CHA Summer Report: DinoTalk Talking Envelopes

I was sent a few of these recordable gift card holders to check out after I saw them at CHA and I must say, I love them!  A few months ago I was looking for a recordable card to give to my daughter's teacher.  She loves to hear my daughter's laugh so I though it would be fun to record that for her.  The recordable cards I found in the stores (if they had any!) were expensive ($6-$8) and weren't appropriate for our occasion.  I wish I had known about these back then!  They have a whole line of recordable products so you can even make your own recordable cards with their paper! 

Check out this video I made (with my daughter's help) featuring this product and what I did with it. 

This is a brand new product and I'm still waiting to hear back on where it will be available.  I'll keep you all posted!  In the meantime, I've got an extra one that I'll send to a facebook fan.  Become a fan before Sept. 23rd to enter!

Make. Teacher Gift Box and Card Free Download

Erin Schlosser is our guest blogger today. Erin was one of my roommates at the Mom 2.0 Summit and she's been a great friend ever since! She even let me crash at her place during BlogHer. She's also half of the team behind Fresh Nest Design.

Erin made a slide show tutorial so you can see how to make this great card and teacher gift box. You can find the links at the bottom of this post for the free downloads.

Download the card here and the box template here.

Learn. How to Make a Shaped Burp Cloth.

Burp cloths come in all shapes and sizes and there is really no telling which kind someone will prefer. For my son, I'd take anything absorbent. My daughter wasn't such a prolific drooler so I preferred something a little more sleek.

I attended a baby shower last night for a friend and I decided to make a couple of fancy burp cloths. These are made from a brightly colored flannel and some pink minky fabric. The minky is so soft that is feels just luxurious. However, it is super easy to care for which is a MUST for any burp cloth.

Supplies to make 1 (you'll want to make multiples so take that into consideration):

Flannel  10" x 20"

Minky  10" X 20"

Thread

Sewing Machine

Cut your fabric into 10" X 20" strips. Place one layer of flannel and one layer of minky on top of each other and fold in half. It should know measure 10" X 10".

You'll want to place the fold towards you and cut out the sections where it will fit over your shoulder. I cut approximately 1 1/2" off of each side starting at the fold and then curving outwards toward each side. You'll be able to see in the next picture the kind of shape I cut out.

Remember, this doesn't have to be precise. It is a baby burp cloth, after all. You'll want each side to match as much as possible but I just eyeballed it.

Next you need to place your fabrics right sides together and pin them in place. Stitch around the edges and be sure to leave a 2 inch opening on one side.

After you stitch, trim the seams with scissors or pinking shears. Then, you'll pull the right side of the fabric through the 2 inch opening.

Poke everything through and make sure your corners are all the way pushed out. Now you'll want to top stitch all the way around being careful to stitch over the opening. You can see an example of my top stitching in the very first picture.

I made two of these and rolled them up in a ribbon. This was a gift for a second child so I included a few of my felt flower ponytail holders for the big sister. Burp cloths make great gifts for any new or experienced mother. It's hard to have too many of these things on hand when you have a little baby.

Make. Quilted Coasters

I needed to make a quick wedding gift for one of my husband's students. I thought some coasters would be a nice, useful gift. Since I don't know what her home looks like, I chose red and black. This might not seem like a logical choice but those are the University colors and she's from China so the red signifies good luck. I made six coasters from 2 coordinating fat quarters.

This is to show you why I still pay other people to sew for me most of the time. This isn't even the worst one. Oh well. On the other side, you can hardly tell. They are reversible!

I based these loosely on the pattern found in the book, Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.
I just cut out 5 X 5 squares, seamed them up right sides together with a piece of low loft batting, turned them right side out and started stitching around to quilt it. All total they probably took just over an hour to do.

Feel like making some yourself? Post pictures of your finished project at my flickr group.