Link Roundup - Harvest Edition

Thankfully Hubs and the in-laws are able to be in the fields after rain and snow and more rain. Let's hope the nice weather holds! I think they should get done with soybeans today, and then we'll move on to corn.

Hopefully I'll make some time during Goose's nap today to update my Handmade Christmas post (no peeking for those of you on my gift list!) - I've been working hard!

Here's the link love for the week -

MAKE
Sometime, I'd like to get some felt food made for Goose. I stumbled across Lit'l Brown Bird, which has links to patterns and tutorials in her Etsy shop as well as links to some free ones. Valerie at Frugal Family Fun blog has some cute felt food in her new Etsy shop. (And, may I mention that I WON a super-fun felt food pattern in a giveaway at Today's Creative Blog?!?)

Happy Zombie has some very cute "poochie bags" made from three fat quarters.

I have to say I'm the kind of person that, when I'm in the middle of a project of which I may or may not be following a pattern, thinks "hey, I should put a pocket on this!" And now, thanks to Tipnut, I have one place that shows me how to make pockets for every purpose.

Goose isn't into letters yet, but the time is coming soon . . . I wonder if I could make something like this spinny speller from Chasing Cheerios?

EAT

DO
Valerie at FFFB also did some easy "baking" for the birds with her five year old.

Danielle Bean posted at Faith & Family Live about a new version of parental controls on TV called MPower Media. Sounds very interesting!

I totally thought I posted this last week but must have missed it somehow - Donielle at Naturally Knocked Up explains how to make elderberry syrup, which is supposed to be excellent for building up your immune system.

One blog I greatly admire is that of Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart. She has some really lovely alphabet coloring pages illustrated by various actions that we all want our children to emulate. You can also find G-J here. What a blessing!

The Happy Housewife has some excellent suggestions for frugal Christmas wrap. I think I'm going to jump all over the clearance Christmas fabric after Christmas and use it to make bags for next year. Awesome idea! (And, you could use my ribbon storage idea to keep track of your ribbons from year to year!)

Along those lines, The Prudent Homemaker has a guest post on Mom's Frugal on what to do for Christmas when you have zero budget for it. Great ideas there!

I try to be careful with my laptop, but I bet sooner or later I'll need to know what to do when you spill on your laptop, thanks to Trent at the Simple Dollar.

This is going to go on my craft-a-day list for my nieces this Christmas - mixing colors with shaving cream from Chasing Cheerios.

Same with this winter tree silhouette from Frugal Family Fun Blog.

PRAY & PONDER
Karen Edmisten explains why we pray for the dead, especially during November, the month of all saints and all souls.

Dan Burke wrote a provoking article about treating his wife as she deserves, after all, she is a Daughter of the King. Good food for thought, especially when I flip it and apply to my Hubs, who is indeed a Son of the King.

Bethany at the Apple Cider Mill has a great Advent primer post.

Danielle Bean has a great column on Sanitized Childhood at Inside Catholic.

Here's the video targeted at little ones for this week's Gospel message at Faith & Family Live.

Saturday Evening Blog Post

This month, I'm submitting my favorite post of the month to Elizabeth Esther's round up of the best of October. I picked Handmade Christmas, 2009 which is actually a work-in-progress. I'll be updating it with pictures of what I've made and how things turned out, plus I'd love to see other people's links to what they're making this year so feel free to leave me a comment! (And if you're my sisters-in-law or my mom, you still aren't allowed to click through, you scrooges. Sorry.) :>)

To see more of the best of October, visit Elizabeth Esther.com.

And also - Goose has taken a clip holding her crib rail off three times so far in this quite possibly failed naptime. I've duct taped the clip (and had only fleeting thoughts of duct taping the kid) but would love any words of wisdom on transitioning to a toddler bed, as it seems to be imminent. Thanks!

