Photo book

Yesterday’s post mentioned I purchased a small photo album to save holiday cards for our granddaughter.

These little photo cards are a snapshot of our immediate family’s year. It is a family tradition. These cards are distributed to our friends and family, long time friends of the kids, and some of DIL’s family.

I am adding to this tradition by making a photo book for granddaughter each year. The photo book will be an expanded version of the holiday cards. I am including information and photos about all seven of us. It will be a family photo book (not a baby book). 

I am gifting this family photo book at what might seem like an unusual time, Valentines Day.

February 14 deadline (each year) gives me plenty of time to construct and order the book reflecting January 1 - December 31 of the previous year. 

I can get the whole previous year in, including Christmas and New Years, by using Valentines Day as my gift date. 

The title of each book is the year. That helps simplify. The books will be very uniform.

The family photo book gives me a family tradition gift to send each year, on Valentine’s Day. 

This meaningful gift will help avoid gift clutter. It will probably be less expensive to send a custom photo book than buy nonsense and pay shipping. I will have it shipped directly. 

Having the deadline be tied to a holiday/gift should ensure it gets done once a year. A deadline is important. My deadline will be granddaughter’s family tradition.

Granddaughter was born late spring 2024. So yes, the 2024 book will be a partial year, for granddaughter’s pictures, but it will still be a very full book. There are activities for the other six of us, from the whole year. We had two baby showers prior to her birth. There are a lot of baby pictures. We all visited in 2024. There are six pets in the family. 

Baby gift ideas - part three

Middle ordered a sensory box and we made extra “tissues” with family photos on them, to add to the box.

We used some of the same photos from the baby photo album (yesterday’s post).

We used unwashed white cotton fabric, our printer, a borrowed *iron pressing machine, and this product -

* The photo transfer paper instructions said to use an iron with no holes in bottom. My steam iron has lots of holes. My long arm quilter had a press. I drove to her house/shop and did the transfers easily. I did not think to take photos, but this is the model press she had -

Baby gift ideas - part two

Middle bought a baby photo album (Amazon).

I ordered family pictures from Shutterfly to fill it. 

All the photos were from the last two years, we included our immediate family members. 

We included all six immediate family pets (4 cats, 2 dogs).

We learned - showers

Middle went to a baby shower given by mother of the soon to be new dad. So this was a young pregnant girl being given a baby shower by her mother in law.




We have seen this happen before, so it is a thing. And that is why I am making note.

The couple is young and does not have a lot of $$$ and she was upset with the gifts she received. She was counting on getting new baby staples. And she got mostly fluffy baby stuff. 

The baby is due in a month. They were counting on the shower.

Now, yes, there is the whole - maybe you should have waited a bit to have a baby - topic. But this couple has actually been married for several years and this is a planned baby.

But I am here to say, in these circumstances if you are the grandmother to be, giving a shower, sit down with the couple and help them make a very very good list of only the things they REALLY NEED. Then help them or have someone else help them get their gift registry set up right. And then contact all the family and friends you know well enough to call. And make sure they are only getting very practical things, on the list.

And introduce couple to garage sales if they are pregnant in the right months. Ore resale shops in the winter.  Help them make their list and teach them to barter and to be very picky on quality. And save the things that should only be bought new for the shower - like car seats, diapers, pacifiers, bottles, etc.




After the shower, helping the mother to me, middle heard  how worried and upset this girl was. 

Middle was able to tell them - my mother had the bare minimum of baby stuff - on purpose - three times. 

Because I did not have all the seats and pillows and stations and equipment stuff. At all. (I did not even have cradles or cribs, but I do not recommend co-sleeping even to my own kids). I had car seats, high chair, baby bath tub. That was about IT on furniture/equipment.

Ant farm, church toddler bag

Here is post one on my church toddler bags.

Here is post two.

Super handy to keep the supplies on hand and be able to pull these bags together easily.

I keep a supply of used church board books on hand from garage sales and resale shops. I can find ones in like new condition easily. I use those like new board books in my gifts, it helps keep cost down.

And these (lunch size) bags are always a hit. They are on topic (religious theme for a baptism). They are clever/unique. They are cute. They are appreciated.

The mom opened the baby gifts at the end of the day. The dad was busy with the older kids in the yard. When he came in later, I noticed my toddler bag was the one gift she showed him, saying how cute, clever and great.

