Baby Boy Shower

Since a certain someone hasn't updated her blog in forever (hint hint), I shall post this for her ;)

I threw a baby shower for my friend who is having a boy.  I took care of everything except the invitations and the favors. And thank you to my sweet friend Brandy who helped me set it all up!  
The theme was "Ships Ahoy! It's a Boy!".  Not my idea, so I can't take credit for that.  It was a lot of fun though doing all the decorations and planning the shower.  

  The food.  Shrimp cocktail, crab dip, fruit and veggies, and chips ahoy.  I bought the beverage dispenser at Fry's and I love it!  I made some raspberry lemonade to go in it.

 The party favors.  They are little boats with Swedish fish and some other blue and white candies.

The cake, of course :)

Guests

And more guests...

Opening the presents

The mother of honor.  I made her the sailor hat, too bad it wouldn't stay on!

It is so much fun to have friends to be pregnant with! We are all due around the same time.

Gabie-Speak

Gabe is such a silly boy.  He loves to babble and repeats everything we say but his pronunciation is so far off on a few words that they barely resemble the word he means to say.  Gabe has quite a large vocabulary and we can understand a lot of what he is saying, but most of his words he leaves the first or last consonant off.  Oh well.  We are still working on his speaking skills.  Here are some funny words he says regularly:

Milk=May-May

Dog=Buh

Car=Dow

Music=Bay-bay

More=MAHH!!

Pacifier=Die-Dow

Mustard=Muh-MaHH

Phone=Vee

Watch=Aishth

Gabe=Day

Ring=Een

 

Gabe's Birthday Party Preview!

Gabe's 2nd birthday is coming up (March 31st) already! Can you believe it?! I sure can't! He's very much a toddler but still as sweet as ever. 
Anyway, for his birthday party this year, we are doing a train theme because Gabe has a serious obsession with trains.  He likes Thomas the tank a lot but I think Thomas has a REALLY ugly face and I thought it would be cuter and cheaper if I just designed a train and make the invitations myself.  If anything, I can just match the colors rather than buying expensive Thomas stuff.  Of course I had to get carried away and make Gabe a shirt.  Well, I kind of made it. I bought a plain yellow shirt at Hobby Lobby and the felt iron-on letters from Michael's.  The train was just left over felt from Gabe's touch and feel book I made him forever ago which I sewed on. I'm a bit irked that I sewed it on a little crooked.  Oh well.  I"m looking forward to Gabe's little party this weekend!! 

Hair Bow Crazy!!

Sorry, I know I'm kinda turning this blog into a craft blog but that's pretty much all I've been up to lately!  I feel like I'm "nesting" already, even though I still have 2 months to go!  I was not at all like this with Gabe, probably because I didn't know what to expect.   With this one, I'm afraid I won't have much time to work on very many projects so I'm trying to get as many done as possible before she comes.
Anyway, as you all know we're having a little girl (at least she darn well better come out a girl!) so I've been up to many projects to get ready for her arrival. 
I went a little hair-bow crazy the other day.   These are fun, cheap, and fairly simple to make.  The yellow and pink felt flowers (mums?) are the fastest and easiest (they literally take less than 5 minutes!) to make. The fuchsia rose (on the left) was definitely tricky.  But all were super fun to make and I plan on making more! 

 

But where to put them?  I decided to go ahead and make a little hair bow holder.  For those of you who have girls and no place to put their hair clips, I highly recommend making one of these.  I saw a basic one online that I liked but it retailed for $40.  I thought hmm I can make one of these! Well I went out to Joannes and bought a wooden plaque and some jungle rub-ons--I spent less than $5! (okay that is a bit misleading, I already had the paints, sealer, and ribbon so a hair bow holder like this would probably cost max $15 to make).  It's really easy and doesn't take much skill at all:

  

First, I painted the wood.  I mixed white with a tiny bit off brown to get a kind-of off white color. 

Then I sprayed some sealer...

Then put on the rub-ons....

And glued the ribbon on! So easy.  I probably should have made the ribbon longer, but I'm afraid that Gabe will mess with it if I do.  Oh and when we figure out her name, I'm going to write it in the center!

