Roses are red, Violets are purple, Isn't it a shame, Nothing rhymes with purple?

I haven't been able to craft and sew as much as I'd like lately (with work, baby, and classes). But when Rory's daycare sent home a note about a Valentine's Day exchange if parents wanted to participate, my first thought was A New Project!

I like practical things, even if they are sentimental. I also love holidays and traditions, just for the sake of celebrating the holiday. We have to make life interesting, right? Valentine's Day is one that I know I will enjoy more and more each year with my kid and hubby to celebrate it with. And who am I kidding, I love hearts. So I didn't want to just buy a pack of Valentine's cards, write the babies' names on them, and that be it. I know they'll get tossed or just take up space somewhere. Then I thought about making personalized Valentine's cards. Hm, a step in the right direction but not quite it. What would babies love? And what can I make that I'm good at?

Aha! A personalized Valentine's book. And even better, it can have a hard cover, but have the inside be like a soft cloth book. There will be a little poem, different textures to touch, and commemorate baby's first Valentine's Day (or second for some). Of course, this took up a good bit of my time. But when I have an idea in my head, it's just not going away until I do it!

Ta-da! Here is one of the book's I made for Rory's classmates. Her book has a different poem in it but it's the same construction. It helped that there are only 4 other babies in her classroom. There were many details I wanted to add (I wanted to have felt letters throughout instead of using non-toxic markers); but I was running out of time and had to reassess as I kept going. I wanted them done for the party and I wanted a book for each kid. So some details had to be sacrificed. There is a layer of batting inside each cloth page, just for added thickness. I then sewed each page to ribbons that are attached to the covers. That way it's all secure! I hope the kids enjoyed them (I know the daycare workers did) and if they stay in Rory's group, they can expect more crafts to head their way...for good or bad! Check out the pictures below and hopefully soon I'll be posting my and Rory's St. Patrick's Day craft. We recently had a mommy and me day (daycare closed for professional development day) and we took advantage for some fun. Hopefully I won't post it as late as summer!

Baby Gonzo Halloween Costume, all finished!

It is much delayed (though not forgotten during that whole time...just not a priority) but here is the finished costume! Rory's first Halloween, dressed as baby Gonzo, and she slept through the whole parade.

I dressed up as Nanny, though pretty much no one knew who I was. Hubby (below) put together his costume that week as animal. This photo is right before the parade, but she fell asleep right before it started. We walked through the whole thing with her passed out! Poor gal.

In the photo below, you can get a better view of Gonzo's face (some people in the parade knew her costume right away, but some little kids called her Elmo. *sigh*) I know I took photos of just the costume, but I'm not sure where those are at the moment. And you've waited long enough!

Constructing the head took by far the longest amount of time. There was a lot of hand-sewing, hot-gluing, stuffing (for the cheeks), and generally just patience that was required. The eyes were tricky but not as much as the nose. For the mouth and the bottom half of Gonzo's face, I added snaps. That way, it would be easy to put on her and just open up the mouth if needed. I also made the entire hood snapped to the body. That way if she got hot, I didn't have to take the whole costume off, just the hood! In the picture below at her daycare party, you can see how the mouth is unsnapped.

We included Camilla, a toy wind-up chick we have for the cats to play with. Sadly, we didn't win any prizes this year. But she looked so cute! And I've kept the costume because I think I can even turn it into a puppet of sorts. So, a very belated Happy Halloween! We've already though of ideas for next year's costume, though some of them she may  be too small for. And eventually, she'll want to choose her own costume. But I'm not ready to think of that yet!