Handmade Baby Gifts

Is it just because I'm pregnant or is there something in the water?  But it seems to me like there are so many pregnant people that I know!  There is due to be a baby born every month from now until the end of the fall from just friends around me.  Needless to say that I am super excited and having way too much fun being crafty.  So here are some adorable projects for you that I've been working on.

Taggie Blanket

MJ wanted the baby to have a matching Taggie blanket to his only it had to be green.  Well I found the perfect material at the fabric store that was green with stars.  We had enough to make a blanket for our baby, one for a friend, and the boys used the left overs to make themselves a smaller blanket each!  So easy to do.  

Cut two pieces of material whatever size you'd like.

Cut a lot of ribbon approx 4inches in length.

Pin the ribbons to the font of one piece of material with the ends sticking over the edge a bit.

With right sides together, sew both pieces of material together (leave a gap)

Turn right side out.  Sew up the hole.

Over stitch near the edge if you'd like.

Soft cubes (with tags)

This one was super simple too.  Each cube requires 6 squares (around 5 inches each).  Sew them into a cube shape adding as many tags as you'd like.  Here is a tutorial someone else did if you'd like.

Sock Owl

About a year ago I used to sell my crafts online.  Sock Monsters and other critters were a huge hit!  I still had a few sock owls cut out, so I decided to make them up to add to baby shower gifts.  Be sure to use felt or material for the eyes.  Buttons are dangerous for little ones as they might chew them off and choke.  Here is a tutorial on how to make these cuties.

Knit bonnet

I love those little hats babies often receive from the hospital when they are first born.  The only trouble is that they pop off as soon as the baby moves.  Most baby hats are like that.  I decided to knit an old fashioned bonnet for my little guy in a very soft bamboo silk yarn.  I can't wait to him to wear it!!  Here is the pattern (there are so many beautiful patterns on Ravelry to choose from)

Knit mittens

I had some yarn left over after knitting up the bonnet so I decided to knit up some mittens too.  This pattern was super simple but I did make some slight changes.  I was running low on yarn so I used smaller needles and shortened them a bit. I also couldn't be bothered hunt down my double point needles so I made them flat and sewed up the seam.  Here is the pattern for the mitts.  I plan to make a larger pair for the winter.

Knit booties

Baby socks and many styles of cute booties never stay on wiggly baby feet.  These adorable booties have a cuff that can roll up so they go farther up the baby's legs.  You can use any combination of colours for the foot and cuff, it really doesn't take much yarn.  I made these to fit in the fall and I'm working on another winter pair.  Here is the pattern for these sweet baby booties.

Summer bonnet

I am super excited about this sun bonnet.  Having already had two spring/summer babies I know that a hat s very important.  However, many hats with large brims fall off a baby' head when they lean against you or anything really.  There is something to be said for those old fashioned bonnets.  This hat is made of a grey linen lined in a pale blue cotton.  I used Simplicity 1600 pattern, although I also found this great tutorial online too.

Winter hat

For this warm winter hat I simply used a slightly larger version of the baby bonnet.  The lining is actually a pair of my boys' footie jammies that no longer fit, they are polar fleece.  The outside is a wool sweater that I felted and shrank in the wash.  I made the bonnet without the brim.  Here is another cute winter hat for babies.

Gnome hat for the older boys

Okay so with all the adorable baby crafts I've been working on, I didn't want to leave out the big boys.  They've had plenty of my crafty skills over the years.  Check it out our old blog under the labels baby, clothes and crafts.  This week I added a fleece lining to the fabulous gnome like hats I had made for the boys.  I know the boys love their hats but like me, we find wool to be a bit itchy.  They lining now makes these hats a favourite and still worm since the weather is still chilly here.  Here is a tutorial incase you want to make a hat like this too.  I plan to make a small one for baby next year.

Coming soon:

Knit vest

Our little man is just begging for a knit vest.  I'm still picking a pattern but here are a few I like

BabyT-Shirt-Vest

Pebble Vest

Milo Vest

Knit pants

I'm all about keeping babies warm and cozy.  How cute will my little guy be a pair of knit pants. Now I just need to decide which pattern to use.

Baby bell-botoms

Pimp my Longies

Booty extreme knit pants
Maternity Clothes
I've already made myself a PJ shirt and I'm working on a wrap dress.  The key for me is easy access for breast feeding.  I'll make a separate post soon.