The other gifts the baby got were actually clothes. This is fourth child and they are starting over. Everything was either donated or pitched after baby #3. But I noticed she got too many of the same sized clothes. Everything was in the 0-3 month size range. So while it is great, it is going to all be out grown soon. They should have planned (her mom, two aunts and grandmother) and gotten equal amounts of 0-18 months, in my opinion.

This was baptism and two birthdays party.

I had a picture post (below) of the pj's and sleeping bag set for the girl's bday gift. She is 6. That was a hit too. Makes a great package.

I got an ant farm for the boy. He is four. A mature and smart 4. That was a hit too.

Ground turkey/migraines. And the gummy fiber pills.

A couple months ago I had ground turkey (extra lean ground turkey) burger, and then I got a migraine.

A few weeks later, it happened again.

And I thought I remembered it happening other times in the past. Like I had vague notion it was a pattern in the past too.

I called my husband and told him I thought I was now (freaking) being triggered by extra lean ground turkey.

And a few hours later he said he had looked it up and the ingredients were turkey and rosemary. Did I have a history with rosemary?

I was not sure I had ever had Rosemary other (evidently) than when I was getting it with the ground turkey. I don't even have Rosemary in my spice collection.

He said he did not think ground turkey was causing a migraine but we should try it again on a day that nothing else was likely to cause a migraine (my cycle, a storm, stress, etc).

So we tried it a few days later. NO migraine.

We tried it again a week or so later, no migraine.

So what I think was happening is that on a day a migraine was possible, I was feeling the first tell tale migraine line of pain, I craved a burger.

Now I want to add that I have had other things where I ate them for years and then one day I could not eat them any more (cantaloupe, cashews, beets, etc). So I do watch for patterns. Patterns are important for both migraines and asthma.

But I have found other things that I was subconsciously picking up on body cues and then reacting.

An example of this is gummy fiber.

I thought it worked for me.

I was not taking them at a regular time. I was taking them more impulsively, but every day.

And each time I took them, I pooped within a short interval.

But one day it occurred to me that I might be attracted to the sugar. And I might be taking them when I was subconsciously picking up on body cues.

So one day I THOUGHT about taking them, but did not take them, and I still pooped a short time later.

AHA!

Very interesting.









I have been meaning to note (all that) for a while. What brought it to mind today, was a post in Amalah's archives about gummy vitamins and cavities.

http://alphamom.com/parenting/toddler-parenting/toddler-toothbrushing-wars-continued/

I am against gummy vitamins in general. I think kids need to take big pills and little pills and shots just because it is something you do. It is a life skill. Sugar (and cheese) does not have to go on everything . . .

And if you start brushing teeth very early, the kids just don't know any different. And going to the dentist can be eased.

(Amalah writes she uses a brush that goes on the finger and brushes her kids teeth after nursing/bottle as part of going to bed routine. She writes a lot about not nursing/bottle to sleep, but instead nursing and then brushing, rocking, singing, book and THEN bed starting by about six months. And she writes about no bottles at all after 12-13 months. I have no pacifier or bottle experience, but it is still interesting to read. Because yes, I have seen 3-4 year olds with one of those many times).

Ditto with showers, water on face, going under water. (Yes, I know that sometimes an incident can create a fear of something they have always done). But if it is something they have just always done, you do not have a four year old freaking out about putting their face in the water at swim lessons.

Hooded Toddler Towels

I use my blog to remember things.

I am not sure any of you sew regularly.

If anyone needs more information, let me know.

I am just posting enough so that I will remember for the next batch I make.

The fabric is 40"+ terry cloth, bought at JoAnn's.
I cut off the selvages. Then I simply square it.
I intend for these to be toddler towels. I think big is good.

I use a large plate to round the corners.
This plate is (just slightly) larger than a dinner plate.
I leave the hood corner pointy,
until I have sewn the hood/towel layers together,
then I cut it all off in a curve.

I cut an  11 1/2" square and fold it in half (diagonally) to form the (triangle) hood. 
That made binding much simpler.
I used the terry fabric as my hood, which means I bought a little extra.
These online directions gave me an idea of the hood size.
I did not follow the rest of her directions. 
I just used the measurements of the hood to give me a general size idea.
(I could not think of a toddler to borrow for sizing. 
But I did use a large, purple stuffed monkey.)

This is the hood in one corner.
It is a square, folded in half on the diagonal.
The edge of the hood is the fold line.
I leave the point on the corner of the towel and the hood.
I mark the curve with a pencil. I sew a zigzag, 
just inside the pencil line to hold the (3) layers together.
Then I cut on the pencil line, through all three layers.
Then I bind this corner as I bind the whole towel.
The hood corner is the same as all the other corners, it is just three layers thick.
I use put extra stitching, during binding, where the hood and towel meet,
because that spot will have more stress then the rest of the towel.

