Quick Onesie Dresses with Hearts from Toilet Paper Rolls

Prudent Baby taught me how to make a quick onesie dress and Singing Three Little Birds showed me how to use an empty roll of toilet paper to make a heart stamp. Joann's Fabric had fabric paint on sale, so I was able to finish three onesie dresses for a sweet baby girl that will arrive soon.

It took a minute to form the roll into the heart I wanted, and with the dress (below) I had hearts too-wide the first time, so I put a new and improved heart over top in red. I did like stacking two different colors of hearts.

I put a squirt of each color, one by one as I used each, and spread it around a bit - wide enough to fit the toilet paper roll heart. I moved the heart around so all sides had paint on them, and then firmly placed the heart on the onesie. I repeated each step when I wanted to make a new heart. Since I was using so many different colors, I started with the lighter hearts first and then finished with the color black.

I like how these turned out, and I'm sure I'll get more creative in time. I also think that these will be fun doll dresses once the baby has grown out of the 0-3 month size of these onesies.

Quick Onesie Dress

I have two nieces on the way this year, so I searched through my Pinterest baby board for some gift ideas. (I do not have babies of my own but I love making gifts for my friends and family who do.) I really wanted to try the onesie dress, and I was very intrigued that Prudent Baby called it the 10 Minute Onesie Dress, as I love crafts that are cute and quick to complete.

I had a Target coupon for onesies so I picked up a pack of five, short-sleeved and sized for 0-3 months. For the dress piece, I used some fat quarters that I had stored up since before Christmas. Once the fabric and onesies were washed, I began sewing.

Prudent Baby's directions were very simple to follow and I think the dress turned out nicely. I found that the dress piece best fit with a vertical length of 8 inches. For each dress, I figured individually where I wanted to sew the dress piece on but all ended up with a bit of fabric lower than the snap underneath.

Very cute as is, but I will head to Joann's this week to get some fabric paint so I can dress up the top of the onesie dress. I like the two following ideas, and maybe I'll do both. Regardless, this turned out nicely and I'm excited to finish them and ship them off to baby Elena in California. And then, I'll get started on more for my second niece, to arrive in early summer.

I like this heart idea from Singing Three Little Birds. It's a toilet paper roll (in a heart shape) dipped in to fabric paint, making hearts on the onesie.

I also like the idea of an initial, like how The Creative Mama has done hers.

iPad Case

I had the pleasure of spending the day with a young friend while his mom was at work. My friend loves Thomas the Train and his iPad. While he dozed during a midday nap, I snagged his iPad and tried out a carrying case project which was inspired by I'm Working on a Project (shown below). The iPad arrived in just a plastic bag, so a secure and padded case is needed for the trip home.

The above was inspired by the tutorial at Amy's Creative Side, and with my next iPad case I will probably follow Amy's directions (she pictures the step-by-step).  I measured my friend's iPad and created rough patterns then did some sewing similar to how I made my stockings. The completed case (mine, shown below) is a bit tight so next time I know to add in a bit more allowance on the edges. Also, I almost had a craft fail when I realized I had sewn the lining and outside pieces together (so I didn't have to do binding) but then, the outsides weren't sewn together. That required one more seam, which I think makes my finished project a bit tight.

Handwriting Clutch

For Christmas, I decided to put together an organizer for my sweet nice who is starting to write. She is a left-handed writer and it seems to be giving her some trouble as many utensils are most easily used by right-handed writers. I found two "swan neck" pens on Amazon as well as a lefty's notebook (It opens from the right hand side instead of the left). In this pack, I also included a handwriting workbook and some tall crayons.

This project is similar to my coloring pack and I tried to improve upon things in the coloring pack that didn't sit well with me. I think I measured more accurately, and I like how this one looks. Except for the front -

Once closed, the clutch looked too plain. I thought about what I could do and then I remembered fabric flowers that I've seen on other blogs. I did a quick Google search for fabric flower tutorials, and I came upon the Frayed Flower from Maize Hutton which was simple and easy. It's great for using up scraps because one only needs a length of 1 inch wide fabric.

Since this is my first frayed flower, I can see where I'll improve next time but I still think I did an okay job with it. I used fabric that I had in the inside of the clutch. I also secured a button in the middle thanks to The Purl Bee's button tutorial.

And, it does dress up the front of the clutch, I think. 

Now that this project is complete, I can FINALLY send a gift package off to Ohio for my two nieces (one is the young writer who will receive this clutch) and two nephews.

Princess Marker Roll

There is a little girl in my life who loves princesses, so I purchased some "Princess and the Frog" fabric and used it to make a marker roll. I've been perfecting the marker roll process, and I'm happy with it, except for the closure step. I've tried hairbands, ribbon, velcro and decided that it was time to work with buttons. I found the cutest button at Michael's with a big 's' on it (the first initial of the little girl's name).And, it was only $1.

When I opened the package, I discovered that the button was actually a pin. But it worked out well. The hairband at the edge fits nicely over the pin and secures the roll. Also, I realized, if the pin comes undone my friend, the young girl's mom, can easily reattach. Plus, it's just really cute.

  

My marker roll is based off of my good exprience making the crayon roll at The Pleated Poppy . For the marker roll, I increased the vertical measurement a few inches - just enough to cover the tops of the markers, once inserted. The inside pocket needed to be increased, just a bit, too.