Ah, something for the crafty mum: Chronicle Books, Baby Bib Embroidery Kit. This ideal baby shower gift includes: easy-to-follow illustrated instructions and materials that can be used up to 9 times for extra embellishment of other baby items (think drab socks or solid onesies). Also comes with six reusable patterns, two blank bibs for 0-12 month-olds, five skeins of embroidery floss and one needle.  Perfect for an expecting mum who can’t sleep at night or a friend of someone pregnant who wants to craft something one-of-a-kind for that darling brand-new baby. $US19.95, babywit.com

With no computer required to operate it, the cartridge-based Cricut 29-0001 Personal Electronic Cutting Machine brings new meaning to the term “crafty.” Tote it along to scrapbooking parties, or take it into the classroom to help with kids’ projects — wherever you choose to make your craft table, you’ve got over 250 possible designs, including letters and phrases, in 12 different sizes (from 1″ to 5 1/2″ tall) to choose from. And if mixed media is your thing, the Cricut handles vellum, paper, cardstock and vinyl.

$US162.99 (regularly $US249) from Amazon.

[Outblush]

I have a great big design crush on Lotta Jansdotter. Her simple, modern, folky aesthetic is not only timeless but it fits in with a wide breadth of lifestyles. One segment of the population that Lotta’s look pairs well with? Babies.

In her new book Simple Sewing for Baby – 24 Easy Projects for Newborns to Toddlers (Chronicle Books), Lotta created two dozen crafts and sewing projects that are easy enough for most sewers with just basic skills.

The book includes a built in folder with fold out patterns for the projects (when needed). With Lotta’s help you can create a Nursing Pillow, a Simple Dress, Sunggler and Bib (along with 20 others).  Crafting has replaced bar hopping for many a new parent (or aunt, grandma or pal). You can get bit by the’ make-it’ bug and create your own baby must haves right here for $US24.

I should also note that the photography in the book is fabulous. Stunning and stylish. And I’m not just saying that because my friend Meiko Takechi Arquillos took all the photos (and also my profile pic that’s here on Babble). It really is very lovely to look at.  She captures the spirit of all the pieces…so much so that you want to make each and every

In our house, crafts are very popular. So any item that we can make together is great. The White Fur Monkey seen above comes in a kit to make your own 9 inch long little monkey. It’d be a big hit in this house.

Click on over to DIY Fluffie’s Etsy shop.

I’m not Martha.

So when I find something that makes me go, dude, I could so totally do that, I have to share it with you. Because if I could do it, a completely untrained monkey flown in and suffering from the affects of ebola could probably do it.

And hey, I love monkeys. Who doesn’t?

So what’s the craft? Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to that.

Over at Tangled and True, Jenn takes you through the entire process of making a totally retrolicious vintage tee for baby.She gives you the font, walks you through the stencil making, even tells you what paint to buy. OK, so stencil practically readymade and a keep it simple stupid walk through? Hello, sold to the non-Martha mum browsing the net. Although, it’s free, so is it really sold?

Anyway, the number shirts caught me – because with my daughter’s birthday coming up, I’ve been debating “is it too dorky to buy her a 4 tee for her 4th?” Because right now, I don’t care. I’ve found a craft project she and I can do together, that will result in a funky tee for her birthday, and (cha ching) work as birthday gifts for all the kids whose parents say “oh, they don’t need anything and refuse to give me a blessed idea of what their kids like.”

Check out the whole process over at Tangled and True and get cracking – summer birthday parties are coming up fast!

Image: Tangled and True

Got a stack of old Ikea catalogues waiting to be recycled? Instead of throwing them out, you could make your own paper dollhouse instead!

Leanne from SeetheWoodsandtheTrees made this fun project with her daughter  on a rainy day.

Supplies are minimal – all you need is:

• 2 pieces of stiff carboard
• A glue stick
• Some sharp scissors
• And an Ikea catalogue or home decorator magazine

Then it’s just a matter of cutting slots in the cardboard to fit them together, and glueing down some backgrounds on to your four ‘rooms’.

If you’re feeling up to the challenge, you can then cut out more pictures and make little pop-up furniture and people to play with.

See full pictorial instructions at SeetheWoodsandtheTrees.