Cheap White Noise

When Goose was a tiny baby, it became clear that sleep was going to be an uphill battle with her. To make matters worse, her bedroom opens right into our living room, so that even watching TV at low levels or holding a conversation at a normal tone sounds like it is happening in her bedroom.

I read in a number of places to try white noise. Some suggested sources were a fan - which was too cold in early spring for a baby even if it was not pointed at her, static from the radio - new radios seem to try to edge into the closest signal and thus don't stay on static, and it just wasn't practical to run the vacuum cleaner every time she needed to sleep! (Though my carpets could have used the vacuuming, I know.)



I can't remember exactly how or when I figured it out, but I set up my fish aquarium in her room and used the air pump as the white noise. As a bonus, I could use the light from the aquarium as a nightlight. Of course, once she started crawling, that idea had to go out the window. But the air pump itself did not.

I disconnected the tube that ran into the tank, and coiled up and bound the power cord so that there was just enough room to plug it in and set it on the floor. It has provided about two years of white noise in addition to perhaps two or three years of use in an aquarium, so it seems to be lasting well. I don't remember what the cost was initially - I'm certain I picked it up at Wal-Mart, though, and that it was not a "top of the line" model. I've considered taking it with us when we travel, but I wasn't sure if it would be too weird for her to wake up to a familiar sound in an unfamiliar place. Regardless, this idea has worked very well for us!

And here's just one of those little things that keeps me from listing Goose on ebay . . . yesterday, she gave a short shrill squeal, as two year olds do to voice their displeasure with something. Immediately after, she very seriously and in a normal tone, said "calm down?" Yes, little one, I do want you to calm down. Thanks. :>)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom.

Fun Finds - Presbyterian Rummage Sale

I mentioned a while back that I got some good stuff at the Presbyterian rummage sale. (Why do I bother noting which church sponsors the rummage sales? Dunno.) Anyway, thought I'd show off my finds.

A set of wings for Goose. They need recovering, which is easy enough to do with knee-high panty hose. I don't know how I'll end up painting them (or if - I'm not very artistic that way). On this set, I noticed that that they are joined in the middle by felt that was glued on - that's definitely good information for re-assembly.

A stack of books with corresponding cassette tapes. I have an old but loved radio/tape player that I've been thinking about designating for Goose use (hee!) though I'm not sure she's quite ready for that responsibility. (A note on the radio - I won it at our last-day-of-school festivities in the seventh grade. I can still remember how excited I was to win it!)

A few different books. I've already given her Corduroy and A Rainbow of My Own (by the same author as Corduroy) and she LOVES them both. The Country Bunny book will be saved for Easter, as likely the garden book will be. The back two are tucked away for future possible home schooling.

This is what I suspect she'll be most excited about - a tool set. She's been a good little "fixer" lately and I've cracked up a number of times watching her lay down her little bike on its side and mess around with her little wooden hammer and a pair of plastic pliers. She'll be grease monkeying on tractors before I know it! There is also a little red drill that I think she'll enjoy, and because there was room in the picture, I threw in the sack of magnetic letters and a funky ball that I picked up.

Ah, yes, a picture of the random miscellaneous. Lots of good stuff here! Left to right (mostly) - a glass trinket box in the shape of a shamrock, since Goose was born on St. Patrick's Day, three hair clips - the new ones just aren't strong enough to hold all my hair up, a set of cute greeting cards, a couple pair of old black and white shoelaces, an assortment of old thread, some on funky spools, a little smiley face button pin with shamrocks for the eyes, a seamstress measuring tape, a big red button, some foil hearts, and a few tubes of glitter. (Whew.)

I can't remember now exactly how much this set me back, but I'm thinking it was in the neighborhood of $8. I was quite pleased!

Dehydrator Giveaway!

Remember how I was just being wistful about getting a dehydrator? Well, Keeper of the Home is giving away an Excalibur dehydrator! That's like the Cadillac of dehydrators! Click here to go sign up - and if you win, can I borrow it? :>)

Huge thanks to Katie at Kitchen Stewardship for the head up on the giveaway!

