Motor Skill Fun

My friend Kim made Benji a few motor skill activities for St. Patty's Day. I managed to capture 1 photo of him playing with 1 of them. She wrote numbers on shamrocks and painted gold coins. Benji counted out the coins and we placed them on the shamrock with the matching number. He loves it!

The reason...

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted in a couple weeks...It's because of the little cutie above!

Kayla Ann Pierson
Born Saturday, January 30th at 4:20pm
7lbs 4 oz, 20 inches

I'll be back soon with some updated pictures and ideas!

Vera Bradely Diaper Bag Knockoff--how'd I do?

bThe completed Vera Bradley knockoff! I love the way it turned out!!
This is my friend Renee's bag that I copied. What do you think? Does mine look pretty close? This one runs close to $100. My fabric and supplies cost about $25.


Looking down into the bag, I sealed the seems with binding. I wish I had done brown but the blue works.I added 2 pockets on both sides of the inside of the bag.

I had enough fabric to make a changing pad too. It's super thin, so it can be folded in 3rds or quarters.
It's hard to see, but on the inside (the blue side) I spray adhesived vinyl onto the fabric to make it wipeable. I was going to use iron on vinyl, but the Joanns I visited was out. I don't know when this baby is coming, so I just wanted to get it done. My spray glue is washable though, so it should not be an issue. I then added binding around the edges to seal them off.

Valentine's Day Bags

I saw this tutorial for Valentine's Day bags:
http://ourscoop.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentine-chair-backers.html

I loved the idea of creating bags for the kiddos that they can use year after year--for mail, a special treat, a book...whatever we decide to put into them. Our chairs don't have slats in them, so I changed the pattern a bit. I added elastic to go around the chair instead of slats. I also did mine with 2 layers of felt. The tutorial called for felt on the outside and cotton/interfacing on the inside. With 2 layers of felt it didn't need to be interfaced. I did the ric rac one with red felt on the inside, and the ruffle one with white on the inside. I used felt since I had tons left over from advent calendar making. The tutorial was easy to follow. I love the way they turned out, and Andy seems to as well!

Toddler Back Packs--completed!

Last week I posted about creating a backpack for Benji. I decided to use one of the tutorial links from that post. I love the way it turned out. It's small enough to fit him well, but big enough for some cars/trucks/books etc. I made Benji's out of plaid corduroy. Benji's also modeling one I secretly made for my friend Penny's daughter. Penny, if you are reading this, surprise! Can't wait to give it to Molly when you get back!

Toddler Back Packs

My toddler is obsessed with backpacks. He points them out all the time if he sees little kids wearing them in his books. I think I'm going to try one of these tutorials:

http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2009/10/toddler-backpack-pattern.html
http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2010/01/snack-backpack.html

Although, maybe I'll make my own!

I Spy Peek-a-boo Bags

Looking for ways to keep a toddler busy while you are out and about? How about an "I spy" bag? This bag is about 8x6. It's filled with about 20 objects for kids to find. I bought a whole bunch of buttons from dinosaurs to ladybugs to stuff inside. The clear part is a heavier weight vinyl. I can't wait for Benji to play with his! My friend Kim and I created 9 of these last night for some friends. Hope they enjoy them too.

Here are a couple links to tutorials if you want to make some of your own:
http://www.thepreciouspresents.com/Peek-A-Boo.html
http://www.according-to-kelly.com/2008/05/i-spy-with-my-own-eye.html

I think next time I would make one that is maybe 4x6 so it's a little smaller.