3 Tiny Blessings

A shop worth mentioning.


A few weeks ago, I won a beautiful blanket and appliquéd burp cloth set from 3 Tiny Blessings. I have to say, when I get something for free, I usually don’t expect much. I have to say how happily surprised that I was when the package arrived.

First of all, the blanket and burp cloth arrived wrapped very nicely with a matching grosgrain ribbon, as if I were receiving it as a gift. It is always a nice surprise when someone takes the time to package something like they would want to receive it. It shows that they care about their customers. I spent several years in business management and development, so I have to say that I can tell the difference between doing the minimum, and going the extra mile. Vickie at 3 Tiny Blessings goes the extra mile.


On to the good stuff. Love the blanket. It measures 39” x 40” just like in the original description. I have an experienced quilter in my family, so I know good work. This is good work. Straight, neat stitching, on the handmade binding (that’s the pink around the edges). The blanket is light weight; Pink flannel on one side, and patterned cotton on the other. This means it can be used year round in all climates. Those of us in the cold parts of the country know how to bundle a baby, but our warm neighbors can also use this to block the sun without overheating baby. That is always a good thing!


The burp cloth makes me want my daughter to be a baby again! Vickie took the same care on this binding. I have to say that making curved edges is not an easy thing to do, but she makes it look like it is for her. The flower appliqué is made using the same pink flannel as the blanket plus a coordinating green flannel leaves, and white flannel flower center. The stitching is noticeable is intended to enhance the design. This blanket is way cuter in person then either my photos or the one on 3 Tiny Blessings Facebook Page.

I am loving the matching business card, too.

Best of all, I am giving this blanket to the next person who I have to come up with a baby girl gift for; that means you Caysie! I hope you love it as much as I do.

Crib bumper to teething rail in 5 minutes or less!

Today I am crafting for Christian.  He is the first of my four children who has decided to rub his teeth on his crib railing. I guess this make me lucky?  His poor little face is getting splinters, and even worse, he is eating the chemical laden wood finish; that cannot be healthy.  I originally thought to look for one of those clear, plastic teething bars to snap on the top rail.  Our problem is that our crib has a wider railing than most cribs, so the few things that I can find, are not going to work.  I don’t really want him chewing on mystery plastic anyway.  While I tried to sleep last night, I thought to myself, I will just repurpose his bumper pad!

See the red marks from splinters.  Ouch!

If you were unaware, bumper pads have been linked to SIDS.  Take a look at My Precious Kid Child Safety Blog for details on safe sleeping; it is loaded with great information.

You can link to her store toward the bottom of that information.  Here is the link to the breathable bumpers if you want to get straight to the breathable bumper.  They are dedicated to child safety and amazing customer service. (Anyone else fed up with big box stores?) 

Okay, back to changing your crib bumper to something useful.  It is almost nap time, so I came up with this quick fix.  I do plan on making some adjustments later in the day, I just had to put an end to the eating wood finish this very nap.  I simply took the bumper pad and tied it to the top rail of the crib, starting on the left back corner. 

Bumper pads have two rows of ties; one along the top length, and one along the bottom length.  I placed the bumper pad over the top rail, pulling the narrow edge around it. 

At each pre-attached tie, I knotted what used to be the top two with the bottom two. I used simple knot, like tying your shoes, because I plan on taking this off later to make some adjustments. 

Continue this all around the crib.  If your crib is not standard (taller in the back), the new teething pad will not make it all the way around.  I squeezed the excess behind the crib for now, but I have ideas coming soon.

Here is what is coming up when baby is awake, and I have a few minutes free (this means when daddy is home):

I am going to cut the extra off, and add some new ties so it fits even more tightly against the railing.  ~SAFETY FIRST~ If you are going to attempt this before my new post with directions, please keep in mind that your baby will likely be pulling at this, and chewing on it.  Only use child safe fabric, and sew securely.  It is far better to have an ugly seam than to have your baby choke; that extra back stitch or two will not hurt anyone.

Part Two Is Finally Here!  Just follow the link for the details!

Teacher Gifts

For Christmas this year, I had a bunch of fresh foods in mind.  However, when the flu stuck our house the week before Christmas break, I did not dare ask anyone to eat food from our house.  Closer to Christmas, when everyone was healthy, I did give out baskets of freshly baked bread and homemade jams and jellies to our close friends and loved ones.  What does that have to do with teachers?  I baked for an entire week, and pretty much decided I had to come up with something different for the teachers. 

What to do?  I found inspiration at Kojo’s Designs blog.  Check out what they did.

kojodesigns: craft for christmas night 2010

They made some gorgeous yard wrapped letters.  I went to the craft store, but found myself wandering around as there really was nothing useful for my concept.  When I was about to settle for the wrong thing just to leave the store, divine intervention happened;  Miss Caitlyn had to use the big girl potty NOW.  We ran to the restroom.  On our way out, I came across these fancy looking letters made from small bells.

