Oh Joy, It's a Boy Nurses' Gift Jar

A couple of weeks ago I saw this picture online of a little gift jar to give someone when they have a baby (boy). I had been looking for something to do for the nurses when we go to the hospital, and so I really liked this idea. It's very similar to the Turkey Toes I made for Thanksgiving so I knew it would be quick and easy to put together.

I went to Hobby Lobby and got a large jar (not the mason jar kind) with a screw on lid. I couldn't find any blue and white polka dotted ribbon, so I got a white ribbon with blue and green polka dots.

I just put a line of hot glue down the seam of the jar, made sure I had enough ribbon to cover the lip of the jar, and then pressed it down.

I was able to find a light blue ribbon that I liked, that was smaller than I needed so I decided I'd use the larger white ribbon as a base and layer the blue ribbon over it. I just put a dot of hot glue at the top and one at the bottom and pressed it down.

Then I made a label on my computer, in Word and printed it, cut it out and then measured it. Then I went to my Silhouette machine and made a scalloped shape just slightly larger than the circle I had just cut out. I used light blue card stock and cut away! I used Elmer's Spray Adhesive to attach the label to the cardstock and then the cardstock piece to the jar.

Here it is attached. I made one for each side of the jar and for the top of the lid. I attached them all the same way.

Then I took the light blue ribbon and hot glued it around the lid and made a bow with the larger white ribbon. I just hot glued the bow at the seam of the blue ribbon, so it would hide it.

I cut the ends of the ribbon and heat sealed them with a lighter and it's all done! I haven't decided what exactly I'm going to put in it yet (something that doesn't melt if D leaves it in the car until after the baby is here).

But I thought that was a cute, easy way to say "thank you" to all of the nurses that help us at the hospital. I'm thinking it will be cute on their nurses' station!

Owl Treat Bags

I wanted to make a little "thank you" for the hostesses at Denver and my baby shower but was really unsure of what to make until I saw the cutest little owl treat bag online. Isn't this adorable? Of course, I wanted to make just a regular (boy) owl since it's or a boy shower. I bought a package of construction paper and a pack of brown lunch sacks - both from the dollar store. Then I pulled up my Silhouette program and started making shapes to match the girly Owl bag. I started with eyes. Then I moved to the chest area. It's easy to just make the first shape and copy & paste so that each bag is exactly alike. Then I moved on to cutting little owl "feet". The Silhouette just cuts the paper, you remove the blank space and are left with the shapes you cut. Then I made lots of triangles for the beak and the ears. I made them all the same size. Then I took out a glue stick and started going to work. First the chest, then feet, then eyes and so on. And this is "him" all put together. Isn't he adorable? I just folded over the top so that I could tape it closed. Tomorrow I'll share what I put in them!

An Inexpensive Gift

A friend of mine's birthday was Tuesday and I didn't get to see her, so her and another friend of ours and I went out to dinner Wednesday so I decided I wanted to take her a little something for her birthday. I have a card for her but I thought something sweet to go with it might be nice.

I ran to the store and got what I needed to make homemade chocolate chip cookies. I made some up, let them cool and decided to wrap them in a little cellophane. I got them all wrapped up and tied with a rubber band, but the top of the cellophane really needs to be trimmed because it takes away from the rest of the "package". I just trimmed a little off the top. If you're going to do something like this, make sure that you don't trim it even, make it a little jagged - it lays nicer.

Then I got out some "Happy Birthday" ribbon I already had and tied it with a small bow. I'm pretty sure that instead of store bought gifts, I'm going to be making more gifts like this from now on. For one, it's a lot cheaper and since I'm on maternity leave and not making any money - that's a plus and second of all, it's a nice "from the heart" gift that I think most people would enjoy.