Handmade Building Blocks

I wish I could take credit for these blocks but my sister actually made these for my son. I think the are more than adorable so I couldn't help but share!

My sister cut these blocks herself out of scrap wood and sanded them smooth, but I have seen them pre-cut in the craft stores and ready to use. She bought a few story books and cut out squares to decoupage on the blocks then sanded the edges of the paper to make sure all sides were completely smooth so the paper can't peel off.

The blocks are somewhat heavy so I do supervise when my son is playing with them so the window doesn't break on 'accident'!! You can't see that well from the pictures but she also included my son's name on the blocks spelling out his first and last. A very cute and personal idea!

Sock Monkeys

When someone I know has a baby I usually make something for a gift instead of buying something. It's so much more personal and will be remembered long after the bibs and onesies are outgrown.

When my friend Amanda was having a baby girl and wanted me to make a sock monkey I cringed. I have always been turned off by the traditional red heel sock monkeys. They seem a bit scary to me but when I saw some modernized versions online I knew it could be cute. And cute they are!

I followed this pattern and found it to be an easy project. I got fun striped socks from the discounted bin at Target. You will definitely look at socks differently at the store if you have a sock monkey to make!

I didn't have any cotton stuffing laying around so I stuffed the monkeys with cotton balls. I knew a baby would be chewing on them and I wanted something safe. It worked great and the monkeys still have their shape today!

Quilted Bird House and Toy Bird Rattles

When a beautiful little baby girl Lily was born and her mom (my cousin) decorated her room all in birds I decided to make this quilted bird house with a few bird rattle toys to go along with it as a baby gift.

I used scrap fabric, a few pieces of felt and a lot of thread to sew this creation. This is a combination of machine sewing, hand sewing and embroidery. I worked on it each night for about 2 1⁄2 hours and it took me about 7 days. I had fun taking pictures of it in the newly fallen snow before shipping it off to sunny Florida.

You will need the following items to construct the birdhouse:
- Scrap pieces of patterned cotton fabric – if you are buying fabric you will need no more than 1⁄4 yard of each pattern.
- 4 or 5 sheets of felt
- 4 bundles of thread
- Scrap batting – if you are purchasing the batting you will need very little – about 1/3 yard to be safe.
- Sharp scissors
- Sewing needles
- Sewing machine – it could be done all by hand but would take longer to do.
- An embroidery book if you don’t know the stitches by heart.
- A pattern of pieces you need to sew the birdhouse and birds.
- 4 bells – if you want the birds to be rattles when completed.

I originally posted this on Instructables so if you are interested in the steps to make a bird house like this one here is the link:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Quilted-Bird-House-with-Toy-Bird-Rattles/