(And yes, I think three posts during one naptime is an all-time record for me . . .)

Link Roundup - Tricks or Treats Edition

Care Bear costume - check. Treat sack - check. Candy Corn Cookie Bark in case we have any relatives trick or treat us - check. Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin watched - check. We're ready for Halloween!

Thursday afternoon, I didn't have many links. I'm not sure what exploded between then and now, but this should keep you clicking for a while -

MAKE
I'm only a bit ashamed to admit that I still have the box of swiffer pads that I bought when I got my swiffer . . . in my defense, we ONLY have linoleum in the bathrooms and um, OK, I don't clean the floors very often. But once those run out, I think I'll use some towels to make these swiffer covers at Tipnut. (You may remember I made one of the reusable swiffer dusters a while back.)

This book sling is a neat concept for accessible books - I'm tired of picking them all up off the floor since Goose pulls them ALL down looking for the one she wants. Then again, sometimes I'm pretty sure she pulls them all down just for the fun of it . . .

Looks like there should be more details in the comments coming on how to actually *make* this odd corner play tent but I'm willing to bet Hubs could figure it out pretty easily.

EAT
Ah, bread, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . . and let me be a weenie about kneading and rising with this roundup of bread machine recipes at Tipnut.

Something tells me I probably couldn't sneak this past Hubs, but I'd still like to try it sometime - Mock Chicken Fried Steak at The Prudent Homemaker.

DO
As usual, I'm intrigued by the concept - spray paint over lace for a funky finish on a dresser (at Daily Danny).

This is a new one to me - dishcloth gourds at Tipnut.

There are some very cute painted (and otherwise embellished) pumpkins at Curbly.

There is an old school desk at my parents' with my name on it that just needs a bit of retouching, but I have another desk in my storage room that would be a great candidate for a school desk makeover like this one at Trey and Lucy.

My friend Kim gave me a heads up on this alphabet box at Itty Bitty Love (which is one of those blogs that I suspect I'll eventually throw in the towel and put in my reader :>)).

PRAY & PONDER
Fellow Nebraskan Karen Edmisten talks about not wishing time away in her post When They're Older. Though I'm aware of this phenomenon and try my best to avoid it, I still fall victim to it once in a while.

I'm saddened and a bit relieved for the family of Dorothy Gay Howard, who has been identified as Boulder Jane Doe who was found dead in 1954. The story has been covered over the past several years in a Nebraska newspaper because it was thought for a while that "Jane" could have been a local girl that ran away. There is also a follow-up story about how she may have been killed and who some possible suspects are. How difficult for the family that probably never gave up home that'd she'd eventually come home.

On to happier topics, I really liked this article on the Beatitudes at Faith & Family Live.

Also at F&FL, I'm looking forward to showing this video on Sunday's Gospel reading to Goose.

Have fun surfing!

Halloween Treat Sack

I've been waiting for a post to cross my monitor on how to make a sack for Goose to carry for trick or treating, but nothing ever did! So, this morning, I figured I'd better get moving on it, and I just made up my own as I went. It turned out pretty well. I have discovered that I am a lousy photographer when it comes to this sort of thing, so I have neither a bunch of pictures nor a fancy tutorial. But I do have a treat sack, so I'm happy.



I used some pumpkin fabric that I had on hand, and made the bag's size kind of adjusted to the piece of fabric and also the size of my Goose. (I didn't want it to be too long, specifically.)

To began, I cut the two front/back pieces 13" tall by 11" wide, two side pieces 13" tall by 5" wide, and one bottom piece 11" by 5". I kind of tried to pay attention to how the pattern on the fabric went, but the pumpkins go every which way as it is, so I didn't worry too much.