This post is linked to:

Pintastic Pinning Party

Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Mom 2 Mom Monday Link Up
Thoughtful Spot Monday
Twinkle Tuesday

Our Week: Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!

We've been up to lots over the last two weeks.  The weather has been all over the place.  The boys have been enjoying some spring sunshine.  We've also been getting ready for Easter.

The boys passed another level of swimming.  They are very proud and have been doing so well.

Almost daily MJ has been making farms out of paper, stickers, cardboard and everything. He loves to recreate farms and tractors with lots of details.  TJ too has been joining us in our creative times.  He is very interested in the Mars rovers.  I love his attention to details.  He is sure to show which ones are still working.

TJ has been practicing reading with everyone who comes by.

One night TJ asked how many letters were in the alphabet.  He wanted to count them all.  My husband was so wonderful in his approach.  TJ wasn't sure how to get started. Daddy helped by writing out the alphabet with spaces for TJ to write all the numbers.  Later we practiced writing in secret codes.

We had a wonderful time visiting the local nature centre with my mom and the boys together.  They had a fabulous frog exhibit.  We say all sorts of different frogs, and had some interactive fun.

On Palm Sunday we didn't quite make it to church, so the boys and I organized our own family service.  TJ helped with the order of service and the craft (he helped us to make palm leaves), MJ did the music and I read from the children's bible.

I've been trying to get the boys outside a lot more now that the weather is getting better.  TJ tried his stilts and is always on his bicycle.  MJ loves the mud and dirt.  He is constantly digging.  There is no point trying to clean their coats and splash pants.  I just wait till they dry and get the kids back out again.  

We dyed hardboiled eggs with a kit I got last year from the dollar store.  Oh the boys were having so much fun!

TJ and I also went to the church up the street to do the Stations of the Cross activities they had set up.   We had such a lovely time.  TJ has a tender heart and was very insightful and sensitive as we moved through the stations.

We love going to the forest in our front yard.  The boys enjoy noticing changes in the seasons and visiting familiar spot.  We went to a spot with an awesome hill/pit for the boys to climb in.  They had an awesome muddy time.

We planted our seedlings.  The boys chose which veggies they each wanted and enjoyed planting the seeds.

TJ also made it halfway to his reading goal!  25 books hurray!!  With each book, TJ gets stronger and more confident in his reading skills.

We went with our outdoor playgroup to the lake front.  The children were so enthralled with the swans, geese, and ducks.

Later we heard the ice cracking and melting.  The children were so excited to see the ice pushing up on the shore. We explored outside for more than two hours!

I am thrilled that the weather is finally starting to warm up.  I feel that getting outside has been a huge difference for all of us.  I have had the sense recently that we are all getting on each other's nerves.  I'm hopeful that patients, better communication and such will continue to improve.  The boys are getting older and we are all getting used to these new stages for everyone.  

We have more projects and interests coming up. I can't wait to share with you.

What have you been up to??

Our Week: Beginning of March

Wow where did the week go?  Here I am looking back on our busy week trying to recall all that we did.  We did spend a lot of time out of he house this week.  We went to the YMCA twice, my sister's house and had friends over.  I have noticed that we all prefer to do one outing or less a day.  I'm really trying to hold to that and schedule less so we can live and enjoy each other more.  Here are some pictures I did manage to capture.

Oh for those wondering about my ultra sound the wait was soooo long that I rescheduled to a different location for next week.

Creative house work

We did some house cleaning throughout the week.  I did pay TJ a little for doing the whole bathroom by himself.  He did a great job.  MJ wanted to help to so he attached different cleaning things to his bulldozer.

The weather warmed a little so we did get outside a lot more this week.  But TJ started wishing for summer and bike riding.  We decided to have a summer day inside.  We all got into summer cloths, played with bubbles, the skate board, and pretended to fish.  

Funny photo of bubble blowing in action

While playing farm, TJ wanted a farm mat like his brother's so we added more land to our existing one.  I love using thrift store sweaters that I shrunk in the wash for these projects.

