Taggie Football

I have quite a few friends expecting babies at the moment (not to mention myself) so I've been thinking about what types of things I could make for them. The typical blanket, bib, burp cloth thing wasn't really suiting my fancy this time, so I thought I'd search around for some other ideas. I came across this adorable taggie football over at Grace Violet and thought I would share in case any of you have any little ones to make things for. I haven't tried it yet, but the tutorial is pretty straight forward. If you make one, I would love to hear how it turns out - and I'm sure Kristin at Grace Violet would too!

I think these would look cute in bot blue and pink varieties,
or even gender neutral for those not finding out the sex of the baby.

Finally!

After a few failed projects this week, including a zippered pouch that I forgot to add interfacing to and a wallet gone wrong, I finally completed a successful project. I've been in need of a new wallet for quite a while now, so I decided that I would draft a new one, suitable to be sold in my new shop.

It took me all day to draft the pattern, cut out the pieces and put it all together , but I think it turned out great for my first try! It has a few flaws that will need to be worked out before I can offer it in my new shop. For instance, the border for the license pocket needs to be wider, and the strap should be top stitched, along with some other minor details, but overall I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to get out and show it off!

New shop

Well, the new shop is moving from a figment of my imagination to reality. I just finished making my new banner, which I am really, really happy with. I had Jen over at Studio71 create the papaya graphics, and I did the rest. I still have a long way to go before I can begin stocking the shop, but I'm well on my way. I still have a little tweaking to do, like with the photos of my work though. I haven't taken enough photos yet, which is why there are two pictures of the same bag. I'm really happy with the overall design though. I would love to hear what you think about it!

CPSC

Due to the new CPSC law that will go into effect on Feb 10th, I'm being forced to close my shop. I simply cannot afford the lab fees required to comply with this ridiculously vague law. I have marked every single item down by 50% to get rid of inventory before Feb 10th. Everything else will be either donated to Children's Memorial Hospital or given as gifts to friends and family. If you have a love for handmade children's products like I do, now is the time to buy, because come Feb 10th they're going to be very hard to find. Don't worry though, I will be opening another shop in the near furture and will be sure to let you know when that happens. Here are some things from my shop to give you and idea of what I make:

Me Time

After a very challenging day with my daughter yesterday, Hubby decided to give me a break today and take her to visit her Baba (Serbian for Grandma) without me. I planned on getting a lot of sewing done today to start building inventory for a new etsy shop, since I am having to close Babytopia. The new shop will focus on bags, pouches and accessories to begin, and hopefully branch out to other crafts later on.

I decided that my first project for the day would be a vinyl lined cosmetic bag. With the mere thought of sewing with vinyl, the rest of my sewing projects for the day flew out the window! It was definitely not the easiest material to work with. After much grumbling and many ripped out seams, I ended up with a cute little bag that I am decently proud of. It has a few flaws, since I made it up as I went (I detest working with patterns) but it will work just fine to replace my dingy old cosmetic bag that I've been meaning to replace for quite a while.



So, what do you think? How did I do for my first try?

Still here...

The holidays kept us pretty busy this year, and with my husband off of work for two weeks, we were traveling and visiting people almost everyday! Whew! Time to get back into the swing of things! I thought I would share a few of the handmade Christmas gifts that I gave this year. Of course, I couldn't show them before Christmas in case any of the recipients checked my blog before they received them! Anyway, here they are, I'm really proud of the way they turned out and hope to do a completely handmade Christmas next year!

Here is a purse, zippered pouch and key fob for my sister-in-law

Etched wine glasses for my Step Dad. My apologies for the dark photo.
I didn't realize how difficult it is to photograph glass!

Hats and scarves for my sister-in-laws twins