Pin one side piece to one front (or back) piece right sides together and sew using a straight stitch. Press the seam open. Repeat with the other pieces, making sure you're alternating - front (or back) then side then back (or front) then side. At this point, I folded the top down about an inch and pressed it then stitched it down. Because I was too lazy to fill a bobbin with orange thread (I had cream thread instead), I flipped it over and topstitched it so that I had one orange line and one white line. But that's just me. Stitch the final side to the front/back so you have a big tube.

I have to admit that the bottom didn't go on as neatly as one might hope, but it's homemade, and it looks just fine. I started by stitching one long side of the bottom piece to one front/back, pressed the seam open, and then stitched the other long side to the front/back and pressed open. Then I stitched the short sides together.

When you're sewing something like this, it's tough to get things to lay flat to press the seam open. What I do instead is fold the extra fabric down over the seam (pretty much folding in half at the seam, right sides of the outside are together) and press the seam inside out, so to speak. And it's kind of funny, because then I went back and pressed the seams the opposite way from the outside so the seams were more creased and it holds its rectangular "bag" shape better. :>)

At this point, I checked the amount of fabric I had left and didn't think it was quite enough to make the handles as long as I wanted. It was close, and probably would've been fine - but I knew I had some orange ribbon that I could use. I cut two pieces about 14" long, and put Fray Check on the ends to keep them from unraveling. I pinned the outside of the ribbon (I think it's 1.5" wide?) about 1.5" from the seams on the front and back pieces. I triple-stitched them down, so they won't have any chance of coming loose when the bag is bursting with candy.

Overall, I'd guess this project took about 2 hours with the normal toddler interruptions. I know it wasn't cheaper than the 50 cent jack-o-lantern bucket we saw at a garage sale this summer, but I think it's prettier and I think it will last longer, too.

Handmade Christmas, 2009

Here are some of the things I'm working on for Christmas and a few fall birthdays. Most of these come from my reading the whole internet posts or my bookmarks from before I had a blog. I have a favorites folder called "crafty" and several subfolders inside that. As I see things that I think might work to give as gifts or otherwise make or do, I bookmark it in those folders. When a holiday or birthday approaches, I dig through them and see what sounds good. I intend to come back and update with pictures as I get them done.

And if you're one of my sisters-in-law, MOVE ALONG! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! :>) (They both subscribe to my blog, and I'm trying to keep them from inadvertantly being grinches!)

For my nieces (who are ages 10, 6, 5, and 2):
* The oldest three will each get one of these I Spy bags. I've been picking up random little things at the thrift store to put in them, bargin bin fabric, and I bought a huge bag of rice and 1/2 yard of thick clear plastic like that which your grandmother may have over her tablecloth to protect it from the hooligan grandchildren. :>) I plan to make the window smaller on the oldest's bag so it's a bit more difficult. I'm thinking I'll write the list on a piece of fabric and stitch it on the back so it doesn't get lost.

* The middle girls will each get a homemade camping lantern.

* I'm working on a a "quiet family" for the youngest. I liked both the wooden version and a cloth one. I like how they're made without mouths, hence the quiet part. :>) I was able to find the wooden version pretty inexpensively at Hobby Lobby - I think both the bag of "kids" and "adults" were $4 each or less, and the box was around $2. I have recruited my dad to trim the bottoms so the mamas are shorter than the papas, and, in the case of my nieces, they're four different sizes.

* My youngest niece will get some of this play makeup. I requested makeup and nail polish on freecycle, and I was tickled with how it turned out.

* For my middle two nieces, I am planning to put together a craft-a-day kit because last year, the glow of being at Grandma's kind of wore off a few days into the several-day visit. So, this will give them something to do, and it's kind of "consumable" in that it's not a whole bunch of stuff my sister-in-law has to haul home and find a place to put. Win-win-win!
*** flubber
*** fruity smelly painting
*** gak
*** oobleck
*** no-sew bags
*** paper marbling
*** marble run
*** (which got me thinking about a domino run)
*** puffy paint (though we won't do ghosts and I'm thinking about a bit of food coloring mixed in here and there - like this post from Chasing Cheerios)

For my sisters-in-law:
* As noted earlier, I plan to make them each two of these button and wire brooches. I'm using buttons out from a huge bag I got at a rummage sale last year, Hubs brought me some wire. It's not quite as easy as I hoped, but I'm getting better as I go along.

