the finished quiet book

I finished Oscar's quiet book just in time for our long flight west back in May, but hadn't taken photos of it until this morning. To those of you who have been eager to see it, sorry to keep you waiting!

I kept the front cover simple, with just a cute fabric and button closure. I'm hoping to get mileage out of this from more than one child, so I didn't want "oscar" plastered everywhere (um, besides multiple pages). :)

The big back pocket holds the felt city pieces, and any other goodies I might slip in.

Thanks to some clever comments on earlier posts, I decided to bind the book using rings (great idea, lyndsay!). This will come in handy when I need to add more pages later, and for when I have multiple kids and need to pass a page or two down the pew. I'm planning to replace the metal rings with plastic ones ... just haven't found them yet.

Here are all the finished pages as they are laid out in the book:





Oscar likes looking at the pages and occasionally tries to destroy them. (Must.have.rocketship!)


Most of the pages are way too advanced for him at this point. When all else fails, he just eats it. :)
UPDATE:  Please see this post for quiet book templates and answers to frequently asked questions.  Thanks!

appliqued onesies

Appliqued onesies are one of my favorite baby crafts. Since I'm running low on new projects, I thought I'd show you some of the onesies I've made in recent months and point you in the direction of some good resources.

Cookie cutters make awesome templates for onesie designs because they are just the right size and not so detailed that they are impossible to sew around. I got my Missouri cookie cutter at Off The Beaten Path. They have some adorable tool and train cookie cutters that I've been eyeing - great for a boy's shirt.



I drew the patterns for the guitar, whale, and tie myself. If you are not confident in your sketching abilities, do a search around the web for free templates. Here are a few to get you started:

• Find a different tie and guitar over at Trey and Lucy
• Get a squirrel template at the long thread
• Make a simple cupcake at bored and crafty
• Jordan Ferney just posted a tutorial at Cookie with a link a great picture font (perfect for templates)
• You can count on Martha to be a reliable resource for cute templates, (especially animal templates) - I like her decoupage animals, bib appliques, animal silhouettes, bunnies, and bulldog. And I really love the owl and elephant templates from petite collage that posted online recently from the tv show.

Although I don't have any photos of the ones I've personally made, just plain initials are always a big hit. You can find a tutorial for it at this mama makes stuff. Numbers work well too, especially for birthdays.

Of course, with the right fabric print, no template is required. Just cut out a circle or square piece and sew. Here is another example at armelle blog.

If you are feeling really adventurous, you could try out reverse applique.

Collaborative Charity

Donating money to worthwhile causes seems like a good idea, but doing it right requires knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, time, and of course money. I have at most two of those things. The traditional solution is to rely on "experts", but that has its own problems.

One of the great things about the Internet (other than the obvious) is that it enables people to collaborate in new ways, and each contribute little bits of their time and knowledge. Wikipedia is probably the best example of this, but I think it's possible to do much more. I'm not quite sure how to make this work, but I expect that in 10 years we will have much smarter "collective" systems that leverage small bits of time, knowledge, etc from large groups.

This is my first experiment in solving this problem. Actually, in some ways it's my second experiment -- a few months ago I posed a question about the "best use of money", and although it was only meant as a thought experiment, people also provided a lot of specific suggestions. That was rather encouraging.

Now I'm trying it for real -- I have a lot of ideas, but not much time, so I'm starting with the simplest solution that I could find. It may not work, but it should be interesting.

Here's how it works: I'm going to donate a bunch of money, but I want random people on the Internet to decide where it goes.

Here are the rules:

• The money MUST go to an IRS recognized public charity. No exceptions.
• Don't contact me. I already don't read the email I have -- I don't need more.
  
• I've created a topic on Google Moderator where people can submit and vote on ideas. I've never used Google Moderator, but someone told me that it's good, so hopefully it works :)
• Ultimately, this is just a recommendation and I may completely ignore the results if they are stupid, so don't bother spamming.
• I also created a group on FriendFeed where people can submit links and discuss ideas.
• I'd like to see broad support (from real people, not spam accounts) along with some evidence that it's a good idea, and perhaps endorsements from knowledgeable people.

