Family, Faith and DIY: October 2014

For his 2nd birthday my Little Man shared his Elmo themed birthday party with his great-grandma. I knew I wanted to get him a personalized shirt for the occasion, and Zizzle Zazzle had just what I needed. I ordered my iron-on decals for his shirt, and spoke with the shop owner, and she made me a customized 70th decal for great-grandma. I loved it! I did my best to get a clear picture of the birthday boy and girl in their matching shirt's, but Little Man just wouldn't cooperate.

How cute are they?!!!

Here's a clearer shot of the shirt, but his face is kinda fuzzy:(

ZizzleZazzle is giving away one T-SHIRT WITH PERSONALIZED DECAL, and you will not believe the selection you can choose from: Frozen, Cars, Princess Sofia, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Monsters Inc., CareBears, etc...16 pages of options to choose from!!! Hurry and enter the giveaway! your birthday boy or girl will love it!

Full Disclosure* This is my mom's DIY project. I freely admit that she is the Master DIYer, but this was just too great a project not to share. She presented it to him for his 2nd birthday:)

Unfortunately, since this wasn't my project, I didn't take pictures of the steps along the way, but at least you can glean inspiration from the finished project, If you have a question about anything in particular, leave me a comment, and I will do my best to get an answer from her for you. I am including links to the end of the post for some of the sites she visited for ideas.

Warning! She said she thought this would a weekend project, but it took weeks. These take time.

I present to you, a labor of love....

Book cover courtesy of Mom's embroidery machine.

The first page featured a mirror covered by hand embroidered life-size hands. Perfect for playing peekaboo with yourself. Not gonna lie, Little Man quite likes to admire his reflection. So this page is a big hit.

Super cool idea, huh?

Next on the list, the farm pages. Not only are these super cute with a functioning barn door, they are (again) hand embroidered, and magnetic!

I'm posting a close-up so you can see the amazing detail that was put into every piece,

Count along with the movable beads!

This is so super cute, and I just love it! In the pocket are various accessories Little Man can use to change his look.

I especially like the Miami Marlins hat. Go Fish!

At last, the whole reason for this project! Little Man really really loves this page. It's amazing to have during church!

Left: Page has a movable boat (pull the ribbon either way), and it is even christened after Little Man himself.

Right: This page features snaps and a zipper for motor skill development. Oh, yah, it's super cute too.

I feel like these two pages are the highlight of the book. They show amazing skill and dedication. It's stunning. First, you have a fish net to contain the hand-embroidered finger puppets and a marine background on the opposite side.

Wait until you see the close-up shots of the puppets!

This yellow submarine has windows! Somehow, she used clear plastic to create actual portholes. I wish they had shown up in the pictures though.

This squid is one of my favorites! It so groovy!

Seagull with fish in his beak.

Maybe the most detailed of all. Look at all that embroidery!

Another stunning set. Where to start: the button wheels that can be put on and taken off, the opening door, the finger puppets?! There's simply too much!