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Sunday, 23 November 2008

Homemade Board Books

I think it is time to get back to our regularly scheduled crafting. Have you ever made your own books? I used to love to write and illustrate books when I was a kid. My mom would go get them laminated and I felt like they were being published. :)

These days, I have a crush on making personalized board books. You can buy blank board books from a number of online stores, but I prefer Blank Slate. Not only do you get four great blank books, they also send you appropriate sized labels and a cd with templates to use. Just use the template to add text and pictures to the labels, print, and stick to the page. Super easy, and it looks great.

If you don't want the labels and just want the books, you can try Romp in Brooklyn. Their books come in two sizes, but I've found they are frequently out of stock (it's a popular item) (and Romp is kind of an awesome store, by the way, very worthy of checking out).

So far I've made a birth story book for Oscar and two black and white infant books - one for us, and one for a friend. The black and white book is the only book I can get Oscar to focus on. He stares at every page.





For the Black and White book, I drew images in Microsoft Paint and used some basic shapes from Microsoft Word. If you try this out for yourself, here's a tip: to improve the look of images you draw in MS Paint, use Vector Magic. It is a free program online that converts bitmap images into vector images - in my non-techie understanding, it basically cleans up and smooths out all the nasty jagged edges that tend to show up in MS paint drawings.

Click here for a template with my black and white book images, if you want to make your own: Black and White Book Images. They are sized for labels that fit four to a page. (Thanks, LiEr, for showing me how to do this!)

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

hello out there ...

I feel like I should be doing something productive, like the dishes, or at least a craft. But since Oscar got a bath today and I got to eat lunch, I'm going to count it as a productive day. :)

The Boy is finally sleeping and I have 4,360 unread posts in my Bloglines feeder. Hmm ... blog or chores ... tough choice.

I haven't left my apartment in two days, but life still feels grand.

Monday, 27 October 2008

I had a really good night...


UPDATE: Ok, so many if you are demanding details. :) Did you notice the baby booties hanging on the wall behind us? I submitted them to an art show and Martha was there for the opening night! Oscar was my golden ticket to a photo op - she thought he was super cute.

Sunday, 19 October 2008

welcoming oscar


October 16, 2008
7 lbs 3 oz, 20 inches long

Oz joined us last Thursday morning, so we were busy all weekend falling in love. Crafts are put away and posting will be light for a little while. I'll try to pop in occasionally to say hello.

Monday, 13 October 2008

do-it-yourself nursery art

There is some really great nursery art out there, but since I was on a budget, I decided to make my own. I bought 3 12x12 inch canvases from Lee's Art Shop (on special buy 2 get one free!) and painted some very simple shapes.



Amateurish, yes, but kind of cute too. After painting the canvas with a glossy white, I used the paint can to trace the polka dot birds, and traced enlarged numbers that I printed from the computer. After a lot of paint mixing and a few little details later, I had my counting art.

I like painting on canvas, since you can just hang it straight on the wall, no frame required.


No baby yet ... we are crossing our fingers that he makes his appearance sometime this week. :)

Thursday, 9 October 2008

Decoupage Baby Hangers

Check out the tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets to learn how to make these cute decoupaged baby hangers. I found my wooden hangers at IKEA and used plain old wrapping paper for the prints.


Perfect for hanging on cute little hooks...

to display precious tiny clothes.

girlie tag blanket

I made another tag blanket, girlie-style this time for my building super, whose wife just had a baby. I'm growing really fond of these tag-animals. Instant craft gratification!

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