Ribbon Pinboards - Pottery barn Kids

Pottery Barn Kids
Jillian Ribbon Pinboards $59-$99

My Covered Pinboard

I recently saw these adorable ribbon pinboards in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and thought they were very cute (and of course pricey!). It reminded me of the pinboard in my daughter's room. I had this really big bulletin board from my college days. When I was trying to make some decor for her nursery when she was a baby, I had no money, so I picked up some cheap fabric, and using my trusty staple gun, covered the bulletin board with the girly fabric. (I stapled it on the back). I cut little slits in the back where the fabric covered the hanging hardware, then attached this big pink ribbon to hang it on the wall with. That was almost 3 years ago now, after seeing the pottery barn ones, I'm tempted to recover it with new fabric and add the criss-crossing ribbon. With a yard or less of some fabric and some grossgrain ribbon, I can easily have a replica of the Pottery Barn Pinboard for only a couple bucks! Either way, with some spare bulletin boards and fabric, you can create a similar effect and save yourself up to almost $100!!!

Ocean Theme Baby Quilt

Brown and Turquoise Ocean Baby Quilt

fish Applique

Jellyfish Applique

I fell in love with these fabric combos I found at Joanns. I had a friend who was having a baby boy and both her and her husband are surfers so I wanted to include a bit of an underwater theme into the quilt without it being too tacky. These matched her nursery colors based on her registry so I was stoked!
On the backside I used soft flannel and appliqued fish, a starfish and a jellyfish.

Make your own Monster!

A year or two ago, I came across this Make Your Own Monster Kit at the famous FAO Schwarz toy store in New York. The kit retails for $249 and allows a child to design their very own monster, then send in the drawing and have it made into a custom plush toy. I thought "what a fun idea!" I wanted to do it for my nephew ever since but didn't get around to it until this Christmas. When he visited my mom for Thanksgiving, I told her to have him draw a picture of a monster (without telling him about what I wanted to do with it). She then emailed me a copy of it and I used felt and buttons to make this toy. I wrapped the toy up with his drawing included, when he opened it he was so surprised and excited, and then told me he wanted to be a toy designer when he grew up!
This monster toy makes a great gift or just a fun project to do. It didn't take long and it was really fun to make because I wasn't stressed about making it perfect and having perfect seems...actually, any mistakes or uneven areas just added character to the creature!

Update: I just came across a great tutorial for doing this same project! And since I didn't create my own tutorial as I made mine, you can use this great on over HERE at Little Birdie Secrets. ENJOY!