While at the fabric sore this week I came across the perfect material for a family project.  MJ said he wanted to make the baby a toy.  He wanted to make a Taggie blanket like his, only green and it needed a star like his.  So I found soft green material with stars!!  We made two Taggie blankets (one for the baby and one as a gift).  The boys took the extra material to make taggie blankets for themselves.  The picture above is TJ's called Stars.  Notice that he was specific about the tag placement for hair, arms and legs.

While my hubby and I waited at the hospital for an ultrasound appointment my sister graciously watched the boys.  She read a pirate book, they made treasure and maps.  The boys had so much fun they made more treasure maps at home.  TJ is adding lots more detail to his work, he is also reading and writing more often.  We share the reading on certain books, daddy has been reading with TJ too (he loves that special time).

Towards the end of the week each boy had a friend come over for different play dates.  Everyone had lots of fun playinf inside, outside and all over!  Lego is always a hit.  TJ had me help him build a motorized crane.  MJ broke the wire off his motor a while back so we made a manual crane.

Since we rearranged the rooms (I'll do up a post to show you around), the math manipulative and building toys are more accessible and in the family room.  MJ has worked with the geoboards on his own.  Tonight I suggested the base 10 blocks.  We discovered that 10 ones fit on a rod, 10 rods fit on a flat and 10 flats fit to make the cube.  MJ was surprised by that.  He would also make me towers and I counted how big the number was using the pieces he built with.

I'd love to hear about your week.  What have you been up to??

Our Week: Lots of sewing

Wow I didn't realized how few pictures I took this week.  It's good in a way because I'm just to busy living life and enjoying time with my boys.  I'm hoping to add in some extra posts with more than just weekly updates.  But here are some highlights from our week...

Our week started off with sewing.  TJ and I made a wonderfully warm pair of mittens.  He added leg warmers to the cuffs to keep the snow out.

MJ wanted to make something too so we spent time sewing together a felted sweater playmat.  He asked for a train track on it.

TJ then wanted to work on a very special project.  His baby blanket has gone missing and we saw some fabric in our bucket that we wanted to use to make a new 'bunny'.  So of course we got to sewing and made a new Bunny blanket.

This week the boys started up swimming lessons again and gym time at the YMCA.  both went very well.

We also visited twice with my mom, sister and the boys' cousins.  We always have so much fun together.  I love spending time with my nephews and watching them grow.  I was also excited to get the maternity clothes as I'll be needed them soon (we are already at 11.5 weeks!).

At the end of the week my parents kindly took the boys for a sleep over.  The boys had a wonderful time playing with their train set.  Jon and I went out for dinner.  My favourite part was sleeping in and having a quiet morning.  We mostly cleaned the house and played once the boys came home.

On the weekend the boys got talking about statues.  They told me all they knew about hose they were made.  We watched a few videos on ice sculptures.  That night we froze some water in containers.  Then the next day the boys chiselled away at their blocks of ice.

One project our family took on this winter was to use our fireplace to heat the house.  We wanted to see if it would make a large difference on the electrical bill.  It was also off for the beginning part of the fall due to house renovations.  So far we've had great success.  It has been a wonderful learning opportunity for us all.  The boys have helped to stack wood and keep the fireplace going.  This weekend they gathered more wood from around the property for daddy to chop.  We are hoping to mix our wood in with what we bought to extend it a bit longer.  Next year we may start later into the fall, but it is certainly keeping us nice and warm.

Our Week: A new year!

I hope you all have had a wonderful start to your new year!!  Not as many pictures, just too busy living life and loving it!

We spent much of our time after Christmas enjoying exploring new gifts.  My hubby and I also re-organized, purged and cleaned each room of the house.  It was a much needed exercise to make room for new things and tidy up after a busy month.  It feel so good to get a fresh start to the year!

The boys were given a salt powered robot and Snap Circuits.  Oh we love these Snap Circuits it is fabulous and easy enough for our 6 year old to assemble on his own.  The projects are really cool too.

For Christmas each boy was given some small world farm items.  MJ has been playing farm every day.  He set up his little farm all over and even added more land and things to it.  

It has snowed a little which is good because the boys aren't as interested in going outside without something to do.  This past week they used their new construction trucks to clear the snow.  TJ found a sled on kijiji that he liked (and bought), so we needed to test it out.

My creative boys turned big boxes into monsters/robots. Oh how I just love their creative play.

