Working on New Arrivals

I hope you can endure these terrible pictures.  I just wanted to give you a sneak peek at the baby/New Arrival door decor I have been working on.  I have an It's a Girl and an It's A Boy baby bottle and baby rattles.  

I am hoping to add vinyl to these soon and get one off in the mail for a special blog follower-turned-friend of mine.  I do have about 1,200 things planned for tomorrow and I have typically been getting 2 things done in a day, so......we will see how far I get, if I get vinyl on these babies before my photo shoot this weekend.  

Otherwise we will be back next week, with a little luck.

Happy Wednesday!

Harrison

Meet my new nephew Harrison!

This little guy got a fast pass to life last week.  He was born 5 weeks early, while I was in Las Vegas, and he will never be able to make it up to me ;0}

It's ok, cause I sew*ed up a storm of blankets, pacifier rings, and more just knowing he would be born before I got home.  Harrison's family stopped by my house for a few pictures before going home 3 days later.  This little darling was a miracle, born so healthy he didn't need time in the NICU!

He was 6 lbs 14oz.  They say babies gain one pound a week, so if he would have waited until his due date Harrison would have been just under 12 pounds!!!  Maybe the boy was supposed to be born 5 weeks early after all.

So, I should probably mention that my sister is obsessed with Harry Potter.  Yes, Harrison is already called Harry.  Of course we had to add a little magic to his muggle-captured photos.

I made this outfit.  I sew*ed the tie to a onesie, made a super quick sleeper gown to look like the vests they wore, and then popped out the dress robes.  I don't like to toot my own horn, but I am still a little shocked I could make this outfit without a pattern in a little over an hour.  We didn't have much notice before Harry got to our house, lol!

Now, we had to include the sorting hat!  I made the hat too, but I will let you in on a little secret...I added the face to the hat with photoshop.  Waha!  It looks pretty good though, I think anyway.

Here is a photo of it before the face was added.

I love photoshop!

So, little Harry, sweet dreams and I hope many magical muggle-loving moments are yours.

And hurry back cause Auntie Nessa's arms are very empty since you left ;0}

Just A Peek!

Oh!  Isn't he cute!?!  I have so many cute faces to edit, so little time.  

Be back soon to show you more!

Giving Tuesday: NICU Ornaments

After my nephew Sawyer's stay in the NICU one year ago tomorrow, I have a very special place in my heart for those families going through the nightmare of a NICU stay.  I have actually witnessed several friends waiting with heavy hearts, watching their tiny little blessings from Heaven struggle for every breath.  Each time I found myself at a loss of what to do to ease the pain.

My sweet sister, knowing that the anniversary of Sawyer's NICU stay was coming up, asked if I would help her make some ornaments she could take up to Children's Hospital of Minneapolis to give to the families there.  Just about every day during her family's stay sweet gifts of comfort and community were dropped off at the nurse's stations to brighten the family's days.  

Kallie's family got just a glimmer of joy each day at the prospect of receiving the small gifts.  Even just that moment of happiness during the day of struggle was a relief.  Kallie really wanted to give that gift of joy to other families, and she thought these keepsake ornaments would be the ticket.

Knowing that not all babies are as lucky as Sawyer, getting to go home in the loving arms of his family, we didn't want to say "Ya!  You made it" or anything like that.  We hoped that this ornament could be a small, silent memory for those who lose their babies, as well as for the families that left the hospital triumphant.  

My favorite part of these ornaments is the small pair of footprints inside.  It is crazy to think, with the footprints being not even 2" tall, that some of those babies have feet smaller than the ornament's footprints themselves.

I love these sweet feet.  My little guy Sawyer, he was only two weeks early, so he had pretty average sized feet for a newborn, it was his lungs that were in such bad shape.

Anyway, forgive me if this post makes no sense at all.  There hasn't been much sleep this holiday selling season, but there have been many moments of weepy gratitude for all the joy granted by having Sawyer in our lives.  He is such a blessings from heaven and I am so grateful for the knowledgeable medical staff, the answered prayers, and the flat out miracles that made his life possible.  Thanks to the care he got in the NICU, today I get to hoist my little nephew into the air today, listen to his bubbly laugh and soak up his slobbery kisses.

I will say the smiles we got when we passed out ornaments in the NICU were wonderful! It was so nice to walk in with smiles instead of the tears from when I first stepped foot into the NICU. We got this comment from a recipient of an ornament:

 I was lucky enough to get one of these beautiful ornaments yesterday. Thank you so much it's

 something we will keep forever ! My little Evan was flown in the day before thanksgiving and it 

has been so scary being 3 hours from home. It was such a sweet thing for you to do !

How sweet of that mom to take time to say thank you too.  Poor thing.  We have been there, hoping and praying and we hope and pray for your little one too.

That leads me to the second ornament we made.  The NICU Graduate ornament!

Cute little Sawyer just touched our hearts when we got to bring him home.  Listen to me!  You would think he were my boy.  Well...he is.  It is funny how much you can love one little guy when he didn't even pop out of your own body ;0}  

I posted about Sawyer's story last year here at 

Babies and Blessings.

