Rediscovering the Blanket Stitch

A couple of years ago, while buying cloth for another project, my husband and I came across a fabric that was very soft. It wasn’t the right pattern for the project we were buying cloth for, but we kept going back to feel its softness. In the end we bought some of the super soft cloth, thinking to make a couple of baby blankets out of it someday. After that I set the cloth aside. A few months later when I started planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law, I decided I would make a blanket using the cloth to give as my gift. 

I used a blanket stitch around the edge of the cloth. When I was twelve, a lady down the street taught me this sewing stitch as part of a project she teaching me how to make. However, soon after that my family moved. I never completed the project and forgot how to do the stitch she'd taught me. I remembered it being fairly easy, but since I didn't know what the stitch was called, I didn't know how to find out how to do it.

The project I started but never finished.

Luckily, one day I came across the stitch while scrolling though Pinterest. It told how to do it on a sewing machine, but that gave me the name of the stitch and I was able to search and find how to do it by hand. I found quite a few tutorials, but decided to use the tutorial from Holiday Crafts and Creations. 

There was enough cloth for two baby blankets, so I made one for my sister-in-law and one for us (to set aside for when we have kids). I stitched using the full skein of embroidery floss, so I had to be very careful to prevent unwanted knots. I used a light green for my sister-in-law's blanket and a variegated yellow for ours.

"Name the Baby" and other Baby Shower Games and Activities

Last month, I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Anneli. I also threw a baby shower for her first child a couple of years ago. In the process, I found a lot of cool baby shower games and activities. I thought I'd share my favorites. And I am offering free printables that I created for the baby showers. I hope you enjoy!

Baby Word Search: 

I love word searches, so this game is right down my alley. Frugal Fanatic offers great Baby Word Search downloads. Check them out Here.

Baby Word Scramble: 

I'm not as good at word scrambles, but some people really enjoyed working on this game at the baby shower. I used the word scramble from Plan the Perfect Baby Shower, which you can get Here. Or you can get the word scramble from Frugal Fantastic Here. 

Baby Bingo: 

This is a fun game to do while the mother-to-be opens her gifts. You fill out your card with items you think she will receive. It can be difficult to fill all the space, but sometimes you have to think creatively. I used the adorable bingo card from Aspen Jay, which can be found Here. Frugal Fantastic also offers Baby Bingo cards Here. Or if you want to do Bingo separate from the gifts, Catch My Party has Bingo cards that are already filled out Here (it's #11 on the list). 

Name the Baby:

I made my own design for this game. The first person to come up with a name for every letter wins. I was surprised how quickly the game was over. Afterwards we read all the names we'd come up with. You can download this game below.

Download Here

Download Here 

Baby Advice: 

I have seen a number of different baby advice games, but I decided to create my own version. I made 4 x 5.5" cards with space to write advice for mom, dad, and baby. I also provided stickers for guests to decorate the card. You can download my instructions and printout Here. 

Advice cards, pens, stickers, and photo album for completed cards.

The advice page I did for my nephew.

Decorate a Block: 

I didn't do this one, but I really wanted to. Maybe I can do it for another baby shower. I got the inspiration for this idea from We Heart Parties. You can see what they did Here. 

Guess the Belly Size:

Invite guests to guess how big the mom-to-be's belly is. Provide scissors and yarn or string, so the guests can cut a string the length they think will perfectly fit around the mom-to-be's belly. The guest with the string closest to the actual size wins. The mom-to-be can try each string around her waist or cut a string the length that fits around her belly and measure the strings against that one.

Decorating Onesies: 

I was first introduced to this idea at a friend's baby shower. Everyone says you can never have too many onesies, so I thought it would be a perfect activity for the first baby shower for my sister-in-law. I bought four sizes of white onesies and fabric markers. To prevent bleeding through the shirt, I put cardboard in the onsies. There were some great (and some not so great) designs.

Ready for decorating.

The guests had fun decorating the onsies.

I decorated one with the image from the invitation.

I hope this list helps you plan a baby shower!

Owl Sitting on Books—My First Foray into Cross-stitch Design

Last spring, I read an article that changed my life. And I almost didn’t read it. I filed away the email it had come in, but something compelled me to go find and read it. I am so grateful I did. From the article, I learned of selling cross-stitch designs on Etsy.

I have loved cross-stitch since I really learned how to do it, back in 2007. Throughout the years I have enjoyed cross-stitching presents for family and friends. I have used designs I found in books and online, and I frequently modified them to fit my needs (keep watch for a future blog post about this). However, after reading the article, the idea of creating my own designs hit me with full force. I have an Etsy shop that I've sold some jewelry and finished cross-stitches through. But as far as the cross-stitch goes, no one is likely to pay for the full time it takes to cross-stitch a design. So, cross-stitch design sounded like an excellent way to pursue my love of cross-stitch and make a living (hopefully at some point) by it.

