Mother's Day Cards & Magnets

For many years my cousin gave me a Mary Engelbreit page a day calendar for Christmas. I loved looking at the new artwork each day but ofcourse couldn't bear to throw any of them away. Once my grandmother ripped off a page and used it for scrap paper and I was horrified! This is artwork not a mere piece of paper. As I ripped a page off I would just put it back in the box for safekeeping. Well a couple years ago I was going through my endless boxes of prized possessions and found many of these calendars. I started making cards and other projects with them. I haven't bought a card in years since the artwork covers every Holiday and gift giving occassion possible. I use them to decorate notepads and give sets of cards away for presents as well. I had tons of "mom" themed art so recently I made a collection of cards and magnets.

Close up of one of the cards. Each envelope is decorated with a flower.

Some magnets I made. They are "upcycled" using those pesky magnets you get on the front of your phone books. Many of them are for plumbers and since my husband is currently working as a plumber one day he took one of the magnets off the fridge and threw it away. I fished it out and told him I would cover up the advertisement one day and now I finally have made cute magnets out of all my plumber magnets that were on the fridge.

Curtain Time

I made curtains for the first time the other day. When I bought a new shower curtain for the hall bathroom. I bought two thinking I could use the other one to make curtains for the windows. It took me a while to get around to finishing the project but I think they turned out quite nice. I found the curtain rods at Ross for just $5 each which I thought was a pretty good price. Since this room gets so much sun the curtains are doubled to help keep out some of the blinding light and hopefully some of the scorching heat.


For the curtain over the sink I used the top of the shower curtain so the curtain rod could go through the grommets to hang it. I just trimmed it to the right length, doubled it over and sewed along the seam under the grommets to hold in place.

For the curtain in the shower room I used the bottom of the shower curtain and doubled it over and sewed across the bottom. I then sewed 2" & 4" from the top to make the casing for the curtain rod.

Here's a close up of the shower curtain. I got them at Target on Clearance with gift cards from the wedding. The curtain rod and hooks I found at Wal-Mart and I really do think they were cuter than anything at Target or Bed, Bath and Beyond. I'm so much happier now when I go into this room. I love how everything matches.

Baby Boy Receiving Blankets & Burp Cloths

And here's the baby boy receiving blankets and burp cloths. Needless to say I'm glad I've got them all made. I'm putting them in gift bags and sticking them up on my gift shelf ready for giving. Once again this fabric was originally purchased to make a rag quilt but paired up they make for lots of cute gifts.

Baby Girl Receiving Blankets & Burp Cloths

For the last several weeks I've been busy sewing. Since many of the people I know are pregnant most if not all of these will end up as presents. All this flannel was originally intended for a rag quilt but I thought it would be better put to use this way.

Double sided with two matching burp cloths.

I was able to make three blankets like this two of which I've already given away. I ran out of cloud flannel to make a matching burp cloth for this so instead I used the floral fabric on cloth diapers to make burp cloths to go with this blanket.

They turned out really great even though they took me a long time to make. I really need to get the serger set up and start using it to finish up projects. That would be easier than stitching right sides together, turning right side out, ironing, hand sewing opening and top stitching. Doesn't sound like much I guess but my sewing skills are a bit rusty so it takes me a while.

Tithing Boxes

So Saturday we went to Josh's Cousin's Son's baptism. I was trying to figure out what we could give him to help celebrate his special day and with a little help from a friend I thought of making a tithing box. I already had a box made so I just made a label for the top and a CTR card to go along with it. Also included a red pencil for marking his favorite scriptures.

Then I made another set for my cousin's son who is turning 8 tomorrow and will be baptized in a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday Boys! It's great to be 8!

Framed Family Proclamation & Relief Society Motto

Relief Society Motto matted with navy blue paper with cream stars. Ribbon is cream, red and blue. Cute!

Family Proclamation is matted with brown/cream paper and hung with a brown, black and cream ribbon.

I've had a stack of these 8 1/2" x 11" frames for many years now. I think my original idea was to frame the R.S. motto and decorate it back when I was in the R.S. Pres. but never got to it. Since we've been studying the family lately in Young Women I thought it would be nice for the girls to frame a proclamation for a mutual night. We had a lot of fun. The girls are very creative. I took my cardstock and decorative edge scissors and punches and they all did a great job. I had a couple frames left over so I made these the next day.

Easter Carrots

I hadn't made these in a few years so I thought it would be a good idea to make some for the combined YM/YW activity and take them around to members of the ward to wish them a Happy Easter. It was a little overwhelming to say the least to try to get 40 youth to work on these but eventually we made 20 carrots and set out on our visits. The members that we visited were very happy to be remembered so that made it all worthwhile. I had extra supplies so I made a bunch more and we took them around on Sunday to some family members and I also gave them to the YW at church.
The cutest thing about them I think is the paper. It is Provo Craft. It was being "retired" about 12 years ago so I bought a ream of it and just use it to make carrots from. Yeah it'd been a while since I'd made some. I was going to post a tutorial on how to make them but since Easter is over maybe I'll do it next year.

Baby Burp Cloths

Shipped these off yesterday to one of Josh's cousins whose wife had a baby about a month ago. They match their super cute nursery.