Quiet Book #8: Ice Cream Cones

This page is in honor of my obsession with ice cream and if Kara is going to be anything like me, which she's already showing signs of it, she will be in love with it too.  The concept is to have two ice cream cones for two people to make patterns, or for mom (me) to do one cone and her to make her's match.  So it can be a game for one person or two.

Here's all the bits and pieces you will need to make one yourself:

Note: There's actually 2 cones, you just can't see it very well.

The ice cream is stored in a carton.  Which I made from white, with light blue stripes and then an oval circle, which I'm going to later iron on the words 'ice cream' or something.  First I cut out the ice cream carton shape then just cut strips of blue.  Spaced them out, trimmed the tops and bottoms and sewed them on.

Sewed on the white oval onto the pink larger oval, which is the label on the carton. Then sewed it on the carton itself.

Then all that's needed for this one is to place the ice cream cones and carton in place and sew them all on (make sure to not sew the carton opening).  The last thing is to fill the carton with the ice cream. (I ended up making way too many scoops for my tiny carton. Next time I would have made smaller scoops/cones or a larger carton.) After you fill the carton with your scoops you can now place out where the lid needs to be to cover the opening of the carton. Sew it on and you're done!

Happy crafting!

Quiet Book #7: Number Matching

For the next page in Kara's quiet book I wanted something to help her practice her numbers as she gets older.  So, I just made a number matching page.  I didn't want any loud velcro during church, but with it all being felt it sticks together just fine without.  I found a simple pattern at, I don't know where (I'll keep looking because I want to give credit to the right person) and copied the pattern for the numbers.

You will need 3 cutouts of each number.  Two will be sewn together back to back and one will be sewn onto the page.  I used a fun, variety of colors just because I felt like it.  

I also created a back page that has a giant pocket to hold all the numbers.  I made it simply by cutting a square and opening flap.  Cut a hole for the button on the flap.  Sew the button on the square.  Then sew on the top flap, then the bottom and sides of the square. Here are some quick picks on how I made that:

Here's the final product: (Sorry, it wouldn't flip for me)

Felt Carrot

Here's another felt food item from Kara's pantry.  I'm trying to stick to the healthy foods...at least for the moment, so here's a carrot.  Sorry, for the lack of pictures on this one.  I got distracted with the little one.

This is super easy though.  Just cut out a large triangle the size you want your carrot to be, adding a half inch for seam allowance.

Sew lines in a slightly lighter or darker orange color than the carrot.  So the lines should go horizontal up the carrot, starting from the tip and going up to the largest part.  I think I ended up putting 4 or 5 lines.  Then line up the edges of the carrot, sew together and then turn inside out.

Next you cut out a little greenery for the top.  Double it up and sew together.

Stuff your carrot full of polyester filling.  Then bust out your needle and thread.  Thread in and out all the way around your carrot top, then pull in closed while sticking the greenery there.  Then slowly but surely attach the greenery by going back and forth through the carrot top and greenery.  Pull in tightly closed as you go, so you won't lose any of the filling from curious fingers.

Then finish your thread off and your carrots all set to go.

Yes, I rocked out this carrot while Kara and I were both still in our pajamas.  Did I say I love being a stay-at-home mom yet today?!  Because I do!!  And yes, those are batman pajamas :)  I know you're jealous.

Happy crafting!

Sex Party: a.k.a. Gender Reveal Party

Don't get worried folks, it's not that kind of party!  We thought it would be fun to make a surprise out of the revealing of our baby's sex.  And what's funnier than passing out 'Sex Party' invitations to all of your friends at church?! LOL So, I designed some invitations, which can be purchased here if you're interested from my Etsy Shop.

So, here's how this worked.  Ryan and I went to get my ultrasound and told the technician that we do not want to know what the sex is but we want her to put it in a sealed envelope.  I let her know we were having a party tomorrow to announce and that family was coming in and everything.  She said 'That's a lot of pressure'. So, she did her thing and showed us the baby's legs were closed from ankle all the way up!  NO!  She kept trying.  I told her this was our one time shot because our insurance only pays out for one ultrasound.  She kept trying.  She finally had me roll onto one side...no go.  Then I rolled onto the other side.....'alright we're done', she said.  I asked her how certain and she said she couldn't give me a percentage but she wrote down on the image what she thinks it is.  They sealed it in the envelope and handed it to us with some other pictures we were allowed to look at.

We drove to my awesome friend Heather Harrison's work and passed off the envelope to her.  Then we went home and waited.  We wouldn't have the party until the next night.  I have to admit it was harder than I thought it would be just knowing that she knew what our baby was going to be, when I'm the one carrying it!!

Anyways, so we get all the food and decorations prepped.

We asked everyone to dress in either pink or blue to cast their vote for the baby.  Here's the PINK team:

And here's the BLUE team:

The night of the party. The cake arrives courtesy of The Harrison's:

Then Ryan and I cut the cake at the same time so as not to reveal any crumbs coming up through the first cut, lol.  So, what is our baby??????

YUP!!!  ANOTHER GIRL!!!  YAY!  Kara is going to be the best big sister around!  The frosting color in the middle is what revealed the sex of the baby.  Here's another look:

We are so excited to be having another girl. :)
And to the winners.....a little 'he, she bar', which for some reason I don't have a picture of, but I colored in permanent marker the 'HE' on the hershey candy bar label blue and the 'SHE' on the label pink.  They turned out really cute and they would work for whatever sex the baby ended up being :)

Here's the victory shot of the pink team, with the poor, losing blue team, LOL.

Thank you all who came to help us celebrate the apparatus that our baby has been growing!  We are so thankful for such wonderful friends and family for being a part of our lives!!

Heather Joy

*Don't forget to buy the invitation design here, so you can have your very own gender reveal party!