Baby Series Sunday Showroom {Gift Ideas}

Hi, it's Heather.  I'm excited to be here for our baby series.  With Jessica expecting she is thinking about all the great last minute DIY projects she can complete before her new little guy arrives.  But for me, I'm thinking about fun gift ideas.  Every Sunday over at the Brie Brie Blooms blog I put together a showroom full of handmade pretties.  Today the Sunday Showroom will be here sharing all my favorite handmade baby gifts.

If you know the family well and can get all the birth statistics and details, this subway print would make an amazing and personal gift. 

Sprinkled Joy newborn birth statistics subway print

I love the idea of a print to be framed but how sweet is this blanket?

I Sew Jo baby stats blanket

Most new mommies would love a pretty necklace with their new addition's initial.  These pretty vintage frames charms can be purchased individually so if more babies come later, you can easily just add on to the necklace. 

Lisa Leonard vintage frames necklace

One of the best gifts we received at home with a new baby was food!  The last thing the new mama is thinking about is cooking for the family.  If you're not able to share a home cooked meal, restaurant gift cards will serve as the next best thing.  Add a cute felt gift card holder and you're gift is ready to be delivered.

Cottons and Candies baby elephant gift card holder

Speaking of food, who doesn't love a pretty fruit basket?  Edible Arrangements has the prettiest baskets and some of them come with chocolate covered fruit!  They have some baby themed baskets that are delivered with a balloon and ceramic bank.

Edible Arrangements baby fruit basket

Now I have a few gift ideas for when Jessica's little bundle arrives!

Thanks for stopping by during the baby series.  More fun is coming next week!

Minky Blankets

Have you been following the Nesting series at Delia Creates? Maybe it is just me, but I have loved all the ideas posted this month with the baby theme. One idea really sparked my interest, these great minky blankets by Katy from No Big Dill. If you don't know who Katy is she is an amazing seamstress and mother of six (5 girls!). Kinda my idol. Anyways, she made these adorable minky blankets that are so soft and so easy, I just had to try it. I made one for a baby shower I went to and my kids fell in love so we went back to the fabric store and bought fabric for their very own versions. Elizabeth of course picked pink and Jackson wanted the green and blue (so predictable). The toughest part honestly is sewing a straight line, which seems easy but for some reason I needed some practice (blush). She provides a great tutorial and I really think these blankets are great for any age.

Baby Gifts

I don't know what it is about Spring but for some reason I have a ton of friends expecting this year. Most of which are due in March or April. Lots of pregnant moms means lots of baby showers which means lots of baby gifts. I usually try to make something for baby gifts because lets face it $30 for a baby blanket is a little absurd to me when I can make it for half the price and twice as cute. So I have been collecting ideas for baby gifts lately and actually taking a poll from friends on what they would like if they were expecting. One overwhelming response for a boy is those tie onesies. I know we have seen them time and again but everyone seems to love them and they are truly so easy to make.

Here is what you need:
-onesie (I like Carter's because they are soft and true to size)
-stitch whichery or wonder under (they are basically the same thing and found in any fabric store)
-fabric for your tie
***A sewing machine and coordinating thread


Cut out your tie shape. I free hand mine on the back of the fabric but you could make your own pattern piece. Cut your fabric and wonder under the same tie shape. Iron the wrong side of your fabric onto the rough side of the wonder under. Peel off the paper from the wonder under and iron on the tie to the onesie. Then I like to go around the tie with a zig zag stitch to seal the seams and keep the tie in place through washings. I added some fabric belt strips to the sides for some suspenders.


I also made these great burp cloths out of cloth diapers and fabric. This is a great little gift and so easy to make. Personal, fun, and useable for any mom.

Initial Onesies

One of my favorite baby presents is the initial onesie. So simple but it is created specially for each new baby which makes them special. I recently made one for a friend of mine and I just love how cute it turned out. Here is how you make one:

SUPPLIES
-1 onesie (I use Carter's brand because I think they are really true to size)
-fabric
-heat and bond
-buttons or embellishments you may want to use

STEPS to MAKE IT
Cut the initial letter of the baby's name. You can do this one of two ways. I use my Cricut because it is fast and clean. To use this I spray the fabric with starch about 3 times until it is super stiff. Then iron on the heat and bond. Next apply the fabric to your cutting mat and cut the letter the size and shape you want.

Or if you don't own a Cricut you can free hand or print off the letter on paper. Then use that as a stencil to cut out the letter. After you apply the heat and bond to the fabric.

Next iron on the letter to the front of the onesie. Then I like to use a zig zag stitch around the letter to make sure it stays in place and add any embellishments you like.

Next make the ruffles for the back side if you would like for girls. I add 2 to 3 rows for a fancy bottom look. As I said simple and special the perfect baby gift.