I decided to give cross-stitch design a try. I pulled out some graph paper and began designing. One of my first ideas was a bookmark of an owl sitting on a stack of books. After a bit of trial and error, I had a design I liked. I then added color using colored pencils. Once I was satisfied with the design, I began stitching it.

              Initial Sketch                          Graph Paper Design

I also looked into cross-stitch design software. I found one I liked, but I was hesitant to make the investment right away. I thought  I should work harder to sell some other things on my Etsy store before buying it. But, my husband convinced me to buy it right away, and I have not regretted it. It is much easier to design with the program than with pencil and paper. I still sketch out ideas on paper, but the bulk of my designing happens on the computer.

While I worked on this design, I kept having ideas for other designs—a series of owl sitting on books bookmarks. My husband thought it was overkill. But the ideas seemed to grip me and wouldn’t let go, so I designed them all, and am pleased with how they turned out.

Original, Spring, Graduation, Autumn, Christmas

Each bookmark features the last name of two authors. There were so many to choose from, and Dickens ended up getting used twice. With the owl sitting on books cross-stitch patterns, I am including the three cross-stitch alphabets I used on these patterns. This way the pattern can be personalized.

The journey of creating these designs wasn’t always easy. For example, as I worked on backstitching the Autumn Owl Sitting on Books, I realized I’d made a mistake in the cross-stitching. There was no easy way to fix it, so I ended up cross-stitching that one again. Also, in cross-stitching the Christmas Owl Sitting on Books, I felt the books overwhelmed the owl, and I was not sure what color would be best for the author names. I created an ornament design to explore what would look best for the author names (keep watch for a future blog post about this) and cross-stitched another Christmas Owl Sitting on Books with the new, revised pattern.

Despite the trials of the journey, it has been one I have thoroughly enjoyed. And now, I’m pleased to announce that the designs will be available on Etsy next week. I will be releasing one design each day, culminating with the release of the combo pack on Saturday. Each design will sell for $5, with the combo pack selling for $20 (if you buy the combo, you will get 5 designs for the price of 4). Below is the release schedule. I will update it throughout the week with links to the Etsy listings.

Monday: Owl Sitting on Books
Tuesday: Spring Owl Sitting on Books
Wednesday: Graduation Owl Sitting on Books
Thursday: Autumn Owl Sitting on Books
Friday: Christmas Owl Sitting on Books
Saturday: Owl Sitting on Books Combo

Iroh Destiny Quote

Two nights ago my husband and I watched the Avatar: The Last Airbender finale, all four episodes. We wanted to watch something, and that sounded good. And it was good. During one of the episodes, Iroh said a quote that I really liked, so I wrote it down on a scrap of paper. My husband suggested I make a design for it. Since I love to save quotes by pinning them, I decided to design and pin the quote.

I had an idea for the border, so I looked for a stock image that I could at least modify to make what I wanted. I didn't find anything that seemed quite right, but they did give me some ideas. After mulling it over some more, I decided to attempt to create the type of border I wanted. I opened up Adobe Illustrator and started trying to create something like what I envisioned. After some trial and error, I created something I felt would work. I designed four intertwining strands in the colors of blue, green, red, and yellow to represent the four nations—Water, Earth, Fire, Air. I then got the idea to put some icon in each corner to represent each nation. I found a stock image that had exactly what I needed.

Once I finished designing the border, I added the background and text. I wasn't completely satisfied with the design, but I liked it alright. I wrote this post and had my husband read the post. He told me not to post it until I really liked my design. So, today, I revised my design and this post. In the end, I have two variations of the design that I like. So, without further ado, here are my designs.

Which do you like best? Tell me in the comments below. 

Making a Dry Erase Menu Board

Have you ever had the following scenario happen to you?

"What should we have for dinner tonight?"

"I don't know. What do you want?"

"I don't know."

Open and close fridge, freezer, and cupboards, and still you have no idea what to eat for dinner. 

That scenario happened all too often in our home. And after seeing numerous menu planning ideas on Pinterest, I decided to make us a dry erase menu board. I read one blog post (which I can no longer find) and used it loosely as my guide. Here's my process. 

Step One: Gather supplies. I picked a frame (from the stack of available frames at my family's house), chose a colored card stock (I chose an off white/light tan that I thought complemented the gold frame), and gathered some gel pens (my husband gave me a huge pack of gel pens as an early Christmas present last year; I chose to use the metallic ones for this project). Oh, and a ruler.

Step Two: Draw the blank menu onto the card stock. I used the ruler to mark off the lines for eight boxes. It took a little math to figure out the right sizing, but once I had it figured out, I easily made my grid, with the ruler ensuring I drew straight lines. I chose to write the names for each day in different colors, and I labeled the extra square, "Notes." 

Step Three: Put the card stock into the frame. And admire.

