DIY Personalized Baby Shower Gifts

I am very excited that my very first niece is due at the end of this month!  While my two little nephews are very sweet and wonderful, there is just something about a little girl that makes me sigh like a little love sick puppy.  With my love of all things crafty and original, I decided to make personalized gifts for Baby Maria.


The first gift is wonderful because it requires little to no skill at all.  Have a computer? Have a printer? Then you are all set!

I created the document in Word. (It did take a lot of experimenting to get the spacing right).  You can customize it to any name you want and any color scheme.  Print it out on a nice sturdy cardstock and place in a frame!  Easy Peasy!

These two onesies are a snap to make too!   I bought both in a combo pack with no designs on the front.  

For the one of the left, I used double sided fusible paper to create the initial and then ironed it onto the onesie.  I did a tight zigzag stitch around the edges just to ensure durability.  

For the one on the right, I created the image using PicMonkey.  It is an absolutely amazing photo editing site that is very user friendly.  Instead of adding shapes and text to a picture, I added everything to a white background pic saved from Paint.   Then, just print it on fabric transfer paper and iron it on.  No sewing required!

These are all super simple ideas, with beautiful results!  I hope you give them a try.

Lent for Kids

This year, my little girl is 4, so I've decided to try to have her participate more in Lent.  I want her to start to see how the practices of Lent are difficult, yet in the end truly satisfying.  To simplify the season, I wanted to work on the basic "add something, take away something" sacrifices for Lent.  I tried to talk to her in depth before this and explain how doing hard things for Jesus will show him how thankful you are that He died on the cross for you. His death on the cross makes it possible for us to go to Heaven.   A place with no tears and pure joy is really something to be grateful for. 

 

To add something, I created this prayer chain for her.

 

There are 40 chain links with names on them.  Before we can leave the house (hence why it is hung by the door), we will pray for that person and add in a Our Father and Hail Mary.  This will hopefully show her the importance of lifting others up in prayer and also give us extra practice on our memorized prayers.  As the chain gets shorter, she will have a visual representation of how close we are to Easter!

 

To give something up, we made up a box for loved toys.

 





 

For 40 days, the toys of her choice will stay in this box in her room.  Then on Easter, we will celebrate the return of the lost toys!  I made sure to not persuade her into what toys to give.  I told her to pick some toys that she loves best and stood back to see what her tiny, pure heart would produce.  For my Princess and book obsessed girl, the toys in this box are some of her most prized possessions.

 

Tomorrow is ash Wednesday, so we will see how this Lenten journey unfolds! 

New Mexico Love

For my brother-in-laws Christmas gift, I created this picture for him.  I know you can buy it online, but after many hours and curse words, I did it myself!  Please do not inform me of any misspellings, or it might cause me to cry.