FUN FIND FRIDAY - paisley onesie

I have been using foam stamps with fabric paint on everything lately. It is easy and fun!! I plan on dedicating an entire post to foam stamps soon but for now I'll just share a project I finished today. I recently saw this really cute paisley tee:

I am Momma Hear Me Roar provided the instructions to recreate it. You can find her original post here. Can you believe I actually found the same stamp at Hobby Lobby an entire year after the original post? Woo hoo. I had big plans to make myself a shirt but decided to try it on a onesie first. It turned out perfect!

The onesie was small (size 3 -6 m) so it didn't have a lot of room to stamp so I let it overlap the back a little.

I made a matching headband...

and bib...

to make a perfect little gift set!

We are seeing friends tomorrow that are expecting their second child in a few months. This gift is perfect!!

 

Felt name books

I made a fun little name book for a friend's daughter this week. Her first birthday party is this afternoon and we are very excited to celebrate with her! For the book I used the letters in her name and something that starts with each letter.

Her name is Sloane:
S - Sun
L - Lion
O - Octopus
A - Ant
N - Nail
E - Eggs

Each page has two pieces of the same colored felt sewn together. I used a zig zag stitch to bind the book. I love it and will probably make more of these for one year old gifts!







If you plan on making your own, be sure to lay all your pieces out and put them on the pages before sewing. It makes the layout much easier than trying to figure out where each thing goes as you are sitting at your sewing machine! I used a small drop of hot glue in the center of each piece to hold it in place to sew. I love to use my glue gun so it was a natural choice for me, but you can always use pins instead.

 

Personalized canvas wall art

I really enjoy making personalized gifts. Lately I've been making a lot of new baby nursery gifts. Although I haven't made of one these in the past couple of months, I thought this post would be a good start to a "wall art" section in our labels. I love painting on canvas because it is easy to embellish with buttons and other fun things. You can sew right through the canvas! I've seen these done on wood but that requires much more work (you have to drill through the wood in each spot you plan to stitch). Keep in mind that I do not consider myself an artist by any means. If you are nervous about painting on canvas, this might be a good starter project for you. You won't know how incredibly easy and great these are until you try one!

I made this for my nephew's birthday. He loves dinosaurs! I used metallic spray paint for the background instead of painting several coats with a brush. Then I drew on the dinosaurs and painted them in bright colors. The swirls on the background were drawn with a paper stencil. I used a pencil to trace the swirls on and then outlined them with a permanent marker. Yes, a marker. That's the beauty in these...you can use any materials you want...for me, it's usually what I already have at home. I actually used vinyl to cut out the letters instead of painting them because I was running short on time. One good coat of modge podge sealed everything. Then I used felt to add grass, the sun, and the blue stegosaurus spikes. Each dinosaur has a googly eye glued on too. I think it turned out perfect for a dinosaur loving five year old!

I made this fun owl art for a friend with a new baby.
I sewed on felt leaves and buttons to embellish the painting.

The "Jack" painting is one of my favorites. I used my cricut to cut out the monkey and then found some cute jungle rub on stickers to make it even cuter.

 

Freezer paper stenciling - Mrs. Squirrel

I absolutely love freezer paper stenciling! It's the easiest way to embellish fabric and the possibilities are endless. Last night I finished a onesie, bib, and headband set for a friend. She requested something with a squirrel to give as a gift. I hadn't seen too many cute squirrels around in blogland so I was a little concerned with the request. I can say I'm pleasantly surprised with the outcome of my little squirrel. If you haven't used freezer paper yet, check out this great tutorial at Mmmboppin' (a great blog I just discovered).

Now I'll share how I made this:

I started by tracing a squirrel silhouette onto freezer paper.

I cut out the images.

I ironed them onto a bib and onesie.

Very important step - place something (I always use a scrap of freezer paper) between your shirt layers so the paint doesn't bleed through.

I picked out some paint from my nicely organized paint shelf (can you hear my genuine enthusiasm about my new shelf??).

Next I painted the squirrel onto the fabric.

They looked like a couple of blobs...

...until I let them dry and peeled off the freezer paper.

Then I traced the squirrel's tail to make a pattern for fabric.

I ironed my fabric onto steam a seam and then traced my tail pattern on the back.

I cut out the tails and ironed them onto the painted squirrels.

Next I stitched around the tails with my sewing machine. You can use a zig zag stitch but I didn't because I wanted the fabric to fray a little as it gets worn and washed for a vintage look.

I ironed light and dark brown felt onto steam a seam and cut out acorns. Then I ironed them onto the onesie and bib.

I stitched around the acorn parts and then used a honeycomb stitch to give the top of the acorn some definition. I think the honeycomb stitch was my favorite part of the entire project! I stitched on some buttons for eyes and they were done!

Just for fun, I made a matching headband.

Can't say I would ever have a reason to make another Mrs. Squirrel set but I'm happy with how this turned out!