Baby Shower Gift For My Sister

For my Day 3 of 30 Days of Creativity, I'm going to show the gift I made/refinished for my sister Amy.  We had her baby shower a few weeks ago and I refinished a changing table/dresser for her (with help from my husband, Jeremy). 

My younger sister is having her first baby, a girl, in little over a month.  While planning her baby shower, I was trying to think of a gift to make for her.  I knew I wouldn't have time to make a quilt, but still wanted to make something.  She had plans on refinishing an old dresser to use as a changing table.  It was getting closer to the shower and I still had nothing, but my sister still had not started the changing table.  I was talking to my mother-in-law about it and while she was out at some garage sales, she found a wooden changing table.  It was in great shape, but the color wouldn't match the rest of the baby's room, which is all white furniture.  So my husband helped me sand and paint (well...he did most of the sanding and painting, I guess he doesn't trust me with power tools or paint). 

After it was all painted, I added these awesome shabby chic drawer pulls to each of the drawers.  I looked all over for ones that would match my sister's style and the baby's room decor, but was having a hard time finding what I wanted.  Then I saw some beautiful pink shabby chic ones at Home Goods.  They looked great! 

Here is the changing table before (well, after it was sanded)

And here is the changing table/dresser after it's all painted and I added the knobs!

I gave the changing table to Amy at her baby shower.  I really hope she likes it!  It does look really good in the baby's room.  She bought a really pretty mattress cover for it and has already filled the changing table with diapers, wipes, and clothes.

Business Card/Gift Card Holders

Last year, I sewed up a few of these card holders for my aunt.  She gave them as end-of-the-year gifts to her classroom assistants.  She asked me again this year to make them for her.  So I followed this tutorial, but instead of adding the button and elastic, I added a cute little flower.  These were super simple to make and I really liked how they came out.  Each one is for sale in my etsy shop.

What I've Been Up To

I've been slowly starting some Christmas gifts.  I actually finished one project!  Right before our trip to the Jersey shore, I made some headbands following this tutorial.  The only thing I changed up was instead of using elastic, I used 2 hair elastics.  The hair elastics didn't pull my hair and kept the headband in place.  I also wore the headband during the 5K I wogged (walk/jog, I decided what I really did was not running at all, so I can't call it wunning...so it's now known as wogging) last Saturday. 

The one Christmas gift I finished was for our nephew.  After looking around on some blogs and websites, I came up with a fishing set.  I sewed up some fish.  Added button for eyes and sewed in some washers for the mouth.  I then made a fishing hook out of felt and put a strong magnet inside the hook.  I made the pole out of a wooden dowel and string.  I wrapped felt around the handle to give a good grip.  I really like how it came out! Check out my model... ;-)

The other project I've been working on, but haven't finished, is some felt food for our 4-year old niece.  She is always playing her in kitchen and 'cooking' up some meals for everyone.  As of right now, I made about a dozen raviolis, four strawberries, two carrots and one bean.  I want to make a few more beans and then some more fruits and veggies.  I love making the felt food!  It's so easy to make and everything is super cute. 

And that's what I've been up to for the past few weeks!  Hopefully I will finish up a few more things this week to post soon. 

As for my cooking...not too much going on with that.  But I am planning on making some pot roast this week!

Christmas Gifts

As promised, here are better pictures of some of the gifts I made for Christmas gifts...from scarves for my aunts to a quiet book for my nephew.  I really put my sewing machine to work!

Jeremy and I have three nieces who absolutely love to play dress up.  As I previously posted, I made tutus for them, using elastic and pieces of tulle to make the skirt.  I then took some eyeshadow and blush compacts, removed the makeup, and replaced the makeup with pieces of color foam.  I made them little bags to put the makeup in, along with some jewelry that I found at the dollar store.  Here is a picture of the play makeup.





I will post pictures of the finished tutus soon!

For our nephew, I made a quiet book.  I was inspired by this blog, and used a lot of her tips and templates to help me create one for Noah.  I'm really happy without it turned out.













This is the second year where my cousins picked names for a secret Santa.  This year, I got my cousin Lena.  I bought her a little bag from Vera Bradley and made her a scarf using some great flannel fabric that I got on sale at Joann Fabrics.  Here is a picture of Lena showing off her new scarf!



For my sisters-in-law, I made them primitive-style bowl fillers.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them.  For my mother-in-law, I made her a table runner and six placemats for her dining room table.  Again, I didn't get a picture of the final product because I was working on this up to the very last minute!  I made the runner and placemats like a rag quilt, very similar to the set I made for a benefit, which I previously posted pictures.

For my mom and sister, I did not make them anything; however, I will be making some special for my sister who will be getting married in September.  And I plan on making my mom somethings for her newly renovated dining and living rooms.  Stay tuned!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Year.  I'm hoping 2010 will be a much better one for me and my family!