AHA! Intervention/Inspiration!  I picked up one representing the first letter of each teacher’s last name. Yes, my 3 kids have 8 main teachers.  After I got home, I realized I had forgotten Ms. Jill, the art teacher, and part of my inspiration.  Gasp.  Jill, if you are reading this, I so owe you something handmade, let me know if you see something in this blog that you like and I will customize it for you. J

Now that I have these cool letters home, what to do with them.  I dug through my craft stash, and decided that they needed flowers.  Not just any flowers, but fabric flowers.  So I whipped up a batch of assorted colors and designs.  Honestly, I got sick of working with yellow, so I started to add the pink.  Once I had 8 flowers, I went back to my accessories box played with the embellishments to complete the centers.  I hot glued the center of the flowers and then hot glued them onto the letters.  Easy peasy. 

You may notice that I have 3 M’s.  I decided to wrap them up and just put a little note on each corner so I did not get the letter confused.  I use plain, white freezer paper (I love freezer paper!), and ribbon scraps to wrap them.  Cute, sweet, and only a week late.

Funky-Furry Valentine's Shirt.

You will need:  

• Any plain shirt.  I used Caitlyn’s stained shirt; it's cotton, size 3T.
• Freezer Paper.  Find this by the sandwich bags and the grocery store.  This is a huge roll, and will last a very long time.  It is seriously worth the money, I think I paid $9.
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Fun fabric of your choice.  I used some super soft furry stuff from my stash.
• An Iron
• Pins
• Your sewing machine, although you could do this by hand if you are that ambitious.

What I did:

First, I went to my clip art file, and found a heart.  You could draw one free hand, if you prefer.  I picked the one that jumped out at me, a short, fat, squeezable heart.  I suggest you pick the one that speaks to you.  When you print, you can adjust your settings to save ink depending on your program.  All you really need is the outline of your design.

Plug in your iron to warm it up.  I used a medium setting (4), but my temperature dial magically disappeared, so I do all my crafts on this setting.  Then, I traced the heart on to the freezer paper.  The shiny side is waxed, so flip it over, and trace on the regular paper side.  If you want to draw your own image, you could do it right on the freezer paper.

I cut a bit of a cardboard box to put inside the shirt to make my job easier.  I gave the shirt a quick iron to get rid of the wrinkles.   Cut your image out of the freezer paper.  Put the cut out on your shirt, shiny, waxed side down.  Line it up on the shirt where you want it.  I just placed it in the center, and when it looked good to me, I called it perfect.   Now go over it with your iron.  The wax will stick to the shirt, creating a temporary but strong bond to the shirt.  If you use your iron for anything besides crafting, I suggest that you put a pillowcase, or some other thin fabric between the pattern and your iron.  This will keep you from finding any surprises on your white dress shirts later on.  You are done with the iron, so unplug it, and put it somewhere safe so you don’t burn yourself.

Take out the cardboard, turn the shirt inside out, and put the cardboard back in (this makes pinning easier).  Cut enough fabric to cover your design, giving yourself at least an inch of extra on all sides.  You will trim the extra off later.  Pin your fun fabric to the shirt.  Remember, you will be pinning the right side of your furry fabric to the wrong side of the shirt.  I used a lot of pins on this one, and just removed them as they were in my way later on.

Take out the cardboard and turn your shirt right side out.  With the paper facing up, sew all around the design.  I used a straight stitch on pass one, followed by a zigzag stitch.  Remember, the idea is for this to be imperfect. If you go over the paper, it’s no big deal, tear off later.  Just be careful to not catch the backside of the shirt as you sew around your design.  You will probably feel the change of thickness it if you do.  If that happens, just pull the stitches back to the mistake, and start again. Be sure to connect the stitches, and backstitch to secure your thread.  After a couple of passes, you are done.

Now is the fun part.  Peel off the paper. 

You can see your stitch work, but not the furry fabric now.  Cut the shirt part out of the center of the stitched heart.  I found it easier to start with the tiny scissors that came with my sewing machine.  Start in the center and pull up the shirt from the back fabric.  Cut a small hole. Be careful not to cut through the furry fabric on the inside.  Keep cutting away the fabric using whatever method is the easiest for you.  You want to get about 1/8” from the outline stitches.  Just be careful not to cut into your sewing. 

Once the front is cut, turn the shirt inside out again, and cut off the excess furry fabric.   I left about 1/4 inch all around. 

You are done!  Turn the shirt back the right way. 

You could embellish the design with fabric flowers or buttons if you wish; they are a great way to hide little mistakes.  I think the furry heart is fabulous by itself.  Best of all, Caitlyn loves her new shirt.

Day One - starting the blog.

I have been a crafter my entire life, and I am also very lucky to have some very talented friends and family, too.  After thinking about blogging for years, I decided that it is finally time to share my ideas and my finds with others.  I am still recovering from a couple of automobile accidents, so I have slowed down quite a bit.  I will share what I can, and also plan on soon offering a few of my custom crafts on Etsy.  Thanks for stopping by my blog, please check back often.   I have several projects underway (with photos) to be posted soon!  Please tell your friends about me, and follow me on Facebook.