I also bought a magnetic poetry kit with simple large words to encourage TJ with reading.  We have been making funny sentences and playing with that a lot.  I also made a simple treasure hunt for TJ which he loved!  The clues were things like "look under your cup", "look in your bed"...  We even made a picture clue one for MJ.

While rearranging the playroom/ main room of our home, the bucket of recycling stuff was rediscovered.  One morning the boys decided to make boats from pop bottles.  MJ taped Lego gears to his and headed off to the tub to try it out.  TJ used the motor from our Playmobil boat and taped it on to his juice bottle.  He even fit some small toys inside for a ride.

Just today after testing a sled (not enough snow so we played at the park) and visiting family, TJ asked to make a pair of mittens for himself.  I believe he got cold hands while playing in the snow and really liked my mittens.  So we got to work cutting the material out for that project.  We'll keep working on it tomorrow.  MJ dug into my bin of felted sweaters and pulled some out to be farm mats.  I'm sure we'll actually sew then into a farm mat some day but for now he was happy covering them in stickers.

In between we've been exploring some new games on the tablets and ipad, watching videos and working a little in our workbooks.  I went over the provincial curriculum guidelines and was pleased to discover that we'd already covered most of the science and social studies for the year.  We hope to bring in more music and art back into our weeks.  Our lives are already enriched daily with math, language and everything else we do.  We look forward to this exciting new year ahead!!

Our Week: December Catch-up

I just realized I missed writing about one of our weeks.  So here is a little catch-up on what we've been doing.

Some highlights that didn't get photos were walks with friends in the forrest.  We finished up this term's swimming classes (TJ will move up a level in January, while MJ still has a few more thing to complete at his current level).  We celebrated my sister's birthday and my boys made the cake.  Nanny came to watch the boys one day and had fun playing Monopoly Jr with TJ.  We went to a Homeschool Christmas party and had a fabulous time.  And we have been taking care of a friend who is off school this week.  The boys love having her over to play it has been such a blessing.

We started last week with painting more wooden animals.  The boys then played farm most of the week.  We did end up tidying up the farms a little to make the boys room look more manageable. Lots of fun animal adventures have gone on.

TJ also set up a pet daycare using some toys that came down from their cousin.  TJ took excellent care of our stuffies and the boys were very much amused by all the noisy toys for a few days.

I often get inspiration and ideas from other blogs I read.  I tried out a game with our base 10 blocks.  I made a number with the blocks, TJ then made it on the abacus and told me what it was.  We even added a few larger numbers together.  Meanwhile MJ made a corn field with the base 10 blocks and counted how much corn was knocked over by his tractor.  The base 10 blocks also came out again as TJ was experimenting with his bulldozer.  He tried pushing everything including the nativity set.

MJ made a fort that he turned into a store.  We had fun buying things from him.  That day we also sung lots of Christmas carols for fun. 

Both boys have been making interesting Lego creations.  We had one of the boy's friend's over in the morning and they all made Lego cars most of the time.  It was interesting to see how two 4 year olds negotiate and interact.  We are very thankful to have such great friends around us.

One day I suggested that I had an activity for the boys to do.  MJ jumped right in and said he needed to make his craft first.  The boys each made a carwash from a paper bag.  They pretended to wash all their cars.  TJ even announced the opening of his carwash to all the cars around the house pretending his recycled parts airplane was making the announcement over the radio.

We finally got to moving a new load of wood to the font door.  The day the wood was to be delivered TJ went outside to get some fire wood and ran back inside saying there was a furry lump in the wood pile.  I went to check and discovered a racoon camped out at the front door.  He was very stunned and stubborn.  After many attempts to scare it off he finally moved into our shed (not much better but at least away from the front door).  He's moved on since and we moved our wood.

TJ decided to make his own set of tree blocks all by himself.

We also made some birdseed ornaments.  We had to half the recipe because we didn't have too many seeds left.  TJ is amazing with division!  I think the pictures helped a lot.

At our church all the children participated in a family service on the weekend.  The boys were wonderful and remembered all the actions and words for their songs despite being sick and missing many Sunday's for rehearsals.  My mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law all came out to see the boys.  It was very well done.

Later in the afternoon MJ spent ages building a train track and road way from blocks.  We had our old employee over for dinner and the boys were blessed with some new games to play.

