Gifts and crafts

We have been so blessed to recieve countless gifts for Maggie. Here is one of her most recent handmade gifts, which is her full first name spelled out in little handsewn pillows. These are just a few of the letters.

The fabric is a yellow carebears print and fondly reminds me of my childhood days. They are so cute and I can't wait for Maggie to enjoy them.

This past weekend we celebrated a birthday so a few days before, I got creative and without spending lots, I made my friend Angela Reese's monster cookie mix in a jar. It was my first time making a gift like this and was pleased with how cute it turned out. Can't wait to do more down the road, possibly around the holidays.

Two bigger projects have been in the works. One has been my belly cast. My mom and sister helped me make my belly cast before my due date and it was a special day for the three of us. I chose a sweet pea motif for the design. Here is a picture of my work-in-progress. I have another day or two of painting left and finding that time will be tricky. My plan is to hang it in Maggie's nursery with pink lace ribbon.
My sister and I thought it would be fun and easy to sew drapes for Maggie's room after I had a hard time finding ones I liked, but it has taken us much longer than we thought. We bought fabric, then bought some more after she was born, and finally had help finishing them from a family friend. Shay and I both sew, but now that we have kids, our time to do so is very limited. So, not as easy as we first thought. However, I did find time to made a lampshade to match the drapes. I went off instructions from the book "B is for Baby" by Suzanne Stirling and used a white lampshade I found at my favorite kid's consignment shop. More photos to come soon of the finished belly cast and drapes...