In terms of which causes I'd like to support, I'd consider anything, but am probably most sympathetic to health, freedom, and education. In terms of solutions, I'm very skeptical of centralization, one-size-fits-all solutions, and people who are certain of the answer. I also prefer to support things that have tangible, objective outcomes (where you could say, "this money was used to purchase X" or "this money was used to fund study Y, which will be published this fall").

ace of cakes

Remember when I said I was going to make a cake that looks like this?

I (sort of) did it! I may or may not have made some serious structural changes and left off lots of details (like most of the windows), but the point is, I captured the essence of the Nauvoo Temple. :)

No tutorial for this, but here is a look at the progress in photos:

Notice how the bottom two layers look good, and the top two look saggy and undercooked? I prefer to call that "moist."

At this point, I was seriously questioning my judgment. Looks like a disaster in the making.

Fondant helps! It went a bit easier than last time.



Frosting bags are the worst. I am just not good at using them. Frosting always comes out of both ends, and I get claw-hand. I prefer to use the metal syringe kind (someday I will rescue mine from storage!).

almost there...

Ta-Da! The writing around the cake says, "Build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein," which is part of Doctrine & Covenants 124:27.

So, like I said ... not exactly a replica, and it doesn't match the vision in my head, but it is recognizable. I am satisfied. Tonight it received a few oohs and ahhs, won the competition, and then was gobbled up.

Supplies used for this cake:

• 2 French Vanilla cake mixes, prepared the delicious way - substitute milk and melted butter for the water and oil, and add an extra egg. Each was baked in a large cookie sheet pan.
• 2 1 lb. boxes of ready to use fondant
• 2 batches of buttercream frosting
• 1 batch of royal icing
• 1 decorative wooden spool (random, I know - I used it inside the steeple to keep the shape)
• 1 wooden skewer
• black food coloring
• round wilton cut outs
• wilton's metallic shimmer powder

To all of my non-LDS readers, this post probably makes little sense to you. Sorry! I now return to my regularly scheduled, non-religious crafting.

EZ View Desktop Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the EZ View Desktop giveaway! There were 320 comments for a total of 404 entries - definitely a record for this blog. If you are loving the giveaways, keep checking back because I have a few more things up my sleeve for the summer.

Congratulations to R, who said,

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? I have never seen anything like this before! I think the MINIBOX is my fav because it would work perfectly in my home/space and is just the right size for the stuff I have."

Please send me an email (homemadebyjill@gmail.com) with your contact information within 48 hours to claim your prize. If I don't hear from you, I'll select another winner. Congrats, and I hope you enjoy your desktop!

Flower Headband Tutorial

First item of business - the EZ View Desktop Giveaway ends at midnight tonight! Don't forget to enter. :)

Next, lets make something new. Something easy and cute. Something for the little girl in your life (or if you've got flare, for yourself).


Yay, headbands! It's a nice, quick project with minimal sewing for all of you non-sewers.

First, gather your supplies.

Next, deconstruct your silk flowers. They should come apart easily. Start by taking off the stem, and separate the layers of petals. I organized mine by size, because I am obsessive.

A nice full flower for your headband will require the petals from two or three (or get crazy and use four) silk flowers. I combined my flowers into blossoms with a single petal color.

Start hand sewing the petals to your headband, one at a time. I recommend placing the flower off to the side a bit, because flowers directly on top of your head will look silly. All you need is two little stitches through the petal and headband.

Continue adding petals to your blossom. I used about three petals of each size before moving on to the next smallest petal. Two stitches per layer does the trick (but make sure your stitches go all the way back through the headband).

For the last petal, you want to bunch it up a bit so it doesn't lay quite flat. I folded the petal in half, put a stitch through, folded it in half the other direction, and stitched through again. It turns the petal into a little bud. Attach the bud to the center of your blossom.

It will look like this:

If you saved the plastic stamen from your silk flower and want to add it to your headband, now is the time. Place a dot of hot glue in the center of your flower bud, and attach the plastic stamen. Like so:


That's it! Repeat, repeat. I made one for each of my adorable nieces.

aww ... cute!

p.s. this also works great on ponytail holders! :)

paint-by-numbers cake

In April I decorated this Lighting McQueen cake for one of my best tiny buddies, Elliot. It was a joint effort - Janelle baked the cake and I frosted.