A few other random things... While my mom was watching the boys one day, TJ created what he calls a soka-moka kit.  It is a decorate your own socks kit that he made from paper for me!  He later made a pant decorating kit for daddy by tracing his pants onto a large sheet of paper.

TJ and I finished his gift of MJ.  He did most of the work on this needle felted fox.  I gave MJ some suggestions of things we could do for his brother.  He firmly told me he wanted to make a bulldozer lego kit.  So he gathered up some of our lego into a box and wrapped it up for Christmas.

I finally made a second attempt with a shaving cream activity for the kids  (the little girl we are watching wanted nothing to do with this).  I was trying to make dough using shaving cream and cornstarch.  I should have made it up myself then let the kids play with it.  As you can see the boys had fun making a mess, but we ended up throwing most of it out.  I think I'll avoid the use of shaving cream for now on, or only do it in the summer outside near a hose!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!  We'll be back with some Christmas highlights soon....

Our Week: December week 1

It's December already!!!  The holiday music is on, our house is decorated and we are loving this season.  Thank you for join us to see what we are doing to celebrate advent this year. 

On the weekend we set up our advent table.  You can read more about that here.

After we set up our table, MJ took most of the items off to use for his farm.  TJ got out his cardboard nativity scene he was given a few years ago... MJ became jealous that everyone had a nativity set except him.  So I suggested he make one.  Isn't his baby Jesus adorable!  All the people are toilet rolls and the sheep are egg cartons.

MJ's farm has been out all week and has seen much action.  First he had all our nature table decorations on it with rocks and cards.  He added some peg people to make a nativity along with many animals.  The top right photo is God and Jesus in the clouds that he added in.  I just love to hear his stories.  I think we need to bring that back to our rhythm.

Our advent activities this week went well. Day 1 was to set up our Christmas tree, Day 2 was to decorate glass ornaments, Day 3 was to make cardboard Christmas trees, Day 4 was to write a letter to Santa and Day 5 was to visit Santa and the Train display.

The boys filled glass ornaments with coloured sand, feathers, paint and glitter.  My plan for the trees was to use recycling or paint chips.  TJ had a larger tree in mind which we were able to accommodate.  Our playroom/homeschool room is the first room you walk into at our house.  We set it up this way because it is the most used room.  Now it is the only festive area in the house.  We have at least 4 Christmas trees in here and a few nativities!

I needed a quick distraction at some point during the week.  I remembered I had bought some things for provocations (invitations to play/learn).  A very simple geoboard made of a cork board, push pins and elastics has kept the boys enthralled for a few days.  I hope to demonstrate a few more ideas to show the to keep the idea going.

I noticed once MJ was playing with his Thomas alphabet cards.  He was putting them into his train bucket.  When I inquired he showed me that he had put all the cards with train tracks on them into the train bucket.  The rest remain in the original box.  Later he made a track to play with out of his alphabet cards (only the ones with tracks on them).

Only a few days into the month and our family Christmas tree has lost half of it's decorations.  We only have glass balls and a few special ornaments left.  MJ has been decorating his small tree with everything he could, including a few new ones that he made.

Oh TJ I love your creative imagination!!  He came to us all excited and invited MJ and I to a party he planed in his bedroom.  We followed the sign to the party, which was for his pillow!  TJ had a special toy area for the babies (our stuffed friends) that were being cared for by another toy.  His large frog was helping man the snack area.  TJ even made us each a pinata.  We played games, sang to his pillow and open gifts which he had wrapped up for the occasion.  It was an adorable fun time. 

This week the weather was nicer and we were all feeling better.  I was thankful for some lovely walks in the forrest.  I am looking forward to inviting some friends next week to join us.

At the end of the week we joined one of TJ's friends at the local garden/nature centre.  They have a great train display and crafts set up.  In the evening you could visit Santa's Cabin at the end of a nicely lit path. The boys wrote a quick note to Santa while they lined up.  This is our first year meeting Santa as the boys were not interested before.  TJ was more reserved but joined in when he saw how friendly Santa was with MJ.  Santa asked what they'd like this year and then asked if he would also bering a few surprises.

MJ's note:

Dear Santa,

I love you.  You're the best.

TJ's note: 

Dear Santa, 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Next week as more fun planed.  Please share what you've been up to......