A Personalized Pendant Banner and Pillowcase (#55 & #56)

Here is the Pendant Banner with my little guy's name on it! 

I made it using fabrics that I already had on hand. Below is a picture of the process- a little bit- I should have taken it sooner, because I wanted to show the process of how I decided to do it, by laying out the fabrics, threads, etc.

 I did some letters applique and some are embroidered, all of them are in different fonts.

See that rocking chair? I want to paint it the color of the quilt hanging over it! won't that be fun? BTW the quilt was my husbands when he was a baby, isn't it funny how things come back around? Lime green and ric rac? Totally in again!

Confession:  I hung it on the crib to take a pic of the backside (all done in the turquoise polka dot) and realized there should have been 6 pendants... yep, I totally left one off!

Now, I realize that I don't do tutorials (c'mon, I have 5 kids, I'm lucky if I ever have time to take a shower!)  But I do give tips!!!

TIP: First of all, I didn't come up with this idea myself, I saw it years ago, before Pinterest, so I can't even give this person credit or link you back to their blog... sorry.
But, you know how when you buy a set of sheets at Target, they come packaged in a little packet made out of the same material? Don't throw those away! Use them for a pendant banner, and it will automatically match the bedding! (That's what the "A" above is sewn onto)

 And here is the pillow case I also made:

 It's also made from the crib sheet packet and scraps I had in the color scheme.
I remember Vern Yip saying that he didn't really like to do Theme Rooms except in kids bedrooms (I think he said that while doing a transportation themed kids room on Trading Spaces- the one where he had a train going all around the room- it was cool!)
And I completely agree- kids rooms are a great place to do themes... but I admit, I'm very hesitant to do that. Why? Cause kids grow up so fast, and even if you have the money to be redoing their room all the time, it's still a lot of time and work. I think I prefer to do color schemes instead of themes because they grow with the child a lot easier and give you more flexibility.
You can see my oldest son's rooms color scheme here. It is classic red and navy. I made his first quilt when he was 3, and he's still using it (he's almost 13!)
So, for this little boy, I chose turquoise and lime green with pops of orange, black, and white. I think it should grow with him too.
Oh, and one more adorable picture- wait for it, wait for it...

Aww, every mother knows there's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

Card Making- aka what to do after surgery

 So, last week I had surgery (very boring- read on!) and with the "down time" I thought I would make some "Thank- You" cards...

 To give to all those people who have given us gifts, or helped us out with the birth of our new baby boy, and the surgery....

 I also made a few birthday cards and Birthday gift tags, because with 5 kids, my kids go to a lot of Birthday parties, and we've run out of cards. And I don't want to spend money on the card- I want to spend it on the gift!

 Plus, I was getting bored of "Thank You" cards and had to mix it up a bit...

 I ended up making a total of 48 cards. That might seem like a lot... but we know a lot of generous people... so actually I hope I don't run out soon!

 I went to my scrap booking stash. Because we all know I'm not going to ever actually finish the scrapbooks I bought all those supplies for- not with those digital scrapbooks around!

 So, I just worked on cards until I ran out of the ribbons, or paper, or brads, or whatever I was using, and then moved onto something else.

 It was fun, but it took me 3 days, and even with the 4 oldest kids at Grandma's house (which was the only reason I could even drag out the paper and leave it all out for 3 days without worrying that it was going to get destroyed, or had to be all cleaned up so we could eat meals in the kitchen!) I wanted the mess gone, and my kitchen back...

 So I put it all away and hope that I have enough cards to last for awhile.

 Plus I ran out of envelopes...

 I liked this card better without the baby foot/hand prints...

 I really don't have anything else to say, but I figured if you were still with me this far, we should keep the conversation going.

 I either took a lot of pictures, or made a lot of cards... or both...

 No wonder this took 3 days?!?!?

That's all, you made it! Whew! (Now I need to write in all those cards... man, I need a nap!)