Personalized Christmas Ornaments are Back Again!

I know it seems strange to be thinking of Christmas ornaments in July but I have to work on them very early to be able to make enough ahead of time to not lose my sanity, fingers, and marriage in November and December.  Just kidding on the marriage part of course, although I know my husband appreciates me working ahead on these things.

Last year the ornaments did better than ever and I want to make sure they continue that track this year as well.

I am going to continue doing my classic bunny ornaments.  The elephants will reappear as well but with actual ears this time (you can see them in the pictures above.  They will also have eyes but I was just testing the ears out)!  Here are some others I’ve been working on.  These are just my first drafts that I made a few weeks ago.  As some of you may have noticed my blogging has left something to be desired this summer so I am just now getting to show them.  I was wanting to post them long ago to get your feedback.  I have started making some but still welcome your thoughts.  The octopus and moon would have a face on one side and then the personalization on the other.  Got any other must have ideas for ornaments?  I am excited about my elephant ears although not looking forward to cutting about 500 of them out!  I will probably have some of them available in multiple colors.  The green one is supposed to be just a classic ornament shape which would make it easier to be used for all kinds of personalization uses.  I still need to tweak the shape though.

I was hoping to start getting them listed by the end of July but it may be more the middle of August.  We’ll see if I can get myself moving a little faster.

This summer has been such a whirlwind.  We went on an epic journey to North Texas, Louisiana, Florida and then Mississippi to visit family and for Ken to go to a conference.  It was a great trip but a lot to put 3 little kids through.  We were so proud of them though and it was the best they have done on a long trip yet.  After that I can’t even remember the timeline anymore but we had family visit us, Ken was gone to youth camp, we hosted some guys from Scotland, had a week of Vacation Bible School, and much more.  So far most of July has been much calmer!  William decided to finally start crawling on July 4th.  He’d been SO CLOSE for two months before but chose Independence Day to finally gain his own independence.  And that boy is now everywhere.  He’s also used his face to catch his fall a few times so the poor baby has had some nice scabs on his nose, bruises on this forehead, and a fat and bloody lip from his bottom teeth biting his top lip.  Thanks for your patience with my absence.  I have also been super busy working on my shop and adding more to it.  Please feel free to have a look.  I plan to give a discount code very soon on my facebook page so if you want it, go ahead and like my page!  If you don’t want to wait for a code I also just added bulk discounts in my shop.  You get a small discount for buying 2 prints, a bit more for buying 3 prints, and even more for buying 4!  And if I haven’t mentioned before all of the prints are available in two sizes 5 x 7 and 8 x 10.

How has your summer been so far?!  I hope it has been full of adventures as well as rest.  Go anywhere exciting?

Baby Gift Idea: Baby Quilt

Here’s another peak at a fabulous handmade gift given to one of my babies.  This time it is from my lovely mom.  She is oh so talented and decided to take on the challenge of making baby #3 a little quilt without knowing the gender.  The results are really great.

She ended up making it a very personal theme by having the quilt represent our two etsy shops….The Nesting Spot and Starlit Gardens.  She did this using two of her favorite things batiks and applique.  The batiks represent the stars and then at the bottom corner is a little bird with a little nest.  You’ll notice the three eggs for the my three babies.

My mom loves to play with lots of color and patterns.  She is so bold and it really works with this blanket.  I know this is a gift we will always treasure.

There are so many types of blankets and quilts in the world and thanks to the internet and craft blogs there are tons of tutorials to teach you exactly how to make them.  The next time you have someone close to you having a baby, consider making them a keepsake that is beautiful and useful.