The Perfect Father’s Day Gift

father's Day

Amanda was in full panic mode.  Father’s day was just a few days away and she had no idea what to buy. She really wanted to show her husband how important he was to their family and make his face light up with delight. She wandered around the home improvement store, but buying him a new tool might be like him buying her a vacuum for a present. It would remind him of all the work he needed to do instead of telling him how thankful she was for who he is.

playball

Next she headed to the sporting goods store. She felt dizzy looking at the vivid colors and meandering paths. The store had music playing plus shopping noises echoing throughout the place.  Feelings of sensory overload and overwhelm creeped in. She didn’t know where to begin. She thought about a gift card, but he hated to shop.  This was a no-win situation.

tie

She couldn’t wait to leave and go to more familiar territory.  At the department store, she  looked at fresh smelling leather wallets, silk luxury ties, and crisp dress shirts. He would look so handsome in these, but he didn’t enjoy dressing up.  He put on a tie for church every Sunday, and it came off in the car on the way home.  It would get use for sure, but it wasn’t going to make his face light up.

Whatever gift giving occasion: birthday, Christmas, or Father’s Day, she always asked him what he wanted and he always said the same thing. A firey gleam would come in his eyes as he said, “You in a big red bow.”  Then he would pantomime untying the bow as she blushed up to her hair roots.  She would go buy something, anything, that he could open in polite company. No matter what she bought him, she never saw the look of pure delight she was hoping for when he opened it.

MELT

THEN, her favorite blogger told her about MELT.  She had tried giving her husband a massage before, but to his disappointment her hands and neck would cramp painfully before 5 minutes had gone by. These PG rated videos promised to show her how to give a long lasting massage without hurting herself in the process.  With instant access for life, it was an investment that would be reused over and over again, all for less than the price of one professional massage.

Even better, MELT had prepared in advance how to package the gift perfectly for Father’s Day with downloadable printables that she could stick in all the little places he was sure to find them. It was designed to build anticipation and curiosity with the final clue leading to a wrapped package of massage oil and his favorite chocolates to open.

massage oil chocolate

She started to smile as she thought about the look on his face when he found the first note tucked in his shoe, then the next under his coffee mug and the next taped to his steering wheel.  She wasn’t normally a creative person, but this was all done for her.  It was perfect and easy and it was going to be really fun.  Maybe this was the year she’d want that big red bow after all.

Click Here to get MELT for yourself

Keep in Mind

1. 60 day money back guarantee –  if her hubby doesn’t like the massage, you can get your money back.

2. Online video access – instant access for that last minute panic gift

3. Monthly payment plan to fit in small budgets

4. Lifetime access to Melt – This is a win-win.  When hubby is itching to get his hands on you, he can use the techniques too.

5. FREE foot rub videos included with each purchase of Melt. So hubby can return the favor later with an awesome foot rub. This ends on the 19th of June – Father’s Day.

 P.S. I’m using the video series for Darren’s father’s day gift and you are going to love Denis’s Australian accent and instruction style. It is very professionally done and easy to implement.

Baby Gown and Hat Set for Free

Baby gift Idea #2. Are you brave?  How brave?

Brave enough to sew with knit?  What if it were free? (Well… free according to the craft hoarders rule book.)

Photo Credit ThisMamaMakesStuff.com

If you have a spare t-shirt, you could make a darling infant gown with it and if it doesn’t work out….you only lost the shirt.   Even better, The pattern is free from This Mama Makes Stuff.  Her tutorial includes how to make the fold over cuffs to protect the babies from their own sharp fingernails.

Here are my sewing with knit tips:  Use a ball point needle to keep from tearing permanent holes in the knit.  Use a longer stitch length.  If you can reduce the pressure on the foot a little to keep the fabric from stretching out of shape.  If you have a walking foot, you could do that instead.  If things do get stretched out of shape, try to steam them back with the iron. Then just relax and enjoy it.  Sewing with knit is my FAVORITE!  No basting to ease in seams, it just goes together like a dream. You are going to love it!

If you have some fabric leftover from the shirt make a matching hat:

Free pattern here:

Preemie hat pattern

and a less ink printable pattern PreemieKnottyHat

If the knit is fairly stretchy it will fit a newborn well too.  It’s on my 9lb 2 ounce bouncing baby boy above.

So Let’s say the shirt was “free” and you got the gown and hat out of it.  And then spent $3.75 on flannel to make a blanket and 2 burp cloths….You could wrap the gown, hat, and burp cloths inside the blanket (using the blanket as “wrapping paper”) and man, what a cute gift you have for less than $5 and about 2 hours worth of sewing.  Aren’t you clever?!

