Octopus Baby Bedding

I finished my crib bedding a couple of weeks ago and have yet to post pictures to show off all my handiwork! I picked up a pattern for the bumper and bed skirt, and made a quilt and bed sheet from my own design.

So Many Projects, So little Time!

Growing up I was surrounded by arts & crafts. My mother and grandmother were both very crafty, hands on, project type ladies... So it's only natural I follow in their footsteps. My grandma (my mom's mom) only lived a block away so I would walk to her house almost every day growing up to go paint ceramics. She had the whole setup, tons of paints and brushes, and even a kiln to fire the finished pieces in. It was so fun and year after year we would paint different little decorations for all the holidays. She was SUPER into holidays, but more on that in another post ;)

My mom was always into sewing projects. She too made everything under the sun holiday related. Stuffed life sized skeletons, reindeer wall hangings, and quilts for every season decorated our house year round. It was always cool to see what she would come up with next, and still is. So now that I have a "reason" to finally jump on the crafting bandwagon I can't stop it! I am in the middle of at least three projects excluding all the orders I fulfill at work.

The first project is a baby quilt I'm making out of blue, green, black, brown, and white patterned materials. It is my first quilt and I think it is coming along quite nicely. So far I have it all sewn together and have the sides evened up, I just need to buy some backing material and sew on a border and stitch it all together. I thought it up after not loving anything on the market as far as baby bedding goes, so I thought I'd do it myself.

Another cool project I'm working on is to embroider some blank baby onsies. I've hand embellished stuff before but never with any fancy stitches so I've been doing some research. I came across this cool site called Sublime Stitching and they have tons of patterns and designs you can order off there site. But being the I-want-it-right-now and I-don't-want-to-pay kind of person I decided to make my own patterns. After much thought on what would look cute on my little boy I've decided on doing an alphabet design across the front with a different color for each letter. First I hand drew the alphabet and then I scanned it in and traced it in Illustrator. Now I have to figure out how to reverse it and iron it onto the onsie to get a guide for my stitches. I'll post more pictures as the project nears completion.

Succulent Planter

Succulents are my favorite type of plant and since we live in beautiful San Diego I am able to enjoy many different types growing in my own backyard. Succulents are water retaining plants that usually grow in dry arid climates. They store water in their leaves, stems, and roots and that gives them their fleshy swollen appearance. Most people will recognize the cactus as a succulent although it is just one of many different breeds.

I've found that succulents are very easy to grow since they require little to no reminder to water them often. So last year when I couldn't keep all my potted flowers alive the whole summer I switched them out with cuttings from my yard and they are still thriving today. I made this succulent dish using a few different types of cuttings from my backyard and It took all of 10 minutes or less. Here's how to make your own.

1. Select a shallow dish, I used the water collector part of a pot I wasn't using. Fill it 1/2 an inch from the top with potting soil.

2. Choose a few different types of succulents from either cuttings or potted plants from your local garden center. If you use cuttings like I did, all you need to do is shove them in the soil and your good to go. For potted plants, dig a little hole and cover them as needed.

3. Vary the placement of the plants putting low lying plants near the edges and taller ones near the center. Mixing textures and colors throughout.

4. Water after you get all the plants arranged to your liking, then only once a week or so thereafter.

5. All done, Now you can enjoy your beautiful succulent centerpiece!

Free as a Bird

I must have caught the "nesting" bug recently because I've been making all these cute little baby things. My most recent is this adorable little birdie mobile to hang over the baby's crib. I think that it looks much cooler than anything you could buy at the store. First I made about a gillion little birds from a pattern you can find here, they are simple to make but time consuming to fill with stuffing. I bought the sticks from Ikea when my mom was in town. To finish out the project I went to the hardware store and purchased a bunch of tiny little screws with eye tops. Ricky help me cut the sticks into sections, then I went about assembling the whole sha-bang. I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to make a few more to give as gifts and sell in the store!