Piggy Bank Personalization

Another project moved off my desk! I've had this ceramic bank (from Hobby Lobby) for baby M sitting on my desk for awhile. I've been waiting for inspiration on how to personalize it for M, then I got a Cricut machine for Christmas! As I have mentioned, I'm not a big scrapbooker, but the Cricut machine is really neat. My thought was to cut out shapes from adhesive backed vinyl using my new machine. Then I realized I'd have to buy the vinyl. Right now my craft budget is $0 until I get rid of or use up some of my supplies. So I dug through my stickers and found some green and brown flocked alphabet stickers. This is the result. Don't worry about my new little machine. I'm hoping to use it to make baby announcements sometime soon. Other Cricut projects to follow...

Knitting Projects Part 2

I have finished up my knitting for now. I reworked the orange and blue hat for my oldest- it looks a lot better, don't you think? I was so excited to use up some of my yarn, but as soon as I finished this hat I found more of this stuff in my organizing spree. I see an orange and blue scarf in my son's future. Maybe for the Broncos next season. I'm not sure what to call this... a neck warmer? I was inspired by some pieces I've seen on etsy. Projects go a lot faster when you are using giant needles and a big chunky yarn, don't they?

Baby Books

With it being January, I am feeling the need to organize, organize, organize! We'll see just how much I get done with the three little ones. My crafting space is in constant need of serious de-cluttering, so cleaning it up is taking up most of my crafting time right now. My first step is to finish all the unfinished projects littered everywhere. One of those projects is my kids' baby books.

I'm not much of a scrapbooker, so I was looking for pretty, modern, reasonably priced fill in the blank books for recording memories. Here's was I ended up with:

This is the book I bought for my first son. It is very simple and works well for a girl or a boy. You can find it here and here. I also bought an adoption book from this company for a friend that I thought was cute, but I'm not sure if they make it anymore.

Here is my daughter's baby book. The cover is very simple ( just solid violet with a slot for a picture) but I LOVE the illustrations and prints inside. You can also buy extra pages if you are ambitious. This book is beautiful! You can find it here. Oh yeah- they carry a blue one for boys, too.Here is the one I bought for our third child. It is SO cute! I didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, so the little birds fit the bill. It is very simple, just right for a third baby (they kind of get the short end of the stick when it comes to documenting every little thing don't they?) It comes in a beautiful box with a little drawer for mementos. You can find it here and here.This is the book I'd buy if I wanted to spend about $100. It is gorgeous! You can find it here

Crotcheted Owl Hat for Baby (and other knit projects)

Winter makes me want to knit and crotchet and make fun snugly things. It has been REALLY cold here, so these projects for the kids were born. I took apart some old hats and scarves I made several years ago that I never really wore and used the yarn again.

Owl beanie for M-

I needed something without a pom-pom on top because those hats always side down over his eyes in the car seat. This started out at a regular hat and then I decided to add the owl. He's a little lopsided- I think it adds to the handmade-ness: Pink knit scarf with pinwheel flowers for D-

I really am not much of a knitter, but scarves are fun and easy. She needed something to keep her neck warm when I pulled her crazy hair up:Knit hat for I-

I don't really like the way this turned out, so I will probably pull it out and start over again. He has been asking for a Broncos hat and, really, what am I going to do with blue and orange yarn?

Bean Bag Toss Game

This year's homemade Christmas gift for the kids? A fun bean bag toss game!My husband made the boards from a nice plywood and 1x8's (I think). Instead of painting them we decided to just sand them well and seal them.And then I got to make all the fun bean bags! I used leftover scraps of fabric and filled them with lentils. A set for my girl... And a set for my boy...I actually found these buckets after Christmas (on sale at a Pottery Barn Kids)- they are just the right size for a dozen bean bags.We've been having old school fun with these!