best baby shower crafting project ever

Seriously.  This is the coolest, most do-able baby shower craft project ever.  Imagine going to a baby shower, and instead of watching an exhausted pregger woman open 10 billion baby presents (say it, all together, "Oh, how cute, how tiny!"), actually being creative and producing fabulous, useful presents for the bambinos-to-be. 

Laurie, who is now the mom of two amazingly beautiful babies, Amelia and Elliott, received 12 onesies, in ascending size, with the numbers 1-12 sewn on them.  What a useful, fantastic way to take those monthly pictures so you can remember what babe looked like each of those amazing first 12 months (let's face it, you aren't going to remember if you don't take pictures, you can't even remember what you ate for breakfast 3 hours ago once you have kids).

Check the onesies out in "action":

hello, Amelia!

hello, Elliott!

Check out all 12 at this great blog.

We'd love to help you put this great project together at the next baby shower you organize.  We have the most amazing stash of vintage fabrics from the 50's, 60's and 70's for a retro babe, or pick your own fabrics!

best score to date?

today my husband, who has declared that he is happy to be known as my accomplice (and therefore will be hereinafter so named), helped me with my best score to date: 44 paned windows! here's how it went down:


we were running up chesterfield road in leeds on the first truly gorgeous day of this spring. at the same time we spotted one terrific looking 4 over 4 wood paned window. (it helps to have a spouse who has the same trash-pickin' eye as you). we finished our run, jumped in the car, and went back to grab it. i decided to leave a note indicating that i would love more windows if more existed. later that day i got a call! i had a lovely conversation with a friendly gentleman asking me how many windows i needed. (that was an interesting question. to me the right question is: how many do i want? the answer is always the same: whatever you have.) he went on to tell me that he and his wife just replaced all the windows in their home and that i could come out to grab whatever he had on sunday, so long as i arrived before easter dinner. no problem. Accomplice and i made our way to leeds and here is what greeted us:

There are so many great ways to repurpose these windows, but one of my favorites is to use them as large photo frames.  I also love the idea of using chalkboard paint to turn a four over four pane window into a weekly calendar (with a bonus panel!) that would look great in a kitchen.