What do you make?

I love Etsy, Very Jane, Groop Dealz, Pick Your Plum, and all the cute crafty stuff that is showing up everywhere. My heart belongs in the craftroom making fun things for others all day long. Oh hours in the day, there just aren't enough of you!

I see cute ideas or items that make my life easier and decide to try and make them myself. Why on earth do I think that I have enough time to do all these projects is beyond me, but I love making and creating. I guess that's why I do it. It makes me so happy to sew, knit, crochet, or stamp something for a friend.

When Elizabeth was only a few weeks old I saw this amazing invention at the dr.'s office. It was a baby carrier cover that attached to the handles of your carrier. No more struggling to keep a blanket on top or dealing with a wet blanket that fell off in the rain. Baby stays dry, hidden from strangers hands(aka germ city), sleeps longer in their cozy world, and your carrier is super cute with all the fun fabric available out there. Why didn't I know about this when Taylor was a baby and where can I get one??? A quick search on Etsy turned into hours debating between which fabric was the cutest. Decisions, decisions. Ordered one, loved it, solved many problems. Fast forward to last fall when a sweet friend was getting ready to have her third child. I asked her if she had a carrier cover and if not, could I make her one? She was so excited and so I started out on my journey to sew my first cover. It went much better than expected and she was so happy to have the cover for when baby boy arrived. A few weeks later she informed me that the cover was the hit of the preschool for many pregnant Mommas. This left me with only one choice... fabric shopping to help out all my future customers. Why should I leave these Mommas without the greatness that these covers are? I love shopping for fabric and it helps that I'm not trying to figure out how the fabric is going to find a place in our home. Taylor only needs so many pillowcases and homemade dresses. So now I have my own Etsy shop so that I can have fun crafting and you can keep your sweet baby covered in style.

Wouldn't it be great if I left well enough alone and kept my craft selling at just those??? My husband probably thinks so.

Cue photographer friend who mentioned that she would love some knitted items when I told my playgroup that I wanted to knit but needed a project. Winter is a great time to knit since the husband and I spend lots of time catching up on movies that we missed because parents of two little ones don't make it to the theater often. It is sad that some were from 2008 and probably could be found in the $5 bin at Walmart. Thank you Netflix to keep 'oldies' for us :) Another search on Etsy landed me some adorable patterns and piles of beautiful yarn were turned into photography props for newborns/babies. While searching for patterns I also found cute leg warmers for my little dancer. Too bad she still won't wear them, but a friend's little dancer made good use of the next pair I knitted. All the mom's at her dance studio wanted some so after a few months I knitted a few up and listed them. I love making all these little items and can just imagine a little girl twirling in her leg warmers or a new mom snuggling her newborn in one of my cocoon pods for announcement photos.

I am a huge fan of buying something that has been handmade before going to a chain store. Some of my favorite jewelry pieces are handmade and I can spend hours on Etsy adding to my favorites list. So I want to know... what do you make? I know so many talented women(and men) and want to give them a chance to show off their hard work too. It can be your Etsy store, blog, website, Teachers Pay Teachers(because educating our little ones is hard work), or however else you show off your creativeness.