Otto is zero!

Otto was kind enough to pose in his first monthly onesie, which is even cuter when worn by an adorable baby.  Check out the January 19th post for all 13 onesies...

month-by-month hand sewn onesies plus a cupcake

I've been excited to make month-by-month onesies since Laurie's twins were gifted with some when they were born (almost a year ago!).  Not only are onesies super practical baby presents (which I can tell you from experience are the best kind), but they are so great for snapping photos for a record of each month of babe's first year.  

I used our stash of vintage fabrics as well as those great pajama bags I scored at the Pine Cone Hill tent sale last fall.  You can hand sew them like I did, or applique them on.  I'm not a particularly sentimental person, but I almost got teary thinking about our new nephew Otto as he grows and changes over the next year.  And wondering which onesies would suffer from poop explosions.  

This is a super fun and easy activity to do at a baby shower.  We'll bring the fabric, onesies, and expertise.  Email us for the next shower you host!

All but the 1st birthday!

Don't forget zero!

today I am zero!

happy first birthday!

cupcake close-up

a little off balance, but even cuter that way

a basket of Otto goodies:

decoupaged blocks and hand sewn onesies

welcome, Otto!

there's a tricycle in your future!

great baby shower project!

Handmade baby blocks is far from an original idea (someone named Martha Stewart has a tutorial for it), but it's a goodie.  It's fun, creative, and easy to personalize.  It would make a great activity at a baby shower, because no baby can ever have too many blocks (ok, let's get real here for a second - decorative baby blocks are for the parents, not the babies), and it's an easy, fun and quick project.

I made these for my new (3 days old!)nephew, whose name is Otto, but whom my son refers to as Babyotto.  When my sister-in-law was here in November, Gus could not figure out why Babyotto could not come out and play.  He's going to be a hell of an older cousin.

I repurposed two books - an old Richard Scarry and a new Eric Carle that I scored from the Twist goodie bag.  My only regret about this project is that I started cutting up the books while Gus was still awake.  Not so good when I spend a great deal of time explaining that books are precious and not to be destroyed.  He doesn't quite get that the exception to the "cutting up books is bad" rule is when you are repurposing the books in such a cool way.  He'll learn.

I didn't have a theme in mind, but once I started reading the Eric Carle, the seasons became an obvious one, especially because there are 4 seasons and 4 letters in Otto's name.  Brilliant, right?  

We'd love to bring this fun project to the next baby shower you host (assuming you live within driving distance from our Happy Valley).  Shoot us an email!

you have to look closely to see the 

letters o t t o overlaid on the beautiful

Eric Carle drawings 

awesome Richard Scarry drawings that 

nicely reflect the 4 seasons

and here is Eric Carle's take on 

the seasons - I couldn't have planned this

if I tried!

two personalized sides:  Otto's birthday is on the

winter block, and on summer is a baseball field 

and some stats about his parents' 

beloved Cincinnati Reds

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!