Step Four: Find a dry erase marker and fill out your menu for the week. 

Simple as that. This is my kind of project. 

Having this menu board has really helped us. Now only once a week do we ask the question "What should we eat for dinner?" It has also reduced our trips to the store. It had gotten to the point where we were going to the store three or four times a week to get something we needed in order to make the dinner we decided on. 

Also, don't be afraid to change your plan any time during the week. For the week shown in the picture above, we were going camping on Friday and had decided that Chicken Caesar Sandwiches (recipe from Two Healthy Kitchens) would work well to take with us for our dinner. We had tried the recipe out for the first time the week before. It was an easy and delicious meal. However, Jason decided to change the meal. He wouldn't tell me what he had changed it to. He did the prep Thursday night (I wasn't allowed in the kitchen), and Friday night he cooked it over the fire he made. We enjoyed a delicious tin foil dinner of roast and veggies.

Finding Joy in Creating

Yesterday, while scrolling through Facebook instead of "being productive," the title of an article caught my eye—"Elder Oaks Provides Surprising Answer to the Question 'Where Do We Find Our Greatest Joy?'" Joy is a concept that has always drawn me in. My favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 2:25—"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." So, I clicked on the link to LDS Living article, and then followed the link to the full Deseret News article. In it I found the the following quote:

I loved the quote and immediately went to Pinterest to see if I could find it to pin it. To my disappointment, I couldn't find it. Jason suggested I create an image to pin. I initially brushed the idea off. Surely someone would create an image soon and then I could pin it. He then reminded me of what the quote said. After that, the idea dogged my heels.

Tonight I had some time, so I created it. And I did find joy in the creation process, as I generally do. I played with various fonts (thankfully having them restored after yesterday's fiasco of them all disappearing after the computer installed updates). I got to the point where I liked the fonts I had chosen, but it looked boring. So then I played with color, size, and spacing. Now I am happy with how it looks and am sharing it with all of you. Next step—pin it.

P.S. I took the picture in the background. A few weeks ago, Jason and I were driving back from Roanoke where he'd finished up the First Aid Training he needed for being a teacher. The clouds looked so gorgeous from the sunset, and I kept commenting to Jason on how pretty they were. When we stopped by Food Lion to pick a few groceries before going home, I took pictures of the clouds while Jason went in for the food. The colors had begun to fade, but the clouds were still beautiful!

Yo, Tú, Nosotros—A Spanish Handout

My husband, Jason, recently got hired as a high school Spanish teacher, at the high school I graduated from. We are happy about this opportunity (though music is the field he’d rather be in). Since I love designing things, I offered to design posters or whatever he might want or need for his classroom. 

The other day, while looking through some old files for some cards I want to photograph for another blog post, I came across a file of Spanish notes and handouts from high school (I have a tendency to save a lot of things on the off chance that they might one day be useful to me again). I showed some of them to Jason. He commented that he would have liked to use one of them for his class, if only it didn’t have doodles on it. I immediately volunteered to create a new one. I well remember this handout, and I found it helpful as I learned Spanish.

I found another copy of the handout without doodling to photograph.

I decided to start with the image section from the top center, which I figured would be the most difficult and the most fun. I searched through lots of stock vector images of people and hands. I found one I could download with a lot of different people on it, all pointing up. I downloaded it, and after playing with Illustrator for a little, I figured out how to rotate the hand to make it look like the person was pointing at themselves. Hurray! Bit by bit, as I do things, I am learning how to use Illustrator (tutorials help too). 

Once I had the people pointing to themselves, I started creating the chart. I picked various people and put them in the appropriate spots. Then came the hard part, deciding what to do about the hands pointing out. I'd found some stock photos of hands pointing out, but none were in a style similar to the people. I tried playing around with one of the hands from the people to try and make it look like it was pointing out...that didn't turn out too well. I eventually downloaded a vector image and removed some of the shading and highlights.

While I put all of this together, I mulled over what to do about the hand with two fingers pointing out. I couldn't find any stock images with a hand that had two fingers pointing out, and I couldn't think of any way to modify what I had downloaded to create it, at least not with my limited skills. Luckily, inspiration finally struck. Flip the hand and have two hands, each with one finger pointing out—perfect!

I downloaded a bow tie, removed unwanted layers (spots and lines), and placed the bow tie in the usted/ustedes spots. Using lines and circles, I created the gender symbols for the vosotros spot. I even created the arrow with the help of this Adobe tutorial. I moved things around a little to make them right where I wanted them.

I finished right before dinner and called Jason over to see my progress. I told him I’d finished the people part and would work on the words later. To which he replied something like, “I don’t want the word parts. I want them to have those in their head.” I know I appreciated having that “cheat sheet” as a reference, but I do understand wanting the kids to know it. So, I shrugged my shoulders, finalized the file, and declared it done.

And here is the final product. I like it. How about you?