If you're like me, you like to give unique gifts at baby showers - the ones that make people ooh and aah. Sometimes all it takes to turn a normal gift into a unique gift is simply the presentation. Martha Stewart has a great tutorial for how to turn simple gift items, such as socks, a hat, a onesie or shirts, and a bib into a spectacular baby layette bouquet. It helps if you watch the video to understand how they rolled each item into a flower.

I made one of these for a friend of mine, and her mom thought it was supposed to be the centerpiece for the table. She had no idea it was full of baby items! The next time you have a baby shower to go to, try turning those basic gifts into a fun bouquet. - Trisha

If you like your baby to wear clothes that are unique and one-of-a-kind, then you should check out this great tutorial for using rubber stamps to decorate a baby onesie. It can change a simple white onesie into a piece of art.

What you'll need:

• Baby onesie or shirt


• Rubber Stamps


• Permanent ink, such as Staz-on Ink


• Iron


• Cardboard

You want to make sure that the ink you use is a permanent ink, otherwise when you wash it it will fade, and might completely come off. Another tip would be to use the clear rubber stamps that are so popular now so you can see exactly where you are placing the stamp. These would be easy to re-stamp if you need to because you can see exactly where you placed the stamp the first time. - Trisha

It can be difficult to find good quality footwear for young babies, especially something that is developed with children’s development in mind. The creators of See Kai Run have developed Smaller, a fantastic line of shoes that are perfect for the youngest of children.

The Smaller line sounds great on paper - made of a soft, flexible leather both inside and out, with a suede outsole with non-slip rubber pads for traction, a wider toe box for chubby feet, a Velcro closure to adjust the size of the shoe, and a padded collar to make the shoes more comfortable and help them stay on baby feet. So I was excited to try them out myself - as well as a bit skeptical of the use of a Velcro closure for infant shoes. Who needs the extra step?

Thankfully, I had the opportunity to put these shoes to the test.


The leather on these shoes is really soft and flexible. I have no doubt that my little one will be able to easily flex his foot and move around in these shoes.


I also really like the rubber traction pads on the bottom of the shoes. My older children wore another brand of shoe that was leather on the bottom, and I always worried about them slipping and sliding on tile or hardwood floors as they toddled around when we were out and about. That worry will be far from my mind with these shoes.


The biggest surprise of all is that now I'm a Velcro convert, even for infant shoes. For one thing, the Velcro helps make the shoes much more adjustable, making the fit more appropriate for each child. The main reason I have come to love the Velcro is that along with the padded collar, it makes the shoes difficult for babies to get off. I have a little Houdini on my hands - my six-month-old loves to get off his socks and shoes. The Smaller shoes? They stayed put, in spite of his most valiant efforts.


It should be noted, though, that these shoes may not be ideal for outdoor use for children who are pretty proficient at walking because they do not keep out water. At that stage, you should look into See Kai Run's original line of footwear.

Bottom line: These are great shoes, a fantastic choice for first shoes for young babies. Shoes in the Smaller line can be purchased at Amazon, where many styles and sizes are on sale for for anywhere from $14.89-$32. - Sara I.

A little while ago I posted a quick tutorial on how to sew a hem. This is handy to use for any sewing project, and is great to shorten pants that are too long for you. I recently come across another tutorial that is great for shortening jeans.

The nice thing about this tutorial is that it leaves the nice store bought hem on the bottom that makes the jeans look more professionally made. In fact, you probably won't even be able to tell that your jeans were shortened when you were done. They will look almost identical to how they were when you bought them, only slightly shorter! Now you don't have to worry about ruining the bottom of your jeans anymore.

This would work with other pants as well, so you are not limited to just jeans. It works great for baby pants too. If you have a baby who is a little shorter, and all their pants are way too long, you can do the same thing to them. This is great for those little girl's pants that have the ruffles on the bottom. Now you can shorten them and still keep the ruffles. - Trisha

Most likely in response to the fact that parents everywhere rue itchy tags that bug their kids, a lot of kid clothing these days has no tag at all. This is a problem for hanging things up on hooks, and thus, a problem for people like me that are seemingly incapable of keeping the entryway of our house tidy without being able to hang things on hooks.

The solution is simple: Sew on your own hang tag on the most "frequent offenders" of messiness. By hand, this is a five- to seven-minute project. On a machine, if you're the kinda person who knows how to sew, this is about a sixty-second endeavor.

Just take a 3" scrap of ribbon, fold the edges under twice (see schematic) and pin it to the garment you need a hang tag applied to. Pin either side of each folded area to prevent unraveling before you sew. You'll need about a 1 1/2" span of ribbon remaining to make the hang tag convenient, and the reason you want to fold it under twice is to prevent excess fraying.


The brick red line is your garment, the blue is your ribbon, and the thin arrows represent where to sew. From there I think you'll be able to get it just right. Now you can be a little bit more organized with your child's jacket, your infant sling, your kid's favorite blanket... whatever! - Leigh G.