Monkeys for my Monkey.

My son is hilarious.  You've seen the pics, you know.  One of his favorite things to do is pull my blanket off my bed and then roll around and throw himself into it.  haha.  It's really a very cute thing.

My blanket is SUPER soft.  It's like a Little Giraff blanket, only king size and even softer.  I love it and so does he.

Eme has one Little Giraffe blanket that he LOVES, but I thought he could use another one.  (You know, for when the other one's in the wash.)  But Little Giraffe blankets are  EXPENSIVE.  My mom gave him one as a happy BIRTH day present.  He's used and loved it pretty much every day since.  But since buying him another one is out of the question, I decided to make him one with some of the fabric from my stash. (That I bought from the remnant bin a while ago.  I <3 the remnant bin. :) )

It's soft and it's snuggley and it's perfect for my little blankey loving monkey.  Wanna see?

Here ya go!

MONKEYS for my Monkey. :)

The fabric is cute, but not something I would have normally chosen.  The hubster found it.  So, we got it, and tonight as I was pinning on the binding he goes, "Is that the fabric I got?  I was gonna make something with that."  Oops.  Sorry.  Though I really have no idea what he would have make with it.  He just liked the feel of it.

I think this little (totally accidental) corner is my favorite part.  Peek-a-BOO!!!

This was my second time doing a binding and it went a little smoother and looks at least somewhat better.  I have a ways to go before I'll declare myself anywhere near being truly good at it though.  I went the easy(er) (though not as 'creative') route this time and bought pre-made satin blanket binding.  It was definitely faster.  haha.  Making your own binding takes FOREVER.  Especially when you don't have a binding maker. 

All in all this was a fun (relatively fast) little project that I'm fairly certain my son will love.

The Completed Project!

Duh duh DUH!!!  It's done!  I can't WAIT to see little {tiny} E in his outfit and snuggled up in his blanket!


Now, since this is my audition piece for Crafting with the Stars and American Crafter, I am going to share each piece of the project.  I'll start with the last piece that I finished, his outfit.  I made this to be a "take-me-home" outfit, so it is teeny tiny.  I was dying when I finished it.  What is it about tiny things that just make you want to stare for hours?

The construction is a kimono style shirt and elastic waisted pants; both in interlock jersey.  I wanted the shirt to open in the front, so that it would be more comfortable for baby E.  (Cause I've never met a newborn that likes having shirts pulled on over their head.) The shirt ties on the inside side and has a sweet little sailboat button on the outside side.

I made a SUPER soft, CRAY warm blanket for him so that he won't freeze in our Utah weather.  I love the binding fabric (it's sari fabric)!!  It really "pops" next to the brown.  I think it MAKES the blanket.  It was a bit difficult to work with, but SOOO worth it.

Here are the sweet, sweet little {tiny} booties that will keep his little tootsies warm and will stay on, because of the (pom-pom) ties at his ankles.  These might be my favorite part of the gift... Well, maybe.  They are made of a silk/bamboo blend that is so. soft.  and it has a beautiful sheen that just seems to make the yarn almost have an inner glow.  I will definitely be using it again.

To round the gift out, I made little E two different hats, a monkey hat and the hat that inspired the gift, a sweet little turquoise hat with dark brown edging and a pom to match.  The monkey hat has my signature button under the chin strap and the turquoise hat is a beanie meant to replace the typical ugly hospital hat they put on babies right after they are born.  Here is the whole set!!

All in the box!

And here is the happy Mama!  Heidi is so cute, she had to 'put it on' him immediately.  haha!  I can't wait to see it on him for real.  (Can you believe she's due in 5 weeks?!  She is SO tiny.  I was a bus by 35 weeks, just sayin.)

This is a trick I use All. The. Time.  I don't love to wrap.  In fact, I kind of dislike it.  So, this is my solution:

Pretty huh?  It's a pre-decorated box!  It's a GREAT presentation and, it's a keepsake box that they can use to keep the special little things they will collect at Little E's birth and beyond.

So there you have it!  A sweet special gift for a sweet special baby.  Can't wait to me you Little E!!!

**All of the pieces in this project are my own patterns, except for the bottoms of the booties, (which I got here) but I completely reworked the top portion on the booties to fit the vision I had in my head.**

I'll be linking this project up to the linky parties on the right. :)

Just a Sneaky Peeky...

To let you know that I'm still busy at work!

PLEASE don't look too closely at the binding... It's my first time and, well, I'm kinda a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal, which means that I should have looked up a tutorial, or asked someone about it,  or you know,  something, but totally didn't.  'Cause apparently, I like to make my own mistakes; and I'm telling you, there are mistakes aplenty.   Plus I didn't exactly choose the easiest of fabrics to attempt my first binding.   'Cause why do anything the easy way? 

Luckily, baby E won't care... and hopefully, his mama will turn a blind eye to the errors. ;)  But the colors are pretty and it's SUPER warm and SOOO soft, so I think that makes up for it... Right??!

The gift is almost complete!  Just gotta finish up the outfit. :)  I'll debut the whole thing tomorrow... (Hopefully.)

(I'll be linking this blanket up to the fab linky parties on the right.)