Gender Neutral DIY Baby Shower Gift Ideas

I am headed to one of my best friend's baby shower this weekend, and I am super excited to see all the ladies and babies!  However, this strong friend of mine has held out in finding out what the gender is of her FIRST BABY at the request of her husband!  This is fun and exciting and all, but it makes gift giving difficult.  Especially when I want to hand-craft gifts special, just for this little sweetie.
Aimee has special requested one of my {Monthly Onesie Sets} as her baby shower gift, but I don't want them to be gender neutral, so those will have to wait.  BUT, I can't show up EMPTY HANDED, right?!
So, I went on a Pinterest Hunt to come up with some cute, and easy gifts for options to take to the shower.

I hope you enjoy my collection of DIY Gender Neutral Baby Shower Gifts below! [Click the image to follow a link to the tutorial]

Burp Cloths

Do Not Disturb Sign

Diaper Caddy/Organizing Bin

UpCycled T-Shirt Bibs

Soft Blocks

Closet Dividers

Alphabet Art

Nursing Cover

Taggie Blanket

Baby Blocks

And of course, what I've schemed up to make, I cannot find a tutorial for--- so I guess I will have to make my own for you all!

It's along the same ideas as this:

Christmas Card Book

I better get started!  Stay tuned to see what I've come up with!

{Autumn Paper Crafts} a curated collection for looksi square

Hi Friends!

I curated a collection of Autumn Paper Crafts for looksi square this week and thought I would share them with you!  I found some really fun projects.  Take a look at the photo sneak peak below- and please click on over to looksi square to find the actual tutorials and blog posts!  Have a great weekend!

Halloween Decor {Boo REVAMPED}

I love saving stuff from the dump- especially something that has sentimental value.  But, ONLY if I can put it to good use!

My mom was SOOO good at making each and every holiday special for us kids in some way (which I've written about before), and I love thinking back on my childhood and remembering those things she did (mostly VERY cheap, or even free things) to make each little holiday special, in some way.

Most of the time those special feelings were created with the use of crafty decor.  I'm not sure where she came up with this Halloween Sign- but it isn't half bad, really.  And I couldn't stand to let it get tossed into the "dump" pile as we were cleaning out the garage last week.

I remembered that I purchased a BLACK feather wreath on 75% off clearance at Joann's last winder and then knew exactly what I would do with them!  

I cut it all apart and ended up with these three "BOO" letters that were in desperate need of painting.

After some "Vintage White" spray paint (about 6 coats to cover up the splatter paint), they were beautiful.

I used some black sturdy ribbon, strategically hot glued to the rear of each letter to tie them on the wreath individually.  I paid close attention to what direction I wanted my letters hanging out to figure out which direction to glue on the ribbon.

My mom, is MASTER of bows--- she can make them big and beautiful or small and beautiful- unfortunately a skill I have yet to learn from her, but I love to watch each time- hoping I will learn.
She made me a beautiful bow with some vintage style black and white striped ribbon to adorn on the wreath.

It turned out simple and beautiful, exactly what I wanted.

A little something to add to my so-far small collection of Halloween decor to assist in making Madisyn's holiday a little more special.

Did you make a wreath this year for Halloween?  I'd love to see and hear about it- please leave links in comments!

Linked Up At:

Wow me Wednesday at Ginger Snap Crafts

Wonderful Wednesday at Ducks in a Row

Show and Share Wednesday at Mostly Homemade Mom

Book Page Wreath

How I spent my 31st Birthday....

My lovely sister Emily of {LOLA FLORAL}, graced Madi and I with her presence for my birthday.  Kyle is on a big hunting trip in Wyoming and was gone for my birthday, and is STILL gone---we miss him so much.

So, with all that's been going on and Kyle being out of town, I was kind of a grumpy mess on my special day =(  Having Emily here was a breath of fresh air.  I love talking business with her and bouncing ideas off of each other.  

So, she asked me what I wanted to do the morning of my birthday, and I decided it would be fun to drive into Port Angeles (we are currently calling Sequim, WA home) and do a little Antiquing.  So, we got ourselves a Pumpkin White Chocolate Latte', and drove the 20 minutes to the town next door.  It was Sunday, so we weren't counting on a lot being open in a small town, but we had a great time!

We ending up pulling some inspiration from the best (only 3 half-way descent booths to draw from) booth inside an Antique Mall.  The artist had done some working with paper and made a beautiful wreath from old book pages.  I decided making one of those wreaths with my sister would be the perfect Birthday Afternoon, so we finished our Antiquing there, and stopped in at Joann's on the way back home to pick up a few supplies.  