The first one I made, I didn't think about rounding all of the corners.
My miters are perfect, it is a lovely corner, but rounded would be nicer.

It takes two packages of binding for each towel.
I miter the ends together before I start, so it is one long piece and easier to sew.
I sew the binding on the wrong side and flip it to the front to finish.
I machine sew the binding. It is actually stitched four times.
I straight stitch it.
I zigzag to prevent fraying.
I flip it and straight stitch binding closed.
I zigzag over the straight stitch.
It is easier to sew the binding on curved corners because then there is no mitering.

I did figure out what to do with the towels and how to handle the soft dot fabric

I first wrote about my quest for towel ideas here.

And then I wrote about my hot mess with the soft dots and minky type fabrics here.

Today I sit here with two items finished, sewn very nicely and easily.

There is a chenille type bath towel half on the back, soft dots make the squares, packaged silk type binding makes the end borders, silky bridesmaid dress fabric makes the binding. There is a piece of flannel in the middle (I sewed the squares together using seam tape to prevent stretching. Then I sewed the rows to the flannel with a quilt as you go technique, so it is all very stable.) After everything was layered, I ran it through the serger and also zigzagged to seal the edges before I sewed on the binding. In other words, those puppies are not going to fall apart easily.

These two are 28" x 31" (half a bath towel each) and are identical.

I flipped one so you could see the towel backing.

They are a nice, heavy weight.

My intention is to give them as toddler gifts.

Our little seven year old and her mom will be here next week, I will see what they think before I make any more.

Soft and comfy dot fabric and (darned) rectangular towels that feel great

If you remember, I have made lots of flannel swaddling blankets. We use them as baby shower gifts. And sometimes new baby gifts, if there wasn't a shower. We give them in sets of four with an instruction sheet for swaddling a baby. I started out with a mountain of them. And they are dwindling.

I was ready to do something different, to replenish my baby shower stock. But I have sort of dug myself a hole. I need help figuring out what to do.


http://www.joann.com/soft-n-comfy-dot-fabric/prd33722.html#prefn1=type&prefv1=Soft+N+Comfy&start=1

That is the link to JoAnn's Soft and Comfy Dot Fabric. I have large pieces, smaller pieces. I have been picking it up on sale.

I was looking for Chenile (type) fabric to put on the back to make very tactile baby blankets. What put this in my head was a sensory blanket our little seven year old had as a baby. But, no Chenile (type) fabric anywhere that I can find. I looked for anything else, tactile, but all I could find was variations of fleece, all the same general feel. I thought about cutting up Chenile bedspreads, but the problem is the patterns. Cut up, it is just a weird fragment of pattern.

So then I found bath towels at JCPenney's that I liked.

http://t.jcpenney.com/tablet/jsp/browse/pp/product.jsp?Ntt=&ppId=ens6003920003&categoryId=cat100250084&deptId=dept20000012&subcatId=&grMode=&regId=&colorizedImg=DP0331201500202979M.tif&cmcatId=&currentDim=&dimCombo=&currentDimVal=&dimComboVal=

I bought them in (2) aqua, (1) light blue and (1) green. They were on sale for around $7. They are still on sale, I could get more. I picked the hems out, serged the edges to prevent fraying, and washed them. They washed beautifully.

So now I am sitting here looking at my pieces, trying to decide what (in the heck) to make.

The bath towels are of course very rectangular. That is (totally) throwing me.

The simplest thing would be to take a large piece of the comfy dot fabric, put it right side together with a towel, sew and turn right side out. But I am trying to figure out if/how that would be used with a baby. It would be very tactile. It would be weighted. But it would be very rectangular (30" x 56"). If I wrapped it as a gift, what would I say it was?

I have considered sewing two bath towels together. It would be almost a square. And it would have substance. It could be used for putting a baby on the floor. (I gave middle's former boy's mother a large square much like that, but made out of two layers of sweatshirt fabric, for her first grandchild, for visiting her house last year. I bought it at a craft show and was really pleased.) It would be a great pad for the floor. The towels would sew together easily, because I have the picked out hem edges (which are not tufted). And I could sew squares of the soft dot fabric in different colors (for the other side) to make it look quiltish.

