In honor of Earth Day, I took a couple of my husband’s old button down shirts and turned them into aprons for my kids. It was a great way to reuse stuff we already had and as an added bonus, it was a super quick project! For my girl’s apron, the neck was too large so I simply cut down the center of the collar and overlapped it. I used an old belt for the waist ties (the apron ended up looking much like a halter dress!). For my boy’s apron, I cut two strips from the shirt sleeves to make the ties and for a more “boyish” look, I used an old tie – as a result, aprons also make great dress up clothes!

We got our 16-month little girl a little kitchen set for Christmas. Just recently she’s joined her big brother in the kitchen and has been having a blast feeding me plastic food. This new activity for her inspired me to create our latest handmade item, the little apron skirt & oven mitt. They’re so adorable and fun that even my son has gotten into wearing the skirt version (I’ll just have to find more boy fabrics).  They’re so cute I’m going to have to make myself an adult size one Check out our newest creation today!

We’ve received such great feedback from our customers that I wanted to share a few with everyone. Our customers really are the best, and they keep us inspired to make these handmade creations!

My son love love loves these [newsboy] caps and I will be ordering more because they are so well made. (5/15/11)

When my son Noah (7 months old) was wearing it [newsboy cap] as we went around town, I counted at least 11 compliments and smiles and adoring looks — on the bus, in the library, on the street, everywhere I took him. (4/6/11)

Hi! Just wanted to let you know that we LOVE the chef hat. We use it all the time now! (3/25/11)

These [cushy] letters look great in my daughter’s room. The seller went out and found new material just for me! She was very quick about doing it and gave me some options based on what I asked her for. She was very willing to cater to my specific needs. I was so impressed with the letters I ordered more from her! (3/9/11)

So adorable! Every time I put my little one in this [hooded poncho] and put her in her stroller she falls asleep! Well worth the money (11/1/10)

This apron is adorable! It’s exactly as pictured. My niece is going to love this (10/18/10)

Since I already had a collection of fabric, I thought it would be cute to make each of them their very own personalized apron. I made the apron pattern from an existing apron I made way back in the 7th grade for home economics class (yikes, that was a long time ago!). I embellished each apron with cute iron-on shapes and hand-embroidered their names on it. For one of the aprons, I just used ribbon for the neck and waist ties. Within a day, I had completed two unique and girly-cute aprons!

Along with their very own custom apron, I purchased each of them a kid cookbook and fun measuring spoons to finish off their gift. So, not only did they receive a birthday gift made from the heart, they received a something that could last them for years and also spark some creativity of their own (I’m guessing their mothers would call that a mess!). And to top it all off, I didn’t have to spend a fortune. After receiving “thank you” calls and promises for some real food the next time I visit them, spending the time to make their gifts was totally worth it.

NOTE: You can totally do this for boys as well (my nephew also loves to play “cook”!). Just use “boy” colors for the apron and adhere sports or animal appliques!