We had two weeks of torture, then months of cuddly bliss.

Even though this poor boy has spent many a day back in the hospital struggling from issues with his lungs, and is now on oxygen on a regular basis, we are so excited to think back to that day he got to go home.  This ornament is meant to be a keepsake for all those tiny little NICU uniform pieces.  The tiny hat, medical bracelet, etc. can all fit inside the ornament and be kept as a reminder of the triumph.

After all this little guy has been through, each smile is such a blessing to me.  I am totally excited to have made a sweet place to keep all those little things that remind me just how blessed we are.

I AM his favorite Aunt, you know.

Just sayen'.

Sorry everyone else!

Anyway, Thanks Kallie for letting me take part in your gift.  I am super excited it fell right on the calendar in time to participate in #GivingTuesday.  You can go here to find out more about that ;0}

I have had several people contact me and ask if I am selling these ornaments on my etsy site.  I am.  I try to keep things totally reasonably priced, and feel really guilty even mentioning that they are for sale, but mainly want to give a place for moms and others to find the ornaments if they want them.  You can email me at vanessa.cam5@gmail.com or visit my Etsy site, TheBubbleBox for more details.  I will have a brief tutorial posted just after this post for those that order just vinyl to make these ornaments.  Again, sorry for the sales junk here.  Selling them was not my intention, just a response to several requests ;0}

Need a service opportunity???  Call your local hospital to see if they have a NICU.  Those families, even though you will probably never hear from them, will hold you in a special place in their hearts for making the effort to bring joy and comfort to such a difficult time!

For Kallie

Here are a couple of things I made for my sister Kallie this past while.  She was over Monday awaiting her flight to Disney World Tuesday morning.  I still have to sew the pieces of Emmalee's St. Patrick's Day skirt together, but when I realized Kallie and clan would not be back for St. Patrick's, I hurried to get Char's skirt made.

I bought all the fabric from Joann's.  I am not a super fan of the quality of some of the fabric sold at Joann's, but for a skirt that will only be worn a couple times, the price is nice.  They also have really spruced up their selection of prints.  I have been totally impressed the last couple of shopping trips.  The Owl print from the Valentines line was an instant favorite for me, just like these cute little Patty's Day birdies.  

I have crocheted many blankets like for my own kids while I patiently waited for them to be born.  They were also made for several of the babies born to my brother's/sister's/in law/friends/etc. 

You must know....

I hate them!  

I love them for how nice they are, but I am not known for my staying power with projects that take hours and hours and hours...and especially for such a small blanket.  

Basically, I make them for those babies to show them JUST HOW MUCH i LOVE THEM!  This blanket took three trips around the outside edge with crochet thread.  I started it in July.  Yep, I said July.  It was touched several times between then and now, but it was worked especially hard on during free moments since Christmas.  As of yesterday, baby Sawyer is three months.  Pretty sad he didn't get his blanket before the three month mark, but it took me 9 months to get it done.  I think it is totally fair.  After all, it takes 9 months for babies to be finished too.  Why should the blanket take any less time?

I am just going to be happy I finally finished it.  Late projects are totally acceptable, and often excusable, but NEVER-to-be-finished projects are NOT ALLOWED around my house ;0}  I am thinking there were about 20 hours total invested in the stitching of this blanket.  I am not a super fast crocheter, but I try.  I have many a friend that can craft that needle in circles around me.  Just remember it takes longer to sew love into the stitches along with the thread {or at least that is what I tell my self to feel better}.

Here is an up-close.  

As for the pattern {for you that know how to speak crochet}...

I buy my blankets, or have them hemstitched in Utah whenever we get to go visit family back there.  I have looked into buying a hemstitching machine, but can't seem to find where to get them.  Anyway, I know I told you I hate these blankets, but that is the dark, lazy side of me speaking.  The baby lover in me totally loves them.  They make such a nice, sturdy, love filled gift for new babies and their mamas.  Sawyer, this one is for you!

So, Tuesday, about one hour before I was to take the clan to the airport, I discovered Kallie had two pieces of fabric in her car she was afraid to ask me to sew into a blanket.  Well, that is about all it took.  I cannot stand the idea of fabric going through life unfulfilled.  I grabbed the bag and whipped up this car seat cover.  In my defense, I have never made one of these and did not have the car seat nearby when I made it.  I would make a few adjustments in the future, like a little longer in the back and not as long on the sides...

Actually, I think I would change the shape so there is less fabric there along the arm...but, well, it will serve it's purpose.  Now baby Sawyer will be protected from the onslaught of germs spraying off the bodies of well wishing baby admirers all over Disney World.  Plus, I got to use my snap press again to add snaps to the handle straps.  Party in the craftroom BABY!

Have a great time Kallie and clan.  Just remember your poor family stuck in the snowbanks back here in Minnesota.  Don't go getting a tan or anything.  We are jealous enough LOL!

