to lug the diaper bag everytime you need to run and change a diaper.  Or it may just come in handy to keep diapers and wipes together so you're not digging through trying to find something that's fallen to the bottom of the bag.  It may also come in handy if you like to have diapers and wipes available in rooms in your house other than the nursery, but you don't want a bulk stockpile of items laying around everywhere.  Here is the diaper strap I made for my friend's baby shower: 

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!  I may make a few tweaks from the tutorial I used in the link above as I found it hard to sew through the velcro, so I'm going to do some experimenting with this project and hopefully make more diaper straps for upcoming baby projects!

I found the fabric at JoAnn's in the quilting section and thought it was pretty cute and could be considered gender-neutral. 

I'm excited to make more!  I bought another cute pattern when I picked this one out because I couldn't decide between the two, so stay tuned for more diaper strap posts:)

Happy Monday everyone!

DIY Cards

I don't know about you, but I squirm everytime I go to the store to buy a card and the price is $4-5 a piece!  I know there are dollar section cards, and those are okay for some occasions, but not personal enough for others (in my opinion).  I've handmade cards in the past with leftover scrapbooking materials, stickers, stamps, etc.  Last night I worked on some more cards, this time using my friends Cricut machine.  This is a great way to make use of small paper pieces!  I'm no card-making expert, and my cards definitely don't turn out like professional DIY card-makers, but these should do for now! 

Upcoming events that inspired last night's card-making session are baby showers, Mother's Day, and a birthday.  The baby ones are my favorite!
 

 Very simple, but cute - in my biased opinion:)

 I left the insides blank so I can write a personal note and share a bible verse that I choose for each occasion.

Here is the birthday card - very simple, but works!  The flower is a sticker.



These are my cards for Mother's Day for my mother and grandmother.  My Grandma loves birds, so hopefully she'll like this card:)

And HAPPY APRIL 10th!!!  Snow in Minnesota on this lovely "spring" day.  This is what I woke up to.  I think last year I was wearing flip flops by now, but this year I'm still relying on Uggs to keep my feet protected from this nonsense!



Our wedding - more decor

My first wedding post was for the bouquet that inspired the color and decorations for our wedding.  Then I posted on the centerpieces that we chose to have at the tables.  Now I can post on the other decor that we did!

First off - to help our guests find the winery, I made these signs to put at turns on the highway.  My dad had an old hay wagon that was falling a part, so I ripped some boards off of it and painted them.  My dad helped assemble them for the road.  He used fencing posts - can you tell he's a farmer?!

Once guests arrived at the winery, they were greeted with the sign below.  I painted the names of our home towns as well as where we currently reside, and showed the mileage from the winery to those locations.  Our hope with this was showing guests that we appreciated their sacrifices to travel so far to celebrate with us on our special day.

As guests walked in, they saw some pictures of us - this was in lieu of doing a slideshow or any picture presentation later on in the night.  My mom found an old fence at our farm that was perfect for displaying these pictures.  We wrapped a grape vine around it and hung the pictures from it.  I also hand-painted the Song of Solomon wood sign next to the picture display.

Just before guests entered the main room, they saw this little display.  I had an engagement picture printed onto a large canvas and my friend pieced together some beautiful flower arrangements to brighten it up!

As guests entered the large room where both our ceremony was held and the reception would be, they were greeted with this place card table:

The Carlos Creek Winery venue has a beautiful fire place, and we decorated it with lots of candles on pieces of birch stumps and a canvas photo from our engagement picture shoot.

Here is a view from the fireplace looking towards the "stage" where the ceremony was held:

 

Instead of carrying a pillow with the rings on it, our ringbearer carried the pastor's bible with our rings tied around it.  It was so cute seeing him carrying this down the aisle and then handing it to the pastor when he got up front.

Speaking of the ring bearer, here he is taking a break during the dance!  But the real reason I posted this picture is to show you the head table after the ceremony.  The ceremony was held in front of the head table, but we added a back drop and tables with a cross and the unity candle to give it a feel of being in a church.  Between the ceremony and reception, the head table was revealed.  We had lots of candles and beautiful flower arrangements!

During the dance, we also had a popcorn and candy bar.  I don't think many pictures got taken of it when the candy and popcorn were actually in the containers, but this is what it looked like beforehand.

Thanks for looking at some of the extra decor we did for our wedding!