Baby Jar Gifts

When I transitioned my second child to jarred baby food, it killed me to just throw away the beautiful glass jars that it came in!  After seeing how much glass jars cost, I figured I could certainly find another use for them (after putting them through the dishwasher first, of course).  

It was around the time of Valentine's Day and I decided put together little treat jars for my daughters' teachers, as well as my coworkers.  

I had my husband drill a hole in the top of each jar top.  I then spray painted the tops red and filled each jar with M&Ms.  I created a label for the jars (below) and adhered them to each jar.   

Finally, I made the lollipop flowers, using the tutorial provided by Skip To My Lou.  I didn't use the floral tape for the leaves, but rather just cut strips of green paper, glued the ends, and wrote the name of the recipient.  When I finished them all, I popped a lollipop in the whole of each jar top and...tada....a cute little gift! 

FREEBIE: Monthly Onesie Stickers (Girls)

When my second daughter was born, I decided to be diligent about taking "monthly" pictures of her (something I wasn't so great about doing with my first daughter).  These are basically knock-off Picky Sticky stickers.  While some of the ones on Etsy have cute art, I wanted something very simple.  Below is a sample of what I made for my daughter. 

I decided to upload two formats of the file.  The first is a PDF - you can print it on an 8.5"x11" sticker sheet and cut out the stickers or just print them onto plain paper and tape the "sticker" onto the onesie.  The second is a PNG file.  With this, you could also just print the stickers, or you could put your Photoshop skills to work (which is what I have started to resort to).  I 'select' the sticker that I want to use, take my daughter's picture in a plain onesie, and Photoshop the sticker on after I pick a photo I like.  (This oftentimes requires me to also Photoshop out wrinkles, but I think it comes out a little better this way).  

Girl Stickers (Months 1-6)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

Girl Stickers (Months 7-12)

To download the PDF file, click here.

To download the PNG file, click here.   

If you want to make these for a gift, feel free to download the 'directions.'  Click on the picture to be taken to the PDF version.

Interested in monthly stickers for a boy?  Let me know!

Hope this helps you track your baby's first year of precious life! 

No-Sew Fabric Flower Hair Accessories

I subscribe to the Prudent Baby website, as they offer a wealth of tutorials and creative ideas.  The other day they posted a tutorial for a no-sew fabric flower headband.  With my first daughter, I made a bunch of headbands with big, ostentatious flowers.  I always got compliments on the cute headbands, but with baby girl #2, I seem to be over them.  I still love the headband idea for babies, but think the flowers could be saved for 'occasion' wear.  When Prudent Baby posted the subject tutorial, I figured I'd give it a try... I love the look, as it seems a little more 'casual.'

We've had several girls born into our group of friends in recent months.  For the first baby, I decided to make a headband to match the collegiate onesies I had purchased, as both parents are huge fans of University of Florida.  I did the center of the 'flower' using orange fabric, then attached the blue fabric as the outer rim.  In order to keep the headband and flower versatile, I adhered the flower to a clip so they can use different accessories on the headband and so the little munchkin can wear the flower as a hair clip when she gets older.  

For the second baby, I did a simple pink and white motif.  I used a button for the center to jazz up the plain white flower.  I finished the flower as stated above...adhering it to a flower clip.  By doing this, you could also make a matching hair clip or hairband for an older sibling, or even a cute flower pin for mom!  

FREEBIE: Ten Tiny Toes

Baby fever continues, so I figured I would create a word art! This was actually created from a photo I took of my daughter's feet when she was just a few weeks old. Download here or click on the image below. As always, please link to your layouts!

Baby Fever

It seems like there is another baby boom going on this year! I think my husband and I counted fifteen (or more) of our friends that are having babies this year, including us. It is a very exciting time for so many families. Ironically, most of the babies are GIRLS! As the mother of a 16 month old girl, and another girl due in two months, it is so exciting to know that many of our close friends will also have girls. There is nothing sweeter than seeing the bond between a baby girl and her father.

While baby registries are always so fun to peruse, I figure that I will leave those gift ideas for the not-so crafty. :) I have some cute ideas (many of which I have not yet executed) but with many baby showers approaching, I plan to finally accomplish over the next couple of months, so stay tuned!

While planning a coworker's baby shower (for her baby girl), I made this diaper cake. Not only will it be a useful gift for the proud parents, it will also double as a beautiful center piece for the shower.

This was the first diaper cake I'd ever made, so I plan to come up with some more creative ways to jazz up future cakes.

Ingredients for this cake:

• Cardboard cake circle (can be purchased in cake making section of a craft store - I went with the 16" size but you can choose a smaller size)
• Cake doily or lace
• Wooden dow rods (12" or longer, depending on how high you anticipate your cake to be)
  
• Rubberbands
  
• Ribbon
• Diapers (about a case)
  
• Glue gun (optional)
  
• Any other decorative accessories (stuffed animals, pacifiers, bottles, bibs, etc.)
  

1. I first rolled five to six diapers and put a rubber band around each group. You can rubber band each diaper individually, but this would be more time consuming.
   
2. Once all of the diapers are rolled, you may need to rearrange the number in each group so that you can stack them in a tiered formation.
   
3. Once you have the basic form of the cake developed, you can put it all together.
   
4. I purchased white cardboard cake rounds so I didn't have to cover them (although you could cover them with cute fabric). I then adhered the lace to the cake round with a glue gun.
5. I put the first layer of diapers on the cake round, trying not to leave much excess space around the edges.
   
6. I then stacked the second layer and inserted the wooden rods so that the first layer and second layer were 'connected.' (This will make it easier to transport).
   
7. I continued this process to the top layer, ensuring that all layers have wooden rods running through the diaper rolls for one or two layers so that you don't have to worry about a massive landslide of diapers.
   
8. I put a stuffed animal in the center of the top layer (rather than another roll of diapers) to add a little bit of flare. You could us anything for the top layer...onesies, bottles, etc.
   
9. Once the entire cake was stacked, I wrapped thick ribbon around each layer, using a glue gun to keep it tight. You can use additional ribbon, bows, or any other accessories to jazz it up.
   
10. Feel free to stuff other goodies in the ribbon and diapers - bibs, onesies, socks, burp clothes, bottles, baby spoons, etc. (perhaps some of these things could be retrieved from the recipient's registry).

Use your imagination! I will post some pics of additional cakes I make, as I am sure there will be many in the next six months!