Baby Bee gift...

All of our friends are starting to have babies, and it seems that most of them get so overwhelmed with hand-me-down baby clothes and stuff that they barely need anything by the time the shower rolls around. I read somewhere about blabla dolls and thought one would be a perfect present since that is not the type of thing one would usually receive as a hand-me-down. So I ordered mini Clochette the fairy.  She is so soft and squishy... it seems like the perfect first doll for a baby girl. You can also wash them, so it seemed great for a really little kid.

I also made a set of baby bee onsies with the bee logo to go with he.  I used fabric paint for the letters and the iron-on transfers left over from my Thanksgiving project for the bee logos. A set of 3 onsies was only $6 so this was a very affordable and super cute project. This is the front:

And this is the back:

Thanksgiving recap #2...

In case you didn't notice from my earlier posts about Thanksgiving dinner and our family Turkey Trot, we had a turkey theme this year.  My sister didn't know this before she came, but brought me turkey taper candles!  Aren't they fun?

The other turkey-themed activity this year was part of a family tradition that we call "the Program."  My aunt and uncle started the Program, which is basically some activity (usually chosen by the hosts) that we do in between courses.  For example, past programs have included:
*Each person showing pictures of their favorite trips
*Telling our favorite stories about each person
*Showing each person's favorite you-tube or funny internet video
This year I wanted to make it something easy for everyone.  I had a leftover cinderella pumpkin from Halloween, and I came up with the idea of turning it into a turkey. I made a turkey head out of construction paper and then I made a bunch of cut out sugar cookies on sticks (upside down christmas ornament cookie cutter for the shape, if you are wondering) and frosted them in thanksgiving colors.  Each person had to take a cookie, write something they were thankful for on the cookie (with food markers), and then stick it in the turkey.

Then we all guessed whose cookie each one was and everyone had to explain what they had written.  We did three rounds, during appetizers, after soup, and after dinner.  It was a fun way to get conversation going and remember the things we are thankful for.... and then eat turkey feather cookies!

Thanksgiving craft project...

Every year, my husband tries to find a turkey trot run on Thanksgiving morning.  We have done a few and it's always fun.  This year, we decided to put together our own for the family, which will consist of walking or running a little route through our neighborhood.  But what turkey trot is complete without the obligatory t-shirt? (Also, we thought an incentive to participate might be good...)  So I put together my own little turkey logo from some layered circles and ovals, and "STTT" ("Steiner-Tronquet Turkey Trot") was born!

I found some $2 t-shirts and iron-on printer paper at Michaels, and created an assembly station on my ironing board.  Disclaimer:  If you are looking for high-quality t-shirts this is not the project for you, but if you are looking for a novelty (and probably one-time-wear) t-shirt I definitely recommend this approach.  My printer had a "t-shirt transfer" setting under properties which automatically printed a mirror image that would iron on properly.

All you have to do is place the printout face down on the t-shirt, iron (I found that 2 or 3 passes with the iron for 10-15 seconds worked best, with a little extra focus on the corners and edges), then peel off the backing (an exacto knife helps here).  Here is my final project:

And of course, the project wouldn't be complete without some cute packaging, so I rolled them up (with the STTT logo prominently displayed) and tied it with some cute ribbon.

Who wouldn't want to run in this?