Left is Right (for Gabe)

video taken 3/7/11

As you can see in this video, Gabe is clearly a lefty.  He does most everything with his left hand, including scribbling.  Occasionally he'll use his right hand but he always ends up switching back to his left.  I don't think left-handedness is genetic, because neither Erik nor I are left handed.  Erik thinks we should make him use only his right hand ("the world is not made for leftys" he says) but I think Gabe should choose whatever hand he wants to! Plus it is sort of unique (though I have known many leftys) and it's supposed to mean that they are extra smart and creative.  Hmm...maybe Gabe got the smarts from his dad and his creative from his mom...so thus he came out a lefty!  I think Gabe is one of the first on both sides that is a lefty!   I love my silly boy.

Our Little Girl's Blessing Gown!!

 My mother-in-law gave me a pattern for a girl's blessing gown.  I took it but I never thought I would actually make it!  But with Erik gone to Yuma for his anesthesia rotation, I figured I needed a project to work on after I put Gabe to bed.  So, I went to Joanne's and spent $20 on everything to make this dress.  Which isn't too bad, since I bet blessing gowns cost at least $50 (at least a nice one would).  I could have definitely spent a bunch more--the pattern called for 5 yards of lace, and the lace I thought would be perfect for the dress was $7.99 a yard!!  Crazy.  I got lucky though and found a spool of lace that was 5 yards worth for only $2.50! 
This gown is obviously for a very special occasion, so I was very cautious, if not nervous, working on it.  But I enjoyed making it.  A lot of the time I feel like I am in such a rush to get the project done that I get a bit sloppy.  But I took my time with this one and I think my efforts paid off!  I feel like this is the first sewing project I've done that is truly significant.  I've made plenty of stuff before, but most of it was just for fun.  Not that it wasn't fun making this gown, it just felt more important.
I've never done so much hand-stitching on a sewing project in my life!! Most of that attributes to the design on the collar and sleeves, called fagoting.  It wasn't hard at all once I got the hang of it, but it did add an hour at least to the hours spent making the project.  I like the way it looks.  You don't see that type of stitching anymore.   Our girl will have a very unique, yet traditional blessing gown.  I plan on embroidering her name on it when Erik and I decide on a name--we have a good idea of what her name is going to be but I'll wait till its on the birth certificate just to make sure!   I also made a little head band to go with it--it definitely adds a modern touch while at the same time complying to the design and style of the dress. I didn't use a pattern, so here's to hoping that it will fit her and that she doesn't have a ginormous head like Gabe did.  Does. :)    
  

"Fagoting" stitching the collar.  I hand-basted the collar and bias tube to a piece of paper to do it.  So weird!

The finished yoke and collar.

Stitching the lace on the gown.  This part took WAY longer than I ever thought it would!

Fagoting the sleeve.

The finished product!!  Her dress is longer than most dresses the celebrities wear, haha!

The back.  The pattern asked for 3 buttons and button holes, but instead I put in 4 snaps: 2 hidden and 2 above the hidden ones which have peal buttons that I glued over them.

 

Close-up of front.

 

Her headband.

Gabe's Valentines Day Shirt!

Pink, red, and hearts aren't exactly in style for boys right now, and that's probably why it is so hard to find any Valentines day attire for boys.  Which is sad because Gabe is such a big love! This year I decided to make him something that he can wear for Valentines day.  I like it because even though it is for Valentines day, he can wear it all year round!
I'll admit the idea isn't very original, but I did get more practice doing embroidery and appliqueing.  I just have a regular sewing machine so it can't do any of the fancy stitches, but for my purposes a tight zig zag stitch will do.  I had to experiment with the machine for awhile to get just the right tension, length, and width but I am satisfied with  how the shirt turned out.  The curves are still a little tricky for me---I could definitely use more practice.  Since my previous appliqued shirt (Gabe's Thanksgiving shirt), I've figured out how to keep the shirt from puckering.  I bought some material (it is basically stiff interfacing that tears easily) from Joannes for $1 that goes on the back of the design; just sew on it and tear the excess off.   I forget the name of it.   Anyway, I'm excited for Gabe to wear it!