dive, dip, duck, dodge and.... dive

is it possible that a first time dad-to-be would find any baby gift "cool"? our friend matt is an avid dodgeball player (he's even played again kesha... or is it ke$ha?) & can be found wearing shorts & a hoodie about 99% of the time. so I wanted to give him something a little more fun than the nipple covers that were on the registry. 

we stole this picture of matt from his facebook page & then just traced it onto freeze paper & painted it onto a onesie (I used this tutorial). paired with a soft baby hoodie from american apparel & it makes the perfect "cool dad" gift. 

inspired by pinterest week: oilcloth baby bib

with a baby shower about every month, I've been trying to be somewhat thrifty with the gift-giving. I like to buy something off the registry & then thrown in something handmade (which I think people usually appreciate more than anything). I had all this extra vinyl fabric left from the vintage folding chair makeover that I did last summer. I was looking on pinterest for something to make & I came across this tutorial for making a baby bib on the you frill me blog. the directions were simple enough that I gave it a shot (minus the pocket on the front). it turned out super cute & also happened to match the bicycle shower theme as well! 

inspired by pinterest week: felt flower baby hair clips

pinning things on pinterest makes you feel like you're really doing something, am I right? you feel a little rush of accomplishment for finding an awesome idea & adding it to your board. but in reality, the motivation usually ends there. you rarely ever really do anything with these brilliant ideas ("not that there's anything wrong with that").

I have probably completed a mere 1% of the bajillion projects & recipes that I have pinned. I thought I would share those few projects this week, in case you missed them on pinterest.

the first project are these simple little hair clips for baby, from make it and love it. they are easy to make a require only a few things: some felt, hair clips, a needle + thread & a glue gun. download the template here & make your own. they're so adorable that I seriously considered making a set for myself. 

burp cloths

I am still a newbie at sewing. I often get frustrated when the needle breaks or when the thread gets all tangled up. and quite frankly, sometimes I just walk away & abandon the project altogether. but I'd been wanting to attempt some burp cloths for a baby shower, so robert was sweet enough to "fix" my machine so that I could start fresh. the first one took awhile, but once I got going, they were really fun & easy to make. it's a great starter project for any of you in the same beginner boat as me. plus there are tons of great tutorials out there (I used this one) to help. now I can't wait to make more of these for gifts. 

gender cake pops

I made bakerella's cake pops for a baby shower last week (and also some for an adorable first birthday for a very sweet little boy). the couple is keeping the gender a surprise (I love that!), so I thought it would be fun to make the cake pop filling a surprise, too. for the "boy" cake pops, I used a vanilla recipe and added blue food coloring. and for the "girl" cake pops, I made red velvet cake (although next time I'll probably use vanilla cake and dye it pink). people had fun predicting their future baby's gender. and the couple both got blue cake pops on their first try, so we're convinced it's a boy. robert says the cake pops don't lie.

baby blanket

I worked on my second sewing project this weekend, making a baby blanket for my friend holly's baby boy. thanks to this super helpful sewing tutorial on sewing minky (that soft, nubby, baby blanket material), it was actually pretty simple. in the time it took me to watch "garden state" & an episode of "it's always sunny in philadelphia", I made this sweet little blanket. I'm feeling pretty good about this whole sewing thing (knock on wood!).

five month portrait

I had the best visit with my friend heather a few weekends ago. she came into town & brought her sweet little baby boy, who I cuddled with all morning. he is adorable & has the coolest hair. I had my camera out so I took his five month portrait. I wish they lived here so I could make him sit for a monthly portrait!

sweet little babies

swarms of pregnant friends x 9 months = swarms of cute newborns. for fun, I photographed several of my girlfriend's babies over the past few weeks. it was a blast! warning: these faces are so sweet they'll make your heart hurt.

{baby hartz in his muscle tee}

{the sweetest little head I've ever seen}

{wyatt waking up from his nap}

{miss millie, ready for tea and crumpets}

{teeny tiny hands & fingers}

{don't you just wanna pinch those adorable chubby cheeks?}

cupcake-theme baby gift

so, I mentioned babies are "the thing" to have right now. here's another baby gift that I put together for a friend's shower last weekend. she registered for two pairs of baby pants with ruffles on the bottom, so I rolled them up around a pair of baby socks to make fabric "cupcakes" & then wrapped with ribbon. the box in the back is a wooden play pastry set.

happy birthday, baby wyatt!

we all have people who come & go into our lives at different points in time. but sometimes, if you're lucky, there might be one who comes in & stays. for me, that person is my best friend kristy. we've know each other since we were born & are still close, 28 years later.

today she had her first baby, a sweet little boy named wyatt. it's hard to believe that my best childhood friend is now a mother. I hope wyatt is blessed enough to someday find a lifelong friend, like kristy has been to me.

{kristy & me in 1984}

{kristy & me + wyatt in 2010}

baby gifts

I guess I'm at "that age" where all of my friends are starting to have babies! I have been to four baby showers just in the last few weeks (two in one day!). and while I always like to give people some things off their registry, I also like to add my own personal touch. below are a few gifts I put together for friends and their little ones. I secretly wanted to keep them for myself.

{paul frank bag & wooden campfire play toys}

{"green eggs & ham" book & onesies}

{charlie harper flash cards, memory game, ikea bird tray & silver bird}