I just saw this cute tutorial on a blog on how to make fun Holiday shirts for the family using hands and feet for creating a reindeer.

I was thinking that it would be adorable to do with with your baby on a simple white onesie. Then you have a holiday outfit for them, and also a remembrance of how tiny their hands and feet were. I would add the year onto the shirt, and possibly do one every year. Then you could look back and have a collage of how they have grown.

Another idea with this would be to do it on a canvas and hang it up instead of making it on a shirt. You could do a whole family of reindeer using each family member's hands and foot, then hang them in a row for decorations. - Trisha

Are you always loosing crayons? Or do they always fall out of the box and end up in a mess in your diaper bag? My daughter is really getting into coloring, and this would be perfect for her to keep track of all of those crayons. Skip to My Lou has a really great post about how to make your own crayon roll. You could make these with any fun fabric you find.

I love that each crayon has its own pocket. My daughter loves to take things out, then put them back in. I bet this would amuse her for a while without even getting to the coloring part! Skip to My Lou also has an easier roll using felt listed here. She even perfected this by creating a new closure and a way to keep the inside fabric from being marked up. You can check out those ideas here. - Trisha

Looking for a way to remember your pregnant belly forever? You might be interested in creating a belly cast. Pictures give you a 2-D memory, but this will give you a lasting 3-D one! There are plenty of companies out there selling kits, but if you're a true do-it-yourself person check out this great tutorial from She Knows, Pregnancy & Baby.

Don't forget, besides having a plain white cast, you can also decorate it or paint it! The images shown here are from Bellyoflove.com, which sells kits for belly casting as well as for decorating your belly cast.

- Trisha

Your baby already knows that the best toys are not always baby toys. Your hair is probably a constant source of entertainment, and the appeal of momma’s car keys seems universal. So what toys, that are not toys, are safe and handy?

Those in the kitchen are the most widely adopted. Wooden spoons, spatulas, plastic measuring cups, baskets, pots and pans, colanders and strainers, and funnels are a good start. Always double check for sharp edges, unsafe plastics, potentially-detachable parts and choking hazards (anything able to fit through a toilet-paper tube).

Investigate your toys. Hacky sacks are a popular baby toy in our house, as are juggling balls. Frisbees could be good, and bocci, soccer, tennis, croquet, or any other sturdy large ball would work.

Our kid is often excited to grab and manipulate clothing he is not accustomed to - winter hats (the pom-poms are great), cowboy hats, baseball hats and winter gloves all are intriguing. Avoid scarves - anything thin and over six inches in length is an entanglement (strangulation) hazard.

Use caution in the bathroom - some things are fun and safe, but like in the kitchen, there are many hazards. Hand towels with fringe are a good thing to try. Big plastic combs are really fun. And a bath toy that suddenly appears on a stroller ride might be very excitingly unexpected. Don’t let baby play with shampoo bottles or similar items - the caps are a choking hazard, and the product residues are probably not something you want the baby to ingest anyway.
- Leigh G.

With Halloween fast approaching, now is the time to start making a costume so you're not frantically putting one together the night before. Of course, that doesn't mean it can't be easy to do!

I found a lot of good ideas for easy infant animal costumes on Family Corner. Options include a sheep, a butterfly, a dinosaur, a turtle, a ladybug, and lots more!

Best of all, most of these require nothing more than some felt and a baby sweat suit.

Get your creative juices flowing and start making that perfect (and easy) costume!

- Trisha