A baby shower gift for twins.

One of my childhood best friends from back home is pregnant with fraternal twin girls due this July.  I am so excited for her!  The baby shower was this past weekend. I made sun hats and  burp cloths cloths for the girls.

 The sun hats turned out super cute! I love the little ruffled brims.  

 I know mama really wants these babies to have their own identities, so that's why I chose two different, but similarly themed prints for the hats.

 

The sun hats are also reversible, with the same lining fabric in each in case mama wants them to be a little bit more coordinated. 

 

I had extra fabric leftover from the lining, so I snazzied up some store bought cloth diapers into burp clothes.  Really fast to sew up! 

 I made two with fabric panels, and left two of the burp cloths plain.  Just in cases mama prefers ones that aren't so cute for around the house or whatnot.

To make them (how I did do at least), you measure your fabric to be about an inch and a half or two longer and wider than the center panel of the burp cloth. Fold under the raw edges to be just smaller than the panel and pin in place (fabric right side up since there is no turning needed). Sew using a nice and tight, narrow zigzag, catching the edge of the fabric panel on the zig and the diaper fabric just next to the panel on the zag. That's it!

Here's a close-up of the stitching:

And I had to throw in one of the wristlet key fobs I made a few months back for mama!  See it *here*.  As I've mentioned before, I think the key fob has been one of my most favorite items to have with a baby.  So much easier with full hands (and arms!) to not be fumbling around in your bag for long lost keys.  Especially with twins!

I heard the shower went really wonderful, too!

My mom mentioned a really cute gift idea that a group of friends did, that I thought I'd pass along.  They went in together and bought multiple baby outfits for the girls and strung them up on a clothesline with pink and purple close-pins.  They then carefully and neatly folded the line up and tucked it into a two handled basket with a big flowey bow on top.  It was a really sweet sight to see as everyone there passed along the clothesline and one by one the little outfits popped out of the basket. There was nearly 15 feet of line! I wish I had a picture to share. Oh well.

Well thanks for reading and looking. :)

DIY Rosewater Facial Toner

I was flipping through the current April/May edition of Natural Health and saw they had a recipe for Rose Toner.  I've made it before, but it's been a while, so I was really excited to be reminded of it again and it just so happens to be that our climbing roses are abounding with gorgeous bright magenta clusters right now. Perfect timing!

This stuff is super easy to make, so you should definitely try it if you have (pesticide free) roses in bloom at your house too.  Rosewater is known to help clarify the skin. It tightens pores, decreases redness and inflammation, tames breakouts, removes excess oil while not drying the skin out.

(Hehe, don't let the bottle throw you. The husband teaches science and so we have a variety of bottles that were once used to store chemicals in a past life. They are a nice size, and I think they're kinda neat and pretty despite the labeling, so I use them to store astringents/toners, bath salts, oils etc.)

So, the Rosewater.  Pick about 2 cups of petals and give them a quick rinse off.  Put them in a pot with 2 1/4 cups water (I use distilled, but regular filtered water would work as well).  You want the petals to be just covered by the water line.  Turn on the heat, but when the water starts to boil, move the pot off the burner and let cool for about an hour.  I like to stir every few minutes or so.

Here's what it'll look like:

The petals will float after you put in the water. That's okay.  That's why it's good to stir every so often. ;)

 

After a few minutes, the petals will start to fade and stain the water.

Petals are almost completely faded. The house smells really pretty right now!

At the end of the hour cooling, voila! Translucent petals and pretty pink water. Perfect! Now just strain the petals and pour the liquid into a sterile container. The rosewater is good at room temp for 4 or 5 days, or you can double its' life by storing in the fridge.

To use, moisten a cotton ball with the rosewater and sweep over a clean face. You could  even pour some of the sweet smelling, pretty concoction in your bathwater. The recipe will make about two cups, so shoot, do both!  Or share some with a neighbor. :)

Variation: Add a splash of witch hazel in if you have oily skin.You can also throw a few fresh rose petals in with the rosewater for an even prettier presentation.

 Now go get to picking some petals! :)