Have you ever tried one of these specialty pan kits? It gives you step-by-step instructions on how to decorate it, minimal creativity required (although a steady hand does help). We got the cake pan at New York Cake & Baking Distributors (sigh ... I miss that place), and they even had a McQueen food coloring kit.

In a couple of weeks, my church is doing a friendly "Ace of Cakes" activity/competition. I am planning to make a cake that looks like this:

I'm thinking it won't be too difficult because it is an easy shape and I am fond of piping. I have plans for an inedible steeple. What do you think? Am I in over my head? Any suggestions?

Giveaway: EZ View Desktop from The Original Scrapbox (CLOSED)

Guys ... I have a really cool giveaway for you this week. The Original Scrapbox has offered an EZ View Desktop ... a prize worth $195.00!!!

There are a couple reasons why I love the idea of this desktop.

• It provides lots of storage, and with the see-through top, you'll always be able to find all of your tools. (p.s. it is also available in black)
  
• Portability (which for me, is quite appealing)! Don't have room for a dedicated craft desk? Just slide the desktop under your bed/couch/wherever and bring it out to your table when you need it.

Lets be honest ... I'm not much of a scrapbooker. But I see uses for this desktop far beyond scrapping. First, I would line the drawers with beautiful paper. Then, I would fill it ribbon, beads, thread, scissors, etc. I might even have a drawer dedicated to Martha's glitter. Wouldn't that be lovely?

There are several ways to enter this giveaway! You will receive one entry for each of the following:

• Visit The Original Scrapbox website and choose your favorite product. Leave a comment here and tell me what your favorite is and why.

• Leave a comment on this post with an idea for how you would utilize the EZ View Desktop.

• Subscribe to my feed and/or become a follower of this blog (then comment to let me know you've done it).

• Post about this contest on Facebook.com, use this link (http://www.fusionquest.com/cgi-bin/main/hit1.cgi?client=scrapbox&aflt=Rachelle17&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheoriginalscrapbox%2Ecom%2F) in your post, and mention the EZ View Desktop (then comment to let me know you've done it).

Want even more entries? You will receive five entries for the following:

• Post about this giveaway on your blog. Your post must include a photo of the EZ View Desktop, this link to The Original Scrapbox (http://www.fusionquest.com/cgi-bin/main/hit1.cgi?client=scrapbox&aflt=Rachelle17&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheoriginalscrapbox%2Ecom%2F), and a link to this giveaway. Also, you must use the following tags: The Original Scrapbox, Scrapbook storage, EZ View Desktop. Leave a comment here after your post is up, including a link to your blog to receive your five extra entries. Your blog must be public to be eligible to receive these entries.

Entry will be open until midnight (pacific standard time) on Friday, June 19. The randomly selected winner will be announced on Monday, June 22.

As always, please leave your name, as anonymous comments will be ignored.

Good luck! :)

baby girl quilt

I started this quilt back in March of 2008 ... newly pregnant and convinced I was having a girl (all the old wives tales confirmed it!).

I was 95% done when I ran out of thread. Isn't that the worst? It got put in a drawer and forgotten, then neglected completely when the ultrasound said all boy.

Flash forward to last month ... I am packing up my apartment and come across the quilt. Eager to procrastinate the nasty packing task, I finished it up on the spot and decided to send it off to my brother and sister-in-law, who are having their first baby (a girl, of course) in August. I really LOVE the fabric (it was a fat quarter bundle from Purl Soho), so I hesitated sending it away. But if I know anything about fabric, it is that there is always more out there to buy.

violets in bloom winner

Congratulations, Eva, from Handmade Beginnings! You are the lucky winner of the owl t-shirt. :) Please email me your contact info (homemadebyjill@gmail.com) to claim your prize. (p.s. - I love your numbers quiet book pages!)

Thanks to Violets in Bloom Boutique for sponsoring this giveaway.