I guess as I write, that is what I am going to do unless someone can suggest a purpose for the 30" x 56" size. Because, as I said, if I can think of a good (genuine) purpose, that would be easier to mass produce. But I am not making them unless they are very practical.

I added a lot of pictures/ideas on the quiet church bag topic

Here is the first post.


Things we learned (about the bag) -

Put a small pack of Kleenex in the bag.

Read the board books, at home, a lot, so the child knows them by heart and can "read" them at church as they flip the pages.

So, I think having books that are prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, like we discussed) is actually the best plan. I have those two, will be looking for more. ADDED LATER - I found some possibilities, pictures below. Please let me know if you find any others.

I think an I Spy church book would be really great. ADDED LATER - I think I actually found some, they are not board books, but they look like an educational version of I Spy for the bible. Pictures below.

The extra pages/scenes in the magnetic set are paper, and are meant to be placed against the inside of the tin to have things stick. (Not a fan of that concept) So, I am taking the pages to the hardware store to see if there is something (not sharp) metal that I can glue on the back. There are a lot of great animals in the set, four places to stick would be better.  ADDED LATER - nothing that would work at hardware store (and it is a huge one) so trying teacher supply store.

Lacing cards were big hit. Middle had to tie knots on one end of each string so they did not pull through the starting hole.

I also think the bags should not come out until a set time at Mass. Maybe it is after the Entrance/Greeting. It might be fun to have the kids watch for the priest and recognize them by name, and then get to open their bag. Maybe it is much later. But I think a delay and tying it into Mass would be smart.

I discovered, on Cafe Press, can search by the emblem/image/artwork and find all the products using it. So, I was able to find all three, on the style lunch box I loved.

AND

I found some additional books for consideration.

NOT board books, and I have not seen them, but looks like the I Spy concept I was pondering.

Kids Quiet Bag for Church turned into my GO TO gift for Baptisms

Here is the second post on the quiet church bag topic.






I must like having "go to gifts" for set occasions. Actually I guess it is more accurate to say - I love having a great idea for a gift and then being able to fine tune it and give a variation of this gift each time this occasion arises.






I have mentioned my current favorite for weddings is a pitcher. They are very rarely given/thought of any more and I think much appreciated.

My "go to" for baby shower/new baby is swaddling blankets which I make out of flannel. Again, not likely to get duplicates and much needed for a baby.

Our favorite for confirmations is a (15") beaded cross. We love these. We do not make, we buy.

Our standard for high school graduation recently has been letters hand painted by middle. We have given lots of these. (If we are invited to baby shower, we give the blanket. If we are sending new baby gift to the same family, we do letters.)

I still do not have a set gift idea for First Communion. So if you have ideas, I would welcome them.





I now have a set gift for Baptisms - Church Quiet Bag. And I love it. Very original and not likely to be duplicates. I put a note (below) with it explaining to save for preschool years. Sometimes there are grandma/first grandchild baby showers and one of these bags would be a really, good idea.

I mentioned this quiet bag for church way back here, asking for ideas. I got great ones.  Thank you. Which lead me to do a little web searching.

Remember, my goal was to only include church related things. And I tried for Catholic too.

Since I have been garage sale-ing, this has been especially fun.





This bag had a bit of an evolution, here is my thought process -

This (below) ended up being my inspiration piece. I did not buy it. Although one could, use it as it is, or add to it. It is a very reasonable price.  The bag I bought is the next picture. My bag is bigger. And my bag being bigger lead to different bags.

Love the illustration on this bag (below). Can't beat the price. I kept this one for myself. Very roomy. Too roomy in fact. Which lead to me buying the next bag(s) as my gift(s). In fact, I ordered three.

These are lunch bags. I thought I was going to like the brown handled ones best. But these were made to roll the top edge over a couple times to secure the Velcro. This is just awkward. I ended up taking them apart, attaching the velcro at the bag's top edge, and moving the handle higher. Yes, a lot of messing around. I did it for the two brown handled bags I had already ordered, below. Not ordering any more of this style. It is the third picture (below) that I love.

I had also ordered this third bag, because I loved the picture. I did not think I would like the style of the bag, but I really  did. Very good handle for little hands. There is velcro at the top to hold everything in the bag. The bag is actually very roomy.  I ended up using this bag as my Baptism gift  this past weekend. My RCIA sponsor's daughter had a baby over the summer. We (husband, middle, middle's boy, and I) went to the Baptism and then back to their house for an Open House. 