[Via Inhabitots]

Now that knitting is suddenly trendy, you’ll be needing some patterns. And some of the cutest out there just happen to be from last century. 1920 to 1950, to be exact. You’ll find them in a new book called Vintage Baby Knits, which features more than 40 heirloom patterns along with some utterly delightful images of children in the various designs.

See some of the photos after the jump!

Buy Vintage Baby Knits at Purl for $US27.50.

[Via LMNOP blog]

The picture above features some of the amazing custom fabrics from Spoonflower. Spoonflower allows you to upload your own patterns and have them printed into custom fabric. If you love making children’s clothing and decor, you might enjoy Spoonflower.

There’s no minimum order, and the custom fabric is $US18 per yard. Click on over to Spoonflower to check it out.

Specifically, the DIY site has launched a Thrifty 50 challenge, where you can follow along the escapades of 50 cheapskate over-acheiving black-belts in crafts who each appear to have devoted an entire room of their house to a "stash" of fabric, ribbon, and assorted other craft materials, making it deceptively easy for them to whip out clothes, bookmarks, centerpieces, and "door hangers" for practically no cost. (Am I the only one who's never heard of "door hangers"? They appear to be little pillows hung from ribbons on your doorknob for some reason. I don't get it. See picture.)

To be fair, some of the simpler, more useful ideas they're churning out do seem within the reach of a mere mortal like me, and some even seemed fun, but I still have to admit to being skeptical of the "super-cheap yet Martha Stewart" ethos.

First of all, where in the world do they find the time for this? And secondly, the gift lists many of the 50 are trying to fill seem to contain not only multiple kids, but extended lists of in-laws and even kids' teachers (really!).

In recognition of these, um, ambitious, obligations, apparently participants don't actually have to come in under $50 total, as long as "some portion" of their gifts are under $50. Which means . . . what, exactly? That you're at least spending under $50 per gift? With all that time put in, I sure hope so. Otherwise it's a bit like New York magazine's idea of cheap. To be fair, reported actual costs per project so far seem to mostly come in well under $5, not counting depleted "stash," so even if the rules are lenient, these folks do knw how to stretch a dollar.

As for me, I'm torn: I like the idea of handmade gifts, repurposing things you already have, and not feeling guilty over not buying expensive crap. And I love the feeling of having just the right thing for someone. I do expect to be cobbling together a few pieces of decidedly unfancy dollhouse furniture for my kid this year, and I might pick up a few other ideas from these sewing ninjas.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that hanging on to the idea that we need to have the perfect, special, professional-quality thing for everyone we know plus the mailman, even when we're broke, is less stressful or less distracting from enjoying the holiday season than the mall-warrior approach. To me, I think "thrifty" is going to mean downplaying the presents mandate to its proper, small, part of the festivities.

With the economy, well. . . you know what the economy is like . . . this year we'll be decorating the tree in a way that's both nostalgic AND futuristic. Think shrinky dinks (remember those?) from recycled plastic. 

Instead of picking up the sheets of shrinkable plastic from a retro toy store online, rescue clear #6 plastic from your recycling bin (it's usually in the form of those single-serve take-away containers from restaurants, salad bar containers or those the grocery stores use to store strawberries and blueberries).

Cut off the excess plastic so you have a flat sheet to work on, pour out a pile of markers and let them have at. Have your cookie cutters out to make holiday cookies? Trace around them, and let them add their embellishments. Let them write out a holiday message . . . whatever. Then cut around the picture. Make sure you cut a small hole near the topto later slip a string through to hang the ornament on your tree.

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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, and drop the rack to the lowest spot it can go in the oven. Create a "tray" out of aluminum foil, and place the kids' plastic pictures across it – just make sure you keep the pieces spaced an inch apart. 

The plastic will start to get wavy in the oven, but it will flatten out, shrinking to about one third of the original size and nine times the original thickness. For a piece that's about six inches across, cooking time is about three and a half minutes – a little less for smaller pictures. You can keep an eye on the plastic through the oven door and take it out after it's finished the shrinking process and flattened out. Remove carefully (using tongs) – when the plastic is still hot, it is still relatively pliable.  

Stick your string through after the "ornament" is cool, and commence decorating. 

Image: Playlibrary