* Since they both live in cold places (Colorado and Alaska), I was planning to do hand warming gloves. I thought about instead making a small pocket on the outside of the gloves so that they can remove the rice bag and warm it without warming the whole gloves. Instead, I made little palm-sized warmers that they could tuck either in their palm or on the back of their hand. Of course, I didn't get the idea to embroider their initials until I was done with the first one. I mean, I really tried hard to make them unique! I used some new tan felt I'd found at the thrift shop and three strands of embroidery floss.

I will say that it appears to be the year of the blanket stitch. :>) My mom taught me how to do it and I'm loving it!

* The post that kicked the blanket stitch craze off is Frugal Family Fun Blog's hand warmers. I used pink felt, also found new at the thrift shop, bound with a blanket stitch using three strands of varigated embroidery floss. I kind of based the size off the size of the piece of felt I had, but I think mine are a bit big (here's hoping my sisters-in-law have big coat pockets!) - Valerie's are more the size of a deck of cards, and I think that's probably better. Valerie also has a more masculine denim version here.

* I was planning on just doing this for one SIL but I might pick another word for the other . . . and perhaps for the in-laws, too. I really like the idea of these photo letter frames, and in the comments, there is a link to MorgueFile.com which has kind of a creepy name but I'm finding some great pictures to use. I was thrilled to find some long, skinny "poster" style frames at the thrift shop for a buck each - I wasn't able to find (thus far, anyway) actual collage style frames that are long and skinny. I'll check into having some mats cut for them at Hobby Lobby, and if that's prohibitvely expensive, I'll try my hand at cutting mats myself! I will also likely paint at least two of the frames - they're metal and a bit banged up.

For my 9-month-old nephew:
* He has requested a few more pairs of leg warmers, so that's easy enough! Well, except for choosing which ones to give him, that is. :>) (Feel free to visit my Etsy shop if you'd like some leg warmers for your special little one!)

* I made him a crinkly owl, which I thought turned out great! I used fleece instead of felt because I wanted it to be totally washable. I went bigger with the eyes, using a baby food jar lid as my pattern. I gave some thought to doing some sort of claws but thought that might be overkill - he won't care either way. (And please note that the owl is blanket stitched all over the place.)

* Thanks to the suggestions in the comments, I'm working on a set of blocks for the little guy. I bought a piece of 4" thick foam at Hobby Lobby and used this post at eHow.com on how to cut foam. I'll tell you, my hands and wrists were sore from pulling my electric knife through the foam, and I certainly should have put it up on the table instead of the floor because my bunner muscles and thighs were SORE from kneeling, squatting, and otherwise dancing around while cutting. Mercy. Oh, and I put one of my cheap, large cutting boards under the spot where I was cutting with the knife - you will ding it up, and badly.

[Side note on the foam - it was about $22 and I used a 40% off coupon - you can find those here. It was 22"x22", so I'm thinking of making extra blocks and selling them in my Etsy shop. Maybe a set for a baby girl?]

On my shopping trip to Hobby Lobby, I found the fabric you see - it coincidentally was a print with 4.25" square blocks! I cut it apart so that four blocks were together, and I'm stitching on a top and a bottom, so to speak. On the advice of both my mother and MIL, I'm using a zig zag stitch for strength. I'm leaving two sides open for stuffing the foam in, and then I'll hand stitch them shut. And, of course, I'll have to make some sort of bag to hold them.

