I don't know what it is but I love a good handmade baby gift. I've enjoyed crafting and creating baby gifts for as long as I can remember. Babies are just so small and fresh and new and there is so much excitement about their impending arrival. It's fun to dream and remember all at the same time! The older I get, the less and less baby gifts I seem to be making for friends and family members. It's just sort of that season as we wait for them all to grow {which is exciting too!}, but thankfully, my youngest son has young teachers and sometimes I get to craft some hand made baby items for them.
This time though, I wanted my 10 year old son to do most of the crafting for one of his favorite teachers. It's nice to have a gift handmade by a parent. It's even more special if it's created by a student don't you think?
Things in baby land change through the years don't they? One thing that hasn't changed is how much babies love to be swaddled. One thing that has changed is how these swaddle blankets look. Muslin swaddle blankets are all the rage now and look so sweet on those babes who need a lightweight blanket to keep them all snug as a bug. If you don't want to make one, these are pretty sweet.
I was able to find cotton muslin in a few different colors {I settled on grey} at my local Hobby Lobby. I think it was $6.99 a yard but I had my coupon of course to sweeten the deal. I wanted my blanket to be 46x46 inches square, so I got a yard and a half. I pre washed the material and then ironed it and I used my serger to finish the seams. You could also roll the seams and do a straight stitch.
The possibilities are endless as far as stamp designs go, but I knew I wanted to try something simple that wouldn't be discouraging to my 10 year old as he crafted this precious blanket. I stuck with a plus sign {also seen on this project} and since the image was small, I used a sheet of tracing paper and an image on my phone to come up with my design.
To make the stamp, I used a rubber mat, and an exacto knife. I put my tracing paper over the rubber, and used the knife and a straight edge to cut the design out.
Once the design was cut and I had my stamp, I let my son loose! He used Tulip fabric paint that we squeezed onto a paper plate and used a foam brush to apply it to the stamp. He had a wet paper towel near by to wipe his finger tips on so he wouldn't get paint where he didn't want paint.
I didn't do a single one of the stamps. Owen crafted it all!
The stamp worked really well and Owen learned that if he used his brush just right, he could paint in these cool brush lines that would show up in the stamp.
Here is a little recap of how these hand stamp blanket was created.
We were both so happy to work on this project together, but even happier that we could give something Owen worked so hard on to a teacher that worked so very hard with him.
I can't wait to see her sweet little baby boy all wrapped up in this hand stamped muslin swaddle blanket.
No comments