Old baubles become new again

I felt inspired by Pip's crocheted baubles, but left my run too late to find clear baubles in stock anywhere. I thought about crocheting around these old Ikea baubles I bought when Chris and I first got married 9 years ago, but then got another idea. What I did with my trusty glue gun is fairly self explanatory! You can see the red bauble in this post. You can also see a crocheted heart from Pip's tutorial I made last year.

In a few years our tree will be positively festooned with handmade goodness. It will be a different tree than this one (also 9 years old) as it has lost one of its more substantial branches. I thought about replacing it this year, but I'll get one in the sales. (Dreaming of a "real" Christmas tree for one day- but didn't fancy having it on our carpet which is less than 6 months old!)

Nursery in a nook

My mum, sister and my brothers' wives surprised me with the gift of a little crib a few weeks ago. It was lovely to get one as a present, as we had never bought one for our babies, and it will be passed onto my younger sisters when they start their families one day.

I had been planning up until this gift to pop baby straight into her own room (as our room isn't big enough for the full sized cot). But with this gift, set to decorating a little nook in our room for our spring baby.

The garland was made using this Cakies tutorial, the beautiful birdy decals were from here (the rest are in the baby's room), the heart was an op shop find from some time ago, and do you spy Jess' gorgeous crocheted panda potholder? He is lovely.

Meet Emily, not a gift for the baby but for Jemima when the baby is born. You will no doubt recognise her as a Dandelion bunny (available from here). She is so beautiful, I want one too! I thought she looked right at home in this little scene, so I snapped a pic, then hid her away again!

I made the crib sheet out of a vintage sheet. The same one I used to back the baby quilt actually. It was my second attempt that was successful as the first turned out a little small. I used this tutorial over at made, but had to come up with my own dimensions.

The little artwork I made using patterns printed out from this website, was inspired very much by Castle and Things art, as well as the ladies over at Dottie Angel and Thimbly Things. I cut out letters and hearts freestyle using scissors and used a small paper doily, sticking everything on brown paper (which I had stuck to cardstock for extra strength.)

I met a lady with a tiny baby at the park this afternoon, who went to the same hospital I am going to. She was told she was having a girl, and in actual fact had a boy! She had a feeling she was having a boy, so it wasn't a huge shock, fortunately! I have no inklings about such things, but I have held onto Caleb's old clothes just in case they have it wrong... and I'm sure he won't mind if there are flowers and pink in his decor!

Nesting?

I never got any nesting urges in my previous pregnancies, but this time around, I feel a little bit like our baby's arrival is a deadline for getting a whole lot of cleaning out and crafting done. I know from previous experience that life does indeed go on after baby comes, but I guess I want to be as prepared as possible to simply enjoy the last time I will bring a newborn home.

Pictured above is Caleb's snuggly blanket. Another giant granny like Jemima's, but a bigger hook (8.5 I think) and Lincraft's Veronica yarn. I started this last year and ran out of yarn, so it's nice to get it finished. And Caleb likes it. So does Chris. So do I. I think that I need to make another one.

These are the result of some impulse buying when I was at Lincraft buying yarn. I bought the letters and used some acrylic paint to decorate. The patterns are traced from the Stencil 101 book by Ed Roth. (But not used as stencils as I wanted the brown to show through the white. For some reason.)

They need to be spray varnished, but as the gloss I have has a warning on it (something about being toxic for unborn babies, yikes) that will be done either later or by someone else!