Any other suggestions for a baby boy? Or a toddler boy, since his birthday will be coming up in March - and Chrismas will come around next year?!? Per Sarah's e-mailed comment, I'm looking hard at something like these puzzle blocks from the Land of Nod. I'm thinking I'll paint the blocks then decoupage on pictures, or maybe even just use patterned scrapbook paper. First of all, though, I'm thinking I'll sand the edges so they aren't too sharp!

For Hubs:
* He isn't nearly as big on games as I am, but I'm hoping I could get him to play Quatro with me. With some help from my dad on the cutting, I think this could come together pretty easily!

For our mothers and my sisters-in-law:
* I like to make calendars that feature a picture of Goose from (approximately) that month the previous year. It's fun to see how she's grown! I make the calendar part in Word - it's basically a "table" the size of the page that's seven columns by five rows, and then adjust the days and numbers as needed. I also put in that side of the family's birthdays and anniversaries, so I end up with two versions of the calendars. I then use Publisher for the picture pages, and I also have had fun including little quotes that I've found - I especially like The Quote Garden.

* The past two years, I've traced Goose's hand and then embroidered it onto a piece of fabric . . . I think of it as a Christmas ornament, I guess. The idea for that came from Plum Pudding, though it's a bit different with only one kiddo. :>) I'll get a picture of mine when I dig out the Christmas stuff and post it.

* Last year, I found a package of blank note cards and envelopes in a variety of colors. I also traced Goose's feet and took a thumbprint, and scanned them into my computer. I made it easy on myself and just digitally flipped them so I had right and left without trying to hold a kid still for so long. I used Paint and darkend the outside line, then filled them in with different colors. I ended up with some pretty random stuff, but I'll include them below for your enjoyment. (You'll note I made good use of the "rotate" feature".





















Some things I've made for gifts previously:
fabric and button barrettes with an update, though I don't think the buttons ever stayed on very well. Mine are here.

bangle bracelets (mine are here)

sidewalk chalk paint

ribbon dancer (mine is here)

tulle pony tail holders

tutus

silhouette pendants (Mine are here)

super foam-erators

this headband, the ribbon one from here and I didn't make this but I really wanted to! I intended to make some for Christmas, but after checking with her mom, I learned she's kind of growing out of them.

What are you making for Christmas this year? I'd love to see links in the comments!

And for more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom. For more handmade Christmas ideas, visit Abbi at Proverbs 31 Living! (Her link will be updated next week when she posts the next installment of her Handmade Christmas series.)

Link Roundup, Making a [small] Profit Edition

My Etsy shop where I have listed my leg warmers is doing passably well. I've sold nine pairs, though six have been to people I already know. Still, not too shabby! I was thrilled - probably more than I should have been - by the three random people who purchased. It's also funny the ones that have sold out, they weren't the ones I expected. If I had done this last year, I could have made more of the animal ones . . . I can't find any this year. Ah, well.

Let's get to the link love!

MAKE
If you are one of my sisters-in-law, please do not click through to these button and wire brooches because you're probably going to get one for Christmas. (@ Crafty Pod)

I'm highly amused by some of the projects at Evil Mad Scientist. I'm thinking this might be something to tuck away for a few years until Goose and Hubs are ready to do some experimenting.

We're lucky that Goose hasn't had very many bumps, bruises, or falls, though I suspect that may change as she gets braver and tries more new things. It would probably be a good idea to have some of these homemade ice packs from Tipnut in the freezer at the ready.

This is one book that we don't have - and I didn't read in my childhood, either - but here are a number of crafts that go along with the book Where the Wild Things Are at the Crafty Crow. As an aside, though, we HAVE been thoroughly enjoying reading Corduroy - which I can't believe my Hubs never read as a child.

While I don't do much fresh flower arranging around here, I really like the idea of these pom-pom yarn flowers for little hands to arrange, from Happy Together.