 

 

 

How to Make a Noah’s Ark Diaper Cake

You will need:

2 receiving blankets

4 burp cloths

2 wipes containers

1 small package of size 1 diapers

A children’s book or this

Giraffe teether toy

Washcloth animals (opt.)

Rubberbands

Plastic tray (with metallic finish from Dollar Tree)

Ribbon

 

Place one wipes container in the middle of the tray. Ignore the two rubberbands you see, you won’t need them. Put one rubber band around the middle to hold the diapers in place.  Use half of the diapers to wrap around the wipes container and secure with a rubberband.

 

Fold a blanket lengthwise until it is just slightly taller than the diapers and wrap it around.  There will be a 3-4 inch gap in the center.  Use a toy to cover the gap (Or you can use a burp cloth here.)  Secure with rubber band.

Make the second tier from the remaining half of the diapers.  I just put a rubber band around them to secure them in the same shape they came out of the package. The third tier is just another package of wipes.

 

At this point you can secure everything together with rubberbands and help Mr. Giraffe hold his head up.

Wrap the top two layers with the remaining blanket and burp cloths.  Tie on ribbons to hide the rubber bands. Gently lay the book on top for a roof.  (Take the book off for travel since it isn’t secured in place.

I added this little elephant made from 2 baby washcloths.  I’m not very good at making these things, so stopped at the 1 elephant.  I used these instructions:

And cut the eyes out of a blank white address label.

 

 

 

A One Yard Baby Gift

I love giving, but sometimes I get gift anxiety.  What if they don’t like it?  What if they think I’m cheap? What if I spent all that time and it doesn’t come out right?

These feelings could all be avoided if I just went to the store and purchased something and gave them the gift receipt.  Sometimes I do that.  But this year….oh my!  I think everyone and their dog is planning to get married and have a baby this year, then throw a birthday party and invite one of our kids to it.  I’m glad they are, and super glad they invited us.  Sometimes the gift budget doesn’t stretch.

It just gives a reason to be a little more creative, right?

(I once talked to a friend, who admitted to turning down birthday party invitations for her kids because they couldn’t afford a gift.  Hey, y’all.  Don’t do that here, mk?  I’d rather have you sans gift then let you worry one moment about finances.  Our kids have enough stuff and they won’t even notice, I promise.)

So I thought I’d talk about gifting this month a bit and give some ideas for what to do for baby showers, weddings, kid birthdays and such.

First up is this one yard baby gift.  You will need 1 yard of flannel; and 1 clean towel or scrap of terry cloth  at least 16 x 18 inches. At Hobby Lobby 1 yard of flannel is $5.99 use a coupon and this gift will cost around $3.75 (with tax.) I used knit terry leftover from diaper making. If you use woven terry, use as thin a terry as you can get–cheap towels are perfect.

 

First find the selvage edge of your fabric that is printed all the way to the edge.  Cut an 8 inch strip off this edge, then cut it in half to get two 18 by 8 inch pieces.  (These will become 2 burp cloths.)

Cut the remaining fabric into a perfect square.  I fold it into a triangle and cut off what’s hanging off–super technical method ;). This will be a perfect receiving blanket between 36 and 34 inches square.  Ever notice that the store bought ones are too tiny to be any good?  I used to make mine 45″ square, but really those were too big.  These are perfect.

Fold the flannel square into fourths, perfectly lining up the corners.  Take some time to do this well. Then, find something round and trace a rounded edge on the outer corner.  (Double check–no folds here, at all–right?) Then cut it out. (I used a Scentsy top–see the logo? #notanashtray)

 

Next run the edge of the blanket through a serger adjusted for a rolled hem. No serger?  Try this.


At the place where you start and stop, dab a little bit of fray check to keep it from unravelling.

 To finish the burp clothes use the 2 flannel 8 x 18 pieces you cut out as a pattern to cut 2 pieces of terry cloth.  Place the rectangles right sides together and stitch around the outside with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leave a 3″ space for turning.

Turn right side out and press.  Then top stitch a scant 1/4 inch away from the edge all the way around.  This will close up the hole and make these wash and dry nice and flat.

1 yard = 1 receiving blanket and 2 burp clothes for $3.75. (Update 3 years later and flannel is on sale for $2.50–score!)

High Five!

If your budget is a little bigger than that, buy 2 coordinating yards and make double.  Or add a toy or an outfit.

I’ll show you what else you can do with these tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Preemie Knotted Hat Pattern Download

Here’s a great free pattern for you.  Make a hat in 10 minutes and donate it to your local Pro-life Clinic or Newborns in Need.  It also makes a cute package topper fro your next baby shower gift.  This is my favorite baby hat because the knot helps it stay on, its super soft, and it looks so cute!  It is best sized for babies weighing 4-7 lbs.  My model, Brandon was a plump 9 lbs and though the hat worked, it was plenty snug.  Click here to get the pattern.