Another Itty Bitty Dress

I loved the Itty Bitty Dress pattern from Made By Rae so much that I made another one. {Remember, the first one I did was for our baby girl and in a cherry print.} This one I made with monkeys in mind. My friend, Kelly, {who had her baby girl yesterday!} decorated her nursery with monkeys and when I saw this fabric I immediately thought of her.

This time I stitched ribbon around the waist and I think it turned out nicely. I made her matching bloomers using a pattern from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. The bloomers were quick and simple, just like the dress. And I recently went back and made some red dotted bloomers to match our baby girl's cherry print dress.

Excuse the poor picture - I was in a hurry to get it off to the post office. As for baby girl, she's patiently waiting for her arrival. Me, not so much. I'm anxious to have her here and hope the day comes quickly!

Enjoy your weekend.

Smoked Salmon Bruschetta

This is an easy and delicious appetizer recipe that my mom makes. They're great for lunch with soup too!

Here's what you'll need:
Baguette
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled & sliced in half
2 cans boneless, skinless salmon
1/2 block cream cheese
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Chives {or whatever herb you have handy - parsley or dill would be great}
1 package smoked salmon
Capers

Slice the baguette at a slight angle in 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices on a lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toast at 425 degrees for 6 minutes or until golden. Rub warm toast slices with cut side of garlic clove.

In a medium bowl, mix canned salmon and cream cheese. Add salt, pepper and fresh herbs to taste. Spoon salmon spread onto toast slices. Top with smoked salmon and capers. You could also put a sprig of dill or a thin slice of purple onion on top.
Enjoy!

Oh, and about baby...we're still waiting for her to arrive. Any day now. I can't wait to meet her and will be sure to post when she makes her debut. Thanks for hanging in here with my sporadic posting lately. I've lacked energy and time in this last month but have several posts waiting to be done... so more to come!

Appliqued Necktie Shirts

I have two friends that are having their second boys right now. I thought it would be cute to send something for baby boy and big brother to match. I've been wanting to make appliqued necktie shirts for a while and decided to give it a try for these two friends. What a simple and quick project! I wish I would have tried it sooner.
There are plenty of tutorials for these out there so just google "necktie applique" if you're looking for specific instructions. I did make the toddler shirt necktie larger than the onesie one. I used Heat n Bond to adhere the fabric to the shirt. I just did a simple straight stitch around the edge after that. Be sure to wash, dry and iron your fabric and shirts beforehand.

Sidenote: I had a hard time finding plain white shirts in 2T or 3T. I ended up buying a pack of Hanes shirts size XS. They're thinner than I'd like but do the trick. I'd love any suggestions if someone knows where to get thicker white shirts.

Hostess Gift Idea

My sweet girlfriends from my preschool co-op threw a shower for our baby girl recently. It was so much fun celebrating and it felt like my first official introduction to the world of baby girls. Oooo, it's fun! We drank girly pink drinks, ooh'd and aah'd over the cute outfits and even made bows and clips to start our baby girl's collection.

I wanted to get the hostesses a little something as a thank-you. In the past, I've given and received candles and lotions as hostess gifts. Those are great gifts but I wanted to do something different. Plus, everybody has different tastes in what scents they like {"tastes in scents"...does that even make sense?}.

I found these cute monogrammed plates at Hobby Lobby and they just happened to be part of their weekly sale {for 50% off} when I came across them. Score! I love fun plates. They're perfect for entertaining or just for piling a bunch of cookies on top. Which is exactly what I did. I made these easy cookies to add to the gifts. I wrapped them tightly in plastic wrap so they wouldn't slide everywhere and then dolled them up with tulle and ribbon. Cute. Simple. Inexpensive.

Fourth Fun

Hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July! We had a full day of celebrating with neighborhood festivities and fun with friends. We're truly thankful to live in this great country. Pictured: A delicious fruit pizza my friend Shannon made for breakfast, Boo trying out his first sparkler {big hit!}, the kids watching fireworks, snapshots of our neighborhood parade, and The Noodle running up the path to cheer on Daddy in his 3-mile morning race.

FYI: I made the boys' shirts using an idea I found here.

Fourth of July Preschool Crafts

Here are two simple crafts that the kids did this week for the Fourth of July.
The first craft is one we did during our preschool lesson this week after we learned about the flag. I gave them each a half sheet of white paper, 7 red stripes cut to size, and a blue paper rectangle. They had to glue the pieces of the flag on correctly by looking at a small American flag I had on the table as a guide. When they were finished, they each had a star potato stamp {just cut a potato in half, draw a star, then cut out around it with a knife} and white paint to put the stars on. Fun and simple craft idea! It would be cute to have your preschooler make several of them {you could help} and you could string them up as a banner for decoration for the Fourth.

The other is a fireworks display. I found this one in an arts & crafts book I have. It didn't turn out quite as well as pictured in the book but Boo and The Noodle both enjoyed it.

What you need:
straws
black construction paper
tempera paint
salt

Thin the paint with a little water. Using a spoon, drop small puddles {like smaller than a dime size} onto the black construction paper. With a straw, blow the paint around the page. Sprinkle with salt and let dry.