Babies and paper.

Had some free time this weekend. Free time? What? What is that? I can't seem to remember. Anyways, I wanted to do something crafty and just for fun of it. But after the 10 or 15 minutes I spent trying to decide what to do, I decided I was wasting my precious "freetime" and had better just get to it. So, in an effort to be productive AND creative, I started working on some invitations for an upcoming baby shower I am helping host.

Turned out pretty fun, huh? Hard to tell from the photos, but these are stitched together on my sewing machine.

This is just the prototype. Now, the fun part is finding the right papers, etc and getting to work on production! I'll keep you updated on the finished product.

While I was brainstorming ideas for the invite, I started thinking of all the others I had made in the past. And all the other cute ones we had recieved over the years. (Yes, I do keep them. I'm somewhat of a pack-rat when it comes to unique paper things.) Went digging and decided to share some of them with ya. [P.S. Some of these are baby announcements]

Maybe someday I'll have some more free time and I can share the collection of wedding invitations I have stored away...

And a shot of Lilah and me, before we went on a hot and sweaty walk on Saturday morning.

Best part of the walk was about 10 feet away from the house when Lilah said "Mom, I love walks! Thanks, Mom!"

And the winner is...

Baby Graham!


I entered Graham (and the quilt that I made him) into a cutest kid contest that was being held by Jackie Clark Designs. AND WE WON!! I am super excited (because of the prize) and super proud (because of all the work that went into the baby AND the quilt)!!

I've never really won much of anything before. My dad won a truck once. Seriously, a no-strings-attached brand new Dodge truck. All he did was buy a $10 raffle ticket from some kid! That was a few years ago and he still drives it to this day! The most that I can claim winning was a t-shirt from Hank's Brewery in Cheney. All I had to do was walk in the door and drink a beer (or seven). Then they drew my ticket number out of the bowl - and I was pretty excited, let me tell ya!


Oh, and last month at Bunco, I won a prize - a cool pair of socks and a nifty note pad, which still makes me proud to write on. (And believe, winning Bunco is nothing to be proud of. There is ZERO amount of skill involved.)

Why is it that winning prizes is so fun??

More handmade.

Reading the Sunday paper, I came across a listing for this:


I think I'll try to go! Hafta support local handmade artists ya know!

Talented hands.

Since Graham was born, he has received many wonderful gifts. Of course, we love and appreciate them all, but the ones that will always hold a special place in my heart are the handmade ones. I love to make and give handmade gifts and am even more delighted to receive them! We have some really talented friends and family that you can always count on to bring a little handmade something to Christmas and birthdays, etc. Totally unique and usually custom or personalized, the handcrafted gifts my kiddos receive almost always end up in their keepsake boxes after they outgrown them, etc. I still have some of my handmade quilts and blankies from when I was a child and Lilah even sleeps with an old quilt my Grandma made for me.

Below are some of the highlights:

This "G" onesie was made by my husband's Aunt Mary Kay. She actually made him several monogrammed items, including a super-soft blanket and a couple burp clothes. She made similar gifts for Lilah and we still use the blanket every day, two years later.





The above four images are of a set of onesies that my sister-in-law, Micah, made for Graham. A fellow designer, like me, she has talent coming out of her ears! These personalized onesies are some of my favorite clothes Graham has! Each one is painstakingly hand-stitched. (She has made Lilah a few personalized shirts as well that you may remember.)


Not the best photo of it, but this is a quilt that was made by my mom, my SIL Jenny and my Great Aunt Nonie. They all worked together to make this for Graham and my favorite part is that it is signed on the back by all three. When Jenny was pregnant with Eva, we decided to start a tradition of all working together to make each baby a quilt. (This is Eva's.)


This quilt was made by my very talented BFF, Michelle. She just learned to quilt in the last six months or so (with me as her fearless leader, so she deserves a lot of credit) and surprised us with this beautiful KSU quilt. She has become a quilt-making fool these days, which works out perfect since we have so many friends having babies lately!


This sweet blanket was crocheted by another sister-in-law of mine, Casi. This is the second blanket that she has made for us, the first was for Lilah (see below). Casi is another on the list of my über-talented family. She also made Lilah this great pillow that we keep in front of the big TV for her to snuggle up with. Casi is pregnant right now with her first child (a girl!) and I am looking forward to making the little sweetie something as well...

This shot shows the other blanket Casi made (for Lilah), plus the adorable hat that I bought off Etsy. Not familiar with Etsy? You should be!! A perfect place to get handmade gifts if you are not so-inclined.


And this shows a simple little pillow that I stitched for Graham before he was born.



The two shots above actually show the blanket that I made Graham. It's a super-simple pattern by Jackie Clark - perfect for anybody just getting started in quilting.


And what would be a blog post without this chick? I am counting down my maternity-leave days that I have left with her and Graham. Next week marks 12 weeks and I am back in the office.

Handmade.

Wanted to share a couple of the great handmade gifts that Lilah got for Christmas:


This is from her Aunt Micah - and she loves to wear it. Next to Mickey Mouse, ducks are her favorite animal. She loves to stand at the back windows of our house and quack at the ducks she sees there.


And this soft little bunny was made by Lilah's Great-great Aunt Nonie. Very sweet. Lilah snuggles with it at night. I'm sorta jealous and want an adult size one to snuggle with too ;)


Yes, I am still pregnant, and here's some recent proof. As of midnight tonight, I am at 37 weeks. Not quite 40, but I guess it will have to do. Hopefully we will have baby news SOON! Seems like I have lots of buds popping up pregnant lately, so ours will be in good company soon!


And, I am officially done with the baby's quilt! He/she can come any day now and we are 100% prepared! (Okay, that's an exaggeration) This quilt is a Jackie Clark pattern and made mostly with scrap fabrics I had left over. This is my second quilt to make gender neutral, so I had lots of leftovers from the first that fit right in.


This is a shot of my Bunco group, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last week! We were sad to be losing two of our members. One of my best buds, Michelle, broke the news that she accepted a job in Topeka and is leaving us! I will miss her very much - and she is darting off very quickly, not even sticking around to see the arrival of baby no. 2.


And, last but not lease, thanks to this nice weather, we have been able to take Lilah on a few walks and to the park lately. She had forgotten how fun that is and is totally into it. I'm pumped because she is tall enough to climb the stairs by herself now, which means less bending over and picking up for uber-pregnant Momma.