EAT
Angela had us all drooling on Facebook when she noted she made Cinnabon copycat cinnamon rolls from All Recipes. I would love to make these, but my tendency to eat the whole pan would be a problem. Not for me, really - except for my rear - but for Goose and Hubs who would have to smell them and not get any.

These cranberry granola bars sound great! I never make stuff like this because I don't want to buy stuff like wheat germ and have it go to waste. But maybe if I bought wheat germ, I'd make stuff like this more often and get it used up?

I like to make candy at Christmastime mostly because I can eat a bit and give the rest away. (That's right, willpower is NOT my strongest virtue.) Homemade caramels from Giver's Log sound *awesome* right now.

Made it and thought it was great: slow cooker Italian chicken meal. Thanks, Amy's Finer Things! I also served it with some Sister Schubert's rolls that I got at Wal-Mart. It was a delicious meal. (The one my parents could've had if they'd have visited . . . too bad for you!) :>)

Can't go wrong here - candy corn bark at The Idea Room with a recipe for peppermint bark, too.

PRAY & PONDER
One quote from this article at Faith & Family Live on Mary and God's Mercy - "To receive [God’s] mercy, we must admit our faults" - I think we must also resolve, with the help of God's grace, to knock it off, too.

I thought there was a lot of wisdom in the article "No Family, No Peace" (also at F&FL).

This piece at F&FL links to four articles on Finding God in Infertility. Pretty powerful stuff.

Stitched with Love

One of my many cousins recently had a baby. I wasn't able to attend the shower for her, so I sent a gift when my parents visited her parents.

Since I quit work to stay home with the Goose, our budget has become much smaller - the same story as many families out there. My mother-in-law bought me a very nice sewing machine and helped me re-learn what my mother taught me so many years ago about sewing.

For my cousin's gift, I selected a pair of hand stitched baby leg warmers that I made, (that link will take you to my post on how to make them, you can see my Etsy shop here and all the styles I have available here) and I made some crinkly taggie squares.

I've linked to crinkly taggie squares before in a "Reading the Whole Internet" post, citing this post from Chasing Cheerios that references this post at Joy's Hope.

Pictured above, one square was camouflage print on one side with black on the other, and the other square was light blue on one side and a farm print on the other. (I have posted before on how I organize my ribbon scraps using wooden clothes pegs, and I have some tips on getting fabric and ribbon on the cheap in my baby burp cloth and taggie blanket post.)

Unfortunately, I'm drafting this post without the benefit of an internet connection, so I'm unable to pull those posts up and tell you exactly what I did differently (since I tend to be a tweaker!). I think I cut my squares about 6.5" square so that they'd be about 6" with seam allowances. Not sure if the posts recommend it or not, but when I sew something and turn it inside out, I trim the corners diagonally (cut off the "peak" - but don't cut too much!) so they lay better once turned inside out.

I also cut the crinkle piece (I used part of a wipes refill bag) a bit smaller and stitched it to the plain side of fabric, making sure that the writing faced whichever piece of fabric that seemed less likely to let it show through. I also topstiched (if that's the right word?) a tic-tac-toe design to help hold the pieces together. You could also do an X, or anything else you wanted.

Something that I am considering with the crinkly squares - I'm not sure how well the bag will hold up to washing and drying and, well, constant crinkling by a little one. I have read of people using items such as washed cereal bag liners (I think it was this post on Frugal Family Fun Blog?) where others weighed in and identified that they may be sprayed with a chemical preservative - not really something you want a little one gumming! I have asked a friend to save me wrappers/liners from organic food items (anybody else want to collect them for me? :>)) and am hoping that will be an appropriate alternative.

The wonderful thing about handmade gifts is that all the while I work on them, I pray for and think about the recipients. They certainly are one-of-a-kind, and since I'm a careful shopper, they permit me to give of my time and love instead of just money. (And that’s definitely a finer thing!

For more frugal ideas, visit Life as Mom and for more finer things, visit Amy!