Supply List

• Old Book/Hymnal/Sheet Music- I have a stash that I cherish {see how I've used them before here}
• Foam Wreath Form
• Greening Pins (50-100)
• OPTIONAL- Floral Ribbon, embellishments

The Process

Emily and I chose different books- and it is amazing how different our wreaths turned out- we decided sheet music would have been a fun approach, or even spray painting the edges of your book black or even a funky color before you start tearing pages out would create a unique look.

All you do, is tear a page out of your book, fold it in the middle and crumple, then push one of the pins through the middle and shove it into the wreath form.

My book pages were way thinner and way more fragile than the one Emily chose... so take that into consideration- I had to be very ginger when folding and pinning in order to not rip the pin right through.

Just repeat this process over, and over and over keeping a close eye on holes created from not putting the pages close enough together into the form.

I did put some in the "inside" of the ring and "outside/bottom" to make it look super full.

Emily wasn't happy I wanted to take her photo while she was working, because neither of us had showered, or cared what we looked like that day (perfect birthday)... but I did it anyways, and isn't she cute?!

Here's us together with our finished products- I absolutely LOVE mine and found a beautiful mirror to hang it on.  [Do make sure, you only use this wreath indoors--- the paper will soak up moisture if it is outdoors and it will be ruined]

I'd love to see photos of your's if you make one and see how you chose to embellish!

Linking Up At:

Make, Bake, Create

Inspire Me Wednesday

The 36th Ave

The Weekly Creative

[Sshhh Veggie-Turkey Chili] & WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!

Good Evening Friends!  You may have been wondering where I've been.... honestly- I HAVE TOO... We moved, as I mentioned before.  And the cleaning, organizing, unpacking and doing that OVER, and OVER again has consumed my life.  I can't seem to get back into a normal routine of create, clean, cook, craft, work, ship, soap, photograph, blog, exercise, play with Madi.  Hopefully that will come soon.  For the mean time, I apologize if you've missed us- I sure have!

The only sense of "normalcy" I can seem to find and document has been cooking and BAKING... I know, weird right?  BAKING, ME?!  Well, the zucchini's here at Grandpa's house are GOING NUTS- I can't wait to show them to you, and the fun recipes I've been trying out and modifying!

But for now, check out how many veggies I HID in our dinner tonight-

• Zucchini
• Red Pepper
• Hatch Chili
• Onion

ALL OF WHICH MY HUSBAND DOES NOT LIKE and will pick out of he sees them, ridiculous- right?!

I'd love to share my recipe with you!

Ingredients:

• 1 shredded zucchini (I use my food processor, or a cheese grader)
• 1 chopped Red Pepper
• 1 shredded Onion
• 1 chopped Hatch Chili
• 1 package ground Turkey Breast
• 2 cans Beans of your choice (I typically use dried beans, but they have to be soaked over night, and I didn't plan ahead this time) {I used Pinto and Kidney- but I love to use Black as well}
• 1 can Diced Tomatoes
• Chili Spice Mix

Now for the process:
Use a large pot and turn your pan onto Medium.  Dump in the ground turkey and start grading and chopping your veggies.  Layer the veggies on top of the turkey as it begins to brown.  Once you've put them all in, give it a stir.  After a few minutes cooking it will look like this.

Let it continue to cook for about 20 minutes, giving it a stir frequently.

Then, add in some spice!  I LOVE, this Chili Spice Mix by my baking addiction.  You know I don't like to measure, and I didn't have any mixed ahead tonight, so I just pulled up the list and added a few teaspoons of this, and a few teaspoons of that... Although, I left out the Cayenne this time, since I had some fresh Hatch Chili's from my Bountiful Basket.

I also add in a little bit of Better than Bullion- have not heard of it?!  

Familiarize yourself!  It's wonderful when you don't have any homemade stock in the freezer!  I think I added in about 2 table spoons along with my 2 cans of beans and 1 can of tomatoes.  Make sure you use the whole can of beans, don't drain them.

Now, you could just bring it to a boil and serve it up, but I like to let my Chili simmer, for a while.  Tonight it sat on the stove on low for more than an hour until Kyle got home and the corn bread was done baking.

Eventually the veggies (sshhhh) reduce to almost nothing, and that makes for a happy wife, cause the husband doesn't notice they are there!

I had a few ears of corn left from my basket, so I shucked them, cut the kernels off the cob, and added them in, right before serving (that way they didn't get smooshy)

It was so good, Madi ate two bowls, and Kyle didn't mention a single Veggie, AND I didn't get a presentation photo of it in a bowl, I was too hungry and then it was gone.

I'd love to hear of any other recipes you use to hide veggies!  Please share.

I am hoping this is the first of my re-regular posts to come!  See you soon!