Craften' the Whip

This morning I mailed off the final box of some 15 orders I have been feverishly working on...then waiting for my husband to screw together for the past two weeks.  The order for 8 fire pits was technically waiting for three ;0}  Let me just say, I have really been "Craften'" the Whip around here to get things done.

{like how I incorporated the creepy little title???  Huh?  Huh?}

I wanted to show you these awesome glue gun stands though.  You know I AM the worst at taking pictures of my work, right?  I either remember in the beginning, the middle, or the end.  Never a complete set of before, during, and after pictures.  

So, that said, these are gonna have to do.  The turquoise/grey chevron glue gun stand has got to be the most popular version by far, but the red damask is a close second.  

The polka dot is quickly becoming a favorite though.  The black with white polkas was absolutely adorable!

Then I got this special order, a red, yellow, green and blue polka dot on white.  Figuring out how to evenly space the different colored dots is enough to send me to the loony bin with my evenly-spaced-complex, but it actually worked out really well.  I used just my regular polka stencil I made with my silhouette.  Then, I just went down one diagonal row of dots and blopped every other one red, then filled in the skipped dots with yellow.

Once that was done, I did the same thing with the blue and green.  Worked down one diagonally row, every other dot blue, then the rest green.  HOW STINKEN' CUTE!!!

It reminds me of the book Put Me In The Zoo.  I showed the stand to Scott {when I made him screw it together} and he said exactly the same thing.  Now we will have to go read a little Seuss to fulfill the need this Hot Glue Gun stand has left in our hearts <3 p="">

The next "new" stand I did was one with BLING!  I used my handy dandy heat setter tool...

and placed every one of those rhinestones on there by hand, then went back and set them with the tool.

Woooohoo!  That is a sexy glue gun stand ;0}  Am I right, or am I right?

This one I made for a sweet husband to give his wife back for Christmas.  I was SO IMPRESSED!  There is NO WAY Mr. SewCakeMaker would have searched Etsy for a gift for me, LET ALONE actually message someone and ask for a special request.  SHOCKED.  Anyway, his wife is a seller on Etsy too, and he wanted her actual shop name on the stand.  I was so surprised by the order, having just listed the stands only a week or two before, that I had to take a minute to think about what to do.  Finally I went with vinyl.  I worked the name up on the Silhouette program and cut it out in gold vinyl.  Turned out great, I might add.  Now-a-days I probably would have cut a stencil and stenciled it on so it had the same look as the rest of the design, but I do actually like that the name is in solid gold.  I think it makes it stand out more than the rest.

Now, I just have a bunch of random pictures for you... 

This one makes me laugh.  Remember back a few weeks when I made the Brrrr Snowman?  Well, I had one guy with no hat, but instead had an extra scarf on the table.  As my children often do, they walked by my work table and saw an opportunity to leave their mark.  I don't know if it was Emmalee or Eli, probably both, but when I came back to the table, one of my snowman was a sensei.  Yep, Sensei Snowman.  Bet it never crossed YOUR mind to make a karate snowman before ;0}

Next, I had a customer in December order some of the mini ornaments.  She was such a cute lady and told me how she was going to use the mini's for a quilt-style advent calendar.  It sounded interesting to me, so I asked if she happened to have a picture.  She had to wait until Christmas to get me one, but sure enough she took the time to come back and show me this cute wall hanging advent calendar.  LOve iT!

And there is my little mini nativity ornament.  What a cute idea.  Dotty, thanks so much for sharing those photos!!!  I told her I absolutely loved the little pin cushion ornaments.  I haven't heard back yet if she made them herself, but they are adorable.

Now, I still need to post about my little nephew Sawyer that was born in December.  He came a bit early and really made an entrance into this world by starting out with a several week stay in the NICU.  We did a little photo shoot of him once he got out.  I will show you those adorable pictures in the near future, but these two didn't make the cut.  

Remember sweet Mary from back in Arizona, the world's best Yarn-smith???  Well, she made this cute little pixie outfit for me back when she first started selling on Etsy {ContrarywiseDesigns is her shop name AND she has the pattern for the pixie outfits for sale HERE ;0}  

Seeing as how Sawyer is a boy, and Kallie's significant other was NOT a fan of us putting a "girly" costume on him, we only got a quick snapshot of the outfit before the whole thing was kaboshed.  I guess that makes these photos black market items or something, but here they are nevertheless! 

Before Sawyer was born, we made a couple blankets and this cute boppy cover.  

I always enjoy the opportunity to break out my snap press and get snapping!  Never heard of a snap press before???  They are FABULOUS!  If you find yourself installing a lot of snaps, you need to check out KAM snap presses.  I got mine on thesnapstore.com.  I recommend the starter pack...and YES you need to buy the die set.   The starter begins at $115, but it is so, so awesome!  I will have to show that machine off one of these days.  As for today, I have more blue and gold cubes to design before the kids get home from school.

Have I mentioned how nice it is to NOT have a snow day today ;0}