This is the first thing I put in my gift bag this weekend -

 I do not think any of my kids had these type of magnet sets, so it was a totally new to me idea from the comments on my original post. The tin box is 6" x 8 1/2" x 1" so it is a very nice size for a church bag.

I also put this lacing set in my gift bag this weekend -

Ordered these lacing shapes (Noah's Ark theme, so still church related). This was in comments too, I think. And also in my inspiration bag. I think I was picturing heavy felt, for some reason, looking at the Amazon listing. It is very nice, durable, strong, firm plastic. Very easy to hold and lace. The aglets (or eiglets) are nice and long, for easy stringing. Really nice set.

 I also put this little set of books in my gift.

Other books sets I have ordered and now have on hand for Baptism Church Quiet Bags -

These (below) are all board books. I found them at used book stores and garage sales. These are in my bag (that I am keeping, now you know why I kept the big bag).

These first two are most definitely Catholic. 

Second set of two clearly Catholic also.

Patricia Pingry has some really excellent board books. These are not Catholic books (per se) but I really like what she does.

 These two are also not Catholic. Youngest went through them at the bookstore and said that there was nothing in them that was confusing, and we loved some of the pictures. So we were very pleased to add them to our little collection.

These are just sort of universal themes. And they 'go' with my Noah's Ark magnet set.  

I can see having several sets of themed stuff which is switched out regularly to keep the bag fresh and interesting. I would not load my bag with all of these things at the same time, but mix them regularly.





I have my eye on these last three magnet sets (below). I think they would be great additions. I am making note of them here. BUT I think they are too big to fit in the lunch size bags. They would have to go in the big bag. -

To give you an idea of the (larger) proportion of the bag I kept for myself -

These are the items I included in the Baptism gift this weekend, I just put them in the smaller lunch bag with the exact same picture. And there was plenty of room in that bag for a lot more things.

And two more items (below) I noticed. Not for my Church Bags, but as good gift ideas for small children for religious events.

Kids' church bag and story of my paternal grandmother's purse

Added later - this is my follow up post with my own church quiet bag and the Baptism gift that followed.

We have sat in a pew in front of a desperate dad, with a grouchy toddler, and only one toy in the diaper bag which happened to jingle.

Last week we were at mass with our six year old who wrote notes, attached star stickers and passed them around (there were 7 of us in pew/together).

Neither one of those particularly bothered me. But I NOTICED.

I am collecting stuff for a Kids's church bag as I see it.

The rule on my bag is only one thing at a time. If you want the next great thing, have to put the first great thing away (no passing).

And all my things will be pretty silent.

And if they can be church related, that is preferred.

Board religious books (with great pictures, maybe no words) are the first thing to come to mind.

Other ideas please?




Story of my paternal gradmother's purse.

I remember my grandmother well. But actually I do not remember this "magical" aspect/fact about her purse (at all).

My mother has always said, very fondly, that my paternal grandmother could easily, quietly passify many children with her sort of magical purse.

My grandmother had a sixteen year spread between between the oldest and youngest of her own four children. And her first grandchild arrived when her own youngest was about 4-5. So I think she never got out of "mom thinking". Her head stayed in the game.

My mom said magical things would appear out of grandma's purse and be passed down the pew or across the table. Colored pencils, bits of fun paper. I am not sure what all. I do not think any of this would have been purchased for kids. I have a feeling she kept her eyes open and picked up samples and bits and simply stuck them in her purse.

My mom did not actually do a lot with kids. She really never got IN the game, so I can see how obvious things in a purse would seem magical to her (and normal to me as a child).

And if she was somewhere with a fussy child (and had nothing) and her MIL always had an answer in her purse, it would seem great.




To this day, and starting very, very young, my own kids ALWAYS bring things with them. A book, homework, earbuds/music/audio book, something.

I do not care for a fidgeting, bored kid. We are a busy family. Sometimes there is a wait or delay. Sometimes one thing leads to another. They all have learned to think ahead, bring a sweater, wear the right shoes, bring a water Kanteen and perhaps a snack, and something to do.

Baby Swaddling Blankets - we are making them again

Okay, this first one, middle had everything wrapped before I remembered I had not taken pictures.

Luckily I had fabric scraps to show -

This box went to the east coast. Oldest sister of one of youngest's best friends had first baby. A girl.

We put an instruction sheet in with each set of blankets. Not sure if swaddling is common knowledge or a lost art.

This second set was for a baby shower middle and I attended last month.

Yes, these are the same style headbands I posted a while ago.