Fleece-Tie Baby Blanket

A few weeks ago, my dear friends Megan & Andrew welcomed their first baby into the world! While I have yet to meet little Aiden because we sadly live in different states, I already love the little guy. Megan is my first close friend to have a baby, so my mind was racing to create the perfect homemade baby gift before Aiden was born. I was having trouble deciding what to make for him as I was wandering aimlessly through Joann's. I was getting frustrated, but that's when I saw it! Indianapolis Colts fleece fabric! At the Folsom Joann's! It was meant to be! Megan and Andrew are originally from Indiana, and having watched the 2010 Colts SuperBowl loss (sorry Andrew) with them both in Seattle, I knew this was a gift the whole family could enjoy. I swooped up the Colts fabric and matching gray fabric for the bottom, and raced home to get started on a baby blanket :)

Although this wasn't an official MIHM project, I wanted to share it on the blog. Fleece crafts are a favorite gift idea among the Girls Team. We love the sports team fleece because it makes for unique gifts. You can't buy these at your favorite team's website! My Girls Team partner recently made a fleece-tie pillow for my brother, one side Giants print and one side 49ers print. We've also made Giants scarves out of Giants fleece and of course, Lola has a fleece-tie blanket in Giants print!

Ok, so here's the quick and easy guide to making a fleece-tie blanket. They are so simple!

First, purchase your fleece fabric. You will want two patterns, one for the top side, and one for the bottom side. I purchased one and a half yards of both Colts fleece and solid gray fleece.

After washing the fleece, find a space large enough to lay out your blanket. You don't need to iron it. Lay it flat with the sides you do NOT want showing, touching each other. Cut off any excess fabric to make sure they fit together nicely.

Cut 4 inch squares out of each corner. This will help when you need to tie knots at the corner edges. Notice that your blanket will shrink in size as you cut and tie knots. Factor this in when you are deciding how many yards to buy. I've had fleece blankets turn into lap throws because I didn't think about this when meauring ahead of time!

Now, cut 4 inch strips into all four sides of the blanket. They don't have to be perfectly measured, but you're aiming for 4 inch long cuts, about 1 inch apart. Do not move the fabric after this cutting begins or the blanket will not align correctly when you are tying knots. Once all of your cuts are made, tie the strips (one strip from the bottom fabric, one strip from the top fabric) together with a double knot to secure.

Continue tying strips together until you have tied up all four sides. This is pretty tedious, but doesn't take longer than 20-30 minutes.

 

Once all of your knot are tied, your blanket is complete! No sewing required :)

 

I finished Aiden's blanket in one night. Then I packaged it up, and sent it off to Seattle. I'm hoping with the rain coming down, and football season in full force, Aiden will get lots of tummy time on his new Colts blanket. Another benefit of fleece baby blankets are that they are machine washable, which will come in handy. I've heard Aiden already spit up on his blanket, surely to let us know he approves of his gift :) Megan is a fellow blogger, and if you want to see baby Aiden wrapped in Colts pride, you can check him out on Megan's blog. What an adorable fan!

Hot Glue Gun Palooza

Quick post this week! My Girls Team partner and I both had some DIY projects that we needed to finish up before the holidays arrive. This week we each finished our own projects, sharing one common tool - the hot glue gun! I love the hot glue gun. It's a great alternative to sewing if you need to quickly secure materials and it is so easy to use. Although, I burnt myself last night and am now nursing a nice little blister on my finger, so maybe it isn't that easy. Hmm. Anyway...

My mom made beautiful napkin rings for Thanksgiving. Using wooden rings, ribbon, and fall themed flowers she was able to make pretty, homemade napkin rings in just under one hour. I think they will add a special touch to our table decor next week and they look store bought! Good job mom :)  

 

My project has to remain top secret because it is a DIY gift that I am giving to many of my friends for Christmas. But, I will leave our loyal MIHM readers with a little sneak peak...

 

 

One week until Thanksgiving! The holidays are here!



DIY Gift Boxes

Guys! Christmas is coming! Can you believe that? We can't, but we want to be prepared for all the gift giving we plan on doing. So this week, we made homemade gift boxes out of scrap book paper. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but I LOVED how they turned out. They were so easy and cute.

 

We found this cool Martha Stewart craft tool which helps score paper, and then pulled out all of our scrap book paper for lots of options.

 

After selecting our paper, we cut two pieces into 8 inch by 8 inch squares.

 

Lining the paper up on the scorer per Martha's instructions, we scored each 8x8 piece of paper. This marked the paper so it was easy to bend, but not cut completely through to the other side.

 

 

Then we folded along the scored lines and made one cut on each corner, all facing the same direction.

 

 

 

Lastly we folded the sides of the box up, using double stick tape and glue dots to secure the sides. We also used a piece of tape inside the box to secure it.

 

 

When making the second half of the box, we scored the lines in by 1/16th so the bottom box is smaller and can fit into the top.

 

For some flare, we added paper on the inside too :)

 

 

Once we got the hang of making these, the Girls Team was cranking out gift boxes! We plan to make many more. There are no limits, all we need is scrap book paper and a few embellishments. These boxes will be perfect for gifting baked treats, small gifts and even these magnets. 

 

 

Here is a close up of my favorite one :)

 

Sometimes I find Martha Stewart pretentious and annoying in her craft instructions. However, these were so easy to make. Her directions were simple to follow and we didn't have to spend a ton of money on supplies to make these. Martha's kit also had instructions for greeting cards and envelopes, so the Girls Team is brainstorming for that project too. We are really happy with our DIY Gift Boxes and can't wait to give them away at the holidays :)